IS^SS^'^V^^As' 


tihvavy  of t:he  theological  ^emmarjp 

PRINCETON   .   NEW  JERSEY 

'Hi  (SV* 

PRESENTED  BY 


Dana  Charry,  ¥D   and  Professor  Ellen  Charry 
March  2,   2000 


0 


Report  of  Proceedings 


SECOND  GENERAL  COUNCIL 


Presbyterian  Alliance, 


Convened  at  Philadelphia,  September,  isao. 


I^E,IlTa?EI3    BY    IDlIiECTI03Sr    OrF    TiiE    GOUiTCIX,. 


Edited  p,y 
JOHN  B.  DALES,  D.D.,  and  R.  M.  PATTERSON,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

ISIO   CHESTNUT   STREET. 

[Uy  special  arraiiijemeiit  with  the  ofticial  publishers.) 


Copyright  by 

J.  Elliott  Condict. 

1880. 


FERGUSON     BROS      &    CO., 

PRINTERS    AND    ELECTROTYPERS. 

PHILADELPHIA. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 


This  volume  is  published  under  the  following  resolutions  of  the 
Council : 

The  General  Committee  of  Arrangements  reported,  and  the  report  was  approved: 
"  The  Committee  on  Publication  have  made  arrangements  to  secure  a  lull  and 
accurate  stenographic  report  of  the  debates  and  doings  of  the  Council.  They  have 
also  accepted  an  offer,  subject  to  approval  by  the  Council,  on  the  part  of  a  respon- 
sible publishing  firm  \^The  Presbyterian  Journal  Company,  of  Philadelphia]  to 
publish  in  an  attractive  volume  such  of  the  proceedings  as  may  be  sanctioned  by  an 
editing  committee  to  be  appointed  by  the  body,  and  to  place  this  volume  at  an  early 
day  before  the  public  at  a  very  reasonable  price,  and  without  expense  to  the  Council. 
This  Committee,  therefore,  respectfully  suggest  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  J.  1]. 
Dales,  D.  D.,  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  of  this  city,  and  the  Rev.  R.  M. 
Patterson,  D.  D.,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  this  city,  as  a  Committee  to  revise 
and  edit  the  Proceedings  of  the  Council." 

The  following  resolutions  were  also  adopted : 

1.  That  under  the  provisional  arrangement  made  by  the  Business  Committee,  the 
opening  sermon,  the  essays  and  documents  prepared  by  invitation  of  the  Programme 
Committee,  and  a  resume  of  the  discussion  on  the  topics  of  the  programme,  together 
with  an  introductory  sketch  of  the  Council  and  a  full  list  of  members,  be  published 
under  the  direction  of  the  Editorial  Committee. 

2.  That  a  complimentary  copy  of  the  Proceedings  be  sent  to  every  Programme 
speaker  who  has  prepared  a  paper,  and  to  every  theological  seminary  in  Europe, 
America  and  Africa,  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  the  expense  of 
the  Council. 

3.  That  the  following  be  the  understanding  as  to  the  papers  submitted  to  this 
Council :  I.  That  the  papers  prepared  for  the  Council  be  regarded  as  the  property 
of  their  authors.  2.  That  the  original  manuscript  be  handed  to  the  editors  of  the 
volume,  and  be  retained  as  a  memorial  of  the  Council.  3.  That  the  Council  permit 
the  separate  publication  of  any  paper  for  wider  circulation  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  on  condition  that  the  friends  arranging  for  such  publication  undertake  the 
entire  charge,  and  that  every  such  reprint  bear  on  it  that  it  is  extracted  from  the 
authorized  report  of  the  proceedings  by  arrangement  with  its  puijlishers. 

4.  That  the  editors  of  the  volume  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Council  be  instructed 
formally  to  state  in  its  preface  that  the  Council  does  not  make  itself  responsible  for 
the  opinions  expressed  in  the  papers  submitted  for  consideration. 

(3) 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introductory.  Narrative 6 

Proceedings  OF       "                                            f  Morning  session.  25 

First  Day,  Thursday,  Sept.  23     .     .      -j  Afternoon    "  37 

(  Evening       "  71 

f  Morning  session.  103 

Second  Day,  Friday,  Sept.  24       .     .      ■]  Afternoon    "  148 

(^Evening       "  176 

r,, "        T-.        o                    Ox                         ( Morning  session.  197 

IhirdDay,  Saturday,  ^./r.  25    .     .      |  Afternoon    -  234 

r  Morning  session.  251 

Fourth  Day,  Monday,  Sept.  27    .     .      \  Afternoon    "  305 

(Evening       "  334 

r  Morning  session.  355 

Fifth  Day,  Tuesday,  Sept.  28       .     .      -;  Afternoon    "  395 

(Evening       "  429 

r  Morning  session.  460 

Sixth  Day,  Wednesday,  Sept.  29       .      X  Afternoon    "  506 

(Evening       "  554 

r  Morning  session.   590 

Seventh  Day,  Thursday,  Sept.  30      .      X  Afternoon    "  637 

(Evening       "  701 

i  Morning  session.   729 

Afternoon    "  796 

Evening       "  832 

Ninth  Day,  Saturday,  Oet.  2       .     .         Morning  session.  870 

APPENDIX. 

Programme  Papers  Received 902 

German  Meeting 934 

Statistical  Reports 959 

Creeds 965 

Foreign  Mission  Reports 11 23 

Miscellaneous  Letters 11 47 

INDEX ■ 1 152 

(4) 


INTRODUCTION. 


BY   R.    M.    PATTERSON,    D.  D, 


The  "  Report  of  Proceedings  of  the  First  General  Presby- 
terian  Council,  convened  at  Edinburgh,  July,  1877,"  contains  an 
"  Introductory  Narrative  "  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Blaikie,  which 
gives  a  very  full  and  satisfactory  account  of  the  genesis  of  the 
Council,  and  of  the  preparations  that  had  been  made  for  its  first 
meeting.  We  will  reproduce  here  only  those  facts  which  arc 
essential  to  make  this  volume  complete  in  itself 

The  Presbyterian  Alliance  was  organized  by  a  Conference 
which  met  in  the  English  Presbyterian  College,  Guildford  street, 
London,  on  the  21st  of  July,  1875,  and  continued  in  session  for 
two  days  ;  a  preparatory  meeting  of  welcome  from  the  London 
Presbyterians,  which  was  presided  over  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Oswald 
Dykes,  having  been  held  on  the  evening  of  the  21st  of  July,  in 
the  Regent  Square  Church.  The  Rev.  James  McCosh,  D.  D., 
LL.D.,  of  Princeton,  N.  J.,  was  President,  and  the  Revs.  Prof 
W.  G.  Blaikie,  D.D.,  of  Edinburgh,  and  George  D.  Mathews, 
of  New  York,  were  Clerks  of  the  body. 

Twenty-two  different  Presbyterian  organizations  had  commis- 
sioned one  hundred  and  one  delegates  to  the  Conference.  Sixty- 
four  of  those  Commissioners  were  in  attendance.  They  repre- 
sented the  following  bodies:  From  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica: The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America 
(commonly  spoken  of  as  the  Northern  Church),  The  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  (popularly  designated  as  the  South- 
ern Church),  The  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church, 
The  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  America ;  from  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland :  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  England.  The  Presby- 

(5) 


6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

terian  Church  of  Wales  (Calvinistic  Methodists),  The  Church  of 
Scotland,  The  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  The  United  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Scotland,  The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Scotland,  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland;  from  the  British 
Colonies :  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada ;  from  the  Con- 
tinent of  Europe :  The  Reformed  Church  of  France,  The  Mis- 
sionary Church  of  Belgium,  The  Union  of  Evangelical  Churches 
of  France,  and  Evangelical  Church  of  Canton  de  Vaud,  Switzer- 
land, The  Evangelical  Church  of  Neuchatel,  Switzerland,  The 
Waldensian  Church  of  Italy,  The  Reformed  Church,  East  Fries- 
land,  and  Free  Evangelical  Church  of  Germany,  and  The  Evan- 
gelical Church  of  Spain. 

The  result  of  the  two  days'  careful  and  prayerful  deliberation 
of  the  Conference  was  the  unanimous  adoption  of  the  following 

CONSTITUTION. 

"  Whereas,  Churches  holding  the  Reformed  faith,  and  organized  on 
Presbyterian  principles,  are  found,  though  under  a  variety  of  names, 
in  different  parts  of  the  world  :  Whereas,  many  of  these  were  long 
Avont  to  maintain  close  relations,  but  are  at  present  united  by  no  vis- 
ible bond,  whether  of  fellowship  or  of  work :  And  whereas,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  the  time  seems  to  have  come  when  they  may  all 
more  fully  manifest  their  essential  oneness,  have  closer  communion 
with  each  other,  and  promote  great  causes  by  joint  action ;  It  is 
agreed  to  form  a  Presbyterian  Alliance  to  meet  in  General  Council 
from  time  to  time  in  order  to  confer  upon  matters  of  common  inter- 
est, and  to  further  the  ends  for  which  the  Church  has  been  constituted 
by  her  Divine  Lord  and  only  King.  In  forming  this  Alliance,  the 
Presbyterian  Churches  do  not  mean  to  change  their  fraternal  relations 
with  other  Churches,  but  will  be  ready,  as  heretofore,  to  join  with 
them  in  Christian  fellowship,  and  in  advancing  the  cause  of  the  Re- 
deemer, on  the  general  principle  maintained  and  taught  in  the  Re- 
formed Confessions  that  the  Church  of  God  on  earth,  though  com- 
posed of  many  members,  is  one  body  in  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  of  which  body  Christ  is  the  Supreme  Head,  and  the  Scriptures 
alone  are  the  infallible  law. 

"ARTICLES. 

"  I.  Designation, 

"  This  Alliance  shall  be  known  as  *  The  Alliance  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  throughout  the  World  holding  the  Presbyterian  system.' 


INTR  OD  UCTION. 


II.  Membership. 


"Any  Church  organized  on  Presbyterian  principles  which  holds 
the  supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments in  matters  of  faith  and  morals,  and  whose  creed  is  in  harmony 
with  the  consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confessions,  shall  be  eligible  for 
admission  into  the  Alliance. 

"III.  The  Council. 

"  I.  Its  Meetings. — The  Alliance  shall  meet  in  General  Council 
ordinarily  once  in  three  years. 

"2.  Its  Constituency. — The  Council  shall  consist  of  delegates, 
being  ministers  and  elders,  appointed  by  the  Churches  forming  the 
Alliance ;  the  number  from  each  Church  being  regulated  by  a  plan 
sanctioned  by  the  Council,  regard  being  had  generally  to  the  number 
of  congregations  in  the  several  Churches.  The  delegates,  as  far  as 
practicable,  to  consist  of  an  equal  number  of  ministers  and  elders. 
The  Council  may,  on  the  recommendation  of  a  Committee  on  Busi- 
ness, invite  Presbyterian  brethren  not  delegates,  to  offer  suggestions, 
to  deliver  addresses,  and  to  read  papers. 

"  3.  Its  Powers. — The  Council  shall  have  power  to  decide  upon 
the  application  of  Churches  desiring  to  join  the  Alliance ;  It  shall 
have  power  to  entertain  and  consider  topics  which  may  be  brought 
before  it  by  any  Church  represented  in  the  Council,  or  by  any  mem- 
ber of  the  Council,  on  their  being  transmitted  in  the  manner  herein- 
after provided ;  But  it  shall  not  interfere  with  the  existing  creed  or 
constitution  of  any  Church  in  the  Alliance,  or  v.'ith  its  internal  order 
or  external  relations. 

"  4.  Its  Objects. — The  Council  shall  consider  questions  of  general 
interest  to  the  Presbyterian  community ;  it  shall  seek  the  welfare  of 
Churches,  especially  such  as  are  weak  or  persecuted  ;  it  shall  gather 
and  disseminate  information  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
throughout  the  world  ;  it  shall  commend  the  Presbyterian  system  as 
Scriptural,  and  as  combining  simplicity,  efficiency,  and  adaptation  to 
all  times  and  conditions ;  it  shall  also  entertain  all  suljjects  directly 
connected  with  the  work  of  Evangelization,  such  as  the  relation  of 
the  Christian  Church  to  the  Evangelization  of  the  world,  the  distribu- 
tion of  mission  work,  the  combination  of  Church  energies,  especially 
in  reference  to  great  cities  and  destitute  districts,  the  training  of  min- 
isters, the  use  of  the  Press,  colportage,  the  religious  instruction  of  the 
young,  the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath,  systematic  beneficence,  the 
suppression  of  intemperance  and  other  prevailing  vices,  and  the  best 
methods  of  opposing  infidelity  and  Romanism. 

"  5.  Its  Methods.— The  Council  shall  seek  to  guide  and  stimulate 
public  sentiment  by  papers  read,  by  addresses  delivered  and  published, 
by  the  circulation  of  information  respecting  the  allied  Clnirches  and 
their  missions,  by  the  exposition  of  Scriptural  principles,  and  by  de- 
fences of  the  truth ;  by  communicating  the  Minutes  of  its  proceedings 


8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  Churches  forming  the  Alliance,  and  by 
such  other  action  as  is  in  accordance  with  its  constitution  and  objects. 
"6.  CommiUce  on  Business. — The  Council,  at  each  general  meet- 
ing, shall  appoint  a  Committee  on  Business,  through  which  all  com- 
munications and  notices  of  subjects  proposed  to  be  discussed  shall 
pass.  The  Committee  appointed  at  one  general  meeting  shall  act 
provisionally,  so  far  as  is  necessary,  in  preparing  for  the  following 
meeting. 

''IV.  Change  of  Constitution. 

''  No  change  shall  be  made  in  this  Constitution,  except  on  a  motion 
made  at  one  general  meeting  of  Council,  not  objected  to  by  a  major- 
ity of  the  Churches,  and  carried  by  a  two-thirds  vote  at  the  next  gen- 
eral meeting." 

The  following  was  also  agreed  upon  as  the  rule  of  represen- 
tation in  the  Council :  That  the  maximum  number  of  delegates 
should  be  300,  and  that  they  should  be  elected  according  to  the 
following  ratio  :  Churches  at  or  under  100  congregations  to  send 
two  ;  at  or  under  200,  four;  and  so  on  up  to  1,000,  the  number 
in  that  case  being  twenty;  above  1,000  the  additional  delegates 
to  be  only  two  for  200;  above  3,000,  two  for  500;  at  4,000  and 
upwards  the  total  to  be  forty. 

It  was  further  agreed  that  the  first  meeting  of  the  Council 
should  be  held  at  Edinburgh,  on  July  4th,  1876;  and  a  General 
Committee,  consisting  of  all  the  delegates,  with  Dr.  Blaikie  as 
Convener  (or  Chairman),  was  appointed  to  prepare  for  it.  That 
Committee  was  divided  into  local  Committees  for  the  different 
churches,  the  Scotch  Local  Committee  being  specially  entrusted 
with  the  initiative  in  the  movements  that  were  necessary  to  be 
taken. 

The  sessions  of  the  Conference  closed  with  an  enthusiastic 
public  meeting,  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  22d  of  July,  in 
the  Marylebone  Presbyterian  Church,  Rev.  Donald  Frazer,  pas- 
tor, at  which  the  results  of  the  deliberations  were  publicly  an- 
nounced, and  addresses  delivered  by  a  goodly  number  of  the 
delegates. 

The  year  1876  being  the  Centennial  anniversary  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  their  Independence  by  the  United  States  of  America,  and 
tlie  observance  of  it  being  of  such  a  nature  that  no  fair  representa- 


(c?  /r-,-7i,=r7-  n      A  '..n  rpi 


"CUIiDEES 


m^ 


JOHN  ■••l^.uL'fAKNOX 


r 


A  0  1638 
AD  1643 
A  O    lafiO 


MELVILLE, 
HAMILTON 
SIR.a  LINDSAY 
CAMERON 


HENDERaON^ 

RUTNKRFOHD 

GILtaPIE 

!     bailie: 


LOLLAROS.KYLE 
WELCH 
WI3HART 
CHALMERS 


ARGYLE-  fSStiSmiWSS^f^iML^immt 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

tion  of  delegates  could  be  expected  from  this  side  of  the  ocean, 
the  time  of  meeting  of  the  Council  was  changed  to  July  3,  1877. 

In  accordance  therewith  on  the  morning  of  July  3,  1877,  and 
by  appointment  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Flint,  D.  D;,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  preached,  in  St.  Giles  Church,  Edinburgh,  a  sermon 
from  John  xvii.  20,  21;  and  in  the  afternoon  the  Council  met 
formally  in  the  Free  Church  Assembly  Hall,  and  was  organized 
by  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  Howard  Crosby,  D.  D.,  of  New 
York,  to  preside,  and  of  the  Rev.  G.  D.  Mathews,  of  New  York, 
to  act  as  clerk  pro  tcni. 

It  was  reported  that  in  addition  to  the  twenty-two  Churches 
represented  in  the  Conference  at  London,  the  following  twenty- 
seven  had  more  or  less  formally  expressed  a  desire  to  be  con- 
nected with  the  Alliance : 

Reformed  Church  of  Hungary  ;  Reformed  Church  of  Bohemia  and 
Moravia ;  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  Scotland  ;  Reformed  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Ireland  ;  Original  Secession  Church,  Scotland  ;  Re- 
formed Church  of  Holland  (Kerkeraad  of  Amsterdam  and  of  Ooster- 
meer) ;  Christian  Reformed  Church  in  the  Netherlands ;  National 
Church  of  Canton  de  Vaud  ;  Reformed  Church,  Russia;  Free  Italian 
Church;  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South  (U.  S.)  ;  General 
Synod  of  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  (U.  S.)  ;  Welsh  Calvinistic 
Church  (U.  S.)  ;  German  Reformed  Church  (U.  S.)  ;  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  Cape  Colony;  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Orange  Free  State; 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  Natal ;  Presbytery  of  Natal ;  Christian  Re- 
formed Church,  South  Africa  ;  Presbyterian  Church  of  Victoria,  Aus- 
tralia; Presbyterian  Church  of  New  South  Wales,  Australia;  Synod 
of  Eastern  Australia;  Presbyterian  Church  of  Queensland,  Australia; 
Presbyterian  Church  of  New  Zealand  ;  Presbyterian  Church  of  Otago  ; 
Presbytery  of  Ceylon  ;  Missionary  Synod  of  New  Hebrides. 

The  numbers  of  delegates  in  attendance  were.  Principals  220, 
and  Associates  80. 

The  Report  of  the  General  Committee  which  presented  the 
foregoing  list  also  contained  inter  alia  the  following  statements, 
which  are  here  reproduced  because  of  their  permanent  bearing. 

Commenting  on  the  twenty-seven    applying    churches,  they 

said : 

The  Committee  find  that  in  nearly  all  of  these  cases  there  is  no  diffi 
culty.     In  two  or  three,  a  question  might  perhaps  be  raised,  whether 


lo  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

they  fully  come  up  to  the  definition  of  this  Alliance — as  an  Alliance 
of  Churches  constructed  on  the  Presbyterian  polity,  whose  creed  is  in 
harmony  with  the  consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confessions.  The 
Committee  think  that  when  there  is  no  plain  evidence  to  the  contrary, 
the  resjionsibility  of  deciding  whether  they  ought  to  join  the  Alliance 
should  rest,  in  the  first  instance,  on  the  Churches  themselves;  and 
they  recommend  that,  in  the  meantime,  the  applications  be  granted. 

In  reference  to  associate  members,  they  reported  : 

Associates. — By  the  constitution,  the  Council  has  power,  "  on  the 
recommendation  of  a  Business  Committee,  to  invite  Presbyterian 
brethren  not  delegates  to  offer  suggestions,  to  deliver  addresses,  and 
to  read  papers."  The  Committee  feel  that  it  is  desirable,  on  this  the 
first  occasion  of  the  meeting  of  Council,  to  exercise  this  privilege 
somewhat  freely.  They  think  that  it  might  be  extended:  (i.)  To 
certain  approved  members  of  Churches  which  have  made  no  formal 
delegation,  who  have  been  invited  by  the  Committee  to  attend.  (2.) 
To  brethren  in  good  standing,  who  have  come  from  great  distances  to 
be  present,  and  have  been  commissioned  as  corresponding  members. 
(3.)  To  brethren  of  much  knowledge  and  experience,  some  of  Avhom 
have  been  asked  to  read  papers,  or  take  part  otherwise  in  the  business. 
This  arrangement,  however,  is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  precedent. 

As  to  the  organization  of  the  body,  they  recommended  the  fol- 
lowing minute : 

Officers. — The  Committee  think  that  the  objects  of  the  Council  will 
be  accomplished  best  by  having  a  separate  President  for  each  session. 
The  Committee  recommend  that  the  Council,  at  its  meeting  on  Tues- 
day afternoon,  should  proceed  to  the  election  of  a  sufficient  number 
from  the  Churches  composing  the  Council.  They  recommend  also 
the  election  of  Clerks  and  of  a  Business  Committee. 

The  following  Standing  Orders  were  adopted  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  house : 

1.  The  President  shall  have  the  usual  authority  of  a  Moderator. 

2.  Motions  must  be  handed  in  to  the  President  in  writing  before 
they  can  be  discussed  by  the  Council. 

3.  The  Clerks  shall  keep  a  roll  of  the  members  and  of  the  asso- 
ciates ;  they  shall  record  the  transactions  of  the  Council ;  preserve 
minutes  of  all  papers  not  otherwise  disposed  of;  sign  all  official  papers 
and  orders,  and  give  notice  of  appointments  to  the  members  of  com- 
mittees, and  of  the  business  assigned  to  them.  They  shall  hold  office 
till  their  successors  are  appointed,  and  act  as  a  Committee  on  Creden- 
tials to  prepare  the  roll  for  the  next  Council  meeting. 


INTR  on  UCTION.  1 1 

4.  No  business  shall  be  introduced  to  the  Council  except  on  the  re- 
port of  the  Committee  of  Business. 

5.  At  the  meetings  of  the  Council,  those  who  have  prepared  papers 
shall  not  occupy  more  than  twenty  minutes  in  referring  to  them  ; 
those  specially  invited  to  speak  not  more  than  fifteen,  and  other 
speakers  not  more  than  ten. 

6.  It  shall  be  the  aim  of  the  Council  to  avoid  voting,  but  if  a  vote 
be  necessary  when  there  are  more  than  two  motions,  all  the  motions 
shall  be  voted  on  successively,  and  that  one  having  the  least  number 
of  votes  then  dropped.  A  vote  shall  next  be  taken  on  the  remaining 
motions,  and  the  same  course  followed  until  some  one  motion  has  a 
majority  of  all  the  votes  given,  and  this  shall  then  be  considered  to 
express  the  mind  of  the  Council.  The  vote  shall  be  taken  by  a  show 
of  hands,  and  the  result  declared  by  the  President. 

7.  Should  the  Council  find  it  necessary  to  adopt  the  method  of  sec- 
tional deliberations,  the  Business  Committee  shall  make  the  arrange- 
ments needful  for  the  purpose. 

8.  The  Council  shall,  as  the  first  order  of  the  day,  on  its  fourth  day 
of  meeting,  appoint  the  time  and  place  of  its  next  assembling.  It 
shall  afterwards  appoint  a  Committee  of  Arrangements  to  make  the 
needful  preparations  for  such  meeting,  with  power  to  add  to  their 
number. 

On  the  evening  of  Tuesday,  the  3d  of  July,  there  was  a  pub- 
lic reception  of  the  delegates,  in  the  Museum  of  Science  and 
Art,  with  an  address  of  welcome  from  Edinburgh,  and  short 
speeches  by  representatives  of  various  churches — the  Right 
Hon.  Sir  James  Fanshaw,  Bart.,  Lord  Provost  of  the  city,  pre- 
siding. 

The  sessions  continued  until  Tuesday,  July  loth ;  the  pro- 
ceedings consisting  of  the  reading  of  papers  that  had  been  pre- 
pared on  request  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  and  of  dis- 
cussions on  them  and  on  other  topics  that  were  raised ;  and 
closed  with  a  valedictory  meeting  on  the  evening  of  Tuesday, 
at  which  very  enthusiastic  and  tender  addresses  were  delivered 
by  several  of  the  delegates. 

Among  the  acts  and  utterances  that  were  reached,  were 
the  following,  which  connect  themselves  immediately  with  thj 
Second  Council : 

(i.)  The  Covmril  appoint  a  Committee  with  instructions  to  prepare 
a  report  to  be  laid  before  the  next  General  Council  showing  in  i)omt 
of  fact — 

First,  What  are  the  existing  Creeds  or  Confessions  of  the  Churches 


12  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

composing  this  Alliance?  and,  What  have  been  their  previous  creeds 
and  confessions,  with  any  modification  of  these,  and  the  dates  and 
occasions  of  the  same,  from  the  Reformation  to  the  present  day? 

Second,  What  are  the  existing  formulas  of  subscription,  if  any,  and 
what  have  been  the  previous  formulas  of  subscription  used  in  these 
Churches  in  connection  with  tlxir  creeds  and  confessions? 

Third,  How  far  has  individual  adherence  to  these  creeds  by  sub- 
scription or  otherwise  been  required  from  the  ministers,  elders,  of 
other  office-bearers  respectively,  and  also  from  the  private  members 
of  the  same? 

And  the  Council  authorize  the  Committee  to  correspond  with  mem- 
bers of  the  several  Churches  throughout  the  world  who  may  be  able 
to  give  information,  and  they  enjoin  the  Committee,  in  submitting 
their  report,  not  to  accompany  it  either  with  any  comparative  estimate 
of  these  creeds  and  regulations,  or  with  any  critical  remarks  upon 
their  respective  value,  expediency,  or  efficiency. 

(2.)  The  Council  having  regard  to  Foreign  Mission  work  as  an 
essential  and  urgent  duty,  needing  to  be  much  more  earnestly  prose- 
cuted by  all  Christian  Churches,  and  in  which  it  is  of  increasing  im- 
portance that  there  should  be  the  utmost  attainable  co-operation 
amongst  the  Churches  of  this  Alliance,  appoint  a  Committee  to  col- 
lect and  digest  full  information  as  to  the  fields  at  present  occupied  by 
them,  their  plans  and  modes  of  operations,  with  instructions  to  report 
the  same  to  the  next  General  Council,  together  with  tlie  following  or  any 
suggestions  they  may  judge  it  wise  to  submit  respecting  the  possibility 
of  consolidating  existing  agencies,  or  preparing  the  way  for  co-opera- 
tion in  the  future : 

1.  The  extent  of  expenditure  on  salaries  and  allowances  due  to 
missionaries  with  the  view  of  obtaining  uniformity. 

2.  The  employment  of  native  pastors. 

3.  The  place  of  medical  agency  in  missionary  work. 

4.  The  methods  of  stational  arrangements  which  experience  has 
sanctioned. 

5.  The  stage  at  which  Presbyteries  ought  to  be  formed  in  a  district 
mission. 

6.  The  method  best  suited  to  advance  missionaries  in  the  languages 
of  the  heathen. 

7.  The  general  question  of  missionary  literature. 

8.  The  best  means  for  developing  the  missionary  spirit  in  the  home 
Churches. 

(3.)  The  Council  rejoices  that  its  membership  includes  so  many 
representatives  of  Presbyterian  Churches  of  the  continent  of  Europe, 
and  considering  that  the  difficulties  which  several  if  not  all  of  these 
Churches  encounter  from  the  aggressions  of  Ultramontanism  and  infi- 
delity, as  well  as  from  other  causes,  entitle  them  to  the  special  inter- 
est and  sympathy  of  the  Council,  and  considering  also  that  it  will  be 


INTR  OB  UCTION.  1 3 

impossible  for  the  Council  at  its  ordinar}'  meetings  to  receive  from 
the  delegates  and  associates  that  detailed  information  regarding  their 
respective  Churches  which  the  delegates  may  wish  to  give,  the  Coun- 
cil instructs  the  Business  Committee  to  nominate  a  special  committee 
of  the  Council  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  on  behalf  of  the  Coun- 
cil with  the  continental  delegates  and  associates,  receiving  such  infor- 
mation as  they  may  have  to  offer,  and  for  the  further  purpose  of 
considering  the  interests  of  continental  Churches,  and  also  the  provis- 
ion made  over  the  continent  for  the  English-speaking  residents, 
American  and  British. 

(4.)  The  Council,  appreciating  the  importance  of  obtaining  full 
information  respecting  the  existing  desiderata  of  the  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Churches,  and  of  the  materials  available  for  supplying 
them,  agree  to  appoint  a  small  committee,  with  Dr.  Lorimer,  of  Lon- 
don, as  convener,  to  correspond  on  this  subject  with  all  the  branches 
of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  represented  in  the  Alliance,  and  to  pre- 
pare a  report  of  the  information  which  is  obtained  to  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  Council  in  1880. 

The  Council  expresses  its  earnest  hope  that  the  office-bearers  and 
members  of  all  the  Churches  here  represented  will  give  liberal  sup- 
port and  encouragement  to  such  publications  as  may  be  suggested  by 
the  committee  now  appointed,  whether  in  the  shape  of  new  historical 
works  or  of  unpublished  ecclesiastical  records  and  documents,  or  re- 
prints of  writings  associated  with  the  names  of  celebrated  Presby- 
terian worthies. 

(5.)  The  Council  appoint  the  next  General  Presbyterian  Council 
to  meet,  by  leave  of  Providence,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the 
year  1880,  on  such  day  as  may  be  agreed  on  by  the  local  Committee 
of  Arrangements,  not  later  than  the  Tuesday  before  the  last  Sabbath 
of  September,  1880,  being  the  21st  of  the  month. 

A  Committee  on  Business  and  Arrangements  for  the  meeting 
in  Philadelphia  was  also  appointed,  with  power  to  add  to  its 
number.  It  speedily  entered  upon  its  work  of  preparation  by 
appointing  two  sub-committees  on  the  programme  and  busi- 
ness. The  former  had  its  centre  in  New  York,  and  was  in- 
trusted with  the  selection  of  topics  on  which  papers  were  to  be 
prepared,  the  procuring  of  persons  to  write  those  papers,  and 
the  arrangement  of  the  whole  order  of  procedure.  To  the  lat- 
ter, in  Philadelphia,  was  committed  the  duty  of  raising  the 
money  which  would  be  needed  for  the  Council,  of  securing 
the  place  of  meeting,  of  providing  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
delegates,  and  of  making  all  the  other  business  arrangements 
for  the  sessions. 


14  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  churches  and  citizens  of  Philadelphia  very  heartily  re- 
sponded to  the  appeals  that  were  made  to  them  by  the  Business 
Committee,  and  contributed  all  that  v/as  necessary,  and  more 
than  was  necessary,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  meeting.  As 
the  day  of  meeting  approached  their  enthusiastic  interest  in  it 
increased,  and  manifested  itself  in  every  way.  The  newspapers, 
especially,  made  the  event  very  prominent  in  their  columns. 
Admirable  articles  appeared  in  many  of  them  giving  the  history 
of  the  movements  which  had  culminated  in  the  formation  of  the 
Alliance;  presenting  the  strength  of  the  bodies  represented  in  it; 
giving  sketches  of  the  men  prominently  associated  with  it ;  and 
limning  in  advance  the  questions  of  interest  that  would  be  dealt 
with  in  the  Council. 

On  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  the  2 2d  of  September,  the 
Governor  of  the  State  and  the  Ma}' or  of  the  city  formally  re- 
ceived the  delegates,  and  the  friends  who  accompanied  them,  in 
the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  on  the  corner  of  I:  road  and  Cherry. 
The  handsome  edifice,  with  its  rooms  already  enriched  by  num- 
berless paintings  and  other  works  of  art,  v/as  rendered  still 
further  attractive  through  a  profusion  of  exotics  that  had  been 
secured  by  a  committee  of  ladies,  from  the  churches,  co-operating 
with  the  Committee  on  Entertainment,  by  whom  the  arrange- 
ments for  the  reception  had  been  made.  It  was  crowded  to 
repletion  by  those  who  were  connected  with  the  Council,  and 
by  invited  guests  from  Philadelphia  and  other  places,  among 
whom  were  not  merely  prominent  Presbyterians  but  a  large 
number  of  representative  men  from  the  other  religious  de- 
nominations and  from  the  various  departments  of  business, 
social,  and  political  life.  The  concourse  was  in  every  way  a 
remarkably  striking  one.  The  guests  as  they  arrived  were 
received,  the  delegates  to  the  Council  (wearing  blue  badges  as 
the  mark  of  their  position),  by  the  members  of  the  Committee 
of  Arrangements  (who  wore  red  badges),  and  the  ladies  who 
accompanied  them  by  the  committee  of  ladies  who  had  assisted 
the  Entertainment  Committee  in  their  preparations. 

George  Junkin,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  the  Business  Committee, 
in  an  exceedingly  neat  and  happy  address,  introduced  the  Coun- 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

cil  en  masse  to  the  executives  of  the  State  and  city,  who  stgod 
upon  a  platform  in  the  large  reception-room.  Governor  Hoyt 
and  Mayor  Stokley  responded  in  hearty  speeches,  extending  the 
welcome  of  the  State  and  city  to  the  guests  of  the  evenin<>-. 
They  were  followed  in  brief,  varied,  and  appropriate  ad- 
dresses by  Principal  Cairns,  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Scotland;  Dr.  Murkland,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
United  States  (South) ;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Macintosh,  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Ireland  ;  Gen.  George  B.  McClellan,  Governor  of 
New  Jersey,  and  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America;  and  the  Rev.  Narayan  Sheshadri,  from  India. 

At  the  close  of  the  speeches,  which  occupied  about  an  hour, 
the  members  of  the  Council  were  introduced  personally  and  by 
name  to  the  Governor  and  the  Mayor,  and  then  to  the  crowded 
concourse.  The  rest  of  the  evening.  Until  a  late  hour,  was  spent 
in  a  free  social  interminglingof  the  delegates  with  each  other  and 
with  the  guests  who  had  been  invited  to  meet  them.  A  band 
of  music  enlivened  the  reception. 

On  the  morning  of  Thursday,  the  23d,  the  delegates  and  the 
resident  and  visiting  Presbyterian  ministers  assembled  in  the 
Chambers  Church,  at  Broad  and  Sansom,  and  then  marched  in 
procession  to  the  Academy  of  Music,  in  which  the  opening  services 
were  to  be  held.  The  procession  was  marshalled  by  Samuel  C. 
Perkins,  Esq.,  with  General  Hartranft,  ex-Governor  of  the  State; 
Colonel  A.  Loudon  Snowden,  Colonel  R.  Dale  Benson,  and 
Major  Samuel  B.  Huey  as  aids.  The  route  of  the  procession 
was  lined  by  numerous  spectators  who  gazed  with  eager  inter- 
est upon  the  scene.  It  was  estimated  that  not  less  than 
a  thousand  ministers  were  in  the  line.  They  crowded  the  plat- 
form and  the  lower  portion  of  the  Academy;  and  the  whole 
building,  even  to  its  standing  room,  was  occupied  by  an  audi- 
ence of  at  least  four  thousand  persons. 

It  had  been  desired,  and  at  a  very  early  day  the  effort  had  been 
made,  to  secure  the  Academy  of  Music  for  all  the  sessions  of  the 
Council ;  but  that  building  had  been  engaged  long  in  advance 
for  another  purpose.  Therefore,  Horticultural  Hall,  which  ad- 
joins it,  had  been  obtained  for  all  except  the  opening  morning 


1 6  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

an4  two  of  the  evening  sessions.  After  the  meeting  commenced, 
however,  the  Academy  was  given  up  by  the  party  that  had 
contracted  for  it ;  and  on  and  after  Tuesday,  the  28th,  the  morn- 
ing sessions  were  held  in  the  Hall,  and  the  afternoon  and  even- 
ing in  the  Academy. 

The  morning  sessions  were  continued  in  the  Hall,  which  was 
also  kept  open  through  the  day,  because  of  the  historical  inter- 
est that  centred  in  paintings  with  which  its  walls  had  been  hung. 
The  Rev.  Henry  C.  McCook,  D.D.,  had  designed  a  series  of  dec- 
orations which  blazoned  forth  the  leading  events  and  heroes  in 
the  histories  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  abroad,  and,  under  his 
superintendence,  they  had  been  painted  on  a  series  of  canvas 
which  almost  completely  covered  the  walls  of  the  building. 
They  were  the  theme  of  universal  and  constant  commendation. 
The  chromo-lithographs  'which  accompany  this  volume  very 
faithfully  reproduce  those  paintings  (omitting  the  evergreens  and 
flags  which  were  hung  around  them),  and  save  us  the  necessity 
of  a  verbal  description.* 

The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  1334  Chestnut  street, 
at  an  early  day  resolved  to  place  its  building  at  the  service  of 
the  members  of  the  Council  for  social  intercommunion,  letter- 
■writing,  and  other  necessary  purposes ;  to  present  each  member 
with  a  specially  prepared  and  handsomely  bound  Descriptive 
Catalogue  of  its  publications  ;  and  to  extend  to  them  a  formal 
reception  in  their  large  Assembly  room  on  Saturday  evening,  the 
25th  of  September.  The  building  was  decorated  with  flags  and 
supplied  with  flowers  during  the  sessions  of  the  Council.  The 
reception  on  the  Saturday  evening  was  largely  attended,  and  an 

*  Moreover,  the  publication  of  a  Piiotographic  Album  of  the  decorations,  accom- 
panied by  a  minute  description  of  ihem,  by  Dr.  McCook,  has  been  announced.  In 
addition  to  the  historic  decorations,  which  are  reproduced  in  this  volume,  over  the 
platform,  from  the  seal  of  the  Trustees  of  the  American  General  Assembly,  bearinjr 
the  inscription  Vox  clamaiUis  in  deserto,  and  the  seal  below  it  riiiladelphia  vianeto, 
in  the  centre,  to  the  sides,  were  suspended  in  graceful  and  parti-colored  folds  these 
inscriptions:  «'We  being  many  are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  every  one  members  one 
of  another."  "There  is  no  other  Head  of  the  Church  but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
"  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience."  "  lie  called  the  elders  and  said,  Take 
heed,  therefore,  unto  yourselves  and  to  all  the  flock  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath 
made  you  overseers."  "  Built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  eorner-stone."' 


INTR  on  UCTION. 


>7 


apposite  address  of  welcome  was  delivered  by  the  Hon,  E.  A. 
Rollins,  ex-U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue,  and  Presi- 
dent of  the  Centennial  National  Bank,  and  also  a  member  of 
the  Board.* 

A  large  number  of  invitations  to  visit  public  places  were  re- 
ceived by  the  Council,  and  accepted  with  thanks,  though 
the  Council  in  a  body  was  able  to  respond  only  to  one  of  them. 
On  the  Monday  after  the  adjournment,  it  visited  Princeton  in  a 
train  specially  provided  for  it,  and  was  received  by  the  authori- 
ties of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  and  of  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary. The  Rev.  Dr.  A.  T.  McGill  addressed  the  guests  in  the 
Seminary  chapel,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  McCosh  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  where  addresses  were  also  delivered  by 
the  Rev.  Drs.  Main  and  Lang,  the  Rev.  Narayan  Sheshadri,  and 
George  H.  Stuart,  Esq. 

The  sessions  extended  to  Saturday,  October  2d,  on  the  after- 
noon of  which  the  formal  adjournment  took  place.  A  series  of 
Sabbath-school  meetings,  however,  had  been  arranged  for  the 
afternoon,  and  of  farewell  meetings  for  the  evening,  of  the  Sab- 
bath in  churches  in  different  parts  of  the  city.  The  members  of 
the  Council  were  largely  divided  among  these  meetings,  which 
they  addressed,  and  so  carried  a  precious  influence  to  many  who 
could  not  have  reached  or  gained  admittance  to  one  place  in  the 
heart  of  the  city. 

The  deepest  impression  which,  from  the  first  and  to  the  end, 
was  made  by  the  assembled  delegates  was  that  of  concentrated 
intellectual  power.  The  theological  and  collegiate  professors, 
who  are  educating  the  young  men  of  the  generation,  and 
training  them  for  the  pulpit  and  for  other  influential  positions  in 
society,  loomed  up  largely  and  prominently,  and  indicated  the 
far-reaching  mental  influence  of  the  concourse ;  while  the 
number  of  Ruling  Elders  of  high  standing  in  political  life,  who 


*It  was  the  intention  to  publish  a  report  of  this  reception,  as  well  as  of  the 
speeches  at  the  reception  in  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  of  which  full  phonographic 
notes  were  taken  for  us ;  but  the  programme  papers  have  so  largely  run  beyond  the 
half-hour  each  on  the  basis  of  which  the  size  of  the  volume  was  calculated,  and 
have  so  increased  its  pages,  that  it  is  impossible  to  carry  out  that  intention.  Ine 
book  is,  therefore,  restricted  to  the  formal  proceedings  of  the  Council. 


i8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

were  delegates,  suggested  the  leavening  influence  of  our  Presby- 
terianism  in  civil  affairs.  This  prominent  intellectuality  was 
noted  with  emphasis  by  the  secular  press;  and  it  provoked  the 
criticism,  in  more  than  one  quarter,  that  the  Presbyterian 
ministry  is  the  intellectual  ministry  of  the  denominations.  An 
unusually  large  proportion  of  the  prepared  papers  are  striking 
expressions  of  this  mental  power  and  theological  culture.  The 
repeated  reading  of  them,  in  manuscript  and  in  proof,  has,  in 
the  minds  of  the  editors,  one  of  whose  duties  it  was  closely  to 
watch  the  proceedings,  increased  the  admiration  with  which 
they  listened  to  them.  And  the  extempore  speeches  were 
equally  significant.  The  writer  has  had  considerable  experience  in 
political  and  judicial  bodies.  Not  even  in  his  boyish  days  when 
novelty  would  naturally  exaggerate,  did  the  practised  debaters 
of  the  United  States  Senate  make  a  stronger  impression  of 
aptness,  cogency,  and  power  of  debate  than  was  made  upon  his 
mind  by  the  members  of  the  Council. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  papers  deal  with  the  living 
polemic  questions  of  the  day,  but  even  when  they  are  most 
severely  theological  and  controversial  their  practical  bearing  is 
marked ;  so  that  the  thoughtful  among  our  people,  and 
especially  the  preachers  in  our  pulpits,  will  find  them  a  valuable 
arsenal.  Perhaps  if  any  one  element  predominated  over  others 
through  the  whole  proceedings  it  was  that  of  church  work.  In 
reality  the  Council  was  in  a  great  degree  a  missionary  convention. 
The  special  invitation  at  the  beginning  to  missionaries  to  sit  as 
associate  members  was  significant.  Several  sessions  were 
devoted  almost  wholly  to  missions.  Furthermore,  a  large 
number  of  the  papers  prepared  by  transatlantic  members,  and 
giving  the  history  of  their  struggling  churches,  are  pervaded 
largely  by  the  strictly  mission  element.  For  the  mass  of  readers 
those  papers  contain  a  rich  fund  of  cheering  information. 

While  the  powerful  intellectual  tone  dominated,  and  while 
the  programme  was  so  full  that  the  formal  proceedings  crowded 
the  time,  the  devotional  spirit  was  very  pervasive.  The  half- 
hour  of  prayer  and  praise  with  which  the  sessions  of  every  day 
opened  was  marked  by  a  tender  spirituality.     That  also  swayed 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

the  Council  at  times  in  the  midst  of  the  routine  business. 
One  of  the  most  impressive  scenes  was  presented  by  the  rising 
of  this  wave  at  the  close  of  Principal  Cairn's  paper  on  "  The 
Vicarious  Sacrifice  of  Christ."  * 

From  the  members  of  the  Council  compliments  to  their 
Philadelphia  hosts  flew  thick  and  fast,  especially  on  the  last  day 
in  connection  with  the  resolutions  of  acknowledgment  which  were 
passed.  It  is  but  the  deserved  complement  to  them  to  say  that 
the  social  influence  of  the  delegates  upon  Philadelphia  was  of 
the  happiest  kind.  The  Presbyterians  of  the  city  feel  abundantly 
repaid  for  all  the  preparations  which  they  made  for  the  meeting. 
Friendships  were  formed  which  will  bind  together  hearts  in 
different  lands  through  all  the  future  of  this  life,  and  thrill  in  the 
social  circles  of  heaven. 

And  how  truly  ecumenical  the  concourse  was !  How  sug- 
gestive of  the  Catholicity  of  Presbyterianism  !  To  one  who  sat 
often  upon  the  platform  and  looked  down  upon  the  strongly 
marked  faces,  and  added  to  that  an  analysis  of  the  roll,  the 
sight  was  a  striking  one.  The  white,  the  black,  the  copper 
colored  races  were  all  there.  A  North  American  Indian,  a 
Brahmin  from  India,  and  Negroes  from  Africa,  sat  with 
Europeans,  and  made  most  effective  addresses  to  the  thousands 
of  spectators  who  crowded  the  places  of  meeting.  The 
delegates  came  from  all  the  Continents,  and  from  the  isles  of 
the  sea.  A  grouping  of  the  list  shows  that  the  places  actually 
represented  were  :  in  America — the  United  States,  and  Canada  ; 
in  Europe — England,  Scotland,  Wales,  Ireland,  Belgium, 
Germany,  Bohemia,  France,  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  Spain  ;  in 
Asia — Syria,  India,  Japan,  China,  and  Ceylon  ;  in  Africa,  Egypt, 
Gaboon  and  Corisco,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Basuto  Land ;  in 
Australia — New  South  Wales,  South  Australia,  Victoria,  and 
Tasmania;  and  the  New  Hebrides  ;  while  papers  and  letters  were 
received  from  other  countries,  and  from  writers  who  could  not 
personally  be  present.     On  the  roll  of  the  Alliance,   some  of 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  reports  of  the  devotional  services  are  not 
given  in  this  volume,  nor  are  noted  any  of  the  manifestations  of  applause  which 
were  frequent. 


20  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

them  having  had  delegates  in  attendance  at  the  Edinburgh 
Council,  though  not  able  to  be  in  Philadelphia,  are  Moravia, 
Hungary,  the  Netherlands,  Natal,  New  Zealand,  Orange  Free 
State,  Otago  and  Southland,  and  Queensland.  The  Inter- 
national Exhibition  which  the  United  States  held  in  their 
Centennial  year  in  Philadelphia  was  expressive ;  the  second 
General  Council  of  Presbyterians,  in  the  interest  of  Christ's 
cross  and  crown,  was  no  less  so. 

This  volume  is  designed  to  present  a  permanent  pen-photo- 
graph of  the  proceedings  of  the  body.  It  omits  the  numerous 
notices  and  references  of  merely  local  and  temporary  interest 
and  other  extraneous  matters  which  appeared  in  the  course  of 
the  business;  but  it  contains  a  full  and  it  is  believed  an 
accurate  report  of  the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  Council  as 
arranged  for  in  the  Programme.  It  ought  to  be  understood 
that  it  is  not,  nor  does  it  contain,  the  technical  minutes 
of  the  body,  and  that  the  clerks  are  not  responsible  for 
its  correctness.  But  for  the  preparation  of  it  the  editors  re- 
ceived the  manuscripts  of  all  the  essays  by  their  writers,  many 
of  whom  have  also  revised  and  corrected  their  papers  in  proof; 
and  had  full  phonographic  reports  of  the  proceedings  and  dis- 
cussions made  by  the  official  reporters  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Legislature,  under  the  superintendence  of  Samuel  B.  Collins, 
Esq.  They  have  also  had  the  use  of  the  Clerks'  minutes,  with 
which  they  have  checked  the  reporters'  notes  of  the  business 
proceedings,  so  as  to  make  sure  of  their  reliability. 

The  arrangement  of  the  volume  has  proceeded  on  two  simple 
rules :  It  reproduces  the  proceedings,  from  day  to  day,  precisely 
in  the  order  in  which  they  took  place ;  and  it  places  in  the  first 
part,  all  that  was  read,  said,  and  done  in  the  Council,  and  in  the 
second  part,  or  yVppendix,  all  papers  which  were  referred  to  but 
not  read,  or  which  svere  officially  handed  to  the  editors  for  pub- 
lication.* 


*  In  ihe  freedom  of  discussion,  which  is  one  of  the  glories  of  such  an  Assembly, 
there  must,  of  course,  be  expressions  of  individual  opinion  for  which  none  but  the 
speaker  or  reader  is  responsible.  The  utterance  of  any  such  views  on  the  i^oor  of 
the  Council  did  not  make  them  the  views  of  the  Council  itself;  the  reproduction  of 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

The  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.  D.,  the  senior  Presbyterian 
Pastor  in  Philadelphia,  who,  as  Chairman  of  the  General  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements,  was  to  deliver  the  Address  of  Welcome 
at  the  opening  of  the  sessions,  began  to  write  that  address  as 
follows : 

"Brethren  Beloved  in  Christ  Jesus :  I  am  charged  with  the 
grateful  office  of  bidding  you  welcome  to  our  country  and  our  city, 
our  churches  and  our  homes. 

"First  of  all,  our  grateful  acknowledgments  are  due  to  tliat  be- 
nign Providence  which  has  watched  over  you  on  the  land  and  on 
the  sea,  shielded  you  from  the  perils  of  travelling,  and  brought  you 
to  us  in  this  goodly  convocation,  as  we  humbly  trust,  in  the  fulness  of 
the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  The  occasion  is  one  which  turns 
back  the  shadows  upon  the  great  dial,  not  fifteen  degrees,  but  three 
and  a  half  centuries.  Luther  and  Zwingle,  Calvin  and  Knox,  and, 
their  illustrious  compeers,  stand  before  us,  God's  appointed  instru- 
ments for  publishing  to  an  enslaved  continent  this  mandate :  Come 
out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  and  that 
ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues.  They  heard  and  obeyed  the  summons. 
Breaking  away  from  the  ancient  thraldom,  their  first  recourse  was  to 
that  inspired  Book,  which  had  for  ages  been  withheld  from  them. 
Searching  the  Scriptures  with  patient  study  and  earnest  prayer,  they 
found  there  neither  pope  nor  prelate,  but  a  permanent  ministry  of  co- 
equal rank  and  authority,  and  that  scheme  of  doctrine  which  consti- 
tutes the  life  and  core  of  the  evangelical  theology.  It  is  a  pregnant 
fact  that  nearly  all  the  churches  of  the  Reformation  assumed,  and 
])reserve  to  this  day,  a  Presbyterian  organization.  In  Germany,  in 
Switzerland,  in  the  Netherlands,  in  Scotland,  in  Italy,  in  France,  they 
adopted  with  one  accord,  and  still  retain,  the  primitive  Scriptural 
order,  which  the  Waldensian  Church,  'neither  Protestant  nor  Re- 
formed,' had  maintained  inviolate  for  centuries  amidst  the  fastnesses 
of  the  High  Alps.  Even  those  churches  which  retained  the  prelatic 
element,  retained  it,  with  a  single  exception,  not  as  of  imperative  di- 
vine obligation,  but  purely  on  grounds  of  expediency,  their  bishops 
being  simply  primi  inter  pares,  not  a  superior  order  to  Presbyters. 
And  it  is  safe  to  say  that  England  also  would  have  taken  this  ground, 
had  not  the  iron  hand  of  the  crown  laid  an  arrest  upon  the  beneficent 
w^ork  of  her  faithful  and  shackled  reformers." 

But  when  he  had  proceeded  that  far,  the  gentle  hand  of  death 
was  laid   upon   his    pen,  and  he  was  called  up  higher,  as  had 

them,  in  a  full  and  faithful  report  of  its  proceedings,  keeps  them  precisely  in  the 
position  in  which  they  were  uttered  as  individual  opinions  unless  sanctioned  hy  a 
vote  of  the  body.  At  the  same  time,  it  may  be  noted,  there  was  really  very  little  to 
require  this  caveat  from  any  side.  The  unity  in  diversity  which  appears  in  those 
pages  is  far  more  encouraging,  than  the  diversity  in  unity  is  alarming. 


22  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

already  been  the  Rev.  Elias  R.  Beadle,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  his 
predecessor  in  the  Chairmanship  of  the  General  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  and  the  Rev.  William  Adams,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  who 
had  been  appointed  to  preach  the  opening  sermon.  The 
Council  met,  not  under  the  shadow,  but  under  the  brightness 
of  glorified  death.  Not  a  few  of  those  who  were  in  it  may  ex- 
pect, before  the  Belfast  meeting,  to  be  translated  to  the  General 
Assembly  in  Heaven.  The  membership  of  the  earthly  assem- 
blies changes.  New  acquaintanceships  are  made  ;  and  the  old  and 
the  new  circles  are  broken.  But  the  work  continues  under  Him 
who  "  liveth  and  was  dead,"  and  is  "  alive  forevermore,"  and 
who,  "  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever,"  invests  with  his 
own  immortality  those  who  in  his  service  are  faithful  unto  the 
death.  And  their  work,  in  its  effects  here,  is  also  unending, 
unbroken,  interlinked.  The  different  generations  and  the 
different  meetings  have  an  organic  connection,  the  one  life 
flowing  into,  and  out  of,  each,  and  through  all,  and  passing  at 
last  into  the  great  consummation.  May  the  rich  influence 
of  the  London,  the  Edinburgh,  the  Philadelphia,  and 
the  successive  meetings  of  this  Council  roll  on,  strengthening 
and  enlarging  Presbyterianism,  helping  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  all  its  branches,  and  increasingly  adding  to  the  number  of 
the  redeemed,  who,  in  glorified  and  beatific  communion  with 
Jesus,  shall  be  heard  saying :  "  Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory 
and  power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto 
the  Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever."     Amen  and  Amen. 


ADDENDA. 


The  roll,  as  it  is  given  on  page  45,  was  printed  in  its  place 
from  the  officially  published  one  which  was  prepared  for  the 
members  after  the  Council  had  fully  gotten  under  way.  But 
after  it  had  been  cast  in  the  electrotype  plates  the  following 
changes  in  it  were  reported  to  us : 

The  Rev.  J.  G.  Humphrey,  M.  A.,  of  New  York,  and  Bennett 
Williams,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  were  added  to  the  list  from  the 
Calvinistic  Methodist  Church  in  Wales. 

The  Reformed  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  was  received  into 
the  Alliance,  and  the  Rev.  T.  W.  J.  Wylie,  D.  D.,  and  George  H. 
Stuart,  Esq.,  were  enrolled  as  delegates  from  it. 

The  names  of  the  following  missionaries  who  came  within  the 
invitation  as  associate  members  were  not  publicly  announced 
during  the  sessions,  and  have  only  been  handed  to  us  since  the 
plates  were  cast.     They  are  here  given  to  complete  the  list: 

Beattie,  Rev.  Jos.  D.,  D.  D.,  Syria,  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 
Synod. 

Brodhead,  Rev.  A.,  D.  D.,  India,  Presbyterian  Board  Foreign 
Missions. 

Ballagh,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Japan,  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 

Barker,  W.  P.,  Seneca  Indians,  Presbyterian  Board  Foreign  Mis- 
sions. 

Ewing,  S.  C,  Alexandria,  Egypt,  United  Presbyterian  Church. 

Holcomb,  J.  F.,  Allahabad,  India,  Presbyterian  Board. 

Helm,  Benj.,  Hongchow,  China,  Presbyterian  Church  South. 

Kip,  Leonard  W.,  Amoy,  China,  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 

Lyon,  D.  L.,  Hongchow,  Presbyterian  Board. 

Martyn,  J.  A.,  South  Africa,  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 

Mackay,  Geo.  L.,  D.  D.,  Formosa,  China,  Canada  Presbyterian 
Church. 

Martin,  W.  A.  P.,  President  Imperial  College,  Peking,  Presby- 
terian Board. 

Nassau,  R.  H.,  M.  D.,  Gaboon  and  Corisco  Mission,  Presbyterian 
Board. 

Seller,  G.  W.,  Kolapoor. 

Stout,  Henry,  Japan,  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 

Tracy,  Thos.,  Futtegurh,  India,  Presbyterian  Board. 

Wyckoff,  B.  DuBois,  Futtegurh,  India,  Presbyterian  Board. 

(23) 


24  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials,  referred  to  on 
page  148,  and  adopted  by  the  Council,  was  also  omitted  from  its 
place ;  and  it  is  printed  here  to  make  the  record  complete  : 

Your  Committee  beg  leave  to  report  as  follows : 

I.  As  to  the  cases  in  which  Churches  have  appointed  as  their  repre- 
sentatives, gentlemen  who,  although  members  of  Churches  embraced 
in  the  Alliance,  are  not  members  of  the  Churches  deputing  them, 
your  Committee,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  language  of  Article  III., 
Section  2,  of  the  Constitution,  is  not  so  explicit  as  altogether  to  pre- 
vent the  misapprehension  that  may  have  occasioned  those  appoint- 
ments, recommend  that  the  gentlemen  so  appointed  should  be  invited 
to  sit  as  associates  in  this  Council ;  and,  further,  to  avoid  the  occur- 
rence of  such  misunderstandings,  recommend  that  the  Council  do  de- 
clare that  the  true  spirit  and  intent  of  Article  III.,  Section  2,  of  the 
Constitution  requires  delegates  to  be  members  of  the  Churches  ap- 
pointing them. 

II.  With  reference  to  the  credentials  presented  by  the  Rev.  An- 
tonio Arrighi,  of  the  new  Italian  Church,  your  Committee  find  that 
the  appointment  appears  to  be  made  by  the  Evangelization  Commit- 
tee, instead  of  by  a  regular  ecclesiastical  court  of  the  Free  Italian 
Church.  The  document  is  signed  by  the  Rev.  John  R.  McDougall, 
of  Florence,  whose  position,  as  well  as  that  of  Mr.  Arrighi,  in  the 
Free  Italian  Church,  is  within  the  personal  knowledge  of  your  Com- 
mittee ;  and  they,  therefore,  recommend  that  the  appointment  should 
be  sustained,  notwithstanding  the  informality. 

III.  Churches  not  hitherto  members  of  the  Alliance. 

(«;.)  The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States. 

In  this  case  your  Committee,  while  recognizing  and  rejoicing  in 
the  good  work  for  our  common  Master,  carried  on  by  this  important 
Church,  and  without  remarking  especially  on  the  somewhat  informal 
nature  of  the  application  for  admission  to  the  Alliance,  regret  to  find 
themselves  obliged  to  recommend  the  Council  to  decline  the  applica- 
tion. Your  Committee  are  constrained  to  adopt  this  resolution  by 
the  absence  of  sufficient  evidence  that  the  Cumberland  Church  now 
accept  the  doctrinal  basis  of  the  Alliance,  and  by  the  terms  of  Article 
II.  of  the  Constitution,  which  restricts  the  Alliance  to  Churches 
"whose  creed  is  in  harmony  wjth  the  Consensus  of  the  Reformed 
Confessions." 

(^.)  Presbytery  of  Tasmania. 

Your  Committee  recommend  the  admission  of  this  Church  to  the 
Alliance. 

D.   H.  McVicAR,  Convener. 


BATTLEof™E 

WILLIAM  III  OF, 

REGIUM^^^, 


^~    0ERRYI689 
BOYNE  1690 

JflORIOUSMEMOR^ 
.^vi'^    DONUM 


ACTOFT0LERATI0NADI723 
RISEOFTHE  SECESSION  CHURCH  AD  1733 
REPEAL  "^SACRAMENTAL  TEST  A0I78G 
—  HENRY  C00KEI82I.— 

FRANCISCUSMAKEMIUS  SCOTO  HYBERNUSAD168I 


SECOND 

General  Presbyterian  Council 


The  Second  General  Council  of  the  Presbyterian  Alliance 
met  in  the  Academy  of  Music,  Philadelphia,  on  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember, 1880,  at  II  A.  M.  The  Rev.  William  M.  Paxton,  D.D., 
of  New  York,  preached  the  opening  sermon,  as  follows : 

"And  I  say  unto  you,  That  many  shall  come  from  the  East  and  West,  and 
shall  sit  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
— Matthew  viii.  ii. 

The  centurion  who  drew  this  utterance  from  our  Lord  had  cer- 
tainly exhibited  an  extraordinary  faith.  Others  before  had  believed 
that  Jesus  could  heal  by  contact  with  the  diseased  person,  but  here 
was  one  who  believed  that  he  could  heal  at  a  distance.  "I  am  not 
worthy,"  said  he,  "that  thou  shouldst  come  under  my  roof,  but 
speak  the  word  only  and  my  servant  shall  be  healed."  He  not  only 
states  his  confidence,  but  explains  the  mental  process  by  which  he 
reached  this  conviction.  He  was  a  man  in  authority — a  centurion, 
having  soldiers  under  him.  They  went  and  came  at  his  bidding.  In 
the  same  manner  he  believed  that  Jesus  was  in  a  position  of  authority 
over  the  forces  of  nature.  All  the  powers  of  the  universe  were  sub- 
ject to  his  command.  Here  was  a  sublime  faith,  exhibiting  itself 
suddenly  in  an  unexpected  quarter,  by  a  heathen  man.  Our  Lord 
expresses  his  surprise:  "I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in 
Israel."  It  might  have  been  expected  that  the  Israelites,  who  had 
been  familiar  with  wonders,  would  believe ;  but  here  was  a  heathen 
whose  faith  was  without  a  precedent.  Our  Lord  points  the  attention 
of  his  disciples  to  it,  and  tells  them  that  this  is  an  illustration  in  a 
single  example  of  what  shall  take  place  in  the  future  on  a  large  scale; 
that  this  one  Gentile,  coming  with  such  an  extraordinary  faith,  is 
only  the  first  fruit  of  a  future  harvest,  when  they  shall  come  from 
the  North,  and  the  South,  and  the  East,  and  the  West  to  sit  down 
with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

May  I  not  turn  to  you,  brethren  and  Christian  friends,  and  say, 
This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  before  our  eyes.  Who  are  these, 
and  whence  come  they?  They  are  Gentile  believers  in  the  kingship 
of  Christ  over  the  forces  of  the  universe  :   in  his  power  to  convert  and 

(25) 


26  THE    PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

heal  this  world  by  his  word.  They  are  the  men  of  whom  this  cen- 
turion was  the  prototype.  And  whence  come  they?  "From  the 
North  and  the  South,  and  from  the  East  and  the  West ;  "  from  many 
nations,  speaking  many  languages — they  are  the  representatives  of 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  whom  the  centurion  was  the  first 
fruit.  They  represent,  not  simply  churches  or  presbyteries  or  synods, 
but  great  denominations,  many  Presbyterian  bodies  scattered  over  the 
wide  world.  They  are  the  Presbuieroi  from  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
They  take  their  place  in  this  Council  of  the  Kingdom  as  representa- 
tives of  a  great  spiritual  host,  just  as  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob 
were  representative  chieftains  of  the  Jewish  nation.  And  what  is  this 
gathering  here  but  the  first  fruits  of  the  finished  harvest  when  God 
shall  call  his  sons  from  afar  and  his  daughters  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  ? 

But  this  text  seems  to  suggest  that  there  is  an  order  and  meaning 
in  this  gathering.  Our  Lord  sent  out  his  disciples  from  Jerusalem, 
"Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 
It  was  a  command  to  disperse  to  every  nation.  But  here  they  are 
gathering — coming  together  from  every  clime.  The  great  commen- 
tator Bengel  supposes  that  the  points  of  the  compass  are  here  men- 
tioned in  the  exact  geographical  and  historical  order  in  which  the 
gospel  went  out  into  the  world.  It  started  in  Syria  in  the  East, 
travelled  westward  through  Asia  Minor,  and  along  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  then  northward  to  the  Scandinavian  nations,  then 
southward  to  Africa,  and  then  westward  to  America  and  the  islands 
of  the  Pacific. 

This  gathering  is  in  the  same  order — from  the  East,  the  North,  the 
South,  the  West.  They  started  at  the  rising  sun,  they  gather  toward 
the  setting  sun.  They  started  at  Jerusalem.  We  gather  now  in  this 
Jerusalem,  this  great  centre  of  Christian  civilization  in  the  ends  of 
the  earth — in  this  asylum  which  the  hand  of  Providence  has  opened 
for  the  oppressed  and  persecuted  from  every  land,  in  the  midst  of  a 
nation  composed  of  the  broken  fragments  of  Zion  from  many  a  clime. 

But  7vhat  means  this  world-wide  asse?nblage  ?  The  command  of  the 
Master  dispersed  his  disciples.  What  means  this  gathering  again  ? 
They  come  as  the  representatives  of  the  churches  formed  and  of  the 
souls  saved  by  those  who  went  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth..  They 
come  together  to  look  into  each  other's  faces,  to  clasp  hands  in  a 
goodly  fellowship,  and  to  tell  of  the  work  that  has  been  done,  of  the 
success  that  has  been  achieved.  They  come  to  report  that  "the 
gospel  is  being  preached  to  all  nations;"  that  it  is  indeed  "the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  everyone  that  believeth."  They 
tell,  indeed,  of  labor,  of  hardship,  of  enmity,  of  opposition,  of  strug- 
gle, of  enemies  who  cry  "failure,"  but  despite  all  this  they  tell  of 
success — success  along  the  whole  line  where  the  battle  has  been  fairly 
joined.  They  come  to  tell  us  that  the  work  of  Christian  missions  is 
a  success,  and  that  this  day  the  decree  stands  firmer  than  it  ever 
stood :   "I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance  and  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  27 

uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession."  They  tell  that 
Christ  in  the  presence  and  influence  of  his  truth  is  a  power  which, 
like  gravitation,  belts  the  world  ;  that  at  this  very  hour  his  gospel  is 
the  grandest,  mightiest  power  that  this  world  has  ever  seen.  In  a 
word,  they  come  to  tell  that  all  over  the  earth  the  name  of  Jesus  is 
above  every  name. 

But  this  gathering  has  a  meaning  far  deeper  than  this.  We  assem- 
ble not  only  to  open  our  hearts  to  each  other  in  the  most  affectionate 
sympathies,  but  we  have  come  together  to  deliberate.  The  work  is 
a  success,  but  the  field  is  the  world.  Vast  tracts  are  still  lying  in 
wickedness.  The  empire  of  sin  is  deep-rooted  and  inveterate.  The 
enemy  is  organizing  powerful  forces.  We  are,  perhaps,  upon  the  eve 
of  a  great  and  momentous  contest  in  every  land.  And  in  this  crisis 
we  assemble  to  consider  how  this  whole  world  is  to  be  conquered  for 
Christ. 

We  do  not  assemble  in  any  spirit  of  narrow  denominationalism, 
nor  do  we  claim  this  great  work  as  ours  alone.  We  recognize  all  the 
evangelical  branches  of  the  great  Protestant  Church  as  fellow-laborers 
in  the  same  mission  ;  we  open  to  them  our  hearts  and  pledge  them 
our  fellowship  and  fidelity  as  we  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the 
great  conflict. 

Still,  it  must  be  remembered  that  we  are  Presbyterians,  and  that 
this  is  a  Presbyterian  Council  inviting  a  representation  of  delegates 
from  all  the  branches  of  the  great  family  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
holding  to  the  Presbyterian  polity  and  doctrine. 

These  Churches  have  been  raised  up  by  Divine  Providence  to  do  a 
peculiar  work.  They  have  a  record  of  labor,  struggle,  victory  and 
blessing,  which  is  written  in  the  history  of  almost  every  land.  With 
this  record,  peculiar  and  distinctive  in  the  past,  and  with  the  trophies 
of  success  before  our  eyes  and  the  tokens  of  blessing  in  the  memory 
of  the  world,  we  assemble  in  this  crisis  to  ask.  What  is  our  mission 
now?  How  shall  we  do  our  part  in  conquering  the  world  for 
Christ  ? 

Our  future  must  link  itself  with  the  past.  If  Divine  Providence 
has  shaped  our  work  and  given  us  characteristics  of  usefulness  and 
efficiency  in  the  past,  then  our  advance  must  be  in  the  same  line  and 
our  progress  an  increase  in  consecration  and  action.  The  first  thing, 
therefore,  is  to  understand  ourselves. 

What  has  been  our  work  ?  What  are  our  characteristics  ?  What 
is  the  image  and  superscription  which  Divine  Providence  has  stamped 
upon  us?  In  one  word,  What  has  been  our  mission  in  the  past? 
What  should  be  our  mission  in  the  future  ? 

In  looking  back  it  strikes  us  : 

Eirst.  That  one  promittent  characteristic  of  the  great  family  of  Presby- 
terian Churches  is  loyalty  to  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the 
centre  from  which  all  our  theology  starts,  the  foundation  from  which 
we  draw  all  our  inspiration.  We  do  not  claim  this  as  a  distinction 
peculiar  to  ourselves,  but  we  point  to  it  as  a  characteristic  that  needs 


28  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  be  emphasized.  Jesus  Christ  stands  out  before  us  as  a  great 
historical  character.  It  is  a  simple  fact  that  he  is  the  greatest  person- 
age in  the  world's  history,  the  mightiest  force  in  the  world's  action, 
the  grandest  influence  in  its  civilization.  Hence  the  inquiry,  Who 
is  he?  is  the. question  that  is  back  of  all  other  questions.  The  answer 
to  this,  by  each  individual,  determines  his  own  personal  experience 
and  character.  The  answer  to  this  by  a  Church  or  denomination  of 
Christians  determines  the  value  of  the  religion  which  it  teaches  and 
the  measure  and  character  of  its  efficiency  in  the  world. 

If  you  give  the  Arian  or  Socinian  answer,  which  denies  his  divinity,, 
even  though  it  accredits  him  as  the  highest  of  created  beings,  or  as  a 
divinely  endowed  man,  you  have  a  religion  which  leaves  man  in  a 
state  of  sin  without  a  Redeemer,  under  a  consciousness  of  guilt  with- 
out an  atonement,  and  with  no  incentive  but  that  of  a  pure  humanita- 
rianism  to  raise  him  to  something  higher  and  better. 

If  you  take  the  Gnostic  answer,  which  denies  his  humanity,  or  the 
Apollinarian  answer,  which  denies  him  a  rational  spirit — the  place  of 
human  intelligence  being  supplied  in  him  by  the  eternal  Logos,  then- 
you  have  a  religion  which  brings  us  in  contact  with  the  divine  without 
a  singie  element  of  human  comfort  or  consolation.  We  have  no  ''days- 
man "  to  represent  our  nature  in  any  form  of  mediation  between 
God  and  man,  no  form  of  humanity  to  bear  the  burden  of  our  guilt, 
no  brother  or  friend  to  open  to  us  a  heart  of  sympathy  or  to  soothe 
the  bitterness  of  human  woe. 

Or  if,  advancing  to  later  times,  you  take  the  answer  of  Schleier- 
macher  or  any  of  the  more  advanced  theories  of  philosophic  specula- 
tion which  regard  Christ  as  the  ideal  man,  the  one  man  in  whom  the 
ideal  of  humanity  comes  to  its  fullest  realization,  and  he  the  source 
of  new  life  to  others  by  awakening  in  them  the  same  God-conscious- 
ness, then  you  have  a  religion  in  which  Christ  is  lost  in  humanity, 
and  the  glorious  person  of  the  God-man  Mediator  is  shrouded  in 
mystery  and  lost  to  the  view  of  faith. 

But  if,  turning  from  all  these  hidings  of  his  power  and  glory,  we 
take  the  answer  of  Nathanaei :  "  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God  ;  Thou  art 
the  King  of  Israel ;  "  or  of  Peter  :  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God  ;  "  or  of  Martha :  "I  believe  that  thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God,  that  should  come  into  the  world  ;  "  or  of  Thomas: 
"  My  Lord  and  my  God  ; "  or  of  Paul  :  "In  him  dwells  all  the  full- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily;"  or  of  John:  "And  the  Word  was 
made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory 
as  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father),  full  of  grace  and  truth  " — then 
you  have  standing  out  before  your  apprehension  a  glorious  person — 
God,  yet  man  ;  very  God,  yet  very  man — God  and  man  in  one  per- 
son, that,  by  the  mysterious  union  of  their  two  natures  in  one  person, 
he  might  reconcile  God  to  man  by  making  expiation,  and  man  to 
God  by  making  intercession  for  him. 

This  is  the  glorious  person  to  whom  the  Presbyterian  heart  and  the 
Presbyterian  faith  have  ever  been  loyal.     It  was  in   the  light  of  this, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  29 

wonderful  person  that  Augustine  interpreted  the  Scriptures  and  drew 
out  that  marvellous  Christo-centric  system  of  theology  that  has  guided 
the  Presbyterian  faith,  and  has  shed  its  light  of  hope  and  peace  all 
-down  the  ages- 
It  was  this  gracious  person  who,  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  the  Vau- 
dois  and  Waldenses,  enabled  them  to  preserve  the  light  of  truth 
through  the  dark  night  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  enkindle  again  the 
.torch  of  the  reformation. 

It  was  this  truth,  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  love  of  God  in 
him,  that  inspired  and  guided  the  reformation.  It  was  heart  loy- 
alty to  the  person  of  Christ  that  enabled  John  Knox,  as  the  Eng- 
lish ambassador  testified,  "  to  put  more  life  into  his  hearers  from  the 
pulpit  in  one  hour  than  600  trumpets."  It  is  this  truth  that  leads  the 
van  of  our  doctrinal  beliefs,  and  all  else  follows  in  its  train.  It  has 
stood  foremost  in  the  confessions  and  symbols  of  our  churches  age 
after  age,  until  at  length  it  found  its  simplest  and  most  perfect  ex- 
pression in  the  Westminster  Catechism — "The  only  Redeemer  of 
God's  elect  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  being  the  eternal  Son  of 
vGod,  became  man,  by  taking  to  himself  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable 
soul,  and  so  was  and  continues  to  be  God  and  man  in  two  distinct 
natures  and  one  person  forever." 

Here  is  the  person  of  a  living  Redeemer,  around  whom  our  affec- 
tions may  cluster,  who  has  the  worth  of  divinity  to  give  value  to  his 
■sacrifice,  the  form  of  humanity  to  suffer  the  law  penalty  which  human- 
ity has  incurred — a  wealth  of  love  to  challenge  our  affection  and  a 
motive  to  service  which  binds  us  to  him  with  the  bands  of  a  man  and 
cords  of  love.  Such  is  the  religion  that  a  proper  apprehension  of  the 
^person  of  Christ  must  ever  produce.  A  stalwart  religion,  that  grasps 
by  faith  the  arm  of  a  mighty  Redeemer  ;  a  strong  love,  that  holds  him 
,in  a  steadfast  embrace;  a  warmth  of  devotion,  that  counts  all  things 
as  loss  for  Christ ;  and  a  courage  that  smiles  at  the  stake  and  triumphs 
in  a  martyr's  victory.  Obscure  the  glory  of  that  person  and  the 
■Church  sinks  into  imbecility. 

Be  assured  that  no  Church  can  ever  bear  an  effectual  part  in  the 
■conquest  of  the  world  but  a  Church  that  is  loyal  to  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Second.    A  second  distinction  of  our  Presbyterian   Churches  in  the 

past  is  their  character  as  witness-bearers.     We  should  certamly  fail 

to  understand  ourselves,  or  to  appreciate  our  mission  in  the  future,  if 

■we  should  let  this  fact  drop  from  our  memories,  or  fail  of  its  realiza- 

.tion  in  our  consciousness  as  we  prosecute  our  work.  ^ 

"Ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord"  (Isaiah  xliii.  10).  "Ye 
shall  be  witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth"  (Acts  1.  8). 
These,  and  similar  scriptures,  seem  from  the  beginning  to  have  taken 
a  deep  hold  upon  the  Presbyterian  heart,  and  to  have  come  to  a  vivid 
realization  in  the  experience  of  the  whole  Church.  Accordingly  the 
■long  line  of  our  past  history  is  strewn  with  testimonies,  confessions 


30  THE  PRESBYTERFAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  witnesses  to  the  truths  of  God,  written  in  symbols,  delivered  irt' 
pulpits,  illustrated  in  glorious  and  illustrious  lives,  uttered  amidst  the 
flames  and  sealed  with  blood.  Hence,  as  we  look  back,  we  are  com- 
passed about  with  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses — Paul  witnessing  against 
the  Judaizing  tendencies  of  the  carnal  heart  which  afterwards  efflor- 
esced in  Romanism,  and  against  a  philosophy,  falsely  so  called,  which 
has  only  now  reached  its  ultimate  evolution ;  Augustine  witnessing 
for  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  doctrines  of  grace,  when  the 
Pelagian  heresy  threatened  to  pale  their  glory ;  the  Waldenses  wit- 
nessing, midst  sword  and  flame,  for  freedom  of  thought  and  the  right 
of  private  judgment,  and  for  the  precious  doctrines  of  the  Cross,  when 
the  light  of  these  truths  was  almost  extinguished  by  the  overlaying  of 
vain  traditions,  and  the  smothering  accretions  of  Romish  superstition. 
Then  again  we  have  the  witnesses  of  the  great  family  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Churches  of  the  reformation  to  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  the 
Bible,  to  its  immediate  and  plenary  inspiration,  to  its  all-sufficiency 
and  infallibility  as  the  only  and  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  duty 
against  the  Romish  doctrine  of  tradition  as  a  co-ordinate  rule  of  faith, 
and  against  the  presumptuous  claim  of  the  Papacy  to  be  the  infallible 
teacher  of  the  true  faith  and  the  final  judge  of  all  controversies.  It 
was  this  witness  that  broke  the  chain  that  bound  the  Scriptures  in  the 
cloisters  of  the  Romish  monasteries  and  opened  the  truth  of  God 
to  the  people.  Then  came  the  voices  of  witness-bearers  like  the 
sound  of  many  waters  testifying  to  the  contents  of  heaven's  precious 
message  to  man.  They  witnessed  to  a  salvation  only  effected  through 
the  blood  and  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ — not  by  human  merit,  not  by 
works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done,  not  by  penance  or  self- 
sacrifice,  as  the  priesthood  taught,  nor  yet  by  the  life  of  Christ  as  a 
model  for  imitation,  charming  us  to  a  better  life  and  lifting  us  to  the 
realization  of  an  ideal  humanity,  as  rationalism  suggested  then  and  is 
urging  now,  but  by  the  efficacy  of  an  atonement  which  expiates  sin  by 
satisfying  the  penalty  of  the  broken  law,  and  secures  a  free  pardon 
and  a  gracious  acceptance  for  fallen  man.  It  was  this  effective  wit- 
nessing to  the  love  of  God  in  the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  that  broke 
the  fetters  of  spiritual  despotism  and  produced  the  reformation.  As 
benighted  men  who  had  trembled  under  the  idea  of  God  as  an  inex- 
orable Judge,  lifted  their  eyes  to  the  face  of  a  Father  in  heaven  whom 
they  felt  sure  loved  them,  they  adored,  worshipped  and  believed.  No 
less  powerful  was  their  witness  to  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
alone,  and  to  the  efficacy  of  divine  grace  in  the  regeneration  and 
sanctification  of  the  soul.  We  cannot  follow  in  detail  the  long  line 
of  witnesses.  But  among  all  these  witnesses  one  voice,  clear  and 
strong,  falls  upon  our  ears.     It  comes  to  us  like  the  shout  of  a  king. 

It  is  a  sound  that  made  thrones  rock  and  monarchs  tremble.  It 
comes  from  the  misty  hills  of  Scotland.  It  is  the  voice  of  John  Knox, 
witnessing  to  the  kingship  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  alone  is  the  King 
and  Head  of  the  Church.  The  Church  is  Christ's  house,  Christ's 
kingdom.     He  alone  has  the  right  to  fix  her  institutions  and  appoint 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  ^x 

her  ordinances.  He  alone  is  her  Supreme  Head  and  Governor. 
Hence  we  can  acknowledge  no  pope  ;  can  bow  to  no  potentate ;  and 
when  a  civil  ruler  dares  to  plant  his  foot  within  the  Church  to  claim 
dominion  over  the  consciences  of  Christ's  people  and  assert  the  pos- 
session of  a  power  which  the  King  of  kings  has  not  given  him,  it 
must  be  a  violation  of  Christ's  crown  rights  and  a  usurpation 'of 
Christ's  prerogative.  Nor  was  this  a  solitary  voice.  A  long  line  of 
witnesses  repeated  the  testimony.  It  was  uttered  by  petitions,  by 
remonstrances,  by  solemn  leagues  and  covenants — in  councils,  in  con- 
vocations, in  parliaments — and  proclaimed  by  the  cannon's  roar  upon 
the  battle-field.  It  was  a  witness  that  disenthralled  Scotland  and 
secured  its  chartered  freedom. 

As  we  assemble  to-day  the  voices  of  all  these  witnesses  are  sounding 
in  our  ears.  They  recall  our  history.  They  remind  us  of  our 
ancestors.  They  shame  our  imbecility.  They  confront  us  with 
these  blood-sealed  testimonies  of  heroic  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ. 
They  call  us  to  repeat  the  same  witness,  to  give  up  no  principle,  to 
surrender  no  truth.  They  point  to  the  coming  contest  and  call  us 
"  to  fight  a  good  fight,"  "  to  stand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done 
all  to  stand." 

Again  we  notice  that  a  third  characteristic  of  Prcsbyterianism  is  its 
catholicity. 

We  do  not  claim  to  be  the  Catholic  Church,  nor  a  Catholic  Church ;, 
for  this  at  present  is  an  impossibility.  No  Church  can  be  Catholic 
until  its  doctrine  and  polity  have  been  preached  and  accepted  through- 
out the  whole  world.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  this  appellation.  Catholic, 
has  been  appropriated  by  many  claimants — by  the  ancient  Arians,  by 
the  Greek  Church,  by  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  even  by  the  Dona- 
tists,  the  most  narrow  and  exclusive  of  the  Separatists.  We  make  no 
such  absurd  pretension.  We  are  not  Catholics,  but  Catholic.  We 
are  not  the  Catholic  Church,  but  a  part  of  the  great  Universal  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ,  which  has  many  members,  who  bear  many  names. 
Our  name  is  Presbyterian.  As  another  has  expressed  it,  "Christian 
is  our  name,  Presbyterian  our  surname."  We  are  Presbyterian 
Christians — Christians,  because  we  belong  to  Christ ;  Presbyterians, 
because  we  believe  that  the  true  original  Apostolic  Episcopacy  was 
Presbytery.  Our  principles  and  polity  and  methods  of  operation  are 
all  catholic,  and  may  be  reduced  to  practice  with  a  wonderful  facility 
under  any  circumstances  and  in  any  nationality.  Our  Prcsbyterianism, 
for  example,  is  catholic  in  its  idea  of  the  Church. 

As  defined  in  the  Westminster  confession,  the  Church  "consists  of 
all  those  throughout  the  world  who  profess  the  true  religion,  with  their 
children."  Here  is  a  definition  as  wide  as  universality  it.self.  It  un- 
churches no  one,  but  comprehends  the  whole  world  of  believers  in 
the  amplitude  of  its  charitable  embrace.  Again,  our  system  is  also 
catholic  in  its  polity.  It  is  not  founded,  like  the  papacy  and  prelacy, 
upon  the  narrow  and  exclusive  model  of  the  Jewish  temple,  but  upon 
the  free,  popular  and  catholic  system  of  the  synagogue  worshij).     Its 


32  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

first  principle  is  the  rights  of  the  people.  Church  power  does  not 
rest  in  the  clergy.  The  people  are  not  subject  to  popes  and  prelates, 
but  have  a  right  to  a  substantive  part  in  the  government  of  the  Church. 
It  affirms  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers,  which  makes  them  all 
equal ;  also  the  parity  of  the  ministry — they  all  stand  upon  equal  foot- 
ing. Upon  this  basis  of  free  and  equal  rights  the  Ruling  Elder,  the 
representative  of  the  people,  joins  with  the  minister  in  all  acts  of 
judicial  authority.  These,  then,  are  principles  of  a  far-reaching  and 
-catholic  sweep.  They  are  capable  of  an  application  to  people  of  all 
classes,  to  every  form  of  national  government,  and  under  all  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  human  life  is  cast. 

Again,  our  Presbyterianism  is  catholic  in  the  spirit  of  love  with 
which  we  can  co-operate  with  evangelical  Christians  of  every  name  in 
works  of  faith  and  labors  of  love.  We  have  no  peculiarity,  no  preju- 
dice, no  hobby,  to  dig  a  chasm  of  separation  between  us  and  other 
servants  of  our  common  Master.  To  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  we  can  open  our  hearts  in  the  warmest  affection ;  to  all  who 
are  building  the  walls  of  Zion  we  can  offer  a  helping  hand,  and  our 
only  contest  is  who  shall  build  the  walls  strongest  and  highest.  We 
can  recognize  the  ordination  of  the  Episcopalian  and  the  baptism  of 
the  Baptist.  We  can  respond  with  all  our  hearts  to  the  "Amen  "  of 
the  Methodist  and  join  with  our  brethren  in  any  psalmody  that  puts 
the  crown  upon  the  brow  of  Jesus.  Thus  it  is  that  our  system,  whether 
viewed  in  detail  or  regarded  as  a  whole,  is  catholic  in  all  its  features 
and  is  capable  of  an  expansion  to  the  uttermost  circumference  of  our 
humanity. 

There  is  a  Persian  fable  which  tells  of  a  young  prince  who  brought 
to  his  father  a  nutshell,  which,  opening  with  a  spring,  contained  a 
little  tent  of  such  ingenious  construction  that  when  spread  in  the 
nursery  the  children  could  play  under  its  folds ;  when  opened  in  the 
council  chamber  the  king  and  his  counsellors  could  sit  beneath  its 
canopy ;  when  placed  in  the  court-yard  the  family  and  all  the  servants 
could  gather  under  its  shade ;  when  pitched  upon  the  plain  where 
the  soldiers  were  encamped  the  whole  army  could  gather  within  its 
enclosure.  It  possessed  a  quality  of  boundless  adaptability  and 
expansiveness.  This  little  tent  is  the  symbol  of  our  system.  It  is 
all  contained  within  the  nutshell  of  the  gospel.  Open  it  in  the 
nursery,  and  the  parents  and  children  will  sit  with  delight  beneath 
its  folds.  Spread  it  in  the  court-yard,  and  the  whole  household  will 
assemble  for  morning  and  evening  worship  beneath  its  shadow.  Open 
it  in  the  village,  and  it  becomes  a  church  and  the  whole  town  worships 
under  its  canopy.  Pitch  it  upon  the  plain,  and  a  great  sacramental 
army  will  gather  under  it.  Send  it  out  to  the  heathen  world,  and  it 
becomes  a  great  pavilion  that  fills  and  covers  the  earth. 

But  in  this  endeavor  to  understand  our  mission  in  the  past,  we  can- 
not omit  to  notice  that  :i  fourth  characteristic  of  our  Presbyterianism  is 
its  intimate  connection  with  civil  liberty.  This  is  certainly  one  of  our 
historic  distinctions,  but  we  have  time  only  for  a  passing  glance  at  it. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  33 

It  is  a  simple  fact  that  Calvinism  has  always  been  hated  by  infidels  and 
Prc.sbyterianism  by  tyrants.  King  James  I.  said  at  the  Hampton 
Court  conference,  "Ye  are  aiming  at  a  Scots'  Presbytery,  which  agrees 
with  monarchy  as  well  as  God  and  the  devil."  By  monarchy  James 
doubtless  meant  his  own  will,  which  was  tyranny.  To  that,  great- 
hearted Presbyterian,  Melville,  he  said,  "There  never  will  be  quiet 
in  this  country  till  half  a  dozen  of  ye  be  hanged  or  banished." 
"Tush,  sir,"  replied  Melville,  "threaten  your  courtiers  in  that  man- 
ner; but,  God  be  glorified,  it  will  not  be  in  your  power  to  hang  or 
exile  his  truth."  "  The  doctrine  "  (that  is,  the  doctrine  of  the  Pres- 
byterians), said  Charles  I.,  "  is  anti-monarchical."  "  I  will  say,"  he 
continued,  "that  there  was  not  a  wiser  man  since  Solomon  than  he 
who  said,  '  No  bishop,  no  king.'  "     It  was  doubtless  a  wise  saying. 

Civil  and  religious  liberty  are  linked  together.  If  there  is  liberty 
in  the  Church,  there  will  be  liberty  in  the  State — if  there  is  no  bishop 
in  the  Church  there  will  be  no  tyrant  on  the  throne.  This  brings  us 
to  the  very  centre  of  truth  upon  this  subject — civil  liberty  springs 
out  of  the  very  core  of  Presbyterian  doctrine  and  polity.  One  of 
the  great  truths  asserted  and  established  by  the  Reformation  was 
"the  kingship  of  all  believers;"  they  are  all  equal  and  all  kings. 
This  is  just  the  first  principle  of  our  Presbyterianism — "  the  rights  of 
the  people."  In  whom  does  Church  power  rest,  in  the  people  or  in 
the  clergy?  When  you  settle  this  question  you  decide  the  question 
of  the  civil  liberty  of  the  nation.  If  you  decide  that  the  power  rests 
in  the  clergy,  then  you  establish  a  principle  which  by  an  inevitable 
analogy  associates  itself  with  the  principle  that  the  civil  power  rests 
in  kings  and  nobles. 

But  if  you  settle,  as  Presbyterians  do,  that  Church  power  rests  in 
the  people,  in  the  Church  itself,  then  from  this  principle  springs  the 
other,  that  civil  power  rests  in  the  people  themselves,  and  that  all  civil 
rulers  are  the  servants  of  the  people. 

Accordingly,  Dr.  Schaff  in  his  history  of  creeds  says  that  "  the  in- 
alienable rights  of  an  American  citizen  are  nothing  but  the  Protestant 
idea  of  the  general  priesthood  of  believers  applied  to  the  civil  sphere 
or  developed  into  the  corresponding  idea  of  the  general  kingship  of 
free  men."  Hence  it  is  that  history  shows  that  from  the  underlying 
principle  of  our  Presbyterianism  has  sprung  the  civil  and  j)olitical 
freedom  of  many  nations.  The  Westminster  Review,  which  certainly 
has  no  leaning  toward  Presbyterianism,  says:  "Calvin  sowed  the 
seeds  of  liberty  in  Europe  and  evoked  a  moral  energy  which  Christi- 
anity has  not  felt  since  the  era  of  persecution." 

"  The  peculiar  ethical  temperament  of  Calvinism,"  it  continues, 
•'  is  precisely  that  of  the  primitive  Christianity  of  the  catacombs  and  the 
desert,  and  was  created  under  the  same  stimulus."  Agam  it  says, 
"  Calvinism  saved  Europe."  The  eloquent  Roman  Catholic  historian, 
Bossuet,  speaking  of  the  General  Synod  of  France  in  1559,  says :  "  A 
great  social  revolution  has  been  effected.  Within  the  centre  of  the 
French  monarchy,  Calvin  and  his  disciples  have  established  a  spirit- 

3 


34  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Tial  republic."  Macaulay  has  shown  that  the  great  revolution  of  1688, 
which  gave  liberty  to  England,  was  in  a.  great  measure  purchased  by 
the  labors,  sacrifices,  treasure,  and  blood  of  the  Presbyterians  of  Scot- 
land. But  the  most  conspicuous  illustration  of  this  principle  was  the 
birth  of  the  American  Republic.  Our  national  historian,  Bancroft, 
says,  "  He  who  will  not  honor  the  memory  and  respect  the  influence 
of  Calvin,  knows  but  little  of  the  origin  of  American  liberty." 

Dr.  Schaff,  the  honored  historian  of  our  creeds,  says:  "The  prin- 
ciples of  the  republic  of  the  United  States  can  be  traced  through  the 
intervening  link  of  Puritanism  to  Calvinism,  which,  with  all  its  theo- 
logical rigor,  has  been  the  chief  educator  of  manly  character  and 
promoter  of  constitutional  freedom  in  modern  times."  Chief-Justice 
Tilghman  says,  that  "  The  framers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  borrowed  very  much  of  the  form  of  our  republic  from  that, 
form  of  Presbyterian  Church  government  developed  in  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland."  But  time  will  not 
I>ermit  us  to  pursue  the  thought.  Enough  has  been  said  to  remind  us 
of  our  history  and  to  assure  us  that  the  Church  of  the  future,  the 
Church  that  is  to  be  most  effective  in  conquering  the  world  for  Christ, 
will  be  a  Church  that  is  loyal  to  the  great  principle  of  civil  and  relig- 
ious freedom. 

V.  Again,  if  time  had  permitted,  I  had  thought  to  mention  as  an- 
other characteristic  of  our  Presbyterianism,  its  educational  character. 
Our  historian,  Bancroft,  says,  that  "  Calvin  was  the  father  of  popular 
education,  the  inventor  of  the  system  of  free  schools."  However 
this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  home  education,  instruction  in  the  Bible 
and  Catechism,  has  been  a  characteristic  of  our  Presbyterian  fam- 
ilies, and  that  wherever  our  Churches  have  gone  they  have  carried 
with  them  the  school,  the  academy,  and  the  college.  From  no  quar- 
ter, therefore,  could  a  protest  come  with  more  propriety  than  from 
this  Council  against  the  godless  secularity  which  characterizes  so 
much  of  the  boasted  education  of  the  present  time. 

VI.  Again,  I  had  thought  also  to  point  your  attention  to  the  mis- 
sionary character  of  our  whole  family  of  Churches.  But  the  simple 
mention  of  this  fact  sufifices,  as  we  now  pass  in  conclusion  to  our 
second  question  : 

What  should  be  our  ffiission  in  the  future  ? 

The  answer  is  simple  and  brief.  "  To  stand  in  our  lot ;  "  to  repeat 
the  same  record  ;  to  follow  on  in  the  same  line  ;  to  cultivate  the  same 
characteristics  ;  to  aim  at  the  same  distinctions.  Let  our  hearts  cleave 
to  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  with  a  loyal  affection  and  devoted  ser- 
vice. Let  us,  like  our  fathers,  be  intrepid  witnesses  for  the  truth  of 
God  amid  a  crooked  and  perverse  generation.  Let  us  stand  fast  by 
the  principles  of  religious  liberty,  which  have  given  the  boon  of  civil 
and  political  freedom  to  the  world.  Let  us  maintain  our  principle  of 
liberality,  which  brings  us  into  co-operative  unity  with  other  Chris- 
tians in  the  whole  work  of  the  Master's  kingdom.  Let  us  assert  our 
catholicity  before  the  world,  that  ours  is  a  system  adapted  to  a  world- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  35 

wide  efficiency  and  capable  of  a  universal  prevalence.  Let  us  culti- 
vate the  spirit  of  missions,  and  catching  our  inspiration  from  the 
cross  of  Christ,  let  us  work  on  in  the  confidence  that  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ. 

There  is  nothing  in  our  past  record  that  we  could  wish  changed — 
no  characteristics  that  we  could  improve  by  alteration.  We  need  no 
changed  plans,  no  novel  principles,  no  new  creeds.  Our  system  con- 
tains all  the  elements  of  efficiency  which  in  times  past  have  proved 
to  be  the  power  of  God,  and  all  the  elements  of  blessing  which  have 
gladdened  the  world.  Our  polity,  as  administered  by  our  fathers,  has 
been  a  benediction  to  the  world,  and  we  need  not  fear  that  it  will  fail 
of  the  same  result  in  time  to  come.  This  is  an  age  of  progress.  Let 
us  progress — not  by  changing  God's  truth,  not  by  altering  a  system 
which  has  been  baptized  by  the  unction  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  let 
us  progress  in  all  holy  activities,  in  all  Christian  work,  in  our  love 
for  the  souls  of  men,  and  in  the  intelligence  and  ardor  of  our  zeal  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  for  the  cause  and  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  Let 
us  progress  in  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  significance  of  our 
past  history  and  of  the  promise  of  the  future  which  it  embodies. 
What  God  did  in  time  past  for  our  fathers  is  but  the  type  and  promise 
of  what  he  will  do  for  us  now.  The  Lord  God  of  Elijah  will  be  the 
God  of  Elisha.  Let  us  seize  the  falling  mantle,  and  as  by  faith  we 
smite  the  waters  let  us  cry:  "Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  our  fathers?" 
We  should  train  our  children  in  the  memory  of  their  mighty  acts. 
The  historian  Sallust  tells  us  that  the  Roman  mothers  trained  their 
children  in  the  presence  of  the  busts  and  statues  of  their  ancestors. 
In  like  manner  we  should  train  our  children  and  our  rising  ministry, 
as  it  were,  in  the  presence  of  their  forefathers,  in  all  the  memories  of 
our  past  history,  and  urge  them,  as  the  Roman  mothers  did,  never  to 
be  satisfied  whilst  the  virtues  and  victories  of  the  past  were  more 
numerous  or  more  glorious  than  those  of  the  present. 

But  how  are  these  results  to  be  attained?  ]3y  unity  of  action.  By 
bringing  together  these  Presbyterian  bodies  from  every  part  of  the 
world,  not  in  an  organic  union,  but  into  such  oneness  of  thought  and 
sympathy  that  they  shall  act  in  a  co-operative  unity,  like  several 
armies  moving  against  a  common  enemy,  animated  by  the  same  spirit 
and  aiming  at.the  same  result.  But  again  the  question  returns:  How 
shall  this  be  done?  How  shall  this  unity  be  secured  ?  Not  by  reso- 
lutions ;  not  by  the  decrees  of  Councils;  not  by  ecclesiastical  pressure; 
but  by  the  power  of  warm  Christian  affection.  The  unity  must  not 
be  from  without,  but  from  within  ;  it  must  be  from  that  love  which 
unites  heart  to  heart,  until  the  bond  encircles  the  whole  family.  The 
smallest  Presbyterian  body  struggling  under  discouragement  in  the 
most  distant  country  must  be  made  to  feel  that  it  does  not  stand 
alone,  but  is  linked  in  effective  sympathy  with  a  great  family  of 
vigorous  Churches  who  feci  for  them  and  will  act  with  them  in  their 
time  of  need.     No  Church  must  be  permitted  to  have  a  feeling  of 


36  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

solitary  orphanage.  Tlie  brethren  must  take  home  from  this  family 
Council  the  salutations  of  the  Churches  to  each  other,  and  such  mes- 
sages of  love  and  sympathy  as  will  make  the  discouraged  lift  their 
faces  from  the  dust,  and  thank  God  and  take  courage.  So,  too,  the 
Churches  and  brethren  laboring  in  the  great  centres  and  bearing  the 
burdens  of  heavy  responsibilities  must  be  made  to  feel  that  in  this 
strain  and  struggle  they  have  the  support  of  brethren  and  Churches 
wlio  feel  and  work  with  them  and  for  them,  and  that  from  the  vast 
family  all  over  the  earth  prayers  are  going  up  for  their  success.  But 
here,  still,  the  question  returns:  "  How  is  this  to  be  effected?"  Only 
by  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  all  our  Churches  and 
in  the  hearts  of  all  our  ministers  and  people.  "  It  is  not  by  might 
nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  He  is 
the  spirit  of  love,  who  must  bind  all  our  hearts  in  unity;  the  spirit  of 
truth,  who  must  take  the  things  of  Christ  and  show  them  unto  us  ;  the 
spirit  of  courage,  who  must  make  us  witnesses  for  Christ,  and  the 
spirit  of  power,  who  alone  can  give  us  the  victory.  As  the  disci])les 
waited  at  Jerusalem,  so  we  should  wait  here  with  one  accord  for  the 
coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  as  we  separate  carry  the  benediction 
with  us  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

And  now,  brethren,  I  have  done.  But  I  am  reminded  that  a  cloud 
of  sorrow  rests  upon  this  assembly  to-day.  There  are  those  absent 
whom  we  all  miss — two  eminent  and  beloved  brethren  of  this  city,  of 
whom  mention  will  be  made  this  afternoon,  and  one  other  of  whom 
it  behooves  me  to  speak,  because  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  stand  in 
his  place  to-day.  That  venerated  and  beloved  father  in  Israel,  Dr. 
William  Adams — who  presided  at  the  last  .session  of  this  Council  at 
Edinburgh,  who  uttered  the  last  prayer,  who  pronounced  the  last 
benediction,  under  whose  uplifted  hands  we  had  expected  this  morn- 
ing to  receive  a  fresh  blessing,  and  whose  skilful  hand  was  to  have 
struck  the  key-note  of  this  Council — has  passed  from  our  loving  fel- 
lowship to  the  joys  of  his  Lord.  He  is  there  receiving  the  benedic- 
tion that  he  would  have  asked  for  us  ;  he  is  there  striking  the  key-note 
of  his  everlastmg  song.  He  had  a  place  in  all  hearts;  perhaps  no  one 
man  in  the  history  of  our  American  Churches  was  ever  so  universally 
loved.  His  life  and  influence  was  a  golden  clasp  that  bound  together 
our  Presbyterian  Churches. 

Had  he  been  present  to-day  it  was  his  purpose  to  have  spoken  to 
you  upon  what  he  regarded  as  the  highest  evidence  of  our  religion, 
"  the  Spirit  of  God  working  by  His  truth  upon  our  inner  conscious- 
ness." His  text  would  have  been:  "Until  the  day  dawn  and  the 
day-star  arise  in  your  hearts."  On  him  the  day  has  dawned  ;  and 
BOW  may  God  grant  that  the  day-star  may  arise  in  our  hearts ! 

Dr.  Paxton  was  assisted  in  the  devotional  services  by  the 
Rev.  Principal  Robert  Rainy,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland, 
and  by  the  Rev.  John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  of  Montreal,  Can- 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  37 

ada.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon,  Dr.  Paxton  constituted  the 
Council  with  prayer  ;  after  which,  on  motion  by  the  Rev.  William 
P.  Breed,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  an  adjournment  took  place,  until 
until  3  P.M.,  to  Horticultural  Hall. 

3  P-  M. 
The  Council  reassembled  at  3  o'clock,  in  Horticultural  Hall, 
and  was  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Paxton. 

ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 
The   following  Address  of  Welcome  was  delivered  by  the 
Rev.  W.  P.  Breed,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia: 

Mr.  President,  and  Fathers  and  Brethren  of  the  Second  General 
Council  of  those  who  throughout  the  world  hold  the  Presb}'- 
terian  system  : 

The  Church  in  Philadelphia  sets  before  you  an  open  door,  and  in 
the  providence  of  God  it  has  become  my  privilege  to  ])oint  you  to 
that  door,  and  to  the  word  "Welcome"  carved  deep  and  large  on 
posts  and  lintel.  We  are  bidden  to  entertain  strangers,  for  so  we  may 
entertain  angels  unawares,  but  we  are  already  aware  whom  we  enter- 
tain. Ye  are  "  the  angels  of  the  churches  "  which  dot  the  globe  over 
from  China  around  again  to  China. 

Man  proposes.  God  disposes.  We  had  proposed  that  you  should 
now  be  listening  to  the  voice  of  the  beloved  Dr.  Beadle.  ,^  God  has 
ordered  that  voice  away,  to  hymn  his"f)raises  in  the  choir  above.  The 
place  thus  left  vacant  was  to  have  been  filled  by  the  stately  and  ven- 
erable form  of  one  to  whose  voice,  for  nearly  a  half  century,  Philadel- 
phia listened  as  to  a  chime  of  silver  bells — the  form  of  Dr.  Henry  A. 
Boardman.  His  heart  was  in  this  Council.  A  few  days  before  his 
death  it  became  my  duty  to  reply  to  a  letter  from  him  touching  its 
interest  and  success.  And  lo  !  he,  too,  is  not,  for  God  has  taken 
him '  But  if  these  departed  worthies  are  no  longer  seen  by  us,  are 
we  not  seen  by  them  ?  As  we  breathe  benedictions  on  their  memories, 
are  they  not  dropping  benedictions  on  our  heads? 

Fathers  and  brethren,  we  greet  you  severally  with  the  welcome  due 
to  your  professional  eminence,  efficient  service,  distinguished  ability, 
and  high  personal  worth.  And  we  greet  you  collectively  as  a  Council 
representing  "a  great  crowd  of  witnesses,"  30,000,000 — yes,  40,000,- 
000 — of  them  in  every  land,  in  every  clime — those  millions  the  children 
and  successors  of  many  legions  more,  seated  now  in  the  galleries 
of  History's  vast  Coliseum,  tier  above  tier,  generation  upon  genera- 
ation,  of  those  who,  through  ages  of  toil,  trial,  and  triumph,  "sub- 
dued kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped 
the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  out  of  weakness 
were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  army 
of  the  aliens." 


38  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

In  the  name  of  this  city  of  Brotherly  Love  we  greet  you.  Unless 
through  a  period  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  have  been  mis- 
reading the  Philadelphia  heart,  your  coming  has  caused  that  heart  to 
beat  with  unfeigned  pleasure,  and  1  hazard  nothing  in  assuring  you 
that  Philadelphia  will  do  its  utmost  to  make  you  happy  while  you  are 
here,  reluctant  to  depart,  unwilling  to  forget,  and  glad  to  return. 

To  you,  as  Christians,  we,  Christians  of  Philddelphia,  extend  the 
welcoming  hand.  For,  however  we  may  differ,  we  are  at  one  in  the 
song  we  sing  together  here,  and  shall  sing  together  hereafter:  "  Unto 
him  ,that  loved  us  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and 
hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  to  God  and  his  Father,  to  him  be  glory 
and  dominion  forever  and  ever.  Amen."  "Ye,"  said  the  blessed 
Jesus,  "  are  the  light  of  the  world."  And  we  recognize  you  as  Christ's 
torch-bearers  in  every  land  where  you  dwell.  "Ye,"  said  Jesus, 
"  are  the  salt  of  the  earth  ;  "  and  we  recognize  you  as  conservators  of 
pure  morals,  as  promoters  of  "  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever 
things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  re- 
port." 

And  we  underscore  the  welcome  we  extend  to  you  to-day  as  Evan- 
gelical Chrislians. 

Unhappily,  it  is  not  impossible  for  even  those  who  "  hold  the  Pres- 
byterian system"  to  become  tainted  with  rationalism,  with  Socinian- 
'  ism,  with  the  spirit  of  a  devastating  criticism  that  criticises  the  Bible 
out  of  its  covers  and  the  title-page  off  the  volume — a  spirit  that,  like 
a  tunic  of  Nessus,  eats  into  the  bones  and  marrow  with  its  paralyzing 
poison.     But  ye  are  not  of  these. 

In  you  we  see  the  champions  and  propagandists  of  the  system  of 
truth  which  embraces  a  triune  God,  the  Creator,  Preserver,  and  t^ov- 
'ernor  of  all;  a  divine,  human  Christ,  who  redeems  us  unto  God  by 
his  blood  ;  a  divine,  Person-al  Spirit  who  applies  to  the  heart  the  re- 
demption purchased  by  Christ ;  a  divinely  inspired,  immaculate,  and 
supremely  authoritative  Bible  telling  what  man  is  to  believe  concerning 
God,  and  what  duty  God  requires  of  man — in  a  word  a  gospel  un- 
marred  by  an  enervating  ritualism,  unmutilated  by  an  impertinent 
rationalism,  unchilled  by  icy  unbelief. 

But  it  were  to  leave  a  chasm  in  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion,  not 
to  say  that  as  holders  of  our  ancient  and  venerated  Presbyterian  sys- 
tem you  are  greeted  with  a  welcome  of  special  and  affectionate  cordi- 
ality. Your  presence  here  in  council  is  a  conspicuous  and  emphatic 
reminder  of  the  sometimes  half-forgotten  fact  that  at  the  Reformation, 
360  years  ago,  the  Church,  in  every  portion  of  the  world,  with  one  in- 
sular exception,  betook  itself  instinctively  to  that  form  of  policy  dis- 
tinctly outlined  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  pointed  to  repeatedly  in 
the  Epistles,  whose  essential  features  are  the  official  equality  of  ministers, 
participation  by  the  people,  in  the  persons  of  Ruling  Elders,  in  the 
government  and  discipline  of  the  Church,  and  the  unification  of  the 
whole  in  a  series  of  courts  of  review  and  control,  the  series  terminating 
in  a  Supreme  Judicatory,  the  Synod  or  General  Assembly. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


39 


To  angels  and  to  men  you  are  the  visible  sign  of  an  invisible  and 
invincible  force.  Surely  none  other  than  a  force  like  that  "  which 
heaves  the  hill  and  breaks  the  shore  and  evermore  makes  and 
breaks  and  works"  has  availed  to  draw  all  tiiese  hundreds  over 
mountains,  across  oceans,  along  water-courses,  up  the  sides  of  the 
earth,  away  from  country,  from  home,  and  from  scenes  of  labor,  lo 
sit  in  council  together  here  on  these  far-off  shores  where  so  lately 
"the  buffalo  roamed  and  the  wild  Indian  pursued  the  panting  deer." 

To  resist  this  unifying  force  were,  we  are  persuaded,  to  resist  the 
Spirit  of  Christ.  To  yield  to,  cherish  and  cultivate  it,  is  to  point  the 
prow  towards  a  unity  foreordained  from  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world  in  which  "  the  whole  body  fitly  joined  together  and  compacted 
by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to  the  effectual  work- 
ing, in  the  measure  of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of  the  body  unto 
the  edifying  of  itself  in  love." 

First  of  all  in  our  more  special  welcome  we  greet  the  reipecttd  and 
beloved  Missionaries  of  the  Cross  from  heathen  lands. 

The  one  object  for  which  the  Church  exists,  the  one  aim  that  justi- 
fies her  existence  and  vitalizes  her  frame  is  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
conversion  of  the  world.  The  sole  commission  she  bears  is,  "Go 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,"  and  in 
the  persons  of  those  who  have  taken  their  lives  in  their  hands  and 
gone  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  preach  the  gospel  we  recognize  those 
who  have  most  literally  and  unreservedly  laid  themselves  on  the  altar 
of  obedience  to  this  great  command.  And  without  all  question  we 
are  ready  with  one  voice  to  say  "Amen  "  to  the  words  of  the  poet : 

"  Methinks  that  earth  in  all  she  vaunts  of  majesty, 
•  Or  tricks  with  silk  and  purple,  or  the  baubled 

Pride  of  princes,  or  the  blood-red  pomp  of" 
The  stern  hero,  hath  not  aught  to  boast, 
So  truly  great,  so  noble,  so  sublime, 
As  the  Lone  Missionary,  casting  off 
The  links,  and  films,  and  trappings  of  the  world, 
And  in  his  chastened  nakedness  of  soul, 
Rising  to  bear  the  embassy  of  heaven." 

And  right  glad  do  we  greet  to-day  our  brethren  from  the  great 
land  that  balances  our  own  at  the  antipodes — far-off  Australia,  with 
the  contiguous  lands  and  islands.  Physically,  brethren,  we  stand  foot  to 
foot;  spi'ritually,  shoulder  to  shoulder.  Your  presence  here  certifies 
to  the  world  that  Presbyterianism,  like  the  leaven  of  God,  has  struck 
through  the  planet.  We  in  this  New  World  welcome  you  from  that 
New  World,  and  pledge  you  our  sympathy,  prayers  and  aid  in  your 
efforts  to  win  your  lands  for  our  blessed  Emanuel. 

Among  us  also  we  see  the  turbaned  head  of  a  Christian  convert 
from  the  land  of  the  Vedas,  the  Ganges,  the  Himmalehs.  Welcome 
now  the  familiar  face  of  Narayan  Sheshadri,  and  a  blessing  upon  all 
the  toilers  in  the  wide  harvest-fields  of  India. 

To  these  shores  from  Germany  we  have  already  welcomed  many 


4o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

scores  of  thousands  who  bless  our  land  with  their  diligence,  and 
adorn  it  with  their  intelligence.  A  distinguished  member  of  our 
National  Cabinet  was  born  in  the  Fatherland.  And  till  time  shall 
end  the  Christian  world  will  hold  in  admiring  and  grateful  remem- 
brance that  land  whence,  in  the  dark  days  of  Tetzel  and  Leo  X., 
issued  the  heroic  defiance,  "We  go  no  more  to  Canossa." 

Welcome,  then,  ye  brethren,  from  the  land  whose  brain  has  so 
often  and  so  powerfully  quickened  the  pulsations  of  the  world's  brain  ; 
whose  thought  has  been  on  the  thought-hearth  of  mankind — the  land 
of  him  who  sprang  from  his  knees  on  the  Scala  Santa  with  the  shout 
which  is  still  ringing  in  the  world's  ears,  "  The  just  shall  live  by 
faith!" — the  land  in  almost  every  portion  of  which  Presbyterian 
principles  are  every  day  asserting  themselves  with  greater  distinctness 
and  force. 

To  Switzerland  also  we  extend  our  greetings — Switzerland,  whose 
hospitable  doors  were  ever  open  to  the  j)anting  fugitive  from  Rome's 
reeking  sword — Switzerland,  where  Calvin  and  Beza  ])reached  and 
toiled,  and  where  the  newly  recovered  principles  of  Presbyterianism 
earliest  crystallized  again  into  apostolic  forms.  In  Calvin's  heart 
and  brain  throbbed  the  aspiration  for  a  General  Council  of  the  Re- 
formed, and  Calvin  is  here  to-day  in  the  persons  of  our  beloved 
brethren   from  the  land  of  the  Alp  and  the  glacier. 

And  it  is  with  no  common  heart-glow  that  we  take  the  hand  of  the 
respected  representative  of  the  time-tried,  foe-tried,  fire-tried  Church 
of  the  Vaudois;  the  dust  and  blood  of  so  many  centuries  of  con- 
fession and  martyrdom  on  her  skirts  and  sandals  !  Many  a  time,  for 
many  weary  years,  the  bones  of  the  slaughtered  saints 

"  Lay  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold  , 

Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedniontese,  thai  rolled 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks,  their  moans 
The  vales  redoubling  to  the  hills  and  they 
To  heaven." 

Welcome  to  the  church  whose  walls  and  towers  are  mantled  with 
the  mosses  and  ivies  of  so  many  centuries  ;  whose  historic  page  weeps 
and  bleeds  with  so  many  woes,  and  smiles  with  so  many  virtues  and 
victories  ! 

Nor  do  we  overlook  the  younger  but  vigorous  and  faithful  Free 
Church  of  Italy,  Cavour's  dream  realized.  "  Libera  Chiesa  in  Libero 
Statu."  A  future  bright  with  promise  awaits  the  young  Free  Church  of 
Italy. 

And  with  all  love  and  holy  reverence  do  we  welcome  here  the  rep 
resentative  of  the  Church  of  Bohemia.  When  Luther  was  thirteen 
years  old,  thirteen  years  before  Calvin  was  born,  Bohemia  had  its 
organized  Presbyterian  Church.  Mountain-rimmed  land,  land  of 
Waldhausen,  of  John  Milicz,  under  whose  preaching  Prague  from 
being  a  Babylon  became  a  Jerusalem,  land  of  Huss  and  Jerome  ! 

We  see  the  smoke  ascending  over  your  plains  from  countless 
martyr  fires;  we  hear  the  groans  of  the  four  thousand  flung  into  the 


r?  ^■.|1  •^■>  ^     ,^\  7v,n  tr^'      V:,\n  r,\  -•    re  ,^ 


PURITANS 


^^niVINES-jv 


X^ WESTMINSTER  CONFESSIOf^ 

-OF  FAITH  - 

ASSEMBLY  OF  DIVINES 

WESTMINSTER  ABBEY  i 

AD   1643-1647     / 


^W^ 
■^p 


TWISSEHERLEGOUGE 
BAXTERPYM  HAMPDEN 
WANDSWORTHA  D  1572 
BANGOR  CO LUMBANUS  AD  590 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  41 

mines  of  Kettenberg ;  we  see  the  legions  of  the  Pope  harrying  you, 
Tintil  of  your  three  millions  of  people,  more  than  two  millions  are 
under  the  sod.  But  fire  and  sword  and  the  cruelties  of  centuries  have 
not  availed  to  purge  from  Bohemian  blood  the  ])recious  leaven  of  the 
gospel.  We  welcome  you,  brethren,  and  pray  God  to  give  us  all  the 
martyr  spirit  of  the  Bohemian  worthies  of  old- 

And  how  the  Presbyterian  heart  throbs  when  the  eye  is  turned 
towards  sunny  France,  once  the  banner-bearer  of  the  Reformation. 
The  thought  of  her  starts  across  the  field  of  memory  a  grand  proces- 
sion of  Presbyterian  worthies,  the  brothers  Coligny,  Conde,  Sully, 
Philip  du  Plessis  Mornay,  the  humble  l.nit  faithful  Palissey,  Louise  de 
Montmorency,  the  Duchess  Renee,  Charlotte  de  Laval,  and  last  but 
not  least  the  noble  Jeanne  D' Albert.  Glancing  back  through  three 
hundred  years  we  see  around  that  cradled  babe  in  the  house  of  La 
Ferriere,  in  Paris  the  first  Huguenot  Church  organized.  We  look 
again  sixteen  years  after,  and  lo  !  at  La  Rochelle  a  General  Assembly, 
in  which  2,500  churches  are  represented,  and  some  of  those  10,000 
members  strong.  Yes,  the  French  brain  and  heart  are  excellent  soil 
for  Presbyterianism,  and  the  day  is  dawning  when  every  drop  of  Hu- 
guenot blood  shed  on  St.  Bartholomew's  dreadful  clay,  and  on  through 
all  the  wrath  of  the  subsequent  dragonnades  shall  spring  up  a  cham- 
pion for  the  faith  of  the  martyred  Huguenots  !  This  hour  we  hear 
the  footfall  of  the  coming  legions  !  At  last,  at  last,  as  Beza  said  to 
the  Apostate  Antony  Navarre,  "  The  anvil  has  worn  out  the  hammer." 

And  can  we  believe  our  eyes?  Do  we  indeed  see  in  this  council 
representatives  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Spain  ?  Spain,  the 
land  stamped  so  deep  with  the  fiery  seal  of  the  Inquisition  ;  Spain, 
that  discharged  the  Armada  from  her  ports  to  crush  Reform  in 
Britain  ;  Spain,  the  birlh-place  of  the  Society  of  the  Jesuits;  Spain, 
that  gave  to  the  world  an  Alva  as  well  as  a  Torquemada  ;  Spain, 
whose  name  was  on  almost  every  sword  that  flashed  in  the  fields  of 
European  persecution  ;  Spain,  whence  came  the  suggestion  and  the 
inspiration  of  the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre  !  And  yet  here  to-day 
are  representatives  of  the  Presbyterian  Ciuirch  in  Spain.  Verily  the 
world  moves,  and  Presbyterianism  is  one  of  its  moving  forces ! 
Welcome,  thrice  welcome,  brethren  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Spain  !  The  crown  jewels  of  Queen  Isabella  fiirnished  forth  Columbus 
for  the  discovery  of  America,  and  now  this  Council  sitting  on  the 
shores  of  America,  pledges  itself  to  do  its  utmost  to  put  recovered 
Spain  as  a  crown  jewel  in  the  diadem  of  King  Jesus  ! 

And  Belgium,  too,  we  welcome.  You,  brother,  represent  a  green 
islet  of  Presbyterianism  in  a  black  sea  of  Romanism  ;  the  fiftietli  part 
of  a  million  surrounded  by  5,000,000  Romanists.  Verily  tht-  Great 
Captain  lias  stationed  your  church  as  a  Leonidas  band  in  a  Ther- 
mopyh-e  Pass.  The  arrows  of  your  enemies  darken  the  air,  but  the 
.shade  is  not  so  dense  but  that  the  keen  gaze  of  30.000,000  of  jwirs  of 
Presbyterian  eyes  penetrate  it,  the  sympathies  of  30,000,000  of  1  rcs- 
byterian  hearts  find  way  through  it,  and  the  sanctified  energies  of 


42  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

30,000,000  of  pairs  of  Presbyterian  hands  reach  through  it  for  your 
aid! 

Holland  also  is  welcome — present  with  us  ;  if  not  in  the  person,  yet 
in  the  message  of  Van  Osterzee,  and  also  in  the  persons  of  her  faithful 
sons  from  the  southern  confines  of  Africa.  The  story  of  Presbyterian 
Holland  is  one  of  the  great  glories  of  history.  Early  and  long  was 
she,  with  Belgium,  a  city  of  refuge  for  persecution-hunted  Waldenses, 
Albigenses,  Lollards,  and  fugitives  from  smitten  Bohemia,  land  of 
the  Silent  William  and  his  princely  "beggars,"  who,  after  an  en- 
durance rarely  equalled  for  length  and  severity,  and  feats  of  heroism 
never  surpassed,  drove  the  minions  of  Alva,  Philip  and  the  Pope  like 
chaff  before  the  wind  from  the  territories  they  had  filled  with  moans 
and  groans  and  drenched  with  tears  and  blood  !  Her  Leyden  shel- 
tered our  pilgrim  fathers.  From  her  Delfts-Haven  sailed  the  May- 
flower. We  are  proud  of  the  Dutch  blood  in  our  veins,  and  we  glory 
in  the  Dutch  element  in  our  theology. 

Crossing  the  channel  we  reach  the  Mother  Land  of  this  Republic. 
Presbyterians  of  England,  a  hundred  welcomes  !  Within  your  circling 
shore  the  morning  star  of  the  Reformation  rose,  and  that,  too,  a  gen- 
uine Presbyterian  star.  A  century  before  the  hammer  of  Luther  had 
nailed  the  theses  to  the  door  of  All  Saints'  at  Wittemburg,  the  ham- 
mer of  Wycliffe  had  nailed  the  Twelve  Conclusions  to  the  doors  of  St. 
Paul's  and  Westminster  Abbey.  It  was  in  England  that  the  master 
stroke  of  Protestantism  was  first  struck — the  putting  of  the  Word  of 
God  into  the  hands  of  the  people  in  their  own  tongue,  and  time  has  been 
when  half  of  England  was  Presbyterian.  That  great  journal,  the  Lon- 
don Times,  has  suggested  that  the  Church  of  England  add  to  her  book 
a  leaf  of  Presbyterianism.  Beloved  brethren,  may  God  so  bless  your 
labors  that  your  government  shall  be  constrained  to  take  not  a  leaf 
only,  but  the  whole  blessed  volume  ! 

And  how  superfluous  to  say  that  Scotland  is  welcome  !  Ye,  breth- 
ren, are  the  children  of  that  early  Protestantism  that  created  a 
people  in  Scotland  ;  of  those  who  fought  and  won  the  great  battle 
for  Christ's  crown  and  covenant ;  the  children  of  those  who  once  and 
again  saved  the  Reformation  in  Great  Britain,  and  once  at  least  by 
stern  resistance  to  that  bad  triumvirate,  Charles,  Laud  and  Wentworth, 
saved  constitutional  liberty  for  the  English-speaking  world.  The 
voice  of  Jenny  Geddes  is  to-day  echoing  among  the  hills  of  America. 
The  scratching  of  the  pens  that  signed  the  solemn  League  and  Cov- 
enant that  day  in  old  Gray  Friars,  and  upon  the  tombstones  in  the 
church-yard,  and  in  some  cases,  with  ink  drawn  from  the  self-gashed 
arms  of  the  signers,  and  with  the  appended  emphasis,  "  Until  death," 
makes  the  blood  tingle  in  our  veins  !  The  heartiest  of  welcomes  to 
old  Scotland  to-day  !  May  God  keep  her  ever  in  the  van  of  sound 
doctrine,  with  her  tabernacle  of  blue,  the  hangings  of  her  doors  in 
blue,  and  her  ephod  all  of  blue  ! 

To  Wales  also  we  extend  a  welcoming  hand.  True,  indeed,  Wales 
gave  to  the  world  a  Pelagius,  but  in  that  gift  she  seems  to  have  ex- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  43 

liausted  her  stores  of  heresy,  and  for  the  gift  she  has  abundantly  atoned 
by  a  wealth  of  evangelical  treasures.  To  the  Church  of  Howell 
Harris,  of  Griffith  Jones,  of  Charles  of  Bala,  and  of  a  goodly  host  of 
other  worthies  ;  church  baptized  in  the  blood  and  fire  of  persecution  ; 
Methodist  in  name,  Calvinistic  in  doctrine,  Presbyterian  in  polity,  of- 
unblemished  orthotloxy  and  apostolic  zeal,  right  welcome  art  thou  to 
a  place  in  this  Presbyterian  Council. 

Right  cordial,  too,  is  our  welcome  to  warm-hearted,  fervid-spirited 
Ireland,  the  labor-field  in  ancient  days  of  that  grand  Presbyterian  St. 
Patrick,  whom  even  our  Roman  brethren  delight  to  honor.  You 
■Presbyterian  Irishmen,  under  the  sunshine  of  whose  industry,  sobriety 
and  gospel  morality  the  rugged  North  blossoms  as  the. rose,  while 
under  the  fatal  smile  of  Rome  the  greener  South  lies  so  desolate,  with 
your  memories  of  the  days  of  the  "Black  Oath,"  when  your  fathers 
wandered  about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins ;  in  deserts  and  in  moun- 
tains, in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth,  being  destitute,  afflicted  and 
tormented  ;  memories  of  the  days  when  almost  to  a  man  your  fathers 
went  forth  with  wife  and  babe  from  manse,  bed  and  bread  for  con- 
science sake ;  memories  of  Derry  and  the  Boyne  water  and  of  many 
a  subsequent  and  victorious  struggle  in  the  field  of  high  and  mighty 
debate  ;  sons  of  those  Ulster  Irishmen,  who,  in  the  struggle  which 
resulted  in  the  creation  of  this  republic,  were  ever  first  in  high,  heroic 
resolve,  and  ever  foremost  in  the  clash  of  battle,  welcome  to  our 
homes  as  you  always  have  been  to  our  hearts  ! 

Nor  are  any  more  welcome  than  our  friends  and  brethren  from  across 
our  northern  border.  Rome  laid  her  hand  on  the  land  from  which 
you  come.  God  released  it  from  her  grasp  and  gave  it  to  Protest- 
antism, and  you  are  making  good  the  transfer.  Right  eagerly  we 
watched  your  struggle  for  union,  and  north  of  the  border  no  hearts 
beat  with  greater  delight  than  ours  at  your  success.  We  recognize 
you  as  Christ's  fishers  of  men,  and  you  recognize  us  as  Christ's  fishers 
of  men,  and  we  will  fish  in  each  others'  waters,  and  neither  Earl 
Granville  nor  Secretary  Evarts  will  say  us  nay. 

When  first  the  white  man's  bark  dropped  anchor  en  these  western 
shores  the  red  man  w\as  monarch  of  all  this  broad  domain,  from  lakes 
to  gulf  and  from  ocean  to  ocean.  But  now  the  inexorable  steamer, 
on  river  and  lake,  has  run  down  the  red  man's  frail  canoe.  The  city 
stands  on  the  site  of  the  wigwam  village  ;  factory  and  foundry  smoke 
where  the  Indian  council  fire  blazed,  and  railway  trains  howl  over  the 
red  man's  burial-places.  A  few  have  survived,  and  in  this  Council 
to-day  sits  one  with  the  undiluted  blood  of  the  red  man  in  his  veins, 
and  the  blood  of  the  red  man's  best  friend  sprinkled  on  his  heart. 
Welcome,  thou  representative  of  a  lone  remnant  of  abused,  down- 
trodden and  buried  millions  ! 

And  now  to  you,  brethren  in  the  Lord,  gathered  from  all  parts  of 
our  broad  land  ;  from  wliere  the  Oregon  rolls  and  so  lately  heard  no 
sound  save  his  own  dashings,  from  where  Niagara  raves  down  the  rapids 
and  leaps  into  the  abyss  ;  from  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  the  Mis- 


44  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sissippi,  holders  of  the  Presbyterian  system  of  all  schools  and  names, 
we  extend  a  liearty  welcome. 

One  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  ago,  the  first  American  Presby- 
tery was  organized  in  this  city.  To-day,  of  its  850,000  people,  nearly 
150  Presbyterian  ministers,  120  Presbyterian  congregations,  with  a 
communion  roll  reaching  to  42,000,  and  an  adherence  of  more  than 
100,000  join  in  giving  you  a  genuine  Presbyterian  welcome. 

Welcome  one  and  all  to  the  city  where  the  first  American  Presby- 
tery was  born  and  cradled  ;  welcome  to  the  city  where  in  the  days  of 
yore  a  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  sat  side  by  side  with  that  Con- 
gress whose  acts  created  the  re])ublic.  Nor  will  Presbyterians  allow, 
the  world  to  forget  that  conspicuous  among  the  members  of  that  Con- 
gress sat  one  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  he  a  true-hearted  son  of 
Presbytery;  whose  genius,  eloquence  and  weight  of  character  empha- 
sized by  the  compact  Presbyterian  ism  of  the  land,  in  the  momentous 
crisis  which  involved  the  whole  future,  went  very  far  to  turn  the 
wavering  scales  and  make  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  out- 
weigh fear,  hesitation,  and  untimely  prudence,  and  whose  bronze 
statue  of  gigantic  size  stands  an  ornament  in  yonder  beautiful  park. 

Fathers  and  brethren  of  this  Council,  in  the  unity  of  the  cause  and 
of  the  millions  you  represent,  the  glory  of  so  many  generations  shin- 
ing behind  you,  their  momentum  upon  you,  and  the  fiiture  beckoning 
you,  you  seem  to  my  eye  to  be  kneeling  here  for  a  fresh  ordination  at 
the  hands  of  an  august  Presbytery. 

Laying  their  ordaining  hands  on  your  heads,  I  see  the  stately 
forms  of 

Memories  that  touch  the  very  virtue  of  every  high  and  holy  senti- 
ment of  man's  nature;  the  hands  of 

Heroism  in  endurance  and  achievement  that  make  man  proud  that 
he  is  a  man  ;  the  hands  of 

Gospel  Doetrine  unmarred  and  unmutilated,  and  the  Godliness  that 
issues  alone  from  its  bosom  ;  the  hands  of 

Education,  Soieitd  Learning,  and  Sacred  Literature,  and  last,  but 
not  least,  the  hands  of 

Civil  and  Religious  Liberty  and  Constitutional  Government — a  Pres- 
bytery of  imposing  presence  and  of  commanding  authority,  bidding 
you,  with  this  onlaying  of  hands,  to  be  mindful  of  your  ancestry,  not 
forgetful  of  your  obligations,  and  to  see  to  it  that  the  priceless  heri- 
tage committed  to  you  by  your  sires  be  transmitted  unimpaired  to  your 
sons  !  The  Lord  bless  you  and  keep  you  ;  the  Lord  make  his  face 
shine  upon  you,  and  be  gracious  unto  you  ;  the  Lord  lift  u])  his  coun- 
tenance upon  you  and  give  you  peace  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  of 
the.  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Amen. 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  CREDENTIALS. 

The  Rev.  George  D.  Mathews,  D.  D.,  presented  the  follow- 
ing report : 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  45 

At  the  Council  in  Edinburgh  in  1877  ^he  clerks  were  appcMnted  a 
Committee  on  Credentials,  and  instructed  to  prepare  the  roll  for  the 
next  meeting. 

Your  committee  beg  now  to  report  that  they  have  received  from 
Churches,  already  members  of  the  Alliance,  credentials  appointing 
certain  persons  as  their  delegates  to  this  Council.  They  therefore 
recommend  that  the  persons  thus  named  be  received  as  members  of 
the  Council,  and  their  names  be  entered  on  its  rolls.      • 

Some  of  the  Churches  have,  in  addition,  appointed  certain  other 
persons  as  associates,  but  as  no  such  class  of  members  is  known  under 
the  Constitution,  and  the  power  of  permitting  persons  not  delegates 
to  take  part  in  the  proceedings  is  distinctly  reserved  to  the  Cop.ncil 
itself,  your  committee  recommend  that  the  attention  of  the  Churche.s 
be  respectfully  called  to  Article  III.,  Section  2,  of  the  Constitution, 

Your  committee  have  also  to  report  that  the  Presbytery  of  Ceylon, 
the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland,  the  Churches  of  the 
Canton  de  Vaud  and  of  Neuchatel,  the  Calvinistic  Methodist  Church 
in  Wales,  the  Synod  of  Eastern  Australia  and  the  Presbyterian  Churcii 
of  Queensland  have  appointed,  as  their  delegates,  persons  not  con- 
nected with  these  Churches,  while  in  the  case  of  the  Free  Chmxh  of 
Italy  the  credential  does  not  bear  that  it  was  issued  by  any  Church 
Court,  and  is  signed  only  by  the  treasurer  of  the  denomination.  Your 
committee  desire  the  judgment  of  the  Council  respecting  such  docu- 
ments. 

They  also  further  report  that  they  have  received  letters  from  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Tasmania,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Reformed  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  appointing  dele- 
gates. As  these  Churches  have  never  been  received  into  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Alliance,  your  committee  recommend  that  a  special 
committee  be  now  appointed  to  consider  what  action  should  be  taken 
in  the  above  cases  and  to  report  at  an  early  date. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

THE  ROLL. 
The  roll    of  delegates  was  called,  as  follows,  those  whose 
names  are  in  Italics  not  having  responded  as  present. 

DIVISION  I.— CONTINENT  OF  EUROPE. 
AUSTRIA. 

Bohemia. — Evangelical  Refonned  Church  in 

Rev.  Justus  Emmanuel  Szalatnay Vclim. 

Hungary. — Reformed  Church 
Moravia. — Reformed  Church  of 

Rev.  Ferdinand  Cizar Klobouk. 

DELGIUM.— f/«w«  of  Evangelical  Congregations. 

Missionary  Christian  Church. 

Rev.  Leonard  Anet Brussels. 

Baron  Prisse ^'-  I>'Colay. 


46  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Division  I. — Continent  of  Europe.  —  Conthwed. 

FRANCE.— A^rt/w«rt/  Reformed  Church. 

Rev.  Adolphe  Mt)nod Carcassonne,  Aude. 

Union  of  the  Evangelical  Congregations  of 

GERMANY.— /V^,?  Evangelical  Church  of 

Rev.  H.  Rother Goilit/. 

Old  Reformed  Church  of  East  Eriesland. 

ITALY. —  Waldensian  Church. 

Rev.  Professor  Emilio  Comba Florence. 

Free  Chttrch  of 

Rev.  Antonio  Arrighi Florence. 

"     Prof.  Henderson Rome. 

NETHERLANDS.— V?^/7rwfa'  Chmrh  of  the 

Christian  Reformed  [Eree)  Church  of  the 

%Vh.\^.— Spanish  Christian  Church. 

(Stated  Clerk — Don  Manrique  Alonso,  Correduria  48,  Seville.) 

Rev.  John  Jameson Madrid. 

SWITZERLAND. 

Berne. — French  Church. 

Neuchatel. — Evangelical  Church  of  Neuchatel,  independent  of  the  State. 
Vaud. — Reformed  Church  of  the  Canton  de 
Free  Church  of  the  Canton  de 

DIVISION  II.— UNITED  KINGDOM. 

'E^Gl..M<i'D.— Presbyterian  Church  of 

(Stated  Clerk. — Rev.  \Vm.  McCaw,  Manchester.) 

Rev.  Alexander  Macleod,  D.  D Birkenhead. 

"     Professor  Wm.  Graham,  D.  D Liverpool. 

"     H.  L.  MacKenzie,  M.  A Swatow,  China. 

IKEl.A.^'D.— Presbyterian  Church  in 

(.Stated  Clerk. — Rev.  John  H.  Orr,  Antrim.) 

Rev.  Prof.  Robert  Watts,  D.  D Belfast. 

"     J.  S.  Hamilton,  M.  A , Banbridge. 

"     Robert  Knox,  D.  D Belfast. 

"     James  M.  Rodgers Derry. 

"     John  S.  Mcintosh,  M.  A .Belfast. 

"     Robert  McCheyne  Edgar,  M.  A Dublin. 

"     James  C.  Ferris Newry. 

"     S.  y.  Hanson Kingstown. 

"     Jonathan   Simpson Portrush. 

"     Edward  F.  Simpson Ballymena. 

John  Hanson,  Esq Antrim. 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in 

(Slated  Clerk. — Rev.  Robert  Nevin,  Londonderry.) 

Rev.  James  Brown Ballymoney. 

"     William  J.  Maxwell,  M.  A Liverpool. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  47 

Division  II. — United  Kingdom. — Continued. 
SCOTLAND.— C7«/;r/z  of 

(Stated  Clerk — Rev.  Princital  Tui.i.och,  D.  D.,  St.  yXndrews.) 

Rev.  Professor  Robert   Flint,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Edinburgh. 

"     Professor  Alex.  F.  Mitchell,  D.  1) St.  Andrews. 

"     John   Rankine,  I).  I) Sorn. 

"     Donald   McLeod,  15.  A Jedburjjh. 

"     John  Marshall    Lan^,  I).  D Glasgow. 

"     James  DocUis,  D.  D " 

*'     Henry  Wallis  Smith Kirknewton. 

"      C.  M.  Grant,  B.D Dundee. 

"     John   Struthers,  LL.  D Preston- Pans. 

"     Tiios.  Slater Derramara. 

A.  T.  Niven,  Esq.,  C.  A Edinburgh. 

And.  H.   Graham,  Esq Glasgow. 

Wm.  John  Menzies,  Esq.,  W,  S Edin!)urgh. 

William  Graham,  Esq '.  .  .  .  .Glasgow. 

Colin   McKenzie,  Esq.,  W.  S Glasgow. 

John  Neilson  Cuthbertson,  Esq Glasgow. 

Free  Church  of  ■ 

(Slated  Clerk — Rev.  Sir  Henry  W.  Moncreiff,  Bart,  D.  D.,  Edinburgh.) 

Rev.  Thomas  Main,  D.  D Edinburgh. 

"     Principal  Robert   Rainy,  D.  D " 

"     Professor  Wm.  G.  Blaikie,  D.  D.,  LL.  D " 

"     Professor  Alex.  B.  Bruce,  D.  D Glasgow. 

"     Edward  A.  Thomson Edinburgh. 

"     D.  D.  Bannerman,  M.  A Perth. 

•'     Robert   Howie,  M.  A Glasgow. 

•'     Wm.  H.  Goold,  D.  D Edinburgh. 

"     Alex.  Mackenzie,  M.  A " 

'•     J.  Murray  Mitchell,  LL.D 

"     Wm.  Welsh Broughton. 

«     Narayan  Sheshadri Bombay. 

Francis  Brown  Douglas,  Esq Edinburgh. 

Wm.  Henderson,  Esq Aberdeen. 

George  Smith,  Esq.,  LL.  D Edinburgh. 

Edmund  Archibald  Stuart-Gray,  Esc] Perihshne. 

James  Duncan  Smith,  Es,] Edinburgh. 

James   Macdonald,  Esq.,  W.  S 

John  ALacGregor  McCandlish,  Esq 

James  McNee,  Esq.,  M.  D Invernes<; 

United  Presbyterian  Church  of 

(Stated  Clerk — Rev.  Wii.i.iam  Wood,  Campsie.) 
Rev.  Professor  Henry  Calderwnod,  LL.  D Edinburgh. 

"     Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D 

"     George  C.  Hutton,  D.  I) Paisley. 

"     William  Wood Campsie. 

"      James  Wardrop,  D.  D West  Calder. 

"     John  Stark Duntocher. 

••     John    Huchison.  D.  D Bonnington. 

"     George  Rolison Inverness. 

•'     George  F.  James Edmburgh. 

"     William  Douglas  MotTat 

"     Johri  Ruthven Kmross. 

David  Corsar,  Esq Arbroath. 


48  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Division  II. — United  Kingdom. — Continued. 

Scotland.— United   Presljyterian  Church  of — Continued. 

William  Anderson,  Esq Edinburgh. 

James  Thin,   Esq " 

R.  Finlayson,  E>q Bonninglon. 

W.    l.yon.  Esq EdinburL;h. 

Reformed  Preshyteiian  C/ittrc/t  of 

(Stated  Clerk— 

Original  Secession  Church  of 

(Stated  Clerk— 
W.\LES. — Calvin istic  Methodist  Church  in 

(Staled  Clerk — Rev.  Thomas  Jones  Wiieldon,  Conway,  North  Wales.) 

Rev.  Wm.  Roberts,  D.  D Utica.  N.  Y. 

"      Rees  Evans Cambria,  Wis. 

"     David    Harries Chicago,  III. 

Uriah  Davies,  Esq Columbus,  Wis 

DIVISION  III.— UNITED  STATES. 

UNITED  STATES. — Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  E.  F.  Haiiteld,  D.  D.,  New  York  City.) 
Rev.  Wm.  P.  Breed,  D.  I) Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"     Charles  A.  Dickey,  D.  D 

"     S.  I.  Prime,  D.  D New  York  City. 

"     Samuel  S.  Nicci>lls,  D.  D St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"     John  Hall,  D.  D New  York  City. 

"     Thomas  -S.  Hastings,  D.  D " 

"     Henry  A.  Nelson,  D.  D Geneva,  N.  Y. 

"     Wm.  Henry  Green,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Princeton,  N.  J. 

"     Villeroy  Reed,  D.  D Camden,  N.  J. 

"      Tames  B.  Shaw,  D.  D Rochester,  N.  Y. 

"     Wm.  M.   Paxton,  D.  D New  York  City. 

"     George  W.  Musgrave,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"     Thomas  J.  Shepherd,  D.  D " 

"      lo^eph  T.   Smith,  D.  D Baltimore,' AUl. 

"     James  I.  Brownson,  D.  D Washington,  Pa. 

"     John  C.  Lowrie,  D.  D New  York  City. 

"     Arthur  Mitchell,  D.  D Chicago,  111. 

"     Thomas  II.  Skinner,  D.  D ^Cincinnati,  O. 

"     Arthur  T.  Pierson,  T).  D Detroit,  Mich. 

"     Aaron  L.  Lindsley,  D.  D Portland,  Oregon. 

Geo.  Junkin,  Esq Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Robt.   N.  Willson,  Esq " 

Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge New  York  City. 

"     Horace  M.aynard,  P.  M.  General,  U.  S.  A Washington,  D.  C. 

"     Chauiicey  N.  Olds,  LL.  D Columbus,  O. 

"     Wm.  Strong,  LL.  D.,  Justice,  Supreme  dairi,  U.  S.  A. 

Washington,  D.  C. 

«'      Thomas  IV.  Ferry,  Ex-President  Senate,  U.  S.  A. 
His  Excellency,  Gen.  Geo.  B.  McClellan,  LL.  D.,  Governor  of  the  State 

of  New  jersey Orange,  N  J. 

Professor  Ste]ihen  Alexander,  LL.  D Princeton,  N.  J. 

Henry  Day,  Esq New  York  City. 

Hon.  Stanley  Mathetvs,  LL.  D Cincinnati,  O. 

«'     Benjamin  Harrison Indianapolis,  Ind. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  49 

Division  III.— United  ^VKXYS.—Cofitinued. 

United  States.— Presbyterian  Churcli  in  the  United  States  of  America.— Gj«//««'A/. 

Hon.  James  Richardson St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Hovey  K.  CI.nri<e,  Esq Detroit,  Mich. 

Professor  Ormond   Heatty,  LL.  D Danville,  Ky. 

T.  Charlton     Henry,  Esq Philadelpbia,  Pa. 

Hon.  Joseph  Allison,  LL.  D " 

Prof.   Theodore  Dzuighl,  LL.D New  York  City. 

Henry  Ivison,  Esq , << 

Geo.  S.  Drake,  Esq St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  J.  R.  Wilson,  D  D.,  Wilmington,  N.  C.) 

Rev.  Joseph   B.  Stratton,  D.  D Natchez,  Miss. 

"     M.  H.   Houston Taylorville,  Ky. 

"     Henry  M.  Scudder,  D.  D Ehenezer,  Ky. 

"     Charles  A.  Stillman,  D.  D Tuskaloosa,  Ala. 

"     John  Leighton  Wilson,  1).  D Baltimore,  Md. 

"     Joseph  R.  Wilson,  D.  D Wilmington,  N.  C. 

"     James  A.  Lefevre,  D.  D Baltimore,  Md. 

"     Allen  Wright Choctaw  Nation. 

"     Geo.  D.  Armstrong,  D.  D Norfolk,  Va. 

V     W.  Urwick    Murkland,  D  D Baltmiore,  Md. 

"     Wm.  E.   Boggs,  D  D Atlanta,  Ga. 

"     Wm.  Brown,  D.  D Fredericksburg,  Va. 

"     Charles  H.  Read,  D.  D Richmond,  Va. 

"     Jacob  Henry  Smith,  D.  D Greensboro,  N.  C. 

Hon.  John  L.  Marye Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Judge  Thomas  Thompson S.  C. 

Wm.  P.  Webb,  Esq Eulaw,  Ala. 

Wm.  M.    McPheeters,  Esq.,  M.  D St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Hon.  Isaac  D.  Jones Baltimore,  Md. 

"      Thomas   A.  Hamilton Mobile,  Ala. 

Patrick  Joyce,  Est] Louisville.  Ky. 

Prof.  W.   C.   Kerr North  Carolina. 

D.  C.   Anderson,  Esq Alabama. 

Prof.  Chas.   S.  Venable,  LL.  D Charlotteville,  Va. 

Hon.  C.  B.  Moore Little  Rock,  Ark. 

Judge  James   ^L  Baker Jacksonville,  Fla. 

J.  ].  Gresham,  Esq Macon.  Ga. 

A.  P.  McCormick,  Esq Fla, 

Reformed  Church  in  America. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  P.  D.  Van  Cleef,  D.  D.,  Jersey  City,  N.  J  ) 
Rev.  Abraham  R.  Van  Nest,  D.  D Philadelphia.  Pa. 

"     Wm.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.  D Newark.   N.  J. 

"     Acmoii  P.  Van  Gieson.  D.  D Poughkeepsic,  N.  V. 

"     Joachim   Elmendorf,  D.  D " 

"     John  Thomson.   D.  D Cafskill,  N.  V. 

"     "Philip  Phelps,  Jr.,  D.  D Holian.l,  Mich. 

"     Wm.  H.  Campl)ell,  D.  D New  Brunswick.  N.J. 

Daniel  S.  Jones,  Esq Philadelphia.   Pa. 

William    Bogardus,  Esq New  Y..rk  Ciiv. 

Hon.  Peter  S.  Danforth Schoharie.  N.  V. 

"      Robt.  H.  Pruyn Newark. 

"     Samuel  Sloan •.  •  ■  •  New  York. 

4 


50  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Division  III. — United  States.  —  Continued. 

Kefoimed  Church  in  the  United  States. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  I.  H.  Rkiter,  D.  D.,  Dayton,  Ohio.) 

Hev.  Thomas  S.  Porter,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Easton,  Pa. 

"     John  H.  A.  Bombertjer,  D.  D Collegeville,  Pa. 

.       "     Thomas  G.  Apple,  D.  D Lancaster,  Pa. 

"     Franklin  W.  Kremer,  1).  D Lebanon,  Pa. 

"     D,  Earnest  Kiopp.  I).  D r Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"     George  W.  Williard,  D.  D Dayton,  Ohio, 

"      Scott   F.  Hershey Denver,  Ind. 

"     F.  W.  Rerlem.mn Philadelphia,  Pa. 

.    "     Jacob  W.  Dahlni.uin,  D.  D Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"     John  M.  Tilzel Irwin,  Pa. 

"     Thomas  J.  Barklev Sunbury,  Pa. 

"     Jacob  O.  Miller,  I).  D York,  Pa. 

"     George  W.  Glessner,  D.  D Shippensburg,  Pa. 

"     NichoLns  Gehr,  D.  D Philadel[)hia,  Pa. 

"     John  F.  Busche New  York  City. 

Jacob  Rader,  Esq Easton,  Pa. 

Thomas  W.  Cha[)man,  E>q Navarre,  Ohio. 

Henry  Tons,  Esq Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 

Christian  M.  Boiisch,  Esq Meadville,  Pa. 

John  P.  Reeds,  Esq Bedford,  Pa. 

United  Presbyterian  Church  of  A'orth  America. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  \Vm.  J.  Reid,  D.  D.,  Pittsburg,  Pa.) 
Rev.  President  E.  T.  Jeffers,  D.  D New  Wilmington,  Pa. 

"     W.  H.   McMillan.  D.  D Allegheny,  Pa. 

"     President  David  Paul,  D.  D New  Concord,  O. 

"      Professor  Willia?n  Bruce,  D.  D Xenia,  O. 

"     Professor  D.  R.  Kerr,  D.  D Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

"     J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D Philadelphia,  Pa. 

«'     D.  A.  Wallace,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Wooster,  O. 

"     James  Brown,  D.  D Keokuk,  Iowa. 

"     John  Comin,  D.  D Rix  Mills,  O. 

General  D.  W.  Houston Leavenworth,  Kan. 

Hon.  James  Dawson Washington,  Iowa. 

Professor  E.  F.  Reid Monmouth,  111. 

S.  B,  Clark,  Esq.,  M.  D Cambria,  O. 

Thomas  Mc("ance,  I£sq Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

James  McCandless,  Esq Philadelphia,  Pa. 

W.  K.  Carson,  Esq Baltimore,  Md. 

Associate  Pe formed  Synod  of  the  South. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  James  Bovce,  D.  D.,  Due  West,  S.  C.) 

Rev.  James  Boyce,  D.  D Due  West,  S.  C. 

"     j.  I.  Bonner,  D.  D " 

Hon.  C.  />.  Simonton Covington,  Tenn. 

General  Synod  of  the  Refurnted  Presbyterian  Church. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  David  Steele,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa  ) 

Rev.  David  Steele,  D.  D Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Alexander  Kerr,  Esq " 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  51 

Division  III. — United   States. — Continued. 

Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  America. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  T.  P.  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.) 

Rev.  A.   M.  Milligan,  D.  D Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

"     T.  P.  Stevenson,  D.  D Philadelphia,  1^ 

William  Neely,  Esq New  York  City. 

Samuel  A.  Sterrett,  Esq.,  M.  D Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

DIVISION   IV.— BRITISH  COLONIES  AND  DEPENDENCIES. 

CANADA. — Presbyterian  Church  in 

(St.ited  Clerk— Rev.  William  Reid,  D.  D.,  Toronto.) 
Rev.  Donald  Macrae,  M.  A.  B.  D St.  John,  N.  B. 

"     Principal  A.  McKnii^ht,  D.  D Halifax,  N.  S. 

"     Principal  D.  H.  McVicar,  LL.  D Montreal. 

"     Principal   G.  M.  Grant,  D.  D Kingston. 

"     Principal  Win.  Caven,  D.  D Toronto. 

"     Wm.  Keid,  D.  D 

"     John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Montreal. 

"     Robert  F.  Burns,  D.  D Halifax,  N.  S. 

"     D.  J.  Macdonnell,  B.  D Toronto. 

"     George  D.  Mathews,  D.  D Quebec. 

T.  W.  Taylor,  Esq.,  M.  A.,  Master  in  Chancery Toronto. 

Hon.  Alex.  Morris,  D.C.L " 

James  Croil,  Esq Montreal. 

Hon.  John  McMurrich Toronto. 

J.  D.  McDonald,  Esq.,  M.  D Hamilton. 

Thomas  McCrae,  Esq Guelph. 

J.  B.  Fairbairn,  Esq Ottawa. 

James  K.  Blair,  Esq Truro,  N.  S. 

CAPE  OF  GOOD  YiOVlL.— Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  .South  Africa. 

Rev.  Professor  Nicholas  Hofmeyr Stellembosch. 

"     John  Alberlyn Middleburg. 

CEWJd^.— Presbytery  of  Ceylon. 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  Henry  MITCHELL,  Galle,  Ceylon.) 

William  Smi(h,  Esq Kandy,  Ceylon. 

EASTERN  AUSTRALIA.— 5/«(7</  of 

Stated  Clerk— 
NATAL.— Z»«/r//  Reformed  Church. 
Presbytery  of  Natal. 
Christian  Reformed  Church  South  Africa. 

NEW  HEBRIDES.— yl/MwV'w  Synod  of 

Rev.  Thomas  Neilson 


NEW  SOUTH  \^ MJl^.— Presbyterian  Church  of 

(Stated  Clerk— Rev.  James  S.  Laing,  Muswellbrook,  N.  S.  W.) 

Rev.  Principal  John  Kinross,  B.  A Sydney. 


52  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Division  IV. — British   Colonies  and  Dependencies. — Continued. 

NEW  ZY.K\.k^li.— Presbyterian  Oturch  of 

(Stated  Clerk— 
ORANGE  FREE  STATE.— Z?«/r/^  Reformed  Church  of  the 
OTAGO  AND  SOUTHLAND.— /'/r^^i'/^rww  Church  of 

(Stated  Clerk— 
QUEENSLAND.— /-^w^j'/^r/aw  Church  of 
SOUTH  AUSTRALIA.— /'/vj^/Zf/'/a;/  Church  of 
(Stated  Clerk- 
Rev.  John  Henderson Adelaide. 

TASMANIA. -/';w^j/'^r?fl«  Church  of 

(Stated  Clerk — Rev.  James  Scott,  Hobart  Town.) 

Rev.  Ruben  S.  Duff,  M.  A Evandale. 

^ICIO^IK.— Presbyterian  Church  of 
(Stated  Clerk- 
Rev.  James  Nish Sandhurst. 

Thomas  Baillie,  Esq Melbourne. 

Francis  Ormond,  Esq " 

The  following  additional  names  appear  on  the  programme  to 
re^d  papers,  and  were  enrolled  as  associate  members : 

Benjamin  L.  Agnew,  D.  D Philadelphia,  Pa, 

Lyman  H.  Atwater,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Princeton,  N.  J. 

W.  W.  Barr,  D.  D Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Hon.  S.  M.  Bi-eckinridge. St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Rev.  A.  F.  Buscarlet Lausanne. 

Wm.  H.  Campbell,  D.  D New'Brunswick,  N.  J. 

T.  W.  Chambers,  D.  D New  York  City. 

Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.  I) Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

John  De  Witt,  D.  D Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Hon.  Chief-Justice  C.  D.  Drake Washington,  D.  C. 

Jonathan  Edwards,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Danville,  Ky. 

Rev.  O.  Erdnian Elberfeld,  Germany. 

George  Fisch,  D.  D Paris,  France. 

Rev.  Fritz  Fliedner '. Madrid,  Spain. 

Rev.  Hervey  D.  Ganse St.  Lcjuis,  Mo. 

William  Gregp;,  I).  D Toronto,  Canada. 

Leroy  J.  Halsey,  D.D Cliicasro,   111. 

Edwm  F.  Hatfield,  D.  D New  York  City. 

Hiram  C.  Haydn,  D.  D Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Roswell  D.  Hitchcock,  D.  D.,  LL.  D New  York  City. 

A.  A.  Hodge,  D.  D Princeton,  N.  J. 

E.  P.  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Louisville,  Ky. 

Herrick  Johnson,  D.D Chicago,  111. 

Robt.   Lewis,  Esq New  York. 

1  lerman  Krummacher,  D.  D Stettin,  Germany. 

Rev.  A.  Mabille Basuto  Land,  .South  Africa. 

G.  A.  Matile,  Esq.,  D.  C.  L Washington,  D.  C. 

James  McCosh,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Princeton,  N.  J. 

Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D Chicago,  111. 

C.  Chinquy Kankakee,  111. 

Wilhelm  Krofft,  D.D Bonn,  Germany. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  53 

Edward  D.  Morris,  D.  D Cincinnati,  O. 

Wm.  Ormiston,  D.  D New  York. 

R.  M.  Patterson,  D.  D Philadelphia,  Pa! 

H.  G.  Pfieiderer,  D.  D Kornthal,  Germany. 

William  J.  Reid,  D.  U Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Philip  .Sciiaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D New  York  City. 

Sylvester  F.  Scovel Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Rev.  Prof.  J.  R.  W.  Sloane,  D.  D Allegheny,  Pa. 

A.  B.  Van  Zuidt,  D.  D New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 

J.  J.  Van  Ooslerzee,  D.D Utrecht,   Holland. 

Samuel  J.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D Allegheny;.  Pa. 

T.  D.  Witiierspoon,  D.  D Petersburg,  Va. 

Rev.  S.  O.  Wylie Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Ed.  de  Fressense,  D.  D Paris,  France. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials  was  adopted ; 
and  the  following  committee  was  appointed  in  accordance  with 
its  recommendation :  the  Rev.  Principal  D.  H.  McVicar,  LL.  D., 
the  Rev.  D.  A.  Wallace,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  C.  A.  Dickey,  D.  D., 
William  Brown,  D.  D.,  W.  Wood,  and  James  M.  McDonald,  Esq. 

ELECTION  OF  OFFICERS. 

The  Rev.  Professor  Henry  Calderwood,  LL.  D.,  was  chosen 
as  President  for  the  afternoon  session. 

The  Rev.  Drs.  W.  G.  Blaikie  and  G.  D.  Mathews  were  chosen 
Clerks  of  the  Council,  and  the  Rev.  Matthew  Newkirk  Assistant 
Clerk. 

OBITUARY. 

Rev.  Dr.  S.  L  Prime. — Allusion  has  been  made,  in  the  sermon 
this  morning,  and  in  the  address  of  welcome  this  afternoon,  to 
the  remarkable  providence  of  God  in  the  removal  by  death  of 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  this  Council,  and 
of  brethren  engaged  in  the  work  of  preparation  for  its  meeting. 
In  obedience  to  the  directions  of  the  Business  Committee,  I  bog 
leave  now  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Council  to  the  propriety 
of  making  a  minute  of  it  on  their  record,  and  for  this  purpose  1 
propose  the  following : 

At  the  commencement  of  its  sessions,  and  before  proceeding  to  the 
order  of  business,  the  Council  would  pause  to  recognize  with  rever- 
ence and  humble  submission  to  the  sovereign  will  of  God,  the  re- 
markable dispensation  of  his  holy  providence  by  which  three  of  its 
official  members  and  chosen  leaders  have  been  called  to  their  rest, 
while  in  the  midst  of  their  labors  in  the  service  of  this  Alliance. 


54  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Rev.  Elias  R.  Beadle,  D.  D. ,  LL.  D.,  was  designated  by  the 
First  General  Council  of  this  Alliance  as  the  Convener,  or  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  this  the  Second  Meeting.  In 
the  midst  of  his  distinguished  usefulness,  in  the  apparent  enjoyment 
of  vigorous  health,  and  glowing  with  the  fervor  of  the  pulpit,  he  was 
suddenly  summoned  home. 

The  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,an  eminent,  hon- 
ored and  useful  pastor,  was  called  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  com- 
mittee to  take  the  vacant  chair.  In  the  midst  of  his  duties  he  too 
was  overtaken  by  the  call  of  the  Master,  and  full  of  years  and  honors 
rests  in  Christ. 

The  Rev.  William  Adams,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  was  fitly  chosen  to 
preach  the  sermon  at  the  opening  of  this  Council.  With  great  reluc- 
tance he  consented  to  accept  the  service.  His  wisdom  and  eloquence, 
his  position  in  the  Church,  and  his  distinguished  virtues  and  accom- 
plishments, rendered  the  appointment  appropriate  and  deserved.  It 
has  pleased  God  to  take  this  beloved  servant  to  himself,  before  his 
voice  could  be  heard  by  us  in  this  Council  of  the  Church. 

In  addition  to  the  brethren  named  above,  the  Council  is  called 
upon  also  to  record  the  decease  of  the  Rev.  Peter  Lorimer,  D.  D., 
Principal  of  the  Theological  College  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
England,  a  man  of  great  distinction  and  attainments,  who  was  expected 
to  be  present  with  us  to-day,  and  to  take  part  in  our  deliberations. 

And  also  the  death  of  the  following  members  of  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements  for  this  Council,  viz.  : 

Elder  Morris  Patterson,  of  Philadelphia, 

Rev.  W.  C.  Jackson,  of  Philadelphia. 

Elder  Henry  B.  Webster,  of  Canada. 

Rev.  Alexander  Topp,  D.  D.,  of  Canada. 

Elder  James  Lennox,  of  New  York. 

Rev.  Mancius  S.  Hutton,  D.  D.,  of  New  York. 

The  death  of  these  elders  and  ministers  of  Christ,  bearing  official 
relations  to  this  Council,  is  an  event  of  solemn  significance,  which 
the  Council  would  humbly  recognize  by  making  this  minute  in  its 
proceedings,  and  by  devoutly  praying  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church 
to  make  this  providence  useful  in  quickening  each  one  of  us  to  holier 
diligence  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  that  when  we  are  called  we  too 
may  be  found  so  doing. 

Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie. — It  must  be  considered  a  very  superfluous 
duty  to  second  a  resolution  of  this  kind  which,  by  its  own  words, 
commends  itself  to  the  acceptance  of  every  member  of  the  body. 
But  Dr.  Prime,  having  spoken  very  properly  as  representing  the 
Churches  with  which  these  honored  fathers  were  more  immedi- 
ately connected,  I  would  like  to  say  that  we,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  ocean  and  in  other  parts  of  the  globe,  do  most  cordially 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  55 

concur  in  the  tribute  which  it  is  proposed  to  render  to  tlie  mem- 
ory of  these  departed  fathers  and  brethren. 

I  had  the  privilege  three  years  ago  of  forming  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  three  American  fathers  that  have  been  taken  away 
from  us,  and  I  know  how  worthy  they  were  of  the  positions  to 
which  they  were  called.  I  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  and 
hearing  Dr.  Adams  and  Dr.  Beadle  when  they  were  in  Edin- 
burgh three  years  ago,  and  would  say  more  especially  in  refer- 
ence to  Dr.  Adams  that  we  cannot  forget  the  service  he  ren- 
dered upon  that  occasion.  We  cannot  forget  his  kind  presence 
and  his  countenance  beaming  with  intelligence  and  brotherly 
love.  We  have  cause  to  be  grateful  for  the  tone  his  opening 
and  closing  addresses  gave  to  the  Edinburgh  Council.  Dr. 
Beadle,  though  occupying  a  less  conspicuous  position,  com- 
mended himself,  I  might  say,  almost  equally  to  our  admiration 
and  esteem,  and  Dr.  Boardman,  though  less  known  among  us, 
was  as  well  known  to  be  worthy  of  the  position  which  was 
assigned  to  him. 

While  thus  referring  to  these  names,  I  cannot  help  likewise 
bringing  under  the  notice  of  the  Council  two  other  names,  not 
of  persons  who  had  any  official  connection  with  it,  therefoie 
not  of  persons  whom  it  would  be  right  to  include  in  the  minute 
about  to  be  adopted,  but  of  persons  who  took  a  very  lively 
interest  in  this  enterprise  and  were  very  useful  in  laying  its 
foundation.  The  first  the  late  Dr.  Duff,  who  presided  at  the 
first  session  of  the  conference  held  in  London  in  1875,  when 
this  organization  was  formed,  and  who  to  his  dying  day  retained 
a  very  lively  interest  in  this  Council.  The  other  was  a  la\'man. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Edinburgh  Council,  a  devoted  Chris- 
tian— Lord  Kintore.  He  likewise,  in  a  quiet  way,  as  I  have 
good  reason  to  know,  lent  very  valuable  assistance  in  bringing 
this  enterprise  into  existence.  He  expected  to  take  part  in  this 
meeting,  but  in  the  month  of  May  last  he  found  that  other  con- 
siderations would  prevent  him  from  doing  so,  and,  both  by  a 
letter  I  hold  in  my  hand  and  by  a  personal  message  he  gave  to 
my  son,  he  charged  me  to  express  his  very  deep  regret,  in  the 
most  respectful  terms  in  which  I  could  do  so,  and  say  how  much 


56  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

he  would   have   liked  to  be   present  among  persons  whom  he  had 
learned  in  Edinburgh  and  elsewhere  to  love  and  esteem  so  highly. 

It  cannot  but  throw  a  cloud  upon  us  to  think  of  so  many  who  have 
passed  away;  but  I  do  not  think  our  feelings  are  those  of  entire  deso- 
lation, because  these,  our  fathers  and  brethren,  have  now  entered  on 
their  rest  and  their  reward.  We  rejoice  to  think  of  so  many  friends 
of  this  Alliance  who  have  joined  the  General  Assembly  and  Church 
of  the  First-born.  It  is  something,  I  think,  to  begin  our  conference 
with  our  hearts  and  minds  turned  upward  to  where  they  are. 

I  trust  that  all  our  proceedings  with  be  carried  on  with  something 
of  their  spirit,  and  that  we  shall  feel,  while  we  sit  here,  as  if  they  were 
among  us — at  least  as  if  they  were  addressing  us  and  urging  us  to  be 
steadfast  and  immovable  in  the  work  of  spreading  the  gospel  and  in 
all  the  work  of  the  Lord,  so  that  God's  will  may  be  done  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  heaven,  and  to  use  our  utmost  diligence  while  we  have  oppor- 
tunity to  bring  our  fellow-men  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  which  they 
have  now  been  put  fully  in  possession. 

The  minute  was  then  agreed  to. 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  ARRANGEMENTS. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  W.  P.  Breed,  from  the  General  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  made  the  following  report : 

The  Council  at  Edinburgh  appointed  a  committee  consisting  of 
members  of  the  various  bodies  represented  there,  to  act  as  a  General 
Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the  Second  Council,  to  be  held  in  the 
<:ity  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1880,  the  Rev.  E.  R.  Beadle,  D.D.,  being 
Convener.  On  the  nth  of  March,  1878,  the  committee  met,  when 
additional  members  were  elected.  The  Rev.  Maithew  Newkirk,  of 
Philadelphia,  was  appointed  secretary.  A  sub-committee  of  their 
members  to  prepare  a  programme  was  also  appointed  to  meet  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  having  the  Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D. ,  LL.D.,  as 
its  chairman,  and  the  Rev.  G.  D.  Mathews,  D.  D.,  as  its  secretary. 
A  Business  Sub-Committte  was  also  appointed  to  meet  in  Philadel- 
phia, with  George  Junkin,  Esq.,  as  its  chairman,  and  Samuel  C.  Per- 
kins, Esq.,  its  secretary.  On  January  6th,  1879,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beadle, 
chairman  of  the  General  Committee,  was  suddenly  called  to  his  reward 
above.  On  his  way  home,  after  havinsj  conducted  divine  service  on 
Sabbath  morning,  he  was  seized  with  pain,  and  in  a  few  hours  was  with 
us  no  more.  At  the  following  meeting  of  the  committee  the  Rev. 
Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.  D.,  was  chosen  chairman,  and  at  a  subse- 
quent meeting  the  Rev.  Wm.  P.  Breed,  D.  D.,  was  elected  vice-chair- 
man of  the  committee.  On  June  15th,  1880,  Dr.  Boardman  was  al>o 
called  to  his  heavenly  rest.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  committee  the 
vice-chairman  was  elected  chairman.  Besides  Dr.  Beadle  and  Dr. 
Boardman,  eight  other  members  of  the  General  Committee  have  sin<  e 
the  adjournment  of  the  Council  at  Edinburgh  been  removed  from  the 


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SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  57 

scenes  of  time  to  those  of  eternity.  Their  names  have  been  recited, 
and  we  need  not  repeat  them.  They  call  us  loudly  to  "  work  while 
it  is  day,  for  the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work."  The  Pro- 
gramme Committee  have  held  many  meetings,  and  have  labored  hard 
to  discharge  the  duty  assigned  them.  Through  what  toil,  anxiety 
and  perplexity  the  duties  of  the  chairman  and  secretary  of  this  com- 
mittee have  led  them,  no  one  can  appreciate  except  those  who  have 
gone  through  a  similar  experience.  The  Business  Committee  met  on 
the  20th  of  December,  1878,  and  appointed  the  following  sub-com- 
mittees, viz.  :  A  Committee  of  Finance  and  Audit,  a  Committee  of 
Publication  of  Proceedings,  a  Committee  of  Reception  and  Entertain- 
ment, a  Committee  on  Place  of  Meeting  and  Decoration,  and  also  a 
Committee  on  Railways  and  Transportation.  These  various  commit- 
tees at  once  addressed  themselves  to  the  tasks  severally  assigned  them, 
and  have  spared  neither  time  nor  labor  in  their  efforts  to  reach  the 
desired  results.  The  Committee  of  Arrangements  herewith  submit 
the  programme,  prepared  with  great  outlay  of  thought,  care,  and  cor- 
respondence on  the  part  of  the  Committee  on  the  Programme,  to  be 
adopted  and  followed  by  the  Council,  subject  to  such  modifications 
as  expediency  or  necessity  may  demand.  In  accordance  with  an  express 
provision  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Alliance,  the  Committeeof  Arrange- 
ments, through  their  Sub-Committee  on  the  Programme,  invited  a  num- 
ber of  men,  distinguished  in  the  various  departments  of  church  thought 
and  work,  to  prepare  papers  for  or  make  addresses  before  the  Council. 
The  committee  therefore  respectfully  suggest  that  these  gentlemen  be 
invited  to  sit  as  associate  members  of  the  body.  The  committee 
would  also  recommend  that  all  missionaries  from  heathen  lands  at  home 
on  leave  of  absence  from  their  fields  of  labor  be  admitted  to  seats  as 
associate  members  of  this  body.  Following  the  precedent  set  by  the 
Edinburgh  Council,  it  is  further  recommended  that  a  .sei)arate  Presi- 
dent be  chosen  for  each  session  of  the  Council.  The  Committee  on 
the  Publjcation  of  the  Proceedings  have  made  arrangements  to  secure 
a  full  and  accurate  stenographic  report  of  the  debates  and  doings  of 
the  Council.  They  have  also,  subject  to  the  approval  of  Council, 
accepted  an  offer  on  the  part  of  a  responsible  publishing  firm,  to  pub- 
lish in  an  attractive  volume  such  of  the  proceedings  as  n^ay  be  sanc- 
tioned by  an  editing  committee  to  be  appointed  by  this  body,  and  to 
place  this  volume  at  an  early  day  before  the  public  at  a  very  reasona- 
ble price,  and  all  without  any  expense  to  the  Council.  This  commit- 
tee therefore  respectfully  suggest  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Dales,  D.  D.,  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  of  this  city,  and  the 
Rev.  R.  M.  Patterson,  D.  D.,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  also  of  this 
city,  as  a  committee  to  revise  and  edit  the  Proceedings  of  the  Council, 

The  following  is  the  Programme  referred  to  in  the  report  and  accom- 
panying it: 

The  Committee  of  Arrangements  will  entertain  the  Delegates  to 
the  Council  at  a  Social  Reception,  to  be  held  on  Wednesday  evenmg, 
September  22,  in  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.     The  regular  sessions 


58  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  the  Council  will   be  held  in   the  Horticultural  Hall,  and  in  the 
Hall  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

THURSDAY,   SEPTEMBER  23. 
(11  A.  M. — Academy  of  Music.) 

Opening  Sermon. 

William  M.  Paxton,  D.  D.,  New  York  City. 

(3 — 5  p.  M.—  Horticultural  Hall.) 

Business  Meeting.  —  Organizaiion. 

Address  of  Welcome.  William  P.  Breed,  D.  D.,  Philadelpnia,  Pa. 
Report  of  Committee  on  Statistics. 

Prof.  William  G.  Blaikie,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Edinburgh,  Chairman. 

ilYz—gyi  P-  M.) 
The  Ceremonial,  the  Moral,  and  the  Eftiotionai  in  Christian  Life  and 
Worship. 
Prof.  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  New  York  City. 
Modern  Theological  Thought. 

Principal  Robert  Rainy,  D.  D.,  Edinburgh. 
Religion  in  Secular  Affairs. 

Principal  G.  M.  Grant,  D.  D.,  Kingston,  Canada. 

FRIDAY,   SEPTEMBER  24. 

(914  A.  M. — I  P.  M. — Horticultural  Hall.) 

Inspiration,  Authenticity  and  Interpretation  of  the  Scriptures. 
Prof.  E.  P.  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Prof.  Robert  Watts,  D.  D.,  Belfast. 

I— 2>^  p.  M.— INTERMISSION. 

(2^ 4/^   P-   M.) 

Distinctive  JPrinciples  of  Presbyterianism. 

Prof.  Samuel  J.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Allegheny  City,  Pa. 

"Worship  of  the  Reformed  Churches."     John  DeWitt,  D.  D., 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Ruling  Elders. 

Hon.  S.  M.  Breckinridge,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

C.  H.  Read,  D.  D.,  Richmond,  Va. 

(7:^—9:^  P-  M.) 
The  Pulpit  in  Relation  to  Family  Worship  ajid  Children. 

Alexander  McLeod,  D.  D.,  Birkenhead. 
The  Application  of  the  Gospel  to  Einploycrs  and  Employed. 

William  G.  Blaikie,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Edinburgh. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  59 

Christianity  the  Friend  of  the  Working  Classes. 

Hon.  Chief-Justice  C.  D.  Drake,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER  25. 

(9^   A.  M.  —  I   P.   M.)  ^ 

Revealed  Religion,  in  its  Relation  to  Science  and  Philosophy.     Forms 
of  Modern  Infidelity. 

"The  Relations  of  Science  and  Theology." 

Prof.  Henry  Calder\Vood,  LL.  D.,  Edinburgh. 
"  How  to  deal  with  young  men  trained  in  science,  in  this  age  of 
unsettled  opinion."    President  James  McCosh,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Princeton,  N.  J. 

I— 2>^  p.  M.— INTERMISSION. 

lyi — 41^  p.  M. 

Forenoon  subject  contimied. 

"Apologetics."    Ed.  de  Pressense,  D.  D.,  Paris.     Paper. 
"Agnosticism."    Prof.  Robert  Flint,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Edinburgh. 

(7j4    P.  M.) 

Reception  given  to  the  Delegates  by  the  Board  of  Publication,  in 
their  building  on  Chestnut  Street,  which  has  been  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Council  during  its  Sessions. 

MONDAY,  SEPTEMBER  27. 
(9I/2  A.  M. — I  p.  M. — Horticultural  Hall.) 

Report  of  Committee  on  Creeds  and  Co?fessions. 

Prof.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  New  York,  Chairman. 

A.  B.  Van  Zandt,  D.  D.,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 
Bible  Revision. 

T.  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  New  York  City. 

i_2^  p.  M.— INTERMISSION. 

(2^—41^    p.    M.) 

Presbyhrianistn  and  Education. 

Prof.  Edward   D.  Morris,  D.  D.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
"  Religion  and  Education  in  New  South  Wales." 
Rev.  Principal  Kinross,  Sydney. 
Presbyterianism  in  Relation  to  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty. 
Sylvester  F.  Scovel,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

"Religion  and   Politics."      Prof.    Lyman   H.  Atwater,  D.   D., 
LL.  D.,  Princeton,  N.  J. 


6o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Presbyterian  Catholicity . 

George  C.  Hutton,  D.  D.,  Paisley. 

Principal  D.  H.  MacVicar,  LL.  D.,  Montreal. 

William  H.  Campbell,  D.  D.,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 

TUESDAY,  SEPTEMBER  28. 

(9^  A.  M. — I  P.  M. — Horticultural  Hall.) 

The  Vicarious  Sacrifice  of  C/irist. 

Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D.,  Edinburgh. 

Prof.  A.  A.  Hodge,  D.  D.,  Princeton,  N.  J. 
Future  Retribution. 

T.  D.  Witherspoon,  D.  D.,  Petersburg,  Va. 

i_2^  P.  M.— INTERMISSION. 

(2>^— 43^     P.  M.) 

Church  Extension  in  Large  Cities. 

R.  M.  Patterson,  D.  D.,  Philadebhia,  Pa. 

William  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  Nevvark,  N.  J. 
Church  Extension  in  sparsely  settled  Districts. 

W.  J.  Reid,  D.  D.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

"  The  Evangelization  of  Ireland."  Robert  Knox,  D.  D.,  Belfast. 

(7/^ — 9/^  P-  ^^0 

Sabbath-Schools — Their  Use  and  Abuse. 

Arthur  Mitchell,  D.  D.,  Chicago,  111. 
Evangelists  and  Evangelistic  Work. 

"Recent  Evangelistic  Work  in  Paris."     George  Fisch,   D.  D., 
Paris.     Paper. 

Joseph  R.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  Wilmington,  N.  C. 


WEDNESDAY,  SEPTEMBER  29. 

(9^  A   M. — I  P.  M. — Horticultural  Hall.) 

The  Theology  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

"The  Conflict  between  Faith  and  Rationalism  in  Holland." 
Prof.  J.  J.  Van  Oosterzee,  D.  D.,  Utrecht.     Paper. 
"The  Theology  of  the  Reformed  Church  with  special  reference 
to  the  Westminster  Standards." 

Prof.  Alex.  Mitchell,  D.  D.,  St.  Andrews. 
"The  Theology  of  the  German  Reformed  Church." 

Prof.  Thomas  G.  Apple,  D.  D.,  Lancaster,  Pa. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  6i 

x—zY-z  p.  M.— INTERMISSION. 

(2>^— 41^  p.  M.) 

Grounds  and  Methods  of  Admission  to  Sealing  Ordifiances. 

Rev.  D.  D.  Bannerman,  M.  A.,  Perth. 

"Baptism."     T.  P.  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Church  Discipline — Its  Province  and  Use. 

Prof.  Jonathan  Edwards,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Danville,  Ky. 

Prof.  Leroy  J.  Halsey,  D.  D.,  Chicago,  111. 

(71^ — 9^  p.  M. — Academy  of  Music.) 

Sabbath  Observance. 

Prof.  William  Gregg,  D.  D.,  Toronto. 

Rev.  Hervey  D.  Ganse,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Temperance. 

Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  New  York  City. 
Popular  AtnnsemcJits. 

Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.  D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER  30. 
(9^  A.  M. — I  P.  M. — Horticultural  Hall.) 
Report  of  Committee  on  Eoreign  Mission  Work. 

Wm.  M.  Paxton,  D.  D.,  New  York  City,      )    .        Chairmen 
J.  Murray  Mitchell,  LL.  D.,  Edinburgh,        )  -^'^^"^  t-nairmen. 
J.  Leighton  Wilson,  D.  D.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
"Co-operation  among  Missionaries."     A  Communication  from 

the  U.  P.  Church  of  Scotland. 
John  C.  Lowrie,  D.  D.,  New  York  City. 

I— 2><  p.  M.— INTERMISSION. 

{2%—^y2  p.  M.) 

The  Proper  Care,  Support  and  Training  of  Candidates  for  the  Ministry. 

Herrick  Johnson,  D.  D.,  Chicago,  111. 

"Church  Order  and  Church  Life."     J.  Marshall  Lang,  D.  D., 
Glasgow. 

"The  World's  Demand  for  Ministers."    A  Communication  from 
the  U.  P.  Church  of  Scotland. 
Systematic  Beneficence. 

Hiram  C.  Hayden,  D.  D.,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

"Christian  Beneficence."    W.  W.  Barr,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Ministerial  Support. 

Benjamin  L.  Agnew,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Reports  on  the  State  of  Religion  in  Heathen  Countries. 
"Liberia."     Rev.  Edward  Blyden,  D.  D.     Paper. 
"South  Africa."     Rev.  A.  Mabille,  Basuto  Land. 


6?  THE    PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

FRIDAY,  OCTOBER  i. 

.    (9^  A.  M. — I  P.  M. — Horticultural  Hall.) 

Report   of   Committee    on    Modes   of  Helping    the    Churches   of  the 
European  Continent. 

J.  A.  Campbell,  Esq.,  LL.  D.,  Glasgow,    )     .  .^^^  Chairmen 

David  Maclagan,  Esq.,  Edinburgh,  j  -^ 

"  Our  Relations  to  the  Churches  of  the  European  Continent." 

Rev.  J.  S.  Macintosh,  Belfast. 
Reports  on  the  State  of  Religion  in 

"France."     Rev.  Adolphe  Monod,  Carcassonne,  Aude. 
"Switzerland."     Rev.  A.  F.  Buscarlet,  Lausanne. 
"Moravia."     Rev.  Ferdinand  Cizar,  Klobouk.     Paper. 
Letter  fri)n  the  National  Evangelical  Union  of  Geneva. 

i—^y^  P.  M.— INTERMISSION. 

i^Y-z — aYi  p-  i^i-) 

Report  of  Committee  on  Desiderata  of  Presbyterian  History. 

Alexander  Mitchell,  D.  D.,  St.  Andrews,  Chairviati. 

"Diffusion  of  Presbyterian  Literature." 

Wm.  P.  Breed,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"  Church  Work  in  Australia." 
Revivals  of  Religion. 

Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  D.  D.,  New  York  City, 
Personal  Religion. 

Prof.  David  Steele,  D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"Regeneration."     Prof.  J.   H.  A.  Bomberger,  D.  D.,  Ursinus 
College,  Pa. 

(71^ — 9^  p.  M. — Academy  of  Music.) 

Reports  on  State  of  Religion  in 

1.  "Bohemia."     Rev.  Justus  Em.  Szalatnay,  Velim. 

2.  "  Spain."     Rev.  Fritz  Fliedner,  Madrid. 

3.  "Italy."     Prof.  Emilio  Comba,  Florence. 

4.  "Belgium.     Romanism  and  the  School  Question." 

Rev.  Leonard  Anet,  Brussels. 

SATURDAY,  OCTOBER  2. 
(Horticultural  Hall.)     Miscellaneous  Business. 

SABBATH  EVENING,  OCTOBER  3. 
Farewell  Meeting. 


During  the  sessions  of  the  Council,  a  meeting  will  be  held  in  the 
Hall  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  on  the  evening  of  Tuesday,  September  28th, 
at  which  addresses  will  be  given  in  the  German  language,  by  Rev. 
Wm.  Krafft,  D.  D.,  of  Bonn  ;  Prof.  Pfleiderer,  Ph.  D.,  of  Kornthal  ; 
Rev.  O.  Erdman,  of  Elberfeld  ;  and  the  Rev.  Fritz  Fliedner. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  63 

The  Rev.  Principal  Robert  Rainv,  D.  D. — It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary that  anything  should  be  said  on  this  report.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  not  right  that  this  piece  of  business  should  pass  with- 
out a  very  express  recognition  of  the  invaluable  services  which 
have  been  rendered  to  this  body  by  the  committee  and  sub- 
committees, whose  labors  have  been  referred  to  by  Dr.  Breed. 

Any  one  who  thinks  a  moment  of  what  is  implied  in  our  meet- 
ing will  understand  that  the  members  of  this  committee,  espe- 
cially those  that  have  special  charge,  must  have  passed  and  must 
be  still  passing  through  a  period  of  great  anxiety,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, that  they  have  been  expending  an  immense  amount  of 
labor  in  a  series  of  very  severe  and  distracting  services  with  a 
view  to  our  comfort  and  the  success  of  our  meeting.  I  am  sure 
that  we  feel  deeply  grateful  to  them,  and  our  hope  is  they  may 
have  the  reward  of  seeing  their  labors  crowned  by  a  very  suc- 
cessful, happy,  and  useful  meeting.  If  that  should  be  the  case, 
to  them  certainly  will  belong  a  very  great  share  of  the  credit. 
I  shall  venture  to  say  that  they  have  furnished  us  with  an  ad- 
mirable programme ;  indeed,  the  only  feeling  I  have  about  it  is 
a  sort  of  fear  that  it  is  almost  too  good  a  programme.  I  wish 
we  may  prove  worthy  in  our  part  of  the  programme  set  down 
for  us  to  fill.  I  hope  we  shall,  and  that  the  committee  will  have 
the  comfort  and  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  they  have  not  overrated 
our  ability  to  go  through  this  very  remarkable  roll  of  work  which 
they  have  put  before  us.  I  beg  leave  to  move  that  the  report  now 
read  be  accepted  and  that  its  recommendations  be  adopted. 

Rev.  John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  of  Montreal,  Canada. — Mr.  Chair- 
man, before  you  put  the  motion  in  regard  to  the  programme,  I 
would  like  to  suggest  to  the  committee  whether  it  might  not 
be  desirable  to  review  the  programme  with  a  view  to  its  being 
shortened,  so  that  there  might  be  more  time  left  for  our  taking 
counsel  together.  It  does  seem  to  me  that,  if  all  that  we  reach 
during  this  Council  shall  be  the  reading  of  papers  and  a  few  re- 
marks on  each  paper  at  the  close,  even  if  there  be  time  for  such 
remarks,  which  is  not  at  all  likely,  we  shall  go  away  with- 
out having  accomplished  what  every  one  of  us  desires  to  ac- 
complish,  namely,  taking    counsel  together   in   regard  to  the 


64  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

great  work  which  we,  as  Presbyterian  Churches,  have  at  heart 
and  are  seeking  to  accompHsh.  I  do  not  desire  to  move  an 
amendment  to  this  report.  I  would  rather  throw  it  out  as  a 
suggestion.  If  the  suggestion  is  adopted,  and  if  it  is  understood, 
then  I  shall  move  no  amendment.  With  my  conviction  I  could 
not  allow  the  motion  to  pass  without  making  these  remarks.  I 
have"  every  appreciation  of  the  difficulty  which  the  committee 
lias  had  in  preparing  this  programme.  It  is  a  wonderful  pro- 
gramme, and  the  production  is  worthy  of  the  committee,  but  in 
my  judgment  it  is  too  large  a  programme  for  ten  days. 

Dr.  Breed. — May  I  call  attention  to  the  statement  in  the 
report  that  this  is  adopted  subject  to  such  modifications  as  may 
be  expedient  and  necessary ;  and  therefore  in  the  report  itself 
there  is  an  opening  made  for  the  very  modification  that  Dr.  Jen- 
kins suggests? 

Dr.  Jenkins. — That  is  all  I  desire,  if  that  is  understood.  As 
I  heard  the  report  read,  it  struck  me  that  it  was  capable  of  two 
interpretations.  The  interpretation  of  which  it  is  capable  and  to 
which  I  take  exception  is  this:  that  if  a  paper  were  too  long  you 
could  cut  it  short,  or  if  we  overstep  by  five  minutes  the  length 
of  a  session  you  could  suspend  it.  If  it  is  understood  that  we 
can  modify  this  programme  according  to  the  necessities  of  the 
Council,  I  am  satisfied. 

Rev.  Dr.  Knox,  of  Belfast. — I  am  in  entire  sympathy  with  the 
proposition  made  by  Dr.  Jenkins.  It  was  the  only  thing  that  I 
regretted  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Council  at  Edinburgh,  that 
we  had  not  the  opportunity,  owing  to  the  number  and  length 
of  the  papers,  of  opening  our  hearts  to  each  other  as  members 
of  a  council  might  be  expected  to  do.  I  am  not  prepared  with 
any  proposition  that  might  carry  out  the  idea  of  Dr.  Jenkins,  but 
I  do  hope  that  in  some  way  or  other  this  programme  may  be 
modified. 

Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  of  New  York. — Allow  me  to  .say 
as  a  member  of  the  Programme  Committee,  that  I  feel  it  is  due 
in  justice  to  all  these  distinguished  gentlemen  from  Europe  and 
America,  to  give  them  a  full  chance  to  read  their  papers  within 
thirty  minutes — papers  which  have  been  prepared  with  great 


SECOND   GENERAL  , COUNCIL.  65 

care,  and  which  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  very  instructive  and 
very  interesting  to  us  all.  If  we  oegin  to  cut  down,  to  rule  out 
some,  where  shall  we  begin  ?  where  shall  we  end  ?  Can  we  do 
that  at  all  without  a  palpable  act  of  injustice  to  those  that  are 
thus  ruled  out?  I  feel  the  difficulty  which  has  been  suggested. 
We  had  precisely  the  same  difficulty  at  the  General  Council  of 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  New  York  in  1873,  and  we  got  over 
the  difficulty  by  dividing  the  conference  into  sections,  two  or 
three  meetings  being  held  simultaneously  in  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  and  in  two  or  three  surrounding  churches,' 
and  in  that  way  we  got  through  the  whole  programme ;  and  I 
think  it  would  be  wise  to  maUe  a  similar  division  here,  as 
from  appearances  we  may  not  only  expect  this  building,  but  two 
churches  in  the  neighborhood,  to  be  very  comfortably  filled,  so 
as  to  give  to  all  the  speakers  on  the  programme  and  to  other 
delegates  a  chance  to  make  themselves  heard. 

Dr.  Jenkins. — I  shall  venture  to  propose  a  resolution,  and  I 
will  do  it,  not  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  or  undervaluing  the 
work  which  has  been  undertaken  by  our  friends  of  the  Pro- 
gramme Committee,  but  for  the  very  reason  which  has  been 
urged  by  my  friend  Dr.  Schaff  I  do  it  for  this  reason  :  I  want 
the  Council  to  keep  together;  I  do  not  want  the  Council  to 
divide  itself  into  half  a  dozen  sections  to  go — what  for?  to 
read  their  papers  not  to  the  Council,  but  in  each  case  to  a  tenth 
part  of  the  Council,  leaving  nine-tenths  not  to  listen  to  perhaps 
the  very  best  paper  that  may  be  brought  before  it.  I  think 
that  this  Council  has  come  to  keep  together,  and  we  have  come 
to  hear  each  other,  to  exchange  views,  to  take  counsel ;  and  I 
feel  that  we  are  competent  to  express  an  opinion  as  a  Council  as 
to  the  propriety  of  going  through  this  programme  suggested  by 
the  Programme  Committee.  I  understand  that  this  is  now  to 
be  voted  upon  by  the  Council ;  and  I  venture,  therefore,  to  move 
that  the  programme  be  referred  to  a  committee  for  revision,  with 
a  view  to  limit,  if  possible,  the  number  of  papers,  and  thus  give 
more  ample  scope  for  taking  counsel  together  in  the  Lord. 

Rev.  Alexander  Mackenzie,  of  Edinburgh,  seconded   Dr 
Jenkins'  motion. 
5 


66  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Rev.  J.  Murray  Mitchell,  LL.  D.,  of  Edinburgh. — Allow 
me  a  few  words  as  one  who  has  prepared  a  paper  with  some 
pains.  I  should  be  perfectly  willing  that  only  a  part  of  that 
paper  should  be  read,  and  that  I  be  assigned  as  little  time  as 
the  Council  pleases.  Surely  the  fact  that  the  paper  is,  as  I  un- 
derstand, to  be  published  ought  to  be  perfectly  satisfactory  to 
every  one  that  has  prepared  a  paper.  I  should  exceedingly  regret 
if  any  papers  were  thrown  out ;  should  very  much  prefer  that  a 
shorter  time  than  was  intended  should  be  given  to  each  paper; 
and  then  I  entirely  agree  with  Dr.  Jenkins  that  discussion  and 
friendly  intercourse  is  unspeakably  to  be  desired. 

Dr.  Schaff. — Those  gentlemen  who  have  been  invited  to 
prepare  papers  for  the  programme  were,  in  the  very  letter  of  the 
invitation,  restricted  to  t4iirty  minutes  for  delivery,  while  at  the 
.same  time  they  were  assured  that  their  papers  would  be  printed 
in  full  in  the  volume  to  be  published.  We  have  made  an  exact 
calculation  of  the  time,  and  if  every  speaker  strictly  confines 
himself  to  thirty  minutes,  we  can  go  through  the  whole  pro- 
gramme as  it  is,  and  have  ample  room  for  discussion. 

Rev.  Dr.  S.  I.  Prime,  of  New  York. — I  most  heartily  desire 
that  this  resolution  may  be  either  withdrawn  or  laid  upon  the  table. 
The  committee  has  been  nearly  three  years  in  correspondence 
with  our  brethren  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  asking  them  to 
prepare  themselves  to  present  their  best  thoughts  upon  the  great 
questions  that  come  before  this  Council ;  and  I  do  not  think  it 
would  be  right,  after  the  labors  of  that  committee  with  their  cor- 
respondents, at  the  very  opening  of  the  Council  to  appoint  an 
.extempore  committee  with  the  power  to  run  a  ploughshare 
through  its  work,  and  shut  the  mouths  of  any  of  these  brethren 
that  have  come  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  That  appears  to  me 
to  be  too  sudden  an  operation  for  even  us  Americans  to  submit 
to.  There  is  not  the  slightest  necessity  for  any  apprehension 
of  the  Council  being  bored  to  death  with  these  papers.  1  pledge 
my  word  to  you  that  there  is  not  a  man  here  who  will  transgress 
upon  the  time  after  the  very  eloquent  intimations  that  have  been 
made  by  these  beloved  brethren  that  they  do  not  want  to  hear 
him.     I  therefore   beg  that  this  resolution  may  be  withdrawn, 


SECOND    GENERAL   COUNCIL.  67 

and  that  you  will  allow  the  Council  to  go  on  with  its  own  work; 
when'  you  see  that  there  is  any  want  of  time  for  counsel,  it 
will  be  perfectly  easy  for  you  to  ask  the  brethren  to  shorten  their 
papers ;  but  do  not  appoint  a  committee  now  with  the  power  to 
revise  this  programme,  and  cut  out  any  of  the  speakers.  You 
are  needlessly  alarmed,  brethren ;  there  is  plenty  of  time. 

Dr.  Jenkins. — I  ask  leave  of  the  Council,  with  the  consent  of 
my  seconder,  to  withdraw  the  amendment. 

The  President. — The  amendment  is  now  withdrawn.  I  un- 
derstand, under  the  statement  made  by  the  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements,  that,  if  at  any  time  the  Council  wishes, 
a  motion  may  be  submitted  for  an  alteration  of  the  plan. 

The  report,  with  its  recommendations,  was  then  adopted. 

REPORTS  OF  THE   PROCEEDINGS. 

Dr.  Schaff. — I  wish  to  offer  a  resolution  supplementary  to 
the  item  which  refers  to  publication.  I  do  not  want  to  interfere 
with  the  arrangements  already  made  for  the  publication  of  the 
volume  of  proceedings ;  I  only  want  this  Council  to  give  more 
definite  instruction  concerning  the  amount  of  matter  to  be  pub- 
lished, with  an  additional  suggestion  which,  I  think,  is  of  con- 
siderable importance,  and  ought  to  be  acted  upon  now.  The 
resolution  is  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  I.  That  under  the  provisional  arrangement  made  by 
the  Business  Committee,  the  opening  sermon,  the  essays  and 
documents  prepared  by  invitation  of  the  Programme  Committee, 
and  a  resume  of  the  discussion  on  the  topics  of  the  programme, 
together  with  an  introductory  sketch  of  the  Council  and  a  full 
list  of  members,  be  published  under  the  direction  of  the  Editorial 
Committee. 

2.  That  a  complimentary  copy  of  the  proceedings  be  sent  to 
every  programme  speaker  who  has  prepared  a  paper,  and  to 
every  theological  seminary  in  Europe  and  America  in  con- 
nection with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Council. 

The  Rev.  Pr6f.  Nicholas  Hofmeyr  moved  to  amend  that 
Africa  be  included  in  the  resolution. 


68  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  amendment  was  accepted,  and  the  resolution,  as  amended, 
agreed  to. 

PRESIDENTS  OF  THE   COUNCIL. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Knox,  D.  D. — I  would  like  to  submit  the 
names  of  certain  members  of  this  Council  who  may  be  invited 
to  preside  at  some  of  our  meetings.  There  has  not  been  time 
to  make  out  a  complete  list,  but  the  following  are  submitted  as 
brethren  who  may  preside  at  the  forenoon  meetings  of  the  follow- 
ing days,  namely  :  The  Rev.  Dr.  Wallace,  Chairman  for  the  fore- 
noon to-morrow  ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Niccolls,  on  Sa-turday  in  the  fore- 
noon ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Brown,  on  the  forenoon  of  Monday ; 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Main,  on  Tuesday  ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lang,  on  Wednes- 
day; the  Rev.  Dr.  Watts,  on  Thursday  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Van  Geison, 
on  Friday,  and  the  Rev.  Prof  Caven,  on  Saturday.  In  addition 
to  this  there  is  one  other  nomination,  namely  :  that  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Stratton  preside  this  evening.  I  move  the  appointment 
of  the  brethren  whose  names  you  have  heard  to  preside  on  the 
occasions  I  have  spoken  of. 

Rev.  Principal  Caven,  of  Toronto. — I  had  the  honor  of  being 
appointed  to  this  position  by  the  last  Council,  and  I  think  it  is 
well  that  these  honors  should  be  distributed  as  widely  as  pos- 
sible. I  would  therefore  ask  that  the  Council  would  allow  my 
name  to  be  withdrawn  from  that  list.  I  very  highly  appreciate 
the  honor,  but  I  think  some  other  members  should  be  given  an 
opportunity  in  my  place. 

The  name  was  withdrawn. 

Rev.  Villeroy  D.  Reed,  of  Camden,  N.  J. — Certain  gentle- 
men are  there  named  to  preside  at  the  morning  meetings :  is  it 
understood  that  they  preside  at  all  the  sessions  ? 

The  Chairman. — No,  sir. 

Dr.  Reed. — I  would  suggest  that  the  committee  whp  have  so 
kindly  prepared  the  list,  appoint  chairmen  for  all  the  ses- 
sions. 

Dr.  Knox,  of  Belfast. — I  mentioned  at  the  outset  that  there 
had  not  been  time  to  complete  the  list,  but  I  understand  that 
the  committee  who  have  presented  the  short  list  which  I  read 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  69 

will  be  prepared  very  soon  to  complete  the  list  of  chairmen  for 
all  the  meetings. 

The  motion  of  Dr.  Knox  was  then  agreed  to  by  the  Council. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  Presidents  as  finally  perfected : 

Rev.  Professor  Henry  Calderwood,  Rev.  John  Marshall  Lang,  D.  D. 

LL.  D.  "     Professor  Nicholas  Hofmeyr. 

"     Joseph  B.  Stratton,  D.  D.  Wm.  P.  Webb,  Esq. 

"     D.  A.  Wallace,  D.  D.  Rev.  Thomas  Main,  D.  D. 

"     Thomas    C.    Porter,    D.    D.,  "     James  M.  Rodgers. 

LL.  D.  T.  W.  Taylor,  Esq. 

Hon.  Wra.  Strong,  Justice  Supreme  Rev.  Robert  Watts,  D.  D. 

Court,  U.  S.  A.  "     James  Dodds,  D.  D. 

Rev.  Professor  Wm.  Henry  Green,  "     Wm.  Wood. 

D.  D.,LL.  D.  "     Abraham   R.   Van   Gieson, 

Hon.  Horace  Maynard,  Postmaster-  D.  D. 

General,  U.  S.  A.  Hon.  Samuel  Sloan. 

Rev.  Wm.  Roberts,  D.  D.  Jacob  Rader,  Esq. 

Francis  Brown  Douglass,  Esq.  Rev.  James  Nish. 

Rev.  Professor  D.  R.  Kerr,  D.  D. 


BUSINESS  COMMITTEE. 

The  Chairman. — The  next  point  is  the  appointment  of  the 
Business  Committee. 

Professor  Flint,  of  Edinburgh. — The  motion  which  I  have 
to  lay  before  the  Council  is  one  in  connection  with  which  it 
would  be  unseasonable  that  I  should  take  up  the  time  of  the 
Council  any  longer  than  it  requires  simply  to  read  it.  Its  neces- 
sity is  self-evident,  and  the  names  included  in  it  will  be  an  addi- 
tional recommendation  of  it.  I  therefore  move  that  the  follow- 
ing members  constitute  the  Business  Committee  of  the  Council 

Ministers. 

Rev.  S.  Irengeus  Prime,  D.  D.  Rev.  Joachim  Elmendorf,  D.  D. 

Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  "  Charles  A.  Dickey,  D.  D. 

JamesMcCosh,D.D.,LL.  D.  "  Robert  Rainy,  D.  D. 

Robert  Knox,  D.  D.  "  John  Marshall  Lang,  D.  D. 

D.  R.  Kerr,  D.  D.  "  Wm.  J.  Reid,  D.  D. 
Wm.  Paxton,  D.  D.  "  Wm.  Roberts,  D.  D. 

E.  T.  Jeffers,  D.  D.  "  John  H.  A.  Bomberger,D.D. 
Wm.  H.Green,  D.D.,LL.D.  "  R.  McCheyne  Edgar. 
William  Brown,  D.  D.  "  Wm.  P.  Breed,  D.  D. 


70  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Elders. 

Rev.  Prof.  H.  Calderwood,  LL.  D.  Jacob  Rader,  Esq. 

David  Corsar,  Esq.  Thos.  McCance,  Esq. 

Edmund  A.  Stuart  Gray,  Esq.  Hon.  Thos.  A.  Hamilton. 

Jas.  Thin,  Esq.  "      John  L.  Marye. 

A.  T.  Niven,  Esq.  "      Wm.  Strong,  LL.  D. 

Jas.  Croil,  Esq.  With  the  Clerks. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

STANDING  ORDERS. 

Dr.  Dales,  of  Philadelphia. — I  hold  in  my  hand  the  Standing 
Orders  of  the  last  Council,  and  I  move  you  that  they  be  adopted 
as  the  orders  and  rules  for  this  Council,  with  such  modifications 
as  the  Business  Committee  may  think  proper  to  present  to  the 
Council. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  STATISTICS. 

Professor  Blaikie. — The  report  on  statistics  which  I  have 
to  submit  is  in  the  form  of  a  large  tabular  sheet,  which  it  is 
utterly  impossible  to  read  to  the  Council,  but  which  may  be 
printed  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Council.  I  have  to  state  that 
this  sheet  contains  a  summary  of  statistics,  received  in  reply  to 
a  query  issued  by  the  committee,  to  which  replies  have  been 
obtained  from  thirty-four  of  the  Churches  connected  with  the 
Alliance.  Of  these  thirty-four,  thirteen  Churches  are  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  nine  in  the  united  kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  six  in  the  United  States,  and  six  in  the  British 
colonies.  I  have  to  state  that  the  return  might  be  made  a  little 
more  complete  if  a  day  or  two  were  allowed  for  the  purpose, 
and  if  this  sheet  is  remitted  to  the  convener  he  will  endeavor 
to  make  it  as  complete  as  possible.  At  the  same  time  it  is  to 
be  observed  that  it  is  difficult  to  get  a  uniform  system  of  statis- 
tics, because  different  Churches  have  different  ways  of  acknowl- 
edging various  things,  and  therefore  you  cannot  always  be  sure 
that  the  return  from  one  Church  corresponds  with  the  return 
from  another.     We  may  do  our  best  by  a  few  notes  to  indicate 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  71 

these  exceptional  cases.  I  have  likewise  to  state  that  I  think  it 
would  be  of  great  benefit  for  this  Council  to  authorize  a  com- 
mittee to  request  Churches  that  have  no  statistical  committee  to 
consider  the  propriety  of  appointing  such  committee  in  order 
that  we  may  get  authorized  returns  from  all.  In  that  way  I 
think  before  another  meeting  of  the  Council,  we  shall  be  in  a 
favorable  position  to  obtain  a  uniform  and  satisfactory  set  of 
statistics  applicable  to  all  the  Churches  that  are  associated 
with  us. 

The  Council  then  adjourned  to  7^  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

EVENING  SESSION. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  7^  o'clock,  by  the  Rev. 
Joseph  B.  Stratton,  D.  D.,  of  Natchez,  Miss.,  as  President  for 
the  session,  and  was  opened  with  prayer. 

The  Rev.  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  read  the  fol- 
lowing paper : 

THE  CEREMONI.\L,  THE  MORAL  AND  THE  EMOTIONAL 
IN  CHRISTIAN  LIFE  AND  WORSHIP. 

Alliance  always  implies,  always  confesses  separateness  and  differ- 
ence, both  before  and  after:  as  of  families  allied  by  intermarriage, 
nations  allied  by  treaty,  Christian  communions  allied  by  covenant. 
With  families  and  nations,  alliance  is  the  highest  and  final  good  in 
that  direction.  Mankind  will  never  be  literally  one  family,  but  only 
a  great  conglomerate  of  families;  nor  one  nation,  but,  at  best,  only  a 
grand  confederacy  of  nations,  of  republics  it  may  be,  as  Gervinus 
dreamed.  But  the  Church  of  Christ  is  properly  and  strictly  one,  or 
ought  to  be,  and  will  be:  not  "one  fold,"  as  most  of  our  Englisii 
versions  have  had  it,  but,  as  Tyndale  had  it,  and  the  Greek  has  it, 
"one  flock,"  under  the  One  Shepherd.  Such  oneness  must  certainly 
be  more  than  mere  union  :   it  is  unity. 

This  our  Presbyterian  Alliance  of  course  emphasizes  Presbyterian- 
ism  ;  but  in  no  hard,  narrow,  narrowing  way.  It  looks  out  in  all 
directions,  and  is  actually  leading  out,  into  wider  fellowships.  Its  next 
logical  consequent  had  already  in  fact  preceded  it :  I  mean  th^ 
ecumenic  Protestant  Alliance,  Evangelical  we  call  it,  which,  in  1552, 
John  Calvin,  as  he  wrote  to  Cranmer,  would  have  crossed  ten  seas  to 
assist  in  consummating.  In  time  we  shall  see  that  still  better  ecumenic 
Christian  Alliance,  of  which  there  is  scarcely  a  sign  as  yet.  And  then 
at  last,  in  God's  own  time,  far  down  the  horizon  now,  we  shall  have 


72  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

not  union  only,  but  unity,  the  real  unity,  for  which  our  Lord  prayed, 
and  the  ages  wait. 

Christendom  is  not  Occident  alone,  nor  Orient  alone,  but  the  two 
together.  Nor  is  the  Occident  either  Protestant  alone,  or  Roman 
Catholic  alone,  but  the  two  together.  And  these  nineteen  Christian 
centuries  are  more  and  better,  taken  all  together,  than  any  three  of 
them,  whether  the  first  three  or  the  last  three,  or  any  six  of  them,  or 
any  eighteen  of  them.  The  one  Christ  is  in  them  all,  in  all  and  in 
each. 

Christianity,  even  its  bitterest  enemies  will  admit,  has  been  one  of 
the  great  religions  of  the  world.  Is  it  likewise  one  of  the  decadent,  sj^ent 
religions?  Is  it  now  losing,  whether  fast  or  slowly,  its  old  conquering 
power,  and  relaxing  its  old  grasp  everywhere?  Many  men  are  saying 
this.  And  some  signs  might  be  so  interpreted.  Leaving  the  Latin 
Church,  and  leaving  the  Oriental  Churclies,  all  of  them,  out  of  the 
account,  is  there  or  not,  in  our  own  Protestant  Christendom,  a  real 
decay  of  faith  ?  How  is  it  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  in  Holland, 
Switzerland,  and  Germany?  How  is  it  in  Great  Britain?  In  the 
United  States?  Everywhere,  I  think,  most  of  the  great  denomina- 
tions are  lamenting,  for  one  thing,  a  diminished  and  diminishing 
attendance  upon  Sabbath  services.  And  they  are  complaining,  for 
another  thing,  that  the  old  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  as  we  have 
called  them,  the  doctrines  of  our  earlier  Protestant  Confessions,  are 
neither  so  stoutly  preached,  nor  so  cordially  received,  as  they  used  to 
be.  Mistake  is  easy  in  regard  to  such  matters,  and  exaggeration  is 
easy,  in  our  present  mood  of  mind.  For  one  I  think  I  see  both  mis- 
take and  exaggeration  here.  And  yet  I  cannot  wholly  deny  the 
alleged  decay.  In  philosophy,  which  always  rules  at  last,  materialism 
was  never,  probably,  quite  so  thoroughly  worked  out,  nor  quite  so 
overbearing,  as  it  is  to-day.  Everything  spiritual  is  very  sharply 
challenged.  The  air  is  full  of  frost.  The  crops  are  all  gathered  in. 
Nothing  saintly  or  heroic  grows  any  more.  Winter  appears  to  be 
coming  on.  Is  it  the  final  winter  of  the  solar  system,  the  great 
central  sun  itself  steadily  burning  out?  Or  is  it  only  the  winter  of  a 
revolving  planet  ? 

We  must  not  take  things  too  easily,  to  be  sure.  Puritanism  has 
been  a  great  factor  in  history  over  and  over  again  ;  and,  in  some 
matters  of  vital  moment,  has  undoubtedly  had  the  right  of  it.  But 
Puritanisni  is  discontent,  protest,  resistance,  revolution  perhaps;  and 
is  liable  to  be  harsh,  angular,  one-sided.  Its  fellowship  is  strict, 
jealous,  intolerant.  It  is  hard  on  the  weak  and  foolish.  It  cuts 
down  the  number  of  the  saved.  The  Novatians  of  the  fourth  century 
deserved  the  rebuke  they  got  from  Constantine  in  the  person  of  their 
champion  at  the  Council  of  Nice:  "Take  a  ladder,  O  Akesios,  and 
climb  alone  into  heaven."  The  mediaeval  Puritans  were,  many  of 
them,  dualists.  In  England,  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
Puritanism  and  Presbylerianism  were  not  synonymes,  neither  yet 
now  are  they  synonymes,  there  or  here.     The  Westminster  divines, 


'?:,*'.i^t'!^''l';. 


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CASSIMIR 


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MELANCTHON 
URSINUS-OLEVJANUS 

LlOQUINDMHENUS-TRfMILLIO 

f'KtSBYTERIEN  ESTABLISHED  A-D-1570 

BAVARIA  -AD-  I803*BAOEN 

IINITED-A  D-1855-CATECH1SM 


I 


MICHAtLSCHLAnER-yGALLSWrniANil 

WEISS    BECHTELBOEHM 
FIRST  C0ETUS.PHILAD[IPH1ASEPT.29.I747 
RELATIONS'-HOLLANO  DISSOLVED  A-Oi79Z 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL,  73 

the  ablest  and  best  of  them,  were  much  broader  Christians,  and  much 
broader  Churchmen,  than  some  of  us  have  supposed.  At  any  rate  it  is 
a  long  while  since  Cromwell  died,  and  we  are  now  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  nearing  the  end  of  it,  with  infidel  cannon  thundering  against 
us  all  along  our  line,  from  wing  to  wing.  The  old  polemic  theology 
is  anachronistic.  What  we  had  better  have  to-day,  and  must  have 
to-morrow,  is  an  irenic  theology,  our  guns  all  trained  on  the  common 
foe.  Such  certainly  is  the  moral  lesson,  and  such,  possibly,  the 
special  providential  purpose,  of  this  infidel  artillery.  We  have  done 
our  part,  and  have  done  it  well,  in  pleading  for  and  working  up 
towards  the  maximum  of  faith,  experience  and  character.  The  time 
has  now  come  for  us  to  be  looking  after  the  minimum.  In  Christian 
living  we  know  pretty  well  hoiv  much  there  ought  to  be.  It  would 
now  be  well  for  us  to  find  out  how  little  there  may  be.  Let  us 
allow  the  Lord  as  many  helpers  as  possible.  He  has  none  to  spare. 
Whoever  is  really  casting  out  devils,  I  will  not  say  in  any  name, 
but  in  the  name  of  Christ  most  surely,  forbid  him  not.  He  may 
not.  be  going  just  our  way  ;  but  our  way,  even  though  it  were  the 
best,  is  not  the  only  way.     Folds  may  be  many,  while  the  flock  is  one. 

I.  Of  this  common  Christian  life,  which  must  needs  be  many-sided 
and  manifold,  the  lowest  type  is  what  may  be  termed  the  ceremonial. 
Lowest,  but  not  low.  There  is  a  great  hiding  of  power  in  it.  Con- 
sider the  Mosaic  system.  Possibly  we  may  be  surprised  to  see  how 
little  tl'iere  was  in  it  of  what  we  now  co-nsider  indispensable  to  the  re- 
ligious life  of  a  people.  There  was  really  but  very  little  of  instructive, 
stimulating  public  discourse,  very  little  of  united  prayer,  and  very 
little  apparently  of  what  has  betn  called  experimental  religion.  It  was 
not  exclusively,  to  be  sure,  but  mainly,  a  ritual  of  sacrifice.  The  people 
stood  looking  on,  while  Priests,  Levites  and  Nethinim  performed  their 
offices.  Spencer  may  call  it  Egyptian.  Others  may  call  it  puerile. 
Let  us  rather  call  it  divine.  At  all  events,  it  answered  a  great  purpose. 
In  sacred  history  it  conserved  monotheism  ;  in  secular  history  it  in- 
spired and  elaborated  the  toughest  nationality  which  Rome  en- 
countered in  all  her  march  around  the  Mediterranean. 

Mohammedanism  is  also  worth  studying.  We  cannot  afford  to 
misunderstand  a  religion  which  was  cradled  within  eight  hundred 
miles  of  Bethlehem,  under  strongly  similar  conditions  of  climate,  soil, 
race  and  social  state,  has  become  the  religion  of  other  races  than  the 
one  which  gave  it  birth,  has  endured  already  for  more  than  twelve- 
hundred  years,  and  though  now,  like  Romanism,  weakened,  like  it 
probably  not  very  near  its  end.  The  Turkish  Sultan,  arrogating  to 
himself  the  Caliphate,  might  be  put  into  an  iron  cage  to-morrow,  and 
Mecca  would  not  be  sorry  for  it.  Five  times  a  day  millions  of  men 
would  still  go  down  upon  their  knees  on  every  continent,  facing  in- 
wards, towards  the  Kaaba.  Five  times  a  day  one  little  prayer,  easily 
learned,  quickly  recited,  not  long  enough  to  be  irksome,  and  yet  in- 
exorably required  :  this,  more  than  any  other  one  thing,  holds  the 
Moslem  world  to  its  allecriance. 


74  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

If  Christianity  were  a  body  without  a  soul,  its  life  would  not  be 
worth  insuring.  But  neither  is  it  a  soul  without  a  body.  The  dis- 
ciples of  our  Lord  asked  him  for  a  form  of  prayer,  and  he  gave  it  to 
them.  The  Ten  Commandments  they  possessed  already.  The 
Apostles'  Creed  had  not  long  to  be  waited  for.  These  three  are  the 
germ  of  all  the  liturgies.  At  first  the  liturgies  were  oral,  flexible  and 
varied.  Not  till  after  the  Nicene  epoch  were  they  reduced  to  writing. 
Later  still  was  the  Roman  usurpation,  with  intolerance  and  exclusion 
of  other  forms.  Now,  in  all  liturgical  churches,  or  nearly  all,  the 
liturgy  is  no  longer  servant,  but  master.  There  is  too  much  of  it  for 
constant  repetition.  Liberty  of  omitting  portions  not  always  ap- 
posite, is  unwisely  denied.  The  absolute  exclusion  of  indi\idual  ex- 
tempore petitions  is  equally  unwise.  And  the  over-shadowed, 
dwarted  discourse  would  be  a  great  misfortune  were  good  discourse 
otherwise  more  likely  to  be  had. 

But  these  abuses  of  liturgy  are  no  argument  against  the  use.  Our 
present  Presbyterian  baldness  of  public  service  is  hurting  us,  hurting 
us  in  many  ways  which  need  not  be  specified.  And  the  hurt  is 
quite  gratuitous,  since  the  cause  of  it  is  not  one  of  our  old  Presby- 
terian traditions.  Martin  Luther,  John  Calvin,  John  Knox,  and  the 
early  reformers  generally  were  liturgists.  Even  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly, which  was  anti-liturgical,  set  forth  its  Directory  of  Worship, 
which  concedes,  of  course,  the  liturgical  idea.  A  liturgy,  it  has  been 
said,  is  for  children.  Very  well.  What  place  have  we  now  for 
children  but  in  the  Sunday-school?  And  by  what  arts  of  responsive 
reading,  light  secular  singing,  amusing  anecdotes,  annual  parades  and' 
picnics,  the  institution  is  kept  agoing,  you  need  not  be  told.  This 
whole  Sunday-school  interest  will  have  to  be  taken  in  hand  by  and  by 
for  review  and  revision.  Children  who  now  go  to  the  Sunday-school, 
but  not  to  church,  will  be  brought  also  to  cliurch.  And  one  of  these 
days,  though  not  probably  till  we  are  all  gone,  there  will  be  a  form 
of  public  service,  which  shall  suit  the  mature  and  cultured  none  the 
less  for  suiting  also  the  immature  and  uncultured.  Li  this  matter  of 
public  worship  we  have  yet  to  learn,  and  we  shall  learn,  that  what  is 
really  best  for  any  body  is  best  for  every  body.  No  existing  Prayer 
Book  satisfies  any  good  Presbyterian.  Still  less  would  any  good,  wise 
Presbyterian  ask  to  have  a  new  Prayer  Book  made  up  out  of  materiak' 
that  are  new.  The  materials  mostly  are  old  ;  some  of  them  very  old, 
such  as  the  Gloria  in  Excehis,  the  Tersanctus,  and  the  Tc  Deum. 
The  Doxology  of  Bishop  Y^qw,  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings 
flotv,  is  our  chief  modern  contribution  to  the  worship  of  the  ages. 
Prayer  especially  is  a  great  inspiration  and  a  high  art.  Somehow  the 
old  Collects  put  us  all  to  shame.  Christendom  to-day  could  better 
spare  any  treatise  of  Athanasius  than  the  prayer  ascribed  to  Chrysos- 
tom,  "  Fulfil  now,  O  Lord,  the  desires  and  petitions  of  thy  servants,  as 
may  be  most  expedient  for  them,  granting  us  in  this  world  knowledge 
of  thy  truth,  and  in  the  world  to  come  life  everlasting."  The 
farther  on  we  get  down  the  centuries,  the  more  precious  will  be  to  us 
the  long  unbroken  melodies  of  praise  and  prayer. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  75 

I  anticipate  also  a  revival  of  the  old  Church  year.  Clear  back, 
close  up  to  apostolic  times,  we  find  at  least  Passover,  Pentecost,  and 
Epiphany.  Christmas  appears  not  long  after.  And  then  the  calen- 
dar is  crowded  rapidly  with  festivals  which  disgusted  our  Protestant 
fathers,  bringing  the  whole  system  into  disrepute.  As  between  Puri- 
tan and  Papist,  we  side,  of  course,  with  the  Puritan.  But  the  older 
way  is  better  than  either.  Judaism  had  more  than  its  weekly  Sab- 
bath ;  and  Christendom  needs  more,  and  is  steadily  taking  more. 
Christmas  is  leading  this  new  procession.  Good  Friday,  Easter,  and 
Whitsuntide  are  not  far  behind.  These,  at  least,  can  do  us  no  harm. 
They  emphasize  the  three  grand  facts  and  features  of  our  religion  : 
Incarnation,  Atonement,  and  Regeneration. 
,  II.   Next  in  order  is  the  moral  type  in  experience  and  character. 

It  was  a  capital  thing  for  Judaism  that  the  moral  law  was  its  national 
code.  There  had  been  nothing  like  this  in  the  world  before.  Bad 
institutions,  the  Hebrews  had,  and  bad  laws,  to  be  sure.  They  had 
polygamy,  easy  divorce,  inequality  of  guilt  as  between  husband  and 
wife  in  breaking  the  marriage  vow,  blood-avengement  for  murder, 
servitude,  and  semi-barbarous  severities  of  penalty.  But  not  an  in- 
stitution, nor  a  usage,  now  considered  immoral,  was  really  sanctioned 
by  Moses.  What  had  to  be  tolerated  was  yet  discouraged  and  re- 
strained. Hence,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  a  moral  stamina  more 
impressive,  if  not  more  pronounced,  under  the  Maccabees  than  under 
David  and  Solomon. 

Christianity,  besides  the  Decalogue,  has  also  its  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  Portions  of  it,  at  least,  should,  with  the  Decalogue,  be  made 
a  part  of  our  weekly  service.  That  sermon  is  Sinaitic.  It  did  for 
Christianity,  in  its  first  conflict  with  heathenism,  what  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments had  done  for  Judaism.  The  superior  morality  of  Chris- 
tians was  the  strongest  argument  of  the  apologist,  the  final  argument 
of  history. 

The  old  penitential  discipline  of  the  Mediaeval  Church  was  one  of 
its  redeeming  features.  Slowly  but  surely  it  lifted  Europe  from  lower 
to  higher  levels  of  condition  and  of  character.  The  strong  appetites 
and  bad  passions  of  men  were  punished,  curbed,  and  often  con(iuered 
by  this  power  which  pursued  them  beyond  the  grave.  Declension 
followed,  not  as  a  wayward  reaction  against  this  steady  sacerdotal 
pressure  upon  the  conscience,  but,  logically  at  last,  from  the  scholastic 
co-ordination  of  faith  and  works. 

Our  Protestant  reformers  erred  at  first  in  their  depreciation  of 
works.  The  Epistle  of  James,  which  is  to  save  our  civilization  from 
apoplexy  and  paralysis,  if  anything  can,  was  rashly  denounced  as  a 
straw-epistle.  Things  went  loosely  and  wildly  after  a  time,  and  for 
a  time,  till  Luther  was  alarmed,  dying  at  last,  it  might  almost  be  said, 
of  a  broken  heart.  Justification  by  faith  alone  proved  to  be  a  dan- 
gerous doctrine  in  unskilful  hands. 

This  danger  is  chronic.  The  change  now  most  needed  in  preach- 
ing is  just  in  this  ethical  direction.     The  moralities  are  called  for,  the 


']6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

great  and  the  little.  Instead  of  so  much  systematic  and  apologetic 
theology  in  the  pulpit,  arguing  out  the  good  old  doctrines  in  the  good 
old  way,  setting  forth  and  establishing  the  things  which  men  ought 
to  believe,  there  is  desperate  need  of  our  telling  men,  in  the  plainest 
terms,  and  in  minutest  detail  sometimes,  just  what  they  ought  to  be 
and  to  do.  Morally,  Protestant  Christendom,  in  most  respects,  is 
clearly  superior  to  Roman  Catholic  Christendom,  and  always  has 
been.  But  we  shall  do  wisely  not  to  think  too  well  of  ourselves.  Our 
Protestant  civilization  has  a  great  deal  to  answer  for.  Great  pros- 
perity is  bringing  in  great  luxury.  Our  industrial  arts  and  trade 
stimulate  greed,  sharpness,  hardness,  and  social  abuse  of  wealth  and 
power.  The  best  thing  which  can  ever  be  said  for  us,  is  also  the 
worst  thing  which  can  ever  be  said  against  us :  "Ye  shall  know  them 
by  their  fruits."  '^ 

Many  real  Christians  will  never  get  much  beyond  the  moralities. 
They  have  little  sentiment,  or  imagination,  and  no  great  depth  of 
spiritual  insight  or  conviction.  But  they  can  appreciate  the  Ten 
Commandments  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  They  can  lead  good, 
clean,  square  lives.  Zaccheus  of  Jericho  illustrates  this  type  of  char- 
acter. On  a  large  scale,  it  is  the  Mongol  type :  not  spiritual,  but 
ethical.  It  embraces  a  third  of  the  human  race.  When  evangelized, 
it  will  be  after  its  own  kind. 

III.  It  remains  to  speak  briefly  of  the  emotional,  which  is  highest 
of  all  the  types. 

This  adjective  is  not  a  very  good  one.  Intuitional  would  suggest 
some  things  which  emotional  does  not.  Mystical,  were  it  oftener  used 
in  a  good  sense,  as  in  Germany,  would  suit  us  better.  But  we  all  know 
very  well  what  is  meant.  The  life  of  religion  in  the  soul  of  man, 
what  we  call  the  experience  .of  it,  is  a  great  thing. 

Standing  face  to  face  with  the  Unseen,  there  is,  first  of  all,  a  keen 
and  overpowering  sense  of  the  Divine  Personality.  The  starry  spaces 
are  awful,  not  as  being  boundless  and  empty,  but  as  being  swept  for- 
ever by  the  vision  and  the  breath  of  God.  The  only  shadow  any- 
where is  of  sin.  Self-impeachment  begins  just  where  and  when  self- 
consciousness  begins.  Till  God  has  pardoned  there  is  ro  peace. 
But  when  He  pardons,  we  see  new,  great  depths  in  Him,  which  His 
angels  have  never  seen,  and  our  little  life  lays  hold  on  His  for  time 
and  for  eternity.  Out  of  such  experience  come  all  the  great  psalms, 
and  hymns,  and  prayers,  and  meditations,  and  high  discourse,  of  all 
the  Christian  generations. 

The  one  inspired  Book  which  best  answers  to  this  experience,  is 
John's  Gospel.  The  one  uninspired  book  which  best  answers  to  it,  is 
A'Kempis'  Imitation  of  Christ.  Such  experience,  vouchsafed,  in  its 
fulness,  to  here  and  there  a  favored  saint,  is  for  the  advantage  of  us 
all.  These  high  raptures  kindle  lower  raptures  in  us.  Nearer  to 
Christ  than  we  are,  these  finer  saints  tell  us  things  we  should  not 
otherwise  have  learned.  Still  we  beckon,  as  Peter  did,  to  the  disciple 
that  is  leaning  on  the  Master's  bosom. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  77 

But  John  is  only  one  of  twelve,  some  of  whose  names  are  altogether, 
or  almost,  colorless  in  the  catalogue.  Peter,  Matthew^,  James,  and 
Jude  we  know — also  Thomas  and  Philip.  But  not  the  rest.  Thus, 
in  large  degree,  Christendom  began  with  commonplace,  undistin- 
guishable  men ;  has  so  continued,  and  continues.  Its  men  and 
women,  most  of  them,  know  little  or  nothing  of  any  religion  except 
their  own.  But  of  their  own  religion  they  have  learned  enough  to 
live  and  die  by  it,  and  for  it. 

This  religion  is,  of  course,  essentially  a  religion  of  sentiment. 
Relationship  to  Christ,  with  no  more  feeling  towards  him  than 
towards  Confucius,  or  Socrates,  is  impossible.  Religion,  towards 
this  incomparable  Personality,  is  enthusiasm,  mounting  to  great  heights 
in  its  higher  types.  Of  such  men  as  Bernard,  Tauler,'  A'Kempis, 
Spener,  Fenelon,  the  Wesleys,  and  Payson,  the  succession  shall 
never  fail.  But  such  men  are  few  and  far  apart ;  and  evangelical 
Christians  must  not  be  too  exacting  in  regard  to  the  terms  of  fellow- 
ship. By  such  men  we  may  measure  ourselves,  but  may  not  measure 
one  another  without  a  tremendous  risk  of  hypocrisy  and  cant. 

We  also  must  have  revivals.  Feeling  is  always  tidal,  ebbing  and 
flowing.  But  revivals,  as  we  manage  them,  are  full  of  peril.  Times 
of  refreshing  are  times  of  fervor.  And  if  there  be  fever  in  the  heat, 
we  know  what  follows. 

Finally,  without  this  high  emotional  type,  we  shall  have  no  missions, 
at  home  or  abroad.  Mankind  must  be,  not  merely  our  brethren, 
ignorant  and  distressed,  but  sinful,  imperilled  beings,  for  whom 
Christ  died.  The  sign  of  conquest  in  our  sky  to-day  is  still  the 
same  old  passionate  sign  of  the  cross. 

The  Rev.  Principal  Robert  Rainy,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh, 
read  the  following  paper: 

MODERN  THEOLOGICAL  THOUGHT. 

There  is  great  difficulty  in  framing  a  brief  statement  on  this  sub- 
ject. Modern  Theological  Thought  is  not  one  thing,  but  many;  a 
wide  field  of  energetic,  varied,  and  antagonistic  movements.  The 
methods  relied  on,  and  the  results  reached,  by  its  various  schools, 
could  not  be  enumerated,  much  less  discussed  in  a  jiapcr  like  this.  It 
would  not  be  becoming  for  me,  nor  worthy  of  the  Council  I  have  the 
honor  to  address,  that  I  should  pretend  to  pass  judgment  on  move- 
ments and  tendencies  which  I  have  not  time  to  discuss.  On  these 
accounts  I  feel  constrained  to  renounce  the  idea  of  being  couiprehen- 
sive  or  complete.  I  will  only  notice  influences  which  sway  Theo- 
logical thought,  and  give  it  a  special  character.  Even  here  I  will 
speak  mainly  of  one  aspect  of  things,  and  I  will  treat  it  with  great  and 
intentional  generality. 

Theological  thought  is  subject  of  course  to  many  influences.  It  is 
affected  by  the  progress,  the  natural  progress,  of  the  various  subordi- 


78  .THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

nate  departments  of  theological  science,  which  are,  as  it  were,  the 
tools  with  which  theology  works.  For  example,  it  has  benefited  by 
improved  methods  of  exegesis,  and  by  the  increasing  agreement  about 
the  principles  according  to  which  the  sense  of  Scripture  should  be 
elicited.  For  another  instance — the  prosecution  of  the  work  of  Bib- 
lical theology,  as  a  distinct  department,  has  done  much  both  to  clear 
and  to  enrich  theological  thought.  Again,  a  very  sensible  effect  has 
been  produced  by  the  study  of  historical  theology.  The  calm,  com- 
parative survey  of  the  work  of  different  schools  of  thinkers,  the  curi- 
ous dissection  of  each  competing  system,  with  a  view  to  assign  the 
theological  motive  of  each — these  studies  have  produced  a  mental  at- 
titude toward  controversies  distinctly  different  from  that  which  once 
obtained.  Still  further,  new  modes  of  centring  theological  thought, 
new  assignments  of  the  axis  on  which  it  should  revolve,  modify  from 
time  to  time  the  cast  of  prevailing  conceptions.  Such  changes  may 
be  influenced  by  pressure  from  without ;  but  they  are  much  more 
to  be  referred  to  internal  developments  of  religious  life,  which  de- 
mand to  be  represented  in  the  field  of  thought.  Of  this  we  have  an 
instance  in  the  Christological  turn  which  so  remarkably  prevails  in 
modern  discussions.  Many  other  sources  and  forms  of  influence 
might  be  specified.  But  I  pass  on  to  fix  on  this  as  the  most  interest- 
ing at  present,  and  also  as  one  that  includes  in  itself  many  streams  of 
influence — I  mean  the  pressure  exerted  by  the  general  thought  of  our 
time. 

During  a  period  of  great  mental  activity,  maxims  and  methods  have 
formed  themselves  on  the  general  field  of  intellectual  effort.  They 
are  found,  or  are  supposed,  to  be  valid  in  that  field,  and  they  claim 
universal  application.  They  embody  strong  impressions  adverse  to 
the  admission  of  authority,  incredulous  of  the  supernatural,  inclining 
to  trust  exclusively  to  what  may  be  called  material  and  tangible  proof. 
They  embody  strong  impressions  also  as  to  the  condition  of  human 
existence,  the  measure  of  human  responsibility,  the  past  history  and 
the  future  destiny  of  man.  These  maxims  and  methods  press  on  the 
convictions  and  habits  heretofore  cherished  in  believing  minds. 
They  claim  a  right  to  alter  or  to  subvert.  How  is  this  pressure  to  be 
dealt  with  ?  What  is  to  be  made  on  theological  ground  of  these  max- 
ims, of  these  methods?  By  various  schools  this  question  is  diversely 
answered.  Sometimes  a  hostile,  or  a  precautionary,  attitude  is  as- 
sumed toward  the  tendencies  whose  pressure  is  felt.  Sometimes,  on 
the  contrary,  they  are  welcomed,  and  their  influence  in  a  new  shap- 
ing of  theology  is  studied  with  predilection.  Flence  arise  problems 
for  all  the  theologies  and  for  our  own. 

There  are  various  ways  in  which  the  working  of  this  pressure  may 
be  observed.  In  all  of  them  I  think  it  will  be  found  that  the  char- 
acten'stic  tendency  is  to  abridging  and  qualifying  dogmatic  assertions, 
and  throwing  a  haze  over  dogmatic  distinctions. 

For  example,  we  may  mark  the  pressure  I  speak  of  in  the  apolo- 
getic character  so  largely  assumed  by  our  theological  literature. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  79 

The  occasion  of  this  apologetic  tone  is  familiar  to  all  of  us.  We 
are  passing  through  a  period  of  very  great,  if  one  should  not  say  un- 
exampled, unsettlement  of  opinion.  Every  theological  principle  and 
position  is  boldly  called  in  question. 

The  progress  of  this  unsettlement  is  to  be  traced  chiefly  in  the 
great  critical  movement  which  took  definite  shape  in  the  middle  of 
last  century,  proceeding  generally  on  rationalistic  principles,  and 
which  has  ever  since  been  unfoldir.g  its  tendencies  and  results.  A 
powerful  and  persistent  attack  lias  been  directed  against  Christianity, 
considered  as  the  religion  of  revelation,  and  as  a  divine  interposition 
into  the  course  of  this  world's  history. 

But  along  with  this  other  currents  have  been  running.  Results  of 
the  critical  process,  or  portions  of  its  method,  have  been  adopted  by 
believing  men.  These  off-shoots  of  the  critical  activity  have  been 
combined  in  various  forms  with  the  belief  of  revelation.  And  thus  a 
variety  of  schemes  have  been  put  forth,  none  of  which  have  won  gen- 
eral assent,  or  proved  able  to  supply  a  working  basis  for  theological 
movements  of  the  general  mind. 

So  far  I  have  spoken  of  the  critical  movement  which  wrought  in 
the  field  of  theological  and  biblical  questions.  But  of  course  one  re- 
members how  largely  this  was  itself  due  to  general  tendencies  of  the 
human  thought,  transferring  themselves  into  this  special  field.  One  may 
name  the  growing  determination  to  be  strict  in  the  demand  of  proof 
for  all  positions  not  immediately  obvious  to  the  human  mind,  to  meet 
all  assertions  with  doubt,  and  to  question  the  proof  until  its  sufficiency 
had  been  assured.  One  may  name  also  the  disposition  to  doubt  all 
arguments  which  seem  to  reason  downwards  from  alleged  first  princi- 
ples, and  to  place  the  whole  reliance  on  facts  that  can  be  verified  as 
present  and  obvious.  But  besides  these,  and  working  more  pro- 
foundly, there  was  the  disposition  to  cross-question  the  human  con- 
stitution, the  bases  of  truth  and  of  belief.  Men  learned  to  take  the 
ideas  of  the  human  mind,  even  the  most  primitive  and  those  which 
passed  for  most  authentic,  to  question  their  origin  and  growth,  to 
debate  how  far  they  represent  anything  real,  and  can  be  made  the  basis 
of  any  reliable  assertion  whatever.  This  tendency,  applied  to  the  de- 
partment of  religion,  has  operated  with  great  power. 

One  effect  then  of  all  this,  pressing  on  the  theological  mind,  has 
been  to  produce  an  apologetical  mode  of  handling  Christian  doc- 
trines. The  theologian  is  conscious  of  addressing  himself  to  a  public, 
of  which  important  sections  are  haunted  more  or  less  by  doubt. 
Therefore  he  pleads  for  his  positions;  and  he  pleads  for  such  positions 
as  he  hopes  can  be  made  credible  or  acceptable  to  that  state  of  mind. 

In  so  far  as  the  critical  jirocess  bears  on  the  sources  of  Christianity, 
/.  e.,  on  the  Scriptures,  we  touch  on  the  subject  of  inspiration,  which 
is  to  be  taken  up  in  other  papers.  But  I  may  observe  that  the  apolo- 
getic tendency  often  reveals  itself  in  this  relation  as  follows:  c\  g.,  by 
consenting  to  discuss  Christian  doctrine  upon  large  conce.ssions  as  to 
the  certainty  and  authority  of  the  Scripture  record.     Grant  that  much 


8o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

doubt  hangs  over  these  Scripture  writings,  yet  those  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully impeached.  Grant  that  the  measure  of  Divine  guidance 
vouchsafed  to  the  writers  is  debatable,  yet  even  as  mere  human  wit- 
nesses, or  as  good  and  spiritual  men,  they  have  great  weight;  and 
even  on  this  basis  it  shall  be  made  apparent  that  Christian  faith  and 
doctrine  stand  their  ground.  It  is  not  meant  that  those  who  shape 
their  reasoning  so  are  themselves  unfixed  from  the  Christian  convic- 
tions which  they  consent  to  hold  in  suspense  in  argument.  They 
may  be,  but  more  commonly  they  are  not.  Dealing  with  minds  envi- 
roned by  a  haze  of  doubt,  they  regulate  their  argument  by  the  esti- 
mate they  make  of  what  can  still  be  made  visible  through  the  haze. 

Criticism,  however,  has  been  applied  not  only  to  the  sources  and 
warrants  of  Christian  theology,  but  to  its  contents.  The  doctrines 
commonly  accepted  in  all  the  great  theologies  and  those  which  are 
characteristic  of  each  have  been  questioned  and  sifted.  The  con- 
gruity  of  the  Christian  system  to  its  own  principles  and  the  conso- 
nance of  its  doctrines  with  truth  and  goodness  have  been  powerfully 
assailed.  And  here  again  room  is  naturally  made  for  that  apologetic 
mode  of  handling  doctrines  to  which  I  have  referred.  It  is  pleaded 
that  at  least  so  much  of  the  Christian  position  can  be  made  probable 
or  acceptable,  whatever  modifications  or  retrenchments  fail  to  be  made 
upon  the  rest. 

How  much  ])recisely  should  be  ascribed  to  this  apologetic  motive, 
in  influencing  theological  statement,  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  By  the 
nature  of  it,  it  is  an  indeterminate  and  persuasive  influence.  It  com- 
bines readily  with  other  theological  tendencies  that  are  at  work  from 
other  sources.  But  in  general  it  is  plain  enough  that  so  far  as  it 
works,  it  disposes  men  to  retreat  from  definite  dogmatic  assertions, 
because  those,  at  present,  are  in  many  quarters  distrusted  and  dis- 
liked. Positively  the  tendency  is  to  concentrate  on  the  defence  of 
the  Divinity  of  our  Lord  (but  with  strong  and  careful  dwelling  on 
his  humanity),  and  on  the  fact  of  the  resurrection;  the  one  as  the 
central  article  of  spiritual  Christianity;  the  other  as  the  event  by 
which  the  first  is  expressed  and  guaranteed.  It  is  a  modified  and  re- 
trenched theology,  shorn  of  many  of  its  leaves,  that  is  apt  to  be  pre- 
sented on  these  terms. 

So  far  theologians  are  seen  in  the  attitude  of  guarding  their  domain, 
or  what  they  reckon  central  positions  in  it,  against  influences  or  ten- 
dencies, conceived,  on  the  whole,  as  pressing  from  without.  But 
theology  is  swayed  also  from  within.  Theologians  of  various  schools 
accept  as  valid,  as  ascertained  and  authoritative,  positions,  and 
methods  of  thought  which  suggest  or  require  an  altered,  a  modified 
theology.  They  welcome  the  co-operation  of  the  rising  intellectual 
forces,  in  constituting  the  structure  of  theological  thought.  This  may 
present  itself  as  an  altered  exposition  of  old  belief,  or  as  an  improved 
statement  of  rationalism,  or  as  any  of  a  hundred  shades  of  belief  or 
unbelief  that  lie  between. 

I  may  name  the  modern  systems  of  speculative  theology,  from  Kant 


SECOND  gen.:ral  council.  8 1 

downwards  (to  go  no  further  back)  as  one  of  the  forms  in  which 
the  working  of  this  influence  may  be  studied.  This  precise  way  of 
exhibiting  theology  is  not  very  conspicuous  at  present,  among  us  at 
least.  But  it  has  been  very  influential  and  will  be  so  again.  Of  the 
remarkable  efforts  which  have  been  made  in  this  direction  much 
might  be  said,  if  they  could  be  looked  at  individually.  I  can  only 
advert  to  what  is  in  some  degree  common  to  them  all. 

One  thing  is  clear :  speculative  systems  are  the  very  field  in  which 
one  might  expect  to  see  how  theology  is  moved  by  the  forces  that 
work  in  the  general  intellectual  world.  Here  those  forces  ought  to 
be  reckoned  with  and  weighed.  For  the  object  of  such  systems  is 
not,  directly  at  least,  the  practical  service  of  the  Church,  nor  is  it 
edification.  The  want  they  meet  is  purely  intellectual.  The  aim  is 
to  exhibit  theology  in  its  relation  to  philosophy  ;  or  to  exhibit  it  as 
one  department  of  the  whole  of  reasoned  knowledge,  continuous  and 
coherent  with  the  rest.  It  proceeds  on  the  idea  that  theology,  like 
other  systems,  must  be  pervaded  by  the  questions :  How  do  I  know 
that  I  know?  in  what  sense  do  I  know?  Theology  is  to  be  placed  in 
harmonious  relation  to  man's  faculties;  and  not  to  these  alone,  but  to 
the  whole  world  of  thought  and  impression  which  man  has  acquired, 
and  to  the  maxims  he  has  learned  to  hold  valid.  In  short  theology  is 
to  be  contemplated  in  the  light  of  man's  best  conceptions  of  the  intel- 
lectual world  he  lives  in,  and  his  best  conceptions  of  the  conditions 
of  his  intellectual  and  moral  life. 

Speculative  theology  is  not  in  the  best  repute  in  orthodox  schools, 
and  has  indeed  proved  very  apt  to  overrate  its  powers,  overdo  its 
work,  overpass  its  limits.  It  is  easy  here  to  err  by  adapting  theology 
to  a  philosophy  that  is  false;  easy  also  to  err  by  identifying  it  too 
absolutely  even  with  a  philosophy  that  is  true.  But  whatever  exag- 
gerations or  extravagances  have  taken  place  in  this  field,  I  do  not 
refer  to  it  for  the  purpose  of  denouncing  the  whole  discipline.  On 
the  contrary  I  cordially  recognize  the  aspiration,  or  ambition,  which 
inspires  it.  I  believe  the  effort  is,  in  its  own  nature,  one  of  the 
tributes  which  thoughtful  minds  pay  to  Christian  truth,  a  legitimate 
tribute  and  a  useful  one,  viz.,  by  striving  to  bring  their  whole  tiiinking 
into  light,  harmony  and  order.  It  may  well  be  that  we  should 
recognize  the  impossibility  of  ever  reaching  a  complete  speculative 
scheme.  At  any  rate  it  is  the  part  of  sound  speculation  to  mark  its 
limits;  particularly,  it  should  establish  the  place  and  significance  of 
mysteries,  and  it  should  learn  how  to  pause  in  the  presence  of  them 
when  they  are  established.  But  this  is  only  to  say  that  speculation 
should  be  wise,  not  that  it  should  cease.  The  great  believing  thinkers 
have  commonly  been,  more  or  less,  speculative  divines. 

Now  I  have  said  that  I  cannot  advert  to  the  characteristics  of  special 
systems.  Even  the  great  distinction  between  those  which  are  radically 
rationalistic,  and  those  which  recognizing  faith  strive  to  bring  out  its 
relations  to  reason,  can  only  be  touched,  not  followed  out.  But  this 
may  be  said,  that  in  all  cases  the  tendency  of  speculation  is  to  overdo 
6 


•82  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

its  work  in  the  direction  of  rationalizing.  This  must  be  so ;  and 
people  need  neither  be  surprised  nor  offended  to  find  it  so.  There 
must  be  some  besetting  danger  in  every  field  of  mental  effort,  and 
this  is  the  danger  here.  The  reason  is  plain.  Yox  the  purposes  of 
speculation,  in  order  to  explain,  to  unify,  to  theorize,  the  utmost  use 
must  be  made  of  ideas  which  speculction  reaches  or  suggests — ideas 
gathered  in  the  fields  of  philosophy  and  natural  religion.  The.se  offer 
themselves  as  the  continuous  threads  on  which  the  parts  of  a  system 
may  be  strung,  as  the  open  pathways  by  which  the  mind  can  easily 
travel,  as  the  explicative  principles  along  which  unity  of  thought  may 
be  attained.  The  temptation  always  is  to  make  more  than  a  fair 
use  of  these  :  they  are  apt  to  be  worked  so  as  to  explain  away  the 
peculiarity  of  Christianity,  and  to  disenchant  it  of  its  glory.  For 
the  same  reason  there  is  a  temptation  also  to  deal  unfairly  with  those 
elements  of  Christianity  that  do  not  readily  yield  themselves  to  be 
'theorized  by  principles  of  reason,  or  which,  at  any  rate,  prove 
refractory  to  the  methods  which  prevail  in  the  thinking  of  our  time. 

The  tendency,  then,  is  to  minimize  these,  or  to  set  them  aside.  Join 
this  temptation,  which  is  naturally  incidental  to  speculation,  widi  the 
special  conditions  of  our  time,  and  one  can  see  how  readily  the 
genius  of  Christianity,  as  represented  in  the  speculative  systems,  may 
be  controlled  and  dominated,  even  when  not  oppressed  and  slain,  by 
■the  influence  of  ideas  which  are  foreign  to  itself.  And  yet  in  each 
particular  case  one  must  ask  the  question  fairly — has  the  theologian 
yielded  to  the  danger  of  his  art  ?  or  has  he  only  rendered  a  service  to 
Christian  truth,  by  clearing  it  of  confusion,  and  setting  it  in  its 
proper  intellectual  light?  Still,  looking  at  theological  thought, 
as  in  fact  exhibited  in  this  field,  it  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  retrenched 
and  moonlight  theology,  on  the  whole,  that  is  most  commonly  ex- 
hibited. Most  commonly  one  sees  the  old  dogmatic  ideas  pale  and 
shrink  somewhat  in  the  general  adjustment. 

Before  I -pass  on  to  another  head,  I  will  add  a  remark,  partly  by 
■way  of  qualification,  partly  of  explanation. 

■  Germany  is  the  home  of  speculative  systems.  Though  the  influence 
of  these  is  felt  among  us,  yet  in  Britain,  and  I  suppose  in  America, 
no  such  strenuous  and  sustained  efforts  in  this  department  are  made. 
I  may  be  thought  therefore  to  have  gone  too  far  afield  in  adducing 
this  matter  at  all.  But  influence  really  of  the  same  kind  with  that 
which  I  have  just  been  describing,  works  powerfully  among  us,  though 
it  does  not  so  readily  take  a  form  in  which  it  can  be  definitely  reckoned 
with.  Thoughts,  which  in  Germany  would  be  weighed  in  a  speculative 
system,  exert  their  force  among  us  in  a  looser,  but  an  equally  effective 
way. 

■  For  example :  a  very  special  place  in  the  Reformed  Theology,  as 
we  have  received  it,  is  occupied  by  what  I  may  call  the  juridical  ele- 
ment— the  conception  of  reckoning  according  to  justice.  Our  the- 
ology has  had  much  to  say  of  merits  and  deserts,  and  of  the  justice 
which  deals  with  these.     I  do  not  put  this  forward  as  the  central  ele- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


83 


ment  in  oiir  theology,  or  as  the  most  influential.  But  perhaps  it 
might  be  called  the  organizing  or  dogma-building  element  :  by  means 
of  it  relations  take  shape,  and  the  other  elements  are  measured,  so 
that  all  fall  into  dogmatic  structure.  Desert,  rendering  of  what  is 
due  upon  trial,  under  law,  is  made  the  key  to  the  whole  state  of 
nature;  it  is  the  explicative  principle  in  that  department.  Then 
grace  takes  character  in  so  far  as  it  appears  over  against  this  as  its 
proper  contrast  and  counterpart.  Nay,  grace  itself  is  unfolded  and 
understood  by  the  manner  in  which  it  resolves  the  problem  of  desert, 
introducing  a  higher  and  more  durable  merit,  which  becomes  the 
foundation  of  eternal  life. 

Now  in  the  theological  mind  of  our  time,  there  is  a  distinct  retreat 
from  this  juridical  way  of  conceiving  and  bringing  out  the  divine 
])rocedure.  Of  course  I  am  not  saying  that  this  is  universal  ;  but  I 
do  say  that  it  is  notably  conspicuous. 

T  do  not  mean  that  all  reference  to  punishment  and  reward  is  ex- 
cluded ;  although  sometimes,  certainly,  even  these  ideas  are  denounced 
as  not  consistent  with  right  conceptions  of  virtue.  Generally,  how- 
ever, the  hiTiionvvq  owTjjptoj  of  the  old  Alexandrian  writers  is  willingly 
recognized ;  that  is,  an  administration  of  government  which  en- 
courages goodness  by  benefits,  and  follows  sin  with  sorrows  that  tend 
to  school  men  out  of  it.  But  this  energy  is  not,  nor  could  it  be,  so  de- 
cisive in  its  operation  as  the  vindicative  righteousness  of  the  Reformed 
Theology.  It  is  disciplinary  only.  It  is  not  conceived  to  issue  con- 
clusive judgments  nor  to  prescribe  a  decisive  probation.  It  patiently 
follows  the  story  of  the  race,  and  all  the  relations  between  man  and 
God  with  salutary  admonition — that  is  all.  Naturally,  the  inference 
follows  that  the  same  system  will  endure  beyond  the  grave.  And 
indeed  the  present  stirring  of  Eschatological  questions  is  just  one  con- 
spicuous illustration  of  the  tendency  I  speak  of. 

I  am  not  now  reasoning  on  the  merits.  I  am  willing  to  take  it  for 
the  present,  not  only  that  the  Reformed  Theology  can  be  mended 
and  supplemented,  but  that  the  amendment,  now  under  consideration, 
may  have  right  to  prevail.  Only  I  point  out  that,  if  so,  it  is  a  great 
step.  If  the  juridical  element  has  to  be  obliterated  from  the  Re- 
formed Theology,  than,  as  a  dogmatic  structure,  that  theology  is  a 
r.iistake.  It  fails,  in  common  no  doubt  with  the  Lutheran,  and  even 
with  the  Roman,  but  still  more  signally  than  they. 

Now  the  point  to  observe  is  the  source  to  which  this  conspicuous 
bias — not  more  conspicuous  in  theological  literature  than  perceptible 
in  privatec  onvcr^ation — is  due.  It  is  not  due  to  any  new  light  in 
the  passages  of  Scripture,  which  sustain  the  conceptions  of  Reformed 
Theology  in-  this  part  of  its  teaching.  These  remain  as  they  were, 
not  less  clear  and  cogent.  It  is  due  it,  may  be  said,  wholly  to  certain 
-impressions  or  general  ideas  in  the  minds  of  men,  which  produce  the 
result  by  swaying  the  whole  mode  of  tli inking.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to 
point  them  out.  At  one  time  much  effect  was  due  to  the  manncT  of 
dwelling  on  the  Fatherhood  of  God  which  began  to  prevail,  implying 


84  'iHE  PRESBYTERIAN  A1.LIANCE. 

certain  affections  always  to  be  ascribed  to  him  in  dealing  with  his 
creatures,  certain  claims  which  all  men  have  on  him,  as  his  children, 
and  can  never  cease  to  have.  These  considerations  were  powerfully 
pushed  in  the  attack  nrade  some  years  ago  on  the  older  theology,  by 
a  powerful  English  school,  led  by  the  singularly  earnest  and  impres- 
sive personality  of  Mr.  Maurice.  This  has  ceased  to  be  influential. 
For,  as  the  result  of  recent  movements,  the  whole  thought  of  God  is 
becoming  in  many  quarters  something  dim  and  distant.  The  sense 
of  relation  to  him  is  becoming  too  indefinite,  to  admit  of  the  enthu- 
siasm which  should  push  the  argument,  or  of  the  eager  and  confident 
assertions  on  which  its  advocates  must  rely. 

More  is  due  now  to  other  forms  of  thought.  Among  these  is  to 
be  especially  named,  I  think,  the  thought  of  the  education  of  the 
race.  This  is  accepted  as  the  true  motive  of  providence,  and  the 
true  key  to  history;  and  it  has  been  gaining  steadily  ever  since 
Lessing.  The  race  starts  from  a  point  about  which  men  may  differ : 
perhaps  it  was  indefinitely  low.  But  the  vindication  of  the  Theo- 
dicee  is  found  in  the  aim  which  Providence  always  pursues.  Mistakes, 
follies,  sins,  take  their  place  in  a  process,  by  which  discipline  is 
administered,  and  progressive  advance  is  effected.  The  theory  thus 
falls  in  with  the  idea  of  development,  at  present  so  acceptable  in  all 
departments.  Looking  from  this  point  of  view  alone  it  is  easy  to 
conclude  that  the  fall  could  not  be  a  decisive  failure  of  the  race,  as 
regards  its  natural  conditions.  Still  less  could  it  denote  a  judicial 
sentence  carrying  a  doom  which  only  supernatural  interposition  could 
reverse.  Then  the  completely  redeeming  character,  which  we  have 
been  taught  to  ascribe  to  our  Lord's  work,  becomes  something  super- 
fluous and  incongruous,  and  the  individual  man  finds  himself  on  this 
scheme  related  to  law  and  gospel  in  a  quite  new  way.  In  fact  the 
distinction  between  them  is  abolished. 

This  thought  of  a  divine  training  of  the  race,  always  proceeding, 
has  been  forcing  itself  into  the  minds,  of  men  from  various  quarters. 
It  is  present  and  operative  everywhere.  The  elements  of  truth  which 
it  embodies  deserve  to  be  fully  recognized.  But  it  must  be  shown  how, 
along  with  the  patient  processes  of  the  Divine  trainer  of  men,  another 
aspect  claims  equal  regard.  There  remains  on  the  side  of  man,  ever 
present,  that  capacity  and  necessity  of  decision,  that  solemn,  inex- 
plicable personality,  which  find  expression  only  in  liability  to  judg- 
ment, and  in  the  solemn  alternatives  of  righteousness  and  guilt. 

I  might  be  content  to  have  offered  these  illustrations.  But  I  will 
recall  to  your  minds  one  other  instance  of  the  fields  in  which  we  may 
watch  the  working  of  the  forces  which  sway  theological  thought. 

Underlying  the  province  of  speculative  theology  (into  the  founda- 
tions of  which  it  enters)  is  the  theory  of  religion.  On  this  a  great 
deal  of  discussion  has  arisen,  and  it  has  taken  great  hold  of  the  gen- 
eral mind. 

The  topic  is  taken  up  as  one  chapter  of  the  study  of  man.  What 
ii  that  in  the  nature  of  man  in  virtue  of  which  religion  is  possible  or 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  85 

necessary?  What,  viewed  from  this  point,  ought  religion  to  be? 
How  far  can  knowledge  or  belief  in  connection  with  religion  claim  to 
be  valid — on  what  grounds,  within  what  limits?  The  theory  adopted 
may  virtually  exclude  Revelation.  If  it  admits  that  idea,  it  may  per- 
haps undertake  to  assign  what  the  objects  and  conditions  of  Revela- 
tion must  be,  and  how  it  can  relate  itself  to  the  religious  capacity  of 
men. 

In  an  earlier  portion  of  this  paper  it  was  remarked  that  the  effort 
of  the  modern  mind  is  applied  not  only  to  criticise  proofs,  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  but  to  sift  and  analyze  the  primitive  ideas  of  the  mind 
itself,  questioning  each  as  to  its  origin,  its  authority,  and  its  right  to 
furnish  suggestions  or  to  ground  beliefs.  The  discussions  concerning 
the  theory  of  religion  illustrate  this  statement.  Those  discussions 
have  proceeded  along  a  double  line,  not  always  with  harmonious 
results.  On  the  one  side,  metaphysical  or  psychological  discussion 
has  been  applied  to  the  human  consciousness,  with  a  view  to  settle 
the  nature  and  worth  of  its  testimony.  On  the  other  hand,  histori- 
cal inquiry  is  directed  upon  the  phenomena  of  human  religion  in 
various  ages  and  among  various  races,  with  conjectural  outlook  towards 
prehistoric  times  and  peoples.  Hence,  it  is  thought, conclusions  may 
be  gathered  as  to  the  causes  from  which  religion  spring  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  grow.  Either  way, the  phases  assumed  by  human 
religions  are  classified,  and  the  relation  in  which  Christianity  stands 
to  other  forms  of  religion  is  assigned. 

In  this  line  of  discussion,  the  place  and  claims  of  religion,  its  root 
in  human  nature,  and  its  connection  with  the  noblest  human  aspira- 
tions may  be  brought  out  with  great  force.  Moreover,  the  dignity 
of  Christianity  can  receive  very  welcome  illustration,  as  presenting  the 
worthiest  conception  of  religion  ever  embodied  in  a  popular  form, 
and  as  embracing  among  its  teachings  some  which  never  henceforth 
can  be  omitted  in  any  reasonable  speculation  on  the  nature  of  man. 
No  doubt  Christianity  sometimes  receives  this  place  at  the  cost  of 
being  m^de  to  figure  only  as  a  human  system,  excellent  in  some 
aspects,  but  mixed  and  imperfect  in  others.  Still,  the  advantage 
pointed  out,  as  opened  to  the  Christian  thinker,  remains,  and  use 
should  be  made  of  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  too  frequent  ten- 
dency of  this  class  of  discussions  is  to  obscure  or  to  obliterate  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  natural  and  the  supernatural.  Even  when  not 
directly  aimed  at  or  expressly  claimed,  the  current  is  apt  to  drift  that 
way.  Theories,  such  as  we  are  now  speaking  of,  necessarily  start  from 
below.  They  are  projected  from  the  human  point  of  view.  They 
have  man  as  the  centre,  and  human  wants  and  capacities  as  the  ruling 
thoughts.  In  so  far  as  Christianity  comes  into  view,  it  is  estimated 
by  the  degree  in  which  it  answers  to  a  standard  which  the  progress 
of  history  has  suggested,  or  which  science  ruminating  in  human  nature 
has  assigned.  That  is  all  right  if  it  were  rightly  done.  Speculation 
might  say,  "So  far  I  can  go  with  my  resources;  I  do  not  claim  that 
this  is  all."     But,  in  point  of  fact,  speculation  is  seldom  so  bashful. 


86  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Discussions  of  this  class  have  become  a  powerful  force  in  the  public 
mind.  The  theologian,  in  his  own  province,  is  aware  that  his  con- 
clusions will  have  to  justify  themselves  over  against  presumptions 
which  those  discussions  have  created.  And  besides,  he  is  personally 
swayed  by  the  impressions  on  this  subject  which  have  gained  his 
mind.  His  representation  of  Christianity  will  be  swayed  by  his  concep- 
tion of  the  nature  and  office  of  religion.  And  his  conception  of  the 
nature  and  office  of  religion  has  been  formed,  probably,  in  full  con- 
tact with  all  the  tendencies  of  the  modern  time,  as  these  shape  them- 
selves when  religion  comes  into  view.  It  is  not  my  business,  nor  my 
intention,  to  decide  whether  a  due  or  an  undue  use  of  suggestions  aris- 
ing in  this  quarter  has  been  made  by  modern  theologians.  But  I  may 
say  that  when  the  temptations  here  arising  are  allowed  unduly  to  pre- 
vail, the  result  is  a  tendency  to  refine  away  everything  in  Christianity 
that  goes  beyond  natural  religion.  The  theologian  stumbles  on  the 
person  of  Christ ;  he  looks  with  suspicion  on  the  supernatural.  He 
may  take  note  of  sin,  but  he  cannot  give  effect  to  the  intense  concep- 
tion of  it  which  Christianity  embodies.  To  this  habit  of  mind  the 
dogmatic  Christianity  in  which  God  is  heard  speaking,  and  man  is 
for  God,  comes  to  be  felt  as  something  strange.  Most  of  all  will 
reformed  theology  suffer  under  such  influences — reformed  theology,  of 
which  it  is  either  the  opprobrium  or  the  glory  that  it  follows  Scrip- 
ture teaching  up  to  the  supreme  heights  and  launches  forth  its  theology 
from  thence.  Doctrinal  truths  will  be  minimized,  attenuated,  and 
toned  down,  and  the  whole  Christian  theology  will  assume  a  dim 
moonlight  aspect. 

I  am  far  from  imputing  these  characteristics  as  attaching  generally 
wherever  theology  has  been  influenced  by  the  course  of  thought  on 
the  theory  of  religion.  All  such  sources  of  influence  may  be  used 
well  or  used  ill.  But  I  think  I  may  point  to  two  effects  which  have 
been  produced  so  generally  by  it  that  they  are  in  a  good  degree  charac- 
teristic. They  prevail  widely,  and  mark  the  works  of  honored  and 
valued  men.  I  attribute  them  as  effects  to  the  discussion  on  tht  theory 
of  religion  ;  but  under  this  I  include  all  recent  discussion  on  man's 
religious  capacities  and  susceptibilities.  The  close  scrutiny  of  these 
has  led,  first,  to  what  I  may  describe  as  a  solicitous  attention  to  the 
natural.  Where  the  natural  and  supernatural  come  together,  the  ut- 
most care  is  taken  to  give  to  nature  everything  that  can  in  reason  be 
ascribed  to  her.  It  is  become  a  kind  of  punctilio.  The  natural, 
which  used  perhaps  to  be  rather  a  stei)child  in  orthodox  houses,  is 
now  become  the  spoilt  child  of  the  family.  Secondly,  the  same  close 
analysis  of  human  capacities  and  cravings  in  the  matter  of  religion, 
and  the  stress  laid  on  the  idea  that  all  revelation  must  be  relative  to 
the  subject  who  receives  it,  have  produced  another  effect.  An  altered 
mode  of  conceiving  and  stating  doctrines  may  be  observed.  Formerly 
doctrines  used  to  be  presented  as  the  expression  of  revealed  fact,  or 
as  divinely  prescribed  methods  under  which  God  deals  with  men,  or 
men  may  deal  with  God.      But  now  they  appear  rather  as  modes  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  87 

human  feeling  and  experience.  They  are  moulds  into  which  human 
thought  may  or  ought  to  shape  itself;  they  denote  the  character  and 
movement  which  human  experience  may  assume  in  certain  relations. 
The  object  aimed  at  by  this  manner  of  conceiving  and  stating  is 
probably  this,  viz.,  to  fix  attention  on  the  principle  that  whatever 
divine  element  Christianity  contains,  it  is  not  the  divine  simply,  but 
the  divine  under  human  conditions.  Now  let  it  be  granted  that  some- 
thing is  gained  when  theology  shows  strict  regard  not  only  to  the 
divine  source  from  which  Christian  teaching  comes,  but  also  to  the 
human  conditions  under  which  it  must  both  be  presented  and  received. 
Yet  it  must  be  granted  also,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  tendency 
which  I  describe  gives  an  altered  color  even  to  the  truths  which  it  re- 
tains ;  and  it  suggests  as  the  test  of  truth,  not  so  much  the  question, 
What  has  God  revealed,  but  rather  the  question.  What  will  prove  ac- 
ceptable and  workable  in  the  line  of  human  experience? 

I  have  touched  on  topics  casually  selected  from  among  others  that 
might  have  been  adduced  as  fitly.  But  what  I  have  said  may  suffice 
to  indicate  the  forms  and  avenues  of  force  I  have  in  view,  when  I 
speak  of  the  pressure  of  the  general  thought  of  the  time  on  the  theo- 
logical mind.  I  repeat  that  this  is  not  adduced  as  by  any  means  the 
only  noteworthy  characteristic  of  modern  theological  thought,  but  it 
seems  to  me  the  most  important.  Nor  do  I  imagine  all  modern  theo- 
logical thought  to  be  biased  in  one  direction,  for  some  schools  and 
men  react  with  vigorous  antagonism  against  the  views  that  prevail. 
But  then  it  is  just  against  this  they  feel  it  needful  to  react.  All 
schools  feel  and  reckon  with  the  pressure  of  the  time. 

Thus  considered,  modern  theology  bears  the  aspect  of  one  who  re- 
volves and  ponders  the  necessity  of  a  revision  and  the  propriety  of 
a  reaction.  A  question  is  in  presence  about  the  earlier  theologies, 
the  theology  of  the  churches  and  the  confessions.  These  earlier  the- 
ologies—take them  as  a  whole — may  be  described  as  projected  simply 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Bible  teaching  and  of  fnith.  In  inten- 
tion, at  least,  that  was  their  character,  whatever  perversities  of  method 
clung  to  them.  The  question  now  everywhere  in  the  air  is.  Did  not 
all  those  theologies  overdo  the  confitience  of  their  interpretations  and 
the  sweep  of  their  conclusions?  Did  they  not,  as  some  think,  trust 
their  sources  too  simply,  /.  ^. ,  trust  too  much  to  the  Bible?  Or  did 
they  not,  as  others  say,  interpret  those  sources  too  unguardedly,  tak- 
ing that  as  absolute  which  was  true  only  under  qualification,  and  that 
as  universal,  which  was  true  only  secundum  quid?  And  if  such  errors 
do  attach,  is  it  in  great  and  substantial  matters,  or  only  in  small  and 
circumstantial,  that  the  errors  are? 

Working  at  the  question  thus  suggested,  modern  theological  thought 
takes  counsel  in  a  great  variety  of  quarters.  It  meditates  much  on 
the  method  and  mental  movement  of  the  sacred  writers  in  order  that, 
discovering  how  the  general  truth  lay  in  their  minds,  it  may  the  bet- 
ter judge  how  far  their  particular  utterances  were  meant  to  go  and 
what  inferences  they  were  meant  to  warrant.     It  ruminates  on  the 


88  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

history  of  theology,  tracing  the  influences  under  which  particular 
doctrines  rose  into  prominence,  in  order  that  it  may  the  better  weigh 
their  character  and  worth.  It  takes  counsel  with  philosophy  as  the 
exponent  of  man's  deliberate  thought  on  the  intellectual  world  he 
lives  in,  and  labors  to  adjust  its  interpretation  of  Christianity  to  rea- 
sonable views  of  that.  It  surveys  the  history  of  religions ;  it  listens 
to  discussions  on  man's  religious  instincts  and  capacities,  and  lays 
great  weight  on  any  corroboration  of  its  teachings  which  it  may  receive 
from  that  quarter.  But  I  need  not  run  on,  though  the  list  could 
easily  be  extended.  Thus  busily  pondering,  theological  thought  may 
claim,  perhaps,  to  be  more  calm,  more  catholic,  more  considerate, 
more  human,  perhaps,  in  so  far  as  it  bears  so  strict  a  regard  to  what 
human  nature  asks  or  seems  capable  to  bear.  Whether  these  claims  be 
allowed  or  not,  we  must  add,  that  of  this  modern  theological  thought 
a  portion  must  be  characterized  as  distinctly  unbelieving ;  and  where 
it  is  believing,  the  faith  is  seen  rather  dealing  with  perplexities  and 
feeling  its  way  through  niceties  and  competing  considerations,  than 
faith  uttering  the  trumpet-notes  of  confidence  and  enthusiasm  which 
ring  in  the  older  theology  and  echo  even  through  its  dialectic  and 
jjolemic.  Yet  let  us  remember  that  patient  dealing  with  doubts  may 
be  indeed  a  work  of  faith,  and  sometimes  the  work. 

Therefore  also  I  hold  it  to  be  not  in  my  right,  in  a  general  sketch 
like  this,  and  antecedently  to  discussion  of  the  merits,  to  make  any 
sweeping  assumptions  as  to  the  merits  or  demerits  of  this  tendency 
as  a  whole.  In  so  far,  indeed,  as  it  is  visibly  unbelieving  and  ques- 
tions the  authority  of  revelation,  it  is  judged  already  and  its  doom  is 
sure;  but  in  so  far  as  it  brings  into  question  the  thoughts  of  men 
about  revelation,  we  must  be  ready  to  join  issue  without  fear  or  favor. 
No  doubt  the  Lord  of  providence  has  some  good  ends  in  view  in  con- 
nection with  this  long  revision  of  the  grounds  and  contents  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  these  ends  may  be  very  different  from  those  which  the 
l^romoters  of  the  process  intend. 

We  who  meet  here  are  not  of  the  number  of  those  who  anticipate 
that  sweeping  changes  will  prove  inevitable  or  imperative.  That  which 
we  doubtless  all  desire  for  the  ch'urches  we  represent  is  that  they  may 
be  found  ready  to  vindicate  the  place  and  the  testimony  of  God's  word. 
There  is  need  of  this,  for  the  variety  of  sources  from  which  argument 
is  drawn  and  influence  accepted  does  tend  to  turn  the  minds  of  men 
from  due  thoughts  of  the  place  and  rights  of  Scripture.  And  yet  this 
duty  is  not  always  so  simple  as  is  seems;  for  it  is  always  possible 
that  the  older  theology  may  have  retained  a  leaven  from  the  maxims 
and  methods  of  the  days  when  it  was  formed — a  leaven  which  claims 
no  respect  now  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  modern  theology,  in  its 
busy  converse  with  various  forms  of  human  thought  and  learning,  may 
receive  suggestions  on  some  points  which  do  not  mislead  from  Scrip- 
ture, but  which  help  to  discern  and  seize  their  true  sense.  The  ques- 
tion after  all  is  how  the  mind  of  Christ  bears  upon  and  is  related  to 
the  mind  of  our  time  in  its  various  forms.     "  Such  and  such  have 


iwnirz^^L/^M© 


PICTETTURRETINLAVATER 

BUXTORFKNOX^WETTSTEIN 

OSTERWALD  D'AUBIGNE: 

MUSTIN    RUCHAT 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


«9 


said  unto  you,  but  I  say  unto  you."  One  would  wish  to  be  able 
vigilantly  to  mark  and  clearly  to  enunciate  how  the  very  mind  of 
Christ — his  revealed  mind — strikes  upon  and  strikes  into  the  human 
ferment,  dividing,  judging,  guiding.  In  order  to  this  we  must  study 
the  revealing  word ;  but  we  must  also  study  our  time  in  its  mental 
workings,  and  that  with  candor,  and  as  much  as  may  be  with  sym- 
pathy. We  must  encounter  with  God's  help  the  pressure  of  its 
thought,  and  seek  both  to  know  and  to  show  how  the  thoughts  of 
our  Lord  bear  on  it.  Without  this  there  may  perhaps  be  high  medi- 
tation in  some  directions  ;  without  it  there  may  be  useful  theological 
rehearsals  of  truth  received,  and  there  may  be  useful  preaching,  theo- 
logical or  not ;  but  without  it  there  will  not  be  in  any  sense  that  that 
will  be  helpful  in  our  time — Theological  Thought. 

It  is  a  practical  question  how  best  to  gain  a  hearing  for  the  word 
of  Christ,  supposing  we  are  in  any  measure  furnished  to  declare  it, 
especially  in  such  an  age  as  ours,  which  is,  I  think,  less  unbelieving 
than  it  sometimes  seems,  but  which  certainly  scrutinizes  keenly  what- 
ever, is  alleged  on  the  authority  of  revelation,  and  subjects  whatever 
comes  in  that  character  to  a  hundred  tests  and  questions.  It  will  not 
improve  our  influence  if  we  bring  Christ's  word  mixed  copiously  with 
the  wisdom  of  our  own  minds  or  our  fathers'  ;  nor  will  it  improve  our 
influence  if  men  see  cause  to  think  that  we  have  no  especial  anxiety 
or  care  to  avoid  that  mixture. 

I  will  here  propound  what  is  perhaps  a  paradox.  If  so  it  may  be 
useful  to  any  one  that  wishes  somethmg  to  object  to.  It  is  a  com- 
mon feeling,  and  the  practice  of  controversy  confirms  it,  that  the 
true  way  to  be  impressive  and  successful  is  to  take  the  attitude  of 
those  who  are  sure  of  everything,  and  to  put  one's  whole  case  with 
undoubting  strength  and  force.  Now  I  have  sometimes  thought  that 
Christian  theologians — or  let  us  say  at  present,  the  reformed — will 
not  make  much  way,  or  not  so  much  as  the  time  requires,  unless  they 
are  seen,  applying  to  their  processes  and  results,  a  kind  of  self-criti- 
cism. An  impression  is  extensively  entertained,  and  it  is  not  wholly 
groundless,  that  our  Christian  argument,  as  commonly  propounded, 
is  a  kind  of  conglomerate.  It  contains  various  not  very  coherent 
materials.  It  is  drawn  from  various  sources.  In  different  parts  it 
relies  on  different  orders  of  proof,  and  varies  indefinitely  in  degrees 
of  cogency.  And  yet  the  results  are  put  to  men  very  much  in  the 
same  way  and  have  the  same  claims  made  for  them.  Hence  a  con- 
fused impression  about  the  kind  and  amount  of  obligation  to  believe 
that  attaches  to  each  element  of  the  whole.  Now  we  need  not  be 
ashamed  of  holding  conclusions,  some  of  which  are  less  strongly 
grounded  than  others.  That  is  exactly  what  we  are  meant  to  have. 
But  then  the  varying  strength  of  reason  should  be  owned.  It  shouKl 
be  seen  to  be  a  matter  that  interests  ourselves.  Suppose  the  old  ques- 
tion of  the  reason  of  faith — the  grounds  and  method  of  our  assurance 
that  God  speaks — were  revived  with  more  of  care  and  interest  than 
have  been  commonly  evinced  of  late.     Suppose  that  instead  of  only 


90  7 HE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

setting  it  as  an  argument  against  unbelievers,  we  applied  our  own 
principles  on  this  subject  to  the  general  body  of  our  opinions,  and 
the  structure  of  our  arguments.  Suppose  it  became  usual  for  us  to 
recognize  degrees  of  certainty  in  our  conclusions  on  different  points, 
and  to  seek  to  appreciate  those  degrees — distinguishing  what  is  funda- 
mental in  the  faith,  and  ranks  as  clear  Christian  certainty,  from  what 
is  more  or  less  matter  of  reasonable  likelihood,  of  inference,  or  of 
speculation.  We  all  own,  in  a  general  way,  that  our  positions  vary 
in  strength  of  evidence  and  in  cogency  of  obligation  in  the  under- 
standing. But  could  not  effect  be  given  to  this  in  a  habit  of  candid 
self-criticism?  It  might  be  a  bold  undertaking  to  try  this,  in  detail. 
But  may  we  not  doubt  whether  much  impression  will  be  produced  on 
the  age,  till  in  some  way  or  other  it  appears  to  men  that  we  take  a 
cordial  and  candid  interest  in  the  gradation  and  proportion  of  strength 
pertaining  to  our  own  arguments?  In  this  way  perhaps  something 
would  be  done  towards  meeting  a  desideratum  which  some  have  signal- 
ized. There  are  believing  theologians  who  desire  that  a  discrimina- 
tion may  be  made  in  the  practice  of  our  Churches,  between  two  the- 
ologies, a  biblical  one,  and  one  that  is  speculative  or  philosophical. 
The  first  would  represent  the  matter  of  Christian  creed,  and  wculd 
contain  the  main  tilings  which  the  Bible  propounds  to  faith.  The 
other  should  be  the  platform  on  which  men  might  propound  without 
offense  any  revered  thoughts  they  had  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
Bible  teaching  should  be  conceived  to  relate  itself  to  philosophical 
questions  or  efforts,  to  the  human  soul,  or  to  the  whole  world  of  truth 
which  the  mind  of  man  from  various  sources  has  received.  I  need 
not  argue  the  point.  But  I  do  not  myself  see  how  this  distinction  is 
to  be  made.  At  least  I  do  not  see  it,  if  the  distinction  is  to  be  more 
than  ideal,  if  it  is  to  aff  ct  the  practice  of  the  Churches  and  the  theo- 
logical responsibilities  of  ofifice-bearers.  But  the  practical  ends  desid- 
erated might  perhaps  be  gained  along  the  line  I  have  suggested,  if 
our  theology  accustomed  itself  to  mark  differences  of  the  kind  I  have 
indicated  ;  if,  with  its  believing  fervor  it  combined  more  of  a  critical 
reflection  on  itself;  if  it  exhibited  an  effort,  cordial  and  habitual,  to 
estimate,  how  far  it  is  dealing  with  immutable  certainties,  and  how 
far  moving  into  regions  and  along  lines  where  the  consciousness  of 
human  liability  to  err  should  be  not  only  cherished  but  acknowl- 
edged, and  even  emphasized. 

The  Rev.  Principal  G.  M.  Grant,  D.  D.,  of  Kingston,  Can- 
ada, read  the  following  paper : 

THE  RELATION  OF  RELIGION  TO  SECULAR  LIFE. 

Secular  life  :  what  does  it  include?  The  life  of  the  senses;  family 
and  social  life  ;  industrialism  ;  trade  and  commerce  ;  politics  ;  science, 
opening  new  pages  to  its  students  every  day;  art,  revealing  fresh 
beauty  to  each  young  age  that  steps  on  the  old  scene ;  literature, 
reaching  all  classes  with  its  multiplymg  hands. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  91 

Religion,  what  does  it  include?  God,  the  soul,  Immortality. 
More  particularly,  Jesus  Christ  and  his  salvation. 

What  relation  can  there  be  between  those  two  spheres  ?  the  secularist 
asks.  Secular  life  deals  with  facts  ;  religion  deals  with  words.  We 
cannot  demonstrate  even  the  existence  of  God,  much  less  the  pecu- 
liarities of  any  religion.  We  cannot  know  that  Jesus  rose  from  the 
dead,  as  we  know,  for  instance,  that  good  food  is  desirable.  Let  us 
then  be  satisfied  with  the  sphere  of  the  knowable. 

What  shall  we  say  to  this?  I  believe  that  we  can  know  the  truths 
of  religion.  Let  us  clearly  understand  how,  and  under  what  condi- 
tions. Intellectually,  we  must  be  satisfied  with  probable  evidence. 
This  evidence  is  certainly  not  lessening.  The  most  destructive 
modern  criticism,  in  admitting  into  court  the  great  epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  really  admits  all  the  historical  and  philosophical  basis  that  is 
required  ;  and  each  new  generation  of  believers  contributes  to  the 
cumulative  force  that  the  evidences  have  as  a  whole.  The  sceptic  has 
no  right  to  demand  more.  The  lines  traced  by  Bishop  Butler  are 
impregnable  here.  But,  at  the  same  time,  I  admit  at  once  that  prob- 
ability is  not  enough.  Religion,  like  morality,  must  speak  in  the 
"categorical  imperative."  No  people  ever  embraced  religion  be- 
cause there  was  probable  evidence  of  its  truth.  No  one  ever  "  greatly 
dared  or  nobly  died  "  in  the  faith  of  a  Pei-haps.  The  certainties  of 
the  secular  will  as  a  matter  of  fact  be  supreme,  unless  there  are  more 
supreme  certainties. 

And  there  are.  How  do  we  know?  By  spiritual  perception.  So 
have  men  obtained  spiritual  certainty  in  all  ages ;  so  must  they  obtain 
it  still.  The  senses  reveal  material  things.  Experience  and  judg- 
ment correct  the  evidence  of  the  senses.  Direct  intuition  reveals 
spiritual  things.  Reason  and  conscience  purify  our  intuitions. 
Spiritual  revelations  must  be  seen  in  their  own  light.  God,  says  Holy 
Scripture,  "reveals  them  to  us  by  his  Spirit."  The  Spirit  witnesses 
to  our  spirits  of  spiritual  truth.  No  higher  certainty  than  the  cer- 
tainty of  vision  is  possible.  When  a  man  is  in  the  light,  can  any 
number  of  men  persuade  him  that  he  is  not? 

To  what  does  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  extend  ?  To  no  question  the 
decision  of  which  rests  with  science :  science  must  continue  to  toil 
at  every  problem  that  its  instruments  can  reach.  To  none  of  the 
questions  raised  by  criticism  and  scholarship ;  these  must  be  deter- 
mined by  criticism  and  scholarship.  Their  solution  may  be  hindered, 
but  certainly  cannot  be  helped  by  papal  bulls  or  the  votes,  of  Pres- 
byterian General  Assemblies.  The  Spirit  witnesses  to  our  spirits  of 
God.  The  Spirit  revealed  Jehovah  to  the  Jews,  and  reveals  Jesus  to 
us.  The  Old  Testament  promise  was,  "  To  him  that  ordcreth  his 
conversation  aright  shall  be  shown  the  salvation  of  God."  The 
New  Testament  promise  is,  "  If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall 
know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God  or  whether  I  speak  of  my- 
self." The  promise  is  the  same  and  indicates  the  condition  of  the 
Spirit's  acting  ui)on  our  spirits.  The  more  unreservedly  we  trust  the 
promise,  the  more  completely  is  our  faith  vindicated. 


92  THE  PRESBYTERIAN'  ALLIANCE. 

As  regards  influence  on  life,  the  difference  between  probability  and 
certainty  amounts  to  a  difference  of  kind  rather  than  degree.  To 
believe  that  Jesus  is  risen,  merely  on  the  testimony  of  witnesses  who 
might  have  been  mistaken,  is  not  a  working  faith.  To  believe,  be- 
cause the  Spirit  of  Jesus  also  witnes.ses  to  our  spirits  that  he  is  living 
and  dwells  in  us,  is  the  faith  that  conquers  the  world.  Whoso  hath 
this  faith,  though  an  angel  from  heaven  preached  another  gospel, 
would  not  be  unsettled.  To  whom  else  should  he  go  ?  Jesus  has  the 
words  of  eternal  life.  No  one  else  can  solve  for  him  all  spiritual 
problems.  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified  is  for  him  the  supreme 
verity.  This  great  historical  fact  has  become  an  all-satisfying  spiritual 
fact.  It  brings  the  two  opposite  sides  of  God's  character  revealed  in 
the  Old  Testament  into  the  unity  of  a  living  person.  It  lays  hold 
upon  us  by  the  two  opposite  sides  of  our  character — the  self  and  the 
not-self,  one  or  other  of  which  all  other  philosophies  of  life  ignore. 
We  die  to  the  lower,  and  we  find  the  higher  self.  Dying,  we  live. 
We  are  born  again,  and  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  our  con- 
sciousness of  life. 

Standing  on  this  foundation,  other  than  which  no  man  can  lay,  we 
are  on  the  rock.  Unless  we  can  get  on  this  foundation  ot  spiritual 
certainty,  it  is  useless  to  expect  that  religion  will  influence  secular 
affairs.  The  current  of  human  life,  with  its  manifold  interests,  will 
sweep  on  its  course,  indifferent  to  all  the  appeals  and  argumentations 
of  priests  or  presbyters.  But,  standing  on  this  foundation,  all  life 
becomes  religious.  Life  here  will  consist  in  following  Jesus.  Life 
hereafter  will  be  to  see  him  as  he  is  ;  to  be  with  him  ;  to  be  like  him. 
Religion,  then,  is  not  a  matter  of  words  that  clever  men  can  dispute 
about.  It  is  the  supreme  reality.  Its  relation  to  the  subordinate 
realities  of  secular  life  is  the  next  point  to  be  clearly  understood. 

The  relation  is  not  of  one  form  to  another,  but  of  spirit  to  all 
forms.  As  far  as  the  religious  and  the  secular  are  separate  spheres, 
they  are  not  independent,  much  less  hostile,  but  concentric.  They 
revolve  round  one  axis,  have  one  centre  and  one  law  of  life. 

Historically,  this  has  not  been  their  relative  positions.  Christianity 
has  often  been  regarded  as  formal,  rather  than  spiritual ;  as  having  a 
department  of  its  own  distinct  from  and  over  against  the  department 
of  ordinary  life,  which  has  been  called,  with  more  or  less  accentua- 
tion, "  the  world."  Even  when  regarded  as  spiritual,  its  object  has 
been  h'jld  to  be  not  so  much  the  development  of  humanity,  in  the 
school  of  this  world,  to  all  its  rightful  issues,  as  the  deliverance  of 
man  from  future  penalties  and  his  preparation  for  future  bliss.  And 
as  the  future  is  eternal  and  the  present  temporal,  the  interests  of  the 
present  were  felt  to  be  insignificant,  and  the  religious  man  was  de- 
scribed as  trampling  upon  and  despising  the  present,  and  longing  for  the 
future  world.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Christianity  developed 
in  this  direction  when  the  powers  of  this  world  were  leagued  against 
it,  and  sought  to  destroy  it  by  persecutions  that  followed  each  other 
in   quick  succession.     And  subsequently,  when  floods  of  barbarians 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  93 

overwhelmed  the  monuments  of  ancient  civilization,  and  the  church, 
immediately  after  winning  the  Roman  empire,  had  to  control  hordes 
who  could  be  appealed  to  only  through  the  senses  and  the  imagina- 
tion, it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  religion  felt  it  necessary  to 
retreat  behind  mysteries  into  which  superstition  dared  not  penetrate, 
and  to  present  itself  to  the  senses  as  a  vast  organization  more  august 
than  the  kingdoms  of  earth.  Secular  life  was  allowed  its  sphere, 
sordid,  earthy,  brutal,  violent.  Religion  had  its  own  sphere,  unrelated 
to  the  other,  and  where  it  was  supposed  no  one  breathed  aught  save  the 
atmosphere  of  heaven.  But  this  disruption  of  the  secular  and  the  reli- 
gious proved  fatal  to  both.  Horrible  are  the  true  pictures  of  mediaeval 
secular  life ;  the  all  but  universal  ignorance,  filth,  violence,  lust,  lit 
up  by  the  lurid  light  of  superstition.  Equally  horrible  the  pictures 
of  mediaeval  religious  life,  even  to  him  who  discerns  the  soul  of  beauty 
and  good  in  those  "  ages  of  faith  ;  "  developments  of  unnatural  asceti- 
cism, side  by  side  with  spiritual  pride,  and  priestly  craft,  and  a  love 
of  power  that  towered  to  heaven,  and  beside  which  the  ambitions  of 
barons  and  kaisers  seemed  contemptible;  enforced  poverty,  enforced 
celibacy,  the  hair  shirt,  the  iron  girdle,  side  by  side  with  the  forged 
decretals,  interdicts,  Canossa,  the  triple  crown.  Mediaeval  art  reveals 
to  us  the  saintship  of  the  middle  ages,  and  even  when  we  admire  the 
faith,  we  shrink  back  from  the  unnatural  manifestations.  At  length, 
religion,  divorced  from  ordinary  life,  became  divorced  from  morality. 
When  Borgias  issued  interdicts ;  when  monasteries  became  the  homes 
of  ignorance  and  sensuality ;  revolt  had  to  take  place.  Humanity  had 
been  outraged  intellectually  and  spiritually.  Accordingly  the  revolt 
assumed  two  phases,  the  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation.  The  two 
movements,  sympathetic  at  first,  did  not  understand  each  other, 
because  they  did  not  understand  the  whole  content  of  humanity.  The 
one  ignored  the  spiritual,  the  other  did  not  do  full  justice  to  the 
secular.  And  so  the  two  sides  of  our  nature,  the  two  spheres  in  which 
we  all  live,  were  not  and  have  not  yet  been  harmonized.  Religion 
rejected  asceticism,  but  was  still  unwilling  to  admit  secular  life  as 
divine,  or  a  sphere  as  capable  of  being  divinized  as  its  own  chosen 
sphere.  Was  not  the  world  the  home  of  sin?  Alas!  sin  comes 
a  good  deal  nearer  us  than  that.  Sin  is  within,  not  without. 
While  in  the  heart,  it  enters  with  us  into  the  sanctuary  or  closet  as 
readily  as  into  the  counting-house  or  the  opera-house.  When  cast 
out  of  the  heart,  then  the  world  is  seen  filled  with  divine  order 
and  purpose,  its  laws  the  thoughts  of  God,  the  work  of  life  and  the 
relations  of  society  the  appointed  means  of  education.  But  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  this  was  not  seen  all  at  once.  Slowly  the 
education  of  the  race  proceeds; and  well  that  it  is  so.  Religion  had 
so  long  assumed  that  the  world  was  a  desert,  the  enemy's  <  ountry,  and 
the  body  the  soul's  prison  and  enemy,  that  radically  different  concep- 
tions could  not  be  reached  at  once.  Besides,  when  the  pendulum, 
having  swung  so  far  in  one  direction,  began  in  the  case  of  general 
society  to  swing  to  the  other  extreme,  religious  men  dreaded  lest  their 


94  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLLINCE. 

newly-won  freedom  should  degenerate  into  licentiousness.  In  the 
chosen  parable  of  Puritanism,  the  world  is  therefore  pictured  as  the 
City  of  Destruction,  from  which  it  is  man's  first  duty  to  escape  for 
his  life.  The  relation  of  religion  to  secular  life  was  still  one  of  hos- 
tility, or,  at  the  best,  of  watchfulness.  Human  ties,  the  work  and  play^ 
of  life,  the  attractions  of  art,  were  believed  to  be  on  the  whole  inimical 
to  religion.  Did  they  not  chain  the  heir  of  heaven  to  this  dunghill 
earth  ?  Did  they  not  by  their  fascinations  continually  lure  him  from 
the  gates  of  paradise?  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that,  at  one  time  or  an- 
other to  the  hurt  of  religion  and  to  the  hurt  of  the  various  departments 
of  secular  life,  religion  and  industrialism,  religion  and  pohtics,  reli- 
gion and  literature,  religion  and  art,  religion  and  science,  religion  and 
culture  have  stood  not  shoulder  to  shoulder  but  on  opposite  sides,  or 
at  the  best  in  the  attitude  of  compromise  and  bare  toleration  of  each 
other.  It  has  been  popularly  felt  in  a  confused  kind  of  way  that  the 
Christian  must  be  distinguished  outwardly  from  "  the  world,"  by 
some  badge  of  look,  tone,  dress,  or  manner;  by  something  different 
from  that  which  characterizes  ordinary  men  ;  that  his  life  should  be 
hedged  in  by  rules  and  restrictions  positive  and  negative  ;  that  the 
soul  should  be  on  its  guard  lest  the  fence  round  the  sacred  precincts 
of  religion  might  be  broken  down;  and  that  the  very  joys  of  family 
life  were  secular  and  to  be  suspected.  Have  not  laws  been  enacted 
prohibiting  a  man  from  kissing  his  wife  on  Sunday?  When  such  a 
hard  and  fast  line  was  drawn,  naturally  enough  men  came  to  feel  it 
as  great  an  impropriety  to  read  a  religious  book  on  Mondays,  as  to 
kiss  their  wives  on  Sundays. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  where  this  identification  of  religion  with  the 
formal  has  done  most  harm.  We  see  its  evil  influences  not  in  Roman- 
ism only,  but  less  or  more  in  every  Protestant  Church  ;  in  the  popular 
conception  of  the  sacraments  as  talismans  and  of  the  Bible  as  a  book 
let  down  from  heaven  in  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek,  if  not  exactly 
in  King  James'  version,  instead  of  a  literature  that  took  shape  under 
unique  literary  and  historical  conditions  which  are  only  now  being 
fully  considered  ;  in  the  conception  of  Christianity  as  an  arbitrary 
scheme  rather  than  light  from  heaven  delightful  to  the  spiritual  eye, 
food  from  heaven  that  alone  can  satisfy  and  that  satisfies  abundantly 
the  spiritual  necessities  of  humanity  ;  in  the  Church's  lack  of  sponta- 
neity and  of  heroism  ;  in  its  timidity  in  the  presence  of  great  social 
questions,  or  even  of  very  small  questions;  in  its  frequent  preference 
of  repression  over  educational  development,  and  of  '*  thou  shalt  not," 
over  the  much  more  important  "thou  shalt  ;  "  in  the  divorce  between 
the  religion,  and  the  commercial,  political,  and  international  life  of 
Christian  nations;  in  a  secularized  literature  and  in  the  namby- 
pamby  attempts  to  Christianize  literature;  in  the  ignoring  of  art,  and 
in  the  too  frequent  attitude  of  hostility  to  science  betrayed  by  a  tone 
of  irritation,  suspicion,  or  depreciation  regarding  eminent  scientific 
men  indulged  in  by  people  from  whom  better  things  might  be  ex- 
pected.     For  dislike  to  science  on  the  part  of  truly  religious  men  is 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


95 


especially  irrational ;  uneasiness  displayed  when  new  facts  are  discov- 
ered, or  new  theories  broached — it  may  be  only  as  working  theories — 
especially  humiliating,  and  calculated  to  remind  sceptics  of  the  atti- 
tude assumed  by  the  monks  three  or  four  centuries  ago  towards  those 
dangerous  languages — Greek  and  Hebrew. 

It  is  not  merely  neutrality  that  science  has  a  right  to  expect  at  the 
hands  of  religion,  but  boundless  encouragement  and  favor.  The 
alarm  into  which  sections  of  the  Church  have  again  and  again  been 
thrown  by  astronomy,  geology,  biology,  and  indeed  by  everv  new 
science,  and  the  passive  resistance  offered  to  increase  of  knowledge  is 
simply  bewildering  to  one  who  has  correct  conceptions  of  the  proper 
sphere  of  religion,  and  has  done  much  to  discredit  all  religion  with 
the  partly  educated  working  classes,  who,  though  unable  to  dis- 
tinguish the  real  state  of  the  case,  are  shrewd  enough  to  infer  that  only 
they  are  opposed  to  science  who  believe  that  science  is  opposed  to 
them.  Naturally  enough,  many  scientific  men  have  become  coarse, 
arrogant  and  one-sided  in  their  turn  ;  and  so  instead  of  theologians 
determining  the  boundaries  of  science  by  the  Bible,  we  now  more 
frequently  have  scientific  men  excluding  religion  from  the  sphere  of 
the  knowable,  unless  it  meekly  submits  to  its  tests  of  prayer-gauges  in 
hospitals,  and  the  crucibles  and  retorts  of  the  laboratory. 

In  giving  this  historical  sketcli  of  the  actual  relations  that  have  ex- 
isted between  religion  and  the  various  departments  of  secular  life, 
there  is,  of  course,  no  intention  of  depreciating  the  great  ones  of 
other  days  on  whose  shoulders  we  stand.  Those  who  subdued  the 
Roman  Empire  and  won  it  for  Jesus  Christ;  those  who,  out  of  the 
raw  material  .  of  savage  Lombards,  Huns,  Goths,  Wends,  Slavs, 
Saxons,  Northmen,  laid  the  foundations  of  European  Christianity  ; 
those  Reformers  and  Puritans  to  whom  we  owe  the  freedom,  the 
purity,  and  the  power  of  modern  life,  we  could  not  depreciate  even 
if  we  would.  Criticism  itself  is  out  of  place  until  our  deeds  equal 
theirs.  Let  us  clearly  understand  that  Christianity  came  as  a  new  life 
to  a  world  corrupt  and  dying.  The  life  had  to  contend  with  all  op- 
posing forces.  In  every  age  it  won  more  or  less  of  triumph.  It 
alone  lifted  the  world ;  it  alone  bore  fruit.  In  our  own  modern 
times,  too,  we  might  almost  say  that  it  alone  has  been  fruitful — fruitful 
in  elevating  man,  in  ensuring  the  purity  of  family  life,  political  order, 
industrial  development,  philanthropic  endeavor,  missionary  activity, 
educational  development,  and  even  scientific  progress.  There  is 
scarcely  a  college  in  the  new  even  as  in  the  old  world  that  does  not 
owe  its  existence  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  Church.  That  one  fact 
ought  to  outweigh  the  fanaticisms  of  the  more  ignorant  of  the  clergy, 
were  these  multiplied  an  hundredfold.  It  shows  that  the  Church  has 
.been  guided  by  a  wise  instinct;  that  it  knows  that  religion  must  be 
founded  on  the  eternal  principles  of  knowledge  connected  with  the 
highest  purified  convictionsof  humanity,  and  co-extensive  with  the  race. 
As  Matthew  Arnold,  whom  no  one  will  suspect  of  depreciating  culture, 
puts  it,  "  Even  now  in  this  age,  when  more  of  beauty  and  more  of 


96  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

knowledge  are  so  much  needed,  and  knowledge  at  any  rate  is  so  highly 
esteemed,  the  revelation  which  rules  the  world,  even  now,  is  not 
Greece's  revelation,  but  Judsa's;  not  the  pre-eminence  of  art  and 
science,  but  the  pre-eminence  of  righteousness."* 

But  we  are  not  called  upon  to  praise  or  blame  men.  Apart  from 
their  deeds  and  what  they  left  undone,  their  wisdom  and  their  mis- 
conceptions, we  must  determine  from  the  central  thought  and  life  of 
Christianity  the  ideal  relation  between  it  and  our  secular  life.  Here 
there  can  be  no  mistake.  To  Jesus  nothing  that  came  from  the 
Father  was  common  or  unclean  ;  that  is,  nothing  was  merely  sec- 
ular. To  him  nature  and  humanity  were  reflections  and  embodi- 
ments of  the  Father's  will ;  to  be  studied  by  the  man  of  science,  in- 
terpreted by  the  spiritually  minded,  loved  by  the  artist  and  by  all. 
Behold  the  lilies,  the  grass,  the  fowls,  he  says  to  us.  The  labors 
of  husbandmen,  vine-dressers,  fishermen,  householders,  stewards, 
traders  are  made  to  yield  spiritual  teaching.  He  does  not  preach, 
like  the  ascetic  or  pietist,  "  Do  not  seek  for  money,  food,  clothes,  for 
you  can  do  without  such  trifles ;  attend  to  the  soul ;  that  is  the  great 
thing."  No,  but  he  does  say,  "Have  no  heart-dividing  cares  about 
those  things.  Such  cares  only  hinder  work.  Your  Father  knows 
that  you  need  these  things,  and  will  he  then  withhold  them  from  his 
children?"  He  consecrated  nature  and  human  life,  work,  ties  and 
relationships.  The  Manichean  view  of  life,  even  in  the  mild  form  of 
petty  asceticisms  in  which  we  know  it,  divorces  the  kingdom  of  nature 
from  the  kingdom  of  grace,  and  by  degrading  the  former  deforms  the 
latter.  The  secularist  view  of  life  denies  that  there  is  any  kingdom 
of  grace,  and  so  robs  nature  of  its  meaning  and  beauty.  For  "  when 
heaven  was  above  us,  earth  looked  very  lovely ;  when  we  came  down 
on  the  earth,  and  believed  that  we  had  to  do  with  nothing  but  it, 
earth  became  flat  and  dull ;  its  trees,  its  flowers,  its  sunlight  lost  their 
charms ;  they  became  monotonous,  more  wearisome  each  day,  be- 
cause we  could  not  see  beyond  them."  To  Jesus  the  kingdoms  of 
nature  and  grace  always  appeared  in  their  ideal  unity.  The  Author 
of  the  one  was  the  Author  of  the  other.  He  had  made  the  one  to 
correspond  with  and  lead  up  to  the  other.  Man  had  broken  the  di- 
vine unity  and  harmony.  The  Son  of  Man  came  to  restore  that  which 
had  been  broken. 

The  relation  of  religion  to  the  secular,  then,  is  the  relation  of  a  law 
of  life  to  all  the  work  of  life.  This  law  of  life  is  not  a  catechism,  not 
a  dogma,  but  a  spiritual  power  or  influence.  Its  relation  to  the  sec- 
ular is  not  arbitrary,  but  natural ;  not  statical,  but  dynamical ;  not 
mechanical,  but  spiritual.  Freedom  is  the  condition  of  its  healthful 
action. 

Let  us  define  this  law  of  life.  It  is  the  old  law,  old  as  humanity, 
which  yet  is  new  ;  the  old  law  of  love,  the  full  meaning  and  extent 
of  which,   Godward  and    manward,    is  shown  in  and  by  the  cross. 

*  "  Literature  and  Dogma,"  p.  356. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  97 

It  is  the  child's  love  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Father's  children,  and 
to  the  Father's  works  and  purposes.  Love  means  self-renunciation, 
and  self-renunciation  implies  the  new  birth. 

He  in  whom  this  law  of  life  is  supreme,  and  who  carries  it  victori- 
ously into  every  department  of  life  with  which  he  has  to  do,  is  truly 
a  religious  man.  Religionists  seem  to  fancy  that  it  can  survive  only 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  sanctuary,  the  prayer-meeting,  the  confer- 
ence, the  church  court,  or  directly  religious  work.  Not  to  speak  of 
the  fact  that  it  is  sometimes  conspicuously  absent  from  those  spheres, 
perhaps  because  it  went  into  them  unproved,  deprived  of  the  dis- 
cipline of  common  life,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  such  a  theory  dis- 
honors that  which  it  pretends  to  honor.  Both  religious  and  secular 
life  suffer  accordingly.  Secular  life  becomes  mean,  spiritual  life 
hampered  and  twisted  by  arbitrary  restrictions  and  minute  observ- 
ances. The  resultant  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood — the  true 
test  of  the  theory — is  far  from  being  the  highest.  It  is  apt  to  give  us 
the  Pharisee,  the  fanatic,  or  at  best  the  inoffensive  and  goody  man, 
instead  of  heroes  ;  the  gossip,  back-biting,  holy  horror,  and  sleek 
self-satisfaction  of  the  religious  tea-table,  instead  of  the  acts  of 
the  apostles;  the  suppression  of  truth,  the  self-glorification,  the 
spiritual  pride,  the  teaching  of  whom  to  suspect,  the  malice  of  the 
denominational  coterie,  instead  of  the  inspiration  that  should  ever 
be  breathing  from  the  church  of  Christ  upon  a  world  lying  in 
wickedness.  Religion  and  conduct  must  be  harmonized  in  every  in- 
dividual, or  one  being  is  divided  into  two  beings,  with  different  faces 
and  pulling  different  ways.  Such  a  division  is  fatal.  You  cannot 
split  a  man  into  two  without  killing  him.  The  different  sides  of 
our  nature,  like  the  different  periods  of  our  life,  should  be  bound  each 
to  each  by  natural  piety.  Work  should  be  prayerful,  and  prayer  true 
work  ;  all  life  a  psalm,  and  praise  the  breath  of  life,  for  the  Chris- 
tian's life  is  love,  and  love  is  the  only  sufficient  source  of  happiness. 

This  law  of  life  is  not  a  formula,  however  sacred  ;  not  a  dogma 
constructed  laboriously  by  the  intellect  in  councils  ecumenical  or 
national,  but  "  a  force,  a  sap  pervading  the  whole  of  life.  It  is  at 
bottom  not  a  book,  though  it  has  a  book  for  basis  and  support.  It  is 
an  unique  but  new  fact  that  occupies  the  heart  and  moulds  the  con- 
duct, ...  a  fact  which,  when  accepted,  changes  the  whole  position 
of  man,  operates  a  revolution  in  his  entire  being,  moves,  draws,  re- 
news him."* 

This  law  of  life  acts  not  by  mechanical  rules,  which  are  the  same 
in  all  circumstances,  but  under  the  inspiration  of  the  living  spirit  of 
wisdom  which  discerns  the  signs  of  the  times  —  a  spirit  which 
Pharisees  never  possess,  and  for  not  possessing  which  Jesus  declares 
them  blameworthy.  It  can  be  gloriously  inconsistent.  At  one  time 
it  refuses  to  circumcise  Titus,  though  such  a  refusal  threatens  the  unity 
of  the  whole  apostolic   church.     At  another  time,  the  principle  of 


*  Vinel's  "  Outlines  of  Theology,"   p.  131. 


98  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

toleration  having  been  established,  it  spontaneously  circumcises  Tim- 
othy simply  to  conciliate  prejudiced  people.  In  one  chapter  it  says, 
"Eat  whatsoever  is  sold  in  the  shambles;"  in  another,  ''  I  will  eat 
no  meat  while  the  world  standeth,  lest  I  make  my  brother  to  stum- 
ble." To  the  Jews  it  becomes  a  Jew,  to  the  Greeks  it  becomes  a 
Greek.  In  the  nineteenth  century  it  would  become  a  Hindoo  or 
Chinaman  to  gain  the  Hindoos  or  Chinese,  grandly  indifferent  to  the 
reproach  of  inconsistency.  For  centuries  it  may  cherish  a  sacred 
symbol.  When  the  symbol  is  turned  into  an  idol,  it  sees  that  it  is 
only  a  bit  of  brass,  and  grinds  it  to  powder.  In  one  age  it  consecrates 
the  wealth  of  provinces  to  build  a  cathedral.  It  paints  "  storied 
windows,  richly  dight,"  and  sings  grand  chorales  like  the  sound  ot 
many  waters.  In  another,  it  hardly  regrets  to  see  the  cathedral  dese- 
crated and  the  windows  broken.  It  calls  the  organ  "  a  kist  fu'  o' 
whistles,"  and  delights  only  in  Rouse's  version  of  the  Psalms.  When 
kindlier  days  come  again,  it  restores  cathedrals,  listens  to  voluntaries, 
joins  in  chants,  and  sets  committees  of  General  Assembly  to  work 
laboriously  to  compile  hymn-books.  When  ordered  to  use  only  strange 
forms  of  prayer,  that  teach  what  is  thought  to  be  contrary  to  sound 
v-Ioctrine,  it  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  liturgical  forms  at  all  ; 
when  Christian  liberty  is  fully  conceded,  it  will  gladly  avail  itself  in 
public  worship  of  everything  that  the  congregation  finds  to  be  help- 
ful. So  too  in  all  other  departments  of  life  it  discerns  the  signs  of 
the  times.  At  one  time  it  imposes  oaths  and  obligations  to  con- 
formity and  sacramental  observances  on  all  officials;  at  another,  it 
abolishes  the  oaths  and  the  obligations.  Eternal  principles  guide  it  in 
legislation,  but  the  application  of  these  principles  is  determined  by 
the  changing  circumstances  of  the  people  and  the  times.  When  cap- 
ital forgets  Its  responsibilities,  religion  takes  its  stand  on  the  side  of 
labor,  and  speaks  with  no  uncertain  voice.  When  labor  forgets,  it 
asserts  the  rights  of  capital  and  the  inviolability  of  economic  laws. 
One  day  it  fights  for  liberty,  the  next  it  reminds  us  of  the  sacredness 
of  authority.  To-day  it  pleads  for  man  in  the  name  of  God,  to- 
morrow for  God  in  the  name  of  man.  At  one  time  it  preaches  the 
gospel  of  peace,  at  another  it  invokes  the  Lord  of  Hosts  and  goes 
forth  to  war.  All  the  time  it  is  gloriously  consistent,  just  as  nature 
is  consistent  that  gives  the  light  and  the  darkness,  the  summer  and  the 
winter,  the  many-voiced  laughter  of  the  sunlit  sea  and  the  storm- 
wrack  mingling  sea  and  sky  ;  just  as  God  is  consistent  who  gives  to 
the  world  one  day  John  the  Baptist  and  the  next  day  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth. But  blockheads'  eyes  are  sharp  enough  to  see  that  there  is  a 
difference,  and  so  they  cry  out,  "Inconsistency,"  "Treachery  to 
ordination  vows,"  and  such  like.  Unfortunately  too  the  blockheads 
as  a  rule  have  loud  voices — to  make  up  for  their  lack  in  other  respects 
— and  they  delight  to  make  themselves  heard  in  the  market-place. 

All  this  is  very  vague,  it  may  be  said.  A  precisian  desires  specific 
rules,  I  know  no  way  of  satisfying  the  precisian  save  by  assigning  to 
him  a  spiritual  director,  into  whose  hands  let  him  surrender  his  own 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


99 


personality  as  the  price  of  rest  for  his  soul.  The  director  will  tell 
him  exactly  what  to  do,  and  exactly  how  far  to  go  on  each  occasion 
that  arises.  Of  course  this  means  spiritual  slavery — that  is,  the  de- 
struction of  religion — for  Christianity  appeals  to  the  individual,  and 
individuality  means  liberty.  Religion  must  be  rooted  in  the  essence 
of  the  individual,  in  his  spirit  by  which  he  is  linked  to  the  divine 
spirit.  It  can  live  only  in  the  atmosphere  of  liberty.  Liberty  is  its 
basis  and  its  breath.  Only  in  an  atmosphere  of  liberty  can  religion 
live.  Then  it  works  wonders,  even  though  dogmatically  incomplete. 
It  controls  conduct  by  divine  right,  speaks  with  "  the  dogmatism  of 
a  God,"  calls  upon  men  to  follow  it,  and  men  obey.  With  regard 
to  conduct,  then,  which  we  are  rightly  told  is  three-fourths  of  life,  no 
more  precise  rule  can  be  given  than  that  the  individual  must  obey  his 
own  conscience,  not  another's.  His  conscience  is  another  name  for 
his  spiritual  life  or  the  life  of  Christ  in  his  soul.  Is  he  living,  or  has 
he  only  a  name  to  live  ?  That  must  be  for  him  the  first  great  ques- 
tion. How  can  he  know  ?  The  test  Christ  gives  is,  Does  he  obey, 
and  obeying  find  his  commandments  not  grievous  ?  Such  obedience, 
I  believe,  was  never  as  widespread  as  it  is  to-day.  Christianity  is 
permeating  secular  life  as  it  never  did  before.  There  are  appearances 
to  the  contrary,  of  which  the  newspapers  naturally  enough  make  the 
most ;  but  the  very  outcry  proves  that  these  are  exceptions.  The  ex- 
cesses of  the  Turks  in  Bulgaria  three  years  ago  sealed  the  doom  of 
their  empire  in  Europe.  Better  for  the  sultan  had  his  armies  lost 
half  a  dozen  battles.  But  three  or  four  centuries  ago  the  armies  of 
the  most  Catholic  and  Christian  kings  considered  such  atrocities  the 
ordinary  usages  and  rights  of  war.  Even  in  war  men  have  now  to 
remember  that  they  are  not  wholly  brutes. 

As  the  bounds  of  freedom  have  widened,  religion  has  woven  itself 
in  with  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  people's  life.  Religion  has  become 
less  a  dogma  or  ritual,  and  more  of  a  life.  "The  lower  classes  in 
this  country  care  as  little  for  the  dogmas  of  Christianity  as  the  higher 
classes  care  for  its  practice,"  said  Mr.  John  Bright,  lately,  with 
righteous  scorn  of  what  he  believed  to  be  sham  zeal  for  religion. 
The  same  lower  classes  preferred  to  starve,  and  even  to  see  their  wives 
and  children  "clemmed"  rather  than  get  work  and  bread  at  the 
price  of  the  recognition  of  American  slavery  by  their  country. 
There  is  more  true  religion  and  even  decorum  in  the  average 
mechanics'  institute,  or  co-operative  society,  or  working  men's 
reading-room  or  club,  or  farmers'  grange  of  to-day,  as  I  have  seen 
them,  than  there  was  in  the  average  religious  organization  of  some 
centuries  ago.  Skepticism  itself  has  become  not  only  moral,  but 
almost  religious  in  its  language.  But  our  advance  only  shows  us  how 
far  we  are  from  the  ideal  Jesus  sets  before  us.  The  nineteenth  cen- 
tury has  still  to  learn  from  him.  Do  we  as  a  people  take  his  law 
into  society,  trade,  industry,  politics?  We  do  not.  Some  one  will 
say,  we  would  be  counted  fools  if  we  did.  I  doubt  it.  But  even  if  we 
were,  ought  that  to  settle  the  matter?     Certainly  not,  if  Jesus  be  to 


loo  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

us  the  supreme  reality,  not  a  word  only.  Again  with  regard  to  science, 
scholarship,  art,  which  make  up  the  remaining  fourth  of  life,  liberty 
is  also  essential.  Their  claims  on  their  students  are  as  absolute  as 
the  claims  of  conscience  over  conduct.  A  man's  science  may  be 
wrong,  his  scholarship  inaccurate,  his  art  false.  He  and  we  can  find 
out  that  it  is  so,  only  when  we  have  faith  in  the  truth  so  absolute  that 
we  believe  that  the  only  cure  for  the  evils  caused  by  liberty  is  a  little 
more  liberty. 

In  a  word,  without  liberty  there  cannot  be  religion,  and  without 
religion  life  loses  inspiration,  and  society  loses  cohesion.  Without 
liberty  there  cannot  be  science,  scholarship,  or  art,  and  without 
these  life  loses  beauty,  and  humanity  the  hope  of  progress.  The 
more  fully  we  trust  religion,  the  more  it  vindicates  our  trust.  It  will 
govern  all  life  ;  it  will  go  down  to  the  pettiest  details  and  the  most 
vulgar  secularities,  and  consecrate  them.  But  to  do  so  it  must 
be  free. 

It  may  be  asked  here,  is  not  the  relation  of  religion  to  various 
departments  of  secular  life  complicated  when  we  consider  man  not  as 
an  individual  but  as  a  member  of  society?  When  a  man  joins  even  a 
guild  or  trades-union,  does  he  not  part  with  a  portion  of  his  liberty 
the  better  to  s  cure  the  rest?  "  It  is  not  telling  a  lie,  it  is  only  voting 
with  your  party:"  is  not  tliis  a  legitimate  p'ea  in  politics?  Must 
not  the  statesman  have  a  code  of  morals  for  the  sphere  of  diplomacy 
• — home  and  international — different  from  that  which,  binds  him  in 
private  life?  Can  a  church  exist,  if  its  members  criticise  dogmas 
that  no  longer  express  their  living  faith?  Does  not  the  Head  of  the 
Church  sometimes  need  our  silence  or  our  lie  ? 

The  precise  question  is,  whether  or  not  the  liberty  that  religion 
demands  as  the  condition  of  its  life  is  consistent  with  political  and 
ecclesiastical  organization". 

As  regards  politics,  the  citizen's  difficulty  is  not  with  the  nation, 
but  with  his  party.  What  is  the  constitution  of  any  free  nation  but 
the  expression  of  the  nation's  life?  The  proudest  boast  of  any  con- 
stitution is  that  it  has  not  been  made,  but  has  grown.  Its  next  boast 
should  be  that  it  has  the  promise  and  potency  of  indefinite  growth, 
that  it  can  expand  with  the  expanding  life  of  the  nation,  without  the 
necessity  of  revolutions.  Revolution  means  that  the  nation  has  grown 
and  that  the  constitution  cannot  expand.  Nations  will  grow,  and 
constitutions  can  expand  accordingly,  only  in  a  free  atmosphere. 
The  nation  therefore  should  encourage  the  utmost  liberty  of  thought 
in  political  matters  as  the  necessary  condition  of  its  peaceful  devel- 
opment. Party  organization  may  be  thought  incapable  of  allowing 
such  liberty,  because  party  aims  at  immediate  and  definite  results. 
He  that  will  not  submit  to  its  platform  must  be  read  out  ot  the  party. 
But  political  wisdom  dictates  the  most  sparing  exercise  of  this  power. 
The  critics  may  see  rocks  ahead,  of  which  they  are  warning  the  party 
they  have  long  been  connected  with  ;  and  to  cast  them  out  is  not  the 
way  to  encourage  others  to  watch.     The  Trojans  did  not  heed  Cas- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  loi 

Sandra,  but  they  did  not  expel  her  from  the  city.  That  party  remains 
powerful  which  best  understands  the  signs  of  the  times.  The  reason 
why  they  often  do  not  understand  is  because  they  treat  criticism  as  re- 
bellion, and  instead  of  welcoming  light  see  only  what  they  wish  to  see. 
No  party  then  should  demand  the  sacrifice  of  liberty  from  its  adherents, 
and  no  citizen  should  make  the  sacrifice.  The  interests  of  his  party 
require  him  to  be  free  ;  much  more  the  interests  of  the  commonwealth  ; 
much  more  his  own  interests. 

As  regards  ecclesiastical  organization  also,  the  Christian's  difficulty 
is  not  with  the  ideal  Catholic  Church — about  which  there  ought  to  be 
no  question,  for  "where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty," 
— but  with  the  particular  section  of  the  Church  with  which  he  is  con- 
ncc  ed.  What  then  is  the  object  for  which  any  church  as  an  organi- 
zation exists?  For  the  development  in  its  members  of  religious  life, 
and  the  dissemination  of  that  life  by  preaching  the  gospel  to  those 
who  are  without.  But  we  have  seen  that  religious  life  is  impossible 
without  liberty.  There  may  be  marvellous  organization  ;  there  may 
be  a  dogmatic  system  that  the  intellect  has  accepted  as  the  best  pos- 
sible compromise  ;  there  may  be  superstition  that  calls  itself  devotion, 
and  fanaticism  that  calls  itself  zeal  for  the  truth,  and  all  these  for  a 
time  may  do  wonderful  works;  but  religion,  the  life  of  the  free  spirit, 
going  forth  into  secular  life,  as  assured  of  the  reality  on  which  it  is 
based  as  it  is  of  the  realities  of  sense,  and  equally  assured  that  the 
relation  of  the  two  realities  is  that  of  supreme  to  subordinate,  such 
religion  is  impossible  without  liberty.  The  very  suspicion  that  it 
dare  not  think  out  every  subject,  that  it  dare  not  investigate  every 
province,  deprives  it  of  its  divine  power.  The  Church  therefore  that 
opposes  itself  to  the  demand  for  the  fullest  liberty  of  thought,  and  the 
results  of  the  most  exact  scholarship,  opposes  itself  to  religion.  It 
gives  aid  and  comfort  to  those  who  denounce  religion  as  a  clerical 
imposture.  There  are  tens  if  not  hundreds  of  thousands  of  hard- 
headed  working  men  who  think  thus  of  religion  ;  and — with  sorrow 
let  us  confess — religious  men  have  at  one  time  or  another  given 
them  some  cause  for  so  thinking.  To  connect  questions  of  criticism 
with  the  cause  of  religion  ;  to  prohibit  inquiry,  and  inquiry  is  pro- 
hibited when  the  critic  is  forbidden  to  publish  the  results  of  inquiry, 
lest  those  whose  faith  stands  not  in  the  power  of  God  but  in  the 
wisdom  of  men  should  be  "unsettled,"  or  wlien  he  must  submit  to 
the  severest  pains  and  penalties  that  the  civilization  of  the  age  will 
tolerate,  unless  he  come  to  certain  previously  understood  conclusions, 
is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  religion  at  any  time. 

But  in  our  time  such  a  position  is  directly  fatal  to  the  cause  it  pro- 
f'_^sses  to  befriend.  It  puts  religion  at  once  out  of  court  with  free  men  ; 
for  in  every  other  region  where  inquiry  is  possible,  thought  is  abso- 
lutely unfettered  and  reason  is  trusted.  Men  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  human  mind  is  the  only  organ  for  discovering  truth, 
and  that  truth  can  take  care  of  itself;  that  baseless  theories  perish 
soonest  when  least  noticed  ;  and  that  the  only  way  to  correct  the  mis- 


I02  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

takes  of  scholarship  and  speculation  is  by  a  riper  scholarship  and  more 
fearless  and  comprehensive  thought. 

This  is  a  large  liberty  that  religion  claims.  Less  will  not  suffice,  if 
religion  is  to  be  the  supreme  force  in  human  character  and  life.  As 
a  matter  of  course,  men  who  exalt  the  traditional  above  the  spiritual 
will  refuse  the  claim.  They  point  to  the  excesses,  seen  of  all,  that 
accompany  the  reign  of  liberty  in  Church  and  State,  and  declare  that 
salvation  requires  repression,  by  "  sect -craft "  or  "State  force." 
There  are  thousands  of  men,  for  instance,  who,  as  they  read  choice 
extracts  of  the  various  effusions  of  unreason  spoken  and  published 
every  day  from  the  Pine  State  to  the  Golden  Gate,  are  honestly  con- 
vinced that  this  republic  is  going  headlong  to  ruin,  and  that  its  gov- 
ernment is  on  the  eve  of  overthrow.  Let  them  know  that  on  the 
contrary  to  this  very  fact  of  boundless  liberty  alone  is  the  country 
indebted  for  its  stability;  that  the  government  acknowledges  the  king 
ship  of  all  freemen,  and  declares  all  men  free,  just  because  it  is  based 
not  on  arbitrary  authority,  but  on  the  authority  of  reason  and  morality. 
In  the  same  way  men  of  weak  faith  dread  discussions  and  differences 
of  opinion  in  the  Church.  Let  them  learn  to  have  more  faith.  Let 
them  know  that  the  Church  is  based  on  the  rock  which  is  Christ. 

The  only  possible  religion  for  man  is  Christianity,  because  it  alone 
can  stand  all  the  tests  of  philosophy,  science,  history,  and  life.  No 
other  religion  can  stand  those  impartial  tests.  Is  any  Church  more 
fitted  than  ours,  by  its  essential  principles,  to  accept  them  fully  and 
frankly,  to  occupy  the  lofty  ground  of  liberty  resting  securely  on  the 
possession  of  absolute  spiritual  truth,  and  so, winning  the  confidence 
of  all  Christians,  become  the  wide  and  beautiful  Church  of  the  future? 
Let  us  be  true  to  our  history.  Our  fathers  had  a  higher  ambition  than 
to  form  one  of  a  number  of  sects.  Let  the  Church  truly  believe  that 
the  truth  it  preaches  can  alone  save  the  world  ;  let  it  fearlessly  allow 
the  widest  liberty  consistent  with  the  acknowledgment  of  the  central 
fact  that  constitutes  Christianity,  and  it  will  best  solve  the  problem 
of  the  right  relations  in  which  religion  should  stand  to  secular  life. 
Knowing  only  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  it  has  the  key  to  all 
life.  Truly  inspired  by,  and  altogether  satisfied  with,  this  faith,  what 
new  victories  would  the  Church  gain  ?  It  would  precipitate  itself 
upon  the  world  instead  of  keeping  snugly  and  respectably  within  its 
own  lines.  It  would  aim  at  what  the  timid  would  pronounce  impos- 
sibilities. It  would  dare  all  things.  It  would  give  not  a  tenth,  not 
a  half,  but  all  to  Christ.  By  sublime  deeds  it  would  vindicate  itself 
as  the  Church  of  the  living  God.  "The  religion  of  God,  if  there  be 
one,  cannot  tolerate  mediocrity;  the  mediocre  is  the  false."  * 

Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — I  beg  leave  to  nominate  Judge  Strong  as 
an  additional  member  of  the  Business  Committee. 
The  nomination  was  confirmed  by  the  Council. 

*  Vinet's  "Outlines  of  Theology,"  p.  117. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  103 

The  Council  then  adjourned  until  the  following  morning  at 
9j^  o'clock.  

Friday,  September  24th,  1880. 
MORNING  SESSION. 
The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  95^  o'clock,  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  D.  A.  Wallace,  of  Wooster,  O.,  President  for  the  session. 

After  devotional  exercises,  the  minutes  of  the  last  session  were 
read  and  approved. 

Dr.  Prime. — I  wish  to  report  from  the  Business  Committee 
the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  papers  of  which  the  writers  are  not  present  be  re- 
ferred to  a  member  of  the  committee,  and  that  not  more  than  five 
minutes  be  occupied  in  stating  the  substance  to  the  Council,  or  read- 
ing a  part  of  it. 

This  will  make  a  material  reduction  in  the  programme,  as 
quite  a  number  of  the  names  upon  it  will  not  be  presented  in 
person.  It  has  been  ordered  that  the  rule  already  adopted,  lim- 
iting the  reading  of  the  papers  to  thirty  minutes,  should  be 
strictly  enforced,  and  the  very  odious  and  onerous  service  of  see- 
ing that  the  rule  is  enforced  has  been  imposed  upon  the  chair- 
man of  the  committee.  The  committee  also  recommend  to  the 
Council  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  liberty  of  discussion  be  allowed  at  this  morning's 
session,  on  the  papers  both  of  this  morning  and  of  last  evening ;  the 
discussion  to  be  in  the  order  in  which  the  papers  were  read,  and  each 
speaker  to  be  limited  to  five  minutes. 

There  are  but  two  papers  to  be  read  this  morning  of  half,  an 
hour  each,  and  therefore  an  hour  and  a-half  will  be  free  for  dis- 
cussion, each  speaker  to  be  limited  to  five  minutes,  if  the  Council 
.so  elect. 

Rev.  Dr.  Jenkins. — I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  ; 
we  are  going  on  in  the  right  direction. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to. 

An  invitation  was  read  to  the  members  of  the  Council  to  visit 
the  College  of  New  Jersey,  at  Princeton. 

Rev.  Joseph  T.  Smith,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore. — In  connection 
with  this  matter  allow  me  to  say  that  I  was  authorized  and  in- 
structed  by   the    Presbyterian    brethren    connected   with    the 


104  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 

Church  North,  in  Baltimore,  to.  invite  the  brethren  there.  We 
are  informed  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Business  Committee  that 
it  vviU:be  altogether  impracticable  for  the  Alliance  to  adjourn 
for  that  purpose.  I  desire,  however,  to  discharge  the  duty  that 
was  imposed  upon  me,  and  further  to  say  that  if  after  adjourn- 
ment we  can  in  any  way  facilitate  the  desire  of  the  brethren 
to  visit  Baltimore  and  Washington  City,  we  would  be  most 
happy  to  do  so. 

Rev.  Dr.  Knox. — I  regard  with  great  pleasure  the  invitation 
from  Princeton,  and  I  move  that  it  be  accepted  by  the  Council. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  E.  P.  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  of  Louisville,  Ky., 
read  the  following  paper : 

INSPIRATION,  AUTHENTICITY  AND  INTERPRETATION  OF 
THE  SCRIPTURES. 

It'  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  suggest  to  our  younger  brethren 
in  the  ministry  a  convenient  method  of  expounding  the  Church  doc- 
trine of  Inspiration.  That  purpose  will  control  the  choice  and  treat- 
ment of  the  topics  now  to  be  introduced. 

I.  The  subject  may  be  opened  by  pointing  out  the  two  elements 
which  coexist  in  the  sacred  records — the  human  and  the  divine. 
"Holy  men  of  old  spake" — there  is  the  human;  "as  they  were 
moved  by  til e  Holy  Ghost  " — there  is  the  divine.  Very  instructive 
here  is  the  resemblance  between  the  combination  of  the  divine  and 
human  in  the  person  of  Christ  and  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Both  are 
expressly  called  by  the  sacred  writers  the  Word  of  God.;  the  first  is 
the  Word  incarnate,  the  last  is  the  Word  written.  Again,  the  mani- 
festation of  both  proceeded  from  the  Holy  Ghost :  the  first  by  the 
way  of  a  miraculous  conception,  the  other  by  the  way  of  a  super- 
natural inspiration.  Next,  the  Son  of  God  came  down  from  above 
and  took  upon  him  human  nature ;  even  so  saving  truth  was  revealed 
from  heaven,  and  was  embodied  in  human  language.  Further,  in  the 
one  person  of  our  Lord  two  whole,  perfect,  and  entire  natures  were 
inseparably  joined  together  in  one  person  without  conversion,  com- 
position or  confusion  ;  in  like  manner  the  Bible  is  one  book,  only 
one,  wherein  the  two  elements  are  inseparably  combined  in  such  man- 
ner that  the  divine  does  not  absorb  the  human,  nor  does  the  human 
adulterate  the  divine.  In  Christ  the  two  natures  are  so"  related  that 
he  is  at  once  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  Man  :  in  the  Scriptures 
the  two  eleinents  coexist  in  such  fulness  that  the  whole  book  is  God's 
Word  and  the  whole  is  man's  word.  In  neither  case  are  we  able  to 
explain  the  mode  of  union,  but  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  solve  the 
problem  by  rejecting  either  of  its  conditions. 


©iKI^^'^^ 


^@li.^..j^, 


JEROME 
PRAGUB 


GENERAL 
JOHNZISCA 


THCINVINCIBLE 
A.O  1360-H24 

WACCNBURC 

♦ 


JOANNES      HUS 

BORN     A   U     ITta 

EXUSTUS  NON  CONVICTUS' 

JU  LY   6'"A  D  U15 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  105 

We  should  bear  in  mind,  however,  that  in  Christ  the  manifestation 
of  the  divine  is  })ersonal,  but  in  the  Bible  it  is  verbal.  Therefore  we 
worship  the  incarnate  Word  as  God  over  all ;  we  do  not  worship  the 
written  word,  but  we  bow  to  its  authority  as  the  only  infallible  rule 
of  faith  and  practice. 

II.  From  this  topic  the  transition  is  easy  to  the  operations  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  composition  and  saving  power  of  the  Scriptures. 
According  to  the  word  of  God,  in  i  Cor.  ii.,  these  operations  are 
three  in  number.  First,  the  Holy  Spirit  communicated  to  certain 
l)rophets  and  apostles  infallibly  these  essential  truths  of  religion,  which 
were  beyond  the  reach  of  human  discovery.  This  operation  is  com- 
monly called  Revelation.  Next,  the  Spirit  guided  holy  men  of  old  in 
their  work  of  reducing  to  writing  the  entire  contents  of  the  Scriptures, 
producing  an  infallible-  record  of  an  infallible  revelation.  This  is 
called  Inspiration.  Thirdly,  the  Holy  Spirit  enables  the  believer  to 
discern  the  beauty  and  excellency  of  divine  things,  and  this  work  is 
termed  Spiritual  Illumination. 

We  are  not  able  to  describe  the  mode  of  these  divine  operations. 
Here  certain  analogies  present  themselves.  The  Bible  does  not  ex- 
plain the  mode  according  to  which  the  Holy  Spirit  acted  in  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  or  in  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  or  in  the  new  birth 
of  the  sinner,  or  in  clothing  the  apostles  with  miraculous  gifts,  or  in 
ordering  the  dispensation  of  grace  under  which  we  live.  We  respect 
the  silence  of  the  Scriptures  in  regard  to  these  inscrutable  operations ; 
and  we  should  not  search  into  the  unsearchable  mode  by  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  communicated  to  chosen  men  a  supernatural  and  infalli- 
ble revelation,  then  guided  them  in  the  composition  of  a  supernatural 
and  infallible  record,  and  evermore  graciously  leads  the  believer  into 
a  spiritual  discernment  of  the  truth. 

But  we  are  competent  to  discover  the  fact  that  these  three  opera- 
tions are  separable  in  thought,  and  were,  in  fact,  separated  in  the  dis- 
tribution made  of  them  by  the  Spirit.  To  many  persons  only  one 
was  given,  to  others  two,  to  others  three.  The  unbelieving  Jews  who 
heard  the  words  of  Christ,  received  from  his  lips  supernatural  revela- 
tions, but  they  were  not  inspired  to  record  them,  nor  led  into  a  spirit- 
ual discernment  of  them.  For  another  example,  true  believers  receive 
one  only  of  these  gifts,  spiritual  discernment ;  they  are  not  the  subject 
of  special  revelation  or  inspiration.  Two  of  these  operations  were 
granted  to  a  few  of  the  sacred  writers.  It  is  thought  that  Luke,  for 
instance,  was  inspired  to  write  his  Gospel  and  the  Acts,  and  was 
spiritually  ilhiminated,  but  did  not  receive  any  original  revelation. 
But  to  chosen  men,  like  Moses  and  John,  were  granted  the  three 
endowments  in  their  fulness — abundant  revelations,  inspiration  and 
spiritual  discernment.  The  importance  to  be  attached  to  this  sov- 
ereign distribution  of  divine  gifts  will  hereafter  appear. 

III.  At  this  stage  of  the  inquiry  the  religious  teacher  may  be  able 
to  verify  these  statements  and  expose  certain  current  errors,  by  bring- 
ing face  to  face  what  is  false  and  what  is  true  in  the  doctrine. 


io6  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

In  regard  to  Revelation,  we  are  met  by  the  assertion  that  the 
knowledge  of  what  we  call  divine  and  saving  truth  is  derived  from 
the  light  of  nature ;  or  from  an  elevation  of  the  religious  faculties 
analogous  to  the  stimulus  of  passion  or  enthusiasm  ;  or  from  the  in- 
tuitional consciousness;  or  from  a  native-born  insight  into  the  sphere 
of  the  spiritual.  In  the  popular  treatment  of  these  explanations,  it  is 
easy  to  reduce  them  to  several  bald  and  unwelcome  conclusions: 
First,  according  to  these  definitions,  the  fundamental  truths,  even  the 
most  profound,  the  very  essentials  of  Christianity,  came  to  man  from 
within  {ab  intiis),  not  from  without  {ab  extra).  Secondly,  man,  not 
God,  is  the  revealer;  and  saving  truth  was  discovered  not  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  searching  all  things,  even  the  deep  things  of  God,  but  by 
man  stirring  up  and  exploring  the  shallows  of  his  own  degenerate 
nature.  Thirdly,  the  rule  of  faith  and  life  rests  not  on  the  authority 
of  God,  but  on  the  intuition  and  experience  of  man.  Fourth,  these 
several  theories  begin  by  confounding  revelation  with  spiritual  illu- 
mination, and  end  by  reversing  the  order  of  divine  grace,  which  is, 
first,  the  knowledge  of  saving  truth,  then  the  motion  of  the  religious 
affections.  Finally,  the  young  preacher  can  make  it  plain  to  the  hum- 
blest understanding  that  no  spiritual  elevation  can  enable  a  man  to  dis- 
cover the  essential  facts  in  the  Christian  religion  ;  such  as  the  existence 
of  the  one  God  in  three  persons,  the  two  natures  in  the  one  person 
of  Christ,  atonement  for  sin  by  the  death  of  the  God-man,  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  the  final  judgment  and  conflagration,  future  and 
eternal  rewards  and  punishments.  None  of  these  are  '-niversal  or 
necessary  truths;  and  no  man  could  discover  them  by  the  use  of  his 
intuition  or  spiritual  insight  or  natural  reason,  any  more  than  he  could 
walk  by  the  use  of  his  feet  along  the  smooth  surface  of  the  perpen- 
dicular side-walls  and  overhanging  ceiling  of  a  chamber.  The  two 
cases  are  substantially  alike.  The  mind  of  man  is  incompetent  to 
the  discovery  of  these  Scripture  facts,  no  less  than  his  feet  are  incom- 
petent to  the  act  of  locomotion  just  described.  Revelation,  then,  is 
the  work  of  God. 

IV.  In  meeting  popular  objections  to  inspiration,  our  young 
brethren  should,  at  their  first  necessity,  hold  fast  to  the  distinction 
between  inspiration  on  the  one  hand,  and  revelation  with  illumination 
on  the  other.  They  should  also  see  clearly  the  precise  nature  of  the 
office  committed  to  inspired  men.  These  persons  were  the  official 
organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Their  office  work  was  solely  to  utter  by 
tongue  or  pen,  without  error  or  defect,  whatever  the  Spirit  moved 
them  to  utter — nothing  more,  nothing  less,  nothing  other.  They 
were  inspired  to  do  this  one  thing,  and  were  infallible  in  this  one 
thing,  and  in  nothing  outside  thereof.  An  analogy  has  been  dis- 
covered between  their  position  and  that  claimed  for  the  Pope  by  the 
Church  of  Rome.  He  is  held  to  be  infallible  in  his  official  acts  and 
deliverances,  but  not  in  what  he  does  or  propounds  when  "  off 
duty."  No  doubt  there  is  a  good  and  sound  distinction  between 
official  judgments  and  unofficial  dicta.     But  the  case  of  the  Pope 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  107 

breaks  down  just  at  the  point  where  the  case  of  the  apostles  is  established. 
They  were,  by  divine  appointment,  the  organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the 
Pope  is  not.     They  were  supernaturally  inspired  ;  the  Pope  is  not. 

What  the  sacred  writers  spoke,  as  the  organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
what,  as  such,  they  committed  to  writing,  in  regard  to  all  subjects 
whatsoever,  is  infallibly  true.  What  they  knew  or  did  not  know  of 
their  own  private  knowledge,  about  geology  or  history  or  the  Coper- 
nican  system,  is  nothing  to  us.  They  made  no  mistakes  in  regard  to 
any  of  these  subjects  in  their  inspired  writings,  and  that  is  enough 
for  us.  Indeed,  the  more  conspicuous  their  ignorance  in  human 
learning,  the  more  remarkable  is  the  inspiration,  which  protected 
them  from  declaring  as  historically  or  scientifically  true  what  is  his- 
torically or  scientifically  false.  Moses  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  Egyptians;  what  withheld  him  from  adopting, into  the  Penta- 
teuch, Manetho's  scheme  of  chronology,  reaching  back  thirty  thousand 
years  anterior  to  the  Christian  era?  Daniel  was  wise  in  Chaldean 
lore ;  how  did  he  escape,  as  a  sacred  writer,  from  lending  the 
authority  of  inspiration  to  the  monstrous  cosmogonies  of  the  Babylo- 
nians? Paul  was  educated  in  the  best  learning  of  his  time;  why  do 
we  find  nothing  in  his  speeches  or  epistles  "  like  Augustine's  scornful 
denial  of  the  existence  of  the  antipodes?  nothing  like  the  opinion  of 
Ambrose,  that  the  sun  draws  up  water  to  cool  and  refresh  himself  in 
his  extreme  heat?"     [Dr.  T.  V.  Moore.] 

With  this  doctrine  of  inspiration  kept  steadily  before  him,  the 
youngest  of  our  ministers  will  find  a  ready  answer  to  such  worn-out 
puzzles  as  these  :  Was  Satan  inspired  when  he  said  to  Eve,  "Ye  shall 
not  surely  die;  "  or  Abraham  when  he  declared  that  Sarah  was  his 
sister;  or  Peter  when  he  denied  his  Master  with  "cursing  and 
swearing;  "  or  the  Pharisees  when  they  said  of  Christ,  "  He  hath  a 
devil ;  "  or  the  mob  when  they  cried  "  Crucify  him  !  crucify  him?  " 
The  distinction  between  matter  dictated  by  the  Spirit  and  historical 
recitals  committed  to  writing  under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  is  so 
plain  that  it  would  seem  to  be  a  waste  of  time  to  point  it  out.  Yet  a 
writer  of  Mr.  Coleridge's  ability,  through  a  singular  confusion  of 
thought,  holds  our  doctrine  of  inspiration  accountable  for  the  "  shallow 
and  malignant  insinuations"  made  by  the  "  three  bigots  in  Job." 

We  are  helped  to  answers  to  other  objections  by  Paul's  dis- 
tinction between  inspiration  and  spiritual  illumination.  These  gifts 
differ,  first,  in  the  persons  to  whom  they  are  granted  ;  inspiration 
being  given  to  a  few  chosen  men  like  Isaiah  and  John;  illumination  to 
all  true  believers.  Next,  the  gifts  differ  in  their  nature:  the  first  is 
infallibility  in  teaching ;  the  last  is  spiritual  knowledge.  One  may 
be  infallible  who  is  not  illuminated  ;  another  may  be  illuminated  who 
is  not  infallible.  Again,  inspiration  was  given  from  time  to  time, 
and  withheld  in  the  intervals,  as  it  seemed  good  to  the  Spirit ;  illu- 
mination is  light  which  shines  upon  the  believer  every  day  unto  the 
end  of  life.  Further,  inspiration  is  perfect  unto  its  end  always ;  illu- 
mination admits  of  degrees.     Further  still,  inspiration  has  ceased  out 


lo:;  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  the  world;  illumination  abides  in  the  Church  evermore.  Finally, 
inspiration,  though  rarely,  was  really  bestowed  on  wicked  men. 
King  Saul  was  among  the  prophets  ;  Balaam  was  inspired  ;  so  was 
Caiaphas ;  so  were  those  who  prophesied  in  the  name  of  Christ,  to 
whom  Christ  will  say  :  "I  never  knew  you,  depart  from  me  ye  that 
work  iniquity."  Here  we  find  the  distinction  between  the  gifts  and 
the  graces  of  the  Spirit.  Inspiration,  like  the  foresight  of  prophecy, 
like  the  power  to  work  miracles,  was  a  gift  that  might  or  might  not 
be  associated  with  saving  grace.  Accordingly,  the  Saviour  points 
out  the  distinction  between  a  prophet  and  a  righteous  man.  Our 
cautious  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  did  not  go  too  far  in  this  direction 
when  he  said:  "Judas  wrought  miracles,  and  might  have  been,  in  full 
consistency  with  the  doctrine  of  inspiration,  as  infallible  a  teacher 
(had  Christ  seen  fit  to  employ  him)  as  Paul,  although  he  had  a  devil." 

With  this  rule  before  us,  we  are  ready  with  answers  for  such 
questions  as  these  :  Was  Moses,  who  spake  unadvisedly  with  his  lips, 
inspired  to  compose  the  Pentateuch?  Was  David,  who  sinned  in  the 
matter  of  Uriah,  taught  of  the  Spirit  to  write  the  Psalms?  Was  Sol- 
omon one  of  the  chosen  organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  Was  Jonah 
another?  Was  Paul,  who  quarrelled  with  Barnabas,  another?  Was 
Peter,  who  denied  his  Master  and  afterwards  abandoned  his  principles 
at  Antioch,  still  another?  Tne  young  preacher  who  remembers  that 
Balaam  and  Caiaphas,  incorrigible  sinners,  were  inspired,  at  least  once 
in  their  lives,  will  not  stumble  over  the  infirmities  of  holy  men  into 
the  conclusion  that  they  were  not  also  inspired.  Augustine's  remark  was 
good,  *'  I  do  not  inquire  how  Paul  acted  ;  I  seek  what  he  has  written." 

V.  Close  attention  should  be  given  to  the  extent  of  inspiration,  mean- 
ing always  by  that  term  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  com- 
position of  the  Scriptures.  It  will  be  convenient  for  the  religious 
teacher  to  enter  upon  this  part  of  the  subject  by  examining  the  pre- 
tence that  God  revealed  the  spiritual  truths  of  religion 'to  the  sacred 
writers,  and  then  left  them  to  the  use  of  their  unaided  faculties  in 
reducing  these  truths  to  writing,  and  left  them  to  themselves  in  the 
selection  and  treatment  of  historical  and  geographical  details.  Ac- 
cording to  this  theory  the  Bible  is  not  a  divinely- inspired  transcript, 
but  a  human  account  of  the  divine  communications.  Then,  also, 
these  saving  truths  are  distributed  through  a  mass  of  historical  and 
other  secular  matter  which  may  or  may  not  be  true  in  the  sub- 
stance, and  if  true  substantially,  may  or  may  not  be  misrepresented 
in  the  telling  of  it,  after  the  manner  of  fallible  human  authorship. 
What  follows  from  this  theory?  First:  It  assumes  that  the  veracity 
of  the  Scriptures  is  an  open  question,  inasmuch  as  it  is  propounded 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  accounting  for  errors  and  mistakes  which, 
it  is  alleged,  occur  in  those  contents  of  the  Bible  that  relate  to  sub- 
jects lying  within  the  range  of  human  discovery.  The  theory  does 
not  explain,  but  impeaches  inspiration.  Secondly:  For  aught  we  can 
tell,  misrepresentations  have  crept  unawares  into  essential  truths,  like 
John's  testimony  to  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  or  Christ's  exposition 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  109 

of  the  way  to  be  saved,  or  Paul's  description  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  body.  Thirdly :  God  gave  His  Word,  not  for  the  private  use  of 
the  fifty  or  sixty  chosen  men  to  whom  it  was  first  revealed,  but  for 
the  salvation  of  the  innumerable  company  of  the  redeemed.  It  is  in- 
credible that  these  few  men  should  be  supernaturally  led  into  the 
exact  knowledge  of  the  truth,  while  God's  people  everywhere  and 
always  were  foreordained  to  all  the  chances  of  error  or  prejudice  or 
passion,  to  all  the  slips  of  the  understanding  and  the  pen  which  beset 
uninspired  human  authorship.  It  is  no  good  news  to  you  or  to  me 
that  the  rejection  of  God's  Word  is  a  sin  to  be  answered  for  at  the 
judgment  day,  while  the  exact  expression  of  that  Word  as  it  came 
from  the  Holy  Spirit  is  hidden  from  us  under  the  mistakes  of  fallible 
men  whom  we  never  saw  and  who  have  been  dead  for  centuries. 

VI.  Now,  the  Word  of  God  stands  face  to  face  with  this  theory, 
and  alleges  that  a  plenary  inspiration  extends  to  the  entire  volume  in 
all  its  parts,  from  cover  to  cover.  When  once  the  canon  is  settled, 
and  with  it  the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  several  books,  we 
must  believe  that  they  are  all  equally  inspired  and  infallible.  The 
Bible  is  throughout  and  throughout  "  God's  Word,"  "  God's  Word 
written,"  as  really  as  if  a  pattern  thereof  had  been  shown  in  heaven. 
This  supernatural  inspiration  extends  to  the  subject-matter  of  the 
written  Word,  to  the  arrangement  of  its  contents,  to  the  language  in 
which  these  are  clothed. 

(i.)  To  the  subject-matter  inspiration  contributed  these  among 
other  elements  :  First,  it  has  furnished  us  with  the  only  knowledge 
in  existence  of  the  world  before  the  flood.  Next,  it  enabled  the 
sacred  writers  to  make,  out  of  the  enormous  mass  of  human  history 
and  thought,  a  selection  of  the  *' infinitesimal  percentage"  thereof 
suitable  to  the  plan  of  the  record.  Further, inspiration  taught  them 
what  to  omit.  Among  these  omissions  is  an  immense  number  of  the 
signs  which  Jesus  himself  did  and  the  words  which  he  uttered.  This 
thought  is  full  of  significance,  for  what  man  would  presume  to  omit 
from  the  Gospels  the  very  words  of  the  Son  of  God,  except  he  were 
moved  thereto  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  office  it  is  to  take  the  things 
of  Christ  and  show  them  unto  us  ?  Further  yet,  the  Spirit  enabled 
the  writers  to  prepare  unerring  statements  of  the  facts  selected,  to 
point  out  the  relation  of  commonplace  events  to  the  truths  super- 
naturally revealed,  and  to  show  how  the  whole  sum  of  human  affairs, 
men's  crimes  and  virtues,  knowledge  and  ignorance,  apostasies  and 
reformations,  were  associated  with  the  mighty  works  of  creation,  prov- 
idence and  grace.  And  again,  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  preserved 
them  from  error  in  the  truth  supernaturally  revealed,  and  in  all  that 
they  say  in  regard  to  history,  geography,  astronomy  and  natural  sci- 
ence. It  enabled  them  also  to  fuse  down  the  whole  mass  of  matter 
mto  one  assimilated,  homogeneous  and  self-consistent  narrative. 

(2.)  Inspiration  extends  to  the  orderly  plan  of  Scripture  history. 
The  volume  is  not  an  encyclopaedia  or  miscellany  of  religious  reading. 
It  is  a  unity — an  organic  unity — of  veritable  history,  tracing  consec- 


no  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

utively  the  progress  of  redemption  from  its  foreordination  before  the 
world  was  to  its  accomplishment  after  time  shall  have  run  its  course. 
An  unbroken  continuity,  a  close  sequence  of  events,  a  steady  advance 
in  the  development  of  the  divine  purposes  link  together  all  the  sacred 
writings.  This  coherence,  a  consummate  product  of  inspiiation,  shows 
itself  conspicuously  in  the  books  which  have  been  recently  chosen  as 
a  point  of  attack — the  Pentateuch.  The  attempt  to  lift  any  of  them 
out  of  the  close  array  in  which  they  are  marshaled  is  in  derogation 
of  their  inspiration.  What  less  should  be  said  of  a  process  which 
dislocates  the  plan  of  sacred  history,  which  introduces  confusion  into 
chronologies  and  genealogies  and  majestic  providences,  and  appalls 
the  reader  with  the  spectacle  of  Scripture  broken  in  its  backbone  ? 
The  criticism  which  assigns  Exodus,  Leviticus  and  Deuteronomy  to 
the  reign  of  Hezekiah  or  to  the  post-exilian  period  might,  with  equal 
show  of  historical  sequences,  transfer  Magna  Charta  to  the  restoration 
of  the  Stuarts,  or  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  to  the  era  of 
moderatism.  Inspiration  extends,  then,  to  the  plan  as  well  as  to  the 
contents  of  Holy  Scripture. 

(3.)  Plenary  inspiration  extends  to  the  words  used  in  Scripture: 
"Which  things,"  says  Paul,  "we  teach  not  in  the  words  which  man's 
wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth,  comparing 
spiritual  things  with  spiritual,"  or  expressing  spiritual  truths  in  spirit- 
ual words.  If  it  be  proper  to  add  anything  to  this  decisive  testimony, 
we  may  say,  that  just  as  a  human  soul  could  not  be  born  into  the  vis- 
ible world  without  a  body,  even  so  spiritual  truth,  supernaturally  re- 
vealed, could  come  into  the  sight  and  hearing  of  man  in  no  other  way 
than  through  spoken  or  written  words  or  other  signs  of  thought.  The 
only  question  is  whether  the  words  in  which  divine  truth  is  clothed 
are  the  words  of  unaided  and  erring  man  or  the  words  taught  by  the 
unerring  Spirit. 

Now,  the  religious  teacher  ought  not  to  be  perplexed  by  the  popular 
suggestion  that  the  doctrine  of  plenary  inspiration  strips  the  sacred 
writers  of  the  liberty  of  spontaneous  and  characteristic  speech,  and 
turns  them  into  pens  or  writing-machines  or  automatons.  It  is  one 
of  the  first  principles  of  saving  truth  that  a  man  may  be  infallibly 
guided  in  his  free  acts  ;  why  not  also  in  his  free  speech?  Never  were 
men  more  free,  never  did  they  more  surely  execute  the  divine  purpose, 
than  Judas  when  he  sold  his  Master,  and  the  Jews  when  they  crucified 
him.  Never  is  the  sinner  more  free  than  when  he  repents  or  believes, 
and  yet  it  is  God  who  enables  and  persuades  him  to  repent  and  be- 
lieve. The  saints  and  angels  are  secured  in  holiness  by  the  gracious 
agency  of  God,  while  their  acts  of  obedience  are  as  free  and  joyful  as 
if  they  were  wholly  self-moved.  When  these  facts  are  well  established 
in  the  minds  of  his  hearers,  the  preacher  will  very  naturally  lead  them 
to  the  adjacent  conclusion,  that  in  the  choice  of  words  for  the  sacred 
page  there  was  a  concurrent  action  of  the  divine  and  human  agency. 
Although  inscrutable  as  to  the  mode,  this  joint  action  in  point  of  fact 
secured  an  expression  of  thought  infallible  because  guided  by  the 
spirit,  human  because  spontaneous  and  natural  in  the  writer. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  iii 

Nor  should  the  young  preacher  be  disturbed  by  the  current  objection 
to  the  infallibility  of  Scripture  drawn  from  the  acknowledged  imper- 
fection of  human  language  as  an  instrument  of  thought.  The  objection 
is  met  by  the  repetitions  in  the  sacred  records.  They  resemble  the 
laws  of  the  land,  and  indentures  and  indictments,  where  the  intention 
is  set  forth  in  a  multiplicity  of  terms  and  recitals.  To  the  unprofes- 
sional mind  these  seem  to  be  mere  technical  verbiage,  but  taken 
together,  they  convey  the  exact  sense  of  the  draughtsman.  As 
instances  of  a  similar  abundant  expression  of  the  mind  of  the  Spirit, 
we  may  cite  under  the  head  of  doctrine  the  nature  and  necessity  of 
regeneration,  and  under  the  head  of  practical  piety  the  act  of  coming 
to  Christ  by  faith  in  his  blood.  What  is  obscure  or  insufficient  in 
one  place  is  made  as  clear  as  the  light  of  day  in  other  places.  By 
this  explanation  we  not  only  solve  this  objection,  but  we  show  that 
one  of  the  elements  of  surpassing  value  in  the  written  word  is  this 
very  quality  which  men  call  the  redundancy  wherewith  Scripture 
repeats  itself. 

Of  what  has  been  said  this  is  the  sQm  :  Every  word  of  Scripture  is 
alike  God's  word  and  man's  word.  What  God  said,  David  said,  the 
apostles  prayed,  saying  :  "  Lord,  thou  art  God  .  .  .  who  by  the 
mouth  of  thy  servant  David  hast  said,"  etc.  What  Isaiah  spake,  the 
Holy  Ghost  spake  ;  for  Paul  said:  "Well  spake  the  Holy  Ghost  by 
Esaias,"  etc.  Looking  at  the  Bible  from  one  point  of  view,  we  must 
say  that  God  is  its  author,  as  really  as  if  he  had  written  it  with  his 
finger,  just  as  he  wrote  the  two  tables  of  stone  ;  examining  it  from 
another  point,  we  must  say  that  man  was  its  author  as  really  as 
Augustine  was  the  author  of  the  "  City  of  God."  The  divine  and 
human  authorship  was  joint  and  co-operative. 

Vn.  Let  us  hope  that  our  brethren  now  coming  into  the  ministry 
will  maintain,  with  undaunted  resolution,  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  laid  down  in  our  Standards.  It  is  essential  to  the  existence, 
not  of  Presbyterianism  only,  but  of  Christianity  itself.  Imagine  a 
company  like  the  Westminster  divines  beginning  its  labors  with  the 
proposition  that  the  Bible  contains  no  revelation  of  religious  truth 
other  than  that  which  proceeds  from  the  unassisted  intuitional  con- 
sciousness or  from  the  light  of  nature,  or  with  the  proposition  that 
the  revelation  is  from  God,  but  the  record  thereof  is  the  product  of 
unaided  human  authorship.  Will  anybody  maintain  that  these  divines 
could  construct  out  of  such  unsound  materials  a  system  of  doctrine 
which  would  be  true  as  God  is  true?  Or,  imagine  a  controversy  over 
the  question,  **  What  is  truth?"  between  a  strict  Presbyterian,  taking 
his  stand  on  the  Bible  as  the  very  word  of  God,  in  substance  and  in 
language,  and  a  liberal  thinker,  taking  his  stand  on  the  same  book  as 
the  very  word  of  man,  in  its  subject-matter,  or  in  its  verbal  expression, 
or  in  both  these  elements.  Now,  a  book  which  is  to  be  treated  in 
debate  as  the  very  word  of  God,  and  a  book  which  is  to  be  treated  as 
the  very  word  of  man,  belong,  so  we  may  confidently  say,  to  separate 
spheres  of  religious  thought.      According  to  the  Church  doctrine,  the 


.112  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Christian  Scriptures  are,  in  all  their  parts,  immediately  inspired  by 
God,  and  are  everywhere  infallible;  according  to  the  "advanced 
thought  "  of  the  day,  they  are  filled  with  the  half-truths  and  untruths, 
with  the  dissolving  views,  with  the  myths  and  fables  and  childish 
traditions,  with  the  things  incredible  and  impossible,  which  appear 
in  all  the  sacred  books  of  the  heathen.  And  a  debate  as  to  what  is 
Christianity,  between  disputants  relying  on  these  incongruous  ma- 
terials, would  remind  one  of  Bismarck's  imaginary  fight  between  a 
whale  wallowing  in  an  uncertain  sea  and  an  elephant  standing  on  the 
solid  ground.  We  must  insist  on  the  preliminary  question  :  "Is  tlie 
Bible  supernatural  and  infallible  in  its  revelations,  and  immediately 
inspired  of  God  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts?"  What  say  you, 
yea  or  nay  ?  If  you  say  nay,  an  agreement  in  regard  to  Christian 
doctrine  is  impossible,  and  a  dispute  on  that  point  is  mere  child's 
play. 

It  may  be  proper,  in  the  close  of  this  paper,  to  point  out  to  our 
young  brethren  a  convenient  mode  of  dealing  with  the  discussions 
between  !)elief  and  current  speculation  in  natural  science.  We  begin 
with  the  proposition  that  these  disputes  proceed  from  one  or  more  of 
these  sources  ;  mistakes  in  biblical  interpretation,  blunders  in  science, 
or  spiritual  blindness.  Next,  all  these  disputes  may  be  distributed 
into  three  classes,  and  these  three  exhaust  the  subject. 

The  first  embraces  all  those  points  wherein  the  meaning  of  God's 
Word  is  clearly  understood,  and  the  opposing  scientific  theories  are 
unsettled.  As  an  example,  we  may  take  the  unity  in  origin  of  the 
human  race  from  one  man  and  one  woman.  This  oneness  is  unques- 
tionably affirmed  by  the  word  of  God,  while  the  opposing  theories  of 
ethnology  and  its  kindred  sciences  are  confessedly  immature.  The 
rule  here  is  to  hold  fast  to  the  sure  word  of  God,  not  doubting  that 
when  ethnology  shall  understand  itself  it  will  confirm  the  testimony 
of  the  word.  The  second  class  embraces  those  disputes  wherein  the 
facts  in  nature  are  established,  but  the  word  of  God  is  not  rightly 
understood.  The  doctrine  of  the  Copernican  system,  for  example,  is 
well  settled.  But  whether  the  places  in  Scripture  which  speak  of  the 
sun  rising  or  setting,  and  the  like,  are  to  be  understood  according  to 
what  is  astronomically  true,  or  what  is  apparently  true,  is  a  question 
of  interpretation.  When  we  adopt  the  phenomenal  meaning  and 
take  the  language  of  the  Bible  in  the  sense  of  common  life,  and  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  skeptical  philosophers  themselves  habitually  use 
these  very  terms,  the  dispute  is  at  an  end.  Under  the  third  class 
should  be  arranged  these  particulars  wherein  neither  the  word  nor  the 
works  of  God  are  fully  known.  The  creation  of  the  world  in  six 
days  falls  into  this  category.  The  enlightened  Christian  will  never 
doubt  the  narrative  of  Moses,  nor  will  he  doubt  that  it  will  be  estab- 
lished as  true  by  a  perfected  geology  and  astronomy.  Meanwhile,  he 
is  at  liberty  to  rest  his  mind,  provisionally  or  ad  interim,  on  any 
working  hypothesis  which  may  seem  to  fulfil  best  the  conditions  of 
the  problem  so  far  as  they  are  now  known.     He  may  accept  the  ex- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  113 

planation  of  Chalmers  and  Hengstenberg,  or  that  of  Hugh  Miller  and 
Shultz,  or  tliat  of  the  Westminster  divines.  He  may  rest  there  until 
Moses  shall  be  interpreted  aright,  and  the  facts  in  nature  shall  be  dis- 
covered. Then  a  generalization  will  be  reached  which  will  include 
and  harmonize  all  the  testimony  of  God's  word  and  all  the  phenomena 
of  God's  works  relating  to  the  matter.  That  being  formulated,  the 
subject  will  pass  from  what  is  provisional  and  doubtful  to  what  is 
final,  and  beyond  all  doubt  absolutely  true,  even  the  testimony  of 
the  written  word. 

IX.  Our  younger  brethren  may  be  assured  that  in  its  conflicts  with 
hostile  criticism  the  Church  is  on  the  high  road  to  victory.  The 
number,  for  example,  of  historical  issues  tendered  by  the  Scriptures 
to  their  adversaries  is  simply  enormous.  It  is  estimated  that  the  Bible 
contains  the  names  of  four  thousand  persons  and  places  distributed 
through  all  the  early  ages,  and  over  the  surface  of  the  whole  earth  as' 
known  to  the  ancients.  Many  of  these  persons  and  places  have  not 
l>een  identified.  But  whenever  a  cylinder  or  tablet  has  been  dug  up, 
bearing  one  of  these  perished  names,  or  the  site  of  a  buried  city  has 
been  discovered,  in  no  one  instance,  not  one,  has  the  testimony  of 
Scripture  been  invalidated.  We  openly  challenge  and  defy  the  un- 
believer to  produce,  out  of  all  the  lands  of  the  Bible,  one  dead  man's 
name  who  is  a  myth,  or  one  old  ruin  misplaced,  aye,  one  out  of  the 
four  thousand.  In  the  controversy  now  waged  over  what  the  Bible 
says  of  the  history,  manners,  customs  and  traaitions  of  Egypt,  Syria, 
Assyria,  Babylon,  Persia,  Palestine,  Phcenicia,  Greece  and  Rome,  the 
enemy  will  bo  defeated  at  every  turn.  He  is  already  fairly  driven  off 
the  field  in  Egypt,  and  wherever  he  attempts  to  make  a  stand  over  the 
whole  vast  region  from  Thebes  to  Mosul,  tlie  witnesses  for  the  truth 
will  spring  up  out  of  the  earth  and  lay  siege  to  his  encampment. 
That  entire  domain,  "  from  the  river  of  Egypt  to  that  great  river,  the 
river  Euphrates,"  was  given  by  covenant  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  for 
an  everlasting  possession.  We.  his  spiritual  seed,  Avill  in  due  time 
make  good  our  title  to  it  all:  "  for  the  inheritance  is  ours  and  the 
redemption  is  ours." 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Robert  Watts,  D.  D.,  of  Belfast,  Ireland, 
addressed  the  Council  as  follows,  on 

THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE  OF  INSPIRATION. 

'  I  think  you  will  all  agree  with  me,  after  listening  to  the  paper  read 
by  our  venerable  father.  Dr.  Humphrey,  that  America  is  sound  on 
inspiration.  I  hope  it  is  not  true  in  this,  as  in  some  other  matters, 
that  westward  the  Star  of  Empire  takes  its  way.  It  is  pleasant  to  find 
that  there  is  not  a  single  sentence  expressed  by  Dr.  Humphrey  in  that 
paper  that  I  cannot  indorse  ;  it  is  the  historic  doctrine  of  the  Church  ; 
it  is  the  doctrine  enshrined  in  the  entire  volume  of  inspiration. 

In  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  when  about  to  affirm  the  Plenary 
8 


114  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Inspiration  of  Scripture,  the  Apostle  Paul  singles  out  Jannes  and  Jam- 
bre.s,  who  withstood  Moses,  as  standing  prototypes  of  all  opponents 
of  the  truth.  The  apostolic  selection  has  proved  peculiarly  felicitous, 
for  in  almost  all  the  intervening  centuries,  from  the  apostolic  age  to 
the  present,  the  successors  of  these  Egyptian  magicians,  in  their  assaults 
upon  the  faith,  have,  almost  invariably,  begun  with  the  writings  of 
Moses.  This  is  not  unnatural.  It  is  natural  that  the  adversary  should 
begin  where  Christ  began  ;  and  Christ,  in  expounding  in  all  the  Scrip- 
tures the  things  concerning  bimself,  was  wont  to  begin  with  the  great 
law-giver  of  Israel.  The  considerations  determining  this  method  of 
proof  and  disproof,  of  defence  and  attack,  are,  obviously,  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  the  contents  of  the  Mosaic  writings  and  the  relation 
of  the  Mosaic  Economy  to  the  New  Testament  dispensation.  As  the 
Prophets  and  the  Psalms  are  but  authoritative  expositions  of  that 
ancient  economy — unfoldings  of  its  types  and  symbols,  enhanced  by 
fresh  disclosures  of  the  mystery  which,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world,  hath  been  hid  in  God — it  is  manifest  that  the  most  effective 
method  of  assailing  the  truth,  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  is  to  shake  confidence 
in  the  Mosaic  record.  An  assault  on  the  Pentateuch  is  an  assault  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  Temple  of  Revealed  Truth. 

Nor  should  we  overlook  another  point  of  resemblance  between  these 
ancient  withstanders  of  Moses  and  his  modern  opponents.  They 
agree  in  this  that  they  do  not  challenge  absolutely  the  divinity  of  his 
mission.  The  wise  men  and  sorcerers  of  Egypt  called  in  question  only 
some  of  the  miracles  wrought  by  Moses,  while  they  recognized  the 
others  as  v/rought  l)y  the  finger  of  God.  In  this  they  are  followed  by 
their  successors,  who  recognize  parts  of  the  Pentateuch  as  his,  and 
acknowledge  portions  of  it  as  given  by  the  finger  of  a  divine  inspira- 
tion. 

Another  point  of  resemblance  there  is  which  forces  itself  very  pain- 
fully upon  our  attention,  viz.,  that  both  have  served  as  instruments  of 
moral  and  spiritual  induration.  The  magicians,  by  withstanding 
Moses,  encouraged  Pharaoh  in  his  obstinacy,  and  the  revolutionary 
critics  of  the  Pentateuch  have  helped  to  confirm  sceptics  in  their 
scepticism.  Tlie  enemies  of  the  Bible  claim  the  representatives  of 
the  Higher  Criticism  as  on  their  side,  and  quote  their  criticisms  as 
arguments  against  Christianity  itself.  Much  further  they  cannot  pro- 
ceed, for  their  folly,  like  th;  t  of  their  prototypes,  will  soon  be  mani- 
fest unto  all  men.  In  the  meantime  it  is  proposed,  in  the  present 
paper,  in  opposition  to  such  irreverent  handling  of  the  word  of  God. 
to  exhibit  what  the  Scriptures  themselves  teach  respecting  their  rela- 
tion to  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  whose  inspiration  they  claim 
to  have  been  originally  produced. 

When  Ave  speak  of  the  doctrine  of  inspiration,  we  do  not  mean  a 
d.octrine  in  regard  to  the  mode  of  the  Spirit's  action  upon  the  minds 
of  those  whom  God  had  raised  up  and  trained  and  qualified  as  in- 
struments for  the  communication  of  his  will  to  men.  On  this  point 
we  do  not  know,  and  cannot  know  anything.     In  its  7node  the  divine 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


"5 


agency  is  inscrutable,  but  in  its  effects  it  is  cognizable.  Regarding 
the  former,  God  has  given  us  no  information  ;  regarding  the  latter, 
he  has  given  us  line  upon  line,  line  upon  line,  until  the  student  of 
Scripture  who  does  not  apprehend  the  doctrine  is  left  utterly  inexcus- 
able. The  concurrent  testimony  of  the  sacred  writings  is,  that  the 
effect  of  the  divine  agency  was  such  as  to  constitute  the  utterance  of 
the  human  agent  God's  utterance,  and  his  record  God's  record — the 
former  as  truly  his  as  if  he  himself  had  uttered  it,  and  the  latter  as 
truly  his  as  if  he  himself,  with  his  own  hand,  had  written'  it.  How 
he  effected  this  we  do  not  know,  but  that  he  did  effect  it  we  must  be- 
lieve or  reject  the  Scriptures  altogether ;  for  that  they  teach  this  doc- 
trine is  as  manifest  as  that  they  teach  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith.  It  is,  in  fact,  one  of  those  all-pervading  doctrines  which  cannot 
be  erased  without  the  destruction  of  the  Bible.  Even  though  we  were 
to  adopt,  in  this  case,  the  method  observed  by  the  author  of  "Mr 
Ecce  ILomo''''  in  judging  of  the  personal  rank  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
restrict  the  inquiry  to  portions  of  Scripture  which  the  most  rational- 
istic of  critics  would  hesitate  to  challenge,  there  would  still  be  found 
sufficient  evidence  that  the  claim  advanced  is  that  of  an  inspiration 
determining  the  "  form  "  of  the  record  to  its  minutest  literary  detail. 
The  claim  to  have  been  produced  under  an  inspiration  which  deter- 
mined the  times,  and  modes,  and  measures,  and  literary  forms,  of  the 
revelation,  as  communicated  by  the  sacred  writers,  is  so  interwoven 
with  the  record  that  the  denial  of  it  must  involve  not  only  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  claim,  but  the  rejection  of  the  entire  book,  on  whose  be- 
half, as  a  whole,  it  is  so  persistently  put  forth.  The  position  taken  in 
this  paper  is,  that  there  is  no  alternative  but  to  accept  the  doctrine  of 
an  inspiration  determining  the  ^'form^^  as  well  as  the  "substance" 
of  Scripture,  or  to  disallow  altogether  the  claim  it  advances  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  Word  of  God.  These  claims — to  be  verbally  inspired,- 
and  to  be  the  Word  of  God — are  cognate  and  inseparable,  and  the 
rejection  of  the  one  must  necessarily  involve  the  rejection  of  the 
other.  A  book  claiming  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  even  to  its  minutest 
clauses  and  terms,  and  whose  infallibility  depends  upon  the  accuracy 
of  its  language,  must,  if  received  at  all,  be  accepted  as  being  what  it 
professes  to  bp ;  and  he  who  does  not  thus  receive  it,  must,  if  he  will 
act  consistently,  come  at  last  to  the  conclusion  that  its  words  are  not 
to  be  treated  as  the  words  of  God.  As  the  claim  in  question  is  the 
claim  of  claims,  the  claim  on  which  all  other  claims  depend,  it  is 
manifest  that  if  this  claim  be  disallowed  no  other  claim  can  be  estab- 
lished. 

In  establishing  the  position  that  the  Scriptures  advance  this  claim, 
it  will  be  most  convenient,  as  it  will  be  most  satisfactory,  to  begin 
with  New  Testament  references  to  the  Old  Testament ;  and  it  is  but 
due  to  him  who  is  the  Author  of  both,  to  place  in  the  foreground 
specimens  of  his  own  direct  personal  testimonies. 

In  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (Matt.  v.  17,  18),  he  affirms,  with  all 
the  solemnity  of  an  oath,  that  not  one  "jot"  or  "  tittle,"  that  is,  not 


n6  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

even  the  smallest  letter,  or  distinctive  characteristic  of  a  letter,  should 
pass  from  the  Law  or  the  Prophets,  till  all  be  fulfilled.  In  his  view, 
therefore,  the  integrity  of  the  "form,"  and  the  security  of  the  "sub- 
stance" were  indissolubly  bound  together.  As  the  guarantee  of  the 
indestructibleness  of  the  "form,"  we  have  the  word  of  Christ  him- 
self, while  in  proof  of  its  perishableness,  we  have  simply  an  array  of 
various  readings,  and  alleged  or  actual  discrepancies,  among  which, 
and  in  despite  of  which,  no  critic  can  prove  that  all  the  words  of  the 
original  record  may  not  exist.  That  is,  vi^e  have  on  the  one  side  the 
word  of  the  unchangeable  Jehovah,  while  on  the  other  there  is  noth- 
ing but  an  illogical  inference  of  an  ever-shifting  criticism. 

Equally  explicit  is  our  Saviour's  testimony  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
Old  Testament,  Jol>n  x.  34-36.  Vindicating  himself  against  the 
charge  of  blasphemy  preferred  by  the  Jews,  because  he  had  claimed 
to  be  the  Son  of  God,  he  makes  his  argument  turn  upon  the  infalli- 
bility of  one  brief  clause,  "I  said  ye  are  gods,"  Psalm  Ixxxii.  6. 
The  infallibility  of  this  clause  he  infers  from  the  character  of  the 
record  in  which  it  is  found.      Stated  formally,  his  argument  is, 

Major. — Tiie  Scripture  cannot  be  broken  ; 

Minor. — I  said  ye  are  gods  is  Scripture  ; 

Concl. — I  said  ye  are  gods  cannot  be  broken. 

In  adopting  this  form  of  argument,  our  Lord  has  placed  his  faith 
in  the  infallibility  of  the  sacred  record,  as  a  record,  beyond  question. 
In  his  estimation,  all  the  writings  designated  Scripture  by  the  Jews,  and 
regarded  by  them  as  sacred,  were  infallible  even  to  their  smallest  clauses 
and  words.  With  him  the  claim  of  any  sentence,  or  clause,  or  word,  to 
absolute  infallibility,  was  established  as  soon  as  it  was  shown  to  be  a  part 
of  the  sacred  text.  The  assumption  underlying  this  style  of  reference  is, 
of  course,  that  the  infallibility  ascribed  to  the  Scripture  as  a  whole 
extends  to  the  sentences,  clauses,  and  words  of  which  it  is  composed. 

Before  passing  from  this  testimony,  attention  is  asked  to  the  "sub- 
stance" of  this  clause.  As  the  subject-matter  of  it,  "I  said  ye  are 
gods,"  is  not  Messianic,  and  as  it  contains  no  trace  of  "God's  re- 
deeming love  toward  men,"  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  one  of  tliose 
spiritual  truths  to  whose  inspiration  alone,  we  arc  told  by  some  critics, 
the  Spirit  sets  his  seal.  It  cannot,  therefore,  establish  it^  claim  to  in- 
fallibility at  the  bar  of  the  so-called  Higher  Criticism.  The  tests  of 
that  criticism,  therefore,  are  not  Christ's  tests,  and,  if  applied,  they 
must  lead  to  the  rejection  of  what  he  has  received  and  indorsed  as 
invested  with  an  absolute  infallibility.  The  one  makes  the  claim  of 
a  passage  depend  upon  its  subject-matter,  whilst  the  other  determines 
the  claim,  irrespective  of  the  subject-matter  altogether,  by  the  simple 
fact  that  it  constitutes  a  part  of  Holy  Scripture. 

In  harmony  with  these  testimonies  of  the  Master  to  the  verbal  pre- 
cision and  infallibility  of  the  Old  Testament,  are  the  testimonies 
borne  by  his  apostles.  In  proving  that  the  covenant  of  redemption 
was  made  with  Christ,  Gal.  iii.  16,  the  apostle  makes  his  argument 
turn  upon  the  distinction  between  the  singular  and  the  plural  of  a 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  117 

noun.  "  Now  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  were  the  promises  made.  He 
saith  not,  And  to  seeds,  as  of  many;  but  as  of  one,  and  to  thy  seed, 
which  is  Christ."  This  argument  is  manifestly  warrantable  only  on 
the  assumption  of  an  inspiration  of  the  passage  relied  on,  which  deter- 
mined the  sacred  writer  in  using  the  singular,  and  not  using  the  pltiral. 

The  force  of  the  argument  from  this  passage  has  been  questioned  by 
some  biblical  scholars,  and  has  been  recently  challenged  by  Canon 
Farrar  in  his  "Life  and  Work  of  St.  Paul."  While  admitting  thjtt" 
this  is  the  pruna  facie  view  of  the  apostle's  language.  Dr.  Farrar  says 
that  "it  is  inconceivable  that  St.  Paul— a  good  Hebraist  and  master  of 
Hellenistic  Greek — was  unaware  that  the  plural  zeraim  .  .  .  could 
not  by  any  possibility  have  been  used  in  the  original  promise,  because 
it  could  only  mean  '  various  kinds  of  grain  ' — exactly  the  sense  in 
which  he  himself  uses  spennata  in  i  Cor.  xv.  38 — and  that  the  Greek 
spcrmata  in  the  sense  of  offspring  would  be  nothing  less  than  an  im- 
possible barbarism." 

On  this  critique  it  may  be  remarked  :  i.  That  if  valid  at  all,  it  is 
valid  as  a  review  of  the  apostle's  method  of  reasoning  from  the  terms 
of  the  original  promise  made  to  Abraham,  for  that  the  apostle  rests 
his  argument  on  the  fact  that  in  the  original  promise  the  singular 
"seed,"  and  not  the  plural  "seeds,"  is  used,  admits  of  no  dispute. 
2.  Adopting  the  language  of  the  author,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  "it 
is  inconceivable  that  St.  Paul — a  good  Hebraist  and  master  of  Hellen- 
istic Greek" — would  argue  as  he  does  if  his  argument  had  not  been 
warranted  by  Hebrew  and  Greek  usage.  If  the  apostle  was  what  his 
biographer  says  he  was,  surely  we  are  warranted  in  adducing  this  pas- 
sage as  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  that  both  these  languages  recog- 
nized the  usage  which  Canon  Farrar  pronounces  "an  impossible  bar- 
barism." Were  a  lexicographer  to  cite  a  similar  instance  from  a 
heathen  author  in  proof  of  a  particular  usage,  no  scholar  would  ever 
think  of  challenging  the  procedure.  Why  it  should  be  so  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  imagine,  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  fact  that  a  certain  school  of 
critics  will  not  accept,  in  the  case  of  a  sacred  writer,  evidence  which, 
in  the  case  of  a  profane  author,  they  would  regard  as  perfectly  satis- 
factory. 3.  It  may  be  remarked  that  so  far  as  the  Hebrew  is  con- 
cerned the  usage  objected  to  was  not  unknown  to  others  whose  knowl- 
edge of  Hebrew  was  at  least  equal  to  that  possessed  by  most  modern 
critics.  As  Professor  Delitzsch  notes,  the  plural  of  J''"^!'.,  in  the  sense  of 
offspring,  is  found  in  the  Mishna,  Sanhedrim  iv.  5.  A  witness  when 
about  to  bear  witness  in  a  case  of  capital  offence,  is  warned  of  the 
consequence  of  bearing  false  witness  against  the  accused,  in  these 
terms :  "  The  blood  of  the  accused  and  of  his  seeds  ("''•O^'i'lJ)  to  the 
end  of  time,  will  be  imputed  to  thee."  In  support  of  this  admoni- 
tion, reference  is  made  to  the  case  of  Cain,  and  the  arginnent  em- 
ployed is  exactly  the  same  in  form  as  that  of  the  apostle  in  the  case 
before  us.  "  The  voice  of  thy  brother's  bloods  crying.  He  does  not 
say  the  voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  (DT),  but  of  the  bloods  C'?7)  of 
thy  brother,  of  his  blood  and  the  blood  of  his  seeds  (i'i?TTT-)-" 


1 1 8  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

4.  \{  spermata,  in  the  sense  of  offspring,  be  a  barbarism  in  Greek,  the 
apostle  is  guilty  of  it,  for  it  can  have  no  other  meaning  in  the  pas- 
sage in  question.  "Various  kinds  of  grain"  it  cannot  mean  in  this 
verse,  as  any  one  may  see  who  will  but  substitute  that  meaning  for  it  in 
reading.  He  saith  not,  and  to  "various  kinds  of  grain,"  as  of  many, 
but  as  of  one,  and  to  thy  "grain,"  which  is  Christ.  Comment  is 
needless.  5.  The  interpretation  given  by  Dr.  Farrar  himself  is 
irreconcilable  with  any  other  than  the  theory  vvhich  he  opposes. 
"The  argument,"  he  says,  "does  not,  and  cannot  turn,  as  has  been 
unhesitatingly  assumed,  on  the  fact  that  sperma  is  a  singular  noun, 
but  on  the  fact  that  it  is  a  collcciivc  noun,  and  was  deliberately 
used  instead  of  'sons'  or  'children;'  and  St.  Paul  declares  that  this 
collective  term  was  meant  from  the  first  to  apply  to  Christ,  as  else- 
where he  applies  it  spiritually  to  the  servants  of  Christ."  Such  is  the 
interpretation  through  which  Dr.  Farrar  imagines  he  has  removed 
from  this  passage  all  trace  of  an  argument  for  verbal  inspiration  ! 
Surely  it  must  be  manifest  that  even  according  to  this  interpretation, 
the  passage  teaches  the  very  doctrine  our  author  has  assailed.  If  the 
"  deliberate  use  "  of  a  particular  word  instead  of  other  words  closely 
allied  in  meaning,  and  that  with  a  specific  and  far-reaching  intent, 
do  not  carry  with  it  all  that  verbal  inspirationists  contend  for,  it  would 
seem  to  be  difficult  to  give  an  intelligible  definition  of  verbal  inspira- 
tion. The  opponents  of  this  doctrine  gain  nothing  in  dealing  with 
the  argument  from  this  passage  by  substituting  \\\q  '■'■  collective'^  for 
the  '■^singular,'"  so  long  as  they  admit  that  the  ^^  collective'"  was  de- 
liberately used,  and  with  a  specific  purpose;  for  this  is  all  one  with 
admitting  that  the  Holy  Ghost  determined  the  sacred  writers  in  using 
the  terms  they  employed  in  the  sacred  record. 

Equally  conclusive  is  the  testimony  of  this  same  apostle,  2  Tim. 
iii.  16,  to  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  entire  Old  Testament:  "All 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  (©forti/fvaTo?)  ^'^  God-breathedV 

Now  the  '■'■  scripture^'  of  which  this  affirmation  is  made  is  unques- 
tionably the  Old  Testament;  for  it  is  described  in  the  context  as  the 
Holy  Scriptures  (to,  ijpa  ypa/x^ara),  which  Timothy  had  known  from 
his  childhood.  Assuming,  then,  that  ©forti/tvaroj  is  a  predicate,  and 
not  a  part  of  the  subject,  the  force  of  the  argument  from  this  passage 
depends  upon  two  things — the  comprehension  of  the  expression  "all 
Scripture  "  (rtatra  ypa^)}),  and  the  import  of  the  term  ©fortvtvdroj,  ren- 
dered in  our  version,  "given  by  inspiration  of  God."  If  (rta5o 
ypa^-zj)  all  Scripture,  means  the  entire  Old  Testament,  and  Qionvivntoii 
means  "God-breathed,"  then  it  must  follow  that,  in  the  apostle's 
view,  the  entire  Old  Testament,  without  distinction  of  parts,  was 
"God-breathed."  The  only  question  for  settlement  is,  whether  the 
breath  that  breathed  it  reached  to  the  ^^form'"  of  the  record.  In- 
deed, this  can  hardly  be  a  question,  for  it  is  of  the  record  itself  the 
affirmation  is  made.  It  is  the  Scripture,  the  writing  itself,  that  is 
declared  by  the  apostle  to  be  ©fort^frflfoj,  or  "God-breathed." 
This,  of  course,  is  simply  to  affirm  that  the  writing  itself,  as  a  writ- 


SECOND   GENERAL   CO  UN  GIL.  119 

ing,  that  is,  the  language  of  the  sacred  record,  is  the  product  of  the 
Spirit's  agency  actuating  the  sacred  writers. 

In  2  Peter  i.  20,  21,  there  is  a  remarkable  testimony  to  ihe  doc- 
trine of  verbal  inspiration,  in  which  the  apostle  institutes  a  compaii- 
son  between  recorded  prophecy  and  the  audible  utterance  of  God 
speaking  from  the  excellent  glory,  and  pronounces  ihe  record  "  more 
sure"  than  the  voice  from  heaven.  This  high  claim  the  nposlle 
bases  upon  two  things:  i.  That  though  the  prophecy  came /^r  niaii, 
it  was  not  of  man,  but  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  2.  That  in  employing 
human  agency,  the  Holy  Ghost  took  cnargc  both  of  the  will  and  the 
words  of  the  agent.  According  to  any  fair  interpretation,  therefore, 
this  passage  teaches  that  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  upon  which 
the  certainty  of  the  sacred  record  depends,  was  such  as  to  determine 
the  volitions  and  expressions  of  the  men  employed  to  communicate 
the  "more  sure  word  of  prophecy,"  which  the  apostle  testifies  was 
possessed  by  tlie  Church  when  he  wrote  diis  Epistle.  This  is  conclu- 
sive, for  an  agency  determining  the  volitions  and  words  of  those 
through  whom  the  "more  sure  word  of  prophecy  came,"  is,  neces-, 
sarily,  the  agency  for  which  verbal  inspirationists  contend. 

Such  is  the  doctrine  of  inspiration  taught  in  this  passage,  and  the 
language  of  the  apostle  proves  that  it  was  the  view  of  Old  Testament 
prophecy  held  by  all  those  to  whom  he  wrote,  for  he  does  not  pro- 
claim it  as  a  new  doctrine  or  claim  for  it  acceptance  on  his  own 
authority;  but  assumes  that  they  '■'■knew'"  it,  and  appeals  to  it  as  a 
doctrine  universally  held.  Evidently  the  apostle  Peter,  and  those 
who  had  obtained  like  precious  faith  with  him,  held  very  different 
views  of  the  way  in  which  the  "  more  sure  word  of  prophecy"  came 
to  be  so  sure,  from  those  wnich  are  at  present  current  among  the  advo- 
cates of  the  so-called  higher  criticism. 

Equally  decisive  on  the  point  at  issue  is  the  testimony  of  this  same 
apostle  in  his  first  epistle,  chapter  i.  10-12,  in  which  he  avers  tliat 
the  prophets  were  anxious  to  know  "what,  or  what  manner  of  time, 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  which  was  in  them,  did  signify,  when  it  testified 
beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  should  follow," 
and  were  refused  the  information  they  sought.  They  were  informed 
that  their  message  was  for  others  and  for  other  times,  and  not  for 
themselves.  If  this  be  true,  is  it  not  manifest  that  the  men  who  were 
employed  as  the  organs  of  this  testimony  of  the  Spirit  could  not  hnve 
ministered  it*to  us,  without  having  been  supplied  with  the  "  form  "  in 
which  they  were  to  transmit  it  ?  For  example,  how  could  Isaiah  lia\e 
written  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  his  prophecies  if  the  Spirit  had  fur- 
nished him  with  nothing  but  the  "substance"  of  it?  If  we  are  to 
give  credit  to  the  apostle,  Isaiali  did  not  know  the  import  of  what  he 
was  commissioned  to  communicate  to  us.  How,  then,  could  he,  in 
communicating  such  a  message  to  posterity — a  message,  let  it  be  ob^ 
served,  which  the  Spirit  refused  to  explain  to  him — throw  it  into  the 
actually  historic,  evangelical  "form"  in  which  it  stands  in  the  im- 
mortal verses  of  that  wondrous  chapter?     Let  us  try  to  form  a  con- 


I20  THE.  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ception  of  the  task  which,  according  to  the  anti-verbalists,  Isaiah  was 
called  to  execute.  He  was  asked  to  sketch  the  personal  appearance 
of  the  Messiah,  to  predict  the  treatment  he  should  receive  at  the  hands 
of  the  Jews,  to  testify  beforehand  the  substitutionary  and  sacrificial 
character  of  his  sufferings,  to  tell  of  his  death  and  burial,  and  of  the 
fruit  which,  without  fail,  should  spring  from  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  of  the  glory  which  should  follow.  How,  it  may  be  asked,  could 
the  prophet  execuie  this  task  with  nothing  save  the  "substance"  fur- 
nished to  his  hand?  As  well  might  an  artist  attem^Jt  to  execute  a 
"  bust "  of  one  he  had  never  seen,  and  of  whose  appearance  the  per- 
son giving  the  order  will,  of  set  purpose,  give  him  no  information  or 
material,  save  the  marble  or  the  alabaster  from  which  the  "bust"  is 
to  be  fashioned.  It  may  be  said  that  the  cases  are  not  parallel,  as 
there  was  a  revelation  made  to  the  prophet  on  the  points  in  question, 
and  that  this  revelation  was  made  through  the  medium  of  a  "  form." 

To  this  the  reply  is  obvious,  i.  The  form  employed  as  the  medium 
of  the  revelation  must  have  been  in  ivords  determined  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  2.  This  "form"  must  have  been  regarded  by  the  prophet 
as  not  only  the  most  suitable,  but  as  possessing  the  highest  of  all 
sanctions.  3.  The  prophet's  ignorance  of  the  mysteries  couched 
under  this  sacred  "  form" — an  ignorance  which  the  Spirit  refused  to 
enlighten — must  have  utterly  disqualified  him  for  framing  a  substitute. 
4.  As  the  prophet  was  under  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  when  he 
was  receiving  the  revelation,  so  was  he  under  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  communicating  what  he  had  received  to  others,  whether 
orally  or  by  writing ;  for  it  is  not  simply  of  prophecies  Jittered,  but  of 
the  prophecies  of  Scripture  that  it  is  said,  they  came  not  by  the  will 
of  men,  but  through  the  agency  of  men  who  spake  under  the  moving 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Now,  as  the  testimony  of  Peter  covers  all 
the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  every  prophecy  of  Scripture 
delivered  under  the  old  dispensation,  it  follows,  inevitably,  that  the 
"  form  "  of  the  record  bequeathed  to  us  is  not  of  man  but  of  God. 

Such  is  the  doctrine  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  respecting  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  They  teach  that,  both  as 
to  "substance"  and  "form,"  it  is  of  God.  The  passages  quoted 
have  been  few,  but  they  are  truly  representative  of  the  whole,  and, 
taken  together,  cover  the  entire  record  whose  claims  are  in  question. 
They  are,  moreover,  unchallengeable  by  any  critic  deserving  of 
notice ;  and  he  who  will  not  abide  their  arbitrament  stands  outside 
the  pale  of  Christian  controversy. 

In  judging  of  the  inspiration  of  the  New  Testament  the  foremost 
place  must  be  given  to  the  testimony  of  both  Testaments  to  the  rela- 
tion of  the  Incarnate  Word  himself  to  the  "substance"  and  the 
"  form  "  of  the  revelation  he  was  commissioned  to  conmiunicate. 

I.  The  Scriptures  teach  that  the  revelation  which  Christ,  as  the 
Prophet  of  the  Church,  delivered  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  was  a  revela- 
tion given  him  of  the  Father.  2.  They  teach  that  this  revelation  was 
given  to  him  not  only  as  to  "substance,"  but  as  to  "form."     The 


TALY. 


ROCHEMANANT.-A.D.U87.TOUMPJ.DE.SAGUCT; 

ROMANCE  MS  BIBLE. VAUDOIS  BIBLE    1535 

JANAVEL.JAHIER  165S;PIEDM0HTESE  EASTER" 

EXPULSION     EXILE. 1686-7, 


THE  GLORIOUS  RETURN. 


CONSlSTORIAL:ORGANISATIONNAPOLEON:A01g05 
FELIX  NEFr-AD.I824-GENBECKWITH. 

EDICT  OF  EMANCIPATION 

-^HARLi:S^„>JV.L8ERT^>^  0:184-8.^ 


THEISRAELOF  THEALPS. 

THY  SLAUGHTErteO  SAINTS  WfiOSE  BONES 
LIE  SCATTERED  ON  THE  A.LPI.NE  MOUNTAINS  COLO, 
EVEN  THEM  WHO  KEPT  THr  TRUTH  SO  PU^E  OF  OLD 
WHEN  ALL  OUR  FATHERS  WO  RSH!PP£0  STOCKS  AHO  3T0'K£S. 


yAyB©i§-wALeiNsis 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  121 

language  of  the  normal  promise  and  prophecy  of  the  rise  of  the 
Prophet  of  all  prophets  (Deut.  xviii.  18)  puts  this  beyond  question  : 
"  I  will  raise  them  up  a  Prophet  from  among  their  brethren,  like  unto 
thee,  and  I  will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth;  and  he  shall  speak  unto 
them  all  that  I  shall  command  him."  Christ  was  "  that  Prophet," 
and  in  the  execution  of  his  prophetic  functions  he  recognized  these 
Deuteronomic  limitations.  Thus  (John  viii.  26-40)  he  says  to  the 
Jews:  "He  that  sent  me  is  true;  and  I  speak  to  the  world  those 
things  which  I  have  heard  of  him.  .  .  .  I  do  nothing  of  myself ;  but- 
as  my  Father  hath  taught  me,  I  speak  those  things.  .  .  Ye  seek  to 
kill  me,  a  man  that  hath  told  you  the  truth  which  I  have  heard  of 
God."  On  another  occasion  (John  xii.  49,  50)  he  places  his  recog- 
nition of  the  Deuteronomic  limitations  beyond  doubt:  "1  have  not 
spoken  of  myself;  but  the  Father  which  sent  me,  he  gave  me  a  com- 
mandment, what  I  should  say,  and  what  I  should  speak.  And  I 
know  that  his  commandment  is  life  everlasting:  whatsoever  I  speak, 
therefore,  even  as  the  Father  said  unto  me,  so  I  speak."  To  the 
same  purport  are  his  words  (John  xvii.  8)  :  "I  have  given  unto  them 
the  words  {to.  p/J^ara)  which  thou  gavest  me." 

Confirmatory  of  these  testimonies  are  the  representations  of  the 
Apocalypse.  The  revelation  which  Jesus  Christ  gave  to  John  was  a 
revelation,  "which  God  gave  unto  him."  That  this  was  a  definite 
revelation,  determined  as  to  its  "form,"  is  shown  by  the  symbol  of 
the  seven-sealed  book  which  he  received  from  the  Father,  and  which 
he  was  commissioned  to  read  and  administer. 

To  this  it  may  possibly  be  replied,  that  this  limitation  only  con- 
cerned the  revelation  as  given  of  the  Father  to  Christ,  but  that  he  was 
at  liberty  to  choose  what  "form"  he  might  see  fit  in  revealing  to 
others  the  mysteries  so  definitely  committed  to  him.  This  is  all  that 
can  be  said  ;  but  it  is  directly  opposed  to  the  normal  Deuteionomic 
prophecy,  which  testifies  that  God  was  to  put  his  word  in  the  prophet's 
mouth,  as  it  is  opposed  to  the  express  language  of  our  Saviour  him- 
self, who  tells  the  Jews,  in  the  passages  referred  to,  that  the  words  he 
spake  were  not  his  but  his  Father's  ;  words  which  the  Father  had  given 
him  commandment  to  speak,  and  which  he  spake  as  the  Father  had  taught 
hiiTi.  What  can  such  language  mean  but  that  our  I>ord  acted  through- 
out upon  the  principle  of  giving  to  men  the  revelation  he  had  received 
from  the  Father  in  the  "  form  "  in  which  he  himself  had  received  it? 

Besides  all  this  and  confirmatory  of  it,  we  have  the  testimony  of 
the  Scriptures  regarding  the  relation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  person 
and  office  of  Christ.  They  teach  that  the  Spirit's  agency  was  neces- 
sary to  the  preparation  of  his  body,  and  to  his  qualification  for  the 
execution  of  the  functions  of  his  mediatorial  office.  He  applies  to 
himself  the  language  of  Isaiah,  chapter  Ixi.  i,  "The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  God  is  upon  me,  because  the  Lord  hath  anointed  me  to  preach 
good  tidings,"  etc.  This  anointing  took  place  when,  at  his  baptism, 
the  Holy  Ghost  descended  and  abode  upon  him.  Then  it  was,  and 
not  till  then,  he  entered  upon  his  marvellous  ministry.     What  can 


122  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

this  formal  anointing  of  the  Most  Holy  mean,  if  it  do  not  teach  that 
the  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  indispensable  to  the  qualification 
of  the  God-man  for  his  work?  Apart  from  that  anointing  even  the 
Son  of  Man,  from  whom  the  apostles  received  commission,  was  not 
himself  qualified  to  preach  the  gospel. 

In  the  visions  of  Patmos,  the  same  dependence  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
upon  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  is  recognized  and  beautifully  symbolized. 
John  beheld  a  lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,  having  seven  horns  and  seven 
eyes,  which  are  the  seven  spirits  of  God  (the  Holy  Ghost  in  all  his 
unlimited  plenitude)  sent  forth  into  all  the  earth.  The  Spirit  is  to 
him  as  eyes,  and  it  is  because  he  ]wssesses  the  Spirit  (as  one  of  his 
qualifications)  that  he  can  take  the  book  out  of  the  right  hand  of  him 
that  sits  upon  the  throne,  and  loose  the  seven  seals  thereof 

In  harmony  with  all  this  is  his  own  testimony  to  the  agency  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  composition  of  the  letters  he  dictated  to  his  servant  John. 
At  the  close  of  each,  though  he  is  himself  the  speaker,  he  calls  upon  the 
churches  to  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith.  It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out 
the  significance  of  this  clearly  revealed  dependence  of  the  eternal 
Logos  upon  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ii^  communicating  to  men 
the  revelation  entrusted  to  him  as  the  Prophet  of  the  Church.  If 
there  ever  were  such  an  argument  as  the  a  fortiori,  we  are  certainly 
now  in  a  position  to  lay  claim  to  it,  and  urge  it,  in  defence  of  the 
immemorial  doctrine  of  an  inspiration  that  extends  to  the  language 
of  the  sacred  record  as  it  came  from  tiie  hands  of  the  inspired  writers. 
If  the  incarnate  Word  of  God  needed  the  unction  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  giving  forth  to  men  the  revelation  he  received  from  the  Father,  in 
whose  bosom  he  dwells,  and  if  the  agency  of  the  Spirit,  even  in  his 
case,  extended  to  the  words  he  spake  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  the 
meek,  or  in  dictating  an  epistle,  it  must  follow,  beyond  question,  that 
we  have  the  right  to  say  in  regard  to  all  prophets  and  apostles  and 
evangelists,  whether  of  the  Old  Testament  or  the  New,  "much  more," 
yea,  infinitely  more.  If  "  the  Son  of  Man,"  as  a  prophet,  needed  to 
have  "the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  upon  him,"  much  more  must  any 
of  the  sons  of  men  need  hma  when  they  are  called  upon  to  reveal  to 
others  what  God  has  revealed  to  them. 

In  view  of  this  inevitable  conclusion,  it  is  the  less  to  be  regretted 
that  there  is  not  room  to  enter  upon  the  argument  in  proof  of  the 
plenary  or  verbal  inspiration  of  the  New  Testament  writers.  If  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  needed,  to  the  extent  already  shown,  the  gift  and  opera- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  what  show  of  reason  can  any  one  con- 
tend that  Peter,  or  James,  or  John,  or  Matthew,  or  Paul,  or  any  other 
New  Testament  writer  stood,  so  far  tis  the  "form  "  they  were  to  em- 
ploy was  concerned,  in  no  need  of  any  such  agency?  The  so-called 
higher  criticism  may  say  so,  but  Christ  himself  had  no  such  estimate 
of  their  ability,  as  his  treatment  of  them  after  his  resurrection  shows, 
and  as  the  provision  made  by  him  for  their  endowment,  wlien  he  as- 
cended on  high  leading  captivity  captive,  demonstrates.  He  made  it 
manifest  that  he  regarded  them  as  unqualified  even  to  rehearse  what 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  123 

he  had  said  unto  them,  and  therefore  promised  and  gave  unto  them 
the  Holy  Ghost,  not  only  to  reveal  to  them  what  they  were  at  that 
tims  unable  to  bear,  but  also  to  bring  all  things  to  their  remembrance, 
whatsoever  he  had  said  unto  them. 

Th„>  limits  necessarily  ini])osed  by  our  esteemed  committee  forbid 
the  presentation  of  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  New  Testament 
writers  of  their  claiming  for  themselves  an  inspiration  equal  to  that 
already  established  in  behalf  of  the  writers  of  the  Old.  Enough, 
however,  has  been  advanced  to  indicate  to  any  attentive  reader  of  the 
Bible  the  line  of  proof,  and  to  satisfy  anyone  who  will  accept  as  ulti- 
mate the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures  themselves  upon  the  subject, 
that  the  Church  of  God  has  not  been  cherishing  a  delusion  in  hold- 
ing that  "all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  that  its 
words  and  clauses  are  absolutely  infallible."  Let  the  opponents  of  a 
verbal  inspiration,  acting  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation and  fair  discussion,  dispose  of  the  evidence  now  presented, 
and,  having  done  this,  let  them  point  out  the  texts  of  Scripture  in 
which  the  doctrine  they  would  substitute  for  it  is  taught.  This  they 
have  never  done,  and  this  they  cannot  do.  They  have  framed  theories 
on  the  assumption  that  the  Bible  may  be  a  divine  revelation  and  yet 
contain  errors.  They  have  been  dealing  with  it  as  our  missionaries 
have  dealt  with  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindus.  They  have  tried  to 
prove  that  tlie  men  who  profess  to  have  v/ritten  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  were,  nevertheless,  liable  to  err,  and  have  actually 
erred  in  matters  of  history  and  science,  and  things  "  which  do  not 
touch  faith  or  life,"  or  "pertain  to  salvation."  There  is  no  need  to 
dwell  upon  the  unscientific  character  of  this  procedure,  or  to  point 
out  the  tendency  of  such  teaching.  Let  the  theory  be  adopted,  and 
('hristianity  must  share  the  fate  of  Hinduism.  If  it  can  be  shown 
that  its  inspired  writers,  who  claim  to  speak,  not  in  the  words  which 
man's  Avisdom  teacheth,  but  in  the  words  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
teacheth,  err  when  they  tell  us  of  earthly  things — things  subject  to 
our  observation,  and  of  which  we  are  able  to  judge — it  is  manifest  that 
none,  save  the  grossly  ignorant  and  superstitious,  will  believe  them 
when  they  tell  us  of  heavenly  things. 

OBJECTIONS. 

The  chief  objections  against  the  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  arise, 
either  from  a  misapprehension  of  the  doctrine  itself,  or  of  the  sources 
of  proof.  I.  It  is  objected  that  according  to  this  doctrine  the  sacred 
writers  are  reduced  to  the  rank  of  mere  unconscious,  unintelligent 
machines.  The  answer  is,  that  the  objection  assumes  that  the  writers 
were  moved  ab  extra,  by  a  power  acting  so  as  to  coerce  them  to  act, 
or,  rather,  so  as  to  educe  from  their  agency  or  instrumentality,  results 
in  the  production  of  which  the  appropriate  faculties  were  not  con- 
sciously engaged.  This  assumption  is  utterly  destitute  of  foundation. 
hy  harmony  with  the  analogy  of  the  faith,  especially  in  the  doctrine 
of  efficacious  grace  put  forth  in  conversion,  it  is  held   tliat   the  Holy 


124  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Spirit  acts  upon  tlie  powers  of  the  soul  ab  intra,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  constitution  of  its  powers.  If  the  Holy  Spirit,  without  do- 
ing violence  to  the  freedom  of  a  sinner,  can  act  within  liiai  so  as  to 
determine  his  views,  volitions,  and  acts,  in  regard  to  sin  and  holiness, 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that  he  is  able  to  determine  the  voli- 
tions and  acts  and  utterances  of  men  in  communicating  his  will  to 
others,  without-  infringing  upon  the  prerogative  of  free  agency. 

2.  it  is  objected  that  verbal  inspiration  is  inconsistent  with  the 
changes  through  which  the  original  manuscripts  have  passed  during 
the  transmission  of  their  contents  from  age  to  age  of  the  Chuich's 
history.  The  doctrine,  it  is  alleged,  will  not  bear  the  test  of  facts, 
and  the  facts  relied  on  by  its  opponents  are  the  various  readings  and 
certain  alleged  errors  and  discrepancies  in  the  existing  manuscripts 
and  versions.  Such  is  the  objection  and  such  are  the  grounds  on 
which  it  is  urged,  and  those  who  urge  it  claim  to  be  distinguished  for 
their  candor  and  scientific  accuracy.  To  this  objection  sulifice  it  to 
say  that  the  question  is  not  about  the  inspiration  of  transcribers,  but 
about  the  inspiration  of  the  original  writers.  It  is  one  thing  lor  a 
copyist  to  make  mistakes  in  transcription,  and  a  very  different  thing 
for  a  prophet  or  an  apostle  or  an  evangelist  to  make  mistakes  in 
committing  to  writing  what  the  Holy  Ghost  inspired  him  to  write. 
The  facts  relied  on,  therefore,  as  the  testing  facts  are  not  the  testing 
facts  of  the  doctrine.  The  doctrine  does  not  assume  the  absolutely 
accurate  transmission  in  every  instance,  from  generation  to  generation, 
of  the  contents  of  the  original  manuscri])ts  ;  and  hence  the  various 
readings  or  the  discrepancies  alleged  to  be  found  in  existing  manu- 
scripts cannot  be  adduced  as  tests  of  its  truth.  The  testing  facts  are  the 
testimonies  of  the  book  itself,  and  these,  as  we  have  already  seen,  are 
such  as  to  leave  us  no  alternative  but  to  accept  the  doctrine  of  a  verbally 
inspired  revelation,  or  reject  in  ioto  the  writings  in  which  the  claim  is 
put  forth.  However  the  manuscripts  and  versions  may  differ  in  other 
respects,  they  are  absolutely  at  one  on  this  subject.  They  unite  in 
claiming  for  the  sacred  writers  an  inspiration  which  extended  to  the 
words.  When  the  higher  criticism  has  done  its  worst  the  remnant 
records  still  advance  this  claim  ;  and  this  unchallengeable  consensus 
of  the  extant  records  is  explicable  only  on  the  assumption  that  such 
was  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  inspiration  claimed  by  the  sacred 
writers  themselves. 

3.  But  it  is  objected  :  "  If  a  Bible  containing  some  errors  and  im- 
perfections would  not  have  been  God's  infallible  word  when  it  came 
from  the  pen  of  inspiration,  then  the  Bible  which,  as  we  read  it,  does 
contain  errors,  cannot  be  God's  word  to  us  now."  Or,  as  another 
writer  puts  it:  "It  matters  little  to  me  whether  a  gem  in  my  pos- 
session, having  some  little  flaw,  originally  exhibited  that  imperfec- 
tion or  owes  it  to  an  accident  that  occurred  yesterday."  In  other 
words,  it  is  asked  :  "  What  is  gained  by  contending  that  at  one  time 
the  Scriptures  were  absolutely  free  from  imperfections,  seeing  that 
imperfections  and  errors  exist  in  the  Bible  as  we  now  find  it  ?  "     This 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  125 

is  very  much  like  asking:  "What  is  gained  by  contending  that  at  one 
time  man  was  absohitely  perfect,  seeing  that  man  as  we  now  find  him 
exhibits  many  imperfections?  "  The  questions  are  so  far  akin  that  they 
reveal  an  unwillingness  to  be  guided  in  our  views  of  what  the  Scrip- 
tures teach  by  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures  themselves.  It  may 
seem  a  matter  of  little  moment  what  views  one  may  entertain  on  these 
points,  but  it  nevertheless  does  matter  a  great  deal  whether  we  accept 
or  reject  the  testimony  of  God  himself  about  the  character  of  his  own 
work  as  it  came  from  his  own  hands.  It  is  a  matter  of  some  theo- 
logical importance  whether  we  hold  that  God  created  man  upright, 
or  hold  that  he  created  him  in  a  state  of  moral  equilibrium  or  with 
positive  immoral  propensities  ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  no  less  impor- 
tance whether  we  regard  God  as  giving  men,  through  apostles  and 
prophets,  by  the  agency  of  his  Spirit,  a  revelation  of  his  will  which 
cannot  be  broken,  even  in  its  briefest  clause,  or  hold  that  in  its  origi- 
nal production  he  permitted  his  servants  to  mar  the  record  with  errors 
fitted  to  discredit  its  claims.  Whatever  may  be  the  present  state  of 
the  record,  owing  to  the  fault  of  uninspired  copyists,  we  are  not  to  be 
led  thereby  to  reject  the  concurrent  testimony  of  Christ  himself  and 
his  holy  apostles  and  prophets  respecting  the  absolute  perfection  and 
infallibility  of  the  revelation  as  given  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  sole 
question  is.  What  do  the  Scriptures  say  on  the  point  in  debate  ?  Do 
they  say  that  inspiration  had  to  do  simply  with  the  "  substance  "  of 
revelation  and  did  not  extend  to  the  "  form,"  or  do  they  teach  that 
it  determined  the  very  words  employed  by  the  sacred  writers  ?  That 
the  latter  is  their  teaching  the  passages  already  adduced  place  beyond 
dispute.  The  testimony  of  the  Bible  about  itself  is  that  it  is  given 
in  all  its  parts  by  an  inspiration  which  extended  to  the  words,  and 
determined  the  "form"  as  well  as  the  "substance"  of  the  revela- 
tion it  "  conveys." 

4.  An  objection  is  founded  on  the  diversity  of  style  by  which  the 
different  books  or  sections  of  the  record  are  characterized.  This,  it  is 
alleged,  is  inconsistent  with  the  unity  of  authorship  implied  in  the 
verbal  theory  of  inspiration,  which  ascribes  the  language  of  the  record 
to  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  objection  proceeds  upon  an  obviously  false 
assumption,  as  unity  of  authorship  is  not  inconsistent  with  diversity 
of  style.  Even  when  the  authorship  is  simply  and  absolutely  human, 
the  principle  does  not  hold.  The  dramatis personcc  of  Shakespeare  speak 
and  feel  and  act  with  all  the  diversity  characteristic  of  distinct  personal- 
ities, although  the  language  and  feeling  and  action  proceed  from  the 
one  personal  inspiring  agent.  The  objection,  moreover,  overlooks  the 
fact  that  the  different  agents  employed  by  the  Spirit  of  God  were  not 
ex  post  facto  selections,  but  were  before  individually  ordained  to 
their  respective  departments  of  this  service,  and  were  personally 
framed  and  fashioned  and  cultured  for  the  very  purpose  of  giving  the 
recorded  revelation  tliat  characteristic  diversity  in  unity  which  im- 
parts to  the  word  of  God  a  charm  altogether  inimitable  and  unique, 
and  proves  it  to  have  come  from  the  one  Spirit  through  the  previously 


126  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

appointed  and  ordered  agencies.  Having  tlius  ordained  and  equipped 
his  servants  as  fit  instruments  for  the  attainment  of  the  end  aimed 
at,  it  is  surely  not  too  much  to  assume  that,  when  he  inspired  the 
agents  thus  prepared,  he  recognized  liis  own  workmanship  and  pur- 
pose, and  made  use  of  all  the  qualities  and  personal  peculiarities  pre- 
viously imparted.  If  all  this  be  true — and  it  is  true  beyond  all  gain- 
saying— then  It  must  follow  tliat  the  more  thorough  the  inspiration, 
the  more  thoroughly  will  the  resultant  record  be  characterized  by  the 
personal  peculiarities  of  the  agents  employed.  Only  by  suppressing 
and  holding  in  check  and  abeyance  characteristics  imparted  by  him- 
self with  a  specific  design  could  the  inspiring  Spirit  have  produced 
that  monotony  of  style  which  anti-verbalists  contend  must  result  from 
a  thorough  all-determining  inspiration.  In  other  words,  if  the  Holy 
Spirit  would  prosecute,  in  the  case  of  each  selected  agent,  his  own 
ante-natal  purpose,  he  would  do  what  verbal  inspirationists  contend 
he  has  done — viz.,  take  absolute  possession  of  his  own  prepared  in- 
struments, actuating  them  ab  intra  so  as  to  determine  them,  in  har- 
mony with  the  laws  of  their  preordained  constitutions,  even  to  the 
selection  of  the  language  they  should  employ. 

5.  With  regard  to  objections  founded  upon  hitherto  unresolved 
errors  or  inaccuracies  or  discrepancies,  we  must  simply  confess  our 
ignorance  and  await  more  light.  Difficulties  once  regarded  as  un- 
solvable  have  given  way  before  increasing  knowledge,  and  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  assume  that  others  which  we  cannot  at  present  solve 
may  yet  yield  up  the  key  to  a  better  informed  biblical  scholarship. 
In  view  of  the  array  of  evidence  by  which  the  doctrine  of  a  verbal 
inspiration  is  sustained,  it  is  certainly  more  becoming,  more  rational 
and  more  reverent  to  assume  such  an  attitude  than  to  reject  a  doctrine 
sustained  by  testimony  which  we  must  accept,  or  abandon  our  faith  in 
the  Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  possible  that  there  may 
still  remain  difficulties  sufficient  to  tax  and  tire  and,  perhaps,  defeat  all 
the  efforts  of  the  profoundest  biblical  scholarship,  but  there  is  no 
difificulty  conceivable  which  can  be  compared  with  that  arising  from 
the  denial  of  a  verbal  inspiration.  Those  who  deny  this  doctrine 
must  face  the  unsolvable  problem  of  reconciling  their  theory  with  the 
positive  counter-claim  of  the  Scriptures  themselves.  Other  difficulties 
may  perplex  and  puzzle,  but  this,  as  it  is  absolutely  insurmountable, 
must,  if  not  abandoned,  involve  the  unhappy  theorist  in  absolute  de- 
spair of  all  solution,  and  imperil,  if  it  do  not  subvert,  his  faith  in  the 
testimony  of  the  divine  record. 

DISCUSSION  ON  DR.   HITCHCOCK'S  PAPER. 

The  President. — Next  in  order  comes  the  discussion  on  the 
papers  that  have  been  read ;  beginning  with  the  first  paper  of 
last  evening — Professor  Hitchcock's  paper  entitled,  "  The  Cere- 
monial, the  Moral,  and  the  Emotional,  in  Christian  Life  and 
Worship." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  127 

Rev.  Prof.  Henry  Calderwood,  LL.  D.  (of  Edinburgh), — 
I  come  to  the  platform  at  this  time,  not  because  I  specially 
desire  for  myself  to  have  the  opportunity  of  making  remarks, 
but  because,  being  a  member  of  the  Business  Committee,  I 
thought  it  necessary  to  move  the  resolution  which  has  been  car- 
ried this  morning,  and  which  has  now  been  read  to  you,  as  a 
necessary  preliminary  for  our  having  such  a  consultation  together 
in  this  Council^  as  seems  to  be  exceedingly  desirable,  if  there 
are  to  be  practical  beneficial  results  from  our  deliberations  ;  and, 
in  accordance  with  this  proposal,  you  will  notice  that  the  order 
of  remark  is  to  be  the  order  in  which  the  speeches  were  read. 
As  I  held  myself  responsible  to  introduce  the  matter,  if  the 
motion  were  carried,  I  desire  to  make  a  remark  or  two  about 
that  exceedingly  valuable  and  important  paper  which  was  read 
last  night  by  Prof  Hitchcock,  and  in  listening  to  which  I  think 
we  all  felt  it  a  matter  for  gratification  and  thankfulness  that  the 
arrangements  of  the  several  seminaries  of  this  land  made  it  pos- 
sible for  some  of  the  professors  of  those  seminaries  to  be  with 
us  and  thus  read  their  own  papers. 

Whether  Dr.  Hitchcock  be  in  the  house  or  not,  I  am  not  sure, 
but  I  think  we  are  under  great  obligations  to  him  for  placing 
before  us  as  the  first  subject  of  consideration,  the  Ceremonial,. 
the  Moral  and  the  Emotional,  in  Christian  Life  and  Worship.  His 
paper  was,  I  think,  an  exceeding  valuable  contribution  to  the 
question — which  is  for  us  as  Presbyterians  a  very  important  one 
— of  liberty  and  latitude  in  religious  life  and  worship;  because  it 
seems  to  me,  in  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
more  especially  its  history  in  Scotland,  where  we  naturally  are 
,  strongly  conservative  and  very  slow  to  move,  it  becomes  impor- 
tant for  us  to  discuss  what  liberty  there  may  be,  or,  perhaps  more 
appropriately,  what  variety  we  may  expect  to  find,  in  the  Chris- 
tian life,  while  that  life  conscientiously  and  individually  is 
seeking  to  conform  to  a  fixed  standard  in  God's  word;  and 
passing  from  the  question  of  individual  life,  what  latitude  there 
may  really  and  reasonably  be,  within  a  Presbyterian  Church,  as 
to  the  forms  of  its  worship.  Now  in  touching  upon  points  such 
as  those  to  which  Dr.  Hitchcock  referred  last  night,  concerning 


128  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE 

liturgy,  and  concerning  various  forms  of  worship,  and  various 
observances  of  anniversary  occasions,  he  was  touching  upon 
points  which  are  regarded  by  us  in  Scotland  as  exceeding  Hable 
to  debate. 

Let  me  speak  upon  the  question  concerning  3  liturgy.  You  are 
well  aware  that  in  Scotland  the  antagonism  t-o  liturgy  has  been 
very  great,  and  that  the  reference  to  Jennie  Geddes'  stool  still 
has  very  great  power.  But  I  hope  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
we  are  prepared  to  recognize  that  it  is  no  element  distinguishing 
Presbyterians  as  such  to  declare  a  liturgy  unwarrantable  ;  that 
our  Episcopalian  friends  will  misunderstand  us  if  they  regard  it 
as  a  distinguishing  character  of  Presbyterianism  to  forbid  a 
liturgy. 

But  they  will  also  misunderstand  us  if  they  think  it  is  charac- 
teristic of  Presbyterianism  to  be  deprived  of  liberty.  There  may 
be  certain  deviations  and  variety  within  the  several  branches  of 
the  Presbyterian  Churches  in  their  practice  in  this  matter;  but 
it  is  characteristic  of  our  Church  that  no  minister  in  it  shall  be 
bound  by  any  liturgy.  If  wc  find  a  liturgy  to  be  healthful, 
under  any  circumstances,  there  is  not  that  under  our  system 
which  will  withdraw  from  us  the  liberty  of  its  use;  but  we  will 
not  be  bound  down  by  any  liturgy  which  will  require  us  to  go 
a  certain  round  in  the  service  of  God's  house ;  and  above  all  it 
shall  never  happen  in  the  experience  of  any  Christian  minister 
in  our  Church  that  he  will  find  himself  debarred  from  distinct 
and  immediate  reference  to  the  great  wants  of  a  people,  simply 
because  there  is  no  form  laid  down. 

Rev.  George  C.  Hutton,  D.  D.,  of  Paisley,  Scotland. — I  wish 
to  make  one  or  two  remarks  by  way  of  very  slight  qualification 
to  some  expressions  that  fell  from  Dr.  Hitchcock  in  that  most 
intellectual  and  able  paper  which  he  read  to  us.  I -do  not  know 
indeed  that  I  differ  from  what  he  intended.  I  rather  think  I 
may  not.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  he  had  better  have  qualified 
one  expression  which  he  used  with  reference  to  the  formula, 
"justification  by  faith  alone."  He  seemed  to  think  that  there 
was  something  dangerous  in  that.  He  advocated  the  preaching 
of  morality.     To  that  I  say.  Amen,  and  I  do  not  know  that  we 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


129 


fail  in  that  even  in  Scotland,  But  I  advocate  the  preaching  of 
doctrine,  and  I  do  not  think  that  formula  at  all  worn  out  or 
even  dangerous.  Justification  by  faith  alone !  By  what  else 
I  ask  any  sinful  brother  does  he  hope  to  be  justified?  Is  it  by 
the  greater  moralities,  or  by  the  lesser  moralities  ?  Is  it  by  his 
good,  clean,  square  life  that  he  hopes  to  be  justified?  I  may 
bring  all  that  to  my  Maker  and  Law-giver  and  Judge,  and  would 
he  be  justified  as  a  holy  being,  and  as  a  law-giver,  in  taking  that 
off  my  hand  ?  There  is  not  the  holiest  man  on  earth  who 
would  venture  to  believe  it.  He  must  fall  back  on  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ.  He  must  rest  on  that  great,  clean,  square  life  of 
our  adorable  Redeemer.  I  wish  simply  to  clear  myself  of  being 
supposed,  by  absolute  silence,  entirely  to  approve  of  the  some- 
what unqualified  manner  in  which  our  venerable  and  admirable 
friend  gave  utterance  to  his  views  on  the  subject  of  justification 
by  faith  alone.  I  hold  by  that  formula.  I  hold  that  it  embodies 
scriptural  truth.  It  is  that  which  expresses  the  great  truth 
that  God  himself  could  not  be  justified  in  accepting  the  best 
righteousness  of  the  best  saint  as  a  sufficient  satisfaction  to  his 
justice  and  honor  to  his  law.  That  is  what  I  understand  as  the 
foundation  of  the  formula,  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  I  hope 
that  old  formula,  which  has  run  down  the  ages,  v/ill  continue 
through  the  ages  and  generations  until  it  has  accomplished  its 
great  work  both  in  this  and  in  other  lands. 

Rev.  Prof.  J.  R.  W.  Sloan,  D.  D.,  Allegheny,  Pa. — We  are 
not  only  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  we  are  a  great  Protestant 
Church;  and  we  have  our  origin  and  our  distinctive  character 
by  reason  of  a  protest  against  the  corruptions  of  popery,  past 
and  present.  When  the  reformation  took  place,  it  was  not 
more  a  reformation  of  doctrine  than  it  was  a  reformation  of 
worship.  Indeed,  I  think  if  either  element  is  to  be  specially 
emphasized  it  is  the  reformation  of  worship.  In  undertaking 
that  work  the  reformers  had  some  difficulty  in  arriving  at 
a  principle  that  would  be  fundamental  and  clear ;  and  they 
arrived  at  last  at  this  principle,  that  what  is  not  commanded  in 
the  Scriptures  of  truth,  as  to  the  worship  of  God,  is  forbidden. 
The  great  question  is  really,  if  at  all.  how  shall  I  come  before 
9 


130  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  Lord  and  bow  myself  in  the  presence  of  the  most  high  God? 
I  have  no  power  to  answer  that  question,  but  I  must  learn  it 
from  him.  How  shall  I,  as  an  humble  and  sinful  worm  of  the 
dust,  come  before  him?  Where  shall  I  learn  that?  In  the 
inspired  Scriptures  of  truth.  They  are  no  more  certainly  to  us 
the  rule  as  to  what  we  shall  believe  and  what  we  shall  practise, 
than  they  are  to  us  the  rule  of  the  manner  in  which  we  shall 
worship  the  most  high  God ;  and  whenever  we  introduce  any  of 
our  own  conceptions  or  our  own  ideas  into  it,  we  have,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  the  beginning  of  the  corruptions  that 
overlaid  the  Romish  Church  at  the  period  of  the  reformation. 
And  do  gentlemen  believe  that  they  can  open  these  flood-gates 
once  more,  and  when  they  have  let  out  the  tide  that  any  one 
shall  say.  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  farther  ?  The  only 
position  we  can  take  as  Presbyterians  is  to  withstand  every 
form  of  innovation,  whatever  it  may  be,  that  does  not  rest  on  a 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Alex.  B.  Bruce,  D.  D.,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland. 
— I  desire  to  say  a  word  on  the  question  of  liturgy,  to  which 
Professor  Calderwood  spoke.  I  wish  to  say  how  thankful  I  am 
that  this  whole  subject  was  taken  up  and  so  well  handled  last 
night  by  Dr.  Hitchcock.  It  could  not  have  been  in  better 
hands,  and  I  think  it  would  have  been  well  if  we  had  had 
the  whole  evening  for  the  discussion  of  the  points  which  were 
brought  under  our  notice  by  that  gentleman. 

There  are  two  questions  with  reference  to  the  inclusion  of  the 
liturgical  elements  in  public  worship  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
First,  Is  it  legitimate?  and  second.  Is  it  desirable? 

With  regard  to  the  first  question,  Dr.  Hitchcock  stated  that 
the  exclusion  of  liturgical  elements  was  entirely  unnecessary 
and  uncalled  for  by  our  system  ;  and  referred  to  the  example  of 
the  reformers.  In  that  I  think  he  is  right.  The  use  is  legitimate. 
I  suppose  we  should  all  agree  to  the  sentiment  of  Richard 
Baxter,  who  says,  substantially  :  "  I  cannot  be  of  their  mind  who 
think  God  will  not  accept  a  prayer  which  is  read  from  a  book, 
neither  can  I  be  of  their  mind  who  say  the  same  thing  with 
regard  to   extempore  prayers."     But   is   it   desirable  ?     I   have 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


131 


thought  of  this  question  a  great  many  years,  and  I  have  tried  to 
get  at  the  reason  of  the  two  systems — the  non-Hturgical  system 
and  the  liturgical  system.  Both,  no  doubt,  if  practised  by  godly 
men,  aim  at  edification.  And  how  do  the  partisans  of  both 
systems  justify  their  practice?  It  appears  to  me  that  the  princi- 
ple on  which  the  liturgical  system  is  based  is  this;  a  desire  to 
make  the  congregation  as  independent  as  possible  of  the  defects 
of  the  individual  minister,  and  to  give  them  the  benefits  of  the 
best  thoughts  of  the  wisest  and  holiest  men  of  the  Church  in  all 
ages.  That  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  object.  The  principle  on 
which  our  usual  practice  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  placed 
seems  to  be  this  :  that  every  minister  shall  be  called  on  by  the 
system  of  worship  observed  to  take  full  opportunity  of  his 
ministry  to  stir  up  the  gift  of  God  that  is  in  him,  and  to  cultivate 
the  power  of  conducting  the  public  worship  of  God  in  prayer 
and  preaching  so  as  to  edify  the  people.  That  is  an  admirable 
principle,  and  the  working  out  of  it  has  led  on  the  whole  to  very 
satisfactory  results  ;  that  is  to  say,  our  ministers  hav^e  reached  a 
high  average  of  attainment  in  the  conduct  of  worship.  But 
is  it  not  possible  to  combine  the  advantages  of  both  systems  ? 
That  is  a  question  on  which  my  Scotch  prejudices  had  long 
leaned  to  the  side  of  a  negative.  I  had  been  disposed  to  main- 
tain that,  in  order  to  get  the  full  benefit  of  our  system,  we 
would  be  required  to  insist  upon  it  exclusively.  But  latterly  I 
have  come  to  be  somewhat  inclined  to  another  mind,  and  my 
present  impression  is  (but  I  should  like  to  have  this  regarded  as 
a  pro  tempore  impression,  and  to  speak  subject  to  correction), 
that  Dr.  Hitchcock  spoke  the  truth  when  he  said  there  is  a  bald- 
ness and  unimpressiveness  in  our  worship ;  that  that  is  a  weak 
point  in  our  system;  and  that  possibly  our  worship  could  be 
made  more  impressive  and  more  interesting  if,  besides  the  efforts 
of  the  individual  ministry,  there  were  room  in  our  ministry  for 
the  use  of  such  beautiful  forms  of  prayer  as  that  which  was 
quoted  last  night  of  St.  Chrysostom. 

The  Rev.  A.  M.  Milligan,  D.  D.,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.— On  this 
matter  of  the  worship  of  God  we  have  two  classes  or  modes.  We 
have   the  old   dispensation  and  the   new  dispensation.     Under 


132  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  old  dispensation  the  altars  reeked  with  blood,  the  censers 
smoked  with  incense,  the  priestly  robes,  the  forms  were  all  af- 
fecting the  senses,  striking  the  imagination,  filling  the  mind 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  scene  in  the  temple  of  Solomon, 
The  grandeur  of  the  whole  struck  the  imagination  and  filled 
the  aesthetic  nature  ;  but  there  was  one  peculiarity  about  it 
— a  peculiarity  that  ran  from  first  to  last,  and  that  was  that 
not  one  particle  of  that  ritual,  not  one  act  of  that  service, 
but  must  have  the  divine  inspiration  and  authority.  Cain 
offered  a  sacrifice  of  peace,  intending  to  honor  God,  but  it 
was  not  of  divine  institution,  and  it  was  not  accepted.  And  he 
went  away  not  an  accepted  worshipper,  but  red  with  the  blood 
of  his  brother.  Saul  desired  to  offer  a  sacrifice  under  peculiar 
circumstances.  The  Philistines  were  upon  him.  Samuel  did 
not  come  to  time,  and  he  offered  a  burnt-offering,  but  he  did  not 
gain  acceptance.  When  David  himself  would  bring  the  ark  of 
God  to  Jerusalem,  they  followed  not  the  divine  institution  to 
carry  it  upon  the  priests'  shoulders,  but  it  was  borne  on  a  new 
cart  drawn  by  oxen,  and  Uzzah  put  forth  his  hand  to  save  the  ark, 
and  fell  dead  beside  it.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ritual  and  system  that  is  more  manifest  than  everything 
else,  it  is  that  with  all  its  grand  ceremonial,  everything  must  be 
in  accordance  with  divine  manifestation. 

Now,  what  about  the  New  Testament  dispensation  ?  It  has 
laid  aside  all  these  sensual,  symbolical,  typical  and  manifest  parts 
of  that  system,  and  we  have  not  come  to  the  mountain  that 
might  be  touched  and  that  burned  with  fire,  and  to  the  black- 
ness and  the  darkness  and  the  tempest,  but  we  have  come  to 
Mount  Zion,  the  city  of  the  living  God  and  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  God  the  Judge 
of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 

The  Rev.  W.  P.  Breed,  D.  D. — I  wish,  in  the  first  place, 
simply  to  say  a  double  amen  to  every  word  that  fell  from  the 
lips  of  Dr.  Hutton.  I  wish,  in  the  second  place,  to  express 
a  thought  that  passed  through  my'  mind  while  listening 
to  those  very  able  papers  last  evening  :  that  if  this  Council 
had  authority,  it  would  employ  that  authority  in  enjoining  all 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  133 

our  ministers  and  elders  and  people  to  commit  Dr.  Paxton's 
sermon  to  memory.  In  the  third  place,  I  wish  to  accept  the 
principle  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  as  to  the  form  of  worship  with  re- 
gard to  allowing  churches  to  do  as  they  please  with  or  without 
liturgy,  but  not  to  carry  that  liberty  so  far  as  to  be  everlastingly 
stigmatizing  the  worship  of  the  Methodists,  Baptists  and  Pres- 
byterians as  a  bald  worship.  Some  old  heathen  said  of  Paul 
the  Apostle  that  he  was  a  bald-headed  Galilean  ;  and  some 
Presbyterians  of  our  day  are  all  the  time  saying  that  his  worship 
was  as  bald  as  his  head,  and  therefore  we  must  have  necessarily, 
in  order  to  make  it  at  all  respectable  in  our  drawing-rooms,  some 
wig  with  liturgical  curls. 

Now  what  is  bald  about  Presbyterian  worship  ?  We  read 
the  word  of  God,  and  I  say  that  when  a  man  comes  out  of  his 
study,  after  having  been  before  God  with  one  of  those  chapters, 
and  reads  it  to  the  people,  it  is  not  bald  ;  and  it  is  none  the  less 
bald  when  it  is  read  in  connection  with  a  liturgy.  Then,  as  to 
the  prayer  of  an  honored  man  of  God  with  a  whole  congregation 
on  his  heart,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his  soul,  when  he  comes 
before  his  people  and  brings  their  wants  and  their  woes  before 
their  Maker  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  that  bald  ?  And 
then  when  a  man  has  spent  the  whole  week,  studying  and  turn- 
ing over  the  great  verities  of  God's  holy  word,  and  comes  with  a 
great  burden  on  his  heart,  and  tells  it  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  is 
that  bald  ?  Where  is  the  baldness,  then  ?  There  is  no  such 
thing.  It  is  a  word  without  meaning,  and  that,  I  believe,  is  the 
reason  why  it  is  so  often  used,  because  it  does  not  mean  any- 
thing. 

I  have  been  again  and  again  in  an  English  cathedral,  listening 
to  sixty-five  minutes  of  prayer,  and  the  reading  for  fifteen 
minutes  of  what  no  Presbyterian  would  thijik  of  calling  a  ser- 
mon ;  was  not  that  bald  ?  The  Presbyterian  service  is  not  a  bald 
service,  and  we  do  not  want  any  liturgy  to  adorn  it,  if  only 
God's  Holy  Spirit  comes  down  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people 
and  enables  them  to  do  what  they  are  bound  t  ^  do ;  go  from 
their  closets  to  the  house  of  God ;  and  the  ministers  to  do  as 
they  are  bound  to  do :  go  with  their  hearts   full  of  their  mes- 


134  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sages  and  God's  Holy  Spirit  on  them.  I  protest  against  this 
constant  allusion  to  the  service  of  all  these  churches  as  a  bald 
service.  No,  no  ;  it  is  a  blessed  service,  and  if  we  only  get  near 
to  God  we  shall  have  an  abundance  of  the  glory  of  God  with- 
out any  liturgy. 

The  Rev.  Principal  G.  M.  Grant,  D.  D.,  of  Kingston,  Canada. 
— If  Dr.  Hitchcock  were  here  I  would  not  speak;  but  I  am  told 
he  is  not  here,  and  therefore  I  think  it  is  only  justice  to  him 
that  there  should  be  a  correction,  and,  though  I  do  not  know 
Dr.  Hitchcock,  I  shall  attempt  to  make  it.  I  think  it  is  a  great 
misfortune,  when  we  quote  a  man,  not  to  quote  the  whole  sen- 
tence. Dr.  Hitchcock's  sentence  was  not  that  the  formula  of 
Justification  by  Faith  alone  was  "dangerous,"  but  that  it  was 
"dangerous  in  rash  and  unskilful  hands."  Dr.  Hitchcock  is  just 
as  ready  to  fall  back  on  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  alone, 
and  not  on  his  own  morality,  as  any  man  in  this  house.  His 
paper   showed    that    to    me    for   one. 

I  am  delighted  at  the  tone  of  the  discussion  about  a  liturgy. 
First,  Dr.  Calderwood  most  emphatically  gives  congregational 
liberty — that  is  what  we  want,  to  begin  with.  Secondly,  Dr. 
Breed  emphasizes  that.  Thirdly,  Dr.  Bruce  emphasizes  it. 
But  Dr.  Calderwood  says  it  would  be  wrong  for  the  Presby- 
terian Church  to  bind  its  members  down  to  a  liturgy.  I  in- 
dorse that  thoroughly;  but  at  the  same  time  I  do  not  believe 
that  common  sense  is  dead,  and  if  in  the  future  any  Pres- 
byterian Church  should  think  it  proper  to  adopt  even  a  modi- 
fied liturgy,  as  some  Presbyterian  churches  have  done,  I  say 
it  is  within  their  competence  to  do  so.  But  all  that  is  wanted 
is  true  congregational  liberty ;  and  that  has  been  frankly  con- 
ceded by  every  speaker. 

Thirdly,  Dr.  Sloan  laid  down  the  principle  that  whatsoever  is 
not  commanded  in  the  word  of  God  is  forbidden.  Where  did 
the  Reformers  lay  down  that  principle  ?  Dr.  Sloan  lays  it  down. 
In  what  symbolical  books  is  it?  Quote  them.  It  is  not  in  any 
symbolical  book  of  the  Reformed  Churches  that  I  know  of: 
certainly  it  is  not  in  the  practice  of  the  Reformed  Churches. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


135 


The  Reformed  Church  of  Holland  has  always  used  organs,  and 
there  is  a  partial  liturgy  in  the  Lutheran  Churches,  and  so,  cer- 
tainly, that  principle  has  not  been  accepted  by  the  Reformed 
Churches.  Dr.  Sloan  speaks  about  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible. 
Who  has  thrown  a  doubt  on  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  ?  I 
did  not  gather  that  from  Dr.  Hitchcock's  paper,  and  no  man  by 
implication  should  assert  that  or  imply  that  he  did. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Alexander  F.  Mitchell,  D.  D.,  of  St. 
Andrews,  Scotland. — To  a  certain  extent  I  hold  that  Dr.  Sloan 
is  right  in  what  he  said.  Whatever  changes,  in  the  course 
of  time,  are  made  in  the  worship  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
I  hope  the  liberty  which  has  prevented  our  churches  from 
adopting  anything  of  which  they  cannot  say  that  it  is  com- 
manded in  the  word  of  God,  will  be  distinctly  preserved.  I 
think  there  is  a  more  important  duty  before  us  than  even 
that  of  considering  whether  we  shall  change  our  present  sys- 
tem. It  is  that  we  shall  endeavor  to  make  the  best  of  that 
system.  I  hold  that  we  have  not  done  justice  to  our  system. 
The  elder  Dr.  McCrie  told  us  long  ago  that  the  system  enjoined 
by  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  does  not  intend  that 
any  man  should  lead  the  devotions  of  his  people  without  medi- 
tation and  prayer  in  private;  and  if  there  were  more  of  this, 
there  would  be  fewer  complaints  that  the  great  majority  of  our 
ministers  cannot  at  all  times  pray  as  some  men  can  at  some 
times. 

Rev.  a.  T.  Pierson,  D.  D.,  of  Detroit. — I  beg  the  indulgence 
of  this  assembly  for  intruding  any  suggestions,  but  my  object  is 
to  propound  a  question.  I  listened  with  the  profoundest  inter- 
est to  that  most  able  and  masterly  paper  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  last 
evening,  but  it  impressed  my  mind  that  one  of  the  fundamental 
things  was  left  out  of  it.  According  to  the  etymology  of  the 
word  worship,  it  means  ivorth  ship,  describing  the  worth  of 
Almighty  God.  Anything  which,  in  the  house  of  God,  as  a 
part  of  God's  worship,  has  no  tendency  to  exalt  and  magnify 
him,  is  foreign  to  the  fundamental  notion  of  worship;  for  in 
God's  house  God  alone  should  be  exalted.  Now  it  appears 
to  me,  that  one  of  the  great  difficulties  in  the  introduction  of 


136  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

a  new  ceremonial  lies  in  this  :  that  the  tendency  is,  in  the  first 
place,  to  divert  attention  from  Almighty  God;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  to  exalt  the  human  medium,  instrumentality,  or  agent. 
If,  for  example,  it  be  pleaded,  in  behalf  of  quartette  choirs  with 
solo  performances  that  soar  into  the  stars  and  descend  among 
the  rocks,  that  they  minister  to  the  aesthetic  taste,  let  it  also  be 
remembered  that  they  tend  to  individual  exaltation,  to  call  atten- 
tion to  one's  self,  to  a  musical,  to  an  aesthetic,  to  an  intellectual, 
to  an  artistic  performance,  and,  in  so  far  as  the  attention  is  di- 
rected to  the  man  himself,  it  is  diverted  from  God.  Let  it  be 
also  remembered  that  in  the  introduction  of  liturgical  forms, 
which  are  of  purely  human  and  uninspired  origin,  precisely  the 
same  danger  is  incurred,  the  tendency  to  direct  the  attention  to 
human  forms  that  have  no  authority  of  inspiration,  and  away 
from  the  great  and  glorious  forms  which,  even  in  the  matter  of 
the  speech  or  dialect  of  prayer,  the  word  of  God  so  amply  fur- 
nishes. If  a  man  will  go  into  his  closet  and  study  the  service 
of  prayer  in  the  house  of  God  as  he  studies  the  service  of 
preaching  in  the  house  of  God,  we  shall  not  hear  the  cry 
of  baldness  in  our  worship.  The  simple  fact  is,  while  many  of 
us  study  our  sermons  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
week,  our  prayers  are  in  the  worst  sense  extempore  prayers — 
not  born  of  the  inspiring  dialect  of  Holy  Scripture;  and  when  I 
speak  of  the  dialect  of  Holy  Scripture  in  prayer,  I  do  not  refer 
to  the  simple  stringing  along  through  the  prayer  of  a  number 
of  texts  disjointed,  disconnected,  and  having  no  internal  and  in- 
herent relationship;  but  rather  to  such  lingering  before  the 
mercy  seat,  that  when  he  comes  to  conduct  the  service  of 
prayer,  he  involuntarily  breathes  the  words  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  taught  as  vehicles  of  divine  supplication.  And  let 
me  add,  that  I  am  satisfied  that  the  same  principle  obtains  in 
preaching.  Allow  me  modestly  to  utter  my  frank  and  honest 
testimony,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  frequently  turned,  as  it  were, 
from  his  course  by  the  effort  on  the  part  of  a  carnal  ambition  to 
present  before  the  people  intellectual  thoughts,  and  pathetic  im- 
ageries, and  philosophic  discussions,  which  call  attention  to  one's 
self,  and  not  to  the  word  of  God  and  to  the  glorified  Christ 


lK]@LL/^iM© 


'.smeamnmtit^. 


JULIANA  Of  STOLBERG 


"^^l^'s/^ 


NLW  NETHERLANDS 

MICHAELIUS    A.D.I688 
CLASSIS    OF   AMSTFRDAM 

PURITAN   Ft' 


I 


4 


i 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  137 

The  Rev.  John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. — Admirable  as  the 
remarks  of  our  brethren  have  been,  1  think  we  ought  to  remem- 
ber, in  courtesy  to  the  churches  represented  here  so  largely  as 
the  English-speaking  Presbyterian  churches  are,  that  the  ma- 
jority of  the  churches  represented  in  this  Council  are  more  or 
less  liturgical  churches  ;  and  I  think  it  is  due  to  our  brethren 
who  use,  either  largely  or  less  largely,  liturgical  services  that 
they  shall  go  away  not  feeling  that  this  Council  historically 
connects  liturgical  services  with  the  corruptions  of  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Nichol.'VS  Hofmeyr. — I  wish  to  say  a  word 
on  the  subject  of  liturgies.  The  National  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Holland  has  a  liturgy  for  celebrating  baptism,  communion, 
and  marriage.  These  liturgies  have  been  received  by  her  daugh- 
ter in  South  Africa,  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  which  my  co- 
delegate  and  myself  represent  in  this  Council.  These  liturgies 
are  prized  by  us  as  precious  jewels  transmitted  to  us  by  our 
fathers.  Not  many  years  ago  we  had  a  hard  struggle  against 
rationalism,  and  then,  to  the  joy  of  our  faithful  congregations,  a 
sermon  more  or  less  tainted  with  rationalism  would  often  be  fol- 
lowed by  an  orthodox  liturgy  for  celebrating  baptism  or  the 
communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  These  liturgies  are  chiefly 
expositions  of  sound  doctrine. 

Dr.  Prime. — I  move  that  the  discussion  be  discontinued  on 
the  first  paper. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

There  being  no  discussion  on  the  paper  read  by  Principal 
Rainy,  or  upon  the  paper  read  by  Principal  Grant,  next  in  order 
was  the  discussion  upon  the  papers  read  this  morning  by  Prof 
E,  P.  Humphrey,  and  by  Dr.  Watts. 

THE   SCRIPTURES. 

The  Rev.  Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D.,  Edinburgh. —  I 
highly  value  the  opportunity  given  to  make  remarks,  and  think 
this  is  a  great  improvement  upon  the  proceedings  of  the  Council 
which  was  held  in  the  city  where  I  have  the  pleasure  to  live. 
Admirable  as  our  procedure  there  was,  I  look  upon  our  discus- 


138  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sion  here  as  raising  this  Council  so  much  higher  in  its  ultimate 
usefulness  than  the  simple  reading  of  papers  without  any  com- 
ment or  discussion,  that  I  expose  myself  to  the  not  very  wel- 
come prominence  which  followed  the  example  of  my  friend  Dr. 
Calderwood  and  others.  I  have  listened  with  the  greatest  in- 
terest to  the  papers  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  and  of  Dr.  Watts.  No 
subject  is  of  more  interest  and  gravity  than  this  question  of 
inspiration.  I  think  that  Dr.  Humphrey  has  done  us  a  great 
service  by  the  general  tone  and  spirit  of  his  admirable  paper. 
Those  of  us  who  are  at  all  acquainted  with  thought  in  our  time 
in  connection  with  theology  know  the  great  anxieties  and  the 
not  inconsiderable  difficulties  that  attach  to  this  question.  Hav- 
ing endeavored  for  many  years  to  look  on  as  many  sides  of  it 
as  possible,  I  here  abide  in  the  old  line. 

I  stand  upon  the  ground  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, as  the  word  of  God,  written  and  given  by  the  inspiration 
of  God,  given  in  such  a  way  as  while  fully  doing  justice  to 
human  individuality  and  human  liberty,  still  strives  to  do  equal 
justice  to  the  divine  source  whence  the  contents  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture so  largely  come,  and  by  which  they  have  been  arranged,  not 
merely  in  regard  to  the  plan,  but,  as  I  have  been  led  to  believe, 
and  do  believe,  in  spite  of  all  difficulties  to  the  contrary,  in 
regard  to  the  words  in  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  us  to  speak  of 
inspiration  as  verbal.  For  there  is  a  sense  in  which  that  ex- 
pression may  be  misunderstood  and  carried  too  far.  But  in  the 
great  line  of  what  I  believe  to  be  our  Protestant  theology  on 
this  point,  I  abide.  At  the  same  time  I  would  like  that  we 
should  never  forget  the  distinction  between  the  use  of  this 
great  doctrine  among  ourselves  as  it  were  in  the  dealing 
of  churches  with  churches,  and  in  the  teaching  of  churches 
as  a  part  of  their  full  expression  of  the  mind,  of  the  Spirit, 
and  our  apologetic  handling  of  the  controversy  with  unbe- 
lievers. We  can  defend  and  ought  to  defend  Holy  Scripture 
as  true  and  as  divine  without  bringing  in,  or  at  least  into  the 
foreground,  this  doctrine  of  inspiration  or  the  infallibility  of 
Scripture  as  a  product  of  inspiration.  We  can  stand  on  the 
ground  of  the  admitted  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  Holy 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  139 

Scripture,  in  respect  to  history,  and  in  respect  of  the  pecuHari- 
ties  of  Scripture,  taken  as  a  system  Hke  that  which  is  found   in 
Aristotle  and   Plato.     I  think  it  is  our  wisest  course  to  defend 
Holy  Scriptures  on  this  ground.    So  far  as  the  apologetic  contro- 
versy is  concerned,  I  humbly  submit,  while  we  can  and  ought  to 
use  this  great  doctrine,  and  not  throw  it  into  the  background, 
we  ought  never  to  forget  that  we   are  not   dependent  on  this 
doctrine  of  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration,  for  our  defence  of 
Holy  Scripture  against  unbelievers.     I  would  also  say  we  ought 
to  distinguish  between  the  doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  Holy 
Scripture,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  canon.     There  is  a  clear  dis- 
tinction between  the  admission  of  all  books  of  Holy  Scripture 
to  the  place  to  which  the  Protestant  Church  exalts  them,  and  the 
rank  and  dignity  of  those  books  themselves.     We  believe  that 
the  books  of  Holy  Scripture  are  truly  the  Scripture,  and  are 
inspired  from  first  to  last;  but  it  is  a  distinct  question,  one  which 
we  as  Protestant  Churches  have  settled,  I  think  rightly,  and  which 
1   do  not  wish  to  see  disturbed,  and  against  the  disturbance  of 
which  I  would  protest,  but  still  it  is  a  distinct  question  whether 
the  rank  and  place  of  the  separate  books  of  Holy  Scripture  is 
made  good  by  the  legitimate  evidence  which  appears  on  that 
subject.     That  is  my  second  remark.     The  third  is  the  vast  im- 
portance of  our  striving  to  accord  a  legitimate  field   for  criti- 
cism, and  striving  rather  to  eliminate  and  remove  the  difficulties, 
and  by  proper  handling  of  Holy  Scripture  to  harmonize  them 
with  the  full   doctrine  of  inspiration.     That   is   my  effort  as   a 
theologian,  and   I  hope  it  will  be  our  effort  not  to  bring  down 
Holy  Scripture  into  the  midst  of  these  difficulties,  without  an 
effort  to  harmonize  them  at  all  times  with  the  full   doctrine  of 
the  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures. 

Dr.  Sloan. — I  have  been  challenged  to  produce  an  authority. 
I  have  been  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication.  I  hold 
in  my  hand  an  old-fashioned  book  called  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
adopted  by  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  North  America,  stan- 
dard in  all  Presbyterian  Churches,  at  least  of  the  United  States ; 
and  I  quote  from  the  Larger  Catechism  with  all  deference  to  my 
good  brother  from  Canada  (Prof.  Grant).     "What  are  the  sins 


MO  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

forbidden  in  the  Second  Commandment  ?  The  sins  forbidden 
in  the  Second  Commandment  are  all  devising,  counseling,  com- 
manding, using,  and  in  any  wise  approving  any  religious  wor- 
ship not  instituted  by  God  himself" 

The  Rev.  T.  H.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  of  Cincinnati. — What  was 
not  read  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Humphrey's  paper  is  in  perfect  keeping 
with  what  was  read.  It  was  my  honored  privilege  to  hear  Dr. 
Humphrey  read  every  word  of  the  paper  the  other  night  in 
my  room  in  the  hotel,  and  I  can  assure  the  brethren  that  that 
paper  in  toto  presents  the  old-fashioned  Westminster  Confession 
doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  word  of  God;  inspiration  for 
apologetics,  inspiration  for  dogmatics.  In  the  American  Pres- 
byterian Church  the  one  question  that  concerns  us  is  that  of 
the  supernatural  centring  in  the  question  of  inspiration.  The 
old  controversies  in  the  different  parts  of  our  re-united  Church 
have  ceased.  You  hear  nothing  through  the  papers,  through 
the  periodicals  of  our  Church,  on  the  old  controversies  of  the 
Adamic  connection,  of  original  sin,  of  imputation,  of  ability, 
of  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  atonement ;  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  our  country  we  say  is  a  unit  on  all  these  long  contro- 
verted doctrines,  to  all  intents  and  purposes ;  and  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  our  country  will  strive  and  struggle  to  present 
a  united  and  unbroken  front  on  the  whole  line  of  the  super- 
natural as  set  forth  by  our  standard-bearer,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Humphrey,  in  the  minute  exposition  of  this  doctrine  as 
you  will  find  it  in  his  paper  as  a  whole.  And  I  trust  that  as 
this  question  comes  from  Germany,  and  comes  from  Scotland 
over  to  us,  that  Germany  in  its  Presbyterianism,  and  Scotland 
in  its  Presbyterianism  will  join  hands  and  hearts  with  the  Amer- 
ican Church  in  upholding  the  actual  intervention  of  the  infinite 
with  the  finite,  of  the  Creator  with  the  creature,  of  God  with 
man,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  third  Person  of  the  God-head, 
through  the  written  word  of  God  to  man,  the  will  and  nothing 
but  the  will  of  the  great  God  concerning  man,  his  fall  and  his 
redemption.  The  doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  sixty-six 
books  of  the  Holy  Bible,  which  every  Christian  brother  in  this 
house,  minister  or  elder,  has  sworn  to,  is  the  doctrine  that  we 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  141 

live  by,  and  that  we  are  ready,  I  trust,  to  die  by,  and  the  assur- 
ance that  that  is  the  word  of  God  to  you  and  to  me,  is  not  an 
apologetic  study,  an  inference ;  but  it  is  itself,  as  we  were  taught, 
the  direct  illumination  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  author  alike  of 
the  world  and  of  regeneration,  v/itnessing  to  us,  and  assuring 
us  that  those  sixty-six  books  are  the  word  of  the  living  God. 
We  have  sworn  to  that,  and  if  we  cannot  abide  by  it,  I  think 
those  that  cannot  should  leave  us  to  fight  our  battles  for  our- 
selves on  our  own  line,  and  not  give  us  trouble  within  our  own 
ranks. 

The  Rev.  Robert  F.  Burns,  D.  D.,  of  Halifax. — I  would  like 
to  express  the  intense  gratification  I  have  felt  in  listening  to  Dr. 
Humphrey's  paper.  I  think  it  very  providential  that  such  a 
paper,  followed  by  the  very  logical  and  luminous  address  of 
Professor  Watts,  should  have  come  before  us  at  this  particular 
time  ;  and  I  am  especially  glad  that  so  many  fathers  and  brethren 
from  the  old  world  have  heard  this  testimony  from  our  Western 
fathers.  If  there  are  any  in  the  old  land,  to  which  we  have 
always  looked  as  the  seed  and  spring  of  orthodoxy,  who  are 
beginning  to  tremble  for  the  ark  of  God — if  there  should  be 
anybody  who  is  asking  where  is  the  good  way,  we  may  tell  them 
if  they  are  at  any  loss,  to  come  over  here.  I  feel  the  paper  had 
the  right  ring  about  it.  We  stand  on  the  old  ground  that  all 
the  writing  is  God-breathed.  The  holy  men  speak  not  in  the 
words  that  men's  wisdom  teaches,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
teaches  ;  if  we  are  to  let  go  this  verbal  inspiration  we  are  entirely 
at  sea.  Never  have  I  been  more  impressed  than  by  the  thought 
presented  by  Dr.  Watts,  of  the  frequency  with  which  Christ 
referred  to  Moses  and  quoted  Moses.  If  it  were  not  so,  would 
he  not  have  told  us?  If  it  were  not  Moses,  surely  there  would 
have  been  some  hint  given.  So  with  the  holy  men  following  in 
the  Master's  wake  who  quoted  from  those  books;  surely  in 
some  way  they  would  have  given  us  a  hint  that  the  writer  was 
some  other  party.  After  all  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  ; 
and  the  modern  assaults  upon  the  holy  books,  in  the  matters  of 
inspiration,  are  made  with  just  the  old  weapons,  reformed  and 
refurbished,  that  have  been  shivered  in  a  hundred  battles  :   the 


142  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ancient  cannons,  remoulded  and  remounted,  that  have  been 
taken  times  without  number  and  have  been  turned  upon  the 
retreating  forces.  No  weapon  that  is  formed  against  this  blessed 
word  will  ever  prosper;  and  it  rejoices  the  hearts  of  many  of  us 
to  hear  such  testimony  from  fathers  in  Israel  who  have  walked 
about  the  citadel  of  our  faith  and  marked  well  its  bulwarks,  and 
considered  its  palaces;  and  when  we  hear  them  come  out  and 
say  distinctly  what  our  own  hearts  feel,  we  realize  more  than 
ever  that  we  have  a  strong  citadel,  and  that  salvation  has  God 
appointed  to  us  for  walls  and  for  bulwarks. 

Rev.  J.  Murray  Mitchell,  LL.  D.,  Edinburgh. — I  had  no 
intention  to  say  a  word  on  this  subject,  which  I  have  no  doubt 
many  fathers  and  brethren  have  had  occasion  to  study  more 
deeply  than  I  have  done,  were  it  not  for  this,  that  I  have  had 
occasion  to  look  at  the  question  from  a  somewhat  different  point 
of  view ;  and  I  shall  briefly  express  the  conviction  to  which  I 
have  come,  looking  at  it  from  that  point  of  view.  My  life  has 
been  spent  mainly  in  the  East,  and  it  has  been  my  duty  to 
study,  with  the  best  care  I  could,  the  religious  books  of  the 
greatest  of  heathen  nations^that  is  to  say,  the  books  of  ancient 
Zoroastrianism,  and  the  books  of  the  Mohammedans  in  particu- 
lar— and  I  find  that  there  is  no  argument  more  convincing,  even 
to  a  native  of  India,  in  regard  to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  than 
just  to  ask  him  to  take  the  Bible  and  his  own  book,  and  then 
look  on  this  picture  and  on  that;  and  in  every  man  of  the 
slightest  impartiality  who  thus  compares  the  two,  I  think  the 
result  has  been,  that  the  one  must  be  a  book  of  man,  and  the 
other  the  Book  of  God.  I  should  delight  in  telling  several 
points  in  which  these  books  are  entirely  different.  I  would 
mention  this  as  one  of  the  many  points  of  difference:  the  glori- 
ous hopefulness  that  characterizes  the  book  of  God  from  be- 
ginning to  end;  the  seven-fold  light  and  glory  of  the  future 
which  all  these  holy  seers  of  Israel  ever  thought  of;  the  latter 
day,  when  every  crooked  thing  shall  be  made  straight,  when 
there  shall  be  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  when  strife  shall 
cease,  when  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth  and  delight  them- 
selves in  the  abundance  of  peace.     There  is  nothing  of  that  in 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  143 

any  heathen  book  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  Even  in  the 
matter  of  scientific  error,  I  confess  it  looks  to  me  the  most 
remarkable  thing  that  every  book  of  the  heathen  overflows  with 
scientific  blunders.  The  Koran  of  Mohammed  has  them  in 
every  page.  Take  the  New  Testament,  from  beginning  to  end, 
there  is  not  one  solitary  scientific  blunder,  so  far  as  I  have  ever 
been  able  to  see.  What  makes  it  more  remarkable  still  is,  that 
the  early  Christian  writers  fell  into  scientific  blunders.  Clement, 
whom  we  believe  to  have  been  the  associate  of  St.  Paul,  tells  the 
fable  of  the  Phoenix,  tells  it  as  the  truth,  and  tells  it  to  illus- 
trate the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Paul  walks  erect;  so  did  the 
other  holy  apostles.  Clement,  that  holy  man,  stumbled.  There 
are  many  points  of  difference  most  striking  between  the  Bible 
and  the  books  of  the  heathen ;  but  in  regard  even  to  the  matter 
of  science,  on  which  some  men  have  said  you  have  no  right  to 
demand  accuracy;  I  ask  them  to  explain  why  there  is  not  one 
solitary  error  from  beginning  to  end  in  the  New  Testament  even 
on  scientific  questions. 

The  Rev.  Narayan  Sheshadri,  of  Bombay. — The  paper  that 
was  read  on  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  contained  the  very  argu- 
ments that  took  hold  of  me  thirty-seven  years  ago  and  brought 
me  over  to  acknowledge  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  don't  think  I 
went  to  "The  Evidences  of  Christianity"  or  to  "Butler's  An- 
alogy," although  I  studied  those  books  subsequently;  but  I 
went  to  the  grand  old  book,  the  Bible,  and  I  found,  from  the 
Book  of  Genesis  to  the  Book  of  Malachi,  prophecies  scattered 
over  those  thirty-nine  books,  and  if  I  had  time  I  would  go 
over  all  those  prophecies;  and  those  prophecies  are  so  dif- 
ferent from  the  prophecies  that  I  had  known  in  my  own 
books  that  I  could  not  but  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  I  had  come  to  know  that  Moses  was  in  Egypt;  that 
forty  years  he  was  learning  the  sciences  and  arts  of  Egypt ;  I 
had  known  that  Egyptians  were  as  grovelling  idolaters  as  we 
ourselves  were  in  India;  and  I  read  the  books  of  the  Pentateuch, 
and  there  you  find  no  trace  whatsoever  of  idolatry  advocated, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  idolatry  condemned.     The  prophecies  that 


144  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

refer  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  very  minute.  I  will  not  oc- 
cupy your  time  referring  to  them,  but  onwards  to  the  Book  of 
Malachi  we  have  these  prophecies  spread  abroad,  so  that  the 
conviction  was  wrought  in  my  mind  that  the  holy  men  of  God 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  have  had  the 
honor  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  those  prophets  in  Israel  which  Scot- 
land sent  forth.  Two  of  them  are  now  enjoying  the  rich  reward 
before  the  immediate  presence  of  God;  I  refer  to  the  late  Rev. 
Robert  Nesbit,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Bombay.  But  my 
third  teacher  is  still  spared  to  me,  and  I  hope  he  will  be  spared 
to  the  Church  for  many  long  years — the  father  who  just  pre- 
ceded me.  I  was  brimful  of  Hindooism  at  one  time,  and  I  had 
miracles  in  abundance.  I  will  tell  you  one.  I  read  of  a  fearful 
giant  that  sleeps  six  long  months,  and  he  is  wide  awake  for  six 
long  months,  and  when  he  sleeps  he  snores  like  most  of  us,  and 
when  he  snores  that  is  the  reason  you  have  high  tide  and  low 
tide — (The  speaker's  five  minutes  being  up,  he  did  not  conclude 
his  sentence.) 

The  Rev.  H.  L.  McKenzie,  of  China. — I  wish  in  a  sentence  or 
two  to  add  my  tribute  from  the  far  East  to  what  Dr.  Murray 
Mitchell  has  just  brought  before  you,  and  in  which  he  has  been 
followed  by  our  friend  who  has  just  sat  down.  I  refer  to  the 
testimony  which  we  can  find  in  the  heathen  lands  to  the  inspira- 
tion of  Scriptures,  when  we  compare  the  Scriptures  with  the  best 
books  that  the  heathen  nations  have  produced.  Dr.  Mitchell  has 
referred  to  the  books  of  India.  Let  me  allude  in  a  sentence  or 
two  to  the  books  of  China,  the  classical  works  of  that  ancient 
land,  and  more  especially  the  writings  of  Confucius.  I  may 
mention  that  at  this  day  about  one-third  of  the  whole  human 
race  worship  Confucius  and  abide  by  his  teachings,  and  speak 
of  him  as  the  equal  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  teacher  of  ten 
thousand  ages.  It  is  no  small  matter  to  know  that  we  have 
about  one-third  of  the  human  race  worshipping  this  great 
teacher,  receiving  his  teachings  as  divine.  How  is  it  when  you 
come  to  compare  the  teachings  of  Confucius  with  the  word  of 
God,  the  inspired  Bible  ?  I  have  often  thought,  when  thinking 
of  these  works  and  comparing  them  with  the  blessed  book  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL  145 

God,  that  they  are  to  be  spoken  of  as  the  stars  of  midnight, 
which  cast  a  feeble  light,  but  a  light  by  which  we  cannot  carry 
on  the  work  of  this  great  world,  while  the  word  of  God  may  be 
spoken  of  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  shedding  light  all  over  the 
earth,  and  enabling  man  to  carry  on  the  works  of  God  as  com- 
mitted to  them.  There  is  much  in  the  writings  of  Confucius 
which  gains  not  only  our  respect,  but  even  our  admiration.  Five 
hundred  years  before  Christ  was  born,  before  Christ  the  light  of 
the  world  came  to  speak  the  word  of  God  in  person,  Confucius 
spoke  thus  :  he  said,  "  Do  not  unto  others  what  you  would  not 
that  others  should  do  to  you."  You  will  all  at  once  recognize  the 
likeness,  and  yet  the  want  of  complete  likeness,  of  that  saying  of 
Confucius  to  what  our  Lord  said  in  his  sermon  on  the  mount,  "  Do 
unto  others  as  you  would  that  others  should  do  unto  you."  Five 
hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era  Confucius  thus  taught 
what  we  may  call  the  negative  side  of  the  golden  rule ;  but  take 
the  writings  of  Confucius  as  a  whole  ;  take  the  writings  of  Chinese 
sages  as  a  whole,  whose  writings  one-third  of  the  human  race 
so  admire,  and  you  will  at  once  see  the  vast,  the  infinite  su- 
periority of  the  word  of  God  to  the  very  best  thing  that  they 
have  in  their  books.  There  is  a  good  morality  in  many  respects 
taught  in  the  books  of  China,  but  no  morality  that  goes  so  high 
as  the  morality  of  the  New  Testament,  and  there  is  utterly  a  want 
in  those  books  of  anything  to  lead  the  heart  and  mind  of  man  to 
find  rest  and  satisfaction  in  the  hope  of  a  glorious  hereafter. 
Their  books  teach  much  about  the  duty  of  rulers  to  those  over 
whom  they  rule,  the  duty  of  subjects  to  their  king,  but  nothing 
of  the  way  of  forgiveness,  nothing  of  the  way  whereby  sinful 
man  can  be  at  peace  with  God ;  they  bring  no  hope  to  the 
human  heart,  no  comfort  in  times  of  sorrow  and  distress ;  they 
speak  nothing  of  the  great  hereafter.  In  this  and  in  many  other 
respects  it  is  manifest  to  those  who  have  studied  both  books,, 
who  have  studied  on  the  one  hand  the  classical  books  of  Chinia, 
the  writings  of  the  great  Confucius,  and  who  have  studied  oa 
the  other  the  blessed  word  of  God,  that  there  is  an  infinite  su- 
periority in  the  word  of  God.  I  thought  I  could  not  let  this 
discussion  come  to  an  end  without  vcr}'  briefly  thus  indicating 
10 


146  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  you  that  what  Dr.  Mitchell  has  brought  from  India  may  be 
brought  from  China ;  that  all  heathen  books  and  teachings  show 
an  inferiority  to  the  word  of  God ;  and  thus  bringing  it  forward 
not  as  a  scientific  argument  for  inspiration,  but  yet  as  a  blessed 
confirmation  to  those  who  accept  the  word  of  God  as  inspired. 
The  Rev.  Robert  Howie,  A.  M.,  of  Glasgow. — I  should  not 
have   taken   part   in  this  discussion,  but   for  the  very  explicit 
reference  made  in  the  course  of  it  to  Scotland.     I  come  as  one 
of  the  delegates  from  the  Free   Church  of  Scotland,  and  since 
arriving  in  your  country  I  have  been  somewhat  a  suspected  man. 
I  have  had  to  clear  myself  from  the  suspicion  of  heresy  in  con- 
nection with  this  question  of  the  word  of  God.     I  thoroughlyen- 
dorse  the  views  set  forth  by  the  brethren  who  read  these  papers, 
and  I  believe  the  brethren  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  would  find 
that  those  are  the  views  that  fill  the  whole  heart  of  Scotland, 
There  are  certain  erratic  tendencies  manifesting  themselves  not 
in  one  church,  but  several ;  but  I  believe  in  the  end  that  all  mis- 
conception will  be  removed,  and  that  we  will  substantially  en- 
dorse the  views  that  have  been  set  before   us  so  ably  in  these 
papers,     I  may  say  that  there   are  special  reasons  why  I  most 
tenaciously  hold  to  such  views.     I  have  been  engaged  in  the 
home  mission  work  in  the  city  of  Glasgow,  and  I  have  felt  that 
if  you   remove   this   weapon  from   my  hands,    if  you   make   it 
doubtful  whether  any  part  of  it  is  the  very  word  of  God,  I  have 
lost  the  instrument  that  has  been  useful  in  the  past.     My  effort 
in  dealing  with  people  in  my  mission  has  been  to  get  them  away 
from  themselves — away  from  their  own  feeling  and   their  own 
intuition,  their  prejudices  and  preconceptions,  and  to  get  them 
to   rest  on  "  thus  saith  the  Lord."     And  when  I  come  to  your 
great  country  and  see  the  vast  work  you  have  to  do  in  the  home 
mission   department,   I   can    easily   understand   why   it    is    that 
brethren  here  so  tenaciously  hold  fast  by  the  orthodox  view  in 
connection  with  the  Scripture,     I  thoroughly  subscribe  to  what 
was  said  by  Dr.  Cairns,  who  distinguished  between  apologetics 
and   what  we    have    to    do  with    our    dealings   with    Christian 
men.     In    addressing    large    numbers    of    individuals    even    in 
Glasgow,  I  found  it  would  not  have  done  to  assume  the  inspira- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  147 

tion  of  Scripture.  I  needed  to  deal  with  these  people  on  the 
historical  ground  that  there  was  the  person  of  Christ,  and  to  get 
them  to  admit  the  fact  of  the  person  of  Christ  on  the  ground 
that  these  books  are  historically  true,  without  assuming  for  the 
time  being  their  inspiration,  and  then  by  logical  conclusion  get 
them  to  admit  the  rest. 

The  Rev.  Principal  Wm,  Caven,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Canada. — 
There  are  certain  great  matters  that  are  not  under  discussion  in 
the  Church  of  Christ,  and  certainly  not  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
There  are  certain  great  matters  that  have  been  decided  by  the 
mind  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  bearing  upon  them  in  all  ages  ; 
and  I  hold  that  the  inspiration  and  infallibility  of  God's  word  is 
one  of  those  matters.  If  there  is  anything  in  my  nature  that  in- 
duces me  even  to  reopen  that  question,  with  a  view  of  essen- 
tially modifying  the  catholic  doctrine,  I  have  very  great  reason 
to  stand  in  doubt  of  my  nature ;  and  I  cannot  conceive  anything 
that  would  be  a  greater  calamity,  not  simply  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  but  to  all  the  Church  of  Christ,  than  that  this  great 
Council  should  waver  in  its  enunciation  of  this  doctrine  ;  and 
whilst  I  do  not  need  to  be  assured  as  to  the  mind  of  this 
Council  (I  knew  it  from  the  beginning),  at  the  same  time  I  state 
to-day,  with  thankfulness,  that  I  am  refreshed  and  strengthened 
by  the  strong  and  hearty,  and  yet  most  deliberate,  utterance  of 
this  doctrine  from  North  and  South  and  East  and  West.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  Church  of  Christ  in  all  sections  will  be  profoundly 
thankful  to  this  Council  for  the  tone  of  this  discussion.  There 
are  just  two  points  I  ask  permission  to  notice,  that  I  think 
have  not  been  brought  into  the  discussion.  One  is  this  :  It  is 
frequently  .said  that  our  doctrine  of  inspiration  can  be  of  no 
practical  value,  even  supposing  we  established  it,  on  this  ac- 
count :  there  is  a  good  deal  of  uncertainty  about  various  read- 
ings. They  say.  Of  what  practical  value  is  an  extremely  orthodox 
doctrine  upon  this  point,  when  there  are  various  readings  that 
have  been  made  ?  I  am  not  inclined  to  argue  that  point.  I  will 
simply  say  that  my  conviction  is  again  the  excuse  for  my 
motive  in  stating  that  these  manuscripts  are  God's.     Plenary  in- 


148  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

spiration  is  what  gives  legitimacy,  and  I  venture  to  say  gives 
high  dignity,  to  these  most  earnest  studies  that  have  been  di- 
rected to  the  ascertainment  of  the  facts.  An  English  critic,  re- 
cently deceased,  who  has  edited  an  edition  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, said  that  had  he  not  believed  the  doctrine  of  plenary 
inspiration,  or  even  verbal  inspiration,  his  soul  would  not  have 
sustained  his  weak  body  in  his  protracted  labors.  We  are  fre- 
quently reminded,  as  against  this  doctrine,  of  the  idiosyncrasy 
of  the  several  inspired  writers.  We  are  told,  but,  of  course, 
everybody  knows  that,  that  the  soul  of  Paul  is  not  the  soul  of 
John,  and  the  soul  of  Peter  is  not  the  soul  of  either.  They  say 
"  if  you  have  the  human  element  so  distinctly  upon  the  surface 
of  Scripture,  where  is  your  ground  for  asserting  plenary  inspira- 
tion ?  You  must  modify  that  doctrine."  To  my  mind  Dr. 
Humphrey  has  put  the  matter  most  admirably.  He  has  said 
that  it  is  all  human  and  it  is  all  divine;  and  I  will  not  allow  any 
man  with  his  critical  instincts  to  run.  through  the  Bible  and 
analyze  it  mechanically,  and  determine  that  so  much  is  human 
and  so  much  divine.  I  hold  that,  just  as  order  interpenetrates 
life,  you  have  a  divine  Logos  penetrating  every  part  of  Scripture, 
so  that  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  it,  it  is  an  intensely 
human  book,  and  it  is  absolutely  a  divine  book.  These  are  the 
two  points  I  beg  permission  to  state  in  the  Council ;  and  I  can- 
not but  express  not  simply  my  intellectual  satisfaction,  but  my 
deep  gratitude  before  God,  at  the  profound  and  earnest  views 
which  have  here  been  offered  from  all  quarters  upon  this  great 
subject. 

The  Council  then  adjourned  until  2)^  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

September  2/[iJi,  1880,  2.30  p.  m. 
The  Council  was  called  to  order  and  prayer  offered  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  S.  Porter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  Easton,  Pa.,  President. 
The  Committee  on  "  Credentials  "  reported.     (See  p.  24.) 
The  Rev.  Prof.  Samuel  J,  Wilson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Alle- 
gheny City,  read  the  following  on 

THE  DISTINCTIVE  PRINCIPLES  OF  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

From  eternity  God  chose  a  people  for  himself.     The  idea  of  the 
Church  rests  upon  and  springs  out  of  the  eternal  purpose  of  Jehovah 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  149 

In  the  working  out  of  this  eternal  purpose  the  divine  thought  assumes 
form  and  visibility  in  time.  The  true  people  of  God  as  they  are 
known  to  him  throughout  all  the  ages,  those  who  have  been,  and 
those  who  will  be  redeemed,  constitute  the  Invisible  Church.  But 
since  man  can  only  judge  as  to  who  are  the  people  of  God  by  a  credi- 
ble profession,  "all  those  who  profess  the  true  religion,  together  with 
their  children,"  constitute  the  visible  Church.  The  Church,  there- 
fore, in  its  idea  and  necessity,  rests  upon  no  tradition  or  expediency, 
not  upon  apostolical  authority  alone,  not  upon  an  happy  after-thought 
of  God,  but  upon  his  blessed,  eternal  purpose  according  to  the  counsel 
of  his  own  will.  As  to  churchism — if  we  must  have  it  of  all  dimen- 
sions, high,  low  and  broad — here  is  churchism  which  in  its  "breadth 
and  length  and  depth  and  height  "  is  commensurate  with  the  "love 
of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge." 

In  the  government  of  a  God  "  whose  bosom  is  the  home  of  law," 
which  law  is  voiced  in  the  harmony  of  the  world  ;  this  visible  Church 
must  have  a  form,  an  organization.  It  is  a  body.  The  earth  which 
is  preserved  from  fire  for  the  sake  of  the  Church,  swings  through  the 
ranks  of  marching  suns  to  the  music  of  the  spheres.  This  God  of 
order  would  not  leave  his  highest  creation — the  Church — to  go  on  at 
random,  or  in  anarchy.  Here  naturally 'and  presumably  we  should 
expect  the  highest  type  of  law  and  order  and  government ;  of  power 
regulated  ;  rights  guarded  ;  order  maintained  with  all  due  liberty  of 
thought  and  action. 

I.  Presbyterianism  maintains  therefore,  that  there  is  a  Church,  that 
there  has  been  a  Church  from  the  beginning  of  human  history  ;  that 
the  plan  of  the  Church  lay  in  the  mind  of  God  before  the  foundations 
of  the  world  were  laid.      This  is  high  churchism  of  the  right  kind. 

II.  This  Church,  then,  has  a  founder,  a  lawgiver,  a  governor,  a 
king,  a  head  ;  and  this  king,  lawgiver  and  head  is  Christ.  Presby- 
terianism maintains,  always  has  maintained,  and  always  will  maintain 
so  long  as  true  to  herself,  the  supreme  headship  of  Christ.  To  his 
Church  Jesus  Christ  has  given  laws  and  a  form  of  government.  To 
him  alone  is  the  Church  responsible  for  what  she  does  in  her  legiti- 
mate and  appropriate  sphere.  These  laws  given  by  Christ  to  his 
Church  are  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, which  Scriptures 

III.  Presbyterianism  holds  to  be  the  only  and  sufficient  rule  of 
faith  and  practice ;  the  Bible,  the  Bible  alone,  and  the  whole  Bible. 
To  this  principle  Presbyterianism  has  always  been  loyal ;  always 
"  following  God's  word,"  as  the  immortal  Rutherford  has  it. 

Richard  Hooker — noinen  clarum  et  venerabile — in  his  ecclesiastical 
polity  begins  the  discussion  at  very  long  range,  concerning  law  in 
general,  law  of  nature,  of  angels,  of  reason,  etc.,  then  Scripture.  On 
the  other  hand,  Presbyterianism  begins,  continues  and  ends  with 
Scripture — with  all  Scripture.  After  we  have  learned  what  the  Scrip- 
ture saith  it  is.  time  enough  to  consult  antiquity,  history,  canons, 
nature  or  logic.     The  Old  Testament  and  the  New  Testament  are  not 


r5o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

antagonistic  nor  contradictory,  nor  inconsistent  the  one  with  the 
other ;  the  one  is  not  a  supplement  to  the  other,  nor  is  the  New  Tes- 
ament  a  feeble  apology  for  the  Old,  but  both  alike  are  the  word  of 
God.  The  Church  is  one  throughout  the  ages.  Thus  going  to  the 
word  of  God,  to  the  whole  word  of  God,  reverently  to  learn  what 
form  of  government  Christ  has  given  to  the  Church,  and  pressing  out 
the  very  essence  of  all  dispensations,  and  lifting  the  name  right  from 
the  sacred  page,  with  the  breath  of  Jehovah  upon  it,  we  exclaim, 
Presbyterian  ! 

What  then  is  Presbyterianism? 

1.  First  and  most  obviously  it  is  a  Church  government  in  the  hands 
of  Presbyters  (elders) ;  and  of  these  there  are  two  classes,  viz.,  teach- 
ing elders  and  ruling  elders.  Every  ordained  teaching  Presbyter  has 
authority  to  discharge  all  ministerial  functions,  viz.,  to  preach  the 
VVord,  to  administer  the  sacraments,  to  dispense  discipline.  There 
are  no  orders  in  the  ministry  such  as  characterize  Prelacy — Bishops, 
Presbyters,  Deacons.  Each  Presbyter  in  the  New  Testament  was, 
and  by  right  is,  a  Bishop — a  Bishop  in  the  sense  of  an  overseer  of  the 
fiock,  not  an  overseer  of  his  brethren.  Associated  with  the  Presby- 
ters, who,  besides  ruling,  "labor  in  word  and  doctrine,"  are  others 
whose  peculiar  function  it  is  to  rule ;  hence  called  Ruling  Elders. 

These  ruling  elders  are  not  laymen,  but  are  chosen  from  among 
laymen,  and  are  ordained  to  a  spiritual  office,  and  in  ecclesiastical 
courts  represent  the  people  ;  and  in  these  ecclesiastical  courts  have 
equal  powers  with  the  teaching  elders.  It  is  conceded  on  all  hands 
that  the  office  of  ruling  elder  is  perpetual,  and  in  logical  Presbyterian- 
ism the  exercise  of  this  spiritual  office  should  no  more  expire  by  limita- 
tion of  time,  than  the  exercise  of  the  spiritual  office  of  a  preaching 
elder  should  expire  by  limitation  of  time  ;  or  than  the  exercise  of  a 
man's  spiritual  gifts  and  graces  should  expire  by  limitation  of  time. 

Each  congregation  is  governed  by  a  bench  of  elders.  From  the 
lowest  court  to  the  highest  the  pozver  of  the  keys  is  in  the  hand  of 
Presbyters,  and  this  Presbyterian  authority  is  Episcopal.  We  have  no 
controversy  with  Episcopacy.  We  hold  it,  believe  it,  teach  it,  prac- 
tice it,  defend  it.  Each  Presbyterian  minister  is  a  bishop — is  indeed 
the  only  scriptural  kind  of  bishop  ;  an  episcopos,  overseer  of  the  flock, 
but  not  a  lord  over  his  brethren.  We  are  Episcopalians,  truer  ones  than 
those  who  arrogate  the  name  to  themselves,  for  they  have  but  few 
bishops,  whereas  we  have  many.  Prelaiists  are  they,  but  scriptural 
Episcopalians  they  are  not.  We  are  Episcopalians  but  not  Prelatists. 
Prelacy  has  no  foundation  in  the  word  of  God.  It  is  a  human 
device;  a  human  invention,  a  human  after-thought. 

The  government  of  the  church  is  by  elders  ;  and, 

2.  This  government  by  elders  binds  the  church  together  organically. 
Each  court  is  subordinate  to  a  higher  court — the  Church  Session  to  the 
Presbytery,  the  Presbytery  to  the  Synod,  the  Synod  to  the  General 
Assembly.  The  power  of  the  church  is  not  in  the  whole,  body  of  believers 
but  representatively  in  these  church  courts,  but  it  is  in  these  courts. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  151 

There  is  no  scriptural  example  of  ordination  by  one  presbyter,  but  by 
Presbytery  ;  so  there  is  no  scriptural  example  of  authority  exercised  by 
one  bishop  but  by  an  assembly  of  bishops,  Presbyters.  Thus  order, 
decency,  discipline  in  the  house  of  God  are  secured  and  at  the  same 
time  the  rights  of  every  member  are  carefully  guarded.  The  proceed- 
ings, conclusions,  findings  and  judgments  of  all  lower  courts  are  sub- 
ject to  review  by  the  higher  courts,  and  this  review  carries  with  it 
control.  No  congregation  is  or  can  be  ijidependent,  but  is  an  integral 
part  of  the  Presbytery,  and  the  Presbytery  is  an  integral  part  of  the 
Synod,  and  the  Synod  of  the  General  Assembly.  An  independent 
Presbyterian   Church  is  an  anomaly — a  monstrosity.     Thus  we  have  : 

3.  Unity :  Many  members  forming  one  body,  and  the  body  in  sub- 
jection to  the  head  ;  a  living  organism,  not  a  unity  secured  by  arbitrary 
power,  not  the  unity  of  iron  bands  which  make  the  chariot  wheel  one. 
but  the  plastic  power  of  an  informing  inner  life  which  makes  the 
cedar  of  Lebanon  one,  or  the  oak  of  Bashan  one,  with  many  members. 
There  is  a  strong  government,  but  this  government  is  only  ministerial. 
The  church  can  make  no  laws  to  bind  the  conscience.  She  can  only 
administer  the  law  as  laid  down  in  the  word  of  God.  It  is  consti- 
tutional government,  government  according  to  the  divine  constitution. 

And,  4,  this  unity  is  Catholic. 

If  Presbyterianism  he  Jure  divino,  it  is  and  must  be  Catholic.  "We 
believe  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  ;  "  and  besides  this,  Presbyterian- 
ism is  the  only  form  of  government  which  can  really  give  scriptural 
expression  to  this  catholicity.  Papacy  or  Prelacy  can  no  more  do 
this  than  Napoleonic  imperialism  could  give  expression  to  the  catho- 
licity of  human  freedom.  Catholicity,  moreover,  is  an  instinct  of 
Presbyterianism.  In  the  Book  of  Discipline  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland, 
as  early  as  1581,  it  is  declared  :  "  Beside  these  assemblies,  there  is  an- 
other more  general  kind  of  assembly,  an  universal  assembly  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  ir  the  world,  which  was  commonly  called  an  oecu- 
menic  council,  representing  the  universal  Church,  which  is  the  body 
of  Christ." 

Rutlierford  in  "  Divine  Right"  declares  that  "cecumenicand  general 
councils  should  he,  Jure  divino,  to  the  second  coming  of  Christ."   (58.) 

Gillespie  says  :  "  Besides  provincial  and  national  synods,  an  oecu- 
menical or  more  truly  a  general,  or,  if  you  please,  an  universal 
synod."  Prop.  36. 

{a)  This  scheme  of  government  therefore  is  logical  and  symmetrical. 
I'ach  part  fits  to  its  fellow  without  jar  or  friction  ;  the  body  develops 
::aturally  and  harmoniously  into  fiill,  rounded  proportions,  without 
excrescences  or  monstrosities;  "  the  building  fitly  framed  together, 
aroweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord." 

{b)  It  is  logical  and  symmetrical  because  it  is  scriptural.  It  claims 
to  he  Jure  divino.  Normal,  healthy  Presbyterianism — Presbyterianism 
which  has  the  breath  of  life  in  its  nostril,  the  pulse-beat  of  life  in  its 
wrist — has  never  abated  a  jot  or  a  tittle  of  that  claim.  If  the  system 
be  not  Jure  divino,  if  it  be  not  scriptural,  let  us  know  it  and  let  us 


15.2  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

have  done  with  it.  Let  us  understand  ourselves,  brethren,  and  then 
the  world  will  understand  us.  Our  right  to  be  here  as  a  General 
Presbyterian  Council  rests  on  the  fact  that  our  system  in  government 
as  well  as  in  doctrine  is  jure  divino.  Our  catholicity  is  not  to  be 
maintained  by  a  dilution  of  our  Presbyterianism ;  we  are  not  to  reach 
comprehension  by  beating  out  the  gold  of  the  sanctuary  until  it 
becomes  so  thin  that  it  can  be  put  to  the  base  purposes  of  tinfoil. 
If  our  system  be  not  jure  divifw,  we  as  Presbyterians,  especially  as  a 
Presbyterian  General  Council,  have  no  right  to  exist.  Let  us  not  be 
ashamed  of  our  birthright :  above  all  let  us  not  sell  at  Esau's  price. 

Boast  they  of  apostolical  succession  !  We  claim  patriarchal  suc- 
cession. Presbyterianism  is  older  by  millennia  than  the  apostles. 
The  apostles  only  take  their  place  in  the  unbroken  line  of  Presbyte- 
rianism, which  had  been  in  successful  operation  for  thousands  of  years 
before  Peter  cast  his  first  net  or  caught  his  first  fish.  At  Horeb,  in 
the  light  of  the  burning  bush,  nee  tamen  consumebatur,  Moses  received 
his  great  commission,  which  ran  thus:  "Go  gather  the  elders  of 
Israel  together."  Jehovah  sent  Moses  down  to  Egypt  to  convene  the 
Presbytery.  Through  the  elders,  the  representatives  of  the  people,  he 
was  to  act,  and  through  them  he  did  act.  From  the  burning  bush  at 
Horeb  Moses  went  to  Presbytery.  There  were  Presbyterians  ages 
before  Peter  was  born,  or  Rome  was  builded,  or  Prelacy  or  Papacy 
was  ever  heard  or  dreamed  of.  We  date  far  beyond  apostolic  times. 
One  purpose  runs  through  the  ages.  The  Church  is  one  in  all  dispen- 
sations. There  is  but  one  plan  of  salvation.  Abel  was  saved  through 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  At  Sinai,  and  during  the  sojourn  in  the 
desert,  the  elders  represented  the  people.  The  establishment  of  the 
monarchy  left  the  Presbyterial  government  of  the  Israelitish  Church 
intact.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Israelitish  Church  and  State 
were  not  identical.     Gillespie  and  Rutherford  set  that  at  rest  forever. 

The  government  of  the  synagogues  was  Presbyterian.  The  death 
of  Christ  abolished  the  Temple  service,  which  was  sacrificial  and 
ritual.  There  was  no  more  need  for  altar,  or  priest,  or  sacrifice. 
Christ  fulfilled  the  law  by  taking  the  place  of  the  types.  When  the 
Temple  service  was  thus  abolished,  there  remained  the  form  and  ser- 
vice of  the  synagogue  ;  and  the  first  converts  being  Jews  the  syna- 
gogue model  was  ready  to  hand.  There  was  no  revolution ;  when 
ritualism  was  abolished  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  the  Presbyterianism 
of  Moses  remained.  There  is  not  a  scintilla  of  evidence  for  any 
other  form  of  government  in  the  New  Testament.  Diocesan  Bishops 
are  unknown  to  the  New  Testament.  Neither  is  there  any  trace  of 
independency  or  Congregationalism  in  Judaism. 

The  lines  of  the  covenant  run  from  one  dispensation  to  another 
unbroken,  only  expanding  so  as  to  embrace  all  who  shall  believe,  of  all 
nations,  together  with  their  children. 

The  system  is  scriptural,  and  because  scriptural  it  is  logical  and 
symmetrical.  It  is  not  first  made  logical,  and  Scripture  made  to 
square  with  it,  but  it  is  drawn  directly  from  the  word  of  God,  not 


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SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  153 

cunningly  framed  to  meet  some  exigency  or  expediency,  not  accord- 
ing to  any  prepossessions.  Tiie  eternal  thought  of  Jehovah  takes 
form  and  visibility  in  just  and  due  proportion.  Presbyters  are  iden- 
tical with  bishops  in  New  Testament  usage.  On  this  point  there  is  an 
unbroken  chain  of  authorities  from  Augustine  to  the  present  Bishop 
Lightfoot. 

Paul  called  presbyters  of  the  Church  of  Ephesus  bishops  (Acts  xx. 
17-28). 

The  apostles  ordained  them  elders  in  every  church  (Acts  xiv.  23). 

Peter,  himself  an  elder,  charges  elders  as  bishops,  overseers  and 
pastors  of  the  flock,  but  not  "  lords  over  God's  heritage." 

Presbyters  were  ordained  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  of  the  Presby- 
tery (I  Tim.  iv.  14). 

An  accusation  against  a  presbyter  could  not  be  entertained  except 
in  and  by  Presbytery  before  two  or  three  witnesses.  (i  Tim.  v. 
19.)  A  presbyter  is  entitled  to  a  fair  trial  by  his  peers.  That  was 
Paul's  presbyter,  according  to  the  glorious  Sam' 1  Rutherford.  Through- 
out the  Bible  from  end  to  end  the  Church  is  Presbyterian,  from  the 
times  of  Moses  to  and  through  the  times  of  the  apostles ;  from  the 
Shechinah  of  the  burning  bush  to  the  Apocalypse  of  John.  Jehovah 
sent  Moses  to  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  in  the  Apocalypse  the  elders, 
together  with  angels  and  cherubim,  worship  and  preach  and  sing  the 
new  song  in  company  with  the  countless  multitude  before  the  throne. 
In  the  visions  of  John  there  are  no  prelates,  but  the  elders  are,  and 
are  there  representatively.  From  the  household  of  the  ante-diluvian 
jjatriarch  to  the  worship  of  the  Apocalyptic  Church  in  heaven,  the 
thought  and  scheme  and  spirit  of  the  Bible  is  Presbyterian. 

(  c)  And  being  scriptural  it  is  historical. 

That  apostolical  Presbyterianism  was  in  the  third  century  superseded 
by  Prelacy  is  only  too  obviously  true,  but  this  Prelacy  came  not  by  the 
door  of  scripture  authority,  but,  like  a  thief  and  a  robber,  climbed  up 
some  other  way.  From  Judaism  and  Paganism  it  crept  in,  bringing 
with  it  altars,  priests,  sacrifices,  and  the  elaborate  ritual  appropriate  to 
these  ideas. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  whenever  and  wherever  a  witness  for  the 
truth  arose,  who  by  the  study  of  the  word  of  God  had  been  in- 
structed and  quickened,  and  who,  thus  instructed  and  quickened, 
desired  to  lead  the  Church  back  to  apostolical  simplicity  and  purity, 
there  we  find  a  Presbyterian.  This  is  true  of  all  the  fore-runners  of 
the  Reformers,  and  of  all  the  Reformers ;  and  in  every  country  the 
Reformation  was  conducted  on  Presbyterian  principles  except  in  Eng- 
land. Prelatists  say  Presbyterianism  is  not  historical ;  but  it  is  historical 
in  apostolical  times  and  in  the  best  ages  in  the  world's  life.  If  it  ever 
is  submerged  it  is  in  the  days  of  the  deepest  corruption,  when  it  is 
confessed  that  Prelacy  held  the  field. 

Nor  is  Presbyterianism  simply  a  form  of  ecclesiology,  but  going 
is  it  always  does  to  the  word  of  God,  it  there  finds  a  system  of 
loctrine  which  is  much  more  important  and  precious  than  any  form 
of  polity.     Excellent  as  our  form  of  government  is,  it  is  withal  only 


154  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  casket  which  contains  and  conserves  the  treasure  of  sound 
doctrine.  We  put  doctrine  first,  form  of  government  secondary; 
the  form  only  to  give  proper  expression  and  efficiency  to  the  doctrine. 
So  that  with  all  its  strength  and  clearness  of  conviction  Presbyte- 
rianism  is  catholic  and  charitable  in  spirit  and  in  sympathy. 

Presbyterianism,  then,  is  not  a  mere  form,  or  badge,  but  a  system 
of  doctrines  and  principles,  the  form  being  appropriate  to  the 
doctrines,  the  history  of  which  can  be  traced  back  along  a  line  of 
fire  to  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  thence  to  the  burning  bush  at  Horeb. 
The  true  line  of  succession  does  not  consist  in  the  unbroken  con- 
tinuity of  empty,  extra-scriptural  forms  and  ceremonies,  but  in  the 
continuous  holding  forth  and  passing  forward  of  the  vital  doctrines  of 
the  gospel,  accompanied  by  the  spirit  and  power  of  true  godliness. 
The  line  passes  on  from  Abel,  the  first  martyr,  to  Enoch,  the  seventh 
from  Adam  ;  from  Enoch  to  Noah,  the  preacher  of  righteousness  ;  from 
Noah  to  Abraham,  from  Abraham  to  Moses,  from  Moses  to  Paul, 
from  Paul  to  Augustine,  from  Augustine  to  Claudius  of  Turin,  from 
Claudius  to  the  Waldenses  in  their  Alpine  fastnesses,  to  Succat,  com- 
monly known  as  St.  Patrick,  a  good  sound  Presbyterian  ;  from  Succat 
through  the  Culdees,  thence  through  every  witness  of  the  truth  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  thence  through  the  Reformers.  Along  the  whole 
line  stakes  and  fagots  have  blazed,  and  along  the  whole  line 
Presbyterian  blood  has  sprinkled,  and  ashes  of  martyred  Presbyterians 
have  been  scattered. 

"  Kings,  Prophets,  Patriarchs,  all  have  part 
Along  the  sacred  line." 

This  system  is  scriptural,  logical  and  symmetrical.  The  form  is  not 
a  mere  shell,  but  is  a  body  for  vital  forces  which  live,  and  move  and 
work  ;  which  work,  moreover,  within  prescribed  limits  according  to 
established  laws.  We  are  not  dealing  with  dead  forms,  but  with 
living  principles.      For  example: 

I.  The  headship  of  Christ  as  held  by  Presbyterians  renders  Papacy 
impossible.  Christ  is  King  alone,  and  has  on  earth  no  vicar.  He 
has  no  deputy  and  needs  none,  and  he  who  usurps  such  an  office 
presumptuously  puts  himself  in  the  place  of  God.  Christ  has  no 
vicar,  but  he  as  King  sends  out  his  ambassadors,  his  ministers,  and 
they  declare  his  will,  they  preach  the  word.  They  are  not  to 
minister  at  an  altar,  not  to  parody  the  one  infinite  sacrifice  of  the  Son 
of  God  ;  nor  are  they  sent  to  amuse  or  astonish  the  people  with  the 
fancies  and  crudities  of  their  own  imaginations,  but  to  declare  the 
will  and  counsel  of  the  ever-living,  all-ruling  King.  This  will  of  the 
King  has  been  written,  put  on  record  for  us  in  his  word,  and  this  is 
our  rule,  our  only  rule,  our  sufficient  rule. 

This  sound,  simple  principle  sweeps  utterly  away  all  theories  of 
tradition,  all  theories  of  '■^  quod  semper,  quod  ubique  et  quod  ab 
omnibus.,'^  and  all  theories  of  development. 

All  intelligent  and  honest   Papists  and  Prelatists  know  that  their 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  155 

systems  are  not  found  in  the  Bible,  and  on  that  account  they  scout 
the  idea  of  the  sufficiency  of  Scripture;  hence  they  base  these  sys- 
tems on  expediency,  decency  ;  then  they  have  fallen  back  on  tradi- 
tion, antiquity,  church  history,  the  consensus  of  the  ante-Nicene 
fathers  ;  but  being  ignominiously  routed  from  these  positions  by 
advancing  scholarship,  Maehler  suggested,  and  Cardinal  Newman 
elaborated  a  theory  of  development  which  can  account  for  the  Papacy 
apart  from  apostolic  authority.  Is  it  not  suggestive,  is  it  not  decisive 
against  them  that  all  these  extreme  Prelatic  theories,  and  just  in  pro- 
portion to  their  intensity,  discredit  the  sufficiency  of  Scripture  ?  In 
the  magical  hands  of  Newman  this  development  performs  the  most 
wonderful  feats.  He  makes  the  incarnation  to  be  the  antecedent  of 
the  doctrine  of  mediation,  this  develops  into  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement,  and  that  into  the  doctrine  of  the  mass  and  the  worship  of 
saints.  In  other  words  the  divinity  and  incarnation  of  our  Lord 
develop  into  the  worship  of  saints  and  relics.  From  the  same  source 
he  draws  the  sacramental  principle,  and  this  develops  into  the  seven 
sacraments,  the  unity  of  the  Church,  the  Holy  See,  authority  of 
Councils,  sanctity  of  rites,  veneration  of  holy  places,  shrines,  images, 
furniture,  vessels  and  vestments.  "The  doctrine  of  the  sacraments 
leads  to  the  doctrine  of  justification  ;  justification  to  that  of  original 
sin;  original  sin  to  the  merit  of  celibacy."  With  such  a  theory_  he 
only  needs  the  last  law  of  development  which  he  lays  down,  viz.  : 
"  Chronic  Continuance,"  to  be  able  to  achieve  anything  by  develop- 
ment without  either  Scripture  or  history,  and  for  that  matter  without 
reason  or  common  sense. 

The  headship  of  Christ  is  potent  against  Popery,  so  also  against 
Erastianism.  To  the  Church  is  given  no  sword,  but  the  power  of  the 
keys.  The  State  bears  the  sword,  the  Church  the  keys,  and  Christ 
alone  the  sceptre. 

Ministerial  parity  as  a  principle  is  sharp,  keen,  distinctive,  and  far- 
reaching  in  its  sweep  and  power.  It  is  a  two-edged  plowshare  which 
cuts  up  by  the  roots  Prelacy,  and  the  very  beginnings  of  hierarchical 
order,  distinction,  supremacy.  As  a  principle  this  is  the  touch-stone 
of  Presbyterianism.  Departure  from  this  simple  principle,  early  in 
the  history  of  the  Church,  laid  the  foundation  for  the  astounding 
claims  and  achievements  of  the  Papacy,  of  Hildebrand  ;  and  departure 
from  it,  however  slight,  is  always  fraught  with  danger. 

Ministerial  parity  implies  a  ministry.  Presbyterianism  holds  no 
uncertain  views  on  this  subject,  but  sound,  scriptural  views,  which 
the  world  greatly  needs  to  hear.  There  is  a  Christian  ministry,  jure 
divino,  and  the  sacred  functions  of  this  office — preaching  the  word 
and  administering  the  sacraments — are  not  -to  be  assumed  or  usurped 
by  any  one's  taking  this  honor  to  himself;  but  men  are  to  enter  this 
office  according  to  the  order  laid  down  in  the  word  of  God. 

If  a  man  be  called  to  preach,  he  is  called  of  God,  and  called 
according  to  the  divine  ordinance.  Here  again  we  find  in  Presbyter- 
ianism a  plowshare,  which  cuts  up  by  the  roots  the  pestiferous  weeds 


156  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  Plymouthism,  and  all  forms  of  ecclesiastical  insubordination  and 
anarchy  :  and  may  God  speed  the  plowshare  ! 

The  office  of  Ruling  Elder  gives  the  people  a  representation  in  all 
ecclesiastical  courts,  and  the  people  having  a  right  to  choose  their  own 
officers,  the  heart  of  the  Church  is  thus  brought  near  to  the  people, 
and  the  heart  of  the  people  is  kept  near  the  Church. 

Presbyterianism  is  an  impregnable  bulwark  against  spiritual  oli- 
garchy, and  spiritual  monarchy  ;  and  also  against  sacerdotalism,  sac- 
ramentarianism,  and  ritualism.  A  church  truly  Presbyterian  can 
never  become  ritualistic,  because  ritualism  is  extra-scriptural.  Even 
on  the  theory  that  the  Christian  Church  is  modelled  after  the  Temple 
service,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  Church  must  be  prelatic,  but. 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  quite  true  that  the  Levitical  priests  were  not 
prelates,  nor  was  the  system  in  any  of  its  features  prelatic.  But  the 
Temple  service  was  abrogated  by  the  one  infinite  sacrifice,  offered 
once  for  all  by  our  Great  High  Priest.  Priesthood,  altar,  sacrifice, 
types,  all  vanished  in  the  presence  of  the  Anti-Type.  He  is  a  priest 
forever  after  the  order  of  Melchisedek,  not  after  the  order  of  Aaron. 
He  has  no  successor  in  office.  Who  now  dares  obtrude  himself  into 
the  sanctuary  as  priest  ?  who  dares  to  build  again  Jewish  altars,  and  to 
usurp  the  prerogatives  of  the  one  High  Priest,  who,  in  the  heavenly 
sanctuary,  ever  lives  to  intercede  ? 

What  a  pitiable  spectacle  it  is  to  see  a  poor  mortal,  tricked  out  in 
his  vestments,  manipulate  a  wafer,  and  call  it  a  sacrifice  !  With  this 
sacerdotal  idea  comes  ritualism  in  all  its  modes,  degrees,  and  extremes. 
Presbyterianism  knows  but  one  King  and  Head  of  the  Church,  and 
but  one  High  Priest  and  Mediator,  who  "  hath  made  us  kings  and 
priests  unto  God."  The  dowry  through  his  blood  is  the  universal 
priesthood  of  believers.     This  is  Presbyterian  sacerdotalism. 

Presbyterianism  gives  strength  and  security  just  where  these  are 
needed,  and  gives  this  strength  and  security  on  scriptural  founda- 
tions. It  has  liberty  with  strength  as  against  the  Papacy,  and 
strength  with  liberty  as  against  Independency.  "Strength  and  beauty 
are  in  his  sanctuary."  We  are  not  ashamed  of  our  polity  and  form 
of  government.  We  are  not  ashamed  of  its  origin,  of  its  history,  of 
its  past,  of  its  present,  of  its  hopes  for  the  future. 

Presbyterianism  is  liberal,  charitable,  unchurching  no  one,  attaching 
more  importance  to  purity  of  doctrine  and  of  life  than  to  any  form 
of  government,  and  is  ready  always  with  a  good  conscience  to  fellow- 
ship with  all  who  "  hold  the  Head;"  and  so  in  controversy  she  has 
always  been  on  the  defensive  ;  but  when  attacked  she  has  always 
shown  that  she  is  able  to  take  care  of  herself  and  the  precious  interests 
committed  to  her.  We. are  willing  and  anxious  to  live  in  j^eace 
and  in  charity  and  good-will  toward  all  men,  but  '\i  pre latists persist 
in  unchurching  us,  and  in  spurning  Presbyterian  ordination,  we  re- 
tort by  saying,  '■'■Your  prelacy  is  unwarranted  hy  Scripture,  and  if  you 
have  nothing  better  than  this  figment  of  apostolical  succession,  then 
your  bishops  are  no  bishops,  and  your  Church  is  not  a  true  Church." 
We  are  Episcopalians,  true  Presbyterian  Episcopalians. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  157 

The  Rev.  John  DeWitt,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  then  read 
the  following  paper  : 

THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  REFORMED  CHURCHES. 

In  submitting  to  the  Council  some  thoughts  touching  the  worship 
of  the  Reformed  Churches,  I  must,  beca-use  limited  in  time,  confine 
myself  to   a  consideration   of  the  ideas  which  have  determined  it?" 
characteristic  forms,   repressing  what   I  should    have   been   glad 
say  as  to  its  historical  development. 

Religious  feelings  and  the  acts  by  which  they  are  both  awakened  and 
expressed,  may  be  arranged  under  the.  objects  on  which  they  termi- 
nate. Those  which  terminate  on  the  actors,  the  subject  of  the  feel- 
ings, fall  under  the  head  of  the  means  of  grace  ;  such  as  terminate  on 
other  men  are  included  in  the  term  benevolence ;  \\\-\\\^  \.\\o<~>'i.  ^n\\\c\\ 
terminate  in  God  fall  under  the  head  oi  zoorship. 

While  this  classification  exhausts  the  whole  of  religious  feeling  and 
action,  its  divisions  are  by  no  means  mutually  exclusive.  The  same 
religious  act  may  properly  be  placed  in  all  the  classes.  Prayer,  be- 
cause it  terminates  in  God,  is  distinctly  an  act  of  worship.  But 
prayer  is  also  one  of  the  means  of  grace,  as  such  terminating  .in  the 
petitioner  himself:  and  including,  as  it  does,  intercession,  and  in  thi;^ 
view  of  it,  intended  to  affect  other  men,  it  is  benevolent. 

But  all  religious  acts  terminate  ultimately  in  God.  Means  of 
grace  and  benevolence,  as  well  as  worship,  have  as  their  final  reason 
and  object  the  living  God,  "  the  chief  end  of  man,"  the  accepted  chief 
end  of  the  Christian.  Hence  worship,  in  a  large  sense,  properly  in- 
cludes all  religious  feeling  and  action.  And  it  is  in  this  larger  sense 
that  it  is  used,  when  made  to  designate  the  whole  round  of  the  public 
services  of  the  house  of  God  ;  as  in  the  phrase,  "  the  worship  of  the 
Reformed  Churches." 

Strictly  speaking,  worship  is  the  act  of  the  single  spirit.  Indeed, 
ail  human  action  is  at  last  referrible  to  the  forth-putting  of  the  single 
responsible  will.  But  free  spirits  may  act  in  unison.  And  since  the 
religious  wants  of  the  spirit  are  the  wants  of  our  common  human  na- 
ture, and  since  other  wants  are  personal  and  the  result  of  circum- 
stance, free  spirits  can  in  nothing  unite  either  so  profoundly  or  so 
often  as  in  the  worship  of  God.  For  this  reason  it  is  peculiarly 
proper  to  affirm  worship  of  an  assembly  or  a  communion.  Hence  our 
title  declares  not  only  a  great  historical  fact,  but  also  a  profound 
psychological  truth.    There  is  "a  worship  of  the  Reformed  Churches.'' '' 

But  our  title  suggests  division  as  well  as  union.  The  word  "  Re- 
formed "  brings  into  view  the  fact  that  the  worship,  as  well  as  the 
theology  and  the  polity  of  Mediaeval  Christianity,  was  revolutionized 
in  the  reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Of  the  changes  effected 
in  worship  by  this  revolution,  the  Reformed  Churches,  here  repre- 
sented, are  the  heirs. 

The  acts  of  public  worship,  common  to  every  branch  of  the  Christian 
( -hurch,  are  praise,  prayer,  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and 
the  declaration  and  exposition  of  the  word.     An  exhaustive  treatment 


158  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  the  subject  would  oblige  us  to  notice  the  influence  exerted  by  tlic 
Reformation  on  each  of  these  acts,  and  the  relative  place  assigned  to 
each  of  them  :  and  also  to  notice  the  change  effected  in  the  form  of 
the  place  of  worship,  the  material  hcuse  of  God  ;  and  the  new  kind 
and  degree  of  sanctity  with  which  by  the  Reformation  it  was  invested. 
But  without  specifying  these  changes  in  detail,  it  is  to  be  said  that 
they  were  effected  under  the  domination  of  great  formative  ideas,  for 
which  the  word  Reformation  stands. 

I  suppose  that  the  Reformation  is  accurately  described  in  a  single 
sentence  as  an  endeavor,  at  least,  to  revive  a  spiritual  and  scriptural 
Christianity.  Spiritual  truth  appealing  to  the  spirit  of  man ;  the 
spiritual  God  in  immediate  communion  with  the  human  spirit,  and 
the  written  word  of  God,  the  infallible  rule  of  the  latter  in  his  rela- 
tions with  the  former, — as  opposed  to  a  dominant  organization,  through 
which  alone  man  could  approach  God,  and  by  which  alone  spiritual 
truth  could  be  interpreted,  and  whose  official  declarations  were  above, 
if  they  did  not  supersede  the  written  word  as  the  rule  of  faith — these  . 
ideas  of  spirituality  and  scripturalness  formed  the  theology  and  polity, 
and  determined  the  worship  of  the  Reformed  Churches. 

Out  of  the  reign  of  these  ideas,  sprang  the  traits  by  which  our  wor- 
ship is  distinguished.  These  I  shall  endeavor  briefly  to  describe  and 
defend. 

I.  Of  these,  \\\&  first  is  what  we  call  simplicity,  and  what  others  call 
bareness  or  nakedness.  We  and  these  others  may  agree  perhaps  in 
describing  it  by  the  statement,  that  the  Reformation,  broadly  speaking, 
divorced  worship  and  fine  art,  which  had  been  married  in  the  Mediae- 
val Church. 

Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  this  is  the  statement  of  an  historical  fact. 
The  majestic  cathedral,  the  gorgeous  vestments  of  the  ecclesiastics, 
the  complicated  and  imposing  ceremonies,  the  balanced  and  decorous 
liturgies,  and  the  enchanting  altar-pieces  which  even  now  so  power- 
fully impress  us,  and  which  sometimes  we  are  tempted  to  describe  as 
aids  to  devotion,  are  not  products  of  the  Reformation.  In  respect 
to  these,  the  Reformation  was  destructive.  It  stripped  off"  decorative 
ornaments.  It  regarded  them,  at  least,  as  useless  impedimenta ;  as 
weights,  which  could  serve  only  to  make  difficult  and  tardy  the  flight 
of  the  spirit  of  man  to  its  communion  with  the  spiritual  God. 

Contemplating  the  simplicity  or  baldness  of  the  worship  we  have 
thus  inherited,  all  of  us,  it  may  be,  are  at  times  disposed  to  believe 
that  any  changes  in  the  Reformed  practice  hereafter  to  be  made,  may 
well  be  made  on  the  line  of  a  return  to  mediaeval  worship  :  and  the 
question  is  often  asked,  whether  the  interests  of  spiritual  and  scrip- 
tural religion  may  not  be  promoted  by  church  services  among  us,  in 
which  fine  art  will  lend  its  treasures  to  excite  devotion. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  the  divorce  of  fine  art  and  worship  by 
the  Reformation  was  an  inestimable  blessing  to  man.  Nor  until  sin 
shall  have  been  destroyed  may  we  safely  reunite  them.*     Then  only 

*  A  half-hour  is  too  brief  adequately  to  unfold  a  subject  as  large  as  the  worship 
of  the  Reformed  Churches.     I  take  advantage  of  the  permission  to  add  notes,  in 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  159 

will  the  union  be  without  peril  to  the  human  spirit.  The  new  Jeru- 
salem, whose  form  is  perfect,  whose  streets  are  gold,  whose  gates  are 
pearls,  and  whose  adornment  is  the  glory  of  all  earthly  kings,  may 
not  descend  from  heaven  until  man  himself  is  perfected.  This,  to 
call  it  a  theory,  is  the  theory  on  which  the  worship  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  is  based.  I  hold  it  to  be  justified,  alike  by  the  nature  of 
fine  art  and  that  of  religious  worship,  and  by  the  teachings  of  the  word 
of  God. 

For  what  is  fine  art,  considered  as  a  pursuit  ?  It  is  the  endeavor 
of  man,  laboring  in  the  realm  of  matter,  to  produce  or  exhibit  material 
beauty.  The  two  terms  to  be  emphasized  are  the  substantive,  beauty, 
and  the  qualifying  adjective,  material.  However  art  may  idealize, 
it  idealizes  within  the  realm  of  the  material.  It  cannot  be  conceived 
of  as  existing,  apart  from  matter.  The  products  of  art  are  material 
products.  The  enchanting  melody  of  music,  the  moving  cadence  and 
rhythm  of  poetry,  the  splendid  periods  of  oratory,  the  glowing  can- 
vas and  the  speaking  marble  are  indebted  for  being  to  the  material 
body  and  the  material  world :  and  however  we  may  talk  of  the  spiritual 
influence  of  art,  it  is  severely  true,  that  whoever  gives  himself  to  the 
pursuit  or  the  enjoyment  of  fine  art,  so  far  gives  himself  to  the  seen, 
the  material,  the  temporal.  Matter,  therefore,  and  the  sensibilities 
that  are  most  closely  related  to  the  physical  life  of  man  describe  the 
domain  of  art.  If  it  appeals  to  something  more  than  the  body  (aZ/xa), 
it  does  not  appeal  to  the  free,  willing,  rational,  and  worshipping  s/>i'nt 
(nvtvfia).  The  feelings  it  awakens  are  those  distinctly  of  the  soul 
(<pvxr).  Artistic  life  and  enjoyment  cannot,  as  such,  be  higher  than 
psychical,      (i  Thess.  v.  23.) 

But  we  are  conscious  of  a  life  not  thus  connected  with  matter. 
There  is  an  element  of  human  nature  and  of  each  human  person  that 
will  survive  "  the  wreck  of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds."  This  is 
the  spirit  of  man.  It  is  the  spirit  that  discerns  the  spiritual  God,  that 
is  alive  to  final  causes,  that  perceives  and  feels  the  moral  relations 
between  man  and  man.  There  are  qualities  and  expressions  and  emo- 
tions characteristic  of  the  life  of  the  spirit ;  just  as  there  are  qualities, 
expressions,  and  emotions  characteristic  of  the  lower  psychical  life 
which  produces  and  enjoys  fine  art.  The  quality  oi  holiness  expresses 
itself  in  religion,  and  produces  spiritual  peace ;  just  as  the  quality  of 
material  beauty  expresses  itself  in  fine  art,  and  produces  sensuous 
pleasure.  This  spiritual  life  has  to  do  with  qualities  and  relations  not 
dependent  on  matter.  When  I  think  of  beauty  as  related  to  fine  art, 
I  call  up  before  me  the  image  of  something  material.  But  when  I 
think  of  holiness  or  God,  I  rise  above  the  material ;  I  am  in  the 
spiritual  world. 

order  to  emphasize  the  fact  briefly  stated  above,  viz. :  that  throughout  this  paper, 
man  is  of  course  regarded,  as  in  some  degy-ee  at  least,  under  the  power  of  sin.  Un- 
fortunately, we  do  not  yet  need  to  discuss,  as  a  practical  question,  whether  an  artis- 
tic worship  will  suit  the  perfect  and  ultimate  society.  Christianity  begins  with  the 
recognition  of  sin  in  mai*.  This  recognition,  as  it  determines  our  theology  and  our 
polity,  ought  also  to  form  our  "  worship." 


i6o  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Observe,  then,  the  terms  thus  set  over  against  each  other.  Here  is 
material  beauty  revealing  itself  in  the  forms  of  fine  art,  and  yielding 
pleasure ;  and  there  is  the  spiritual  quality,  holiness,  expressing  itself 
m  religion,  with  its  characteristic  product  of  spiritual  peace.  Holi- 
ness and  beauty  !  Christianity  and  fine  art  !  Spiritual  harmony  and 
sensuous  pleasure  !  Spiritual  relations  and  material  forms  !  Religion 
and  aesthetics!  How  wide' apart  they  are  !  Wide  apart,  indeed,  as 
heaven  and  earth,  as  spirit  and  matter. 

Moreover,  it  is  important  at  this  point  to  observe,  that  fine  art  and 
the  feelings  it  excites  are,  within  their  own  sphere,  as  ultimate  as  re 
iigion  and  the  spiritual  emotions.  A  work  of  fine  art  is  its  own  pur 
pose.  That  it  is  "  a  thing  of  beauty,"  is  its  right  to  be.  This  is 
both  the  justification  and  the  glory  of  art  as  a  pursuit.  Its  products 
are  not  symbolical.  They  do  not  point  the  beholder  to  higher  things 
wliich  they  prophesy.  To  quote  the  words  of  another,  "  if  there  is 
anything  settled  in  the  theory  of  art,  it  is  that  fine  art  is  its  own  end. 
It  is  self-sufficing,  self-included  and  irreferent."*  He,  therefore, 
violently  removes  beauty  from  her  proper  throne,  and  forbids  to  her 
the  mission  appointed  by  her  Creator,  who  refuses  to  contemplate  her 
as  ultimate  in  her  own  realm,  and  reduces  her  to  a  symbol  and  hand- 
maiden. Nor  will  he  fail  at  last  to  find,  that  beauty,  just  because  it 
is  an  ultimate  quality,  having  no  mission  save  to  be  and  by  being  to 
bless,  is  ill-adapted  to  serve  as  a  symbol  or  a  mere  shadow  of  good 
things  to  come,  though  they  are  the  good  things  of  the  spiritual  world. 
I'hese  must  be  ill-represented  by  artistic  forms.  For  artistic  forms, 
hv  reason  of  their  beauty,  must  compel  attention  to  themselves  as 
supreme.  Spiritual  realities  can  be  best  expressed  and  revealed,  not 
by  ultimate  and  self-sufficing  art,  but  by  prophetic  and  serviceable 
symbol. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  two,  that  fine  art 
must  be  ill-suited  either  to  express  or  to  excite  spiritual  worship.  It 
is  clear,  also,  that  this  statement  does  not  deny  to  fine  art  an  exalted 
mission.  It  but  points  out  the  boundaries  of  the  realm  in  which  it  is 
acknowledged  as  supreme.  It  but  asserts,  that  fine  art  exists  to  repre- 
sent in  human  products  the  quality  of  material  beauty  with  which  the 
Creator  has  adorned  the  work  of  his  hands ;  and  that  existing  legiti- 
mately to  represent  natural  and  material  beauty,  it  must,  for  that  rea- 
son, be  ill-adapted  to  express  or  to  awaken  the  supernatural  and  spirit- 
ual beauty  of  holiness. 

Did  time  permit,  it  could  be  made  plain  that  the  history  of  religions 
justifies  this  statement.  It  could  be  shown  that  because  "the  very 
calling  of  art,  as  a  department  of  effort,  is  to  render  sensuous  the 
spiritual,"  and  because  man,  as  a  sinner,  dislikes  and  is  afraid  to  con- 
template pure  spiritual  truth,  whenever  it  has  been  attempted  to  make 
religious  worship  artistic,  religion  has  at  last  become  sensuous,  and 

*  Dr.  Shedd. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  i6i 

spiritual  realities  have  been  obscured  by  the  means  adopted  to  reveal 
them.* 

But  the  history  of  one  people  I  may  not  omit  to  notice ;  for  it  is 
the  history  of  a  people,  trained  by  the  spiritual  God  himself.  The 
teachings  of  their  history  are  the  rule  of  our  faith.  I  know  that 
eloquence  and  poetry  wedded  to  music  were  employed  by  the  Hebrew 
people  in  religious  worship ;  and  so  far  the  Reformed  Churches  main- 
tain the  union  of  art  and  religion.  But  so  subordinate  to  other  ele- 
ments is  the  artistic  element  in  poetry  and  oratory,  that  we  do  not 
call  poets  or  orators,  artists.  And  it  is  this  very  subordination  of  the 
artistic  element  to  the  higher  intellectual  and  moral  elements  that 
entitles  poetry  and  oratory  to  places  in  the  services  of  the  house  of 
God. I  With  these  exceptions,  as  to  whose  employment  there  is  no 
dispute,  it  is  indisputable  that  God,  at  least,  discouraged  fine  art,  as 
a  pursuit,  among  the  Jews.  And  though  he  appointed  a  detailed 
ritual,  it  is  a  ritual  that  makes  no  artistic  appeal  to  man.  It  did  not 
impress  the  Hebrew  aesthetically  ;  and  care  was  taken  that  it  should 
not.  The  Hebrew  life  was  an  elaborate  life,  and  Hebrew  civilization 
was  lofty  and  complex.  But  how  deficient  were  the  Hebrews  in  artistic 
perception  !    And  how  utterly  barren  are  their  records  of  mention  of 


*  If  material  beauty  is  fitted  to  excite  spiritual  worship,  one  would  su]ipose  that 
beauty  in  nature,  the  work  of  God,  ought  more  profoundly  to  impress  man  in  a  re- 
ligious manner  than  ijeauty  in  art,  the  work  of  his  fellow.  F^ven  more  profound 
than  that  of  the  material  beautiful  should  be  the  religious  impression  of  the  materia! 
sublime.  For  beauty  is  "  multitude  in  unity,"  which  unity  the  beholder  sees  and 
gras])s  and  feels.  But  the  material  sublime  is  too  vast  to  be  apprehended  by  the 
beholder  as  a  unity.  There  is  a  remainder  that  he  cannot  grasp.  He  is  therefore 
awe-stricken  in  its  presence.  It  is  this  unknown,  unseen  remainder,  which  may 
easily,  it  should  seem,  suggest  the  infinite  and  the  spiritual,  and  so  excite  worship. 
Now,  of  the  mateiial  sublime,  the  eminent  example  is  the  firmament  at  night,  as 
Kant  declares  in  his  often  quoted  remark.  But  it  is  instructive  to  notice,  that  when 
one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  Reformed  Churchmen,  Thomas  Chalmers,  brought  to 
view,  in  a  series  of  sermons,  the  relations  of  astronomy  to  Christianity,  lie  was  so 
fearful  th;it  the  material  sublimity  of  the  heavens  might,  by  making  an  asthetic,  pre- 
vent a  religious  impression,  that  he  added  to  his  six  astronomical  discourses  a  seventh 
— which  still  more  modern  Reformed  Churchmen  would  do  well  to  ponder — on  "the 
slender  influence  of  taste  and  sensiljility  in  matters  of  religion." 

f  The  arts  of  poetry  and  of  eloquence  are  widely  separated  from  the  arts  of  paint- 
ing and  sculpture,  and  architecture  the  union  of  the  two,  by  the  fact  that  the  for- 
mer employ  articulate  speech.  Speech  does  not  present  anything  to  the  senses,  in 
order  immediately  to  excite  the  sensibilities,  as  painting  and  sculpture  do.  Speech 
symbolizes  thought  to  the  understanding  and  reason,  and  thus  through  the  intellect 
excites  the  feelings  and  arouses  the  will.  Sculpture  and  painting  image  the  seen. 
Language  symbolizes  the  unseen.  For  this  reason,  poetry  and  eloquence  properly 
find  place  in  services  intended  to  make  man  feel  the  reality  of  that  s];)iritual  v^'orld, 
whose  elements  may  be  symbolized  \n  ritual  (Hebrew)  or  language  (Christian),  but 
can  never  be  imaged.  Music  is  projierly  employed  siill  more  subordinately  as  the 
handmaid  of  jioetry ;  since  by  melody  they  are  allied,  and  since  it  addresses  the 
hearing  ear,  through  which  poetry  reaches  the  intellect  and  the  feelings.  There  are 
deeper  and  more  cogent  reasons  for  their  employment  in  "  worship;"  and  these  are 
brought  out  indirectly  in  the  "  Literary  Essays"  of  my  revered  teacher.  Professor 
Shedd  ;  than  whom  no  modern  writer  has  thought  more  profoundly,  or  written  more 
clearly  and  eloquently  on  the  relations  of  aesthetics  and  religion. 
II 


i62  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

artistic  products  !  The  prohibition  of  images  of  Deity  was  announced 
at  Sinai.  The  Cherubim  in  the  most  holy  place  were  not  artistic 
representations.  "  No  skill  of  delineation  could  make  the  Cherubim 
other  than  unsightly  objects  to  the  eye."  And  if  you  should  select  a 
scene,  which  by  no  possibility  could  be  made  pleasing,  outside  of 
Greece,  you  would  select  the  characteristic  act  of  the  Hebrew  ritual ; 
the  blood-stained  priest  at  the  altar  plunging  his  knife  into  the  victim. 
Or  turn  to  those  great  visions  in  the  word  of  God,  in  which  alone  we 
see  anything  like  an  image  of  the  Deity.  Take  the  latest  and  sublimest 
•of  them  all.  All  of  us  recall  the  description  of  the  Son  of  God  and 
Man  which  opens  the  Revelation  of  St.  John.  Who,  in  reading  it, 
has  not  felt,  in  some  degree,  what  the  apostle  felt,  "  And  when  1  saw 
him,  1  fell  at  his  feet  as  dead?"  Have  we  not  been  tempted  to  think 
of  it  as  an  artistic  achievement  greater  than  the  Apollo  Belvtdere  or 
the  Venus  Victrix  ?  But  the  truth  is,  that  it  is  not  artistic  at  alL 
As  Archbisliop  Trench  has  well  said,  "This  description  of  the  glori- 
fied Lord,  sublime  ^s  a  purely  mental  conception,  becomes  intolerable 
if  \VQ  giz>e  it  outzaard  form  and  expression,  and  picture  him  with  this 
sword  proceeding  out  of  his  mouth,  these  feet  as  burning  brass,  and 
this  hair  white  like  wool." 

So  it  is  witli  all  of  the  visions  of  Scripture,  that  bring  man  into  the 
presence  of  God.  The  impression  they  leave  upon  us  is  ethical  and 
spiritual  just  because  it  is  not  artistic.  It  is  largely  to  this  lack  of 
artistic  life  and  culture  among  the  Hebrews  and  in  the  Apostolic 
Church,  that  we  owe  our  spiritual  religion,  our  Christianity,  with  its 
amazing  power  to  lift  man  above  his  material  surroundings,  and  to 
reveal  to  him  the  unseen,  the  unimaged,  but  ever-present  God.  With 
reverence  be  it  said,  we  cannot  easily  tell  with  what  wise  pains,  the 
God  oi  Abraham  secluded  his  chosen  people,  and  held  thern  back 
from  communion  with  those  who  worshipped  nature,  and  whose 
religion  was  blent  with  and  expressed  by  art,  and,  if  he.  did  not 
forbid  by  precept,  at  least  prevented  by  providence,  a  life  of  artistic 
culture  or  artistic  enjoyment.  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  same  all-wise 
and  all-merciful  God  also  guided  that  movement  of  the  Reformation, 
by  which  the  services  of  the  house  of  God  again  became  unartistic; 
and  the  simple,  the  severe,  the  naked,  if  you  please,  but  spiritual 
worship  of  ithe  Reformed  Churches  was  established.* 

*  I  said,  supra,  that  "  the  Cheruljim  in  the  most  holy  place  were  not  artistic 
representations. "  The  Cherubim  were  "  composite  creature  forms."  So  indeed 
according  to  Winckelniann  were  the  statues  of  Greek  gods  and  heroes.  "  The 
study  of  artist.s  in  producing  ideal  beauties  was  directed  to  the  nature  of  noble 
beasts,  so  that  they  even  uttJertook  to  adopt  from  animals  the  means  of  imparting 
greater  tnajesty  and  elenation  to  their  statues.  This  remark,  7uhich  might  at  first 
sight  seem  ahsiird,  luill  strike  profound  observers  as  indisputably  correct,  especially 
in  the  heads  of  Jupiter  ami  Hercules.'"  (Greek  Art,  Part  I.,  chap,  ii.,  sec.  40.) 
But  the  difference  between  them  is  that  the  Hebrew  did  not  attempt,  and  the 
Greeic  always  attempted,  to  reduce  the  composition  to  unity,  the  essential  trait  of 
beauty.  Hence,  to  employ  Archbishop  Trench's  expression,  the  Cherubim  were 
♦♦unsightly  lo  the  eye;"  while  the  Greek  statues  of  Jupiter  and  Hercules  have 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  163 

II.  Without  dwelling  longer  on  this  trait  of  our  worship  as 
Reformed  Churches,  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  it  is  simply  negative. 
The  change,  thus  far  noticed,  was  destructive.  And  therefore,  if  the 
Reformation  was  more  than  adestructive  revolution,  if  it  wasaRe-forma- 
ticn,  we  may  expect  to  find  a  positive  trait,  which,  associated  with 
this  negative  feature,  distinguishes  our  forms  of  public  worship. 

I  mention  this  positive  trait  in  saying,  that  when,  by  the  Reibrma- 
tion,  art  was  displaced,  truth  was  exalted  to  the  ])lace  which  art  had 
filled  in  worship.  The  exaltation  of  revealed  truth,  of  the  written 
and  inspired  word  of  God,  is  positively,  as  thedisplacement  of  fine  art  !s 
negatively,  the  idea,  by  which  the  worship  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
has  been  shaped. 

I  assume  that  this  statement  needs  no  elaborate  proof  here.  It  at 
once  explains,  and  is  confirmed  by  great  and  well-known  facts  of 
history.  All  of  us  know  that  the  Reformation,  springing  into  public 
view  by  the  theses  of  Luther,  upheld  by  him  as  truth,  never  failed  to 
emphasize  this  note  of  the  Church  ;  that  above  all,  it  is  the  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth.  It  was  the  truth,  as  truth  to  be  believed,  an- 
nounced, explained  and  defended,  that  most  of  all  inspired  the  labors 
of  the  Reformers.  Thus  the  Reformed  Churches  became  the  heirs, 
not  of  elaborate  services,  but  of  detailed  confessions;  in  which  the 
word  of  God  was  announced  as  the  supreme  rule  of  faith,  and  the 
truth 'w^'s  declared  and  interpreted.  These  are  the  cathedrals  which 
our  fathers  built:  the  Galilean,  the  Belgic,  the  Scotch,  the  West- 
minster Confessions ;  the  Heidelburg  Catechism  and  the  Canons  of 
Dort.  To  the  great  spiritual  and  scriptural  revival  that  produced 
these  confessions  we  owe  it,  that  our  worship  is  broadly  distinguished 
from  that  of  the  Mediaeval  Church  by  the  fact,  that  we  have  adopted 
truth  instead  of  fine  art,  as  the  means  by  which,  chiefly,  worship  is 
awakened  and  expressed. 

The  question  whether  this  has  been  a  gain  or  loss  to  spiritual 
religion,  I  do  not  stop  to  discuss.  I  do  not  regard  it  as  a  question. 
That  truth  expressed  in  language  and  addressed  directly  to  the 
conscience,  the  reason  and  the  will,  is  by  its  character  infinitely 
better  fitted  to  impress  spiritual  realities  on  man,  to  bring  him  face 
to  face  with  the  spiritual  God,  and  so  to  promote  acceptable  worship; 
than  is  fine  art,  whose  mission  is  to  represent  material  beauty,  seems 
too  clear  for  argument.  And  even  were  it  not  so  clear,  the  question 
is  answered  by  the  ultimate  fact,  that  the  spiritual  God  has  chosen 
finally  and  fully  to  reveal  the  spiritual  universe  to  his  Church  in  the 
world,  not  by  artistic  representation,  but  by  his  written  word. 

Thus,  then,  would  I  distinguish  the  Reformed  worship  from  the 


been  the  admiration  and  despair  of  twenty  centuries.  The  explanation  of  this 
difference  is  that  the  Greek  nature,  "saturated  with  beauty,"  tried  to  represent  it, 
in  forms  of  fine  art ;  while  the  Hebrew,  dominated  by  spiritual  ideas,  tried  to 
symbolize  them.  Wide  apart  as  are  the  Hebrew  Cherub,  ami  the  Greek  Jupiter  and 
Ilercules,  are  the  forms  of  a  spiritual,  and  the  forms  of  an  artistic  worship. 


1 64  THE   PRESBYTERTAN  ALLIANCE. 

Mediaeval  worship  which  preceded  it,  and  which  in  the  Churches  here 
represented  it  displaced.  Truth,  ivhich  had  been  subordinated  to  fine 
art,  was  employed  ane7v,  as  the  means  to  excite  and  the  food  to  nourish 
devotion  ;  and  art  was  so  far  displaced,  as  thereafter  to  be  used  in  sacred 
song  and  sacred  eloquoice  aloTie. 

Let  no  one  suppose  that,  because  I  do  not  touch  on  prayer  and 
praise  as  acts  of  worship,  I  imply  that  the  Reformed  Churches  do  not 
assign  to  them  the  very  highest  place  in  the  public  worship  of  God.* 
This  question  was  never  in  debate  between  them  and  the  Medieval 
Church.  The  former,  like  the  latter,  of  course,  regard  them  as  the 
loftiest  acts  in  which  the  human  spirit  can  engage.  For,  in  them,  man 
directly  addresses  and  communes  with  God.  But  what  shall  excite 
the  spirit  of  man  to  praise?  and  what  shall  move  the  spirit  of  man  to 
prayer?  These  are  the  questions.  And  the  Mediaeval  Church  answers: 
"A  service  that  will  satisfy  the  taste  and  excite  the  sensibilities  of 
man."  The  Reformed  Churches  answer:  "  The  revealed  truth  of  God 
addressed  to  the  conscience,  the  reason  and  the  will." 

Of  the  great  formative  ideas  which  I  have  tluis  tried  to  announce 
and  uphold,  we,  as  the  Reformed  Churches,  are  the  representatives. 
By  these  ideas,  whatever  is  distinctive  in  our  worship  was  shaped. 
But  in  a  paper  on  the  "Worship  of  the  Reformed  Churches,"  I  can 
go  no  further  than  to  give  these  ideas  expression.  For  the  Reforma- 
tion went  no  further.  It  was  not  a  movement  that  either  imposed  or 
suggested  details.  These  it  left  to  the  peoples  whom  it  led  out  of 
darkness.  And  thus,  when  fully  formed,  some  of  the  National 
Churches  framed  brief  and  simple  liturgies,  and  others  discarded 
liturgies.  But  whether  they  framed  liturgies,  as  well  calculated  to 
promote  and  express  union  in  worship,  or  whether  they  rejected 
pre-written  prayer,  as  "  having,"  to  employ  Milton's  phrase,  "less 
intercourse  and  sympathy  with  the  heart  wherein  it  was  not  con- 
ceived," all  of  them  were  united  in  loyalty  to  the  ideas  which  1  have 
now  set  forth.  And  it  was  by  the  greater  vigor  with  which  they 
applied,  and  by  the  greater  length  to  which  they  carried  them,  that 
the  Reformed  Churches  were  distinguished,  in  the  forms  of  their 
worship,  from  the  Lutheran  and  Anglican  communions. 

We  may  expect  that  changes  will  be  proposed  and  adopted  in  the 
.several  Churches  represented  in  this  Council.  Well  will  it  be  for 
them  if  these  changes  shall  be  made  under  the  influence  of  the  ideas 
that  determined  our  worship  at  the  Reformation.  \\\  the  Church,  of 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  pastor,  we  are  without  a  liturgy,  and 
are  under  a  directory  that  is  content  to  declare  principles  and  to  make 
general  suggestions.  Signs  are  not  wanting,  however — one  of  which 
shone    brilliant    in  our  firmament   last   nightf — that  a  call    for  pre- 

*  I  cannot  refer  lo  the  sacranieuts  as  acts  of  worship,  further  than  to  say  that  a 
moment's  reflection  will  serve  to  convince  the  reader  that  neither  of  them  inartistic. 
Both  are  syvtbolical.  To  administer  them  in  an  artistic  manner,  with  a  view  to 
making  an  reslhelic  impression,  is  to  obscure  their  symliolical  meaning. 

f  The  paper  of  Prof.  R.  D.  Hitchcock,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  New  York,  on  "The 
Ceremonial,  the  Moral  and  the  Emotional  in  Christian  Life  and  Worship." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  165 

scribed  forms  may  become  quite  general.  Such  a  call,  should  it  seek 
by  simple  means  to  express  and  promote  union  in  worship,  might  well 
be  heard  with  attention,  and  answered  by  compliance.  But  should 
the  proposed  liturgy  be  so  elaborate,  as  at  all  to  diminish  the  relative 
importance  now  given  to  the  announcement  and  exposition  of  the 
truth,  from  the  central  pulpit,  in  the  studied  discourse,  by  the  ordained 
preacher,  I  trust  that  it  will  never  become  either  the  law  or  the  cus- 
tom of  the  Church.  Above  all,  should  the  call  spring  out  of,  or  seek 
to  satisfy,  a  p7-evalent  cesthetic  impulse,  I  pray  that  it  may  be  success- 
fully resisted.  For  artistic  worship  is  "poisonous  honey"  to  Chris- 
tians still  weak  and  sick  with  sin.  Only  when,  at  the  consummation 
of  all  things,  the  living  Church  shall  itself  be  without  "spot  or 
wrinkle,"  may  the  outward  temple  safely  be  adorned  with  consum- 
mate beauty ;  as  only  then  the  voices  of  the  people  of  God  can  unite 
in  the  consummate  and  immortal  liturgy. 


It  was  announced  that  the  Hon.  S.  M.  Breckinridge,  of  St. 
Louis,  who  was  on  the  programme  to  read  a  paper  on  "  Ruling 
Elders,"  was  unable  to  be  present. 

The  Rev.  C.  H.  Read,  D.  D.,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  then  read 
the  following  paper : 

RULING   ELDERS. 

The  office  of  Ruling  Elders  in  the  churches  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
topic  announced  for  consideration  at  this  stage  in  the  proceedings  of 
this  Council. 

Condensation  and  brevity — as  much  as  is  consistent  with  the  topic 
in  hand — will  need  no  apology. 

A  class  of  persons,  known  as  "  Ruling  Elders,"  invested  with  some 
kind  of  authority,  and  exercising  sotne  kind  of  pozver,  is  constantly 
recognized  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  through  all  the  ages,  since  the 
organization  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  family  of  Abraham. 

The  precise  mode  of  their  appointment,  and  the  precise  nature  and 
exercise  of  their  official  power, /r<?w  the  l?eginning,  is  not  distinctly  set 
forth  ;  but  the  office  itself  \?>  often  and  very  clearly  recognized. 

An  Eldership  comes,  at  first,  faintly  into  view  in  the  divine  records; 
then  more  and  more  distinctly  it  takes  on  dignity  and  power  as  these 
records  advance,  until  we  find  Elders  associated  with  almost  every 
important  act  of  government,  a  council,  a  sanhedrim,  composed  of 
Elders  chosen  from  the  different  tribes  of  Israel ;  and  then,  a  body  of 
men  ordained  to  office  in  all  the  regularly  organized  churches  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Scriptural  and  patristic  proofs  to  these  points  can 
hardly  be  necessary  in  this  immediate  presence;  but  such  proof  may 
be  of  use  when  the  utterances  of  this  Council  may  come  to  be  re- 
ported throughout  the  land  and  world. 


1 66  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

First,  then,  and  always  first  in  all  matters  of  Christian  faith  and 
order,  we  have  to  do  with  the  testimony  of  the  word  of  God. 

Passing  by  earlier  references  in  the  Scriptures  to  Elders  (the  pur- 
pose being  to  give  speciinen  texts,  rather  than  to  exhaust  the  testi- 
mony), we  find  in  Leviticus  iv.  13,  and  onward,  as  follows:  "  If  the 
whole  congregation  of  Israel  sin  through  ignorai  ce,  and  the  thing  be 
hid  from  the  eyes  of  the  assembly,  and  they  have  done  somewhat 
against  any  of  the  commandments  of  the  Lord,  concerning  things 
which  should  not  be  done,  and  are  guilty  ;  when  the  sin,  which  they 
have  sinned  against  it,  is  known,  then  the  congregation  shall  offer  a 
young  bullock  for  the  sin,  and  shall  bring  him  before  the  tabernacle 
of  the  congregation. 

"And  the  Elders  of  the  congregation  shall  lay  their  hands  upon  the 
head  of  the  bullock  before  the  Lord  ;  and  the  bullock  shall  be  killed 
before  the  Lord,  and  the  priest  that  is  anointed  shall  bring  of  the 
bullock's  blood  to  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  office  of  the  Elders  of  the  congregation,  as  here  brought  into 
view,  while  it  was  in  some  respects  subordinate  to  that  of  "  the  priest,''' 
ordained  as  such^  was  a  prominent  and  important  one :  they  repre- 
sented the  people,  officially:  they  placed  their  hands  n'pon  the  head 
of  the  bullock  about  to  be  slain,  as  if  by  way  of  representation  and 
confession  of  the  public  sin  ;  and  then  the  priest  proper  offered  the 
blood  of  the  slain  animal  before  the  Lord.  Of  course  none  but  duly 
selected  mid  authorized  persons  could  or  would  have  performed  this 
most  solemn  office  ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  these  Elders 
^of  the  congregation  of  Israel  had  been  duly  chosen  and  invested  with 
this  solemn,  public,  and  7-epresentative  office.  The  function  of  this 
office  before  God,  and  in  behalf  of  the  people,  implies  a  dignity  and 
solemnity  of  investiture. 

In  Numbers  xi.  16,  and  onward,  we  meet  with  the  specified  num- 
ber of  seventy  Elders,  recognized  by  God  himself  as  men  in  official 
station  in  Israel,  thus:  "And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Gather  unto 
me  seventy  men  of  the  Elders  of  Israel,  whom  thou  knowest  to  be  the 
Elders  of  the  people  and  office7's  over  thein,  and  bring  them  unto  the 
tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  that  they  may  stand  there  with  thee. 
And  I  will  come  down  and  talk  with  thee  there;  and  I  will  take  of 
the  spirit  which  is  upon  thee  and  will  put  it  upon  them  ;  and  they  shall 
bear  the  burden  of  the  people  with  thee,  that  thou  bear  it  not  thyself 
alone. ' ' 

In  the  24th  and  25th  verses  the  record  proceeds  thus:  "And  Moses 
went  out"  (that  is,  from  the  immediate  presence  of  the  Lord),  "and 
told  the  people  the  words  of  the  Lord,  and  gathered  the  seventy  men 
of  the  Elders  of  the  people,  and  set  them  round  about  the  tabernacle." 
"And  the  Lord  came  down  in  a  cloud  and  spake  unto  him,  and  took 
of  the  spirit  that  was  upon  him  and  gave  it  to  the  seventy  Elders ; 
and  it  came  to  pass  that,  when  the  spirit  rested  upon  them,  they 
prophesied  and  did  not  cease."  It  is  observable  that  here  the  Lord 
himself  speaks  of  the  official  character  of  the  Elders  of  the  people  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  167 

Israel  as  men  whom  Moses  knew  to  be  "  the  Elders  of  the  people  and 
officers  over  them.^'  Thus,  while  we  may  not  discover  any  original 
positive  command  or  formula  of  ordination  for  Elders  in  the  Old 
Testament,  yet,  here,  we  have  the  office  and  the  men  particularly  men- 
tioned. In  Deut.  XXV.  7-9,  we  find  the  accredited  Elders  of  Israel 
sitting  in  the  gate  of  the  city  and  adjudicating  an  important  case  of 
morals  which  was  referred  to  them,  and  uniting  in  a  decision  in  the 
premises. 

In  Ueut.  xxix.  10,  we  find  the  people  of  Israel  gathered  before  the 
Lord,  to  enter  into  a  solemn  covenant,  and  the  Elders  are  there  in 
prominent  place  ;  thus,  in  the  words  of  Moses,  "  Ye  stand  this  day  all 
of  you  before  the  Lord,  your  God  ;  your  captains  of  your  tribes,  your 
Elders  and  your  officers,  .  .  .  that  thou  shouldest  enter  into  covenant 
with  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  into  his  oath  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
maketh  with  thee  this  day. ' '  Again,  in  Deut.-  xxxi.  28,  Moses,  conscious 
that  his  end  on  earth  was  near  at  hand,  and  inspired  of  God  to  utter  sol- 
emn counsels  to  the  people  of  Israel,  issued  the  call,  "  Gather  unto  me 
all  the  Elders  of  your  tribes  and  your  officers,  that  I  may  speak  these 
words  in  their  ears,  and  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record  against 
them." 

When  Samuel,  the  prophet,  was  sent  of  God  to  Bethlehem  to 
anoint  a  king  in  place  of  Saul,  the  Elders  of  the  town  trembled  at 
his  approach,  and  went  forth  to  meet  him,  and  to  inquire  his  errand 
(i  Sam.  xvi.  4).  King  David,  after  a  successful  battle  with  the 
Amalekites,  sent  the  spoils  of  victory  to  the  Elders  of  Judah.  (i 
Sam.  XXX.  6.) 

In  I  Kings  xxv.  7,  8,  we  find  the  king  of  Israel  consulting  with  the 
Elders  upon  a  question  of  State  policy,  and  following  their  advice  in 
the  premises.  In  2  Kings  vi.  32,  we  find  the  prophet  Elisha  seated 
with  the  Elders  in  consultation  with  them.  In  Ezra  x.  8,  we  find  the 
Elders  consulting  with  the  princes  of  Judah,  in  matters  of  highest 
importance.  In  the  book  of  Ezekiel  viii.  i,  we  find  the  prophet 
Ezekiel  seated  in  his  own  house,  and  the  Elders  of  Judah  gathered 
to  him.  In  Joel  i.  14,  in  the  arrangements  for  a  solemn  public  fast, 
the  Elders  are  mentioned  as  gathered,  and  taking  charge  of  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

Not  to  extend  citations  of  this  sort  from  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures, it  is  manifest  that  an  order  of  men  known  as  Elders  of  the  con- 
gregation of  Israel,  had  existed  from  the  organization  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  its  Mosaic  economy  and  administration.  The  form  of 
their  appointment  is  not  distinctly  set  forth;  but  that  they  did  not 
assume  to  themselves  this  distinction,  and  arrogate  this  office,  its 
honors  and  responsibilities,  is  obvious. 

The  number  of  "  seventy  elders,"  as  expressly  mentioned,  shows  that 
it  must  have  been  by  some  rule  inclusive  and  exclusive  that  they 
were  separated  and  appointed  to  the  office,  and  that  they  were  so  in- 
vested with  public  authority  as  to  command  respect.  Their  advi- 
sory counsel  was  sought  and  respected  by  prophets,  princes  and  kings, 


1 68  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  had  weight  in  matters  of  highest  importance  to  the  Church  and 
State  in  the  (hen  mixed  form  of  Church  and  State  government. 

Dr.  Witherspoon,  in  a  valuable  tract  entitled  "  An  Appeal  to 
the  Baptized  Children  of  the  Church  (issued  by  the  Presbyterian 
Committee  of  Publication,  Richmond),  has  the  following  paragraphs 
in  the  line  of  this  argument,  which  are  worthy  of  insertion:  "We 
hear  but  little  of  these  Elders  during  the  lifetime  of  Abraham, 
as  we  hear  but  little  of  the  constitution  of  the  Church  ;  but  afterward 
they  appear  as  distinctly  recognized  officers  of  the  house  of  God. 
Thus  when  Moses  was  sent  as  the  deliverer  of  God's  people  from  the 
bondage  of  Egypt,  he  was  directed  (Ex.  iii.  16)  to  go  and  gather  the 
Elders  of  Israel  together,  and  deliver  his  message  to  them  as  the  divinely 
appointed  rulers  of  the  congregation.  When  he  was  sent  to  demand 
of  Pharaoh  the  release  of  the  children  of  Israel,  he  was  instructed  to 
take  with  him  (Ex.  iii.  18)  the  Elders  of  Israel,  as  the  representatives 
of  the  chosen  people.  When  in  the  wilderness,  Moses  received  the 
law  from  the  hands  of  Jehovah  on  Mount  Sinai,  he  delivered  it  to 
the  priests,  the  sons  of  Levi,  and  to  the  Elders  (Deut.  iii.  9),  as  the 
spiritual  rulers  of  God's  people.  And  so  in  every  instance  in  which 
any  authority  is  exercised,  or  any  discipline  administered,  we  find 
these  Elders  referred  to  as  the  rulers  in  the  Church.  They  are  some- 
times called  '  the  Elders,'  sometimes  '  the  Elders  of  Israel,'  sometimes 
*  the  Elders  of  the  people  ;  '  but  they  appear  on  every  page  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Jewish  Church,  as  its  divinely  appointed  and  recognized 
rulers.  ...  It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  these  Elders  were  only  civil 
rulers,  and  not  ecclesiastical ;  that  they  were  officers  of  the  State,  and 
not  of  the  Church  ;  that  in  the  Jewish  commonwealth  the  priests  had 
the  exclusive  authority  in  spiritual  matters,  and  the  Elders  in  secular 
matters.  But  so  far  is  this  from  being  the  case,  that,  as  we  shall  soon 
see,  the  priests  themselves  ruled  not  as  priests,  but  as  Elders ;  and  in 
every  act  of  government  were  associated  with  '  the  Elders  of  the 
people,'  while  the  Council  of  the  Seventy,  or  the  Sanhedrim,  as  it 
was  afterwards  called,  was  composed  entirely  of  Elders  chosen  from 
the  different  tribes  of  Israel. 

"It  is  true,"  continues  Dr.  Witherspoon,  "that  these  Elders 
had  many  civil  duties  to  perform,  because  at  that  time  the  Church 
and  State  were  temporarily  united.  But  their  functions  as  civil 
officers,  resulting  from  this  temporary  connection,  were  only  inci- 
dental and  temporary.  Their  highest  functions  were  spiritual.  They 
were  eminently  ecclesiastical  rulers." 

The  Synagogue  System. — From  the  differences  of  opinion  among  the 
early  writers  and  learned  men,  there  may  be  reasonable  doubts  as  to 
the  exact  time  when  the  synagogue  system  of  order  and  worship  was 
established  among  the  Jews ;  but  that  it  existed  at  the  time  of  our 
Lord's  advent,  and  had  then  been  in  existence  for  a  considerable 
time,  admits  of  no  reasonable  doubt. 

Dr.  Miller — of  venerable  memory,  aforetime  Professor  of  Church 
History  at  Princeton — in  his  comprehensive  "  Essay  on  the  Warrant, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  169 

Nature,  and  Duties  of  the  Ruling  Elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church," 
has  the  following  paragraph:  "Whatever  might  have  been  its  origin" 
(that  is,  of  the  synagogue),  "  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that, 
from  the  earliest  notices  we  have  of  the  institution,  and  through  its 
whole  history,  its  leading  officers  consisted  of  a  bench  of  Elders,  who 
were  appointed  to  bear  rule  in  the  congregation  ;  who  formed  a  kind 
of  consistory  or  ecclesiastical  judicatory,  to  receive  applicants  for  ad- 
mission into  the  Church ;  to  watch  over  the  people,  as  well  in  refer- 
ence to  their  morals,  as  their  obedience  to  ceremonial  and  ecclesias- 
tical order;  to  administer  discipline  when  necessary;  and,  in  short, 
as  the  representatives  of  the  Church  or  congregation,  to  act  in  their 
name  and  behalf;  to  '  bind  '  and  '  loose; '  and  to  see  that  everything 
was  '  done  decently  and  in  order.'  " 

Dr.  Miller  adds:  "  The  number  of  the  Elders  in  each  synagogue 
was  not  governed  by  any  absolute  rule.  In  large  cities,  according  to 
certain  Jewish  authorities,  the  number  was  frequently  very  large.  But 
even  in  the  smallest  synagogues,  we  are  assured  that  there  were  never 
less  than  three,  that  the  judicatory  might  never  be  equally  divided." 

Such  were  the  arrangements  for  maintaining  purity  and  order  in  the 
synagogues,  or  parish  churches,  of  the  old  economy,  anterior  to  the 
advent  of  the  Messiah. 

"It  would  seem  to  be  impossible  for  any  one  to  contemplate  this 
statement,  so  amply  supported  by  all  sound  authority,  without  recog- 
nizing a  striking  likeness  to  the  arrangements  afterwards  adopted  in 
the  New  Testament  Church." 

To  the  proof  and  elucidation  of  this  likeness,  the  testimony  of 
Bishop  Burnet  has  been  cited  (see  "  Observations  on  the  First  and 
Second  Canons,"  Glasgow  edition,  1673,  pp.  82-85),  as  follows: 
"Among  the  Jews,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "he  who  was  the  chief  of 
the  synagogue  was  called  Chazan  Hakeneseth,  that  is,  the  Bishop  of 
the  congregation,  and  Slicliach  Tsibbor,  the  angel  of  the  Church. 
And  the  Christian  Church  being  modelled  as  near  the  form  of  the 
synagogue  as  could  be,  as  they  retained  many  of  the  rites,  so  the  form 
of  their  government  was  continued,  and  the  names  remained  the 
same."  And,  again,  "In  the  synagogues  there  was,  first,  one  that 
was  called  the  Bishop  of  the  congregation  ;  next,  the  three  orderers 
and  judges  of  everything  about  the  synagogue,  who  were  called 
Tsekcnim,  and  by  the  Greeks,  Frcsbuteroi,  or  Gerontes.  These 
ordered  and  determined  everything  that  concerned  the  synagogue  or 
the  persons  in  it.  Next  to  them  were  the  three  Parnassim,  or  deacons, 
whose  charge  was  to  gather  the  collections  of  the  rich  and  distribute 
them  to  the  poor. 

"The  term  Elder  was  generally  given  to  all  their  judges,  but 
chiefly  to  those  of  the  great  Sanhedrim  :  so  we  have  it  in  Matt.  xvi. 
21  ;   Mark  viii.  31  ;  xiv.  43;  and  xv.  i  ;  and   in  Acts  xxviii.  14-16." 

Bishop  Burnet  sums  up  the  matter  thus:  "  From  all  v/hich  it  seems 
well  grounded  and  rational  to  assume  that  the  first  constitution  of  the 
Christian   Church  was  taken   from  the  model  of  the  synagogue,  in 


I70  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

which  these  Elders  were  separated,  for  the  discharge  of  their  employ- 
ments, by  the  imposition  of  hands,  as  all  Jewish  writers  do  clearly 
testify." 

To  the  same  point,  substantially,  Dr.  Lightfoot — an  Episcopal 
divine,  eminent  for  his  oriental  and  rabbinical  learning — bears  testi- 
mony as  follows  (see  Lightfoot's  works,  vol.  i,  p.  308;  vol.  2,  pp. 
138  and  755)  :  "The  service  and  worship  of  the  temple  being  abol- 
ished, as  being  ceremonial,  God  transplanted  the  worship  and  public 
adoration  of  God  used  in  the  synagogues,  which  were  moral,  into  the 
Christian  Church;  namely,  the  public  ministry,  public  prayers,  read- 
ing God's  word,  and  preaching,  etc.  Hence,  the  names  of  the  min- 
isters of  the  gospel  were  the  very  same — the  angel  of  the  Church,  and 
the  Bishop,  which  belonged  to  the  ministers  in  the  synagogues.  There 
was  in  every  Synagogue  a  bench  of  three.  This  bench  consisted  of 
three  Elders,  rightly  and  by  imposition  of  hands  preferred  to  the 
eldership.  There  were  also  three  deacons,  or  almoners,  on  which  was 
the  care  of  the  poor." 

The  New  Testament  Church,  as  to  its  principal  features,  was  not 
after  the  pattern  of  the  Temple,  but  after  the  model  of  the  Jewish 
Synagogue.  This  type  and  formation  of  the  New  Testament  or  apos- 
tolic Church,  would  seem  to  be  patent  to  every  attentive  reader  of  the 
gospel  writings  and  the  Epistles. 

It  would  seem  to  be  a  fact  hardly  open  to  doubt,  that  the  office  of 
Ruling  Elder  is  a  ])rominent  feature  in  the  New  Testament  Christian 
Church;  and  (as  Dr.  Miller  has  it)  "that  it  occupied,  in  substance, 
the  same  place  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  it  now  occupies  in  our 
truly  primitive  and  scriptural  Church."  Augustus  Neander,  for  thirty- 
eight  years  Professor  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  a  profound  scholar, 
whose  works  are  widely  and  highly  esteemed  by  students  of  ecclesi- 
astical history  ;  of  Jewish  lineage — a  Lutheran  minister,  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  Christian  history,  and  with  no  sectarian  bias  in  favor 
of  distinctive  Presbyterianism — having  shown  that  "the  government 
of  the  primitive  Church  was  not  monarchical  or  prelatical,  but  dictated 
throughout  by  a  spirit  of  mutual  love,  counsel,  and  prayer,"  expresses 
himself  thus:  "  We  may  suppose  that  when  anything  could  be  found 
in  the  way  of  Church  forms,  which  was  consistent  with  this  spirit,  it 
would  be  willingly  appropriated  by  the  Christian  community.  Now 
there  happened  to  be  in  the  Jewish  synagogue  a  system  of  govern- 
ment of  this  nature  ;  not  monarchical  but  rather  aristocratical, — or 
a  governmciif  of  the  most  venerable  and  excellent. 

"A  council  o^.  Elders,  Presbuteroi,  conducted  all  the  affairs  of  that 
body.  It  seemed  most  natural  that  Christianity,  developing  itself 
from  the  Jewish  religion,  should  take  this  form  of  government.  This 
form  must  also  have  appeared  natural  and  appropriate  to  the  Roman 
citizens,  since  their  nation  had,  from  the  earliest  times,  been  to  some 
extent  under  the  control  of  a  Senate,  composed  of  Senators  or  Elders. 
Where  the  Church  was  placed  under  a  council  of  Elders,  they  did  not 
always  happen  to  be  the  oldest  in  reference  to  years  ;  but  the  term  expres- 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  171 

sive  of  age  here  was,  as  in  the  Latin,  Sefiatus,  and  in  the  Greek  Gcrousia, 
expressive  of  worth  or  merit.  Besides  the  common  name  of  these 
overseers  of  the  Church,  to  wit,  Prcshtteroi,  there  were  many  other 
names  given,  according  to  the  peculiar  situation  occupied  by  the  indi- 
vidual, or  rather  his  particular  field  of  labor,  z.% poimenes,  shepherds; 
egoumenoi,  leaders  ;  proestotes  ton  adelphon,  rulers  of  the  brethren  ; 
and  Episcopoi,  overseers."    (See  Kirchengeschite,  vol.  i.  p.  283-285.) 

Continuing  to  use  freely  the  published  thoughts  and  language  of 
others,  when  they  are  deemed  pertinent  and  better  than  my  own, — 
the  following  extracts  from  the  writings  of  Archbishop  Whately,  of 
Dublin,  eminent  for  learning,  integrity,  and  piety,  are  in  point,  and 
worthy  of  reproduction.  (See  his  work,  "The  Kingdom  of  Christ 
Delineated  ;  "  edition  of  Carter  &  Brothers,  New  York,  1864,  p.  29.) 
"  It  appears  highly  probable — I  might  say  morally  certain — that 
wherever  a  Jewish  synagogue  existed,  that  was  brought,  tlie  whole  or  the 
chief  part  of  it,  to  embrace  the  gospel,  the  apostles  did  not  there  so  much 
form  a  Christian  Church  (or  congregation,  ecclesia),  as  make  an  ex- 
isting congregation  Christian,  by  introducing  the  Christian  sacraments 
and  worship,  and  establishing  whatever  regulations  were  necessary  for 
the  newly  adopted  faith,  leaving  the  machinery,  if  I  may  so  speak,  of 
government  unchanged  ;  the  rulers  of  synagogues,  elders,  and  other 
officers,  whether  spiritual,  or  ecclesiastical,  or  both,  being  already 
provided  in  the  existing  constitutions.  ...  It  is  likely  that  sev- 
eral of  the  earliest  Christian  Churches  did  originate  in  this  way;  that 
is,  that  they  were  conve?-ted  synagogues,  which  became  Christian 
Churches  as  soon  as  the  members,  or  the  main  part  of  the  members, 
acknowledged  Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  .  .  .  And  when  they  founded 
a  Church  in  any  of  those  cities  in  which  (and  such  were  probably  a 
very  large  majority)  there  was  no  Jewish  synagogue  that  received  the 
gospel,  it  is  likely  that  they  would  conform,  in  a  great  measure,  to 
the  same  model." 

The  development  of  the  Jewish  synagogue  principles,  and  the  for- 
mation of  the  primitive  Christian  Churches  having  been  thus  sum- 
marily sketched,  it  is  now  in  point  to  consider — 

The  Direct  Testimony  of  the  New  Testament  Writings  RespectiJig 
the  Office  and  Ditties  of  Ruling  Elders  in  the  Christian  Cliurch. — 
Consulting  the  New  Testament,  we  first  find  ample  corroboration  of 
the  points  submitted,  to  wit:  the  existence  of  an  order  of  men, 
acknowledged  repeatedly  as  Elders  among  the  Jews  in  their  various 
cities  and  synagogues,  ordering  and  judging  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  The  testimony  bearing  upon  these, points  is  so  abundant  and 
clear,  that  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  cite  proof-texts. 

Dr.  Witherspoon  has  fairly  and  clearly  stated  the  case  thus : 
"When  our  Saviour  appeared,  he  found  in  every  city  of  the  Jews  a 
synagogue  with  its  bench  of  Elders,  its  ordinances  of  worship,  and  its 
provisions  for  the  poor,  as  we  have  them  in  our  congregations  at  the 
present  day.  When  he  went  from  city  to  city,  he  entered  into  their 
synagogues  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  taught  the  people.     He  instructed 


172  THE  PRESBYIERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

his  disciples  to  submit  questions  of  discipline  to  the  Church — that  is, 
to  those  officers  who  were  its  representatives.  It  is  true  that  these 
Church  sessions,  if  1  may  so  call  them,  did  not  recognize,  in  most 
instances,  the  authority  of  our  Saviour—'  Pie  came  to  his  own,  and 
his  own  received  him  not.'  The  Elders  joined  with  the  Scribes  and 
the  Priests  in  putting  him  to  death.  But,  after  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  there  were  many  of  these  Jewish 
congregations  in  which  great  numbers  were  converted  to  Christianity, 
so  that  the  congregation  was,  in  faith,  no  longer  Jewish  but  Christian. 
The  Elders  of  the  Synagogue  became  the  Elders  of  the  Christian 
Church." 

In  the  missionary  journeyings  and  labors  of  the  Apostles  for  the 
extension  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  its  New  Testament  form — as 
they  went  everywhere  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  and 
founding  churches — they  "  ordained  them  Elders  in  every  church" 
(Acts  xiv.  23). 

When  a  contribution  was  made  by  the  disciples  for  the  relief  of 
their  brethren  in  Judea,  in  view  of  a  severe  drought  (as  in  Acts  xi. 
30),  this  charity  was  "sent  to  the  Elders  by  the  hands  of  Barnabas 
and  Saul." 

When  Paul  and  Barnabas  found  hindrance  in  their  missionary 
work  from  Judlizing  teachers  troubling  the  minds  of  Gentile  converts 
about  external  rite::;,  such  as  circumcision  and  the  like,  it  was  "deter- 
mined that  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  certain  others  of  them,  should  go 
up  to  Jerusalem  unto  the  Apostles  and  Elders  about  this  question." 
"  When  they  were  come  to  Jerusalem,  they  were  received  of  the 
Church,  and  of  the  Apostles,  and  Elders,"  etc. 

And  when  these  questions  came  to  be  entertained  in  solemn  coun- 
cil, the  record  is,  that  "  the  Apostles  and  Elders  came  together  for  to 
consider  of  this  matter."  And  in  answer  to  this  formal  reference 
and  appeal  for  a  decision  in  so  important  a  case,  the  record  runs 
thus:  "Then  pleased  it  the  Apostles  and  Elders  with  the  whole 
Church,  to  send  chosen  men  of  their  own  company  to  Antioch,  with 
Paul  and  Barnabas.  .  .  .  And  they  wrote  letters  by  them  after  this 
manner :  The  Apostles,  and  Elders,  and  brethren  send  greeting  unto 
the  brethren  which  are  of  the  Gentiles,  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and 
Cilicia,"  etc.  (Acts  xv.  4-26). 

When  Paul  and  Timotheus  "went  through  the  Churches"  in  mis- 
sionary visitation,  "  they  delivered  them  the  decrees  that  were 
ordained  of  the  Apostles  and  Elders  which  were  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  so 
were  the  Churches  established  in  the  faith"  (Acts  xvi.  4,  5). 

Again,  we  find  Paul  (accompanied  on  a  missionary  visitation  by 
Sopater,  Aristarchus,  Gains,  Timotheus,  Tychicus,  and  Trophimus) 
sending  from  Miletus  to  Ephesus,  and  calling  "the  Elders  of  the 
Church  "  to  meet  him  and  his  companions,  when  he  committed  to 
these  Elders,  with  solemnity,  the  care  of  the  flock,  thus:  "Take 
heed  therefore  unto  yourselves,  and  to  all  the  flock  over  the  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers,  to  feed  the  Church  of  God, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  173 

which  he  hath  purchased  with  his  own  blood."  This  charge,  be  it 
observed,  is  committed  to  "the  Elders  of  the  Church,"  solemnly 
convened  for  the  purpose  (Acts  xx.  17  and  onward). 

In  I  Timothy  v.  7 — in  giving  rules  to  promote  the  order,  purity, 
and  peace  of  the  Churches— the  apostle  wrote  thus:  "  Let  the  Elders 
that  rule  well  be  counted  worthy  of  double  honor,  especially  they 
who  labor  in  word  and  doctrine."  The  term  "  Elders"  is  here  used 
first,  in  a  general  sense  and  application,  denoting  those  "  that  rule 
well  J  "  and,  second,  in  a  special  sense,  as  applied  to  those  Mho  not 
only  "rule  well,"  but  who  also  "labor  in  word  and  doctrine." 

Dr.  Miller  (before  referred  to)  furnishes  the  following  lucid  state- 
ment and  exposition  :  "  The  advocates  of  the  office  of  Ruling  Elder 
do  not  contend  or  believe  that  the  function  of  ruling  is  coniined  to 
this  class  of  officers.  On  the  contrary,  they  suppose  and  teach  that 
one  class  of  Elders  both  rule  and  teach  ;  while  the  other  class  rule 
only.  Both,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  are 
proestotcs ;  but  one  only  'labor  in  word  and  doctrine.'  When, 
therefore,  cases  are  found  in  the  early  records  of  the  Church  in  which 
the  presiding  elder,  or  pastor,  is  styled /w^i-/(?rt,  the  fact  is  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  usual  argument  from  i  Tim.  v.  17;  the  import  of 
which  we  maintain  to  be  this:  Let  all  the  Elders  that  rule  well,  be 
counted  worthy  of  double  honor,  especially  those  of  their  number 
who,  besides  ruling — besides  acting  as /r<7d'j/<?/^j- — in  common  with  the 
others,  also  labor  in  word  and  doctrine." 

In  his  letter  to  Titus  (i.  5  and  onward,)  Paul  wrote  thus:  "For 
this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou  shouldest  set  in  order  the 
things  that  are  wanting,  and  ordain  Elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had  ap- 
pointed thee;  "  and  then  follow  the  specifications  of  the  proper  qual- 
ifications of  these  Elders  thus  to  be  ordained  :  "For  a  Bishop  must 
be  blameless,  as  the  steward  of  God  ;  not  self-willed,  not  soon  angry, 
not  given  to  wine,  no  striker,  not  given  to  filthy  lucre  ;  but  a  lover  of 
hospitality,  a  lover  of  good  men,  sober,  just,  holy,  temperate,  hold- 
ing fast  the  faithful  word  as  he  hath  been  taught,  that  he  may  be  able 
by  sound  doctrine  both  to  exhort  and  to  convince  the  gainsayers." 

In  his  first  epistle,  Peter  (addressing  the  Churches  in  Pontus,  Gala- 
tia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia)  wrote  as  follows:  "The  Elders 
which  are  among  you  I  exhort,  who  am  also  an  Elder,  and.  a  witness 
of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  also  a  partaker  of  the  glory  that  shall 
be  revealed  :  Feed  the  flock  of  God  which  is  among  you,  taking  the 
oversight  thereof,  not  by  constraint,  but  willingly  ;  not  for  filthy  lucre, 
but  of  a  ready  mind  ;  neither  as  being  lords  over  God's  heritage,  but 
being  ensamples  to  the  flock.  And  when  the  Chief  Shei)herd  shall 
appear,  ye  shall  receive  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away." 

In  Romans  xii.  6-8,  we  find  as  follows:  "  Having  then  gifts,  differ- 
ing according  to  the  grace  given  to  us ;  whether  prophecy,  let  us 
prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of  faith  ;  or  ministry,  let  us 
wait  on  our  ministering ;  or  he  that  teacheth,  on  teaching ;  or  he  that 
exhorteth,  on  exhortation  ;  he  that  giveth,  let  him  do  it  with  simplic- 


174  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ity  ;  he  that  ruleth,  with  diligence  ;  he  that  showeth  mercy,  with  cheer- 
fulness." Again,  in  i  Cor.  xii.  28,  thus:  "God  hath  set  some  in 
the  Church,  first  Apostles,  secondarily  Prophets,  thirdly  Teachers, 
after  that  miracles,  then  gifts  of  healing,  helps,  governments,"  etc. 
Obviously  (as  has  been  said),  "in  both  of  these  passages  there  is  a 
reference  to  the  different  offices  and  gifts  bestowed  on  the  Church  by 
her  divine  King  and  Head,"  and,  "in  both  of  them,  there  is  a  plain 
designation  of  an  office  for  ruling  or  government,  distinct  from  that 
of  teaching ;  and  in  both,  also,  this  office  evidently  has  a  place  as- 
signed to  it  below  that  of  pastors  and  teachers. 

"  Now  this  office,  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called,  is  substantially 
the  same  with  that  which  Presbyterians  distinguish  by  the  title  Ruling 
Elder." 

Peter  Martyr — an  Italian  Reformer  of  acknowledged  ability — in 
his  notes  on  i  Cor.  xii.  28,  uses  the  following  language:  "Govern- 
ment :  those  who  are  honored  with  this  function  are  such  as  were  fitted 
for  the  work  of  government,  and  who  knew  how  to  conduct  every- 
thing relating  to  discipline,  righteously  and  prudently. 

"For  the  Church  of  Christ  had  its  government.  And  because  a 
single  pastor  was  not  able  to  accomplish  everything  himself,  there  was 
joined  with  him,  in  the  ancient  Church,  certain  Elders,  chosen  from 
among  the  people,  well  informed  and  skilled  in  spiritual  things,  who 
formed  a  kind  of  parochial  senate.  These,  with  the  pastor,  deliberated 
on  every  great  matter  relating  to  the  care  and  edification  of  the  Church." 

To  the  same  effect,  substantially,  is  the  testimony  of  Clemens  Ro- 
manus,  and  of  Ignatius,  both  of  whom  lived  towards  the  close  of  the 
first  century  of  the  Christian  era. 

Passing  by  numerous  patristic  authorities,  bearing  with  cumulative 
force  in  support  of  these  views  concerning  Ruling  Elders  in  the 
primitive  Christian  Church — citations  of  whose  words  may  be  regarded 
as  unnecessary,  and  might  be  tedious — it  seems  to  be  in  place  to 
speak  of  the  eminent  suitableness  and  value  of  such  an  office  and 
order  of  men  in  the  Christian  Church. 

The  maintenance  of  proper  order  and  discipline  is  all-important  to 
the  peace  and  purity  of  the  Churches,  and  the  honor  of  religion. 
Such  order  and  discipline  must  evidently  be  conducted  with  Avisdom, 
gentleness,  skill  and  firmness.  Haste,  severity  and  partiality,  in 
enforcing  the  very  best  principles,  would  defeat  the  ends  of  spiritual 
discipline.  To  710  one  man  can  the  work  of  public  instruction  and 
exhortation,  the  work  of  visitation,  inspection,  counsel,  warning  and 
discipline  be  committed,  in  a  church  of  average  size,  in  town  or 
country.  It  is  simply  an  impossibility.  And,  if  it  were  possible,  it 
would  not  be  desirable  for  any  one  person,  unless  infallibly  inspired 
of  God,  and  with  divine  credentials  to  this  effect,  to  occupy  such  a 
position.  Every  pastor  needs  a  bench  of  intelligent,  devout,  ex- 
emplary Elders. 

The  case  has  been  weil  and  fairly  stated,  thus:  "  P>en  if  it  were 
reasonable  or  possible  that  a  pastor  should,  alone,  perform  all  these 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


175 


duties,  ought  he  to  be  willing  to  undertake  them;  or  ought  the 
Church  to  be  willing  to  commit  them  to  him,  alone?  We  know  that 
ministers  are  subject  to  the  same  frailties  and  imperfections  with  other 
men.  We  know,  too,  that  a  love  of  pre-eminence  and  of  power  is 
not  only  natural  to  them  in  common  with  others,  but  that  this  princi- 
ple, very  early  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  began  to  manifest  itself  as 
the  reigning  sin  of  ecclesiastics,  and  produced,  first,  prelacy,  and 
afterwards  popery,  which  has  so  long  and  so  ignobly  enslaved  the 
Church  of  Christ.  .  .  .  Such  a  mode  of  conducting  the  government 
of  the  Church,  to  say  nothing  of  its  unscriptural  character,  is,  in  the 
highest  degree,  unreasonable  and  dangerous. 

"  It  can  hardly  fail  to  exert  an  influence  of  the  most  injurious 
character,  both  on  the  clergy  and  laity.  It  tends  to  nurture,  in  the 
former,  a  spirit  of  selfishness,  pride  and  ambition ;  and,  instead  of 
ministers  of  holiness,  love  and  mercy,  to  transform  them  into 
ecclesiastical  tyrants.  While  its  tendency  with  regard  to  the  latter 
(the  laity)  is,  gradually,  to  beget  in  them  a  blind,  implicit  submission 
to  ecclesiastical  dominion." 

Thus  much  for  the  scriptural  and  historical  warrant  for  the  office  of 
Ruling  Elders  in  the  Churches  of  Christ.  And  now,  in  conclusion, 
a  few  words  upon  the  specific  duties  of  this  office. 

The  teaching  of  "the  supremely  authoritative  word  of  God  is  not 
vague  and  uncertain  upon  this  important  point. 

The  Preacliing  Elder  is  a  Ruler  in  the  Church  of  Christ ;  and,  in 
addition  thereto,  he  preaches  the  gospel  and  administers  the  sacra- 
ments; whilst  the  more  special  duty  of  the  Ruling  Elder,  as  such,  is 
to  share  with  the  pastor  (who  labors  in  word  and  doctrine)  in  spiritual 
inspection  and  government.  He  is  one  who  is  called  to  "  rule  well," 
while  he  is  not  called,  especially,  to  "  labor  in  word  and  doctrine." 

The  pastors  of  churches,  with  the  other  elders,  form  a  Church 
Session,  a  judicial  body,  "  by  which  all  the  spiritual  interests  of  the 
congregation  are  to  be  watched  over,  regulated  and  authoritatively 
determined." 

Thus,  as  in  the  "Form  of  Government"  recognized  and  adopted 
by  many  of  us,  the  church  session  is  charged  with  maintaining  the 
spiritual  government  of  the  congregation  ;  for  Avhich  purpose  they 
have  power  to  inquire  into  the  knowledge  and  Christian  conduct  of 
the  members  of  the  church  ;  to  call  before  them  offenders  and  wit- 
nesses, being  members  of  their  own  congregation  ;  and  to  introduce 
other  witnesses  when  it  may  be  necessary  to  bring  the  process  to  issue, 
and  when  they  can  be  procured  to  attend  ;  to  receive  members  into 
the  church,  to  admonish,  to  rebuke,  to  suspend,  or  exclude  from  the 
sacraments  those  who  are  found  to  deserve  censure  ;  to  concert  the 
best  measures  for  promoting  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  congregation  ; 
and  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  higher  judicatories  of  the  Church. 

If  the  Scriptures  were  silent  upon  this  point,  it  would  be  obvious 
that  persons  called  to  this  office  of  the  Eldership  should  be  spiritually 
minded,  devout,  exemplary  men  ;  governing  their  households  faithfully 


176  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

in  the  fear  of  God  ;  living  without  reproach  ;  and  commending  the 
gospel  to  a  witnessing  world,  in  their  conduct  and  conversation. 

The  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  is  very  explicit  on  this  point  :  it  was 
to  '■'■  the  Elders  of  the  churches,'"  whom  Paul  called  to  meet  him  at 
Miletus,  that  he  said,  "  Take  heed,  therefore,  to  yourselves,  and  to 
all  the  flock  over  the  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers, 
to  feed  the  Church  of  God,  which  he  hath  purchased  with  his  own 
blood." 

And  in  his  first  letter  to  Timothy,  giving  counsel  to  bishops  and 
deacons  in  the  churches,  the  apostle  wrote  thus  :  "A  bishop  then 
must  be  blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  vigilant;  .  .  .  one  that 
ruleth  well  his  own  house,  having  his  children  in  subjection  with  all 
gravity.  For  if  a  man  know  not  how  to  rule  his  own  house,  how 
shall  he  take  care  of  the  Church  of  God  ?  .  .  .  .  Moreover  he  must 
have  a  good  report  of  them  that  are  without,  lest  he  fall  into  reproach 
and  the  condemnation  of  the  devil." 

A  Ruling  Elder  and  a  body  of  Ruling  Elders,  chosen  and  ordained 
solemnly  to  this  ofifice-work,  sympathizing  with  the  pastor  in  his  work 
and  with  the  people  in  their  spiritual  interests,  cares  and  besetments, 
and,  above  all,  with  the  honor  of  Christ's  name  and  cause  in  the 
world,  "such  a  body  of  men  may,  and  ought  to  be,  a  power  in  the 
world."  Indeed  they  may,  and  ought  !  And  when  the  Ruling 
Elders,  in  the  great  Presbyterian  family,  shall  everywhere  awake  to 
their  high  trust,  and  shall  be  suitably  recognized  and  supported  by  the 
members  of  the  churches  in  their  duties,  then  may  we  expect  to  see 
our  beloved  Church  arise  and  shine  in  the  light  and  pov/cr  of  God. 

After  devotional  services  the  Council  adjourned  until  the 
evening  at  7.30  o'clock. 

Friday,  September  2\t]i,  1880. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  73^  o'clock  p.  m.,  by  the 
Hon.  William  Strong,  LL.  D.,  an  Associate  Justice  of  the' 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  President  for  the  session. 
Prayer  was  offered  by  the   Rev,  Dr.  Prime. 

The  President. — There  has  been  a  change  in  the  programme, 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  McLeod's  place  at  this  stage  will  be  taken  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Graham,  of  London. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  William  Graham,  D.  D.,  therefore,  delivered 
the  following  address  on 

THE    DIVINE    IN   MEN'S    LIVES. 

No  one  regrets  more  than  I  do  that  Dr.  Ormiston  or  Dr.  McLeod, 
according  to  your  arrangements,   does  not  now  fill   this  place.     I 


SECOAU)    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  177 

rashly  consented  to  hold  it,  and  fell  back  on  some  old  thoughts  on 
religion  in  common  life,  as  in  some  measure  fitting  into  the  subject 
of  the  papers  that  are  to  follow  this  evening.  But  an  advanced  picket 
frequently  fares  ill  in  the  battle,  and  so  it  has  befallen  me ;  for  Princi- 
pal Grant,  in  his  stirring  cavalry  charge  of  last  night,  has  carried  off 
nearly  all  the  thoughts  I  had  to  give.  Washington  Irving,  some  of  you 
may  remember,  has  a  paper  about  an  author  falling  asleep  in  his  library 
when,  lo  !  every  book  quickened  into  its  writer.  The  living  host  fell 
on  the  poor  author  and  stripped  him  of  all  his  goods  and  garments. 
What  happened  to  him  in  a  dream  befell  me  in  the  sober  certainty  of 
waking  misery.  I  shall,  nevertheless,  throw  out  a  few  thoughts  on  a 
topic  that  concerns  all  workers — alike  heart-  and  brain-  as  well  as 
hand-workers. 

The  Divine  in  the  Bible — its  inspiration  and  authority — was  the 
important  theme  of  our  deliberations  this  morning.  The  Divine  in 
our  lives — in  our  common  lives — not  so  much  in  the  higher  spheres 
of  thought,  science  and  art,  may  well  deserve  some  little  reflection 
here.  It  will  widen  the  aims  of  this  great  Council  and  put  it  in  living 
relation  to  the  views  of  all.  It  has  been  truly  observed  that  the  Bible 
of  the  world,  the  Bible  which  it  reads  and  studies,  is  the  Christian 
Church  ;  and  the  more  the  living  breath  of  inspired  truth  fills  each, 
soul  in  its  daily  life,  the  more  powerful. and  persuasive  does  that 
Divine  Bible  become. 

There  are,  then,  the  two  elements  constantly  present,  waiting  for 
adjustment — the  Divine  element  working  through  the  Spirit  in  our 
hearts  and  lifting  us  up  by  that  work  into  Christ,  and  the  human  ele- 
ment which  it  touches  and  consecrates.  And  looking  all  along  the 
centuries  of  Church  history  and  into  the  sources  of  strength  in  renewed 
souls,  nothing  so  recommends  and  confirms  our  great  doctrine  of 
Divine  grace  being  first  and  dominant  as  to  find  that  wherever  that  has 
held  the  supreme  place  in  a  system  of  truth  there  has  been  the 
loftiest,  purest,  most  vigorous  life  in  all  departments,  alike  in  thought, 
and  science,  and  art,  as  in  holy  hearts  and  happy  homes.  The  theol- 
ogy that,  with  whatever  exaggerations,  puts  the  Divine  first,  makes 
the  Church  a  renovating  power  all  within  and  around  ;  and  this  theol- 
ogy, no  matter  what  name  it  bears,  be  it  that  of  Calvin,  of  Aquinas,, 
or  Anselm,  or  Bernard,  or  Augustine,  or  Paul,  or,  above  a»ll,  of  the 
Divine  Teacher  and  Saviour  himself — this  theology  has  ever  been 
the  centre  and  soul  of  our  common  Presbyterianism.  This  has  been 
the  breath  of  life  touching  each  of  the  threefold  departments  of  the 
religious  life,  so  nobly  sketched  and  illustrated  by  Dr.  Hitchcock. 

But  the  three  phases  of  the  religious  life  of  which  he  spoke — the 
Mystical  or  Emotional,  the  Ethical,  the  Ceremonial — do  not  only  rise 
above  each  other  in  the  order  of  spiritual  growth,  beauty,  and  dignity, 
but  they  are  never  really  separate  in  the  one  life  of  the  soul,  kin- 
dled by  the  Divine  Spirit.  The  impassioned  soul  touched  with  the  fer- 
vor and  yearnings  of  the  Divine  communion,  felt  in  its  absolute  free- 
ness  through  a  complete  justification  by  faith,  and  in  the  new  throb 
12 


178  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  a  new  and  overpowering  emotion  through  the  inflowing  of  the 
new  life — that  impassioned  soul  quickens,  elevates,  transfigures  the 
moral  law  which  holds  august  authority  within  ;  kindles  it  with  its 
own  glow,  into  a  serene,  majestic  impulse;  and  passing  on  to  the  life 
of  action  turns  all  into  divine  worship  and  service.  The  philosophy 
which  the  intellect  shapes;  the  art  moulded  by  the  imagination; 
the  hands  busy  with  merchandise  and  manufacture;  all  fill  up  the 
great  ritual  that  embodies  before  men,  and  offers  to  God,  the 
devotion  of  the  whole  man.  De  Quincey  has  pointed  out  in  one 
of  his  essays  one  marked  distinction  between  Christianity  and  all 
Paganism — the  latter  separates  its  ceremonial,  its  cultus,  altogether 
from  the  heart  and  the  conscience,  while  the  former,  divinely  original, 
makes  the  ceremonial,  the  culius,  a  living  part  of  the  religion  itself. 
This  is  only  the  definition  which  the  apostle  James  makes  when  he 
■says,  Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  God  and  the  Father  is  to 
visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  our- 
: selves  unspotted  from  the  world.  Here  our  word  "  Religion  "  is  in 
the  Greek  ©^ij^trxfia,  and  that  means  the  outward  ceremonial  of  the 
living  spirit.  The  ritual  of  the  gospel  then  lies  in  the  two  supreme 
.and  combined  moral  qualities,  the  overflowing  pity  that  goes  out  to 
the  weakest,  the  rock-like  resistance  that  is  conqueror  over  the  world. 
The  tenderness  is  Christlike,  that  it  yields  to  all  misery;  the  courage 
is  Christlike,  also,  that  it  yields  to  no  sin.  These  are  the  glorious 
garments  of  the  new  priesthood,  these  the  new  symbols  of  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Lord. 

That  John,  of  whom  Dr.  Hitchcock  spoke  so  vividly,  as  still  beck- 

,  oned  to  by  all  the  Church,  as  he  was  of  old  by  Peter,  to  ask  the  Mas- 

iter  for  the  message  needed  in  ever-recurring  crises  of  the  soul's  or  the 

.Church's  need,  seeing  he  lay  on  the  bosom  of  the  Master,  and  was 

.  closest  to  the  beatings  and  breathings  of  the  Divine  heart — that  John 

,  did  not  always  lie  there  in  the  Divine  absorption,  in  the  passive  surren- 

.  der  of  his  whole  being.     The  noble  prince  of  Christian  mystics  stands 

not  long  afterwards  in  stern,  heroic  will  at  the  cross  of  the  Master,  and 

leaves  the  cross  only  to  give  a  Christ-like  love  to  the  mother,  put,  by 

,last  command,  into  his  care.    That  was  the  grand  ceremonial  of  John's 

pure  and  undefiled  soul ;  and  that  is  the  ceremonial  of  all  who  are 

,in  any  measure  like  him. 

The  Church  that  walks  forth  in  such  visible  service  of  a  holy  char- 
.  acter,  alike  brave  and  gentle,  may  put  on  whatever  other  garb  it 
,  chooses,  and  turn  into  a  help  of  such  worship  whatever  lies  nearest  to 
,  its  hands.  We  have  often  thought  how  marvellously  the  centripetal 
.and  the  centrifugal  forces  in  ihe  spiritual  life  balance,  strengthen, 
.lift  up  each  other;  how  the  farther  in  we  reach  to  the  centre,  the 
Jove  of  God  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  the  farther  out  we  can  pass  to  the 
.most  lonely  soul,  and  the  most  remote  place. 

Such  then  are  the  relations  of  the  Divine  and  the  human  in  common 
.  daily  life.  They  are  not  antagonistic.  That  would  be  death.  They 
,do  not  lie  beside  each,  uninfluencing  and  indifferent.     They  are  not 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  179 

like  fire  and  water,  or  like  oil  and  water,  but  rather  they  are  like 
wine  and  water;  and  the  richer  and  nobler  element  takes,  colors  and 
lifts  up,  the  weaker  and  the  meaner  into  its  own  nobler  quality  and 
virtue.  They  are,  to  take  another  illustration,  like  body  and  soul — 
the  outward  and  the  inward  parts  of  our  one  being — and,  mated  like 
cymbals  fine,  ring  out  a  full,  rich  music  which  separately  they  cannot 
awaken.  Or,  again,  there  are  three  things  which  make  our  lives:  the 
body  with  its  outer  world  ;  the  soul  with  its  inner  thoughts,  de- 
sires, and  choices ;  and  God.  When  the  body  is  set  over,  above,  and 
against  the  soul,  then  the  soul  is  set  over,  above,  and  against  God. 
This  false  order  the  Spirit  of  God  turns  upside  down,  and  God,  in 
his  mighty  love  in  Christ,  enters  into  the  soul,  and  subdues  it  with  its 
full  consent ;  and  the  soul  thus  indwelt  by  God  is  endowed  with 
power  to  turn  the  whole  body  and  the  whole  world  into  an  instrument 
of  righteousness — an  expression  of  highest  service  and  worship. 

The  benefits  that  come  from  this  new  and  blessed  state  we  shall 
only  mark. 

First.  It  makes  all  life  one.  The  problem  of  philosophy  is  the 
harmony  of  the  finite  and  the  infinite.  The  task  of  art  is  to  make 
the  eternal  and  perfect  beauty  shine  through,  sound  out,  in  some  poor 
dust,  in  some  feeble  tone.  Religion  comes  to  a  soul  when  it  is 
made  one  with  God  through  Jesus  Christ ;  and  life  puts  on  a  rich, 
noble  peace  and  harmony  when  the  heart,  one  with  God,  is  one 
with  every  daily  duty  and  difficulty. 

Second.  By  such  a  union  of  the  divine  and  the  human,  alike  the 
noblest  and  most  gentle,  the  sublimest  and  most  touching  motives  are 
let  into  and  mould  the  character.  This  is  the  secret  of  the  Christian 
as  a  priest  unto  God.  There  has  come  upon  him  the  consecration  of 
the  sublimity  and  tenderness  of  the  cross,  and  now  redeemed  through 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Divine  Priest,  he  becomes  himself  a  priest  with  his 
unceasing  sacrifice  of  thanks,  his  burnt-offering  of  grateful  service. 

Third.  Such  a  life  copies  most  closely  the  greatest  life  ever  led  be- 
fore men — the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  himself;  the  Christ  crucified  on 
the  cross  ;  one  with  the  carpenter  toiling  in  Nazareth  ;  the  degradation 
of  the  one,  the  meanness  of  the  other,  are  changed  and  transfigured  by 
the  transcendent  pity  and  holiness  of  both.  And  the  Christian  life 
receives  the  divine  peace  of  the  one,  the  divine  likeness  of  the  other. 

And  lastly,  such  a  life  is  the  mightiest  and  surest  of  all  influences 
on  the  Church  and  the  world.  In  the  railway  station  ni  the  city  of 
Carlisle,  in  England,  there  is  a  large  fire-place,  and  over  it  is  this  in- 
scription in  German  text  and  in  Latin  phrase,  "  Let  your  light  so  shine 
before  men."  Men,  shivering  after  a  long  drive  in  the  depths  of 
winter,  rush  in  to  catch  the  glow  of  the  generous,  ruddy  fire  blazing 
from  it.  But  suppose  some  day  nothing  met  the  chilled  travellers 
but  large  lumps  of  coal  of  the  very  best  quality,  and  arranged  in  ex- 
quisite symmetry,  but  with  not  one  red  inch  of  glow  pouring  out  from 
their  dull  blackness;  or  suppose  there  lay  the  sodden  ashes  that  re- 
mained after  the  blessed  warmth  of  yesterday.    I  think  the  poor  trav- 


i8o  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

eller,  chagrined  and  disappointed,  and  chiller  than  before,,  would  be  dis- 
posed to  write  to  the  directors,  asking  them  either  to  take  down  their 
Scripture  text  or  kindle  up  the  fire.  So  it  is  a  good  thing  for  a  sojI 
and  a  Church  to  have  plenty  of  orthodox  truth — coals  dug  out  of  the 
depth  of  God's  heart  and  word,  and  those  arranged  in  perfect  order;  but 
I  would,  in  my  darkness  and  depression,  rather  have  one  bit  of  living 
truth,  a  live  coal  set  on  fire  by  God's  Spirit,  than  a  whole  mine  of 
unkindled  coal.  We  have  noble  divine  truths ;  let  them  be  divinely 
kindled,  that  the  Church  may  grow  warmer,  and  the  world's  deadly 
chill  depart.  It  will  not  do  to  have  our  memories  filled  with  tlie  sod- 
den ashes  of  spent  fires  and  far  past  visions  of  God.  We  talk  of  the 
apostolic  times,  with  their  Pentecostal  fires  ;  let  us  have  the  Pente- 
costal fires,  and  we  shall  ourselves  be  apostles.  We  look  back  to 
the  mighty  inner  heat  of  Reformation  time,  upheaving  the  Church 
and  the  nations  into  new  elevations  of  truth  and  power,  that  still  afar 
off,  like  a  mountain  range,  mark  the  noble  horizon.  Such  spent 
fires  will  not  warm  us ;  we  must  have  our  hearts  burning  with  new 
kindled  glow.  Even  America,  young  though  she  be  in  her  history,  is 
already  apt  to  live  on  its  old  heroisms,  New  England  on  its  Plymouth 
Pilgrims,  and  Philadel|)hia  on  its  William  Penn.  Ashes  of  historic 
memories,  however  glorious,  do  not  brighten  and  warm,  unless  we 
ourselves  follow  the  noble  light  and  feel  the  divine  ardor  of  men 
whom  they  made  prophets  and  heroes. 

Our  Presbyterianism,  our  outward  forms,  whether  of  doctrine  or 
worship,  are  all  good  ;  our  old  memories  may  well  wake  up  new 
passion  and  daring ;  but  only  when  the  Divine  fire  burns,  and  burns 
brightly,  will  the  Church  waken,  shine  and  glow;  and  the  world 
without  come  and  look  beyond  her  threshold,  and  pass  to  our  door, 
and  over  it  also,  that  it  may  sit  down  with  us  in  the  Divine  Home. 

We  close  with  a  beautiful  story  out  of  the  life  of  the  great  theolo- 
gian and  saint  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Thomas  Aquinas.  Our  Lord  it  is 
said  once  appeared  and  said  to  him  :  "  Thomas,  thou  hast  written  much 
and  well  about  me:  what  reward  shall  I  give  thee?  "  '^  Nihil  nisi  Te 
Doininc''  (Nothing  but  thyself,  O  Lord),  was  the  reply.  He  could 
have  asked  no  sweeter,  richer,  diviner  reward,  and  the  very  asking 
was  the  receiving.  When  such  is  our  prayer  the  reward  will  be  more 
love,  courage,  fidelity,  joy;  and  these  are  Christ  himself,  still  going 
about  doing  gpod,  and  rewarding  good  with  more  good. 

The  Rev.  William  G.  Blaikie,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Edinburgh, 
read  the  following  paper  upon 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  GOSPEL  ON  EMPLOYERS  AND 

EMPLOYED. 

I  lay  the  foundation  of  this  paper  on  the  principle  that  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  only  salvation  for  the  individual,  but  regenera- 
tion for  society.     It  was  not  souls  only  but  society  likewise  that  was 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  i8i 

shattered  by  the  fall ;  and  any  remedy,  equal  to  the  disorder,  needed 
t3  make  provision  for  the  restoration  of  both.  In  the  prophetic  an- 
nouncements of  the  Redeemer  and  his  work,  the  restoration  of  society 
is  perhaps  even  more  prominent  than  the  salvation  of  the  individual. 
This  agrees  with  the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament;  for  men  there  are 
regarded  less  in  their  individual  than  in  their  corporate  capacity.  Thi- 
kingly  office  of  the  Messiah  is  very  conspicuous  in  Old  Testament 
prophecy;  and  a  favorite  vision  of  him  in  that  office  presents  him 
remedying  all  manner  of  political  and  social  disorders.  "  He  shall 
deliver  the  needy  when  he  crieth,  the  poor  also  and  him  that  hath  no 
helper.  He  shall  spare  the  poor  and  needy,  and  shall  save  the  souls 
of  the  needy.  He  shall  redeem  their  souls  from  deceit  and  violence, 
and  precious  shall  their  blood  be  in  his  sight."  But  when  our  Lord 
actually  appeared,  he  did  not  meddle  on  a  great  scale  with  political  or 
social  evils.  The  world  was  in  great  disorder  ;  but  he  did  not  make  any 
direct  attempt  to  right  all  its  wrongs.  In  this  as  in  some  other  respects, 
the  actual  life  of  Christ  appeared  different  from  what  had  been  fore- 
told. But  the  difference  was  in  appearance  only.  The  seeds  of  social 
renovation  were  silently  sown.  When  Cadmus  introduced  letters  into 
Greece;  when  Faust  and  his  brethren  practised  the  art  of  printing ; 
when  through  the  string  of  a  boy's  kite  Franklin  drew  electricity  from 
the  clouds  ;  when  the  boy  James  Watt  was  deep  in  study  over  his 
aunt's  tea-kettle,  nothing  very  remarkable  appeared  to  be  done ;  but 
in  reality  the  foundations  were  laid  of  great  revolutions,  silent  in  their 
operation  but  world-wide  in  their  effects.  So  when  our  blessed  Lord 
taught  men  the  law  of  Christian  love ;  when  he  gave  his  memorable 
answer  to  the  question,  "Who  is  my  neighbor?"  when  he  taught 
his  disciples  that  in  his  kingdom  the  greatest  of  all  is  the  servant  of 
all  ;  when  he  gave  them  as  their  model  the  life  of  one  who  came  not 
to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many,  he  began  a  blessed  social  revolution — a  revolution  often  in- 
terrupted, and  apparently  arrested  and  even  reversed,  but  possessing 
divine  and  everlasting  vitality,  that  bursts  out  anew  from  time  to  time, 
and  that  is  destined  ultimately,  when  it  reaches  its  maturity,  to 
*'  make  all  things  new." 

The  family  furnishes  the  most  simple  and  direct  sphere  for  the 
social  influence  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  The  true  principles  of 
family  life  are  laid  down  in  the  New  Testament  with  great  simplicity 
and  force.  The  parental  authority  is  fully  recognized;  the  obedience 
of  the  children  is  peremptorily  required  ;  but  the  whole  relations  of 
husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  master  and  servant  are  steeped 
in  love.  Authority  wedded  to  love  is  the  basis  of  the  Christian  family. 
In  proportion  as  this  basis  has  been  realized,  the  Christian  family  has 
proved  a  blessing ;  not  only  as  a  nursery  of  all  that  is  best  and 
brightest  in  human  life,  but  also  as  a  basis  and  a  model  for  other  social 
organizations,  such  as. the  school,  the  factory,  the  farm,  and,  highest 
of  all,  the  State.  Not  that  in  all  of  these  the  elements  of  love  and 
authority  are  to  be  in  the  same  proportion.    In  chemistry  we  often  find 


1 82  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

that  the  same  elements  are  combined  in  various  proportions  and  give 
rise  to  corresponding  products.  One  atom  of  nitrogen  will  combine 
with  one,  two,  three,  four  or  five  atoms  of  oxygen,  and  give  birth  to 
different  compounds.  So,  in  Christian  social  life,  the  element  of  love 
will  combine  with  the  element  of  authority  in  various  degrees,  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  organization  ;  there  will  be  more  of  it,  e.  g., 
in  the  family  than  in  the  factory  ;  but  you  cannot  altogether  dispense 
with  the  element  of  love  in  any;  if  you  do,  you  will  not  have  a 
Christian  product,  you  will  not  have  a  Christian  civilization. 

We  are  to  discuss  the  question  :  How  does  the  gospel  affect  the 
relation  of  employers  and  employed  ?  In  our  time  this  relation  has 
become  marked  by  two  special  leatures — the  largeness  of  its  sphere, 
and  the  harshness  of  its  tone.  The  sphere  has  suddenly  become 
extensive  beyond  all  example ;  under  the  operation  of  the  steam- 
engine,  small  industries  have  been  swallowed  up,  and  gigantic  estab- 
lishments have  come  in  their  room.  The  tendency  of  our  time  is  for 
small  establishments  to  become  smaller,  and  big  ones  bigger.  With 
this  change,  extending  so  greatly  the  number  of  employers  and 
employed,  the  relation  itself  has  become  very  uncomfortable.  Ranged 
like  oi)posing  armies  on  opposite  sides,  they  have  for  years  past  been 
struggling  with  each  other  in  mortal  conflict.  Each  has  fought  for 
its  interest  with  marvellous  energy  and  perseverance.  Nor,  though 
a  lull  has  come  for  the  present,  do  we  appear  to  be  much  nearer  a 
satisfactory  solution  of  the  matters  at  issue.  Let  it  be  observed  that 
in  this  strife  each  party  contends  for  what  it  believes  to  be  its  interests 
and  its  rights.  Now,  on  this  footing,  there  are  but  two  possible  ways 
of  bringing  the  strife  to  a  satisfactory  issue.  One  would  be  to 
demonstrate  clearly  what  are  the  rights  of  the  respective  sides — to 
draw  a  hard  and  fast  line  between  them.  Political  economy  has 
long  been  struggling  to  find  this  line,  and  not  altogether  in  vain  ;  but 
it  has  not  been  very  successful,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  a  satisfactory 
solution  will  be  found  by  this  method.  The  other  method  is  to 
destroy  antagonism  by  destroying  the  relation  itself.  It  is  to  obliterate 
the  distinction  of  employer  and  employed — to  make  the  same  persons 
sustain  both  characters.  This  is  the  principle  of  co-operation,  and 
co-operation  has  undoubtedly  had  a  measure  of  success;  but  there  is 
no  prospect  of  its  becoming  universal  or  even  very  extensively  preva- 
lent. So  far,  then,  as  arrangements  on  the  footing  of  bare  interest  go, 
there  is  little  prospect  of  permanent  peace.  There  may  be  occasional 
lulls  when  the  combatants  become  weary  of  the  strife ;  but,  whenever 
their  energies  are  recruited,  and  either  party  believes  that  its  interests 
are  suffering  unduly,  there  is  a  prospect  of  the  renewal  of  hostilities, 
and  of  an  indefinite  period  of  contention,  turning  into  enemies  the 
very  parties  who  have  most  need  to  live  as  friends,  and  embittering 
the  daily  life  of  both  as  much  as  if  a  swarm  of  mosquitoes  were  for- 
ever buzzing  around  them. 

This  is  a  very  melancholy  prospect ;  but  let  it  be  observed  that 
it  is  only  the  prospect  that  arises  when  the  relation  of  employer  to 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  183 

employed  is  governed  by  no  higher  influence  than  a  regard  to  their 
respective  interests. 

What  I  desire  to  establish  in  this  paper  is,  that,  if  a  new  element  be 
introduced  into  the  relation,  namely,  the  element  of  Christian  love, 
the  problem  assumes  quite  a  different  aspect.  If  this  position  be  a 
sound  one,  it  must  be  apparent  how  deeply  the  duty  of  the  Christian 
Church  is  affected  by  it.  If  Christianity  alone  can  supply  the  ele- 
ment necessary  to  bring  peace  and  good-will  to  classes  of  such  extent 
and  importance,  it  is  of  no  little  consequence  for  ministers  and  elders 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  realize  their  responsibility,  and  address 
themselves  very  earnestly  to  their  duty.  What  an  immense  blessing 
the  Church  would  bring,  or,  rather,  he  whom  the  Church  exalts  as 
the  fountain  of  all  blessing,  if  in  addition  to  her  service  in  the  salva- 
tion of  individual  souls,  she  should  succeed  in  removing  one  of  the 
most  ominous  and  deplorable  evils  of  society  in  our  day — sweetening 
the  bitter  waters  of  tliis  vast  modern  Marah,  and  for  the  ''sooty  hell," 
as  Carlyle  calls  it,  "of  hatred  and  savagery,"  substituting  a  paradise 
of  love,  peace  and  joy  ! 

That  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  should  contain  a  provision  for 
remedying  this,  as  well  as  the  other  social  evils  of  the  day,  is  only 
what  we  might  well  look  (or  a  priori.  If  the  gospel  really  be  a  remedy 
for  all  the  evils  of  the  fall,  it  must  somehow  provide  for  the  removal 
of  this  as  of  all  other  social  disorders  which  had  their  origin  in  that 
sad  event.  Let  us  consider,  then,  in  the  first  place,  the  light  in  which 
the  gospel  teaches  the  employer  to  regard  those  whose  services  he 
makes  use  of;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  light  in  which  it  teaches 
the  employed  to  regard  their  employers. 

I.  In  a  heart  truly  penetrated  by  the  grace  and  love  of  the  gospel, 
there  springs  up  a  tender,  brotherly  feeling  towards  men  generally, 
and  especially  towards  those  who  stand  to  it  in  any  close  relation, 
whether  of  kindred,  neighborhood,  or  community  of  pursuit.  Along 
with  this  there  springs  up  likewise  a  new  sense  of  responsibility — a 
new  view  of  the  purpose  of  God  in  giving  to  some  men  more  talents 
than  to  others,  whether  the  talents  be  in  the  form  of  education,  men- 
tal culture,  leisure,  money,  influence,  or  social  position.  God  has 
not  constituted  society  a  commune,  has  not  given  to  every  human 
being  an  equal  share  of  everything;  but  he  has  distributed  his  gifts 
unequally,  in  order  that  those  to  whom  niuch  is  given  may  be  wisely 
helpful  to  those  who  have  got  little,  and,  without  subverting  their 
independence,  may  enable  them  to  bear  their  burdens  more  easily 
and  perform  their  part  in  life  more  satisfactorily.  An  employer  of 
labor  coming  under  the  vital  influence  of  the  gospel,  especially  in 
these  days  of  ours,  cannot  but  share  these  views.  He  becomes  con- 
cerned about  the  people  who  work  for  him.  He  is  convinced  that  in 
some  way  or  other  he  ought  to  help  them.  The  fact  that  they  are  in 
a  lower  sphere  of  life,  very  coarse  and  vulgar  perhaps,  which  makes 
many  employers  keep  so  entirely  aloof  from  their  men,  is  the  very 
fact  that  interests  him  •in  them.     The  odi  profanutn  vulgiis  ei  arceo 


1 84  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

feeling — the  dread  of  anything  vulgar  and  ill-smelling  coming  between 
the  wind  and  his  nobility — is  felt  to  be  an  un-Christ-like  feeling, 
unworthy  the  followers  of  Him  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost. 
In  what  precise  form  it  is  most  his  duty  to  help  his  work-people,  it 
may  not  be  easy  for  him  to  determine.  In  what  form  his  people  will 
accept  of  his  help,  may  be  also  a  question  that  admits  of  doubt.  But 
that  in  some  form  and  in  some  way  he  ought  to  help  them,  is  his  clear 
conviction;  and  the  more  intense  his  Christian  spirit  is,  the  stronger, 
is  this  conviction.  It  makes  him  restless  and  uncomfortable  till 
something  is  done. 

Till  something  is  done  !  We  know  very  well  what  the  something 
Avill  probably  be.  Reading-rooms,  libraries,  evening  classes,  excur- 
sions, popular  lectures,  benefit  societies,  sick  societies,  savings  banks  ; 
perhaps  a  Bible  class,  a  mission,  a  daily  Christian  service,  and  other 
operations  of  an  evangelistic  kind  ;  a  mother's  meeting  conducted  by 
his  wife,  a  young  women's  class  taught  by  his  daughters,  a  cricket 
club  under  the  auspices  of  his  sons — this,  or  such  as  this,  more  or  less. 
But  will  all  this  really  help  to  solve  the  problem  of  employers  and  em- 
ployed? Will  it  adjust  questions  of  strikes  and  lock-outs?  Will  it  settle 
the  rate  of  wages?  In  many  cases,  these  questions  would  be  answered 
by  a  contemptuous  sneer.  We  are  far  from  thinking  that  any  or  all  of 
these  things  will  be  in  themselves  effectual.  It  is  important  to  observe 
under  what  conditions  they  are  likely  to  prove  beneficial — in  what 
manner  and  to  what  effect. 

In  the  first  place,  such  things  will  prove  of  little  avail  if  the  no- 
tion prevails  that  they  are  a  substitute,  in  the  form  of  charity,  for  what 
the  people  may  claim  as  matter  of  right.  This  impression  will  probably 
be  formed  if  they  are  accompanied  with  an  inferior  rate  of  wages  or 
with  any  kind  of  shabbiness  in  small  matters.  Sometimes  an  em- 
ployer with  certain  strong  Christian  convictions  is  afflicted  with  love  of 
money,  and  his  infirmity  cannot  be  concealed.  All  his  Christian  and 
philanthropic  work  in  such  a  case  will  be  regarded  as  but  a  disguise 
of  the  greed  that  lies  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart — a  poor  attempt  to 
make  up  for  essential  paltriness  by  religious  services,  to  sustain  the 
religious  character  which  he  desires  to  preserve  before  the  world.  It 
is  no  great  wonder  if,  in  such  a  case,  no  progress  is  made  in  adjusting 
the  relations  of  employer  and  employed. 

In  the  second  place,  no  plans  for  the  benefit  of  work-people  will 
come  to  much  if  they  do  not  spring  from  a  spirit  of  love,  from  a 
lively  sense  of  Christian  brotherhood.  Mere  philanthropic  work, 
apart  from  the  true  spirit  of  philanthropy,  comes  to  nothing.  One 
might  be  philanthropic  through  fear,  for  example,  or  tlirough  mere 
self-interest.  One  might  enter  into  some  great  ]:)hilanthropic  con- 
tract, and  employ  agents  to  execute  benevolent  works  on  an  unex- 
ampled scale,  but  if  he  had  not  charity  it  would  profit  him  nothing. 
Even  when  done  from  a  mere  sense  of  duty,  philanthropic  work  may 
be  a  failure.  It  is  not  the  opus  operation,  but  the  spirit  in  which  it  is 
done  that  tells.     Hence  the  failure  of  manf  grand  works  of  philan- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  185 

thropy  to  move  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The  charm  lies  in  sym- 
pathy ;  and  even  an  employer  or  an  overseer  who  does  little  of  a 
formal  kind,  but  has  a  kind  and  considerate  word  for  any  one  who 
stands  in  need  of  it,  is  often  more  popular  than  many  busy  philan- 
thropists. Sympathy  is  the  secret  of  much  success ;  its  absence,  of 
failure.  Where  great  masses  of  people  are  employed  it  is  almost  in- 
evitable that  much  of  the  philanthropy  shall  be  done  by  delegate.  The 
employer  can  hardly  know  his  people  one  by  one  or  act  to  them  ac- 
cordingly ;  but  if  he  be  content  with  being  philanthropic  by  delegate, 
he  will  place  himself  at  a  great  disadvantage.  Let  him  come  into 
personal  contact  with  some  at  least  of  his  people  ;  let  him  act  as  a 
brother  at  least  to  some  of  the  oldest  or  most  noteworthy.  Quiet 
acts  of  brotherly  kindness  of  this  sort  will  not  be  done  in  vain.  They 
will  not  only  serve  as  proofs  of  personal  sympathy,  but  they  will  give 
value  to  what  must  be  done  by  deputy.  They  will  show  that  it  is  no 
want  of  will  that  obliges  the  employer  in  his  wider  philanthropic 
efforts  to  make  use  of  the  services  of  others. 

Thirdly,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  spirit  of  sympathy  can 
operate  only  in  an  indirect  way  in  adjusting  the  relations  of  employer 
and  employed  after  they  have  become  disturbed.  It  will  not  of  itself 
heal  the  breach  ;  it  will  not  supersede  consideration  and  adjustment 
of  the  merits  of  the  case.  If  the  question  be  one  of  wages,  for  ex- 
ample, it  will  not  supersede  a  fair  inquiry  as  to  whether  the  state  and 
conditions  of  business  warrant  an  addition  or  demand  a  decrease. 
The  men  will  not  say,  "  Our  employer  is  a  good  man  ;  let  us  take 
whatever  he  may  be  pleased  to  offer  us."  But  if  the  work-people  are 
convinced  that  their  employer  has  a  sincere  regard  for  their  welfare 
and  a  conscientious  desire  to  give  them  a  fair  share  of  remuneration, 
this  will  dispose  them  to  a  more  reasonable  atid  considerate  view  of 
the  case  from  his  point  of  view  as  well  as  their  own.  This  is  the  real 
benefit  which  the  influence  of  the  gospel  will  bring,  if  both  sides  are 
under  its  influence.  It  will  dispose  both  to  a  fair  and  reasonable 
spirit  in  looking  at  the  merits  of  the  case.  The  great  difficulty  in  or- 
dinary quarrels,  and  especially  in  controversies  between  employer  and 
employed,  arises  from  the  excited  and  unreasonable  spirit  of  parties. 
They  are  prone  to  approach  the  question  with  the  feeling  that  the 
other  side  has  no  consideration  for  them — is  only  eager  to  snatch  at 
any  and  every  advantage,  to  secure  it  by  hook  or  by  crook,  be  it 
right  or  be  it  wrong.  It  is  commonly  found  that  differences  in  regard 
to  matters  of  detail  are  not  difificult  to  settle  if  the  parties  come  together 
in  a  fair,  reasonable,  considerate  spirit.  Differences  between  work- 
men and  their  employers  would  not  be  more  difficult  to  settle  than 
other  difficulties,  if  the  parties  were  animated  by  the  spirit  which 
springs  from  mutual  confidence  and  mutual  consideration  ;  but  in  the 
absence  of  such  a  spirit  a  settlement  is  well-nigh  impossible.  If  the 
influence  of  the  gospel  shall  promote  the  spirit  of  confidence  and  con- 
sideration, it  will  contribute  that  element  without  which  the  relation  of 
employers  and  employed  can  only  be  one  protracted,  interminable  strife. 


1 86  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

II.  But  all  this  implies  that  the  employed  as  well  as  the  employer 
shall  be  under  the  influence  of  the  gospel.  It  is  sometimes  represented 
that  employers  alone  are  to  blame  for  the  uncomfortable  relations  be- 
tween them  and  their  i)eople  ;  but  undoubtedly  Christianity  has  a 
lesson  for  the  one  as  well  as  the  other,  and  the  neglect  of  that  lesson 
by  the  employed,  if  it  has  not  as  often  gendered  strife,  has  certainly 
embittered  it  to  a  very  painful  degree.  No  lessons  of  the  gospel  are 
more  clear  or  explicit  than  those  which  bind  servants  to  consult 
the  interests  of  their  employers,  to  be  faithful  and  conscientious  in 
their  service — not  with  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers,  but  as  unto  the 
Lord,  doing  their  work  in  the  sight  of  the  great  Task-master.  And 
the  spirit  of  the  gospel  as  obviously  requires  that  those  who  work 
under  the  superintendence  of  others  should  be  considerate  and  neigh- 
borly in  their  conduct  toward  them.  The  fact  that  the  head  of  the  con- 
cern wields  the  power,  and,  if  the  concern  prospers,  enjoys  the  chief 
share  of  the  profit,  is  no  justification  of  recklessness  or  indifference  on 
the  part  of  his  workers.  An  intelligent  Christian  workman  will  rec- 
ognize here  the  temptation  under  which  he  lies  to  the  bad  spirit  of 
envy  and  jealousy.  Old  Adam  says,  "  Master  is  far  better  off  than  I; 
the  wind  fills  his  sails  as  it  never  fills  mine  ;  let  him  look  after  him- 
self; why  should  I  be  concerned  about  his  interests?  Nay,  I  will 
rather  put  on  the  drag  a  little.  In  a  quiet  way  I  will  relieve  him  of 
some  of  his  advantages,  and  thus  bring  him  down  nearer  the  level  of 
myself."  This  is  the  low  policy  of  the  tempter.  The  Christian  is 
ready  with  his  answer — "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan."  The  line  of 
duty  for  him  is  plain — to  study  the  interests  of  the  master  as  well  as 
his  own.  Nay,  more — to  be  considerate  and  thoughtful  for  the  mas- 
ter; for  to  involve  the  head  of  the  concern  in  needless  embarrassment 
and  pain,  especially  if  he  be  honestly  trying  to  act  fairly  by  all  parties, 
is  most  unworthy  of  the  Christian  laborer. 

The  law  of  Christ  binds  us  to  do  good  to  all  men  as  we  have  op- 
portunity. It  requires  us  to  look  not  every  man  on  his  own  things, 
but  every  man  also  on  the  things  of  others.  It  is  only  a  superficial 
view  that  would  regard  this  obligation  as  less  binding  on  the  poor, 
with  reference  to  the  rich,  than  the  rich,  with  reference  to  the  poor. 
It  is  impossible  for  us  to  determine  accurately  how  far  this  rule  would 
require  a  Christian  workman  to  carry  forbearance  before  he  would 
be  justified  in  joining  a  strike.  It  cannot  be  said  that  a  Chris- 
tian workman,  acting  conscientiously  and  as  a  Christian,  would 
never  take  part  in  a  strike  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  his  Christianity 
would  lead  him  to  carry  his  forbearance  to  the  utmost  limit,  before  he 
would  favor  so  desperate  a  remedy.  The  case  of  a  revolution  in  the 
State  is  similar  to  the  case  of  a  strike  in  industry.  Some  of  the  best 
Christians  have  promoted  revolution.  And  that  which  was  best  and 
noblest  in  them  was  what  led  them  to  do  so.  But  they  have  never 
felt  justified  in  adopting  so  desperate  a  remedy  till  forbearance  had 
been  carried  to  its  utmost  limits,  and  until  they  felt  that  the  alterna- 
tive was  revolution  or  the  loss  of  liberty,  and  of  all  else  that  was  dearest 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  187 

to  them.  It  is  certain,  likewise,  that  the  Christian  workman,  if  he 
should  see  it  his  duty  to  take  part  in  a.  strike,  would  protest  against 
many  things  that  have  been  done  at  such  times.  He  would  not  select 
the  very  time  which  would  be  most  inconvenient  and  embarrassing 
for  his  employer,  in  view  of  engagements  under  which  he  had  come. 
He  would  be  most  careful  to  discourage  violence  in  every  shape,  and 
especially  unjust  and  oppressive  treatment  toward  other  workmen  who 
should  not  be  disposed  to  join  in  the  movement.  In  short,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  gospel  on  workmen  might  be  summed  up  thus  :  it  makes 
them  conscientious  and  considerate  in  the  doing  of  their  work  ;  for- 
bearing and  patient  when  they  believe  they  are  not  receiving  justice; 
and,  when  forbearance  and  patience  are  exhausted,  careful  to  avoid 
and  discourage  all  rough  and  unrighteous  acts,  such  as  other  men  are 
tempted  to  resort  to,  while  struggling  and  starving  as  they  believe  for 
their  rights. 

III.  It  may  now  be  useful  in  bringing  this  brief  paper  to  a  close, 
to  notice  some  of  the  objections  that  are  most  commonly  offered  to  the 
views  that  have  been  presented. 

I.  First,  it  is  often  said,  business  must  be  conducted  on  business 
principles.  You  must  not  mix  sentiment  with  business,  or  you  will 
spoil  business.  One  great  rule  for  business  is  to  buy  in  the  cheapest 
market  and  sell  in  the  dearest.  By  this  rule  the  only  principle  on 
which  the  employer  should  act  in  reference  to  his  men  is  to  secure  the 
best  labor  he  can  on  the  cheapest  terms.  Anything  that  interferes 
with  this  simple  rule  may  be  very  beautiful  in  theory,  but  in  practice 
it  is  only  pernicious. 

In  reply  to  this  view,  it  is  obvious  to  remark  that  it  is  just  what  has 
brought  the  relation  of  capital  and  labor  to  the  dead-lock  in  which  it 
is  now.  To  argue  in  this  way  is  simply  to  give  up  the  battle.  It  is 
to  say  things  are  as  they  must  be,  and  indeed  as  they  ought  to  be. 
There  is  nothing  for  it  but  endless  warfare — fighting  on,  but  never 
fighting  out — 

"  Bubble,  dubble,  toil  and  trouble, 
Fire  burn  and  caldron  bubble ;" 

In  short  you  would  have  Carlyle's  "  sooty  hell  of  hate  and  savagery  " 
perpetuated  in  sceciila  sceculorum. 

But  apart  from  this,  let  us  ask  is  this  supposed  antithesis  or  antag- 
onism between  business  principles  and  sentiment  (as  it  is  called)  a 
real  fact?  What  if  true  business  principles  demand  a  union  with 
Christian  sentiment?  What  if  for  want  of  the  Christian  element  the 
article  which  you  buy  in  the  cheapest  market  turns  out  the  dearest 
in  the  end  ?  What  if  cheap  labor  is  found,  like  other  cheap  things, 
of  inferior  quality,  and  not  worth  the  price?  Labor  is  not  an  article 
of  uniform  quality;  its  value  depends  on  many  varying  conditions. 
It  varies  with  the  health  or  sickness  of  the  laborer,  with  his  honesty 
or  dishonesty,  with  his  good-will  or  ill-will.  On  business  principles 
would  it  not  be  well  to  secure  the  conditions  that  will  make  the  labor 
of  the  highest  quality?  to  secure  in  the  laborer,  health,  honesty  and 
good-will,  as  well  as  strong  sinews  and  skilful  hands  ?     Is  the  policy 


1 88  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  be  ridiculed  as  sentiment,  and  inconsistent  with  "business  prin- 
ciples "  that  thus  aims  at  obtaining  the  best  kind  of  labor — at  allying 
it  with  qualities  which  no  money  can  buy  ? 

2.  Again,  it  is  often  said  that  any  attempt  by  the  employer  to  graft 
philanthropy  on  his  business  is  an  insult  to  the  independence  of  the 
workman.  It  is  a  relic  of  "paternal  government" — a  legacy  from 
the  feudal  system — an  endeavor  to  keep  up  a  relation  of  servility  tiiat 
is  now  discarded,  root  and  branch,  by  all  workmen  who  understand 
their  position.  The  workman,  we  are  told,  is  just  as  independent  as 
his  employer.  They  come  together  on  equal  terms.  The  employer 
wishes  to  buy  an  article — labor — an  article  which  the  laborer  wishes 
to  sell.  When  they  come  to  an  arrangement  it  is  simply  this,  that 
the  one  buys  and  the  other  sells.  Now,  buyers  and  sellers  are  on  free 
and  equal  terms.  But  if  the  buyer  takes  to  patronizing  the  seller,  and 
the  seller  accepts  of  his  patronage,  the  equality  is  destroyed.  The 
seller  owns  himself  the  inferior  of  the  buyer. 

It  is  this  feeling,  I  apprehend,  lurking  in  the  mind  of  many  a  work- 
man, that  leads  him  to  look  unfavorably  on  any  philanthropic  schemes 
of  his  employer.  I  feel  constrained  to  maintain  that  the  view  is  essen- 
tially unsound.  I  deny  the  analogy  to  be  correct  that  the  act  of  a 
man  agreeing  to  work  (say)  in  a  large  factory,  is  similar  in  principle 
to  that  of  a  man  merely  selling  an  article  to  another.  Observe,  the 
factory  is  a  great  social  organization.  A  man  agreeing  to  work  there 
becomes  a  member  of  a  social  body.  Of  that  social  body  the  head  is 
the  employer.  The  work,  the  machinery,  the  business  and  the  respon- 
sibility are  his.  However  some  may  dislike  the  term,  he  is  the  mas- 
ter. In  that  capacity  he  has  duties  and  responsibilities  to  the  whole 
body  of  his  people.  When  he  tries  to  discharge  these  responsibilities 
it  is  wrong  for  his  work-people  to  discourage  and  thwart  him.  God 
gives  him  an  influence  and  a  power  for  good  which  he  gives  to  no 
one  else.  If  this  be  true  even  in  reference  to  his  adult  laborers,  it  is 
more  manifestly  true  of  the  young  persons  he  employs.  It  is  obvi- 
ously absurd  to  say  that  when  he  employs  children  he  treats  with  them 
for  their  labor  on  equal  terms. 

3.  A  third  objection  often  heard  is  that  such  philanthropic  efforts 
by  employers  are  of  no  use.  How  often  have  the  reading-room  and 
library,  the  public  lecture  and  the  public  service,  proved  a  failure? 
How  often  have  they  attracted  only  a  few  of  the  weaker  or  more  well- 
meaning  of  the  people,  and  been  utterly  rejected  by  those  who  had 
most  need  of  their  help?  Still  more,  how  often  have  employers,  of 
the  best  intentions  and  truest  sympathy,  who  have  devoted  themselves 
with  great  Christian  earnestness  to  the  welfare  of  their  work-people, 
found,  that,  when  the  critical  moment  came,  when  the  strike  was  pro- 
claimed, they  were  left  as  helpless  and  embarrassed  as  the  most  hard- 
hearted of  their  neighbors?  It  is  impossible  not  to  own  that  there  is 
some  ground  for  these  complaints.  Not  so  much,  perhaps,  as  is  often 
thought ;  and  I  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  a  little  book  of  mine, 
published    fifteen    years  ago,  entitled,   "  Heads  and    Hands    in  the 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  189 

World  of  Labor,"  consisting  chiefly  of  narratives  of  the  efforts  of 
employers  in  various  branches  of  industry,  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
their  work-people.  Though  now  somewhat  out  of  date,  it  shows,  if  I 
mistake  not,  that  in  not  a  few  instances  the  best  results  have  flowed 
from  the  Christian  influence  and  sympathy  of  employers. 

Besides,  is  a  good  cause  to  be  abandoned  because  it  has  not  been 
altogether  successful  at  first?  Is  it  to  be  thrown  to  the  winds  because 
the  first  experiment  has  not  been  a  triumi)h  ?  What  good  cause,  at 
this  rate,  w^ould  ever  have  been  carried  to  a  successful  issue?  Is  no 
camjxiign  to  be  conducted  except  under  C?esar's  motto — veni,  vidi, 
vici  ?  Let  Christian  employers  first  be  convinced  that  they  are  in  the 
way  of  duty,  and  then  let  them  wait  on  the  Lord  for  that  help  and 
guidance  which  is  never  sought  in  vain,  and  i?i  due  time  they  shall 
reap,  if  they  faint  not.  Meanwhile  let  the  Christian  Church  think 
more  of  such  applications  of  the  gospel.  Let  her  try  to  bring  out  its 
blessings  not  only  in  saving  the  individual,  but  in  regenerating  society. 
The  one  aim  of  the  gospel  is  never  to  be  pitted  against  the  other. 
Preachers  are  not  to  be  taunted  with  preaching  the  doctrines  of  salva- 
tion and  urged  to  tuj-n  from  these  and  direct  their  energies  to  the  re- 
generation of  society.  To  attempt  to  regenerate  society  except 
through  that  gospel,  whose  first  and  immediate  object  is  to  save  souls, 
would  be,  to  my  idea,  a  most  Utopian  enterprise.  Jesus  Christ  and 
him  crucified  is  as  much  the  heart  and  centre  of  the  regeneration  of 
society  as  of  the  salvation  of  the  individual.  From  that  wonderful 
source,  and  that  only,  the  great  dynamic  force  comes  that  effectually 
moves  employers  to  think  sympathetically  of  their  men,  and,  what  is 
perhaps  even  a  harder  task,  moves  men  to  think  sympathetically  of 
their  employers.  What  seems  to  be  needed  from  ministers  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  that  in  preaching  this  great  doctrine,  its  applica- 
tions to  such  matters  as  the  present  should  be  more  clearly,  fully  and 
frequently  enforced.  And  here  let  us  remember  that  "prevention  is 
better  than  cure."  It  is  a  mistake  to  leave  such  matters  alone  until 
some  great  outbreak  of  disorder  makes  them  flagrant  and  scandalous. 
It  is  a  perilotis  thing  to  preach  on  the  Christian  relation  of  emjiloyers 
to  employed  during  the  height  of  a  strike.  Far  better,  surely,  silently 
to  imbue  the  minds  of  the  people  from  time  to  time  with  sound  views 
of  the  true  spirit  of  the  gospel — to  familiarize  them  with  the  truth  that 
the  gospel  was  designed  to  regenerate  society  as  well  as  save  the  indi- 
vidual, and  to  take  advantage  of  the  countless  opportunities  which  are 
supplied,  in  opening  up  the  Scriptures,  of  showing  the  social  bearings 
of  the  truth  of  God.  If  the  Presbyterian  Church  should  succeed,  with 
God's  blessing,  in  thoroughly  rousing  and  guiding  the  Christian  con- 
science, alike  of  the  employers  and  employed  in  her  communion,  on 
this  great  question — no  man  could  estimate  the  value  of  her  service, 
nor  could  the  fulfilment  of  any  other  secondary  purpose  of  the  gospel 
do  more  to  realize  the  angel's  song — "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 
and  on  earth  peace,  good-will  toward  men." 


I90  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Hon.  Chief-Justice  C.  D.  Drake,  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
read  the  following  paper  on 

CHRISTIANITY    THE    FRIEND    OF    THE    WORKING 
CLASSES. 

It  was  a  wise  thought  that  placed  in  the  programme  of  discussions 
here  the  broad  topic  :  Christianity  the  Friend  of  the  Working 
Classes.  It  was  a  brave  thought  as  well,  to  formulate  it  as  an  affir- 
mation, rather  than  as  a  subject  of  inquiry;  and  so  hold  up  before 
the  world  a  great  Bible  truth.  The  choice  of  the  speaker  to  discuss 
it  may  prove  to  have  been  less  wise.  If  so  he  can  only  say,  "  He  hath 
done  what  he  could." 

In  the  working  classes  the  numerical  majority,  the  productive  force, 
and  therefore  the  physical  life,  of  any  nation,  abide.  Whatever  ele- 
vates the  spirit,  purpose,  and  morals  of  those  classes,  elevates  the 
nation  at  home  and  abroad;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  whatever 
depresses  them  in  spirit,  or  weakens  them  in  rightful  purpose,  or 
degrades  them  in  morals,  hurts  the  nation  in  a  vital  part.  Hence 
there  is  no  more  pregnant  inquiry  than  for  those  things  which  may 
justly  be  called  the  Friends  of  the  Working  Classes.  And,  when 
found,  they  should  be  embraced  and  enshrined ;  for,  as  working 
classes  must  always  be,  whatever  benefits  them  in  any  period  sends  a 
venture  down  the  stream  of  time,  which  may  yield  good  profit  in  all 
the  future. 

Christianity  is  the  system  of  doctrines  and  precepts  taught  by  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  to  be  estimated  and  judged,  not  by  the  glosses,  the  in- 
terpretations, the  simulations,  or  the  imputations  of  men,  nor  by  the 
halting,  inconsistent,  and  often  sinful  lives  of  many  of  its  professed 
followers;  nor  even  by  the  lives  of  the  best  of  its  disciples;  but 
by  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  which  are 
the  word  of  God.  •  From  them  let  ns  reverently  learn  how  it  is  that 
Christianity  is  the  Friend  of  the  Working  Classes. 

In  Nazareth,  where  he  had  been  brought  up,  Jesus  stood  in  the 
synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  read  from  the  book  of  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  where  it  was  written  :  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me, 
because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor;  he 
hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to 
the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight'to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them 
that  are  bruised,  to  preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,"  And 
he  closed  the  book,  and  sat  down.  And  as  the  eyes  of  all  them  that 
were  in  the  synagogue  were  fastened  on  him,  he  said  unto  them: 
"This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears."  And  then  broke 
forth  from  his  astonished  and  wrathful  hearers  :  "  From  whence  hath 
this  man  these  things?  Is  not  this  the  carpenter ?''  And  those  last 
words  of  derision  have  come  down,  as  it  were,  along  the  telephone  of 
the  ages,  to  the  ear  of  every  working  man  and  working  woman  to  whom 
the  gospel  has  come,  or  ever  shall  come,  announcing  Jesus  to  them  as 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


191 


one  whose  heart  would  ever  sympathize  with  them  in  their  trials  and  in 
their  rightful  triumphs.  Thanks  to  the  enraged  and  contemptuous  Naz- 
arenes  for  this  evidence  that  Jesus  Christ,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
was  one  of  the  working  classes,  a  mechanic,  a  carpenter.  They  could 
have  uttered  no  words  which  would  have  better  told  the  working 
classes  of  every  age  and  clime,  that  the  Christianity  which  this  despised 
and  rejected  Nazarene  came  to  found,  would  be  a  true  friend  to  them. 

This  bright  promise  is  sustained  by  the  whole  body  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, far  more  fully  than  there  is  time  now  to  show,  or  than  need  be 
shown  in  such  an  assembly  as  this.  Let  it  suffice  for  this  occasion, 
first,  to  point  to  some  of  the  special  needs  of  the  working  classes  in 
all  places  and  times  ;  and  then  prove,  in  God's  own  words,  that  the 
demands  and  precepts  of  Christianity,  if  met  and  obeyed  by  em- 
ployers and  employed,  would  satisfy  those  needs  to  the  uttermost. 

I.  A  chief  need  of  all  working  men  and  women  everywhere  is,  that 
their  wages  be  paid.  They  work  for  reward  ;  it  is  their  bread.  The 
expectation  of  reward  is  to  them  the  vital  force  of  muscle,  and  sinew, 
and  nerve,  and  purpose.  Take  that  away,  and  the  brawny  arm  falls 
limp,  and  the  deft  fingers  lose  their  cunning.  For  them,  and  against 
all  employers  who  wrongfully  withhold  their  wages,  hear  the  voice  of 
God,  crying,  "  Woe  unto  him  that  useth  his  neighbor's  services  with- 
out wages,  and  giveth  him  not  for  his  work!"  And,  as  quick  pay- 
ment is  the  worker's  daily  need,  God  says,  "The  wages  of  him  that 
is  hired  shall  not  abide  with  thee  all  night  until  the  morning."  And, 
as  if  "  all  night "  were  too  long,  God  speaks  again,  and  says,  "At  his 
day  thou  shalt  give  him  his  hire,  neither  shall  the  sun  go  down  upon 
it ;  for  he  is  poor,  and  setteth  his  heart  upon  it."  And  yet  further, 
listen  to  the  Lord's  warning  of  vengeance :  "Go  to,  now,  )e  rich 
men,  weep  and  howl  for  your  miseries  that  shall  come  upon  you. 
Your  riches  are  corrupted  and  your  garments  are  moth-eaten.  Your 
gold  and  silver  is  cankered;  and  the  rust  of  them  shall  be  a  witness 
against  you,  and  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  it  were  fire.  Behold,  the  hire 
of  the  laborers  who  have  reaped  down  your  fields,  which  is  of  you 
kept  back*by  fraud,  crieth  :  and  the  cries  of  them  which  have  reaped 
are  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth."  And  when  those 
cries  are  heard  on  high,  the  rust  of  the  cankered  gold  and  silver  will 
not  be  the  only  witness  against  the  rich  wrong-doer ;  but,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  "  I  will  be  a  swift  witness  against  those  that  oppress 
the  hireling  in  his  wages:  I  will  come  near  you  to  judgment." 

IL  A  second  special  need  of  the  working  classes  is  security  in  their 
industry  and  their  gains:  not  merely  the  tardy,  uncertain,  and  often 
feeble  protection  afforded  by  the  municipal  law,  which  too  often  the 
poor  are  pecuniarily  unable  to  invoke,  but  the  higher  and  costless 
safety  resting  upon  men's  obedience  in  heart  and  life  to  the  law  of 
God.  True,  this  is  the  need  of  all ;  but  it  is  pre-eminently  so  of  the 
workers,  to  whom  every  hour  of  peaceful  labor,  undisturbed  by  appre- 
hension or  remembrance  of  wrong,  is  of  double  value,  and  every 
farthing  gained  is  more  than  a  pound  to  the  rich.     Men's  laws  never 


192  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

have  kept  pace  with  men's  desires  and  devices  to  wrong  their  fellow- 
men  ;  nor  do  they  reach  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart ;  and 
therefore  imperfection  is  in  them  all:  but  "the  law  of  the  Lord  is 
perfect,  converting  the  soul,"  taking  hold  of  the  consciences  of  men, 
and  implanting  within  them  that  fear  of  God,  which  is  not  only  the 
beginning  and  the  instruction  of  wisdom,  but  teaches  men  everywhere 
to  hate  and  depart  from  all  evil.  In  this  law  is  the  solid  hope  and 
defense  of  the  world's  workers.  Though  its  converting  power  has 
conquered  comparatively  few  of  the  myriads  of  earth's  people  that 
have  been,  and  though  the  outlook  is  not  promising  for  the  speedy 
conversion  of  the  human  race;  yet  none  the  less  should  the  law  of  the 
Lord  be  lield  up  everywhere  and  always,  till  the  day,  surely  to  come, 
of  its  final  and  glorious  triumph  in  the  regeneration  of  a  fallen  world. 
Standing  upon  that  law,  Christianity  has  ever  arrayed  itself  against 
every  form  of  spoliation  of  the  worker  by  the  rich  and  powerful,  from 
the  lowest  grade  of  mere  injustice  up  to  the  highest  of  lawless  rapacity. 
Let  the  voice  of  Christianity's  God  be  again  heard  :  "  The  Lord  will 
enter  into  judgment  with  the  ancients  of  his  people  and  the  princes 
thereof;  for  the  spoil  of  the  poor  is  in  your  houses.  What  mean  ye 
that  ye  beat  my  people  to  pieces,  and  grind  the  faces  of  the  poor? 
Forasmuch  as  your  treading  is  upon  the  poor,  ye  have  built  houses  of 
hewn  stone,  but  ye  shall  not  dwell  in  them  ;  ye  have  planted  pleasant 
vineyards,  but  ye  shall  not  drink  wine  of  them.  For  I  know  your 
manifold  transgressions  and  your  mighty  sins.  Thou  hast  greedily 
gained  of  thy  neighbor  by  extortion,  and  hast  forgotten  me.  Behold, 
I  have  smitten  mine  hand  at  thy  dishonest  gain  which  thou  hast  made. 
Can  thine  heart  endure,  or  can  thy  hands  be  strong,  in  the  days  that 
I  shall  deal  with  thee  ?     I  tlie  Lord  have  spoken  it,  and  will  do  it." 

III.  A  third  special  need  of  the  working  classes  is  some  solid 
foundation  for  hope  of  bettering  their  worldly  condition.  With  the 
great  majority  of  them  the  struggle  is  usually  for  mere  life.  The 
days  and  months  and  years  of  toil  bring  them  no  more  than  food  and 
raiment;  to  vast  numbers  not  even  that;  and  life  wears  away  with 
nothing  gained.  And  vice  comes  and  weaves  its  subtle  and  fatal  net 
about  them,  evil  associations  grapple  them,  and  Satan  rides  trium- 
jihant  upon  the  wild  and  turbid  currents  that  sweep  them  into  the 
abyss  of  despair  and  death. 

The  question,  of  great  and  lasting  moment  to  them  and  to  every 
portion  of  society,  is,  not  whether  the  working  classes  can  be  lifted 
bodily  into  affluence  and  high  social  position,  for  which  they  would 
be  unfit,  and  where  they  would  cease  to  be  workers ;  but  how,  by 
what  course  of  their  own,  by  what  action  of  others,  they  can,  as 
working  classes,  be  raised  to  a  higher  plane  and  a  better  condition  of 
physical  life.  Left  to  fight  the  sullen  and  unequal  battle  of  life  alone, 
the  most  of  them  have  only  defeat  and  disaster  in  view  ahead,  from 
whose  blasting  sight  there  is  no  refuge  but  the  grave.  Shall  they 
be  so  left?  Every  principle  of  Christianity,  every  dictate  of  mere 
humanity  says,  No.     What  shall  come  to  their  help?     Shall  it  be 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  193 

Civilization?  Shall  it  be  Philosophy?  Shall  it  be  human  Morals? 
Shall  it  be  Philanthropy?  Each  and  all  of  them,  at  one  time  or 
another,  in  one  country  or  another,  have  taken  the  mighty  problem 
in  hand,  and,  so  far,  each  and  all  have  failed  to  solve  it  successfully 
and  finally.  The  plain  and  startling  truth  is,  that  the  spirit  of  man, 
in  and  of  itself,  is,  and  must  forever  he,  unequal  to  its  solution.  His 
schemes  are  as  sand,  when  the  vital  need  is  a  rock.  But  what  the 
spirit  of  man  cannot  do,  the  Spirit  of  God  has  done.  Behold  in  the 
Rock  of  Ages  the  only  stable  foundation  upon  which  the  world's 
workers  can  build  a  hope  of  steadily  and  permanently  rising  to  a 
higher  plane  and  a  better  condition  of  earthly  life. 

Men  might  as  well,  first  as  last,  open  their  eyes  and  their  hearts  to 
these  great  truths  of  God — that  "  Righteousness  is  the  habitation  of 
his  throne;"  that  "He  that  foUoweth  after  righteousness  findeth 
life;"  that  ''The  work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace;  and  the 
effect  of  righteousness  quietness  and  assurance  forever."  These 
truths  are  precious  stones  in  the  foundations  of  Christianity ;  and 
upon  them  rests  the  great  proposition,  that,  except  in  that  righteous- 
ness, there  is  no  real  and  solid  basis  for  hope  of  the  working  classes 
ever  being  able  to  gain  a  condition  of  higher  worldly  prosperity,  and 
abide  there.  Some,  under  favoring  circumstances,  may  achieve  suc- 
cess, and  obtain  riches  and  honor  and  power,  and  so  rise  above  their 
class  ;  but  the  rest  will  be  left  behind.  What  is  needed  is  hope  for 
the  class ;  and  let  them  awake  to  the  divine  truth,  that  that  hope  lies 
nowhere  but  in  that  righteousness ;  for  only  in  that  are  found  all  the 
principles,  motives,  purposes,  and  means  which  God  may  be  expected 
to  bless  with  substantial  and  lasting  advancement  and  prosperity. 

But  it  is  not  enough  that  this  righteousness  be  found  in  the  work- 
ing classes  alone.  Were  every  working  man  and  working  woman  in 
the  whole  world  a  sincere  and  blameless  follower  of  God,  that  fact 
would  avail  only  partially  to  better  their  worldly  state,  unless  it  were 
met  by  a  like  condition  in  the  rest  of  the  race.  Divide  mankind  to- 
day equally  between  the  righteous  and  the  unrighteous,  and  not  an 
hour  would  pass  before  it  would  have  to  be  written  on  high — "The 
wicked  in  his  pride  doth  persecute  the  poor :  he  plotteth  against  the 
just,  and  gnasheth  upon  him  with  his  teeth :  they  have  drawn  out  the 
sword,  and  have  bent  their  bow,  to  cast  down  the  poor  and  needy, 
and  to  slay  such  as  be  of  upright  conversation."  And  so,  at  last,  the 
hope  of  the  working  classes  for  a  real  and  permanent  betterment  of 
their  worldly  condition  must  rest  on  the  double  foundation  of  right- 
eousness in  themselves,  and  righteousness  in  the  rest  of  mankind. 
This  foundation  Christianity  alone  cafi  lay  ;  for  it  is  laid  upon  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Rock  of  Ages ;  and  in  all  the  systems  known  of  men  there 
is  no  builder  upon  that  Rock,  but  Christianity. 

But  through  all  the  long  ages,  perhaps,  that  must  roll  away  before 

the  millennial  dawn  shall  herald  the  day  of  Christ's  universal  reign,  it 

is  the  high  and  holy  mission  of  Christianity,  at  all  times,  in  all  places 

whither  it  may  go,  against  all  odds,  with  one  hand  to  batter  down  the 

13 


194  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

unjust  barriers  which  the  selfish,  the  grasping,  and  the  rapacious  ever 
seek  to  rear  against  the  upward  progress  of  the  working  classes ;  and 
with  the  other  to  hail  those  classes  to  trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good, 
and  wait  patiently  for  him. 

Let  them  hear  what  Jehovah  saith  to  their  oppressors.  From  out 
the  thunders  of  Sinai,  ''■Thou  shalt  not  steaV  forbids  oppression,  ex- 
tortion, and  all  other  unjust  or  sinful  ways  of  taking  or  withholding 
from  another  what  belongs  to  him.  And  listen  to  the  repetitions  in 
other  words,  and  the  enforcements,  of  that  commandment :  "  He  that 
oi)presseth  the  poor  reproacheth  his  Maker :  he  shall  surely  come  to 
want.  He  that  by  unjust  gain  increaseth  his  substance  shall  gather  it 
for  him  that  will  pity  the  poor.  Because  ye  despise  this  word,  and 
trust  in  oppression,  and  stay  thereon,  therefore  this  iniquity  shall  be  to 
you  as  a  breach  ready  to  fall,  swelling  out  in  a  high  wall,  whose  break- 
ing cometh  suddenly  at  an  instant.  Hear  this,  O  ye  that  swallow  up 
the  needy,  even  to  make  the  poor  of  the  land  to  fail :  the  Lord  hath 
sworn,  Surely,  I  will  never  forget  any  of  their  works.  Shall  not  the 
land  tremble  for  this,  and  every  one  mourn  that  dwelleth  therein  ? 
And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  saith  the  Lord  God,  that  I  will 
turn  your  feasts  into  mourning  and  all  your  songs  into  lamentation  ; 
and  I  will  bring  up  sackcloth  upon  all  loins  and  baldness  upon  every 
head  ;  and  I  will  make  it  as  the  mourning  of  an  only  son,  and  the 
end  thereof  as  a  bitter  day." 

And  hear  what  the  Lord  saith  to  them  that  are  oppressed:  "The 
Lord  executeth  righteousness  and  judgment  for  all  that  are  oppressed. 
He  delivereth  the  poor  from  him  that  is  too  strong  for  him,  yea  the 
poor  and  needy  from  him  that  spoileth  them.  He  shall  save  the 
children  of  the  needy,  and  shall  break  in  pieces  the  oppressor.  The 
Lord  will  maintain  the  cause  of  the  afflicted  and  the  right  of  the 
poor.  He  shall  redeem  their  soul  from  deceit  and  violence :  and 
precious  shall  their  blood  be  in  his  sight." 

IV.  A  fourth  special  need  of  the  working  classes  is  a  fit  provision 
for  the  poor.  It  is  no  more  true  that  "  the  poor  shall  never  cease  out 
of  the  land,"  than  that  in  every  land  they  are  to  be  mainly  found  in 
the  working  classes.  Too  true  is  it  also,  in  all  lands,  that  "  the  rich 
man's  wealth  is  his  strong  city,  and  the  poor  man's  destruction  is  his 
poverty;"  but,  nevertheless,  the  world  over,  it  is  of  the  ordering  of 
Providence,  that,  while  the  working  classes  are  dependent,  directly  or 
indirectly,  upon  the  rich  for  employment,  and  so  for  livelihood,  the 
rich  are  just  as  dependent  on  them,  not  only  for  the  revenues  that 
enrich  them,  but  for  soldiers  and  sailors  to  defend  them  and  their 
country  in  time  of  war.  Their  v/ealth  is  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of 
foreign  invaders,  or  of  lawless  and  ungovernable  mobs,  springing,  as 
it  were,  out  of  the  ground,  at  their  very  doors,  unless  the  working 
classes  rally  to  their  defense.  It  is,  therefore,  mere  common  justice 
for  private  and  public  means  to  co-operate  in  providing  for  the  poor. 
This  duty  Christianity  inculcates  by  manifold  precepts  and  injunctions. 
Thus  speaks  the  Lord :   "  Blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor  :  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  195 

Lord  will  deliver  him  in  time  of  trouble.  He  that  hath  pity  on  the 
poor  lendeth  to  the  Lord  :  and  that  which  he  hath  given  will  he  pay 
him  again.  He  that  giveth  unto  the  poor  shall  not  lack :  but  he  that 
hideth  his  eyes  shall  have  many  a  curse.  Whoso  stoppeth  his  ears 
at  the  cry  of  the  poor,  he  also  shall  cry  himself,  but  shall  not  be 
heard.  Thou  shalt  not  harden  thine  heart,  nor  shut  thy  hand  from 
thy  poor  brother  ;  but  thou  shalt  open  thy  hand  wide  to  him."  And 
as  the  sum  of  all,  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  "  Speak  unto  all  the  con- 
gregation of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  say  unto  them,  Thou  shalt 
LOVE  THY  NEIGHBOR  AS  THYSELF:  "  and  the  Son  of  man,  so  poor  in 
his  human  life  that  he  "  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,"  repeated  the 
blessed  words  to  his  disciples,  to  be,  next  to  love  to  God,  the  very 
foundation  precept  of  Christianity  forever. 

V.  A  fifth  special  need  of  the  working  classes,  without  which  they 
must  suffer  both  bodily  and  mental  deterioration,  is  a  stated  and 
regularly  recurring  day  of  rest  from  labor.  This  is  not  the  time 
for  discussing  the  great  subject  of  the  Sabbath  and  its  observance. 
That  will  be  treated  here  by  far  abler  minds,  a  few  days  hence.  At 
present  it  suffices  to  consider  Sunday  simply  as  a  day  of  rest,*  with 
reference  to  the  working  classes.  On  that  subject  time  forbids  ex- 
tended remark  ;  and  in  fact  it  is  not  necessary.  It  is  a  law  of  nature 
that  all  men,  whether  they  work  or  not,  must  have  rest ;  and  at  night 
they  seek  and  obtain  it.  But  all  experience  proves  that  working  men 
and  women  need  more  rest  than  night  alone  affords;  and  that  there- 
fore it  is  a  necessity  to  set  aside  periodically  a  whole  day  for  cessation 
from  labor.  Men  and  communities  that  do  not  acknowledge  the 
obligation  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  have  awaked  to  the  vital  impor- 
tance of  Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest.  Said  Lord  Macaulay  in  the  English 
House  of  Commons:  "We  in  England  are  not  poorer,  but  richer, 
because  we  have  these  many  ages  rested  from  our  labor  one  day  in 
seven.  The  day  is  not  lost.  While  industry  is  suspended,  while  the 
plough  lies  in  the  furrow,  while  the  exchange  is  silent,  while  no  smoke 
ascends  from  the  factory,  a  process  is  going  on  quite  as  important  to 
the  wealth  of  nations  as  any  process  which  is  performed  on  more  busy 
days.  Man,  the  machine  of  machines,  the  machine  compared  with 
which  all  contrivances  of  the  Watts  and  Arkwrights  are  worthless,  is 
repairing  and  winding  up,  so  that  he  returns  to  his  labors  on  the  Mon- 
day with  clearer  intellect,  with  livelier  spirits,  with  renewed  corporeal 
vigor."  This  is  the  judgment  and  the  testimony  of  a  leading  F^nglish 
mind  from  the  standpoint  of  mere  political  economy  ;  and  toward  those 
conclusions  all  nations  having  knowledge  of  Christian  civilization  are 
rapidly  tending.  But  they  are  mere  followers.  It  was  the  God  of 
Christianity  that  ordained  one  day  in  every  seven  as  a  day  of  rest. 
It  was  no  device  or  thought  of  man  ;  but  the  offspring  of  infinite  fore- 
knowledge and  wisdom,  for  the  physical  as  well  as  the  spiritual  good 
of  the  human  race,  but  pre-eminently  of  the  working  classes,  through 
all  time.  And  let  it  be  remembered  by  those  classes  in  every  land, 
that  in  Christianity  is  the  best  safeguard  of  this  ineffable  gift  of  the 


196  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

all-wise  Faflier.  If  Christianity  had  no  other  claim  to  the  title  of 
Friend  of  the  Working  Classes,  it  could  triumphantly  rest  it  upon  its 
spirit  and  works  as  the  defender  and  conservator  of  the  Sabbath. 

VI.  Finally :  The  greatest  and  most  urgent  need  of  the  working 
classes,  as  it  is  of  all  men,  is  religion.  Few  will  dispute  this  proposi- 
tion ;  but,  when  a  choice  is  to  be  made  between  different  forms  of 
religious  faith  and  observance,  world-wide  differences  arise.  In  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  there  can  be  but  one  true  religion  ;  but  many 
different  bodies  may  each  claim,  as  they  do,  to  be  its  true  representa- 
tive. The  most  of  Christendom  is  divided  between  the  Roman  Church, 
claiming  to  be  the  only  true  one,  and  asserting  that  outside  of  itself 
there  is  no  salvation  ;  and  the  Reformed  Churches  of  all  names, 
claiming  to  be  of  the  Church  universal ;  which  they  hold  to  consist  of 
all  who  make  profession  of  the  holy  religion  of  Christ,  and  of  sub- 
mission to  his  laws.  In  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  great  bodies 
all  who  call  themselves  Christians  must  be  ranged ;  and  between  them 
the  working  classes  must  choose.  To  which  should  they  look  for 
spiritual  help  in  their  rugged  journey  of  life,  and  for  guidance  to  the 
mansions  of  the  blest  on  high?  This  is  no  time  or  place  to  hesitate 
in  answering  that  question  according  to  the  faith  of  the  "Reformed 
Churches  throughout  the  world  holding  the  Presbyterian,  system," 
and  composing  this  Alliance.  Those  Churches  hold,  that  the  religion 
best  suited  to  the  working  classes,  and  all  other  classes  of  men,  is  not 
that  which  bows  down  to  a  man,  deified  by  men  as  infallible,  and 
holding  himself  aloft  as  God's  vicegerent  on  earth  ;  but  one  which 
worships  God  alone.  Nor  is  it  a  religion  of  a  dominating  hierarchy, 
pronouncing  its  decrees  and  conducting  its  worship  in  a  tongue  un- 
known to  the  common  people  ;  but  one  whose  humble  ministers  carry 
the  word  of  God  to  the  poor,  as  did  their  divine  Master,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  their  every-day  life.  Nor  is  it  a  religion  promising  salvation 
through  the  intercession  of  a  woman,  or  of  a  priest,  or  of  saints,  or 
of  angels;  but  one  resting  on  the  intercession  of  the  great  "High 
Priest  of  our  profession,  Christ  Jesus,"  alone.  Nor  is  it  a  religion 
which  shuts  the  Bible  to  the  people,  and  commands  them  to  look  to 
pontiffs,  prelates,  and  priests  to  learn  what  God  says  to  man ;  but  one 
that  opens  God'.-,  holy  word  to  all  human  creatures,  and  would  lovingly 
put  it  into  the  hand  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  to  read,  learn, 
and  understand  for  themselves.  Nor  is  it  a  religion  of  pictures  and 
images  and  relics,  that  hides  away  from  its  votaries  the  second  com- 
mandment of  the  Decalogue ;  but  one  that  says  to  its  followers,  as 
God  said  to  his  people  Israel,  "Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any 
graven  image,  or  any  likeness  of  anything  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or 
that  is  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth  : 
thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them."  Nor  is 
it  a  religion  claiming  that  poor  sinful  man's  works  of  merit  may  bring 
God  in  debt  to  him  for  eternal  life ;  but  one  that  humbles  the  lost 
sinner  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  there  to  find  rest  and  peace  to  his  soul 
through  the  blood  of  the  once  crucified,  but  now  risen  and  exalted, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  197 

Redeemer  of  men.  This  is  the  religion  which  meets  the  soul-needs  of 
the  poor  and  lowly.  It  sees  their  low  estate,  and  says  to  them,  "  He 
that  walketh  righteously  and  speaketh  uprightly  shall  dwell  on  high, 
and  his  eyes  shall  behold  the  King  in  his  beauty."  It  knows  their 
troubles  and  their  conflicts,  and  shows  them  the  Prince  of  Peace.  It 
knows  their  sorrows,  and  brings  to  them  the  man  of  sorrows,  who  was 
acquainted  with  grief  heavier  than  theirs.  It  knows  their  darkness, 
and  tells  them,  "  Unto  you  that  fear  my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness arise  with  healing  in  its  wings."  It  knows  their  sins,  and 
points  them  to  the  Friend  of  sinners.  It  knows  their  tears,  and  says, 
"God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  your  eyes."  It  knows  their 
days  and  nights  of  weariness,  and  bids  them  hear  the  Saviour's  loving 
call,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy-laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest."  It  knows  the  thirst  of  their  souls,  and  says  to 
them,  "Thirst  no  more,  for  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne  shall  lead  you  unto  living  foimtains  of  waters."  To  those 
heavenly  fountains,  hear  the  hail  of  the  Son  of  man  to  the  sons  of  toil 
in  all  time  in  all  the  earth:  "Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come 
ye  to  the  waters,  and  he  that  hath  no  money ;  conve  ye,  buy,  and 
eat ;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and  milk  without  money  and  without 
price." 

This  is  the  voice  of  that  Christianity  which  is  the  Friend  of  the 
Working  Classes  in  all  earth's  nations.  For  it,  "  let  everything  that 
hath  breath  praise  the  Lord." 

And  now,  Jet  the  whole  world  stand  forth  before  God,  and  say 
whether,  if  the  commands,  and  precepts,  and  promises  of  'God,  as 
they  have  thus  been  passed  in  review,  were  henceforth  obeyed,  lived 
out,  and  rested  upon  by  all,  the  certain  result  woiild  not  be  the  speedy 
and  lasting  rise  of  the  working  classes  in  physical  power,  in  intel- 
lectual strength,  in  material  prosperity,  in  moral  force,  and,  conse- 
quently, in  influence  in  all  the  world's  affairs. 

And  again  let  the  whole  world  stand  forth  before  <God,  and  say 
what  else  than  Christianity,  that  mortal  man  has  ever  known  or  heard 
of,  has,  in  all  the  history  of  humanity,  anywhere  led,  or  can  ever,  in 
all  the  long  hereafter  of  time,  be  rationally  expected  to  lead,  those 
classes  upward  to  that  higher  and  nobler  destiny. 

The  Council  then  adjourned  until  the  followiiig  nx)ming  at 
93^  o'clock.  

Saturday,  September  2^th,  1880. 

THIRD    DAY'S  SESSION, 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  91^  A.  m.  The  Rev.  Pro- 
fessor W.  H.  Green,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Princeton,  in  the  chair 
as  President  for  the  session. 


198  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

After  devotional  services,  the  minutes  of  the  last  session  were 
read  and  approved. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  Business  Committee  have  thought  it 
desirable  to  submit  to  the  Council  a  resolution  looking  to 
arrangements  for  the  farewell  meeting.  I  therefore  offer  the 
following : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  with  the  three  clerks  of  the  Council  be 
appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  a  farewell  meeting,  or  meetings, 
to  be  held  on  Sabbath  evening,  October  3d,  and  that  this  committee 
report  at  an  early  day  to  the  Council. 

This  is  in  view  of  the  necessity  for  making  some  arrangement 
which  may  harmonize  with  the  plans  of  the  several  churches. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to. 

The  President  announced  the  following  names  in  accordance 
therewith :  the  Rev.  Drs.  Breed,  Dickey,  Robbins,  Dales. 
Henry,  and  Stevenson,  together  with  the  clerks  of  this  body. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Henry  Calderwood,  LL.  D.,  of  Edinburgh, 
read  the  following  paper  on 

THE   RELATIONS   OF  SCIENCE   AND   THEOLOGY. 

The  relations  at  present  subsisting  between  science  and  theology 
are  such  as  to-  occasion  some  degree  of  concern  to  the  Church  of 
Christ.  They  raise  into  sf)ecial  importance  the  inquiry  as  to  the 
measures  most  appropriate  to  secure  that  the  Church  maintain  a  vital 
harmony  with  the  most  advanced  knowledge  and  the  highest  intellec- 
tual life.  It  is  impossible  within  the  necessary  limits  to  do  more  than 
touch  uix)n  the  successive  points,  but  I  shall  on  this  account  concentrate 
upon  the  more  important  matters  involved,  being  content  to  allow 
secondary  subjects  to  drop  out  of  sight. 

I.  In  order  to  consider  aright  the  actual  relations  of  science  and 
theology,  the  first  ix)int  to  be  noticed  is  the  distinctness  of  their 
spheres.  Science  has  clearly  defined  boundaries,  and  is  at  great  pains 
in  our  day  to  mark  these  out  and  proclaim  to  all  concerned  what  they 
are.  These  bo-imdaries  are  described,  not  by  actual  limits  reached  in 
given  sciences,  but  by  methods  employed  by  all  sciences  alike,  as 
essential  to  the  nature  of  science.  Science  is  concerned  exclusively 
with  observed  facts,  and  it  can  advance  only  as  observation  leads  or 
warrants  a  given  form  of  inference.  Science  does  not,  indeed,  pro- 
fess to  advance  only  under  warrant  of  a  perfect  induction,  but,  treat- 
ing this  as  unattainable,  asks  that  such  precautions  be  taken  to  secure 


.   SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  199 

rigid  accuracy  of  observation  that  there  can  be  no  misgiving  as  to  the 
facts.  Facts  must  be  carefully  ascertained,  and. so  also  must  their 
uniform  relations,  in  order  that  we  may  with  certainty  speak  of  accu- 
rate classification  or  competent  inference  as  to  the  laws  of  nature. 
External  observation  is  the  instrument ;  facts  coming  within  the  com- 
pass of  such  observation  afford  the  materials  ;  and  inference  from 
these  affords  the  only  result  which  may  be  described  as  scientific  in- 
duction, or  a  contribution  to  the  vast  body  of  scientific  truth.  The 
legitimacy  of  all  this  will  be  universally  allowed,  but  the  most  impor- 
tant thing  to  be  remarked  at  present  is,  that  theology  does  not  enter 
upon  this  sphere,  and  is  in  no  respect  involved  in  what  is  attempted  or 
achieved  within  it.  The  sphere  lies  quite  apart  from  that  of  theology, 
which  cannot  under  any  pretext  be  drawn  into  a  position  of  antag- 
onism. Theology  has  nothing  to  offer  by  way  of  contribution,  and 
nothing  to  refuse  out  of  the  host  of  conclusions  which  may  on  adequate 
scientific  tests  be  accepted  by  the  human  intelligence.  There  would 
be  no  need  for  insisting  upon  this  very  obvious  truth  were  it  not  that 
certain  scientific  men  are  accustomed  to  protest  against  the  inter- 
ference of  theology.  Their  apprehension  is  groundless  and  their  irri- 
tation misplaced,  for  the  interference  is  a  myth.  Science  has  nothing 
to  encounter  save  the  tests  which  its  own  methods  impose,  and  these 
are  the  ordinary  conditions  of  intelligence.  Natural  theology  refuses 
to  be  restricted  to  external  observation,  but  it  does  not  suggest  doubt 
of  such  observation,  or  profess  to  offer  opposition  to  its  exercise  ; 
rather,  it  asks  from  all  the.  sciences  the  materials  with  which  it  may 
itself  work.  Christian  theology  founds  upon  an  authoritative  rev- 
elation, but  that»revelation  does  not  offer  any  help  on  scientific 
questions,  does  not  profess  to  be  a  substitute  for  science.  It  does  not 
forestall  inquiry  as  to  the  facts  of  nature  or  the  laws  by  which  these 
are  governed.  It  professes  to  be  a  revelation,  by  the  searching  of  which 
the  simplest  man  may  learn  the  highest  wisdom  ;  but  it  does  not  pro- 
fess to  reveal  the  elements  of  geology,  biology  or  physics.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  quite  in  accordance  with  all  its  professions,  that  men 
should  have  been  left  waiting  till  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  before  they  were  able  to  reach  a  truly  scientific  investigation 
of  the  secrets  of  nature.  This  being  so,  there  is  ample  ground  for 
urging  that  theology  cannot  interfere  with  science,  and  protestations 
against  theologic  interference  may  well  take  end,  as  inconsistent 
with  intelligent  recognition  of  the  boundaries  of  the  sphere  assigned 
to  theology. 

On  equally  valid  grounds  it  needs  to  be  admitted  that  science  can 
not  interfere  with  theology,  because  it  cannot  enter  its  sphere,  and 
thus  can  neither  bear  testimony  nor  offer  criticism.  Science  cannot 
transcend  its  own  boundaries.  Unchallengeable  within  these,  it  is 
powerless  beyond.  It  cannot,  on  any  warrant  capable  of  bearing 
scientific  test,  maintain  that  there  are  no  facts  save  those  recognized 
by  externafl  observation,  or  that  there  is  no  form  of  truth  save  that 
which  explains  the  phenomena  presented  to  the  senses.     Science  has 


200  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

no  testimony  to  bear  except  as  to  the  fact  of  observation,  and  can 
neither  affirm  nor  deny  beyond  the  boundaries  which  it  has  marked 
out  for  itself  and  proclaimed,  and  which  all  intelligent  men  see  must 
be  the  boundaries  of  science  according  to  its  nature.  As  it  is  no  dis- 
paragement of  theology  to  say  that  it  cannot  do  the  work  of  science, 
so  neither  is  it  any  disparagement  of  science  to  say  that  it  cannot  con- 
tribute toward  a  rational  test  of  theology  otherwise  than  by  presenting 
its  testimony  as  to  the  facts  of  nature.  I  am  not  in  this  way  seeking 
to  deny  that  intelligence  may  challenge  the  reality  of  the  supernatural, 
but  merely  suggesting  that  when  this  is  done  it  is  not  part  of  the  work 
of  science ;  or,  otherwise  expressed,  it  is  not  scientifically  done.  There 
can  be  no  scientific  denial  of  the  supernatural,  for  science  is  only  of 
the  observational — that  is,  of  the  natural.  What  bearing  tliis  consid- 
eration has  on  the  attitude  and  intellectual  worth  of  scepticism  con- 
cerning the  supernatural  may  be  matter  for  after  consideration.  The 
primary  and  fundamental  fact  is  that  science  and  theology  occupy  dis- 
tinct spheres,  so  that  the  one  cannot  enter  the  province  of  the  other. 
The  bearing  which  this  fact  should  have  on  the  attitude  of  theology 
toward  science  is  that  which  chiefly  concerns  us  here.  It  clearly  im- 
plies a  sound  intellectual  sympathy  with  science  and  delight  in  its 
progress.  It  is  the  province  of  one  department  of  inquiry  or  thought 
to  cherish  intelligent  respect  for  other  departments  ;  and  if  this  be  a 
general  maxim,  it  must  be  held  to  have  special  force  in  its  application 
to  theology  ;  for  whereas  there  may  be  that  in  observational  science 
which  contributes  toward  the  encouragement  of  doubt  as  to  the  super- 
natural, belief  in  the  supernatural  must  accept  with  thankfulness  the 
widening  of  the  area  of  knowledge,  in  whatever  direction  advance  be 
made.  It  is  manifestly  a  part  of  the  Church's  work  to  encourage  and 
sustain  the  profoundest  interest  in  the  advance  of  science.  Belief  that 
the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  power  of  God  must  quicken  intellectual 
enthusiasm  in  the  systematizing  of  our  knowledge  of  the  universe. 
Whatever  scientific  men  may  have  to  say  of  theology  and  theologians, 
they  should  have  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  sincere  and  delighted 
acknowledgment  which  the  Church  of  Christ  makes  of  the  gain  to 
the  human  race  from  widened  knowledge  of  nature. 

2.  The  next  essential  consideration  is  the  closeness  of  the  relations 
of  theology  to  science.  Theology  cannot  dwell  apart  from  science, 
though  it  is  quite  possible  that  science  may  exist  apart  from  theology. 
It  is  not  for  us  to  forget  the  service  which  theologians,  and  also  the  prac- 
tical benevolence  of  the  Christian  Church  in  its  missions  to  the  heathen, 
have  rendered  to  science;  but  while  remembered,  it  does  not  need  to 
be  dwelt  upon  here.  Theology  must  stand  in  close  and  friendly  rela- 
tions with  science,  as  a  condition  of  its  own  existence.  Even  a  pro- 
fession of  concern,  because  of  the  progress  of  science,  is  an  admission 
of  weakness.  There  can  be  no  disguising  of  this  from  ordinary  re- 
flection, and  there  should  be  none  in  the  Councils  of  the  Church. 
Such  apprehension  betrays  mistrust  of  scientific  methods,  which  is  a 
challenging  of  human   intelligence;  but,  in   its  worst  light  from  a 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  201 

Christian  point  of  view,  it  is  mistrust  of  the  testimony  of  creation 
from  those  who  proclaim  unwavering  trust  in  the  Creator,  and  in 
the  truth — the  grand  certainty — that  all  his  works  praise  him.  It  is, 
therefore,  one  essential  part  of  the  task  intrusted  to  the  Christian 
Church  to  banish  from  its  borders  mistrust  of  science. 

3.  The  point  most  pressing  for  consideration  is  that  theology  has 
been  specially  assailed  from  the  regions  of  scientific  inference.  I'lieology 
has  not  been  assailed  by  science,  the  impossibility  of  which  assault  has 
been  indicated;  but  by  scientific  men,  distinguished  in  various  depart- 
ments of  science,  it  has  been  met  by  a  distinct  refusal  to  recognize  the 
Supernatural.  It  may  seem  only  a  verbal  difference  to  say  that  it  has 
been  assailed  by  recognized  scientific  leaders,  not  by  science ;  but  the 
difference  between  science  itself,  and  the  applications  which  scientific 
men  make  of  scientific  conclusions  is  immense.  Science  does  not  rest 
on  authority,  and  teaches  us  to  set  lightly  on  the  dicta  of  individuals. 
It  accepts  only  what  evidence  establishes,  and  constrains  all  to  recog- 
nize. But  when  scientific  men  proceed  to  reason  as  to  the  logical 
consequences  of  scientific  results,  as  warranting  inference  concerning 
the  government  of  the  world,  science  ceases  to  be  responsible, 
whether  these  inferences  favor  theology,  or  assume  an  aspect  of  an- 
tagonism. Such  inferences  as  to  the  government  of  the  world  become 
fit  subjects  for  the  general  intelligence;  and,  according  to  the  analo- 
gies of  experience,  theologians  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  having 
trained  aptitude  for  dealing  with  them,  while  scientific  observers  have 
no  special  training  for  this  task,  and  are  in  fact  so  much  disciplined 
in  intellectual  exercise  of  a  different  kind,  that  they  may  in  a  large 
measure  lack  the  training  which  fits  for  this  work.  Accordingly,  it  is 
only  expressing  a  very  general  impression  among  intelligent  men,  if  I 
say  that  examples  of  cosmic  speculation  from  recognized  scientific 
authorities  have  in  several  cases  failed  to  awaken  a  favorable  judg- 
ment of  fitness  for  the  voluntarily  selected  task. 

The  fact  to  be  faced,  however,  is  this:  that  there  has  been  a  formally 
proclaimed  antagonism  to  the  recognition  of  the  Supernatural,  which 
has  received  a  special  degree  of  notice  on  account  of  the  scientific 
eminence  of  those  who  have  avowed  it.  In  these  circumstances,  it 
belongs  to  theologians  to  make  their  appeal  to  intelligent  men  by  a 
clear  statement  of  their  own  position.  It  has  been  maintained  by 
some,  on  a  quasi-scientific  authority,  that  the  belief  in  God  has  been  dis- 
integrated by  the  widening  of  knowledge  ;  and  that  accordingly  belief 
in  a  supernatural  order  of  things  has  passed  away.  The  proper  re- 
joinder for  those  who  discredit  the  assertion  is  a  request  for  a  state- 
ment of  the  knowledge  appealed  to  as  accomplishing  this  result.  To 
this  falls  to  be  added,  in  the  line  of  theologic  defence,  the  considera- 
tion that  no  kind  or  amount  of  knowledge  of  that  which  belongs  to 
nature  can  avail  for  the  negation  of  the  Supernatural.  To  explain 
natural  occurrences  by  the  laws  of  nature,  is  only  to  discover  that  nature 
contains  more  than  appears ;  that  by  penetrating  beneath  the  surface 
it  is  possible  to  ascertain  the  causes  at  work.    This  all  men  now  recog- 


202  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

nize;  that  is  to  say,  there  are  accredited  sciences.  But  to  claim  that 
science  is  the  annihilation  of  the  Supernatural,  is  to  claim  what 
science  must  itself  repudiate  as  strongly  as  theology.  This  is  to  forget 
the  limits  of  science  in  intoxication  of  delight  over  the  discoveries 
made  within  these  limits.  Science,  which  proclaims  the  indestruc- 
tibility of  matter,  and  the  conservation  of  energy,  simply  acknowl- 
edges that  the  conditions  of  observation  make  it  impossible  to  answer 
the  questions  which  ordinary  intelligence  raises.  And  this  acknowl- 
edgment guides  a  very  little  way  towards  demonstration  of  the  posi- 
tion that  the  widening  of  knowledge  of  the  natural  has  distintegrated 
rational  belief  in  the  Supernatural. 

The  next  line  of  defence  for  theology,  as  it  is  positive  in  form,  is 
the  first  line  of  foundation  for  the  structure  of  a  system  of  knowledge  as 
reliable  as  science,  and  for  human  life  vastly  more  important.  The 
possibility  of  science  is  a  postulate  of  the  superiority  of  intelligence 
over  the  whole  realm  of  outward  existence  ;  it  is  the  affirmation  that 
observation  is  superior  to  the  things  observed — that  even  changes  of 
material  occur  according  to  rational  methods,  admitting  of  the  dis- 
covery of  causes.  It  is  an  assertion  of  the  competency  of  intelligence 
to  the  task  of  interpreting  the  occurrences  within  the  field  of  nature, 
and  is  thus  an  acknowledgment  that  intelligence  reigns  in  the  universe, 
and  that  intelligence  can  explain  the  processes  recognized  as  occurring  ; 
and  to  say  as  much  as  this  is  to  supply  natural  theology  with  its  funda- 
mental postulate,  and  Christian  theology  with  distinct  testimony  in  its 
favor.  These  are  the  positions,  traced  in  mere  outline,  to  which  the- 
ology invites  the  attention  of  scientific  men,  on  account  of  the  strength 
of  which  it  has  received  the  life-long  support  of  scientific  men  of  the 
highest  eminence,  and  is  upheld  by  a  large  mass  of  practical  sagacity 
among  men  of  wide  enterprise,  and  large  experience  of  the  require- 
ments of  human  life. 

As  a  proper  accompaniment  of  this  claim,  and  a  legitimate  offset 
against  the  avowed  scepticism  of  men  of  scientific  repute,  we  can  ap- 
peal to  the  deliberate  avowal  of  Christian  faith  by  men  who  have 
made  scientific  research  the  work  of  their  life.  Restricting  such  allu- 
sion to  those  who  have  passed  away  within  comparatively  recent  times, 
we  can  give  the  name  of  Brewster,  or  Agassiz,  or  Faraday,  any  one 
of  which  may  be  set  against  that  of  Clifford,  a  name  which  suggests 
geniality,  benevolence,  and  intellectual  acuteness  such  as  all  can  unite 
in  admiring,  but  which  recalls  also  denunciations  of  religious  belief 
so  full  of  passion  as  to  lead  to  the  inference  of  intensely  personal  ele- 
ments calling  for  a  large  deduction  before  we  can  estimate  the  logical 
value  of  the  reasoning. 

4.  From  this  fundamental  consideration,  it  is  allowable  to  pass  to 
one  or  two  references  directly  practical. 

In  view  of  the  immense  advance  in  scientific  knowledge,  and 
the  admitted  conflict  as  to  the  legitimate  inferences  from  this  knowl- 
edge, the  interests  of  the  Christian  Church  require  among  its  adhe- 
rents, and  specially  among  its  ministers,  some  devoted  to  the  study 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  203 

of  distinct  departments  of  science.  It  is  a  legitimate  claim  on  the 
part  of  scientific  men,  that  the  defenders  of  theology  give  evidence 
of  possessing  ample  scientific  knowledge.  To  meet  this  claim  there 
must  be  division  of  labor  and  specializing.  The  interests  of  the 
Christian  Church  so  obviously  call  for  this,  as  to  present  a  legitimate 
object  of  Christian  ambition  to  those  who  recognize  the  power  of 
such  knowledge.  It  is  quite  compatible  with  devotion  to  theology 
proper,  or  to  the  practical  work  of  the  pastorate,  that  there  be  con- 
tinuous and  successful  devotion  to  a  distinct  yet  auxiliary  branch  of 
study.  The  laws  of  mind,  indeed,  imply  that  there  is  restfulness  and 
refreshing  in  periodical  transition  to  a  subject  distinct  from  the  main 
theme  of  occupation.  When,  to  this  consideration,  there  is  added 
the  direct  service  which  may  be  rendered  to  the  Christian  Church  in 
its  grand  task  of  evangelizing  the  world,  the  fire  of  holy  zeal  may 
well  kindle  the  ardor  of  scientific  or  philosophic  enthusiasm. 

What  is  here  urged  upon  the  ministers  of  the  Church,  and  on  those 
preparing  for  the  ministry  of  the  word,  is  thus  urged  only  on  the 
ground  of  their  distinctly  accepted  responsibilities.  But  in  a  Presby- 
terian Church,  where  there  is  parity  of  ruling  power  for  the  elders 
who  do  not  exercise  teaching  functions,  there  is  place  to  be  found  for 
all  attainments  among  the  members  of  the  Church  such  as  may  con- 
tribute towards  the  cumulative  evidence  for  the  harmony  of  scientific 
and  religious  thought.  Direct  participation  in  the  Church's  work  by 
those  who  have  made  scientific  pursuits  the  task  of  their  life,  is  to  be 
sought  by  the  Church  itself,  and  may  be  rendered  in  the  assurance 
that  special  service  is  done  to  the  cause  of  Christ  by  such  aid. 

One  thing,  however,  is  specially  to  be  considered  by  those  who  are 
the  accredited  teachers  of  the  Church  ;  that  is,  the  distinct  obligation 
to  shun  general  charges  against  science,  and  general  attacks  upon  sci- 
entists. There  may  be  sufficient  reason  for  criticising  and  condemn- 
ing scientists  who  have  gone  beyond  their  own  province  to  promulgate 
views  antagonistic  to  religious  faith  and  life.  But  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered in  all  such  cases,  that  scientists  as  a  body  do  not  participate  in 
the  attacks  made  on  Christian  faith  ;  and  very  specially  that  those  who 
make  these  assaults,  in  doing  so,  do  not  act  as  scientists.  That  they 
are  scientific  men  is  true ;  that  they  are  engaged  in  scientific  work  at 
such  a  time,  is  not  true.  And  if  they  claim  that  their  criticisms  are 
to  be  sheltered  under  the  name  of  science,  and  their  theories  deferred 
to  as  scientific,  there  is  the  clearest  evidence  on  which  to  urge  that 
this  is  "science  falsely  so  called."  The  definition  of  science,  and 
the  conditions  of  its  procedure,  demonstrate  that  such  speculations  as 
those  developed  in  antagonism  to  our  acknowledgment  of  the  Super- 
natural, do  not  belong  to  the  department  of  science. 

Let  this,  then,  be  matter  of  constant  acknowledgment  among  the 
members,  and  conspicuously  among  the  teachers  of  the  Churches,  that 
the  true  attitude  of  the  Christian  Church  towards  science  itself  is  that 
of  friendly  alliance.  It  is  the  part  of  the  Christian  man  to  maintain 
a  living  interest  in  the  scientific  investigation  of  all  the  hidden  things 


204  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  nature,  and  to  make  ready  acknowledgment  of  the  gain  to  the 
entire  race  involved  in  every  fresh  discovery  concerning  the  laws 
of  existence  and  action  in  the  universe.  It  is  the  part  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  these  latter  times  to  render  grateful  testimony  to  the  ex- 
ceeding worth  of  the  wide  circle  of  the  sciences,  because  of  the 
knowledge  they  involve,  and  the  immense  service  they  render  in  aid- 
ing us  in  the  attainment  of  a  fuller  and  deeper  knowledge  of  the 
universe,  in  which  moral  and  spiritual  life  is  the  grandest  thing  dis- 
covered. 

The  Rev.  President  James  McCosh,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of 
Princeton,  N.  J.,  read  the  following  paper: 

.  HOW  TO   DEAL  WITH  YOUNG  MEN  TRAINED  IN  SCI- 
ENCE IN  THIS  AGE  OF  UNSETTLED  OPINION. 

In  respect  of  religious  opinion,  the  rising  generation  of  our  day 
may  be  characterized  as  unsettled.  The  educated  young  men  cannot 
be  described  as  adhering  very  firmly  to  any  fixed  belief,  and  yet  they 
profess  to  be  willing  to  listen  to  the  claims  of  religion.  They  cannot 
be  designated  sceptics ;  they  resent  it  as  a  calumny  when  they  are 
called  atheists  or  materialists — though  numbers,  knowingly  or  un- 
knowingly, are  maintaining  principles  which,  logically  followed  out, 
would  land  them  in  this  issue.  They  are  not  satisfied  with  the  past, 
with  its  opinions  or  its  defences  of  them.  They  do  not  bow  very 
profoundly  before  authority,  and  they  have  no  preference  for  old 
creeds  and  confessions.  They  are  bent  on  searching  into  the  founda- 
tion of  every  belief,  and  for  this  purpose  would  dig  deep  down,  and 
do  not  scruple  to  stir  up  all  the  rubbish  and  dust  that  may  stand  in 
their  way.  They  will  not  accept,  without  sifting,  even  the  truths  sup- 
posed to  be  long  ago  established,  such  as  the  existence  of  God  and  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the  essential  distinction  between  good  and 
evil ;  and  they  insist  on  the  arguments  in  their  favor  being  reviewed, 
and,  if  they  cannot  stand  the  examination,  they  are  to  be  rejected. 
It  is  therefore  an  age  out  of  which  good  or  evil,  either  or  both,  may 
come  according  as  it  is  guided.  We  may  cherish  hope  regarding  it, 
for  it  is  an  inquiring  age.  We  may  entertain  fears  for  it,  for  it  is 
dancing  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice  down  which  it  may  fall. 

The  difficulties,  real  or  supposed,  in  the  way  of  religious  belief  in 
our  day  come  chiefly  from  natural  science,  in  which  the  great  body 
of  our  educated  young  men  are  instructed  to  a  less  or  greater  extent. 
Doubts  derived  from  this  source  have  been  felt  at  this  point  from  the 
very  rise  of  science  in  modern  times.  The  weak  believer  was  stag- 
gered when  Copernicus  showed  that  the  earth  went  round  the  sun, 
whereas  the  Scriptures  speak  of  the  sun  rising  and  setting,  as  I  may 
remark  even  our  astronomers  still  do  when  they  talk  with  other  men, 
or  even  with  themselves.  This  does  not  trouble  any  one  now,  as 
everybody  sees  that  it  may  be  quite  as  religious  to  believe  that  the 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  205 

earth  moves  as  that  the  sun  moves,  provided  we  make  it  move  oy  the 
power  of  God.  In  my  younger  days,  the  conflict  turned  round  the 
then  rising  science  of  geology.  But  we  have  only  to  take  the  word 
"  day  "  as  it  is  used  in  Genesis,  chap,  ii.,  v.  7  ("  In  the  day  that  the 
Lord  made  the  earth  and  the  heavens"),  and  in  nearly  every  book 
of  Scripture,  to  find  the  progression  in  Genesis  corresponding  in  a 
wonderful  way  to  the  progression  of  geology,  and  confirmatory  of 
Scripture.  In  our  day  (mark  that  unconsciously  I  use  the  word 
"day"  for  an  epoch)  the  conflict  relates  to  the  religious,  or  irrelig- 
ious, bearing  of  the  theory  of  evolution  or  development.  I  may  dwell 
for  a  little  on  this  point,  as  illustrating  the  mode  in  which  I  think  we 
should  deal  with  young  men. 

I.  The  phrases  development  and  evolution  have  come  to  be  used 
in  a  very  vague  and  uncertain  way.  They  are  often  so  employed  as 
simply  to  denote  that  one  thing  comes  out  of  another.  Thus  I  have 
lately  seen  the  advertisement  of  a  book  entitled,  "The  Development 
of  Literature,"  and  another,  "The  Development  of  Canada."  We 
read  constantly  of  the  development  of  the  sciences,  of  the  fine  arts,  of 
the  mechanical  arts,  and  of  particular  objects,  as  steam-engines,  or 
pottery,  or  vases,  or  tea-cups.  So  it  is  necessary,  when  any  one 
speaks  of  development,  to  insist  on  his  explaining  what  he  means. 
If  we  are  denying  evolution,  let  us  specify  what  kind  of  evolution  we 
deny.  When  we  observe  this  rule  ourselves,  then  we  are  entitled  to 
require  those  who  defend  development  to  tell  us  what  is  the  process 
they  are  recommending  to  us. 

It  is  certain  that  there  is  such  a  process.  He  who  refuses  to  allow 
the  existence  of  development,  must  be  prepared  to  deny  that  the  oak 
comes  from  the  acorn;  that  the  boy  can  grow  into  the  man  ;  that  he 
himself  is  descended  from  his  father  or  mother;  that  the  Jewish 
religion  was  evolved  from  the  Patriarchal,  and  the  Christian  from  the 
Jewish. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  development  is  in  its  very  nature  a  com- 
plicated process.  It  is  not  a  simple  quality  of  bodies,  like  attraction 
and  chemical  affinity.  It  implies  a  combination  and  an  interaction 
of  bodies,  with  their  varied  properties,  towards  a  particular  end.  In 
the  evolution  of  the  plant  from  the  seed  and  the  animal  from  the 
germ,  there  is  a  vast  number  of  agencies — mechanical,  chemical, 
electric,  magnetic,  I  believe,  also,  vital — all  conspiring  to  produce  a 
special  end:  a  plant  or  animal  after  its  kind;  and  science,  even  at  the 
present  day,  cannot  specify  all  the  elements  and  powers  at  work  in 
producing  the  result.  Evolution,  in  fact,  is  just  a  particular  kind  of 
causation — that  is,  it  is  a  fixed,  I  believe  an  ordained,  combination 
of  causes  to  produce  a  special  end — say  a  plant  from  the  seed,  or  the 
seed  from  the  plant. 

Development  in  a  general  sense  pervades  all  divine  and  all  human 
workmanship;  that  is,  one  series  of  things  comes  out  of  an  antecedent. 
The  Presbyterian  Council  I  am  addressing  was  developed  from  a 
meeting  in  Edinburgh  ;  that  from  a  meeting  in  London  ;  that  from  a 


2o6  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

side-meeting  held  on  the  occasion  of  the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  in  New  York  ;  and  that  from  the  Tercentenary  of  John  Knox 
in  Philadelphia.  I  hope  there  is  nothing  irreligious  in  such  an  evo- 
lution. 

But  in  science  the  phrase  is  technically  applied  to  the  descent  of 
plants  and  animals  from  a  parentage.  Everybody  acknowledges  that 
ordinarily  omne  vivtim  ab  ovo,  and  that  the  individual  plant  and  ani- 
mal come  from  parents  after  their  kind.  But  the  disputed  question  in 
the  present  day  is,  Does  one  species  of  plant  or  animal  come  out  of 
another?  Now  of  this  question  I  remark  that  the  religious  man  may 
leave  it  to  the  investigations  of  science.  If  he  is  himself  a  scientific 
man  he  may  take  his  part  in  it,  but  he  is  not  to  identify  the  side  he 
takes  specially  with  religion.  One  principle  we  are  bound  resolutely 
to  maintain  :  that  because  an  object — say  a  rose  or  a  lily  or  a  dog — is 
gendered  by  natural  causes,  it  is  not  therefore  less  the  work  of  God. 
Naturalists  maintain  that  dogs  have  descended  from  some  kind  of 
wolf.  This  does  not  make  the  dog,  with  its  wonderful  instincts — say 
the  shepherd  dog  or  the  St.  Bernard  dog — not  to  be  the  workman- 
ship of  the  Creator.  Just  as  little  does  the  hypothesis  that  our  living 
horse  is  descended  from  the  Pliohippos,  and  this  from  the  Mio- 
hippos,  and  this  from  the  Eohippos  prove  that  the  animal  we  ride 
on,  so  useful  and  so  graceful  in  its  form  and  movements,  is  not  the 
creature  of  Him  who  made  the  universe  and  all  things  on  it,  and  im- 
parted to  them  their  powers  of  development.  In  all  this,  so  far  as  I 
can  see,  there  is  nothing  inconsistent  with  religion,  nothing  incon- 
sistent with  Scripture ;  and  zealots  who  deny  this  are  not  fighting  the 
cause  of  God,  though  they  may  imagine  that  they  are  so. 

Not  only  is  development,  when  properly  understood,  not  incon- 
sistent with  religion  ;  it  will  be  found  that  the  combination  and 
adaptation  implied  in  it  clearly  argue  design.  Sooner  or  later  there 
will  be  a  work  on  natural  theology  after  the  manner  of  Paley,  show- 
ing that  as  there  are  plan  and  purpose  in  the  well-fitted  bones  and 
joints  of  the  bodily  frame  of  animals — say  the  horse — so  there  is  de- 
sign quite  as  evident  and  wonderful  in  the  way  in  which,  by  a  process 
running  through  long  ages,  the  bones  and  joints  and  muscles  have 
been  adjusted  to  each  other  to  produce  the  horse  we  drive  or  ride  on. 
There  is  a  manifest  and  a  wise  and  beneficent  end  in  the  joints  of  our 
frame,  as,  for  instance,  the  ball-and-socket  joint  at  the  shoulder.  But 
there  is  quite  as  palpable  a  purpose  in  the  way  in  which  these  joints 
have  been  formed  in  the  geological  ages.  Ordinary  physical  law,  now- 
acknowledged  by  all,  connects  all  parts  of  nature  with  each  other  on 
to  the  bounds  of  the  knowable  universe  ;  development,  as  lately  un- 
folded by  biological  science,  shows  how  the  present  is  the  offspring 
of  the  past  and  the  parent  of  the  future,  and  thus  connects  all  parts 
of  time  with  each  other,  and  makes  the  past  and  present  a  prognostic 
of  the  future. 

There  are  some  things  which  development  can  do  ;  there  are  others 
which  it  cannot  do.     The  grand  work  of  a  philosophic  science  in  our 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  207 

time  is  to  determine  what  it  can  and  whaf  it  cannot  do.     Let  us  con- 
sider some  of  the  things  which  evohition  cannot  do. 

1.  It  cannot  explain  the  origin  of  things.  It  is  acknowledged  that 
it  cannot  create  anything.  Evolution  implies  a  substance  to  evolve 
from  ;  an  original  matter,  which,  we  may  argue,  implies  a  creator. 

2.  It  cannot  account  for  the  order  and  beneficence  by  which  its 
movement  is  characterized.  I  see  a  plan  and  a  beauty  in  the  oak 
developing  the  acorn,  and  the  acorn  developing  the  oak — all  by  an 
arrangement  not  in  the  matter  of  which  the  oak  is  formed.  Mr. 
Spencer,  I  think,  has  been  successful  in  showing  that  development,  as 
it  goes  on  from  age  to  age,  tends  toward  the  increase  of  happiness. 
I  see  wisdom  and  I  see  benevolence  in  the  means  provided  for  making 
all  this  stretch  over  a  long  course  of  ages. 

3.  There  is  need  of  a  combination  and  a  wondrous  adaptation  of 
agents  to  produce  these  ends ;  as,  for  instance,  to  secure  that  these 
plants  produce  seed  after  their  kind,  and  that  these  wild  plants  can 
become  cultivated  plants,  and  thus  provide  food  for  man  from  age  to 
age.  Evolution,  I  have  shown,  is  not  a  simple  power  or  property  ; 
it  is  a  union  of  properties  acting  with  each  other  and  effecting  a  pur- 
pose. There  is  thus  evidence  of  design ;  I  do  not  say  in  development 
taken  by  itself,  but  in  the  way  in  which  it  marches  on  and  spreads 
happiness  in  its  progress. 

4.  It  may  be  laid  down  that  the  powers  acting  in  development  can- 
not give  what  they  have  not  got.  If  heredity  has  a  gift,  it  may  trans- 
mit it  from  parent  to  offspring  and  from  one  generation  to  another, 
but  it  cannot  furnish  the  original  gift.  The  common  theory  is  that 
the  universe  is  composed  of  atoms  which,  by  their  combination,  form 
molecules,  which,  as  they  unite,  form  masses.  Another  theory  is  that 
the  universe  is  made  up  of  centres  of  force.  Take  either  of  these 
theories  and  let  us  inquire  whether  they  can  account  for  all  we  see 
existing  in  the  universe.  Is  there  any  evidence  whatever  that  these 
atoms  or  force-centres  had  sensation,  or  sense-perception,  or  memory, 
or  intelligence,  or  emotion,  or  moral  qualities,  or  will ;  that  they  could 
feel  and  distinguish  between  right  and  wrong?  If  not,  how  then  did 
these  things  come  in  ?  How  did  things  without  sensation  come  to 
have  sensation  ?  things  without  instinct  to  have  instinct  ?  creatures 
without  memory  to  have  memory?  beings  without  intelligence  to  have 
intelligence?  and  mere  sentient  existence  to  come  to  know  the  differ- 
ence between  good  and  evil  ?  I  am  sure  that  when  these  powers  ap- 
pear there  is  something  not  previously  in  the  molecule.  All  sober 
thinkers  of  the  present  day  admit  that  there  is  no  evidence  whatever 
in  experience  or  in  reason  to  show  that  matter  can  produce  mind, 
that  mechanical  action  can  gender  mental  action,  that  chemical  action 
can  manufacture  consciousness,  that  electric  action  can  rise  to  reason, 
or  organic  action  come  to  entertain  the  idea  of  the  good  and  the  holy. 
I  argue  that  we  must  call  in  a  power  above  the  atoms  to  produce  these 
phenomena.  I  may  admit  that  a  body  may  come  out  of  other  bodies 
by  the  operation  of  the  powers  with  which  they  are  endowed  ;  but  I 


2o8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

deny  that  a  sensible,  intelligent,  moral-discerning  soul  can  proceed 
from  the  molecules  of  matter.  New  potencies  have  undoubtedly  come 
when  consciousness  and  feeling  and  understanding  and  will  begin  to 
act.  They  may  come  in  according  to  laws  not  yet  discovered,  but 
they  are  the  laws  of  the  supreme  Lawgiver. 

The  account  of  the  progressive  work  of  creation  in  Genesis  is  in 
accordance  with  geology.  This  has  been  shown  satisfactorily  by  the 
three  men  on  this  continent  best  entitled  to  speak  on  the  scientific 
question — Prof.  Dana,  of  Yale,  Prof.  Dawson,  of  Montreal,  and  Prof. 
Guyot,  of  Princeton.  It  can  be  shown  that  it  is  equally  consistent 
with  development  as  revealed  by  recent  science.  I  believe  that  in 
the  apx>;,  in  the  beginning  or  origin,  God  created  the  heavens  and  gave 
the  original  constituents  their  potencies,  which  began  to  act  by  the 
command  of  God  ;  and  there  was  light.  But  neither  religion  nor 
reason  require  me  to  believe  that  he  gave  to  these  life  or  sensation, 
or  reason  or  love.  I  believe  that  when  these  were  added,  whether 
by  law  or  without  law,  it  was  according  to  the  will  and  by  the  power 
of  God.  There  were  days  or  epochs  in  the  divine  procedure,  and  at 
the  opening  of  each  was  a  special  act  of  God.  The  earth  was  without 
form  and  void.  When  the  evolution  began  there  was  first  the  de- 
velopment of  light,  then  the  elevation  of  the  expanse  of  heaven. 
Thirdly,  there  was  the  separation  of  land  and  water,  and  the  earth 
is  ready  for  plants.  On  the  fourth  day  the  sun  and  moon  appeared 
as  distinct  bodies,  all  in  accordance  with  the  theory  of  Laplace.  On 
the  fifth  day  animals  appear  :  the  lower  creatures,  tannim  or  swarmers, 
then  fishes  and  fowls.  On  the  sixth  day  the  higher  animals,  and  as 
the  crown  of  the  whole,  man.  Man's  creation  must  have  been  a 
special  act,  and  is  so  represented  in  Scripture.  When  man  appeared 
there  was  something  which  was  not  there  before,  and  this  God-like 
after  the  image  of  God.  In  all  this,  Genesis  and  geology  are  in 
thorough  accordance. 

There  are  two  accounts  of  the  creation  of  man.  One  is  in  chap.  i. 
There  is  council  and  decision:  "Let  us  make  man  in  our  image." 
This  applies  to  his  soul  or  higher  nature.  The  other  account  is  in 
chap.  ii.  7:  "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man 
became  a  living  soul."  This  is  man's  organic  body.  We  have  a 
supplement  to  this,  Psalm  cxxxix.  15,  16  :  "  My  substance  was  not  hid 
from  thee,  when  I  was  made  in  secret,  and  curiously  wrought  in  the 
lowest  parts  of  the  earth.  Thine  eyes  did  see  my  substance,  being  yet 
unperfect ;  and  in  thy  book  all  my  members  were  written,  which  in 
continuance  were  fashioned,  when  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them." 
This  passage  used  to  be  quoted  by  Agassiz.  This  is  my  creed  as  to 
man's  bodily  organism.  I 'so  far  understand  what  is  said.  Man 
is  made  of  the  earth.  There  is  a  curious  preparatory  process  hinted 
at,  a  process  and  a  progression  going  on  I  know  not  how  long ; 
and  all  is  the  work  of  God  and  written  in  God's  book.  I  understand 
this  and  yet  I  do  not  understand  it.     Socrates  said  of  the  philosophy 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  209 

•of  Heraclitus  that  what  he  understood  was  so  good  that  he  was  sure 
the  rest  would  also  be  good  if  he  understood  it.  So  I  say  of  this  pas- 
sage. I  so  far  understand  it,  and  get  glorious  glimpses  of  a  divinely 
■ordained  process.  And  yet  I  do  not  understand  it,  for  it  carries  nie 
into  the  secret  things  which  belong  unto  the  Lord  our  God.  I  affirm 
with  confidence  that  there  is  not,  in  geological  or  biological  science, 
any  truth  even  apparently  inconsistent  with  his  statement. 

II.  It  is  in  some  such  way  as  this  that  we  are  to  remove  the  difficul- 
ties of  our  young  men.  But  it  is  more  to  my  present  purpose  to 
■  sketch  the  spirit  in  which  we  are  to  address  intelligent  youth. 

1.  We  are  to  deal  tenderly  with  them,  as  our  Lord  did  with  Thomas 
when  he  doubted.  It  has  often  been  remarked  that  he  dealt  more 
kindly  with  the  unbelieving  Sadducees  than  with  the  self-righteous 
Pharisees.  An  honest  and  not  an  affected  doubt  proceeding  from  a 
truth-loving  spirit,  in  a  world  where  there  are  so  many  sphinx-like 
enigmas,  is  to  be  respected  and  not  denounced.  Every  thinking  young 
man  has  to  find  his  way  in  a  country  to  him  unknown  till  he  traverses 
it.  Alleged  scientific  discoveries  are  being  made  every  year,  and  our 
youth  have  on  their  own  responsibility  to  decide  what  to  accept,  what 
to  doubt,  and  what  to  reject.  Their  independence,  not  to  speak  of 
their  pride,  will  not  tolerate  dogmatism,  and  their  teachers  and  pas- 
tors had  better  not  assume  airs  which  youths  will  not  be  much  disposed 
to  revere.  We  must  hold  the  truth  before  them  boldly,  but  we  have 
also  to  enter  sympathizingly  into  their  difficulties. 

2.  Let  us  guard  ourselves  against  the  temptation  to  deny  any 
scientific  truth  established  by  the  sure  methods  of  inductive  science. 
The  God  who  has  made  these  wonderful  works  and  given  us  these 
high  faculties  means  that  we  should  search  into  them  as  for  treasure ; 
and  when  gold  is  dug  for  us  so  laboriously  by  scientific  men  it  may 
be  as  well  to  enrich  ourselves  with  it.  Let  teachers  beware  of  speak- 
ing to  their  pupils  authoritatively  on  difficult  subjects  which  they  have 
not  studied  ;  if  they  do  so  their  pupils  will  be  sure  to  find  them  out, 
and  some  of  them  may  find  a  malicious  pleasure  in  exposing  them  to 
ridicule  and  contempt.  Some  years  ago  an  excellent  professor  in  a 
theological  seminary  wrote  me  saying  that  he  had  to  prepare  a  paper 
on  development,  of  which  he  acknowledged  that  he  knew  nothing, 
and  invoking  me  to  explain  the  whole  subject  ni  a  few  pages.  I  ad- 
vised him  to  read  Darwin  and  Spencer,  and  Huxley  and  Dana,  and  St. 
George  Mivart  and  Dr.  Dawson,  and  certain  articles  in  the  Princeton 
Review,  and  then  write  his  paper,  which  I  believe  has  not  yet  appeared. 
Let  religious  men  realize  that  there  may  be  sin  involved,  not  just  in 
being  ignorant  of,  but  in  denying,  what  has  been  proven.  An 
Egyptian  king  once  rebuked  a  Hebrew  patriarch,  because  he  equivo- 
cated concerning  his  wife.  There  may  be  divines  liable  to  a  like 
reproof  from  savans  when  they  do  not  own  what  should  be  to  them  a 
valued  partner  to  be  loved  and  cherished.  I  have  sometimes  feared 
that  if  infidels  are  produced  in  any  of  our  colleges,  it  may  be  in  those 
in  which  Spencer  and  Huxley  are  denounced  by  teachers  who  have 

14 


2IO  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

never  studied  the  questions  discussed.  Our  first  inquiry,  when  an  as- 
serted discovery  in  science  is  announced,  should  be,  not  is  it  con- 
sistent with  Scripture,  but  is  it  true  ?  If  it  be  true,  all  who  have  an 
implicit  faith  in  the  Bible  are  sure  that  it  cannot  be  unfavorable  to 
religion.  Some  of  the  scientific  truths,  which  were  at  first  viewed  with 
suspicion  by  religious  people,  have  turned  out  to  be  favorable  to  religion, 
not  only  by  widening  our  view  of  the  works  of  God,  but  by  positively 
confirming  the  Bible :  as  the  theory  of  Laplace  did  by  showing  us 
that  the  earth  was  older  than  the  sun,  and  that  the  earth  existed  for 
several  epochs  before  the  sun  and  moon  were  condensed  into  their 
separate  form ;  as  geology  did  when  it  showed  us  that  there  had  been 
a  progression  in  God's  workmanship. 

3.  Pains  should  be  taken  to  secure  in  every  high-class  educational 
institution  that  mental  and  moral  science  be  taught  along  with  nat- 
ural science.  One  of  the  main  causes  of  the  materialistic  tendencies, 
of  the  age  is  to  be  found  in  the  circumstance  that  in  many  of  our  sci- 
entific schools  every  science  is  taught  except  the  science  of  the  human 
mind,  and  that  in  some  of  our  colleges  so  many  elections  of  studies 
are  allowed  that  philosophy  is  altogether  avoided  by  a  considerable 
body  of  the  students.  The  consequence  is  that  there  is  an  exclusive- 
ness  and  a  onesidedness  in  the  formation  of  the  mind  and  character 
of  our  youth.  It  is  supposed  that  there  is  thereby  imparted  a  very 
comprehensive  and  advanced  style  of  education  ;  but,  after  all,  they 
are  training  only  half  the  mind,  and  this  not  the  highest.  Our  youths 
hear  only  of  forces  and  motion,  of  nerves  and  brain,  and  never  of 
mind,  of  its  thoughts  and  feelings  and  its  aspirations,  moral  and 
spiritual.  Nor  is  this  tendency  to  be  counteracted  in  those  institu- 
tions, increasing  in  number,  in  which  mental  science  is  taught  as  a 
mere  branch  of  physiology,  and  our  ideas,  beliefs  and  moral  convic- 
tions explained  by  heredity  and  by  cerebral  and  nervous  action. 

4.  Let  the  teaching  in  our  schools  and  colleges  be  sanctified  by  the 
word  of  God  and  by  prayer.  It  is  not  enough  to  teach  religion  in 
some  sort  of  general  way — say  to  give  elaborate  defences  of  it.  Our 
religion  is  the  Bible,  and  we  should  embue  the  minds  of  our  students 
with  the  living  word,  of  which  some  of  them  have  lost  a  great  part  of 
the  knowledge  they  had  acquired  at  the  Sunday-school.  Everyone 
knows  that  young  men  are  apt  to  be  swayed  more  by  the  spirit  of  the 
college  than  even  by  the  instructions  they  receive  from  their  teachers. 
Let  us  labor  and  pray  that  our  religion  pervade  our  colleges  as  a  spirit ; 
and  this  will  save  us  from  infidelity  more  than  all  lectures  and  dis- 
cussions. They  should  not  expect  to  rise  to  a  full  comprehension  of  all 
the  truths  which  have  been  so  far  revealed  to  us.  "  We  know."  Yes, 
we  know ;  but  we  know  in  part  only.  We  who  dwell  in  a  world 
"where  day  and  night  alternate;"  we  who  go  everywhere  accom- 
panied by  our  own  shadow — a  shadow  produced  by  our  dark  body, 
but  produced  because  there  is  light— cannot  expect  to  be  absolutely 
delivered  from  the  darkness.  Man's  faculties,  exquisitely  adapted  to 
the  sphere  in  which  he  moves,  were  never  intended  to  enable  him  to 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  211 

comprenend  all  truth.  The  mind  is  in  this  respect  like  the  eye.  The 
eye  is  so  constituted  as  to  perceive  the  things  within  a  certain  range  , 
but  as  objects  are  removed  farther  and  farther  from  us  they  become 
more  indistinct,  and  at  length  are  lost  sight  of  altogether.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  human  mind.  It  can  understand  certain  subjects  and 
to  a  certain  distance ;  but  as  they  reach  away  farther  they  look  more 
and  more  confused,  and  at  length  they  disappear  from  the  view.  And 
if  the  human  spirit  attempts  to  mount  higher  than  its  proper  elevation 
it  will  find  all  its  flight  fruitless.  The  dove,  to  use  an  illustration  of 
Kant's,  may  mount  to  a  certain  elevation  in  the  heavens;  but  as  she 
rises  the  air  becomes  lighter,  and  at  length  she  finds  that  she  can  no 
longer  float  upon  its  bosom  ;  and  should  she  attempt  to  soar  higher,, 
her  pinions  flutter  in  emptiness  and  she  falters  and  falls.  So  it  is  with 
the  spirit  of  man.  It  can  wing  its  way  a  certain  distance  into  the  ex- 
panse above  it,  but  there  is  a  limit  beyond  which,  if  it  endeavors  to  pass^ 
it  will  find  all  its  conceptions  void  and  its  ratiocinations  unconnected. 

Placed  as  we  are  in  the  centre  of  boundless  space  and  in  the  middle 
of  eternal  ages,  we  can  see  only  a  few  objects  immediately  around  us,, 
and  all  others  fade  in  outline  as  they  are  removed  from  us  by  distance,, 
till  at  length  they  be  altogether  beyond  our  vision.  And  this  remark 
holds  true  not  only  of  the  more  ignorant  of  those  whose  eye  can  pene- 
trate the  least  distance  ;  it  is  true  also  of  the  learned.  It  is  perhaps 
true  of  all  created  beings  that  there  is  a  bounding  sphere  of  darkness 
surrounding  the  space  rendered  clear  by  the  torch  of  science.  Nay, 
it  almost  looks  as  if  the  wider  the  boundaries  of  science  are  pushed^ 
_and  the  greater  the  space  illuminated  by  it,  the  greater  in  proportion 
the  bounding  sphere  into  which  no  rays  penetrate  ;  just  as  (to  use  a 
very  old  comparison)  when  we  strike  up  a  light  in  the  midst  of  dark- 
ness, in  proportion  as  the  light  becomes  stronger,  so  does  also  that 
surface,  black  and  dark,  which  is  rendered  visible. 

The  Council  may,  I  hope,  allow  me  to  close  with  a  brief  reference,. 
such  as  I  seldom  make  in  public,  to  my  personal  history  as  bearing  on 
the  method  and  spirit  I  have  been  recommending.  In  my  past  life  I 
have  had  glorious  opportunities  of  doing  good  among  young  men.  I 
had  them  for  sixteen  years  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  in  which,  along^ 
with  a  respected  colleague,  I  had  at  one  time  a  congregation  of  up- 
wards of  1,400  communicants,  and  had  classes  for  young  men  and 
women  varying  from  100  to  180  in  number.  I  was  other  sixteen 
years  teaching  philosophy  in  a  young  college  where  everything,  in- 
cluding students'  opinions,  had  to  be  formed.  For  now  twelve  years- 
I  have  been  in  a  college  in  this  country  where  my  means  of  usefulness, 
have  been  limited  only  by  my  powers  of  body  and  mind.  With  many 
weaknesses  and  errors,  of  which  no  one  is  half  so  conscious  as  I  am 
myself,  I  have  been  working  according  to  the  principles  laid  down  in 
this  paper  among  some  of  the  youth  of  this  country  likely  to  rise  to 
positions  of  influence,  and  have  commonly  had  from  160  to  200  pupils 
under  me  receiving  instructions  in  philosophy.  In  the  Irish  college 
I  knew  of  only  one  young  man  who  went  away  an  avowed  unbeliever ; 


Z212  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  he  had  been  induced  by  a  friend  not  to  attend  my  upper  class  lest 
he  should  fall  under  my  influence.  I  have  watched  the  career  of  the 
thousand  young  men  who  studied  under  me  there,  most  of  them  wield- 
ing influence  in  their  own  country,  some  of  them  in  high  positions  in 
India,  and  a  few  of  them  in  this  country,  and  I  have  not  heard  of 
one  of  them  openly  joining  the  ranks  of  the  infidel.  In  this  country 
four  out  of  the  twelve  hundred  students  who,  trained  under  able  Chris- 
tian instructors,  have  graduated  in  Princeton  since  1  became  connected 
with  it,  have  left  its  walls  believing  in  nothing.  Let  me  give  you 
their  subsequent  career.  With  the  first,  an  able  student,  I  talked  and 
prayed  when  he  went  away.  Two  years  after  I  heard  of  him  con- 
ducting prayer-meetings  ;  a  year  after  he  was  elected  by  the  college 
.to  deliver  the  master's  oration,  and  he  came  back  to  give  a  noble  de- 
fence of  Christianity  in  the  place  where  his  fellow-students  had  known 
him  as  doubting  of  everything,  and  he  is  now  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
The  second  was  a  good  student  in  English  literature,  and  I  sent  for 
him  after  graduation,  talked  with  him  and  asked  him  to  ])ray\vith  me. 
He  replied  that  I  might  pray  if  I  chose,  but  as  for  himself,  he  did  not 
.helieve  in  a  God  to  pray  to.  I  simply  remarked  that  he  had  a  pious 
mother  who  was  praying  for  him,  and  that  I  should  not  wonder  if,  in 
answer  to  her  prayers,  I  found  him  coming  back  and  asking  me  to 
pray  with  him.  I  gave  him  a  letter  which  helped  to  procure  him  a 
position  in  a  public  office.  Two  years  or  so  passed  away  and  I  heard 
nothing  of  him  ;  but  one  day  I  was  in  a  hotel  hundreds  of  miles 
^way  when  a  gentleman  came  up  to  me  and  asked  me  if  I  was  Presi- 
dent of  Princeton  College.  Upon  my  allowing  that  I  was  he  said, 
^' But  what  makes  you  rear  infidels?"  I  assured  him  that  we  did' 
rnot.  He  then  told  me  that  he  had  been  obliged  to  listen  day  after 
•day  in  his  boarding-house  to  the  most  rabid  scoffing  he  had  ever  list- 
ened to.  I  named  the  young  man  at  once,  and  told  him  he  had  not 
got  his  infidelity  from  us.  Feeling  that  he  had  teased  me  enough, 
the  gentleman  now  said,  "  I  may  as  well  tell  you  the  issue.  That 
young  man  went  down  to  his  mother's  house  to  convert  her  to  in- 
fidelity and  she  floored  him,  and  he  is  now  addressing  young  men's 
Christian  associations,  and  is  thinking  of  the  ministry."  Some  time 
.after  he  called  on  me,  and,  sitting  in  the  same  part  of  my  Study  in 
which  he  had  refused  to  pray  witlx  me,  he  asked  me  to  guide  his  de- 
votions. He  is  now  a  minister  of  the  word.  A  third  was  led  astray 
by  the  book  on  the  "Supernatural."  I  have  had  little  opportunity  of 
meeting  with  him,  but  I  have  heard  of  him  within  the  last  few  months 
as  taking  part  in  a  Sunday-school  and  opening  it  with  prayer.  The 
.fourth  was  known  in  college  as  having  given  up  all  faith.  I  sent  for 
him  after  his  graduation  and  asked  him  what  profession  he  meant  to 
'follow.  He  replied  somewhat  sorrowfully  that  he  absolutely  did  not 
:'3cnow  what  to  turn  himself  \o.  "A  lawyer?"  I  asked  ;  but  he  said 
he  had  no  taste  for  it.  He  would  like  to  be  a  journalist,  he  went  on 
to  say,  but  he  was  afraid  of  the  temptations  to  which  he  would  there- 
Lby  be  exposed.     I  then  asked  if  he  would  like  to  be  a  minister  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


215 


gospel.  He  sprang  from  his  seat  and  declared  that  there  was  nothing 
he  would  like  so  much,  but  that  he  had  no  faith  in  anything.  He 
made  only  one  request — that  I  would  allow  him  to  come  back  another 
year  and  study  under  me  as  a  post-graduate.  We  parted  after  we  had 
prayed.  He  came  back  the  following  year  to  study  higher  science 
and  philosophy.  He  is  now  an  advanced  student  in  a  theological, 
seminary. 

I  have  hesitated  as  to  whether  I  should  tell  these  things  in  public  ;-. 
but  I  have  a  testimony  to  bear,  and  I  may  not  have  many  other  oj>- 
portunities  of  bearing  it.  I  have  to  testify  to  all  men  of  the  faithful- 
ness of  God  in  blessing  means  used  with  so  many  infirmities.  In  one 
respect  I  have  been  somewhat  disappointed.  I  have  not  been  disap- 
pointed in  the  circulation  of  my  works,  nor  in  the  number  of  my 
students,  nor  in  their  attention  to  the  instructions  I  have  given  them, 
nor  in  the  effects  produced  in  staying  their  minds  ;  but  the  literary- 
men  of  the  day  have  not  been  inclined  to  appreciate  my  sober  philos- 
ophy, which  I  claim  to  be  the  genuine  philosophy  of  Scotland  and 
America.  They  condescend  to  talk  of  it  as  well  meant,  but  not  suffi- 
ciently high  or  deep,  and  this  because  I  have  not  mounted  into  the 
clouds  and  lost  myself,  or  gone  down  with  materialists  into  mire  and 
dirt.  I  do  run  some  risk  of  being  crushed  between  the  two  prevail- 
ing philosophies — the  transcendentalism  of  Germany  and  the  material- 
ism of  England — yes,  of  beloved  England  \  but  I  have  kept  my  position 
as  obstinately  as  ever  a  Scotchman  did,  and  I  mean  to  keep  it,  and  I 
hope  sacredly  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the  great  missionary,  Alexan- 
der Duff,  in  a  message  sent  me  from  his  dying  bed.  And  I  will  leave 
to  posterity  the  means  of  knowing  what  I  held,  and  I  leave  the  issue 
to  Him  to  whom  the  issues  belong,  bearing  this  testimony,  if  need  be, 
with  my  dying  breath — that  God  has  been  faithful  and  owned  me  in 
a  way  I  never  expected,  and  blessed  ten  times  more  than  I  deserved 
any  small  efforts  I  have  made  to  spread  what  I  believe  to  be  the  truth.. 

The  following  discussion  next  ensued  on 

THE  DISTINCTIVE  PRINCIPLES  OF  PRESBYTERIANISM. 
The  Rev.  J.  T.  Smith,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore. — It  seems  to  me- 
that  the  difficulty  as  to  the  theory  of  the  Eldership  springs  from' 
a  misunderstanding  of  terms.  In  the  minds  of  very  many  the 
term  "  representative  "  is  taken  as  equivalent  to  delegate.  They 
hold  the  power  is  in  the  body  of  the  people,  and  the  officers 
are  simply  their  delegates,  executive  officers — that,  and  nothing 
more.  There  is  another  theory,  and,  as  I  suppose,  the  true  one, 
which  recognizes  the  fact  that  all  power  is  primarily  or  inhe- 
rently in  the  Lord  Jesus ;  that  that  is  intrusted  by  him  to  certain 
officers ;  and  that  those  officers  are  directly  the  representatives 


214  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  the  Lord  Jesus,  receiving  the  law  from  his  lips,  and  executing 
his  will,  and  not  the  will  of  the  people.  The  call  of  Christ  is 
invisible ;  it  does  not  publicly  indicate  the  persons  to  whom  it 
is  extended.  That  is  ascertained  by  the  consciousness  of  the 
call  in  the  heart  of  the  man,  by  providential  indications,  by  his 
qualification  and  circumstances,  and  then  again,  and  chiefly,  by 
the  election  of  the  people.  As  an  officer  of  the  Church  he  is 
not  a  mere  executive  of  the  will  of  the  people  ;  he  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  Christ  direct  and  accomplishing  his  end.  Now  the 
phrase,  representative  of  the  people,  as  applied  to  the  Ruling 
Elder,  implies  just  this:  he  is  chosen  from  among  the  people; 
he  understands  the  wants  of  the  people ;  and  in  this  regard 
lie  represents  them  more  directly  than  the  Preaching  Elder 
can  do. 

The  Hon.  James  Dawson,  of  Washington,  Iowa. — I  want 
not  to  criticise  anything  that  has  been  said  on  the  Ruling 
Elder,  but  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  his  position  as 
fixed  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  as  authorized  by  the 
divine  institution.  All  Elders  are  Ruling  Elders;  but  all  are 
not  Teaching  Elders.  The  Ruling  Elder  stands,  so  far 
as  ruling  is  concerned,  on  a  perfect  level  with  the  minis- 
ter in  everything,  except  the  word  and  doctrine.  We  do  not, 
as  Elders,  I  fear,  feel  this  to  be  so  important  a  matter  as  it  is — 
that  the  purity,  the  peace  and  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  lie 
upon  the  Ruling  Eldership  equally  with  the  Teaching  Elders.  It 
is  said  that  the  Elder  that  rules  well  is  worthy  of  double  honor, 
especially  he  that  labors  in  word  and  doctrine.  No  higher  duty 
can  be  placed  upon  a  man  upon  this  earth  than  to  be  the  teaching 
ambassador  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  next  position  he  can  be 
placed  in  is  to  rule  in  the  house  of  God.  If  we  felt  the  impor- 
tance of  this  our  Churches  would  be  likely  to  prosper  more. 
An  Elder  has  a  great  deal  to  do  in  the  Church ;  and  a  young 
minister  in  a  congregation  never  had  a  better  instrumentality 
to  help  him  up  to  honor  and  dignity  than  a  faithful,  prudent 
corps  of  Elders  as  his  assistants.  Faithfulness  is  required  on 
the  part  of  the  Elder  as  well  as  on  the  part  of  the  minister 
for  the    purity  and  prosperity  of  the  Church   of  Jesus  Christ. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  215 

The  prophet  places  the  faithful  teacher  of  his  word  at  the  head, 
and  the  unfaithful  at  the  tail  of  creation.  Faithfulness  is  required; 
and  it  is  equally  required  of  the  Eldership. 

James  Croil,  Esq.,  of  Montreal,  Canada. — Professor  Wilson, 
who  made  reference  to  the  Eldership  yesterday,  went  a  great  deal 
further  than  I  think  a  great  body  of  the  Elders  want  to  be  carried. 
I  do  not  think  we  claim  for  ourselves  equal  power  with  the  min- 
ister in  any  regard.  If  I  understood  Professor  Wilson  he  made 
that  statement.  The  other  gentleman  who  read  a  paper  upon 
the  subject  did  not  go  far  enough  for  my  fancy.  He  just  exactly 
stopped  where  I  think  he  ought  to  have  begun.  He  did  not 
tell  anything  about  the  modern  Elder ;  and  that  is  what  we  are 
all  very  much  concerned  about.  I  can  only  say  a  few  disjointed 
sentences  on  the  subject.  It  is  a  very  large  and  important  sub- 
ject. I  hope  to  elicit  from  other  members  of  this  Council  some 
very  useful  and  valuable  information. 

I  ask  this  question.  Is  an  Elder  a  Presbyter  ?  If  he  is  a  Presby- 
ter, then  he  is  a  Bishop.  If  he  is  a  Bishop,  then  he  is  a  Teaching 
Elder,  surely.  How  many  kinds  of  Bishops  are  there  in  the  New 
Testament  ?  I  want  to  get  an  answer  to  this  question.  If  you 
ask  me :  Is  an  Elder  a  Presbyter  ?  I  say  yes,  and  I  say  no.  I  say 
theoretically  he  is  a  Presbyter ;  but  I  say  practically,  after  an  expe- 
rience of  thirty  years  in  the  Eldership,  he  is  not.  I  say  yes,  he 
is  a  Presbyter.  But  to  what  extent  does  this  entitle  him  to  rights 
and  privileges  in  the  Presbytery  ?  Oh,  you  say,  he  may  sit  and 
vote  and  deliberate  in  the  Presbytery.  Perhaps  he  may,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent ;  take  my  own  case.  I  am  one  of  eighteen  Elders, 
and  I  am  to  be  selected  as  a  delegate  to  the  Presbytery  ;  but  I  am 
only  one  of  eighteen,  and  only  stand  one-eighteenth  of  a  chance 
to  be  so  selected.  It  takes  nine  tailors  to  make  a  man,  but  in 
this  case  it  takes  eighteen  Elders  to  make  a  Presbyter.  You 
say  he  may  take  part  in  the  prayer-meeting,  he  may  visit  the 
sick — so  may  any  other  Christian  man,  I  presume.  Oh,  you 
say,  but  he  may  assist  the  minister  in  dispensing  the  ordinance 
of  the  supper.  I  suppose  if  there  was  lack  of  Elders  any 
pious  man  in  the  congregation  may  be  asked  to  do  that.  You 
say,  Oh,  he  may  even  be  asked  to  take  up  the  collection.     I  sub- 


2i6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

mit,  Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  perfectly  competent  for  the  door-keeper 
to  do  that.  So  I  do  not  see  that  we  gain  very  much  in  our 
standing  by  these  qualifications. 

I  am  speaking  of  the  modern  Elder,  not  the  scriptural  Elder. 
I  want  to  be  told  to  which  class  I  belong.  You  say  an  Elder 
is  a  Presbyter.  I  go  to  the  Presbytery — did  any  one  ever 
conceive  it  to  be  a  proper  thing  to  ask  an  Elder  to  take 
the  Moderator's  place  in  the  Presbytery  ?  It  has  never  beea 
done  in  point  of  fact,  at  least  I  never  knew  of  it  in 
Canada.  I  am  merely  stating  that  as  one  of  the  disabilities 
of  the  Eldership.  Here  is  a  point  that  no  one  will  dispute:  whO' 
is  it  that  ordains  ministers  ?  Is  it  the  Presbytery  ?  Yes.  All 
the  Presbyters  ?  No.  If  an  Elder  should  come  forward  and 
attempt  it,  it  would  be  said,  hands  off;  you  should  not  put 
your  hands  on  the  minister's  head.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  ordination  of  ministers,  therefore  I  am  not  a  Presbyter  tO' 
that  extent.  What  is  the  Church  Session  ?  That  is  a  meeting 
of  the  Elders  with  the  Teaching  Elder  in  the  chair.  It  must  be 
well  known  to  members  of  this  Council  that  no  such  meeting 
of  a  Church  Session  can  possibly  be  held  unless  the  minister  is. 
in  the  chair.  Is  not  that  a  disability  ?  I  cannot  occupy  the 
chair  even  in  the  absence  of  the  minister,  if  there  shall  be  nO' 
Church  Session  held  till  dooms-day.  I  only  show  that  we  are 
not  Presbyters,  as  some  of  you  will  make  us  to  be.  It  follows 
that  the  modern  Elder  is  not  the  scriptural  Elder.  I  do  not 
see  that  there  is  any  way  of  getting  out  of  the  difficulty,  but 
I  think  if  such  be  the  case  it  is  just  as  well  to  let  us  know  what 
a  modern  Elder  ought  to  be.  The  remedy  for  this  is  either 
to  reduce  the  pretensions  of  the  Eldership,  or  educate  the 
Elders  to  a  more  efficient  discharge  of  their  duties. 

Gen.  D.  W.  Houston,  of  Leavenworth,  Kansas. — It  is  true 
that  the  modern  Elder  is  not  the  scriptural  Elder ;  but  it  is  also 
true  that  the  modern  Elder  ought  to  be  the  scriptural  Elder. 
Why  is  not  the  modern  Elder  the  scriptural  Elder  ?  There  are 
two  reasons  for  it.  The  qualifications  of  the  scriptural  Elder  are 
plainly  laid  down  in  the  New  Testament — he  must  be  a  man 
who  is  apt  to  teach ;  possessed  of  administrative  qualities ;  of 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  217 

good  report  of  them  that  are  without ;  not  lately  brought  into 
the  Church.  Wherever  the  man  is  selected  with  those  qualifica- 
tions he  will  be  a  scriptural  Elder.  But  too  often  in  our  churches 
the  man  is  selected  because  of  his  high  social  standing,  or  be- 
cause of  his  wealth,  and  not  because  of  his  scriptural  qualifi- 
cations ;  and  therefore  he  is  not  a  scriptural  Elder. 

Principal  Grant  told  us  yesterday  that,  when  we  quoted  a  man's 
language,  we  ought  to  quote  the  whole  of  it.  Repeatedly  in  this 
matter  of  the  Eldership,  the  words  of  the  apostle  Paul  have  been 
quoted,  and  in  not  one  instance  have  the  whole  of  his  words  been 
quoted.  What  are  the  whole  of  those  words  ?  "  Let  the  Elders 
that  rule  well  be  counted  worthy  of  double  honor,  especially 
they  who  labor  in  the  word  and  doctrine,  for  the  Scriptures 
saith.  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the 
corn,  and  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  reward."  In  the  primi- 
tive Church,  these  scriptural  Elders  had  remuneration  for 
their  services,  and  because  they  had  remuneration  they  became 
the  drill  masters  of  the  sacramental  host,  who,  by  their  self- 
denial,  their  energy,  and  their  elevated  consecration,  brought 
the  Roman  world  to  the  feet  of  Christ.  The  Elder  has  a  duty 
to  perform,  and  a  duty  that  calls  for  a  large  amount  of  his  time. 
The  duties  of  the  scriptural  Elder  did  call  for  a  large  portion  of 
his  time ;  and,  if  you  do  not  give  him  compensation,  unless  he  is  a 
very  rich  man,  he  cannot  afford  to  give  that  time.  But  you  reply, 
in  our  day  we  scarcely  raise  enough  money  in  the  churches  to 
pay  the  preachers,  and  yet  you  talk  about  giving  compensation 
to  the  Ruling  Elder.  There  we  strike  at  th^very  core  of  the 
matter.  I  believe,  on  this  whole  matter  of  church  finance,  we 
have  departed  in  our  modern  times  from  the  scriptural  method  ; 
and  when  we  return  to  the  scriptural  method,  we  will  pay  our 
Teaching  Elder,  and  we  will  pay,  in  the  same  proportion,  our 
Ruling  Elders ;  and  then  you  will  find  our  Elders  all  standing 
on  the  scriptural  ground. 

Henry  Day,  Esq.,  of  New  York. — I  think  this  is  a  contest 
between  the  Lay  Elders ;  and  the  Lay  Elders  ought  to  settle  it. 
The  difficulty  with  our  Canadian  brother  (Mr.  Croil)  was,  I  im- 
agine, that  his  experience  was  not  exactly  like  the  experience  in 


2i8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

some  other  countries.  The  difficulty  seemed  to  be  that  he  did 
not  assert  his  rights  hke  a  freeman.  It  may  be  because  he  Hves 
in  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  If  he  lived  in  the  United  States  he 
would  feel  that  he  could  be  a  Moderator  and  a  Teaching  Elder  ; 
because  it  is  certain  that  even  a  Lay  Elder  can  be  Moderator  in 
our  General  Assembly,  and  some  day  that  will  happen.  I  would 
not  be  surprised  if  Judge  Strong  should  be  chosen  as  Moderator 
if  he  should  attend  the  next  General  Assembly.  It  strikes  me 
that  this  system  of  Lay  Elders  is  one  of  the  grandest  things  in 
the  polity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  is  natural  law  and  the 
natural  method  of  government,  the  very  government  you  would 
all  resort  to  if  you  were  thrown  upon  a  desert  island  and  were 
obliged  to  make  a  government  for  yourselves.  The  civil  gov- 
ernment would  be  made  in  this  way,  and  the  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment would  be  made  exactly  in  this  way,  by  a  representation 
from  among  the  people  and  by  some  one  man  to  represent  the 
authority  in  the  highest  sphere.  That  is  Presbyterianism,  and 
that  is  scriptural  government.  It  is  one  of  the  proofs  that  it 
is  a  divine  government,  that  it  is  natural ;  that  it  can  be  every- 
ivhere  enforced  ;  that  it  secures  every  man's  rights. 

As  to  the  advantage  of  having  the  Lay  Eldership !  There 
are  as  a  general  rule  certainly  one  hundred  members  of  the 
Church  where  there  is  one  Christian  minister.  Nothing  is  so 
important  as  that  the  minister  shall  understand  what  are  the 
wants  and  the  feelings  of  his  people,  how  they  think  and  how 
they  act.  He  should  bring  himself  down  among  them  so  as  to 
know  what  they  are.  Now  how  beautifully  this  is  all  secured  if 
you  have  a  body  of  representatives  in  a  Church  Session,  repre- 
senting all  the  classes,  all  the  intellectual  qualities,  all  the  social 
status  of  the  Church ! 

We  are  all  equals,  as  I  understand.  Our  Canadian  brother 
says  we  are  not.  We  do  not  do  the  same  thing,  but  we  are  all 
equal  in  authority ;  and  when  we  come  to  vote  we  have  each  as 
much  power  as  the  other.  I  would  like  to  advise  my  brethren, 
the  Bishops,  the  Teaching  Elders.  I  think  they  could  sometimes 
learn  from  the  Eldership.  I  think  you  are  apt  to  be  too  intel- 
lectual, too  philosophical ;  you  are  apt  not  to  know  how  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  219 

more  common  mind,  that  is  not  all  the  time  reasoning  and  all 
the  time  thinking,  is  affected.  Many  of  us  move  among  all 
classes  of  men ;  we  see  all  sorts  of  men  and  all  sorts  of  disposi- 
tions and  all  sorts  of  minds  brought  out,  evil  and  good ;  and  we 
can  educate  you  in  some  respects :  at  least,  we  can  give  you  our 
advice. 

Here  I  would  like  to  say  a  word  about  something  that  was 
said  yesterday  by  our  friend.  Dr.  De  Witt.  I  do  not  believe  that 
we  run  any  risk  in  these  days  of  giving  too  much  money  to  cul- 
tivate the  beautiful.  I  do  not  believe  any  of  you  do  not  rejoice 
in  all  the  beautiful  ornamentations  of  this  room.  What  was  it 
done  for?  Why  did  the  instinct  go  out  at  once  among  all 
Presbyterians  to  make  the  room  as  beautiful  as  it  can  be  ? 
Why,  it  is  human  nature  coming  out,  it  is  the  progression  of 
society  in  the  love  of  the  beautiful.  Do  not  put  your  foot 
down  and  give  the  world  to  understand  that  Presbyterians 
are  going  to  worship  in  the  bare  walls.  Do  not  drive  the 
people  away  by  the  baldness  of  everything  surrounding  Pres- 
byterianism.  Keep  up  with  the  times :  of  course,  I  do  not 
mean  the  depraved  times ;  I  do  not  mean  in  anything  that  is 
wrong. 

The  Rev.  Principal  D.  H.  McVicar,  of  Montreal.  —  I 
wish  to  dissent  from  some  views  expressed  by  Mr.  Croil.  He 
has  understated  the  privileges  he  enjoys  in  Canada.  I  should 
not  like  my  fair  country  to  be  under  any  cloud,  although  it  is 
somewhat  to  the  north  of  you.  At  the  same  time  his  views  are 
substantially  correct.  It  appears  to  me  quite  evident  that  as 
Presbyterians  we  are  inconsistent  in  the  positions  which  we  hold 
in  relation  to  what  are  called  Ruling  Elders.  First  of  all,  in 
arguments  we  are  accustomed  to  establish,  triumphantly,  as  we 
think,  that  Presbyters  and  Bishops  are  identical ;  we  say  to  our 
friends  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  that  in  the  New  Testament 
Church  the  Episcopal  and  the  Presbiiteroi  are  identical.  Then 
we  turn  around,  with  amazing  facility  and  inconsistency,  and 
strip  certain  of  these  Presbuteroi  of  the  power  of  the  Episcopoi, 
and  refuse  to  allow  them  to  exercise  the  functions  of  the 
Bishop.     We  permit  them  to  rule  in  Sessions  and  in  the  Pre»- 


220  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

bytery;  and  in  General  Assembly  they  exercise  all  the  pow- 
ers of  the  Teaching  Bishops  or  Elders,  but  when  they  return 
home  they  are  caused  to  sit  on  a  lower  plane;  they  are 
not  allowed  to  exercise  the  full  function  which  in  argu- 
ment we  accord  to  them.  Either  cease  pressing  these  argu- 
ments or  invest  Ruling  Elders  with  the  full  functions  of  their 
office. 

It  may  be  said  that  there  is  not  sufficient  evidence  in 
Scripture  to  do  so.  To  my  mind,  at  least,  the  evidence  upon 
which  we  make  the  distinction  between  the  two  classes  of 
Elders,  Teaching  and  Ruling,  is  insufficient.  It  appears  to 
me  it  would  conduce  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  Church 
to  give  full  status  to  these  Ruling  Elders ;  to  make  them, 
in  other  words,  Teaching  Elders.  It  may  be  said  that  many 
of  them  are  unfit  to  be  such.  The  answer  is  very  simple : 
make  them  fit.  Let  them  be  persons  of  proper  standing 
in  the  church ;  then  we  shall  increase  the  power  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  an  unlimited  measure.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  at  all  .that  this  method  of  pushing  back  the  Ruling 
Elder,  and  giving  him  a  lower  position  than  the  word  of 
God  gives  him,  is  a  great  weakness  in  Presbyterianism,  and 
our  power  is  to  be  derived  very  largely  from  increasing  the 
efficiency  of  the  Session,  and  having  all  the  members  of  it 
qualified  to  teach  and  to  do  all  the  other  work  which  their 
office  includes. 

The  Rev.  James  Nish,  of  Victoria. — It  is  with  considerable 
diffidence  that  I  rise  to  address  this  venerable  Council,  and  espe- 
cially to  dissent  from  the  deliverances  now  given  forth  by  the 
learned  Principal  who  has  preceded  me.  I  imagine  if  we  will 
only  correct  our  nomenclature  it  will  be  discovered  that  we  do 
not  detract  from  the  dignity  of  our  Ruling  Elders.  The  fact 
is  that  we  have  two  classes  of  Presbyteries.  We  have  the  Con- 
gregational Presbytery  and  we  have  the  Classical  Presbytery. 
All  our  Elders  are  members  of  the  Congregational  Presbytery; 
and  there  all  Elders  stand  upon  the  same  footing,  although  in 
consequence  of  his  experience  the  place  of  president  is  assigned 
to  the  Teaching  Elder.     This,  however,  is  simply  a  matter  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  221 

arrangement ;  any  member  of  the  Session  may  be  moderator  of 
the  Congregational  Presbytery.  All  the  members  of  the  Presby- 
tery cannot  become,  or,  at  least,  it  would  not  be  expedient  they 
should  become,  members  of  the  Classical  Presbytery.  The  Classi- 
cal Presbytery  is  made  up  of  delegates ;  and  by  arrangement  the 
Teaching  Elder  is  ex  officio  member  of  this  Presbytery,  whilst 
one  of  the  other  members  is  elected  as  a  representative.  I  main- 
tain that  a  Ruling  Elder  is  a  Teaching  Elder,  or  ought  to  be  a 
Teaching  Elder,  and  that  every  Teaching  Elder  is  a  Ruling 
Elder.  That  is  our  theory  ;  we  ought  to  carry  it  out  more  fully 
into  practice.  I  am  afraid,  at  the  same  time,  that  some  of  our 
Ruling  Elders  have  entertained  that  view  of  the  office  which  was 
certainly  held  by  a  member  of  a  congregation  who  had  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  be  made  an  Elder.  They  began  to  question 
him :  "  If  we  were  to  appoint  you  an  Elder  could  you  discharge 
the  functions  of  the  office  ?"  "What  are  they?"  was  the  reply. 
"Well,  could  you  conduct  a  prayer-meeting?"  "No;  I  am 
not  qualified  for  that."  "  Well,  you  could  at  least  teach  a  class 
in  a  Sabbath-school."  "  No ;  I  have  no  aptitude  for  giving 
instruction  to  the  young."  "  But  you  could  go  and  visit  some 
of  the  sick;  you  could  assist  in  a  work  of  this  sort?"  "  No, 
that  is  just  the  very  thing  I  am  not  fitted  for."  "What  could 
you  do,  supposing  we  were  to  elect  you  a  member  of  the  Ses- 
sion?" "Well,"  he  says,  "  look  here :  if  you  give  me  a  place 
in  the  Session  and  any  matter  is  brought  forward  at  any  time, 
I  think  I  could  manage  to  raise  an  objection." 

I  apprehend  we  have  neglected  our  duty  in  not  letting  Ruling 
Elders  realize  their  obligations  and  responsibilities.  I  know  the 
gifts  are  possessed  by  them  and  need  to  be  developed.  This 
would  be  a  thoroughly  religious  development. 

Hon.  Peter  S.  Danforth,  of  New  York. — It  seems  to  me 
that  if  any  one  can  speak  upon  this  subject  of  the  Eldership,  I 
ought  to  speak.  For  forty  years  in  succession  I  have  been  an 
Elder  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  North  America,  and  I  have 
had  no  difficulty  in  finding  my  status.  I  have  had  no  desire  to 
preside  in  our  General  Synod.  I  have  had  no  difficulty  in  find- 
ing my  own  place.     I  had  supposed  that  my  duty  as  an  Elder 


222  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

in  the  church  was  to  be  as  an  assistant  to  the  pastor,  to  uphold 
his  hands  in  every  good  work.  I  had  supposed  that  was  a  part 
of  my  duty ;  at  least  I  have  tried  to  discharge  the  duty  in  the 
way  of  aiding  the  minister  of  the  church  punctually,  continu- 
ously and  persistently.  I  had  supposed  that,  in  the  absence  of 
the  pastor,  the  prayer-meeting  was  my  field  of  duty,  so  far  as  in 
me  lay,  to  take  his  place  for  the  time  being,  and  either  myself 
conduct,  or  some  other  Elder  of  the  church  conduct,  the  meet- 
ing ;  and  participate  in  the  solemn  and  interesting  exercises  of 
that  meeting.  I  have  found  no  difficulty  in  finding  what  there 
was  to  be  done  by  an  Elder.  Taking  the  Bible  as  my  standard, 
and  the  rules  of  my  Church,  there  is  no  difficulty.  It  seems  to 
me  that  an  Elder  can  easily  find  his  place,  and  if  he  will  be  faith- 
ful to  his  Master,  he  will  find  enough  to  do  to  occupy  all  his 
time.  A  praying,  active,  consistent  Elder  never  finds  his  hands, 
tied  by  the  minister  or  by  the  congregation. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Knox,  of  Belfast,  Ireland. — I  believe 
that  if  our  Elders  do  not  take  as  large  a  part  as  we  might  hope 
they  would  take  in  spiritual  work,  the  fault  lies  largely  with  the 
clergy.  I  have  gone  on  the  principle,  for  many  years,  of  train- 
ing my  Elders,  and  cultivating  their  gifts,  and  giving  them  op- 
portunities not  only  of  visiting  the  people,  but  addressing  them. 
When  I  left  Europe  to  come  to  this  Council,  I  handed  over  to- 
a  body  of  nine  Elders  the  entire  work  of  conducting  the  prayer- 
meeting  during  my  absence ;  and  on  the  Sabbath  before  I  left  I 
stated  to  my  congregation  that  I  could  not  find  a  preacher  for 
the  next  Sabbath ;  but  I  had  spoken  to  two  of  the  Elders,  and 
one  of  them  would  conduct  the  service  in  the  morning  and  the 
other  in  the  evening,  and  that  they  might  thus  expect  to  sit  at 
the  feet  of  two  Ruling  Elders.  I  have  often,  in  my  own  church,, 
sat  upon  the  platform  and  called  upon  one  Elder  after  another  to 
rise  and  address  the  people.  They  have  been  trained  for  that- 
work ;  and  I  have  found,  invariably,  where  the  minister  invites 
and  encourages  an  Elder,  if  he  is  a  man  of  the  right  spirit,  that 
he  will  be  prepared  to  take  part  in  all  spiritual  work,  and,  if  God 
has  given  him  the  gift,  even  to  occupy  the  pulpit.  We  should 
take  the  blame  on  ourselves  as  ministers  if  our  Elders  do  not. 
help  us,  as  they  ought  to  do,  in  our  spiritual  services. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


22^ 


Rev.  Prof.  Nicholas  Hofmeyr,  of  Cape  of  Good  Hope. — I 
address  the  Council  not  as  a  minister  but  as  an  Elder,  as  I  am 
an  Elder  of  the  church  in  the  town  where  our  theological  semi- 
nary is  established.  With  reference  to  the  claim  put  forth  by 
one  of  the  Elders  to  be  allowed  all  the  work  and  honor  to  which, 
as  a  rule,  the  ministers  are  called,  allow  me  to  say  that  the  glory 
of  Presbyterianism  partly  exists  in  the  harmony  at  which  it  aims 
between  the  two  principles  of  liberty  and  order,  and  for  the  sake 
of  order  there  tmist  be  division  of  labor,  and  special  preparation' 
for  special  labor.  Besides,  there  is  diversity  of  gifts,  and  many 
who  are  apt  to  help  in  governing  the  Church,  are  not  apt  to 
teach  the  word  of  God. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  WORKING  CLASSES. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — It  was  the  idea  of  the  Programme 
Committee  that  we  should  divide  the  time  among  the  various 
subjects  that  are  on  the  programme  for  discussion.  We  have 
still  another  hour  left  before  adjournment,  and  the  subject  of  the 
papers  of  last  evening  is  one  of  very  great  interest  and  impor- 
tance— the  relation  of  employer  to  employed,  and  the  relation  of 
Christianity  to  the  working  classes.  I  move  that  we  now  pass 
on  to  the  consideration  of  that  subject. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

The  Rev.  J.  Marshall  Lang,  D.  D.,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland. — 
In  the  city  of  Glasgow,  which  I  need  not  say  is  one  of  the  great 
social  and  industrial  centres  of  the  old  country,  the  problem 
with  which  a  man  is  continually  confronted  is  that  which  was 
treated  by  my  friend  Dr.  Blaikie,  last  evening.  I  thank  him  for 
his  paper.  The  highest  encomium  I  can  pronounce  upon  it  is 
that  it  is  worthy  of  the  author  of  Better  Days  for  Working  Peo^ 
pie.  With  Dr.  Blaikie,  I  may  also  thank  Chief-Justice  Drake, 
who  so  fully  presented  Christianity  as  the  friend  of  the  working 
classes.  A  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
in  the  chair,  and  a  chief-justice  on  the  rostrum  speaking  as 
Chief-Justice  Drake  did — well,  all  I  shall  say  is,  "  happy  is  the 
people  that  is  in  such  a  case." 

Dr.  Blaikie  said  last  night  that  one  of  the  most  notable  fea- 


224  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 

tures  connected  with  this  relation  of  employers  and  employed 
is  that  it  is  working  uncomfortably.  Uncomfortable  is,  I  take  it, 
a  very  mild  word.  There  are  suspicions,  and  too  often  manifest 
antagonism,  which  cause  a  relation  that  almost  savors  of  hostil- 
ity, and  in  consequence  of  which  we  see  those  who  ought  to 
represent  a  partnership  standing  aloof  like  cliffs  that  have  been 
rift  asunder.  You  do  not  need  to  be  told  that  beneath  the  sur- 
face, deeper  than  the  eye  can  reach,  of  the  superficial  observer, 
there  are  forces  which,  unless  some  counter  action  is  provided, 
bode  harm  to  society  and  religion.  You  in  America  are  on  the 
eve  of  a  great  political  issue ;  and  do  you  recollect  that  there 
are  a  million  and  a  half  of  voters  in  this  country  belonging  to 
secret  organizations,  all  of  which,  or  the  greater  part  of  which, 
are  connected  with  the  international  society  of  which  Carl  Marx 
is  the  head,  and  which  proclaims  destruction  of  property,  aboli- 
tion of  the  family,  no  God,  no  morality  ?  You  tell  me  that  is 
but  the  extreme  phase  of  this  movement.  Be  it  so.  Notwith- 
standing it  is  an  extreme,  it  reminds  us  how  there  are  alienations 
and  mistrust,  on  account  of  which  we  may  well  take  counsel 
how  best  to  deal  with  the  circumstances  under  which  we  are 
situated.  How  the  chasm,  to  which  I  have  adverted,  is  to  be 
bridged  over,  is  a  question  that  takes  us  into  regions  that  I  may 
not  enter,  the  regions  of  social  and  political  economy.  I  am 
quite  sure  that  though  we  may  pass  through  great  and  sore 
travail,  in  some  way  there  will  be  a  readjustment  found  of  the 
existing  relations  between  employer  and  employed. 

But  what  we  have  to  deal  with  just  now  is  the  power  of  the 
gospel  in  reference  to  this  relation.  Dr.  Blaikie  told  us,  and  I 
think  no  one  will  question  it,  that  if  only  the  gospel,  as  a  living 
force,  were  more  operative  in  the  character  of  employer  and  em- 
ployed, we  would  see  a  happy  state  of  things.  How  do  you  find 
the  apostle  writing  in  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  ?  He  sends  back 
his  son  in  the  gospel  to  be  a  slave,  and  he  bids  the  master  re- 
ceive him  and  give  him  his  task  and  appoint  him  his  work,  but 
"  not  now  as  a  servant,  but  above  a  servant — a  brother  beloved." 
That  was  the  method  of  conciliation  ;  that  was  the  true  readjust- 
ment; and  that  is  what  Dr.  Blaikie  was  bringing  out. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  225 

I  would  simply  say  to  my  brethren  that  whilst  it  is  wise  for  us 
not  to  mingle  ourselves  in  the  labor  disputes — whilst  it  is  cer- 
tainly wise  for  us  to  be  extremely  cautious  as  to  all  that  is  said 
about  trades-unions — I  think  we  can  speak  warmly  and  distinctly 
against  all  one-sided  unions,  whether  federations  of  employers 
against  employed,  or  of  employed  as  against  employers;  and  that 
we  should  aim  at  realizing,  or  seeking  to  promote,  that  which  is 
certainly  wanting  in  the  existing  state  of  matters — a  true  confi- 
dence between  man  and  man,  master  and  servant,  employer  and 
employed.  It  is  a  lack  of  that  confidence,  of  plainness  in  state- 
ment, of  rightness  in  dealing,  which  is  the  cause  of  so  many  of 
the  disputes  and  the  occasion  of  so  many  of  the  strikes,  that  we 
all  so  deeply  deplore.  I  trust  we  shall  all  realize  more  and  more 
that  whatever  remedies  may  be  propounded  from  this  side  or 
that,  it  is  to  the  Word  and  to  the  Spirit  alone  we  must  look  for 
the  real  remedy. 

SCIENCE  AND  THEOLOGY. 

The  papers  read  tliis  morning  by  Drs.  Calderwood  and 
McCosH  were  next  discussed  : 

Prof.  Stephen  Alexander,  LL.  D.,  of  Princeton. — My  reply 
to  the  charge  of  the  intrusions  of  science  where  it  has  no  busi- 
ness, may  all  be  concentrated  in  a  single  proposition,  the  truth 
of  which  I  think  will  at  once  be  admitted.  The  abuse  of  a  doc- 
trine does  not  make  it  untrue ;  nor  does  the  undue  and  im- 
proper extension  of  it  make  the  doctrine  itself  untrue.  I  should 
not  have  taken  my  place  here  this  morning  were  it  not  that  I  de- 
sired to  relieve  an  anxiety,  on  the  part  of  religious  men,  as  to 
the  attempts  of  science  to  account  for  the  origin  and  primi- 
tive state  of  the  human  race.  There  are  two  great  generaliza- 
tions of  the  race — Bible  or  no  Bible.  If  a  crew  were  cast 
ashore  on  a  desolate  island,  whatever  miorht  be  their  relicious 
opinions,  they  would  all  take  their  guns  along  with  them. 
Why?  Because  there  is  a  universal  experience,  in  the  line  of 
human  depravity,  of  a  determination  to  go  the  wrong  way,  and 
for  one  to  injure  his  fellow  on  purpose;  and,  although  in  very 
many  cases  the  sinfulness  of  sin  may  not  be  distinctly  discerned, 
»5 


226  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

nor  its  appropriate  character  fully  admitted,  yet  it  is  a  positive 
induction  of  the  race,  apart  from  Scripture,  that  man  is  depraved. 
Again,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  food  of  a  live  body  must  be  that 
which  has  been  alive.  With  the  mere  exception  of  salt  and  water 
you  feed  upon  what  has  been  alive,  but  it  must  be  dead  before  it 
can  enter  into  the  circulation  and  support  of  life.  Why,  then, 
should  it  be  thought  incredible  that  God  should  raise  the  dead 
when  from  that  which  must  be  dead  first  you  live  every  day  ?  The 
careful  prosecution  of  that  admirable  scientific  induction  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  also  pronounces  upon  another  thing,  and  that  is 
that  the  inevitable  sequence  of  life  of  any  sort  wherever  you  find 
it  is  death.  But  the  h}'pothesis  of  Scripture  goes  behind  and 
beneath  all  this,  and  maintains  that  man  was  innocent  at  first, 
and  that  he  did  not  become  mortal  till  he  had  sinned. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  William  U.  Murkland,  of  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land.— There  is  no  disputing  the  fact  that  the  questions  which 
have  been  discussed  to-day  confront  every  thoughtful  man. 
They  are  the  themes  on  every  man's  tongue.  They  are  not 
relegated  to  the  closet  or  to  the  pulpit ;  they  belong  to  every- 
day life.  Here  is  a  phenomenon  impossible  twenty  years  ago — 
the  public  press  largely  reporting  the  proceedings  of  this  great 
body.  Now  I  insist,  in  this  age  which  has  been  characterized 
as  destitute  of  faith  and  as  yet  terrified  at  scepticism,  that  the 
first  duty  is  to  hold  fast  to  the  unity  and  harmony  of  all  truth. 
Let  not  ministers  of  the  gospel  be  shaken  in  their  faith.  A 
preacher  of  an  inspired  Bible,  I  am  yet  an  humble  student  in  the 
school  of  philosophy,  which  Milton  calls  divine  ;  and  while  on 
one  hand  I  preach  that  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations, 
I  also  rejoice  in  the  grand  generalizations  of  science,  which, 
through  the  spectroscope  of  philosophy,  proves  that  God  has 
made  of  one  substance  everything  that  is.  Let  us  settle  what  is 
to  be  defended  ;  not  the  notions  of  men  ;  not  all  the  interpre- 
tation which  we  hold.  That  which  we  are  to  defend  with  our 
lives  is  the  inspired  word,  and  that  alone.  It  is  the  citadel  of 
our  faith,  we  must  remember  that.  Some  of  you  may  remem- 
ber how  once  a  great  body  of  Russians  refused  to  smoke, 
although  they  drank  brandy  like  good  Muscovites ;  and  when 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  227 

Peter  the  Great  asked  them,  Is  it  more  harm  to  smoke  than 
drink  ?  "Yes,  said  they  ;  "  "  not  that  which  entereth  into  a  man 
defileth  him,  but  that  which  cometh  out  of  a  man  defileth  him." 
Let  us  remember  that  we  have  a  particular  sphere  upon  which 
science  cannot  impinge — the  conscience  which  belongs  to  the 
Creator,  and  the  great  and  mighty  sympathies  of  a  free  spirit 
along  which  we  can  draw  men  until  we  get  them  up  to  God. 
When  we  lead  them  there,  we  lead  them  into  departments  in 
which  scientists  cannot  challenge  our  authority. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Watts,  of  Belfast,  Ireland. — Dr.  Cal- 
derwood  has  laid  down  these  fundamental  principles  in  scientific 
investigation:  that  scientists  have  to  deal  with  phenomena,  and 
must  be  restricted  to  phenomena.  The  difficulty  is  to  keep  them 
within  the  bounds  of  phenomena.  They  will  overleap  these 
bounds.  When  the  British  Scientific  Association  met  in  Bel- 
fast, Dr.  Tyndall  took  a  long  leap  over  that  boundary.  He  said 
he  projected  his  vision  beyond  the  boundary  of  experimental 
science,  and  discerned  in  matter  the  promise  and  potency  of  all 
forms  of  terrestrial  life.  I  do  not  know  what  he  saw  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  experimental  science.  It  would  require  very 
sharp  discerning  powers  to  see  anything  out  there.  No  scientist 
could  draw  the  conclusion  that  Prof  Tyndall  drew  if  he  kept 
within  the  boundaries  laid  down  by  Dr.  Calderwood.  The  diffi- 
culty is  in  regard  to  the  boundary-line  which  you  draw  around 
science  when  it  explores  the  phenomena  ;  and  the  question  arises, 
how  far  theology  and  science  are  to  interfere  with  one  another. 
You  may  draw  the  boundary-line  around  theology,  but  you  can- 
not keep  scientists  out,  and  you  may  draw  the  boundary-line 
around  science,  but  you  cannot  keep  theologians  out.  The 
Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  held  a  meeting  immediately  after  the 
meeting  of  the  British  Association,  and  drew  a  boundary-line. 
Was  it  scientifically  drawn  when  they  said  no  scientists  had  any 
business  with  theology  ?  When  a  scientist  begins  to  deal  with 
phenomena  he  must  go  behind  the  phenomena.  He  must  trace 
every  phenomenon  to  the  principle  of  cosmogony  lying  behind ; 
and  he  has  not  exhausted  the  phenomena  until  he  has  so  traced 
everything  in  them.     Are  we  to  be  told  that  when  he  finds,  in 


228  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  very  constitution  of  matter,  the  mutual  affinity  that  subsists 
between  the  atoms,  that  he  has  finished  his  task  as  a  scientist 
before  he  has  carried  those  phenomena  up  to  their  ultimate 
Author  possessing  intelligence  ?  Why  is  it  that  oxygen  and 
hydrogen  combine  to  form  water?  Because  of  their  affinity. 
What  is  meant  by  this  affinity,  but  simply  the  qualities  they 
possess  ?  The  quality  cannot  be  separated  from  the  essence  of 
the  thing.  He,  therefore,  who  gave  that  quality  and  showed  in- 
telligence in  giving  it,  could  not  give  it  except  by  creating  the 
essence  of  the  thing ;  and  I  say  that  science  has  not  done  its 
work  of  investigation  until  it  carries  its  investigation  clear 
through  the  ultimate  elements  of  matter,  and  recognizes  the 
authorship  behind  them  qualified  to  produce  them. 

Consider  the  atheist.  He  takes  this  round  globe  of  ours,  and 
if  he  could  find  a  crucible  large  enough  he  would  put  it  into  it 
in  order  to  burn  out  every  trace  of  intelligence  that  is  found  on  its 
organism.  When  he  has  gone  through  the  mystic  process  of  the 
analysis,  he  is  ready  to  raise  the  voice  of  triumph.  But  from 
that  crucible,  in  which  he  hopes  to  see  every  trace  of  intelligence 
obliterated,  there  come  forth  three-score  witnesses  to  proclaim 
the  existence  of  creation's  God.  I  will  allow  no  man  to  say  to 
me  that  I  am  not  to  carry  the  investigation  as  a  scientist  clear 
through  the  phenomena  and  behind  them,  to  find  the  cause. 
My  work  is  not  finished  until  I  reach  the  ultimate  cause. 
That  is  the  reason  that  scientists  are  continually  coming  into  the 
boundary  of  theology.  You  cannot  keep  them  outside  of  it. 
Nor  should  we  admit  that  a  scientist  may  investigate  all  that 
scientists  are  investigating  and,  throughout  the  whole,  never 
trace  the  phenomena  up  to  their  Author. 

Rev.  W.  E.  Boggs,  D.  D.,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia. — Coming  from 
the  far  south  of  the  United  States  I  feel  that  I  have  been  privi- 
leged to-day  in  hearing  the  living  voices  of  two  men  whom  I 
have  long  honored  as  my  teachers,  President  McCosh  and  the 
distinguished  Professor  from  Edinburgh.  I  express  my  un- 
bounded thankfulness  to  a  gracious  Providence  that  we  have,  in 
this  era  of  disturbed  thought,  still  spared  to  us  those  ripe  scholars, 
holding  up  our  hands  and  speaking  words  of  caution  to  the  hot 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  229 

blood  that  boils  in  the  heart  of  every  Christian  when  a  man  lays 
his  hand  upon  the  ark  of  God. 

In  my  humble  judgment,  the  great  difficulty  of  a  harmony 
between  revealed  religion  and  the  teachings  of  science  is  due, 
on  our  side,  to  two  vicious  things.  The  first  of  these  is 
the  persistent  endeavor,  after  the  mediaeval  fashion,  to  find 
in  the  Scriptures  of  God  a  revelation  of  all  possible  truths,  the 
rudiments  or  the  more  developed  theories  of  physical  science. 
Every  time  that  we  have  come  up  to  the  line  of  battle  on 
that  issue,  we  have  been  routed.  The  truth  is  demonstrated 
by  history  that  Almighty  God  has  not  put  into  that  perfect 
revelation,  which  is  a  revelation  of  all  that  we  ought  to 
believe  concerning  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  rudiments 
or  the  developed  philosophy  of  the  science  of  this  physical 
universe. 

The  next  thing  I  have  to  say  (because  it  is  far  more  important 
to  us  as  preachers  to  look  at  our  own  faults  than  at  the  faults  of 
enemies)  is  this,  which  was  plainly  brought  to  our  attention  by 
both  of  these  distinguished  professors ;  and  I  thank  them  for  it. 
We  are  too  prone  to  grow  indignant  and  to  lose  our  self-com- 
mand. We  are  too  prone  to  forget  that  God  has  all  eternity  to 
•  do  his  work  in,  and  that  he  that  sits  in  the  heaven  laughs  at  the 
puny  efforts  of  men  to  set  aside  his  glorious  truths.  We  should 
keep  calm ;  and  we  should  not  expect  that  great  problems  are 
to-be  solved  in  a  moment.  Our  brethren  tell  us  that  when  we 
calmly  and  quietly  draw  the  line  between  theology  and  science, 
men  will  walk  over  it.  Of  course  they  will.  But  let  us  not 
therefore  be  angry ;  let  us  gently,  in  the  name  of  reason  and 
love,  demonstrate  the  intellectual  blunder,  and  leave  the  man's 
thoughts  to  his  God. 

These  are  the  two  great  principles  that  I  think  we  w^ill  find 
to  be  developed  by  the  past,  and  to  be  absolutely  involved 
in  our  success  in  the  future :  First,  not  to  hold  the  revelation 
of  God  responsible  for  any  man's  religion  ;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  to  keep  our  tempers,  and  to  keep  our  hearts  bathed  in 
the  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  should  make  us  pity  more  the 


23©  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

man's  fatal  mistake  to  himself  than  be  angry  at  the  harm  that 
he  has  done. 

The  Rev.  Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh. — I 
cannot  speak  as  a  man  of  science,  and  I  do  not  profess  to  speak 
in  that  character ;  but  I  may  venture,  with  all  deference,  to  sub- 
mit to  this  venerable  Council  an  impression  that  has  been  made 
on  my  mind  in  favor  of  Christianity  by  the  controversies  between 
Christianity  on  the  one  side,  and  men  of  science,  so  called,  on 
the  other.  Christianity,  in  the  midst  of  all  these  conflicts  and 
antagonisms,  is  still  laboring,  is  still  growing,  is  still  maintaining 
its  own  distinctive  ground.  That  is  a  great  fact.  Let  us  take 
the  comfort  of  it.  I  am  here  as  one  of  the  laity  in  science,  yet 
I  have  been  comforted  beyond  measure  by  the  experience  that 
there  is  this  power  in  the  midst  of  all  the  enlightenment  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  in  the  midst  of  the  enlightenment  which  I 
rejoice  to  have  found  in  this  great  continent  over  which  I  have 
travelled,  and  which  I  have  seen  illuminated  by  the  light  of 
secular  and  theological  schools.  I  have  had  the  joy  of  seeing 
that  Christianity  is  still  holding  its  ground,  and  going  on  con- 
quering and  to  conquer. 

Let  us  not  be  disturbed  or  easily  shaken  in  our  faith.  I  was 
told,  when  I  went  through  the  university  in  this  city,  that 
some  of  the  buildings  devoted  to  science  were  the  greatest 
in  the  world.  Whether  it  be  so  I  know  not,  but  here  in  the 
midst  of  these  is  a  meeting  which  is  the  greatest  that  "has 
been  held,  in  one  sense,  in  the  world  ;  here  is  this  meeting  of 
men  of  science  as  well  as  men  of  faith,  and  we  stand  upon  our 
faith  firm  and  true  as  we  did  before.  Let  us  go  away  with 
that  comfort  and  that  joy,  when  we  hear  of  conflict  and 
struggle,  and  apparent  scientific  difficulties  in  the  Bible  which 
cannot  easily  be  solved.  Continue  to  raise  up,  as  a  great  army 
to  God,  men  who,  turned  to  Christ  and  Christianity,  are  living 
our  religion,  and  I  care  not  what  difficulties  you  find  behind 
in  Genesis,  or  anywhere  else.  This  glorious  gospel  is  the  power 
of  God  to  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth.  That  per- 
sistent fact  is  our  stronghold. 

The  Rev.  Principal  Grant,  D.  D,,  of  Kingston,  Canada. — Dr. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  231 

Watts  has  misunderstood  Dr.  Caldervvood,  simply  because  he 
gave  a  different  meaning  to  the  word  science  than  Dr.  Calder- 
wood  gave  to  it ;  and  he  was  inexcusable  because  Dr.  Caldcr- 
wood  clearly  defined  what  he  meant  by  science.  He  distinctly 
said  thiit  science  referred  to  the  phenomenal  or  observational. 
And,  accepting  that  definition,  we  certainly  have  no  right  to  ask 
scientific  men  to  go  on,  after  they  have  finished  with  their  scien- 
tific tests,  to  prove  scientifically  the  existence  of  God.  I  have 
very  great  suspicion  of  a  scientific  man  who  thinks  he  can  dem- 
onstrate by  his  science  the  existence  of  God  in  any  manner  what- 
soever. Dr.  Calderwood  distinctly  told  us  where  the  division 
line  should  come  in  ;  but  I  think  it  would  have  been  a  little 
fairer  to  scientific  men  if  he  had  not  so  distinctly  and  sweepingly 
said  that  interference  with  science  by  theology  is  a  myth.  Dr. 
McCosh  said  that  in  his  young  days  a  conflict  arose  about 
geology.  If  theology  has  nothing  to  do  with  science,  why  the 
conflict?  Men  did  believe  in  those  days,  when  the  geologists 
told  us  that  the  world  was  not  made  in  six  days,  that  the  geolo- 
gists were  irreligious.  Previous  to  that  there  was  the  geocentric 
theory;  the  Church  had  held  to  that.  We  must  therefore  excu.se 
the  feelings  of  scientific  men.  More  recently  the  discussion  has 
been  about  evolution.  Every  one  knows  the  alarm  with  which 
religious  men  regarded  the  very  works  already  referred  to  of 
Herbert  Spencer  and  Darwin.  I  know  plenty  of  men  still  who 
think  it  irreligious  to  say  the  world  was  not  made  in  si.x  day^. 
or  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  evolution. 

Come  to  another  point,  a  point  that  was  just  touched  on  by 
Professor  Alexander,  with  regard  to  the  origin  and  primiti\e  state 
of  man.  Suppose  a  scientific  man  says,  I  find  scientific  proof 
that  men  have  lived  on  the  earth  ten  or  twenty  thousand  }cars ; 
are  there  not  plenty  who  would  tell  him  he  was  wrong  in  his 
theory,  it  being  opposed  to  the  chronology  of  Genesis  ?  In  \icw 
of  that  I  think  it  would  have  been  fairer  had  Dr.  Calderwood 
not  so  sweepingly  said  that  theological  interference  was  alto- 
gether a  myth.  As  Dr.  Calderwood  pointed  out,  science  is  not 
responsible  for  Dr.  Tyndall.  Dr.  Tyndall  speaks  for  himself 
Neither  is  the  Church  of  Christ  responsible  for  the  errors  of 


232  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

theologians ;  and  there  have  been  errors  on  the  part  of  theolo- 
gians as  well  as  scientific  men.  Neither  one  of  the  two  attitudes 
that  we  have  taken  in  the  past  should  be  taken  by  us  ;  neither 
the  attitude  of  conflict,  declaring  that  science  is  opposed  to 
religion,  nor  the  attitude  of  trying  to  reconcile  Genesis  and 
science.  The  true  attitude  is  to  go  on  in  our  own  work  and  let 
science  do  its  work,  because  there  never  can  be  a  reconciliation 
of  science  and  theology  until  each  has  spoken  its  last  word;  and 
that  word  neither  has  yet  spoken. 

The  Rev.  H.  A.  Nelson,  D.  D.,  of  Geneva,  N.  Y.— I  wish  to 
make  a  very  brief  plea  in  behalf  of  a  rigidly  scientific  use  of  the 
word  science.  I  was  profoundly  grateful  to  Professor  Calder- 
wood  for  the  care  and  lucidness  with  which  he  set  forth  the  dis- 
tinction between  science  and  the  unverified  theories  of  students 
of  science.  My  mind  assented  to  all  his  positions  as  I  under- 
stood them.  Yet  with  the  utmost  deference  I  suggest,  and  ask 
his  consideration  of  the  suggestion,  whether  his  use  of  the  word 
science  does  not  unhappily  restrict  it  to  the  science  of  the 
material  world.  Should  we  not  gain  something  for  true  science 
if  we  would  constantly  use  the  word  to  signify,  on  the  one  hand, 
nothing  which  has  not  been  verified,  and  on  the  other  to  in- 
clude all  which  has  been  verified,  from  the  bottom  to  the  top? 

The  science  of  the  material  world  is  "  concerned  exclusively 
with  observed  facts."  But  there  are  facts  known  by  intuition,  and 
there  is  a  science  of  these — the  science  of  the  human  mind. 
There  is  another  class  of  facts  which  are  not  learned  by  observa- 
tion, nor  known  by  intuition,  but  by  revelation. 

There  are  supernatural  facts  as  reliably  attested  as  any  facts 
of  the  material  world.  The  systematic  apprehension  of  these 
supernatural  facts  is  as  truly  science  as  the  systematic  apprehen- 
sion of  natural  facts.  Theology  is  science.  Instead  of  saying 
that  "  theology  does  not  interfere  with  science,"  would  it  not  be 
more  accurate  to  say  that  theological  science  and  natural  science 
cannot  interfere  with  each  other? 

Unless  theology  is  science  we  ought  not  to  call  it  by  a  name 
the  termination  of  which  is  distinctive  of  the  several  departments 
of  science.     Clear  thinking  requires  us  to  insist  that  there  is 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  233 

"  science  falsely  so  called,"  and  also  true  and  valid  science,  of 
the  material  world,  of  the  human  mind,  and  of  God, 

The  Rev.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.  D.,  of  Detroit. — Whether  it 
be  accurate  or  not,  the  popular  use  of  the  term  science  includes 
more  than  the  sphere  of  observation  within  which  it  is  experi- 
mental. It  includes,  for  instance,  classification  and  arrangement, 
in  which  science  is  constructive ;  and  it  includes  argument  or 
logical  process,  in  which  science  is  inductive. 

It  occurs  to  me  that  one  of  the  difficulties  in  the  supposed 
conflict  between  science  and  religion  comes  from  this — that  peo- 
ple who  may  be  very  safe .  and  scientific  in  the  department  of 
observation  may  be  very  inaccurate  and  careless  in  the  depart- 
ment of  classification  and  arrangement,  and  extremely  illogical 
in  the  department  of  induction. 

Dr.  Hopkins  remarks  that  some  who  may  be  safely  quoted  as 
trustworthy  in  the  department  of  experiment  and  observation, 
will  utterly  mislead  us  when  they  step  beyond  that  sphere ;  and 
he  instances  Dr.  Darwin,  who  makes  the  astounding  statement, 
followed  by  an  astounding  conclusion,  that  in  the  Northern  seas 
the  polar  bear  is  sometimes  found  swimming  along  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  with  his  open  mouth  catching  the  insects  upon 
which  the  whale  feeds.  Nobody  doubts  the  fact  within  the 
sphere  of  observation,  but  then  follows  this  illogical  conclusion, 
that  if  the  polar  bear  continues  that  process  long  enough  he  will 
turn  into  a  whale. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  on  one  occasion,  had  a  consultation  with  his  col- 
leagues in  reference  to  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 
Mr.  Bates  was  rather  intemperate  in  his  haste  in  demanding 
the  immediate  issue  of  that  proclamation,  whereupon  Mr. 
Lincoln  said,  "  It  is  not  worth  while  to  proclaim  the  slaves 
free  unless  we  can  back  up  the  proclamation  by  the  force  of 
arms.  You  remind  me  of  the  schoolmaster  in  Illinois  who  said 
to  one  of  his  boys,  '  How  many  legs  has  a  sheep  ? '  *  Four.' 
'  Well,  suppose  we  call  the  tail  a  leg,  how  many  has  it  ?  '  '  Five.' 
'  No,  it  has  not,  you  fool — calling  it  does  not  make  it  so.'  "  Now 
scientific  men  are  very  prone  to  lend  the  sanction  of  a  great 
name  to  inferences  that  are  unscientific.     Because  they  happen 


234  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  be  accurate  within  the  sphere  of  observation  and  experiment, 
it  is  inferred  that  they  are  equally  as  accurate  in  the  sphere  of 
induction.  But  calling  a  thing  does  not  make  it  so.  The  infer- 
ences of  scientific  men  by  no  means  estgiblish  the  truth  of  their 
conclusions.  If  on  the  one  hand  the  scientific  men  who  talk 
about  the  intolerance  and  ex-cathedra  deliverances  of  Christian 
professors  would  be  a  little  more  careful  not  to  speak  ex-catJie- 
dra  from  chairs  of  science,  we  would  have  far  less  apparent  con- 
flict between  science  and  theology. 

I  would  have  come  a  thousand  miles  to  have  heard  the  two 
papers  we  have  heard  this  morning.  In  my  younger  days,  and  I 
am  by  no  means  old  now,  I  was  misled  into  scepticism;  but  it 
was  by  a  shallow  and  superficial  science;  and  the  deeper  I  went 
into  science  the  more  surely  I  came  back  to  God.  The  trouble 
w^ith  most  sceptics  is,  a  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing  ;  with 
all  due  modesty  and  with  deference  to  such  brethren  and  fathers 
as  have  spoken  to  us  this  morning,  I  say  it — if  they  could  sit 
under  the  instructions  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Calderwood,  and  my 
beloved  friend,  Dr.  McCosh,  who  I  am  glad  to  say  presides  over 
one  of  the  grand  colleges  of  our  own  country,  we  would  have 
a  great  deal  less  unscientific  scepticism. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  W.  P.  Breed. — I  would  like  to  give  notice, 
which  I  hope  the  members  of  the  Council  all  will  hear :  there 
will  be,  Providence  permitting,  the  celebration  of  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  to-morrow  afternoon  at  half-past  three 
o'clock,  in  the  West  Spruce  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
service  will  be  conducted  by  members  of  this  Council,  and  all 
the  members  of  the  Council  are  invited  to  be  present. 

The  Council  then  adjourned,  with  devotional  services,  until 
the  afternoon  at  half-past  two  o'clock. 

September  2Sth,  1880.     2.30  p.  m. 
The  Council  was  called   to   order  by  the  President,  for  the 
session,  the  Hon.  Horace  Mavnard,  Postmaster-General  of  the, 
United  States.     The  Rev.  J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia, 
led  in  prayer. 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  235 

COMMITTEE    ON   RECEPTION   INTO   THE   ALLIANCE. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Calderwood  presented  a  report  from  the  Busi- 
ness Committee  recommending  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  receive  the  applications  from  Churches  desiring  to  become 
members  of  the  Alliance,  said  committee  to  report  at  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Council. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Knox,  D.  D.,  of  Belfast. — Before  the  motion 
is  put  I  wish  to  say  that  it  is  desirable  that  the  brethren  ap- 
pointed on  this  committee  should  be  men  of  experience  and 
profound  theological  knowledge,  and  possessed  of  the  entire 
confidence  of  the  Council.  Whilst  it  is  desirable  to  gather  in, 
and  incorporate  in  this  great  Alliance,  all  branches  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  over  the  world,  we  must  take  care  not  in  any 
way  to  relax  or  broaden  the  basis  of  our  Alliance.  Therefore 
I  nominate  the  following  as  the  committee :  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge, 
Dr.  Brown,  Principal  Caven,  Dr.  Flint,  and  Dr.  Murkland,  with 
Dr.  B^aikie  and  Dr.  Mathews,  ex-officio  members.  I  move  that 
those  gentlemen  be  appointed  as  the  committee. 

The  President. — Will  Dr.  Knox  pardon  me  if  I  suggest  that 
the  first  question  is  to  decide  whether  the  Council  will  agree  to 
have  any  committee  at  all  appointed  ?  The  resolution  has  not 
yet  been  acted  on. 

Dr.  Knox. — I  waited  until  the  resolution  was  put  to  the  house, 
and  merely  complied  with  a  request  made  of  me  to  put  forward 
the  names.     I  have  no  objection  to  a  division  of  the  motion. 

The  President, — If  the  motion  is  made  to  amend  the  report 
by  inserting  these  names,  it  is  in  order.  But  unless  such  a  mo- 
tion is  made,  the  regular  course  will  be  to  see  whether  the 
Council  will  adopt  the  resolution. 

The  resolution  was  adopted. 

The  President. — A  list  of  names  has  been  proposed  to  con- 
stitute this  committee. 

A  Member. — I  would  suggest  that  on  such  an  important  com- 
mittee we  should  have  some  ruling  elders.  I  therefore  propose 
the  name  of  Henry  Day,  Esq. 

Another  Member. — I  think  that  the  number  of  names  is  by 


236  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

far  too  small,  and  I  move  that  the  matter  be  referred  to  the  Busi- 
ness Committee  to  make  up  a  different  and  larger  list. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

Henry  Day,  Esq.,  of  New  York. — I  move  that  all  applica- 
tions made  for  admission  to  this  Alliance,  at  the  present  session, 
be  referred  to  that  committee,  and,  if  they  see  fit,  acted  upon  at 
this  session.  As  I  regard  it  now,  anybody  asking  admission  to 
this  assembly  has  no  chance  of  getting  a  hearing.  There  is  no 
committee  whatever  before  whom  they  can  bring  their  cases. 
Now,  it  may  be — very  likely  it  is  the  fact — that  there  are  bodies 
in  our  country  who  would  make  application  to  be  admitted  if 
they  had  an  opportunity  ;  who  have  a  right  to  be  admitted  to 
this  Alliance  ;  and  whose  claims  demand  consideration.  This 
committee  will  be  a  proper  one  to  answer  all  such  applications, 
and  I  would  therefore  move  that  it  have  the  authority  to  report 
upon  any  application  that  may  be  made  at  this  session. 

I  go  further.  Yesterday  there  was  a  report  made  here  upon 
an  application  from  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  by 
the  Committee  on  Credentials.  They  were  refused  admittance.  I 
for  one  felt  very  much  grieved  by  that  decision.  This  is  an  Ecu- 
menical Council,  and  we  ought  to  bring  in  everybody  of  the 
Presbyterian  order  and  polity  that  comes  anywhere  near  us. 
The  constitution  was  intended  to  be  drawn  so  that  it  would  let 
in  any  one  in  all  these  great  assemblies  that  comes  really  near 
to,  or  is  joined  with  us.  But  when  application  is  made  for  ad- 
mittance by  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  who,  you  will  re- 
member, represent  about  half  a  million  of  the  people  of  this 
country,  they  are  refused.  They  are  Presbyterians  in  polity,  and 
they  are  Presbyterians  in  doctrine.  I  think,  certainly,  they  come 
as  near  the  required  standard  as  the  Reformed  Churches. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — This  discussion  is  getting  beyond  the  sub- 
ject before  us.  Thai  matter  was  settled  yesterday  ;  and  I  submit 
that  wc  cannot  reopen  it  in  this  way. 

The  President. — The  remarks  are  not  in  order.  But  as  this 
is  only  a  temporary  body,  the  chair  hesitates  about  applying  the 
rigid  rules  of  order  which  obtain  in  a  body  that  continues  in 
session  for  weeks  or  months. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  237 

Henry  Day,  Esq. — I  do  not  wish  to  make  any  trouble,  I  want 
to  smooth  over  all  difficulties ;  and  I  would  be  the  last  man  that 
would  desire  to  get  up  a  disturbance.  But  when  you  consider 
the  vast  amount  of  influence  the  Cumberland  Church  exerts 
with  its  various  Presbyterian  bodies,  I  think  the  committee  made 
a  mistake.  When  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  Christian  com- 
municants, accepting  the  Westminster  Confession,  all  except  the 
sections  on  Predestination  (and  how  many  of  the  bodies  that  are 
represented  here  have  got  those  sections  ?  how  many  from  the 
Continent  have  got  them  ?)  knock  at  our  doors  for  admission  ; 
they  should  not  be  turned  away.  They  do  not  say  anything 
against  the  doctrine  of  Predestination.  They  do  not  exactly 
what  the  Westminster  Catechism  tells  us  to  do,  and  tells  us  very 
gently.  They  just  let  those  doctrines  go,  and  say  nothing  about 
them,  though,  if  they  please,  they  can  believe  them  as  well  as 
we.  And  I  think  if  we  were  writing  that  Confession  over  to- 
day, we  would  not  put  in  it  everything  that  it  now  contains.  I 
simply  ask  that  their  appeal  be  reconsidered  by  this  committee. 
That  is  all  I  want :  that  the  vote  that  was  passed  adopting 
the  report  be  reopened  to  consider  this  application  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  ;  and  that  the  result  of  such 
action  be  made  known  in  a  report  at  the  next  session  of  the 
Alliance. 

The  Rev.  Prof,  William  G.  Blaikis,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. — I  cannot 
remain  a  member  of  the  committee  if  we  are  expected  to  go  into 
this  case  again,  and  make  a  report  during  these  sessions  ;  be- 
cause it  is  utterly  impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  necessary  in- 
quiries in  so  short  a  time.  It  is  one  thing,  on  the  pressure  of 
the  moment,  to  say  whether  a  body  conforms  or  does  not  con- 
form to  the  regulation,  which  provides  that  the  members  of  this 
Council  must  represent  churches  whose  creed  is  in  harmony 
with  the  consensus  of  Reformed  Presbyterian  ism  ;  but  it  is  an- 
other thing  to  give  the  subject  the  due  consideration  it  deniands. 

Now  that  this  Council  is  taking  more  permanent  form,  it  is 
essential  that  some  clearer  definition  be  given  as  to  what  really 
constitutes  a  claim  to  membership.  That  requires  deliberation. 
I  should  only  be  too  glad  to  do  my  part  in  the  committee,  pro- 


238  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

vided  we  are  given  plenty  of  time ;  but  I  respectfully  decline 
being  forced  to  consider  this  important  and  delicate  question  in 
so  brief  a  time,  and  under  such  unfavorable  circumstances. 

The  Rev.  William  Wood,  of  Campsie,  Scotland. — The  Com- 
mittee on  Credentials  is  taken  unawares  by  the  introduction  of 
this  subject.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee, or  any  other  of  the  members  of  the  committee,  excepting 
myself,  be  present ;  but  I  will  say  that  that  committee  gathered, 
at  considerable  length,  the  facts  in  connection  with  the  applica- 
tion from  the  Church  named,  and  they  came  to  their  conclusion 
after  considerable  thought.  This  Council  has  pleased  to  adopt 
the  finding  of  the  committee.  A  reconsideration  of  that  applica- 
tion would  require  a  very  considerable  length  of  time  in  order 
to  do  it  justice.  The  Council  should  carefully  consider  what 
they  are  about  before  saying  to  a  new  committee  that  that 
application  must  be, examined  into  upon  its  merits. 

The  Rev.  Principal  G.  M.  Grant,  D.  D.,  of  Canada. — It  is 
very  unfortunate  that  a  question  of  such  importance  should 
have  been  decided  by  this  Council  without  any  notice  having 
been  given  that  the  subject  was  about  to  come  up  ;  because  I  am 
afraid,  in  taking  that  action  so  hurriedly,  many  members  of  the 
Council  did  not  know  about  it,  and  unintentionally  this  body  has 
violated  a  fundamental  provision  or  plank  of  its  own  platform. 
I  understood  that  the  Alliance  was  to  include  the  Reformed 
Churches  holding  the  Presbyterian  system.  Now  I  am  aware 
that  the  Cumberland  Church  does  hold  to  that  system;  yet 
the  strange  ground  is  taken  that  they  are  to  be  ruled  out. 
We  have  Reformed  Churches  from  the  continent  whose  confes- 
sion of  faith  is  included  in  two  or  three  paragraphs.  There  is 
the  French  Church,  for  example.  Yet  they  are  in  this  Council. 
But  you  have  ruled  out  this  large  body  without  any  discussion. 
I  think  it  is  very  unfortunate  that  it  was  done  without  notice. 
I  think  that  the  motion  pending  should  be  carried  in  order  to 
give  the  committee  an  opportunity  of  considering  the  subject, 
and  that  it  may  be  brought  before  the  Council  after  due  notice 
has  been  given.  I  think  that  common  courtesy  to  this  body 
requires  such  a  course.     I  did  not  know  that  any  such  action 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  239 

had  been  taken.  I  do  not  think  it  is  doing  justice  to  the  one 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  Presbyterian  communicants  concerned 
that  this  important  subject  should  have  been  disposed  of  in  such 
an  off-hand  manner. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Alexander  B.  Bruce,  D.  D.,  of  Glasgow. — I 
desire  to  express  sympathy  with  the  remarks  just  made;  wc  arc 
entirely  in  the  dark.  It  is  not  worthy  of  this  Council  to  dispose 
of  so  great  a  matter  without  knowing  what  we  are  doing.  I  was 
present  when  the  report  was  presented,  but  did  not  know  its 
bearing.  Now,  that  I  do,  I  regret  that  we  have  taken  this  step 
without  more  consideration.  I  think  that  a  number  of  us  feel 
regret  at  the  decision  which  the  Council  came  to.  I  am  pre- 
pared to  say  that  we  should  not  dispose,  of  so  great  a  question 
in  so  light  a  way. 

The  Rev.  William  Brown,  D.  D.,  Fredericksburg;,  Va. — I 
feel  myself  impelled  by  an  imperative  sense  of  duty — not  merely 
as  a  member  of  the  Council  but  as  a  member  of  that  committee 
to  whom  this  question  was  referred, — to  offer  a  {qw  remarks  in 
regard  to  the  subject  before  us,  which  is  not  only  important, 
but,  as  we  all  feel,  very  delicate  in  its  character.  As  to  what  was 
done  by  the  committee  in  the  minute  which  was  adopted,  and 
which  was  reported  to  this  Council,  you  will  notice  that  it 
turns  upon  one  point.  It  will  be  conceded  by  all  that  in  the 
polity  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church — a  very  large 
body  and  one  in  many  respects  of  great  merit,  and  of  great  use- 
fulness— one  of  the  requisitions  of  our  constitution  is  met : 
namely,  that  its  polity  should  be  Presbyterian  ;  but  the  point 
on  which  the  report  of  that  committee  turns  is  this  :  that  we 
had  not  sufficient  evidence  of  their  agreement  with  the  reformed 
consensus.  I  quote  now  from  memory,  but  I  believe  I  gi\-c 
the  very  Words  of  the  constitution :  "  The  consensus  of  the 
Reformed  confessions."  Now  it  may  be  true  that  the  scope  of 
those  terms  is  not  entirely  settled  by  the  Council  as  yet.  But 
the  committee  felt  itself  warranted,  upon  satisfactory  informa- 
tion, in  going  to  this  length — that  we  had  not  sufficient  evidence 
of  an  agreement  by  that  body  in  that  consensus. 

I  suppose  that  there  may  be  two  views  taken  of  this  subject 


240  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

in  the  Council.  There  may  be  what  might  be  regarded  by 
some  as  a  rigid  interpretation  of  those  words,  and  there  may  be 
a  very  latitudinarian  interpretation.  I  will  not  go  into  that  part 
of  the  subject  at  present ;  but  I  think  the  report  of  the  committee 
was  the  only  wise  and  judicious  one  that  could  have  been  made 
under  the  circumstances.  And  I  think  it  would  be  extremely 
injudicious  for  this  body  to  undertake  now,  and  upon  any 
information  which  might  be  thrown  out  by  one  or  another,  and 
which  would  be  regarded  by  some  as  uncertain  and  not  authentic, 
to  go  into  anything  like  a  determination  of  this  question.  The 
form  of  the  minute  adopted  by  the  committee  indicates  by  the 
word  "  sufficient "  that  the  evidence  brought  before  us  does  not 
satisfy  us  now.  It  does  not  exclude  further  consideration  of  the 
question  in  view.  The  proposal  has  been  agreed  to  to  appoint 
a  committee  to  whom  this  and  all  other  applications  may  be 
made,  and  that  it  shall  report  at  the  next  Council.  I  do  not  see 
that  we  are  under  any  necessity  for  doing  this  thing  in  a  corner. 
It  would  be  most  unfortunate  so  to  do  it.  The  decision  of  that 
question  may  very  deeply  affect  the  future  of  this  whole  Alliance 
movement.  It  is  very  important  that  while,  on  the  one  hand, 
we  should  exercise  the  utmost  liberty  and  kindness  consistent 
with  our  position  as  Reformed  Churches,  in  accordance  with 
the  consensus  of  the  Reformed  confessions,  we  should  not  on  the 
other  hand  go  at  all  beyond  it.  If  we  do,  my  own  judgment  is 
— and  I  think  it  will  be  that  of  the  Council — that  we  put  in 
extreme  peril  this  whole  movement.  The  better  course  will  be 
to  let  the  question  go  to  the  committee  appointed  to  investigate 
the  whole  subject,  and  let  it  bring  in  its  report  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  Council. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  T.  Smith,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore. — I  hope  this 
matter  will  be  allowed  to  rest.  I  do  not  think  that  this  body  is 
prepared  to  take  any  action  looking  to  the  admission  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterians.  I  was  a  member  of  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  North,  to 
meet  and  confer  with  a  similar  committee  from  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  in  reference  to  mutual  correspondence. 
After  a  long  controversy,  the  committee  were  unanimous  in  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  241 

report  to  the  Assembly,  that  we  could  not  recognize  them  as 
brethren  in  accord  with  us  in  that  full  degree  which  would 
justify  such  correspondence. 

Robert  N.  Willson,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia. — I  rise  to  a 
point  of  order:  That  the  Council  has  already  passed  upon 
the  matter  which  is  now  being  discussed ;  and  that  it  cannot 
come  before  us  again  unless  it  be  formally  reconsidered.  My 
point  is  a  two-fold  one,  perhaps :  whether  at  this  session  this 
matter  can  be  again  considered  at  all,  and  whether,  if  we 
can  take  it  up  at  the  present  session,  it  must  not  be  formally 
reconsidered  ? 

The  Rev.  D.  A.  Wallace,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Wooster,  Ohio.— 
I  wish  to  make  a  statement  in  defence  of  the  Committee  on 
Credentials.  I  am  a  member  of  that  committee  and  was  called 
upon  to  preside  here  yesterday  morning  when  its  report  was  made. 
In  the  first  place,  in  open  Council,  that  matter  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Credentials,  and  every  member  of  the  Council 
was  supposed  to  understand  that  it  was  in  their  hands.  In  the 
second  place,  that  committee  reported  after  giving  the  subject 
as  full  and  careful  consideration  as,  under  the  circumstances,  it 
could.  It  reported  a  definite  proposition.  It  was  made  at  a 
time  when  it  was  generally  understood  that  the  committee  would 
report ;  and  when  it  was  read  every  member  of  the  committee 
expected  that  the  conclusions  would  be  assailed,  and  that  a  dis- 
cussion would  take  place.  There  was  no  attempt  made  to  crowd 
it — no  doing  of  it  in  the  corner.  There  was  no  attempt  to 
smuggle  it  through — nothing  of  the  sort.  It  was  done  openly 
and  above  board,  and  I  don't  think  that  any  of  the  brethren 
should  suggest  that  there  was  any  attempt  to  smuggle  it 
through. 

Principal  Grant. — The  gentleman  who  has  just  sat  down  is 
the  only  one  that  has  suggested  smuggling.  I  have  not  heard 
the  word  from  any  one  else. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Knox,  D.  D.,  of  Belfast. — When  an  assembly 

such  as  this,  or  any  court  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  comes  to 

a  deliberate  findinsf,  I  hold  that  that  finding  cannot  be  reviewed 

during  the  same  session  of  the  body.     But  it  is  perfectly  com- 

16 


2  42  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

petent  for  any  brother  who  may  be  dissatisfied  with  the  decision 
to  give  notice  that  at  the  next  meeting  of  this  Council  he  will 
bring  this  question  up  again;  a  review  now,  however,  is  not 
competent. 

The  Hon.  William  Strong,  LL.  D. — If  the  action  of  the 
Council,  in  accepting  and  adopting  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  Credentials,  was  a  decision  that  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  not  entitled  to  admission  as  a  member  of  this  Alli- 
ance, then  this  motion  of  Mr.  Day  is  not  in  order;  but  if,  as  I 
understand  it,  the  adoption  of  that  report  had  no  legal  operation 
except  to  determine  that  those  individuals  who  came  here, 
claiming  to  represent  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
were  not  entitled  to  seats,  then  it  seems  Mr.  Day's  motion  is  in 
order.  We  have  not  decided  the  question  which  that  motion 
attempts  to  bring  before  us.  The  one  is  a  question  of  persons 
- — of  the  right  of  individuals  to  seats  on  this  floor  ;  the  other  is 
a  question  as  to  the  right  of  a  Church  to  become  a  member  of 
this  Alliance.  I  think  that  all  that  we  have  decided  is,  that  the 
individuals  who  claimed  seats,  or  asked  for  seats,  as  representa- 
tives of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  were  not,  under 
the  circumstances,  entitled  to  seats — that  the  credentials  which 
they  offered  did  not  entitle  them  to  seats  on  the  floor  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Council.  It  seems  to  me  that  that  is  all  the  legal 
effect  of  our  action,  no  matter  what  reasons  the  committee  gave 
for  their  conclusion.  I  am  quite  willing  that  the  matter  should 
now  be  referred  ;  but,  as  a  member  of  the  Business  Committee,  I 
am  not  prepared  to  say  that  we  could  be  ready  to  make  a  report 
at  this  meeting  of  the  Council.  If  the  Council  should  instruct 
that  committee  to  take  this  subject  into  consideration  and  report 
during  this  term,  I,  for  one,  should  endeavor  to  discharge  my 
duty;  but  I  am  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  extent  to 
which  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  agrees  with  the 
general  concensus  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  to  be  able  to  form 
a  judgment  upon  the  question  whether  this  Church,  as  a  body, 
ought  to  be  admitted  to  this  Alliance ;  and  whether  I  could 
obtain  sufficient  information  upon  that  subject  during  the  session 
of  this  Council  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.     If  the  Council  see  fit 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL,  243 

to  send  the  subject  to  us,  I  am  willing  to  do  what  I  can  to  come 
to  a  conclusion,  and  if  I  can  come  to  a  conclusion,  to  report  to 
this  body ;  but  if  I  am  not  able  to  inform  myself  sufficient!}- 
during  the  sessions  of  this  Council,  I  shall  feel  constrained  to 
ask  for  longer  time.  I  have  no  objection  to  this  being  refei 
nor  to  the  instructions,  always  assuming  that  I  am  not  oblig 
to  report  a  conclusion  before  I  am  able  to  come  to  that  conclu- 
sion. 

If  the  resolution  which  was  brought  in  by  the  Committee  on 
Credentials,  and  adopted  by  the  Council,  was  a  decision  of  this 
question,  then  the  only  mode  to  reach  it  is  by  a  motion  for  re- 
consideration. In  that  way  it  might  be  reached;  but  I  have  not 
supposed  that  to  be  necessar}',  as  I  have  not  regarded  my  vote 
upon  that  question  as  deciding  that  the  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rian Church  was  not  entitled  to  admission  as  a  Church  in  this 
Alliance.  Our  vote  upon  the  question,  as  I  understood  it, 
decided  simply  that  the  individuals  asking  admission  as  dele- 
gates were  not  entitled  to  seats. 

The  President. — The  chair  will  entertain  no  further  re- 
marks except  upon  the  question  of  order.  If  the  point  of  order 
is  insisted  on,  the  chair  will  be  obliged  to  decide  upon  it. 

Henry  Day,  Esq. — After  all,  the  Council  should  leave  the 
matter  to  the  good  sense  of  the  committee.  Let  them  deter- 
mine the  question  whether  they  will  come  to  a  decision  at  this 
session  or  the  next.     I  desire  to  modify  the  motion  in  that  way. 

The  motion,  as  modified,  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  34  to  27. 

The  Rev.  Professor  Robert  Flint,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Edin- 
burgh, then  read  the  following  paper  on 

AGNOSTICISM. 

Agnosticism  is  a  most  comprehensive  theme,  and  it  cannot  reason- 
ably be  expected  that  the  few  remarks,  which  are  all  that  time  permits 
me  to  offer  regarding  it,  should  do  more  than  touch  a  very  small  part 
of  its  surface.  Where  it  would  be  absurd  to  attempt  to  be  profound 
or  thorough,  I  shall  seek  merely  to  be  practical.  With  this  aim  in 
view,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  consideration  of  the  causes  of  the 
present  prevalence  of  Agnosticism  in  the  region  of  religion,  and  to  an 
indication  of  the  counteractive  or  remedial  forces. 


244  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  term  Agnosticism  is  often  vaguely  and  loosely  employed ;  it  is 
only,  I  believe,  accurately  and  appropriately  employed  when  regarded 
as  an  equivalent  for  what  has  been  variously  called  philosophical,  or 
theoretical,  or  metaphysical  scepticism.  The  limitation  of  the  word 
to  the  sphere  of  religion  is  most  objectionable,  and  should  be  resisted. 
There  is  no  reason  for  calling  a  man  an  agnostic  merely  because  he  is 
an  atheist,  or  a  positivist,  or  a  materialist.  The  name  is  only  appropri- 
ate to  one  whose  refusal  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  God,  and  of 
spiritual  things,  is  rested  on  the  allegation  that  the  human  mind  is 
inherently  and  constitutionally  incapable  of  knowing  whether  there  is 
a  God  and  spiritual  things  or  not.  But  there  is  no  kind  of  truth 
which  may  not  be  rejected,  on  the  assumption  that  the  human  mind 
is  inherently  and  constitutionally  incapable  of  ascertaining  whether 
there  is  such  truth  or  not.  The  weakness  of  the  human  mind  is  a 
plea  which  may  be  brought  forward  in  any  region  of  inquiry.  And 
the  plea  is  the  same,  no  matter  in  what  region  it  is  brought  forward. 
Things,  however,  which  have  the  same  nature  should  have  the  same 
name.  Wherever,  therefore,  assent  is  withheld  because  of  the  alleged 
incompetency  of  the  mind  to  ascertain  the  truth,  there  is  Agnosticism. 
The  rejection  of  any  one  kind  of  truth  on  that  ground  is  as  much 
Agnosticism  as  the  rejection  of  any  other  kind.  What  is  essential  in 
Agnosticism  is  the  reason  on  which  it  supports  itself — the  attitude 
towards  truth  and  knowledge  which  it  assumes ;  what  is  non-essential 
are  the  objects  or  propositions  to  which  it  is  applied. 

Some  have  represented  the  scepticism,  which  may  appropriately  be 
called  Agnosticism,  as  negation  or  disbelief;  others  contend  that  it 
should  be  confined  to  doubt.  For  reasons  which  I  have  not  time 
here  to  state,  I  hold  that  it  may  be  either  doubt  or  disbelief;  it  is 
not,  however,  either  merely  doubt  or  disbelief,  but  the  doubt  or  disbe- 
lief which  rests  on  the  supposition  that  what  are  really  powers  of  the 
human  mind  are  untrustworthy — that  what  are  actually  normal  percep- 
tions, natural  or  even  necessary  laws  and  legitimate  processes,  are  not 
to  be  depended  on.  Ordinary  doubt  and  ordinary  disbelief  have  their 
reasons  in  the  objects  or  propositions  examined  by  the  mind,  not  in 
distrust  of  the  mind  itself;  they  imply  nothing  more  than  the  convic- 
tion of  the  absence  of  evidence  for,  or  the  existence  of  evidence  against, 
the  particular  position  in  dispute.  But  Agnosticism  challenges  evi- 
dence, and  refuses  to  be  convinced  by  it,  on  the  deeper  and  subtler 
ground  that  the  mind  is  not  endowed  with  faculties  by  which  it  can 
derive  truth  and  certainty  from  what  is  alleged  to  be  evidence. 

In  the  present  day.  Agnosticism  is  seldom  applied,  as  it  was  by  the 
ancient  Greek  sceptics,  to  all  forms  and  kinds  of  what  is  called  knowl- 
edge ;  it  is  also  rarely  now  maintained,  as  it  has,  however,  not  unfre- 
quently  been  maintained,  to  be  valid  with  respect  to  what  is  termed 
reason  and  science,  but  not  to  faith  and  religion  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  only  in  reference  to  the  spiritual  and  the  supernatural  that  it  is  very 
prevalent,  and,  as  regards  them,  it  is  alarmingly  prevalent.  Contem- 
porary x\gnosticism,  unlike  the  more  consistent  Agnosticism  of  former 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  245 

ages,  endeavors  to  show  that  ordinary  experience  and  the  positive 
sciences  may  be  received  with  deference  and  confidence,  but  that  re- 
ligion and  revelation  must  be  rejected,  as  presenting  only  credentials 
which  the  human  mind  is  incapable  of  testing.  Why  is  Agnosticism 
in  this  form  so  common  ?  and  how  is  it  to  be  dealt  with  ? 

First,  then,  although  this  special  form  of  Agnosticism — Agnosticism 
in  regard  to  religion — be  far  more  common  than  any  general  form  of 
Agnosticism — Agnosticism  in  regard  to  knowledge  in  itself — the  lat- 
ter may  fairly  be  specified  as  one  of  the  causes  of  the  former.  The 
general  doctrine,  to  some  extent,  originates  and  explains  the  special 
doctrine.  Those  "dead  but  sceptered  sovereigns" — Hume  and 
Kant — "still  rule  our  spirits  from  their  urns."  The  Agnosticism  of 
Sir  Wm.  Hamilton  and  of  Dean  Mansel  as  to  knowledge  of  the  In- 
finite, was  but  a  modification  and  application  of  Kant's  theory  of 
cognition,  and  the  entire  process  of  argumentation  by  which  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer  relegates  religion  and  its  objects  to  the  region 
of  the  unknowable,  is  borrowed  from  Hamilton  and  Mansel.  One 
constantly  hears  the  agnostic  views  of  Hume  and  Kant,  of  Comte 
and  Mill,  expressed  and  avowed  by  men  who  have  never  read  a 
page  of  their  writings,  but  who  are  not  the  less  influenced,  on  that 
account,  by  their  opinions.  Then  every  phase  of  Agnosticism  in 
religion  must,  when  called  upon  to  defend  and  justify  itself,  appeal 
to  the  Agnosticism  of  metaphysical  theory.  The  negations  of  the 
positivist,  as  to  the  spiritual  and  the  supernatural,  for  example,  are 
mere  arbitrary  assertions,  until  based  on  some  agnostic  theory  of  the 
nature  and  conditions  of  cognition.  It  is  this  necessity  of  vindicating 
Agnosticism  in  religion  which  has  more  than  anything  else,  I  believe, 
led  recently  in  Germany  to  the  resuscitation  of  the  negative  or  scep- 
tical portion  of  the  philosophy  of  Kant ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  the 
spread  of  what  is  called  Neo-Kantism.  A  very  large  number  of  the 
Neo-Kantists  are  men  utterly  incapable  of  understanding  the  system 
of  Kant  as  a  whole,  and  utterly  devoid  of  sympathy  with  what  is  best 
in  the  spirit  of  that  system — men  who  accept  what  they  call  critical 
philosophy  in  the  most  uncritical  way — men  whose  blind  and  idola- 
trous worship  of  the  weaknesses  and  defects  of  the  philosophy  of 
Kant  has  its  main  source  in  the  fancy  that  a  simple  appeal  to  the 
negative  conclusions  of  the  Kritik  of  Pure  Person  will  entitle  them  to 
treat  religion  as  an  illusion,  and  to  disregard  everything  but  what 
they  are  pleased  to  call  experience.  Of  course,  although  a  doctrine 
like  Neo-Kantism  may  owe  its  existence  mainly  to  religious  scepticism, 
once  it  has  been  produced  it  will  aid  in  confirming  and  spreading 
the  scepticism  in  which  it  originated. 

The  practical  inference  which  I  draw  from  what  I  have  now  indi- 
cated is,  that  the  Churches  are  vitally  interested  in  the  prosperity  of 
the  mental  and  speculative  branches  of  knowledge,  such  as  psychology, 
logic,  and  metaphysics.  Agnosticism  in  religion  must  have  its  roots 
there,  and  can  only  be  completely  overcome  by  being  eradicated 
there.     It  may  be  so  far  met  by  being  shown  to  be  arbitrary  in   its 


246  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

rejection  of  ultimate  and  self-evident  principles ;  to  be  essentially  in- 
consistent and  self-contradictory  in  every  form — general  or  special, 
total  or  partial — in  which  it  can  be  exhibited,  and  to  be  pernicious  in 
its  consequences;  but  the  only  thoroughly  adequate  antidote  to  it  is  a 
truthful  and  comprehensive  mental  philosophy.  Agnosticism  is  largely 
founded,  for  example,  on  narrow  and  partial  doctrines  as  to  the  nature 
of  belief.  The  theory  of  Hume,  that  belief  is  constituted  by  vivacity 
or  strength  of  impression  ;  of  James  Mill,  that  it  is  resolvable  into  the 
inseparable  association  of  ideas;  of  Dr.  Bain,  that  its  basis  and  ulti- 
mate criterion  is  action ;  of  M.  Renouvier,  that  its  essence  is  an  act 
of  free  determination,  etc.,  must  lead  to  Agnosticism  in  some  form. 
Then,  in  order  to  preclude  it  in  all  forms,  a  true  doctrine  of  belief 
must  be  supported  by  a  true  doctrine  of  knowledge,  and  that,  again, 
by  a  correct  and  adequate  doctrine  of  evidence.  Agnosticism  must 
be  the  necessary  result  of  overlooking  or  depreciating  any  element 
power  or  means  of  knowledge,  any  kind  of  evidence,  or  any  natural 
and  truthful  criterion  of  evidence.  Place,  for  instance,  the  criterion 
of  truth  exclusively  in  sense  or  sentiment,  in  the  theoretical  reason  or 
the  practical  reason,  in  authority  or  universal  consent ;  reduce  it,  with 
Locke,  to  the  perception  of  the  agreement  or  disagreement  of  ideas — 
with  Leibnitz,  to  the  absence  of  contradiction;  with  Herbert  Spencer, 
to  the  inconceivability  of  the  negative,  etc. — and  you  must  logically 
become,  if  only  a  partial  agnostic,  still  an  agnostic  on  a  very  large 
scale.  The  more  a  man,  therefore,  reflects  on  this  subject  of  Agnos- 
ticism, the  more  must  he  be  impressed  by  the  conviction  that  all  our 
churches  are  vitally  interested,  and  all  true  theology  is  greatly  and 
intimately  dependent  on,  the  successful  culture  and  general  diffusion 
of  a  sound  and  enlarged  philosophy,  such  as  will  repel  all  exclusive 
doctrines,  allow  us  to  be  just  to  every  order  of  facts  and  ideas,  and 
leave  room  for  faith  and  affection  fully  to  develop  themselves. 

In  the  next  place,  the  anti-religious  Agnosticism  of  the  age  is  of 
course  greatly  favored  by  the  critical  temper,  the  analytical  spirit,  of 
the  age.  We  are  living  at  a  time  when  a  very  large  number  of  per- 
sons claim  the  right  to  exercise  their  own  judgment  who  have  unfor- 
tunately but  little  judgment  to  exercise  ;  when  a  very  large  number 
of  persons  forget  that  the  right  of  private  judgment,  although  very 
important,  is  only  a  half-truth,  and  that  the  duty  of  judging  rightly  is 
its  complement  and  equally  important.  We  cannot  help  this,  because 
the  reason  of  it  is  that  God  has  willed  that  we  should  live  in  this  nine- 
teenth century  ;  and  probably  we  do  not  need  much  to  regret  it,  be- 
cause, with  all  its  faults,  the  nineteenth  century  is  by  no  means  the 
worst  in  which  our  lots  might  have  been  cast.  It  is  a  century,  however, 
pervadingly  and  prftdominantly  critical,  and  even  largely  hypercritical. 
Research  takes  us  back  in  all  directions  to  a  state  of  society  very  un- 
like that  which  now  prevails.  The  communism  which  some  writers 
present  as  the  ideal  of  the  future  is  found  to  have  been  a  general  fact 
of  the  past.  There  is  evidence  that,  in  the  history  of  every  country 
inhabited  by  any  division  of  the  Aryan  race — Hindu,  Persian,  Greek, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  247 

Latin,  Slavonic,  Celtic,  Teutonic — there  was  a  time  when  private  prop- 
erty in  land  did  not  exist,  when  the  soil  was  distributed  among  groups 
of  self-styled  kinsmen,  when  separate  ownership  was  scarcely  known. 
In  this  archaic  state  of  society  man  as  an  individual  may  be  said  to 
have  scarcely  existed.  The  law  and  the  religion  which  corresponded 
to  this  stage  knew  next  to  nothing  of  individuals.  They  were  con- 
cerned with  families,  with  groups.  No  man  felt  with  any  distinctness 
t  lat  he  had  rights  and  duties  simply  as  a  man.  The  rights  of  private 
judgment,  and  of  independent  action,  were  not  so  much  denied  and 
restricted  as  undiscovered  and  unimagined.  Social  authority  was 
omnipotent.  It  is  under  the  sway  of  this  principle  that  all  societies 
have  grown  up  through  infancy  and  youth.  But  in  every  progressive 
society  there  comes  a  time  when  its  stronger  minds  feel  that  they  are 
not  merely  parts  of  a  social  organism,  but  have  a  life  and  destiny, 
rights  and  duties,  of  their  own,  and  simply  as  men.  There  are  then 
two  principles  in  the  world  :  the  principle  of  authority  and  the  prin- 
ciple of  liberty — the  principle  of  society  and  the  principle  of  individ- 
uality. These  two  principles  coexist  at  first  in  a  {^^fi  individuals,  but 
in  process  of  time  they  come  not  only  to  coexist  in  some  degree  in  all, 
but  to  manifest  themselves  apart ;  and  then  there  are  not  only  two 
principles  but  two  parties  in  the  world,  the  one  inclining  more  to  the 
side  of  social  authority,  and  the  other  more  toward  individual  inde- 
pendence, each  party  existing  in  virtue  of  its  assertion  of  a  truth,  but 
existing  only  as  a  party  because  it  does  not  assert  the  whole  truth  ; 
each  conferring  its  special  services,  each  having  its  special  dangers, 
each  being  certain  to  ruin  any  society  in  which  it  succeeds  in  crush- 
ing the  other,  but  the  two  securing  both  order  and  progress,  partly 
by  counteracting  each  other  and  partly  by  co-operating  with  each 
other.  When  the  principle  of  authority  is  generally  and  spontane- 
ously accepted  we  may  be  said  to  have  what  Saint-Simon  called  an 
organic  or  synthetic  period  of  history;  when  the  principle  of  individ- 
ual independence  is  predominant  we  may  be  said  to  have  what  he  called 
a  critical  or  analytic  period.  According  to  Saint-Simon  all  history 
may  be  divided  into  critical  periods  and  organic  periods.  The  crit- 
ical periods  are  those  in  which  the  minds  of  men  are  employed  in  in- 
vestigating the  principles  of  government  under  which  they  live,  in 
endeavoring  to  amend  old  institutions  and  to  invent  new  ones,  in 
which  no  creed  commands  the  assent  of  all,  so  that  society  is  without 
principles,  discontented,  changeful,  and,  in  a  word,  in  a  state  of  an- 
archy. Organic  periods,  on  the  contrary,  are  those  which  possess  an 
accepted  doctrine,  in  which  society  is  cemented  by  the  synthesis  of 
a  common  faith,  in  which  the  actual  institutions  give  satisfaction  to 
the  world  and  men's  minds  are  at  rest.  Tnus  pre-Socratic  Greece  was 
organic,  post-Socratic  Greece  critical.  Roman  history  began  to  pass 
from  organic  to  critical  with  Lucretius  and  Cicero.  With  the  defini- 
tive constitution  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  sixth  century  began 
the  new  organic  period  of  feudalism  ;  and  in  the  sixteenth  century  the 
Reformers  inaugurated  another  critical  period,  which  the  philosophers, 
scientists,  and  others  have  continued  until  the  present  time. 


248  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

This  generalization  may  not  improbably  be  in  various  respects  im- 
perfect, and  yet  it  may  be  accepted  as  containing  a  large  amount  of 
truth.  Three  centuries  ago  a  doubting,  questioning,  scrutinizing  spirit 
began  to  make  its  presence  widely  felt  in  many  forms;  and  down  to 
this  day  it  has  been  continually  growing  in  strength.  Its  history  is 
the  main  current  of  modern  history.  Its  course  and  character  have 
been  very  largely  directed  and  determined  by  forces  and  modes  of 
thought  which  are  not  specifically  religious,  and  which  may  readily 
become  anti-religious.  It  has  shown  itself  in  the  region  of  intellect 
chiefly  in  the  elaboration  and  application  of  the  physical,  experi- 
mental, positive,  inductive  sciences,  and  in  the  region  of  action  by 
wonderful  ingenuity  and  energy  as  regards  things  secular.  It  is  apt 
in  the  one  sphere  to  become  empiricism  or  materialism,  and  in  the 
other  to  become  worldliness ;  and  those  who  are  carried  by  it  to  either 
error  are  necessarily  disposed  to  justify  themselves  by  adopting  agnos- 
tic views  and  supporting  them  by  what  are  alleged  to  be  critical 
methods.  This  alliance  of  Agnosticism  with  criticism  is  a  source  of 
great  influence  to  the  former,  while  it  vitiates  and  corrupts  the  latter, 
and  is  undoubtedly  very  dangerous  to  religion.  Many  of  our  modern 
critics  first  assume  that  there  can  be  no  real  objective  knowledge  of 
God  and  divine  things;  that  the  phenomena  of  religion,  those  of 
Christianity  included,  may  be  fully  explained  on  naturalistic  prin- 
ciples, and  at  least  without  reference  to  special  revelation  ;  and  then 
proceed  to  explain  away,  by  means  of  narrow  and  onesided  theories 
of  development  and  ingenious  but  inconclusive  critical  processes, 
everything  which  conflicts  with  their  assumption  in  the  history  of  the 
Jews,  in  the  character,  words  and  works  of  the  Saviour,  in  the  lives 
of  the  apostles,  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  Church. 

How  are  our  churches  to  comport  themselves  toward  this  danger 
which  threatens  them  all,  and  which  in  some  phase,  some  modifica- 
tion, some  degree,  may  ])resent  itself  to  any  one  of  them  any  day  ? 
Well,  each  church  must  of  course  bear  its  own  burdens,  and  perhaps 
the  more  each  church  is  left  to  deal  with  its  own  cases,  free  and  un- 
biased by  extraneous  opinion,  and  the  less  reference  is  made  to  them 
by  other  churches,  the  better.  It  is  certainly  a  very  mean  and  un- 
worthy thing  in  any  church  to  try  to  make  ecclesiastical  capital  out 
of  the  troubles  of  a  sister  church.  What  I  wish,  however,  to  empha- 
size here  is  this  :  that  the  mere  exercise  of  discipline  by  any  church 
must  be  deemed  a  very  poor  method  indeed  of  replying  to  agnostic 
criticism,  or  any  kind  of  illegitimate  criticism  of  religion  and  revela- 
tion. The  only  method  of  meeting  it,  which  can  be  reasonably  ex- 
pected to  do  permanent  or  general  good,  is  by  opposing  to  it  criticism 
of  a  legitimate  kind.  Its  irreverence  must  be  confronted  with  piety  ; 
its  narrow  and  exclusive  views  of  development  with  adequate  and  com- 
prehensive ones  ;  its  ingenious  but  erroneous  conjectures  with  sound 
and  true  inductions  ;  its  hypotheses,  plausible  merely  because  drawn 
from  facts  arbitrarily  selected  and  illusively  combined,  with  conclu- 
sions drawn  from  all  classes  of  the  relevant  facts.     A  truly  reverent, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  249 

truly  enlightened,  profound  and  thorough  biblical  scholarship  can 
alone  successfully  combat  agnostic  criticism.  Presbyterian  churches, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  have  seemed  in  general  but  little  to  realize  how  im- 
portant such  scholarship  is.  It  is  high  time  that  they  were  doing  so 
now.  If  they  are  foolish  enough  to  think  that  they  can  supply  the 
place  of  it  by  suspensions  and  excommunications  they  will  find  them- 
selves deplorably  mistaken.  These,  even  when  most  cautious  and 
most  just,  will  do  little  positive  good  ;  if  hasty,  harsh,  or  unjust,  they 
must  do  much  positive  mischief. 

I  meant  to  speak,  in  the  third  place,  of  the  influence  of  dogmatism 
and  dogmatic  systems  on  the  spread  of  anti-theological  Agnosticism, 
but  can  now  merely  indicate  what  I  designed  to  attempt  under  this  head. 
It  was  to  show  how  such  Agnosticism  naturally  follows  from  the  one- 
sidedness  and  exclusiveness  of  many  dogmatic  systems ;  from  the  con- 
flict of  dogmatic  systems;  and  from  the  pretensions  to  perfection  and 
finality  sometimes  put  forth  on  their  behalf.  On  this  last  point  espe- 
cially I  could  have  wished  to  enlarge.  Churches  often  forget  that  it 
is  their  duty  not  only  to  retain  the  religious  truth  which  has  been 
transmitted  to  them,  but  to  increase  it  by  ever  fresh  and  fuller  studies 
of  all  God's  disclosures  of  himself;  that  it  is  their  duty  to  be  continu- 
ally deepening,  enlarging,  and  improving,  their  theology.  There  can 
hardly  be  a  more  serious  danger.  It  is  by  an  ever-growing  appropria- 
tion and  application  of  the  truth  which  God  has  revealed  that  a  church 
advances  toward  the  realization  of  its  ideal  and  mission  ;  and  the  ap- 
propriation and  application  of  truth  presuppose  its  apprehension.  A 
church  which  rests  satisfied  with  the  acquisitions  which  former  gen- 
erations have  drawn  from  nature,  providence,  and  Scripture  ;  which 
does  not  seek  to  add  to  the  old  treasures  stored  up  in  its  creeds,  cate- 
chisms, and  dogmatic  systems,  new  treasures;  maybe  orthodox — may 
have  espoused  as  yet  no  grievous  positive  falsehood,  but  its  whole  at- 
titude toward  the  truth  is  a  wrong  one.  It  is  at  heart  disloyal  to  the 
truth  and  dead  to  the  love  of  it ;  and,  once  a  church  is  dead  and  dis- 
loyal to  the  truth,  it  will  soon  be  dead  and  disloyal  to  all  that  is  good. 
When  a  church  loses  that  love  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ,  which 
constrains  it  to  seek  in  him  ever  new  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge ;  when  it  comes  to  look  with  suspicion  on  new  discoveries  and 
to  discountenance  the  spirit  of  independent  and  original  investigation  ; 
Avhen  theological  research  and  theological  instruction  are  the  last 
things  it  strives  to  encourage,  that  church  is  not  far  from  the  terrible 
condition  in  which  errors  are  justified  and  lies  embraced.  Every  such 
church  practically  and  most  powerfully  teaches  agnostic  disbelief  in 
spiritual  truth.  Every  such  church  presents  its  theology  in  a  light 
admirably  calculated  to  make  men  conclude  that  it  is  a  sham  science, 
a  pretended  exposition  of  the  unknown  and  unknowable.  Every 
church,  on  the  other  hand,  which  seeks  earnestly  more  and  more 
divine  light ;  which  welcomes  what  is  new  in  theology,  if  it  be  true ; 
which  encourages  fresh  and  original  theological  speculation,  if  only 
it  be  sincere  and  reverent;  cannot  but  bear  a  powerful  practical  testi- 


250  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE 

nionj  that  theology  is  real  and  vital  knowledge,  and  eminently  worthy 
of  study.  I  have  great  respect  for  Calvin;  I  believe  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  Westminster  Confession;  but  I  utterly  disbelieve  the  notion, 
which  I  regard  as  one  of  the  most  powerful  causes  of  Agnosticism, 
that  theology  came  to  a  stop  with  Calvin  or  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion. I  believe,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  human  mind  scarcely  ever 
worked  more  energetically  or  successfully  in  the  fields  of  theological 
science  than  it  has  been  working  during  the  nineteenth  century, 
entire  theological  sciences,  like  biblical  theology  and  comparative 
theology,  having  been  built  up  almost  from  the  foundations  within 
that  period  ;  and  there  are  still  in  theology  worlds  to  conquer  by  the 
human  mind  divinely  guided  and  enliglitened.  "  There  remaineth 
yet  much  land  to  be  possessed." 

I  must  stop  without  concluding.  I  should  next  have  described  how 
Agnosticism  arises  from  false  views  of  the  relations  of  science  to  re- 
ligion, and  how  it  must  be  combated  by  true  views  on  this  point ; 
but  here,  I  am  sure,  you  may  fairly  take  in  what  has  been  already  said 
to-day  regarding  it  by  gentlemen  than  whom  none  more  competent  to 
treat  of  it  could  possibly  have  been  found;  and  tlien,  if  you  like,  you 
may  credit  me,  on  the  score  of  superior  comprehensiveness,  with  all  the 
merits  in  the  papers  of  Principal  McCosh  and  Professor  Calderwood. 

If  time  had  allowed  I  should,  finally  have  dwelt  on  the  thought  that 
whatever  tends  to  make  us  unspiritual,  worldly,  selfish,  is  favoi;able 
to  Agnosticism  ;  that  all  that  tends  to  raise  us  above  unspirituality, 
worldliness,  selfishness,  is  unfavorable  to  it;  and  that  the  strongest  of 
all  anti-agnostic  forces — in  fact,  the  one  great  safeguard  of  humanity 
against  the  general  or  final  triumph  of  Agnosticism — is  none  other 
than  the  redemptive  power  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Each  one  of  you — fathers,  brothers,  sisters — by  simply  so  living  as  to 
show  that  religion  is  supremely  worth  believing,  may  do  far  more  to 
combat  the  spirit  whence  Agnosticism  arises  than  I  or  any  one  could 
do  by  a  merely  formal  written  attack  upon  it.  The  gfand  argument 
against  anti-religious  Agnosticism  is  the  practical  one  of  a  consistent 
and  vigorous  Christian  life — the  argument  which,  through  God's  grace, 
we  can  all  use. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Mathews  announced  that  Ed.  De  Pressense, 
D.  D.,  of  Paris,  who  was  on  the  programme  to  read  a  paper  on 
"Apologetics,"  had  written  a  letter  expressing  his  inability  to  be 
present ;  but  sending  his  paper  in  French.  He  moved,  and  the 
motion  was  agreed  to,  that  the  paper  be  committed  to  the  Ed- 
itorial Committee  to  be  prepared  for  publication.  It  will  be 
found  in  the  appendix,  page  902. 

Dr.  Mathew.s  read  a  congratulatory  communication  from 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Ministers'  Association  of  Philadelphia, 
mid  said  :  In  consideration  of  this  I  offer  the  following : 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


251 


Resolved,  That  the  salutations  addressed  to  this  Council  by  our 
Methodist  brethren  be  received  and  heartily  reciprocated. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  H.  A.  Nelson,  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  offered  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Whereas  we  are  informed  that  our  Christian  brethren  of  the 
Methodist  Churches  are  to  hold  an  Ecumenical  Conference  in  London 
in  the  year  1881  ; 

Resolved,  That  two  ministers  and  two  ruling  elders  be  appointed 
to  convey  to  that  body  the  fraternal  salutations  of  this  Alliance,  with 
the  assurance  of  our  hearty  fellowship  with  them  in  the  cause  of  our 
one  Redeemer  and  Lord. 

On  the  motion  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Breed,  it  was  referred  to  the 
Business  Committee. 

After  devotional  services  the  Council  adjourned  to  meet  on 
Monday,  at  half-past  nine  o'clock  a.  m. 


FOURTH    DAY'S   SESSION. 

Monday,  September  2^111,  1880. 
The  Council  met  at  half-past  nine  o'clock  a.  m.,  in  Horticul- 
tural Hall ;  the  Rev.  William  Brown,  D.  D.,  of  Fredericks- 
burg, Va.,  President  for  the  session. 

After  devotional  services,  the  minutes  of  the  previous  session 
were  read  and  approved. 

METHODIST    CORRESPONDENCE. 
The  Rev.  S.  I.  Prime,  D.  D.,  from  the  Business  Committee,  to 
which  had  been  referred  the  resolution  proposing  the  appoint- 
ment of  fraternal  delegates  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Ecumen- 
ical Conference,  reported  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  the  constitution  of  our  Alliance  makes 
no  provision  for  reciprocating  such  correspondence,  and  we  are  not 
apprised  of  the  wishes  of  the  Churches  in  that  regard,  it  is  not  ])rac- 
ticable  at  present  to  make  such  appointments  as  are  contemplated  in 
the  resolution. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  H.  A.  Nelson. — I  offered  the  original  resolu- 
tion at  the  suggestion  of  a  distinguished  gentleman  of  the  Meth- 


232  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

odist  Episcopal  Church,  who  wrote  to  me,  and,  as  he  informed 
me,  had  written  to  one  or  two  other  members  of  the  Council, 
who  are  not  now  on  the  ground,  expressing  his  confidence  that 
such  action  on  the  part  of  this  body  would  be  highly  acceptable 
to  the  body  with  which  it  is  proposed  to  communicate.  He  was 
careful  to  say  that  of  course  he  did  not  act  in  any  official 
capacity  ;  (and  indeed  there  has  been  no  opportunity  yet  for  any 
official  expression  of  the  wishes  of  our  Methodist  brethren;)  but 
that,  with  his  knowledge  of  their  views,  he  was  confident  that 
such  an  attention  from  this  body  would  be  acceptable  to  those 
to  whom  it  was  directed.  I  offered  the  resolution,  therefore, 
after  consultation  with  some  of  the  members  of  this  Council, 
confident  that  such  a  manifestation  of  Christian  courtesy  could 
not  be  unsafe,  and  might  tend  greatly  to  the  promotion  of  the 
interests  which  we  hold  in  common  with  our  Methodist  brethren. 
I  was  careful  to  limit  the  resolution  to  a  simple  expression  of 
our  fraternal  regard,  and  our  wishes  for  the  promotion  of  our 
common  interest.  I  should  certainly  be  as  reluctant  as  any 
other  brother  to  take  any  action  v/hich  would  commit  this  body 
unadvisedly  to  anything  further  than  that. 

The  Rev.  Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh. — 
I  do  not  know  the  nature  of  the  communication  that  has  come 
to  us,  nor  am  I  acquainted  with  the  reason  which  actuated  the 
Business  Committee  in  proposing  the  resolution  now  before  us. 
However,  if  it  be  the  disposition  of  this  great  Council  not  to 
accede  to  the  proposition  here  made,  I  hope  it  will  be  under- 
stood by  our  Methodist  brethren  that  our  action  is  so  taken,  not 
from  any  want  of  interest  in  their  work,  nor  from  any  want  of 
sympathy  with  them  in  that  which  is  distinctive  of  us,  and  of 
them  alike,  as  separated  from  Romanism,  and  from  other  forms 
of  error.  We  greatly  honor  them  for  the  work  they  are  doing 
in  America  and  throughout  the  Christian  world.  I  may  men- 
tion that  when,  five  years  ago,  the  great  Presbyterian  union 
took  place  in  Liverpool,  the  first  voice  that  was  lifted  up  to 
welcome  us  was  a  Methodist  voice.  While  it  may  not  be  wise 
for  us  to  adopt  the  proposition  which  was  made  on  Saturday,  I 
hope  that,  as  soon  as  it  may  be  possible,  some  such  resolution 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  253 

as  the  one  indicated  by  Dr.  Nelson  may  be  adopted ;  and  that 
we  may  attest  to  the  country  that,  while  we  differ  from  our 
Methodist  brethren,  and  diffe-r  from  them  on  points  of  impor- 
tance, we  rejoice  with  them  in  their  work,  and  in  their  large  ap- 
proximation towards  Presbyterianism ;  and  are  desirous  in  every 
possible  way,  in  which  we  can  do  so  consistently  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  this  Alliance,  to  testify  our  sympathy  with  them  and 
our  readiness  to  co-operate  with  them  in  the  work  of  our  com- 
mon Lord. 

The  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York. — When  the  letter 
from  our  Methodist  brethren  was  read  at  a  previous  session, 
several  friends  sitting  near  me  who,  like  myself,  were  exceed- 
ingly interested  in  that  communication,  and  who  felt  that  there 
ought  to  be  a  committee  appointed  in  response  to  it,  suggested 
that  some  action  should  be  taken  accordingly.  The  answer 
which  was  made  to  that  v/as  that  the  matter  would  be  covered 
by  the  appointment  of  a  delegation  from  this  Council  to  an  an- 
ticipated similar  convention  to  be  held  in  London.  An  objec- 
tion" which  is  made  by  the  Business  Committee  is,  that  it  is 
uncertain  whether  such  a  convention  will  ever  be  held.  The 
answer  to  that  objection  is  this,  that  if,  in  giving  expression  to 
the  fraternal  feeling  of  this  Council,  we  do  constitute  a  com- 
mittee such  as  the  one  here  proposed,  and  if  for  some  reason 
that  committee  cannot  carry  out  the  intention  of  their  appoint- 
ment, no  harm  will  accrue  therefrom ;  whereas,  if  a  council  or 
convention  such  as  is  anticipated  should  be  held,  and  that  com- 
mittee should  fulfil  the  purpose  of  their  creation,  great  good 
might  be  effected  thereby. 

The  Hon.  Isaac  D.  Jones,  of  Baltimore. — This  is  the  second 
time  that  we  have  had  an  approach  from  our  sister  Churches,  for 
I  must  so  call  them,  being  of  the  Protestant  faith  as  they  are. 
There  are  some  subjects  upon  which  all  who  love  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  of  whatever  name,  may  unite.  Not  many 
years  ago  I  had  the  honor  of  being  chairman  of  a  pretty  large 
committee,  representing  a  meeting  of  several  thousand  citizens 
of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  which  included  not  only  Christians,  but 
persons  who  were  not  members  of  any  Church,  and  also  many 


254  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALL  LANCE. 

influential  Israelites.  The  purpose  of  the  committee  was  to 
appeal  to,  and  make  its  influence  felt  upon,  the  Legislature  of 
Maryland,  in  a  matter  in  which  not  only  all  the  Protestant 
Churches  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  but  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  the  Israelites  were  largely  interested ;  these  two 
latter  being  represented  on  the  committee.  The  movement  was 
one  in  defence  of  the  Sunday  law,  which  prohibited  the  profana- 
tion of  the  Sabbath  day,  then  assailed  by  a  very  numerous  asso- 
ciation in  an  application  for  its  repeal,  backed  by  an  enormous 
sum  of  money  with  which  it  Avas  expected  to  buy  up  the  Legis- 
lature. We  were  exceedingly  happy  to  have  the  co-operation 
of  the  Catholics  and  the  Israelites  in  that  emergency. 

I  had  no  intimation  in  regard  to  the  matter  which  we  had 
before  us  the  other  day  concerning  our  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians, and  therefore  I  shall  say  nothing  upon  that  point ; 
but,  in  regard  to  our  Methodist  brethren,  it  strikes  me  that 
in  seeking  to  attain  the  great  object  upon  which  we  all  unite, 
the  spreading  of  the  gospel  among  heathens,  and  through- 
out the  world,  we  may  very  properly  accept  their  co-opera- 
tion and  send  them,  either  by  letter  or  by  delegates,  our  salu- 
tation ;  and  that  in  so  doing  we  are  not  affecting  one  iota  of 
the  differences  that  may  exist  among  us.  I  think  that  the  duty 
of  our  modern  Christianity  is  to  lay  stress,  not  upon  the  points 
of  our  differences,  but  rather  upon  the  points  upon  which  we 
all  unite,  and  to  co-operate  in  that  spirit.  I  think  that  the 
time  has  passed  for  keeping  before  our  eyes  the  differences 
which  are  not  essential  to  salvation,  and  the  time  has  come 
when  we  should  lay  more  stress  upon  points  that  are  essen- 
tial to  salvation,  and  which  we  recognize  our  sister  Churches 
as  maintaining. 

I  concur  most  heartily  in  the  sentiment  that  we  should  meet 
in  a  Christian  spirit  these  approaches  that  are  made  to  us,  these 
desires  for  a  more  intimate  recognition  ;  and  that  we  should  give 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  as  every  Christian  is  ready  to  do, 
to  fellow-Christians  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other,  to 
the  inhabitants  of  India,  to  the  roving  Indian  of  the  Choctaw 
Nation,  to  the  people  of  Africa,  and  to  every  quarter  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  255 

world.  I  think  that  the  more  seriously  this  spirit  is  cultivated 
the  more  successful  will  be  our  efforts  in  this  Council,  in  the 
accomplishment  of  the  object  which  we  all  have  at  heart. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Nelson. — It  seems  to  me  that  the  reason  given 
by  the  committee  for  not  assenting  to  the  resolution,  namely, 
that  there  is  nothing  in  our  constitution  which  provides  for  such 
a  thing,  is  not  quite  sufficient.  I  am  led  to  take  this  view  of  it, 
because  of  the  fact  that  this  Council  is  a  new  body,  and  one  of 
which  we  may  say  that  it  is  still  forming  its  constitution.  If  we 
adopt  the  resolution  providing  for  sending  a  deputation  to  the 
Conference  of  Methodists,  that  action  will  form  a  precedent  for 
similar  action  hereafter,  and  to  that  extent  will  be  accepted  as 
within  the  province  of  our  constitution.  I  think  that  it  would 
be  well  for  this  Council  to  establish  such  a  precedent  in  a  matter 
which  is  purely  one  of  courtesy,  and  manifestation  of  regard 
toward  our  Methodist  brethren.  In  the  opening  proceedings  of 
this  Council,  there  was  an  expression  of  Christian  sympathy 
and  good-will  toward  all  who  are  engaged  in  the  great  work  of 
spreading  the  gospel.  There  could  be  no  better  way  of  giving 
a  practical  exhibition  of  that  sympathy  and  good-will  than  by 
appointing  a  deputation,  or  sending  a  letter,  to  the  Conference 
of  Methodists  proposed  to  be  held  in  London. 

The  Rev.  William  Reid,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Canada. — I  did 
not  exactly  understand  the  sense  in  which  the  word  "  corre- 
spondence "  was  used  in  the  report  of  the  Business  Committee ; 
but  my  impression  is,  that  the  assumption  upon  which  the  re- 
port is  predicated  is  that  no  such  correspondence  could  properly 
be  received.  The  fact,  however,  will  be  borne  in  mind,  that  we 
have  already  received  a  correspondence  from  the  Methodist 
Church.  A  communication  has  been  laid  before  the  Council, 
and  accepted  by  it,  tendering  the  fraternal  greetings  and  best 
wishes  of  that  body.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  constitution 
which  forbade  that,  we  have  already  disregarded  it.  But  as  a 
standing  committee  will  probably  be  constituted  to  continue 
in  existence  between  the  adjournment  of  this  Council  and  the 
convening  of  the  next  Council,  this  matter  might  be  disposed 
of  now  by  laying  it  aside  to  be  referred  to  that  committee  when 


256  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

created,  with  authority  either  to  appoint  a  deputation,  or  send  a 
letter  to  express  our  fraternal  regards  for  the  Methodist  body- 
about  to  meet  in  General  Conference  in  London. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — I  move  the  recommittal  of  the  resolu- 
tion to  the  Business  Committee. 

Judge  P.  S.  Danforth,  of  New  York  city. — I  would  move, 
as  an  amendment,  that  the  recommittal  be  accompanied  with  in- 
structions from  the  Council  to  report  a  resolution  declaring  that 
we  do  send  our  regards  to  our  Methodist  brethren,  and  provid- 
ing the  means  for  carrying  out  the  declaration. 

Dr.  Prime. — If  the  amendment  prevails,  there  will  be  no  oc- 
casion for  recommitting  the  matter,  as  we  might  as  well  dispose 
of  the  matter  at  once. 

Judge  Danforth  intimated  that  he  would  not  insist  upon  his 
amendment. 

The  Rev.  James  I.  Brownson,  D.  D.,  of  Washington,  Pa. — 
Presuming  that  the  report  of  the  committee  would  be  adopted, 
substantially,  in  the  form  in  which  it  was  submitted,  I  ventured  to 
write  a  little  preamble  to  be  prefixed  to  it,  and  this  I  beg  leave 
to  read.  If  it  is  the  pleasure  of  the  Council  to  refer  the 
whole  matter  back  to  the  committee,  I  will  ask  that  this  may 
go  with  it : 

Resolved,  That  recognizing  the  earnest  Christian  zeal  and  faith- 
ful work  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Christian  lands,  and  holding 
ourselves  in  readiness  to  co-operate  with  it  in  every  good  enterprise 
for  Christ's  sake — 

Then  will  follow  the  wording  of  the  resolution  to  be  adopted 
on  the  report  of  the  committee. 

The  Rev.  John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Montreal,  Canada. 
— Could  we  not  decide  this  matter  without  the  trouble  of  recom- 
miting  it  and  having  again  to  consider  it? 

The  Moderator. — Undoubtedly  it  is  competent  for  the  Coun- 
cil to  decide  it  now ;  but  the  chair  would  suggest  that  time 
would  be  saved  by  referring  it  to  the  committee. 

Dr.  Jenkins. — It  would  be  very  desirable  that  we  should 
know  when  the  report  of  the  committee  will  be  brought  for- 
ward.    Will  it  be  brought  forward  to-morrow  morning  ? 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  257 

The  Moderator. — I  have  no  doubt  that  it  will  be. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Alexander  F.  Mitchell,  of  St.  Andrews, 
Scotland. — I  concur  very  sincerely  in  what  was  said  by  Dr. 
Cairns,  in  regard  to  the  desirableness  of  our  drawing  closer  the 
bonds  between  us  and  the  Wesleyan  Methodists.  I  have  long 
entertained  this  feeling ;  and  I  appreciate  the  fact,  that  Presby- 
terianism  will  never  be  in  the  position  in  which  it  ought  to  be  in 
England,  until  it  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists.  I  hope,  therefore,  that  the  communication  which 
was  addressed  to  us  some  days  ago  will  be  kindly  treated,  and 
that  a  kind  and  Christian  answer  to  it  will  be  returned.  But 
there  are  grave  difficulties  in  the  way  of  sending  a  deputation 
to  London.  We  have  a  constitution  which  requires  that  new 
methods  shall  be  dealt  with  in  a  particular  way,  and  that  nothing 
of  this  kind  shall  be  resolved  upon  until  it  has  been  sent  to  the 
Churches  that  constitute  the  Alliance  and  is  reported  upon  by 
them.  It  would  be  a  very  grave  undertaking,  indeed,  I  think,  if 
we  were  to  set  aside  our  own  constitution  and  resolve,  off-hand, 
to  appoint  deputies  to  represent  us  in  the  Councils  of  any  other 
Church. 

The  motion  to  recommit  was  agreed  to  ;  and  Dr.  Brownson's 
amendment  was  also  referred  to  the  committee. 

CONCERNING  RULING  ELDERS. 

Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — The  Business  Committee  also  recommend 
the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  obtain  information 
in  regard  to  the  election  and  ordination  of  Ruling  Elders  in  the  va- 
rious branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  connected  with  this  Gen- 
eral Presbyterian  Alliance;  the  formula  subscribed  by  such  Elders; 
and  the  functions  and  duties  pertaining  to  the  office,  as  set  forth  in 
the  polities,  or  employed  in  the  usages,  of  such  churches.  Said  com- 
mittee to  consist  of  Dr.  Knox,  of  Belfast,  as  convener,  to  have  power 
to  add  to  their  number,  and  to  report  to  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Council. 

The  Rev.  T.  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  of  New  York. — In  all  for- 
mal papers  adopted  by  this  body,  the  formal  title  of  the  body 
should  be  incorporated.     As  a  matter  of  convenience,  we  may 
17 


258  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

speak  of  the  "  General  Presbyterian  Council,"  but  the  name  of 
this  Council  is  that  of  "  The  Council  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
holding  the  Presbyterian  system." 

The  Moderator. — The  chair  takes  it  for  granted  that  there 
is  no  objection  to  an  amendment  of  the  resolution,  so  as  to  make 
it  accord  with  the  suggestion  just  made. 

The  resolution  was  so  amended  and  adopted. 

NEXT  PLACE  OF  MEETING. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — I  will  read  a  communication  which 
was  addressed  to  the  Council,  and  has  been  considered  by  the 
committee.     It  is  as  follows : 

Philadelphia,  Septejube}'  22d,  1880. 
Dear  Brethren  :  The  members  of  the  delegation  of  the  Irish 
Presbyterian  Church  have  agreed  to  invite  the  Council  to  hold  its 
next  meeting  in  Belfast.  Belfast  has  a  population  of  a  quarter  of  a 
million,  and  nearly  forty  Presbyterian  Churches.  The  Irish  Church 
is  one  of  the  oldest  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  family. 

If  the  Council  accepts  this  invitation,  the  delegates  promise  in  the 
name  of  their  countrymen  a  cordial  welcome. 

Signed  in  behalf  of  the  delegates, 

Robert  Knox,  Chait'tnan. 

The  Business  Committee  recommend  the  selection  of  Belfast 
as  the  place  for  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council,  and  that  the 
time  of  the  meeting  be  the  year  1884;  also  that  a  Committee  of 
Arrangements  be  constituted  to  appoint  the  season  of  the  year 
in  which  the  Council  shall  be  held,  and  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  the  meeting. 

The  report  was  agreed  to  unanimously  by  a  rising  vote. 

Rev.  Dr.  Knox. — In  the  name  of  the  Irish  delegation  I  wish 
most  heartily  to  express  our  thanks  for  the  vote  you  have  just 
taken.  I  am  particularly  gratified  with  the  manner  in  which  the 
resolution  has  been  adopted.  We  have  promised  you  a  cordial 
welcome.  I  do  not  think  that  anything  we  can  say  can  go  any 
further  than  that.  We  cannot  emulate  the  magnificent  display, 
the  courtesies,  and  the  hospitalities,  of  Edinburgh,  the  capital  of 
British  Presbyterianism.    We  cannot  hold  out  any  hope  of  rival- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  259 

ing  the  generous  enthusiasm  of  this  city  of  Philadelphia,  the 
capital  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  new  world.  Why  you  got  up 
on  Saturday  night,  I  presume  for  our  special  gratification,  a  dis- 
play of  about  one  hundred  thousand  Republicans ;  and  we  could 
not  promise  you  a  sight  like  that — nor  could  we  even  promise 
you  a  spectacle  of  thirty  thousand  bearers  of  lights — but  we  can 
promise  you  this,  as  warm  hearts  to  greet  you  as  ever  glowed 
in  the  breasts  of  men  or  women. 

Rev.  John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Montreal,  Canada. — 
I  think  it  is  due  to  the  Council  that  the  Business  Committee 
should  state  the  reason  why  the  time  of  meeting  has  been  ap- 
pointed for  1884,  instead  of  three  years  hence.  I  have  no 
doubt  there  is  a  very  good  reason  for  it,  but  I  think  it  is  due  to 
the  Council  that  the  statement  should  appear. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  S.  I.  Prime. — There  was  one  reason,  among 
others,  in  the  minds  of  many  of  the  committee  which  seemed  to 
be  a  decisive  one,  and  that  was  that  the  year  1883  had  been 
fixed  upon  as  the  time  for  the  International  Exhibition  to  be 
held  in  the  city  of  New  York.  As  that  exhibition  would 
occupy  probably  from  May  until  November,  and  as  a  large  num- 
ber of  our  friends  would  desire  to  be  in  this  country  at  that  time 
who  would  otherwise  go  to  Ireland,  it  was  agreed  to  defer  the 
meeting  until  the  following  year.  We  propose  to  go  to  Ireland, 
when  we  do  go,  in  great  force. 

Rev.  Dr.  Jenkins. — The  reason  just  stated  is  a  sufficient  one, 
and  I  am  well  pleased  that  I  evoked  it. 

CREEDS  AND  CONFESSIONS. 

The  Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Creeds  and  Confessions,  appointed  by  the  First 
General  Council,  presented  the  following  report : 

In  presenting  their  report,  your  committee  beg  to  remind  the 
Council,  that  they  were  appointed  merely  to  collect  information  on 
certain  specified  matters,  and  "enjoined,"  when  presenting  their 
report,  "not  to  accompany  it  with  any  comparative  estimate  of  the' 
creeds  and  regulations  of  the  different  Churches,  or  with  any  critical 
remarks  on  their  respective  value,  expediency,  or  efficiency." 


26o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

By  correspondence  and  otherwise  your  committee  have  obtained  a 
<:onsiderable  amount  of  the  wished-for  information,  which  has  been 
collected  with  great  care  and  is  of  permanent  historical  value.  They 
^re  as  follows  : 

Great  Britain. 

The  Church  of  Scotland. 

The  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Synod  of  Original  Seceders. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  England. 

The  Calvinistic  Methodist  Church  of  Wales. 

The  Irish  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland. 

Five  hundred  copies  of  the  reports,  from  the  above  Churches,  have 
been  printed  in  Scotland  and  sent  here  for  distribution  among  the 
delegates. 

British  Colonies. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Canada,  with  reports  from  its  con- 
stituting Churches. 

The  Canada  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada  in  connection  with  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nova  Scotia. 

United  States. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 

The  Reformed  Church  in  America. 

The  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States  of  North  America. 

The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist  (or  Presbyterian)  Church. 

France. 

The  National  Reformed  Church  of  France. 

The  Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches. 

The  Reformed  Evangelical  Church  of  Paris. 

The  Evangelical  Church ;   Rue  de  Provence. 

The  Evangelical  Church;   Rue  St.  Maur. 

The  Independent  Evangelical  Church  of  Vigan.      Gord. 

The  Free  Evangelical  Church  of  St.  Hippolyte.      Gord. 

The  Free  Evangelical  Church  of  St.  Jean.      Gord. 


SECOND    GENERAL   COUNCIL.  261 

The  Free  Evangelical  Church  of  De  Verges.    Gord. 

The  Free  Evangelical  Church  of  De  Marsillargues.     Herault. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  Toulouse.     Haut  Garonne. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  Bordeaux.     Haut  Garonne. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  St.  Foy.     Gironde. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  St.  Antoine.     Dordogne. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  Clairac.     Lot  et  Garonne. 

The  Reformed  Evangelical  Church  of  Esperanses.     Tarn. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  Cannes.     Var. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  Nice. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  Lyon. 

Switzerland. 

The  Reformed  Church,  Canton  de  Vaud. 
The  Evangelical  Church  of  Neuchatel. 
The  Reformed  Church  of  Geneva. 
The  Reformed  Church  of  Ziirich. 
The  Reformed  Church  of  Bern. 
The  Reformed  Church  of  Basel. 

Austria. 

The  Reformed  Church  in  Bohemia. 
The  Reformed  Church  in  Moravia. 
The  Reformed  Church  in  Hungary. 

Spain. 
The  Spanish  Christian  Church. 

In  laying  these  document  before  you,  we  beg  leave  to  suggest, 

1.  That  the  documents  be  published  as  an  appendix  in  the  volume 
of  proceedings. 

2.  That  a  special  committee  be  appointed  to  report  to  this  Council 
what  further  action,  if  any,  shall  be  taken  on  the  subject  of  Creeds 
and  Confessions. 

Philip  Schaff, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee. 
Philadelphia,  September  22d,  1880. 

The  report  was  accepted,  and  adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

Under  the  second  recommendation  the  following  committee 
was  appointed : 

The  Rev.  Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land, chairman  ;  the  Rev.  Prof.  Alex.  B.  Bruce,  D.  D.,  of  Glas- 
gow ;  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Nelson,  D.  D.,  of  Geneva,  New  York  ;  the 
Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  of  New  York  ;  the  Rev.  Prof.  Alex.  F. 
Mitchell,  D.  D.,  of  St.  Andrews,  Scotland  ;    Hon.  Wm.  Strong, 


262  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  A.  T.  Niven,  Esq.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land ;  the  Rev.  Prof  Robert  Watts,  D.  D.,  of  Belfast ;  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Jos.  R.  Wilson,  of  Wilmington,  N.  C,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  H, 
A.  Morris,  of  Cincinnati. 

Dr.  Cairns. — While  perfectly  willing  to  serve  as  a  member 
of  the  committee,  I  would  humbly  beg  to  be  excused  from 
occupying  the  prominent  place  of  chairman.  I  labor  under 
such  very  great  disabilities,  the  chief  of  which  is  great  occupa- 
tion with  other  work  at  the  present  time,  that  I  am  constrained 
to  make  this  request. 

The  President. — The  chair  trusts  that  Dr.  Cairns  will  not 
insist  upon  his  declination,  but  will  consent  to  serve. 

Dr.  Schaff. — The  duties  of  the  committee  will  probably  not 
be  very  onerous.  They  will  consist  simply  in  collecting  infor- 
mation, classifying  the  same,  and  laying  the  results  before  the 
Council.  The  committee  will  not  be  required,  nor  will  it  have 
the  right,  to  criticise  the  contents  of  the  documents  coming  into 
its  possession.  The  question  which  confronts  us  is  whether  we 
shall  here  drop  the  whole  subject  or  go  further  into  such  investi- 
gation as  it  may  seem  fit  to  require.  It  would  be  especially 
unfortunate  if  Dr.  Cairns,  who  is  very  familiar  with  this  whole 
question,  particularly  so  far  as  it  lies  within  the  Scotch  and  Eng- 
lish branches  of  the  Alliance  at  the  present  time,  should  decline 
to  serve  upon  the  committee.  The  proposition  is  simply  for  a 
committee  consisting  of  leading  divines  of  the  Churches  com- 
posing this  Council  to  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  summary  of 
the  creeds  and  confessions  upon  which  the  Council  is  professedly 
based.  By  such  information  we  may  be  able  to  know  what  the 
complexion  of  the  body  itself  is,  and  may  be  able  to  decide  more 
readily  than  we  otherwise  could  such  perplexing  questions  as 
the  one  which  came  up  yesterday  when  a  body  as  to  whose 
creed  we  were  not  sufficiently  informed  applied  for  admission. 
It  will  be  for  the  committee  thus  constituted  to  appoint  a  per- 
manent chairman,  if  that  may  seem  desirable. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  263 

The  Rev.  A.  B.  Van  Zandt,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  "James  Suydam, 
Professor  of  Didactic  and  Polemic  Theology,"  of  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.,  then  read  the  following  paper  on 

CREEDS   AND   SUBSCRIPTIONS    TO    CREEDS. 

A  Creed  may  be  a  brief  formula  to  which  assent  is  given  in  terms 
a  "  Credo,''^  or  it  may  consist  in  the  more  extended  statements  of  a 
confession  or  catechism,  as  embracing  "  res  credcndce.''^ 

In  either  case  it  is  an  authorized  expression  of  the  faith  of  those  by 
whom  it  is  adopted.  And  when  it  is  adopted  as  expressing  the  faith 
of  a  church,  it  becomes  also  a  solemn  compact  or  covenant,  obliging 
those  who  thus  receive  it  to  abide  by  the  doctrines  therein  expressed, 
so  long  as  they  remain  in  the  communion  of  that  church. 

In  this  country,  where  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  is  com- 
plete, we  recognize  no  authority  in  the  civil  government  to  impose 
any  Creed,  however  brief  or  general  in  its  terms  or  import.  There 
are,  indeed,  certain  regulations,  municipal  and  social,  based  upon  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  necessary  to  conserve  the  rights 
of  conscience  in  the  unmolested  worship  of  God,  and  no  less  neces- 
sary to  good  order,  which  the  civil  government  has  a  right  to  estab- 
lish, and  is  bound  to  establish,  because  this  is  a  Christian  nation. 
But  it  has  that  right  under  that  grant  of  power  which  belongs  to  it  as 
■*'an  ordinance  of  God,"  by  his  good  providence  here  established  as 
the  government  of  a  free  Christian  people,  and  not  by  virtue  of  any 
inherent  authority  over  the  faith  or  consciences  of  men. 

In  all  Protestant  countries  this  principle  is  so  far  respected,  that 
the  right  of  dissent  from  the  creeds  of  churches  established  by  law, 
though  it  may  entail  certain  disadvantages,  yet  remains  undisputed. 
But  where  the  binding  authority  of  a  creed  is  founded  wholly  on  as- 
sent to  its  doctrines,  the  chief  occasion  for  the  fierce  controversies  of 
an  hundred  years  ago  has  passed  away,  and  we  may  hope  there  has 
also  passed  with  it  much  of  the  prejudice  against  creeds  and  confes- 
sions to  which  those  controversies  gave  rise. 

Nevertheless,  there  are  always  those  who  are  disposed  to  decry  the 
use  of  these  accepted  formulas  of  the  faith,  as  disparaging  to  the 
Scriptures,  the  ready  instruments  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  restrictive 
•of  free  inquiry,  and  inimical  to  theological  progress. 

The  subject  assigned  for  this  paper  will  lead  us,  therefore,  to  con- 
sider— 

I.  The  necessity  and  uses  of  Creeds  ;  and 

II.  The  nature  and  extent  of  the  obligation  incurred  by  subscrip- 
tion to  them. 

As  against  their  necessity,  the  formal  principle  of  Protestantism 
itself,  the  sufficiency  of  the  Bible  as  the  rule  of  faith  and  umpire  of 
controversy,  has  been  strenuously  urged.  It  is  argued  that  whilst 
asserting  the  right  of  private  judgment  against  the  pretensions  of 


264  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Romanism,  we  are  conceding  to  these  human  compositions  all  that 
Romanism  claims :  that  we  are  in  fact,  though  not  formally,  giving 
them  a  co-ordinate  authority  with  Scripture,  if,  indeed,  we  do  not 
sometimes  twist  and  torture  Scripture  to  bring  it  into  conformity  with 
our  creeds. 

But  this  objection,  like  most  others,  is  based  upon  an  entire  mis- 
apprehension of  the  design  and  use  of  creeds,  as  they  are  regarded 
from  a  Protestant  standpoint. 

We  are  all  agreed  that  the  Scriptures  are  an  infallible  guide,  an 
ultimate  appeal,  and  that  every  man  is  bound  to  imitate  the  noble 
Bereans,  and  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  "search  the  Scriptures,"  in 
settling  his  convictions  of  truth.  But  then  it  happens,  that  we  are 
not  all  agreed  as  to  what  the  Scriptures  do  actually  teach.  What 
then  ?  Two  alternatives  are  before  us.  We  may  fall  back  upon  a  so- 
called  infallible  church,  and,  in  the  face  of  palpable  contradictions, 
and  festering  corruptions,  accept  her  decrees  as  the  articulate  voice 
of  God  ;  or,  we  may  consent  that  every  man  shall  be  '■'■fully persuaded 
in  his  own  ?nind,'^  and  so  far  as  men  so  persuaded  are  agreed,  we  may 
consent  that  they  should  also  "  walk  together  by  the  same  rule,''^  fully 
expecting  that,  in  the  progressive  development  of  truth,  God  will 
bring  them  into  nearer  accord,  if  not  by  removing  all  grounds  of 
difference,  yet  by  reducing  them  to  those  matters  concerning  which, 
men  may  differ,  and  yet  maintain  "the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  in  the 
bonds  of  peace." 

This  is  precisely  the  difference  between  Romanism  and  the  princi- 
ple of  Protestantism.  The  one  imposes  a  creed,  with  the  appended 
sanction  of  "Anathema."  The  other  proposes  a  creed  as  a  summary 
statement  of  the  teachings  of  God's  word,  and  invites  investigation. 
With  the  former  the  Church,  as  a  hierarchy,  is  the  final  arbiter,  and 
dissent  is  damnation.  With  the  latter  the  Scriptures  are  the  ultimate 
appeal,  and  whilst  the  controversy  proceeds,  each  one  may  be  true  to 
his  own  convictions,  with  kindness  and  charity  towards  all  who  may 
differ  from  him. 

Which  of  these  alternatives  is  most  consonant  with  the  spirit  and 
letter  of  the  gospel  it  is  not  difficult  to  determine. 

2.  But  now,  the  objection  takes  another  form,  and  creeds  and  con- 
fessions are  held  to  be  an  implied  disparagement  of  Scripture.  Can 
man  write  in  Avords  more  intelligible  than  those  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  indited?  Can  we  improve  upon  the  perspicuity  of  God's  own 
word  ?  Certainly  not,  and  no  such  presumptuous  idea  has  ever  entered 
the  mind  of  any  framers  of  systems  or  makers  of  creeds.  But  since  it 
has  pleased  God  to  reveal  his  truth  in  concrete  forms,  it  certainly  is 
permitted  to  analyze  and  arrange  it  in  systematic  order.  Can  man 
equal  the  exquisite  productions  of  nature,  when  the  earth,  draped  in 
the  beauty  of  spring,  rejoices  in  the  exuberance  of  blossoms  and  flow- 
ers? But  is  it  therefore  an  imputation  upon  the  wisdom  or  works  of 
God,  that  he  has  left  it  to  human  study  and  skill  to  classify  and 
arrange  these  voiceless,  yet  articulate,  expressions  of  his  goodness. 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  265 

according  to  their  properties  and  uses  ?  It  is  conceded  on  all  hands, 
that  there  can  be  no  progress  in  any  science  without  those  generaliza- 
tions which  embody  and  embalm  the  fruits  of  protracted  and  toilsome 
investigation. 

Is  theology  an  exception  to  this  universal  law  ?  Is  Scripture  to  be 
interpreted  by  intuition  and  without  comparison  and  induction  ? 
The  ample  fields  of  nature  contain  no  truths  so  profound  as  those 
which  revelation  has  disclosed.  Nor  in  the  multitude  of  its  varied 
forms  is  there  a  greater  necessity  for  systematic  arrangement  and  set- 
tled definitions,  than  in  the  many-sided  teachings  of  the  Bible. 

A  recent  writer  has  urged  that  "we  have  no  detailed  and  formal 
creed  in  the  Scriptures."  So  neither  have  we  any  elaborated  or  de- 
fined science  in  nature.  Because  God  intended  that  in  every  depart- 
ment of  truth  we  should  arrive  at  knowledge  by  the  use  of  those  fac- 
ulties with  which  he  has  endowed  us  as  an  essential  element  of  that 
"  image  of  God  "  in  which  we  were  created.  Hence,  from  the  begin- 
ning truth  has  been  revealed  in  forms  which  ofttimes  concealed  more 
than  was  disclosed  ;  not  because  it  was  intended  that  the  unexpressed 
should  remain  unknown,  but  become  known  the  more  clearly,  and  be 
felt  the  more  deeply,  because  wrought  out  by  the  laws  of  our  mental 
activity  in  the  mind  itself.  Thus,  the  simple  record  of  a  fact  may- 
involve  the  deepest  mysteries  of  the  faith.  The  most  practical  of  all 
teachings  may  be  grounded  upon  doctrines  the  most  profound. 

By  the  opponents  of  creeds,  for  example,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount- 
is  often  set  over  against  the  doctrinal  teachings  of  the  epistles.  But 
no  lips  ever  uttered  truth  in  more  sententious  and  comprehensive 
forms  than  may  be  found  in  that  inimitable  discourse.  Its  opening- 
sentence  is  an  epitome  of  the  gospel,  not  otherwise  to  be  understood 
than  in  the  light  of  those  doctrinal  teachings  with  which  it  is  con- 
trasted. For  aside  from  other  Scriptures,  who  can  define  that  poverty 
of  spirit  which  entitles  to  the  first  beatitude,  or  that  "  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  "  which  is  its  portion? 

Dispense  with  those  compact  statements,  in  which  scattered  truth  is 
gathered  into  compendious  forms,  and  the  whole  work  of  analysis  and 
synthesis  must  be  done  over  again  by  each  individual  for  himself. 
But  because  unable  to  do  that  work,  the  word  of  God  must  remain  a 
sealed  book,  comparatively,  to  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  Then, 
too,  the  Church,  unfaithful  to  her  trust,  must  forego  one  of  her  most 
important  functions,  as  keeper  and  witness  of  the  truth.  For  if  the 
Church  has  no  right  to  give  definite  form  to  ascertained  doctrines  in 
the  symbols  of  her  faith,  neither  has  she  the  right  to  proclaim  those 
doctrines  by  any  authorized  expositions  of  Scripture.  What  then  be- 
comes of  her  teaching  function,  and  how  are  the  utterances  of  the 
pulpit  to  be  distinguished  from  the  out-givings  of  any  self-constituted 
guide  who  chooses  to  put  forth  his  vagaries  for  gospel  ?  In  one  word, 
the  Church,  as  an  organization,  could  have  no  existence  without  some 
defined  standards  of  doctrine. 

3.  But  a  third  form  of  the  objection  to  creeds  is  based  upon  their 
alleged  abuses. 


266  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Even  those  who  admit  their  necessity  as  declarations  of  ''those 
things  most  surely  believed  among  us,"  yet  insist  that  they  shall  be 
nothing  more  than  mere  historical  records  of  the  then  present  faith 
of  the  Church,  or  council,  from  which  they  emanate.  But,  it  is  said, 
once  attach  to  them  in  any  respect  or  degree,  the  notion  of  authority 
as  the  expression  of  ascertained  truth,  and  forthwith  they  become 
chains  to  shackle  the  understanding  and  repress  inquiry.  As  if  the 
Church  of  God,  with  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  guide  her 
into  all  truth,  never  yet  has  been  able  to  ascertain  anything,  with  suf- 
ficient certainty,  to  write  it  down  as  fundamental ! 

It  is  even  urged  that  the  Church  cannot  put  forth  any  creed  as  the 
expression  of  her  faith,  without  thereby  exerting  an  influence  un- 
friendly to  research,  and  restrictive  of  mental  freedom.  As  if  mental 
freedom  was  conditioned  upon  absolute  ignorance,  for  else  thought 
must  be  governed  by  knowledge  already  acquired!  It  is  only  where 
nothing  is  known,  that  speculation  is  absolutely  free.  The  moment 
a  single  fact  or  doctrine  is  recognized  as  true,  it  becomes  a  factor  in 
the  problem,  and  thought  must  conform  itself  to  this  new  condition, 
or  else  our  thinking  is  nothing  better  than  a  waking  dream. 

Substantially  the  same  reasoning  will  apply  to  the  objection  that 
creeds  are  inimical  to  theological  progress.  There  are  few  forms  of 
modern  cant  more  common,  or  more  convenient  as  a  cover  to  all 
sorts  of  theological  vagaries,  than  the  current  phrase,  a  "progressive 
theology y  It  is  a  phrase  that  carries  such  an  air  of  life  and  activity. 
It  sounds  so  broad  and  liberal,  too,  especially  when  put  in  antithesis 
with  '■'■a  cast-iron  creed  ^^  and  "  a  petrified  orthodoxy,''^  that  it  may 
easily  become  the  text  for  many  a  pungent  paragraph  in  defence  of 
heresy.  But,  like  some  other  sayings  which  lie  along  the  borders 
between  truth  and  error,  this  also,  by  its  ambiguity,  may  be  appropri- 
ated by  opposite  parties.  In  one  sense,  it  may  be  the  intended  ex- 
pression of  that  necessary  progress,  which  is  the  fruit  of  the  increasing 
knowledge  and  ripening  experience  of  the  Church,  as  the  divine  word 
unfolds  its  treasures  in  its  adaptation  to  the  wants  of  each  successive 
age.  In  another  sense,  it  may  be  the  accepted  apology  for  that  de- 
structive criticism,  which  would  overturn  the  very  foundations  of  the 
faith,  by  making  human  reason  to  be  the  judge  and  measure  of  truth, 
and  demanding  a  readjustment  of  the  "oracles  of  God,"  that  they 
may  accord  with  whatever  philosophy  may  happen  to  prevail. 

Progress  in  theology  is  indeed  a  desirable  and  necessary  movement. 
It  indicates  the  life  of  the  Church  in  the  closer  study  and  clearer 
apprehension  of  her  charter.  It  would  be  a  disparagement  of  Scrip- 
ture to  suppose  that  it  contained  nothing  so  definite  and  fixed  as' to 
be  beyond  the  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs,  and  the  fluctuations  of 
human  opinion.  But  as  there  have  been  accretions  to  the  Canon  of 
Scripture,  as  God's  purposes  were  unfolded,  so  there  may  be  to  the 
sum  of  Christian  theology,  by  the  unfolding  of  new  relations  of  truth, 
under  the  providence  of  God.  But  these  accretions  must  be,  by 
using   all   previous   acquisitions   as   stepping-stones,    to   higher   and 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  267 

broader  apprehensions  of  the  one  complete  and  perfect  system.  It 
is  only  within  the  limitations  of  this  view  that  we  can  recognize  the 
notion  of  a  "Progressive  Theology."  But  to  such  progress  creeds 
and  confessions  are  not  hindrances  but  helps. 

4.  But  the  question  is  asked,  and  with  an  air  which  implies  that  its 
answer  must  conclude  against  all  creeds,  "Who  shall  be  our  creed- 
makers  ?  "  To  this  we  reply  in  one  word,  creeds  are  not  made — they 
grow.  The  manufactured  article  betrays  its  origin  by  a  lack  of 
vitality,  and  being  "  of  the  earth,  earthy  "  it  soon  passes  away. 
Every  creed  which  has  been  accepted  as  a  symbol  of  a  historical 
Church  will  be  found  to  have  been  taken  up  into  the  faith  of  that 
Church,  long  before  it  was  formulated  in  specific  articles.  And  this 
because  creeds  are  not  framed  to  create  a  belief,  but  to  express  it ; 
and  this,  most  commonly,  from  the  necessity  for  explicit  statements 
arising  out  of  the  exigencies  of  controversy.  This  fact  is  suggestive 
as  bearing  upon  the  somewhat  pronounced  modern  demand  for  creed 
revisions.  There  can  be  no  yielding  to  such  a  demand  until  a  Church 
has  already  fallen  away  from  its  accepted  symbols,  or  new  questions 
have  arisen  of  such  vital  importance  that  an  explicit  deliverance  on 
them  can  no  longer  be  avoided. 

II.  But  a  more  difficult  question  remains  to  be  considered.  Many 
who  accept  creeds  as  necessary  expositions  of  doctrine,  yet  differ 
widely  as  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  obligation  incurred,  by  sub- 
scription. The  question,  how  far  a  man  is  bound  to  conformity  by 
subscription  to  the  creed  of  his  Church,  is  one  of  every-day  prac- 
tical importance. 

It  is  sufficiently  obvious  that  on  this  question  extremes  are  to  be 
avoided.  But  the  discovery  and  adjustment  of  the  golden  mean  is 
not  so  easy.  It  is  against  the  whole  Spirit  of  our  Protestantism  and 
would  be  ruinous  to  any  Church  to  insist  upon  unqualified  assent  to 
every  sentence  and  clause  of  an  extended  confession;  but  it  is  no  less 
contrary  to  good  faith  and  honest  dealing  to  profess  acceptance  of  a 
creed  or  confession,  and  yet  hold  one's  self  at  liberty  to  reject  and 
contradict  whatever  in  it  does  not  accord  with  one's  own  opinions. 
Where  then  shall  the  Line  be  drawn  at  which  liberty  becomes  license  ? 
What  is  the  criterion  by  which  to  distinguish  an  honest  subscription 
from  a  disingenuous  evasion  ?  Who  is  to  decide  what  may  or  may 
not  be  excepted  from  the  obligation  of  an  ex-atiuno  conformity  ? 

For  meeting  the  difficulties  thus  suggested,  two  methods  have  been 
proposed. 

First,  to  simplify  the  creed,  until  it  shall  express  only  the  essentials 
of  the  Christian  life.  Second,  so  to  modify  the  form  of  subscription, 
that  it  shall  involve  no  obligation  of  conformity  to  details,  or  expla- 
nations of  doctrine. 

The  first  method  is,  in  effect,  a  giving  up  of  the  whole  controversy, 
by  reducing  the  creed  to  such  narrow  limits  and  general  terms,  as  to 
defeat  all  the  purposes  for  which  creeds  exist. 

The  second  method  would  equally  destroy  the  value  of  subscription. 


268  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

as  a  test  of  doctrine,  or  a  protection  against  error.  The  formula  of 
subscription  "/^r  substance  of  doctrine''''  may  be  a  relief  to  a  scrupu- 
lous conscience,  or  it  may  also  be  a  convenient  refuge  from  the  un- 
welcome pressure  of  an  orthodox  creed.  The  phrase  itself  is  too 
indefinite  and  ambiguous  to  fix  a  man's  theological  status,  or  the 
position  of  a  Church  in  which  such  a  form  of  subscription  prevails. 

It  is  not,  then,  by  reducing  creeds  to  the  brevity  of  a  few  undefined 
general  articles,  nor  yet  by  modifying  the  terms  of  subscription  so  as 
to  destroy  all  the  significance  and  value  of  the  act,  that  we  are  to 
avoid  the  extreme  of  a  too  rigid  enforcement  of  the  obligations  of  an 
accepted  creed.  In  point  of  fact,  that  extreme  is  seldom  reached,, 
and  in  these  days  the  danger  in  that  direction  is  rather  a  theoretical 
possibility,  than  a  matter  of  actual  apprehension.  Ecclesiastical  mar- 
tyrdom now  lies  oftener  in  the  path  of  those  who  insist  upon  the 
obligations  of  an  honest  subscription. 

The  truth  is,  that  where  creeds  are  not  imposed  but  accepted,  the 
practical  difficulties  of  subscription  recede  almost  to  the  vanishing 
point.  A  man  is  not  obliged  to  confess  in  the  words  of  a  creed  which 
does  not  express  the  faith  that  is  in  him.  But  to  whatever  creed  he 
does  confess,  thereto  he  is  bound  until  lawfully  discharged  from  that 
obligation.  Moreover  he  is  bound  to  that  confession  not  with  indefi- 
nite reservations,but  ex-atiwto,  and  in  the  historical  and  commonly 
received  meaning  of  its  articles,  as  held  by  the  Church  whose  creed 
it  is.  If  he  has  scruples  or  doubts  concerning  this  or  that  paragraph, 
or  proposition,  it  is  for  the  authority  requiring  the  confession  to 
decide  whether  these  excepted  propositions  are  necessary  to  the  integ- 
rity of  the  creed,  as  a  system  of  doctrines.  An  honest  man  will 
make  these  scruples  known  ///  limine,  and  he  will  always  find  provision 
made  for  their  due  consideration.  He  will  find,  too,  that  their 
treatment  is  liberal  and  generous:  more  generous  sometimes  to  the 
individual  than  just  to  the  denomination  represented. 

The  Rev.  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  of  New  York,  read 
the  following  paper  on 

BIBLE  REVISION. 


I. 

It  is  Needed. 

7- 

Conservative. 

2. 

Has  Improved  Text. 

8. 

Uniform. 

3. 

A  Proper  Oiigin. 

9- 

Deliberate. 

4- 

Unsectarian. 

10. 

Reverential. 

5. 

International. 

II. 

Optional. 

6. 

Unhampered. 

12. 

Conclusion. 

The  authorized  version  was  first  printed  in  1611,  and  in  the  course  of 
a  single  generation  succeeded  in  displacing  all  its  rivals  and  in  becom- 
ing the  acknowledged  English  representative  of  the  original  Scriptures. 
This  position  it  has  maintained  until  the  present  time.  Yet  during 
the  last  two  centuries  many  attempts  have  been  made  to  alter  or  to 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  269 

supersede  it  in  whole  or  in  part,  both  by  individuals  and  by  companies 
of  men,  and  no  small  amount  of  time  and  pains  has  been  employed  in 
these  efforts.  None  of  them,  however,  has  succeeded.  Neither  the 
character  nor  position  of  their  authors,  nor  the  degree  of  learning, 
judgment  and  taste  they  have  displayed  was  able  to  give  these 
amended  versions  anything  more  than  a  partial  and  temporary  circu- 
lation. They  soon  passed  into  entire  oblivion,  or  were  consulted  only 
by  scholars,  while  the  old  book  daily  acquired  a  stronger  hold  upon 
the  confidence  and  affection  of  English-speaking  Christians.  Hence 
many  have  been  led  to  believe  that  it  would  be  always  impossible  to 
make  a  change,  and  when  they  point  to  the  unbroken  experience  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  it  seems  hard  to  resist  their  conclusion. 
Yet  an  organized  effort  for  a  thorough  revision  has  now  been  carried 
on  for  ten  years,  and  so  far  as  the  New  Testament  is  concerned,  has 
nearly  finished  its  work.  Nor  is  there  any  doubt  that  within  a  few 
years  the  Old  Testament  will  in  like  manner  be  completed. 

Will  it  succeed  ?  That  is,  will  it  gain  popular  favor,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  supplant  the  existing  Bible,  so  as  to  be  recognized  by 
different  lands  and  variant  communions  as  the  proper  English  expres- 
sion of  God's  most  holy  word  ?  Of  course  such  a  question  cannot  be 
decided  in  advance,  the  wisest  of  men  not  having  the  gift  of 
prophecy.  Yet  there  are  several  circumstances  which  encourage  a 
favorable  view  of  the  prospect.  The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  set  forth 
these  with  as  much  fullness  as  our  limits  permit. 

I.  The  work  is  Needed.  The  excellence  of  the  authorized  version 
is  very  great,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  of  its  early,  wide-spread  and  long- 
continued  acceptance  by  those  for  whom  it  was  made,  and  by  the 
result  of  a  careful  comparison  with  any  other  version,  ancient  or  mod- 
ern. Still  it  is  not  perfect,  nor  so  nearly  perfect  as  it  might  be,  as 
may  be  seen  by  turning  the  pages  of  any  even  moderately  critical 
commentary,  where  every  chapter  shows  corrections  judged  necessary 
in  order  to  bring  out  fully  and  fairly  the  sense  of  the  original.  This 
fact  is  not  owing  to  any  want  of  learning  in  King  James's  translators 
(as  has  sometimes  been  ignorantly  said),  or  to  dogmatic  prejudices  or 
party  spirit.  They  were  among  the  most  learned  men  of  a  learned 
age,  and  represented  among  themselves  all  the  phases  of  Protestant 
faith  which  then  prevailed  in  England.  But  many  of  the  most  valu- 
able and  helpful  of  the  ancient  versions  of  the  Scriptures  were  inaccess- 
ible to  them,  and  others  were  possessed  only  in  a  very  uncritical  and 
unsatisfactory  form.  And  they  labored  under  other  disadvantages 
peculiar  to  the  period  in  which  they  lived.  The  science  of  Biblical 
criticism  was  unknown  ;  and  modern  philology  had  only  begun  that 
advance  which  has  been  so  extraordinary.  Sacred  geography  and 
archaeology  were  in  their  infancy  ;  and  lexicography  was  far  from  the 
rigidly  scientific  form  it  has  of  late  assumed.  And  there  were  very 
few  severely  critical  commentaries.  It  was,  therefore,  not  possible  in 
the  nature  of  things  for  the  men  of  that  day,  however  learned  or  acute 
or  pious,  to  make  as  exact  a  determination  of  the  meaning  of  the 


2  70  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Hebrew  and  Greek  as  is  at  the  present  time  witliin  tlie  reach  of  much 
inferior  men.  To  deny  this,  is  to  deny  that  any  actual  benefit  has 
accrued  to  exegetical  knowledge  from  the  labors  of  scores  upon  scores 
of  scholars  throughout  Christendom  prosecuted  for  generations  in  the 
zealous  search  for  truth.  Moreover,  the  changes  of  our  language, 
although  less  obvious  than  in  any  other  book  of  the  same  period,  are 
still  many  and  sometimes  annoying,  so  that  King  James's  version  is 
by  no  means  to  us  what  it  was  to  its  first  readers.  Some  words  have 
become  obsolete,  and  others  have  altered  their  meaning,  in  several 
instances  (such  as  "  let,"  "  by  and  bye,"  etc.),  so  much  so  as  to  signify 
the  exact  opposite  of  what  they  once  expressed.  These  archaisms  are 
not  offensive  to  the  scholar,  because  they  are  at  once  understood  by 
him,  and  are  interesting  in  themselves  as  memorials  of  a  past  age;  but 
to  the  common  reader  they  are  unintelligible  and  therefore  injurious^ 
making  the  Bible  an  unknown  book,  or  what  is  worse,  misrepresenting 
its  meaning. 

It  is  apparent,  then,  that  there  is  a  real  and  not  a  fancied  need  in  the 
case.  The  English  Bible  should  represent  the  present  state  of  the 
language,  and  the  present  stage  of  critical  and  exegetical  investigation. 
The  ordinary  reader  should  be  placed  as  far  as  possible  on  a  level  with 
the  scholar  in  consulting  its  pages,  at  least  so  far  as  that  end  can  be 
reached  by  accurate  and  idiomatic  translation,  and  especially  in  the 
numerous  cases  in  which  there  is  substantial  agreement  among  the 
learned,  both  as  to  the  incorrectness  of  the  common  version  and  as  to 
the  way  in  which  the  proper  correction  should  be  made. 

2.  The  revision  will  be  based  upon  an  Improved  Text.  The  text 
employed  by  King  James's  translators  was  derived  from  few  manu- 
scripts and  those  of  late  date,  and  abounds  with  admitted  imperfec- 
tions. These  it  has  been  the  province  of  Biblical  criticism  to  discover 
and  remove,  and  for  centuries  the  labors  of  learned  men  have  been 
devoted  to  this  end.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  about  four  hun- 
dred cases  in  which  the  sense  of  a  passage  is  affected  by  the  reading 
that  is  taken ;  but  comparatively  only  a  few  are  important.  Still  it  is 
desirable  that  we  should  have  as  pure  a  text  as  possible,  and  the  com- 
mon reader  should  have  a  reasonable  assurance  that  the  book  he  reads 
is  free  from  corruptions.  An  immaculate  text  is  of  course  out  of  the 
question.  But  critical  helps  have  become  so  abundant  that  in  a  major- 
ity of  cases  men  are  able  to  conclude  with  a  good  degree  of  confidence 
what  was  originally  written.  The  revision  will  exhibit  therefore  what, 
in  the  concurrent  judgment  of  its  authors,  is  the  nearest  possible 
approach  to  the  very  words  which  holy  men  of  old  used  in  declaring 
the  will  of  God.  Some  have  opposed  the  movement  on  this  very 
ground,  claiming  that  the  matter  is  still  too  uncertain  for  any  such 
course,  and  that  the  part  of  wisdom  is  to  wait  for  further  light.  But 
considering  what  has  been  done  in  this  field,  what  rich  materials  have 
been  gathered,  how  carefully  the  comparative  value  of  authorities  has 
been  estimated,  how  far  the  principles  of  textual  criticism  have  become 
settled,  and  how  general  is  the  agreement  of  the  ablest  critics  on  the- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  271 

more  important  questions,  there  is  small  reason  for  apprehending  any 
discoveries  in  the  future  which  will  throw  the  past  into  the  shade. 
The  most  interesting  and  momentous  recovery  of  the  present  century 
was  the  Sinaitic  manuscript,  and  too  much  credit  can  hardly  be  given 
to  its  discoverer  and  editor,  Tischendorf;  yet  the  chief  use  of  that 
precious  uncial  has  been  not  so  much  to  furnish  new  readings  of  any 
portion  of  the  text,  as  to  give  evidence  in  favor  of  one  or  other  of  the 
readings  already  known,  and  occasionally  where  the  existing  evidence 
was  balanced,  to  add  enough  to  turn  the  scale. 

It  is  reasonable,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  little  could  be  gained  by 
delay.  Something  no  doubt  may  be  acquired  in  the  course  of  the 
next  century.  But  meanwhile  it  is  surely  of  profit  to  use  what  hais 
already  been  settled,  and  to  make  our  Bible  represent  in  some  degree 
at  least  the  achievements  of  modern  Biblical  criticism.  In  the  main 
body  of  the  work  the  requisite  corrections  can  be  introduced,  while 
in  all  the  more  important  cases  a  statement  of  the  rival  text  can  be- 
added  in  the  margin  where  it  is  of  equal  or  nearly  equal  value.  In 
this  way  the  unlearned  reader  may  be  taught  how  the  case  stands  in 
any  given  passage,  and  can  have  upon  it  the  opinion  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  British  and  American  scholars.  In  many  cases  he  will  be  saved 
from  the  danger  of  taking  the  mere  mistakes  of  transcribers  for  the 
words  of  evangelists  and  apostles,  or  even  of  our  Lord  himself,  while 
in  others  he  will  discern  a  new  beauty  and  vigor  in  the  turn  given  to 
an  important  utterance  by  the  alteration  or  addition  of  a  very  few 
words.  He  may  regret  to  part  with  passages  such  as  the  well-known 
text  of  the  Three  Witnesses  in  i  John  ;  but  the  loss  will  be  abundantly 
compensated  by  gains  in  other  directions. 

3.  The  Origin  of  the  enterprise  will  commend  it  to  public  favor. 
Previous  efforts  in  the  same  direction  have  been  due  to  individuals, 
or  to  small  companies  of  men  acting  without  any  official  or  ecclesiastical 
sanction.  Hence  they  were  naturally  regarded  with  distrust,  and 
often  failed  to  secure  the  degree  of  attention  to  which  their  merits 
entitled  them.  In  the  present  instance  the  source  of  the  movement 
challenges,  not  to  say  commands,  universal  respect.  It  comes  from 
the  larger  of  the  two  provinces  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Anglican  Reformation  and  the  lineal  descendant  of 
the  devout  and  learned  scholars  who  came  together  at  the  call  of 
King  James.  The  way  had  been  prepared  by  numerous  discussions 
in  books  and  periodicals,  and  the  conviction  was  gradually  diffusing 
itself  among  the  reflecting  upon  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  that  the  time 
had  come  for  a  new  and  thorough  revision  of  the  English  Scriptures. 
Still  there  was  hesitation  and  uncertainty  as  to  the  mode  of  procedure, 
and  it  was  not  obvious  at  a  glance  who  should  assume  the  initiative. 
At  this  juncture  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury  took  the  matter  up, 
and  after  due  deliberation  settled  upon  a  plan  of  action  marked  with 
great  wisdom  and  a  very  catholic  spirit.  Then  it  became  apparent 
that  a  great  point  had  been  gained,  for,  although  the  Convocation  of 
York  declined  to  co-operate,  still  the  enterprise  had  a  sanction  of  the 


^72  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

highest  character,  one  that  precluded  at  the  outset  any  idea  of  local, 
petty,  or  selfish  aims,  and  gave  assurance  that  whatever  was  done  would 
be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  merit  the  most  careful  and  candid  considera- 
tion. Of  course  no  one  supposes  that  all  wisdom  on  this  subject  is 
confined  to  the  province  of  Canterbury ;  but  it  is  undeniable  that  the 
position,  prestige  and  relations  of  the  Convocation  of  that  province 
make  it  the  most  fitting  of  all  religious  bodies  in  English-speaking 
Christendom,  to  inaugurate  a  work  of  such  difficulty,  delicacy  and 
importance.  And  when  the  revisers,  whether  British  or  American, 
are  asked  by  what  authority  they  assumed  the  duty  they  have  taken 
upon  them,  they  are  able  to  give  a  very  prompt  and  satisfactory 
answer.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  Christian  public  give  to 
•the  effort  far  more  attention  than  has  ever  been  shown  to  any  like 
undertaking  in  former  years,  and  are  disposed  to  anticipate  a  favora- 
ble issue.  And  this  the  more  because,  while  the  revision  originated 
in  the  Church  of  England,  its  execution  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
that  branch  of  the  Church  catholic.  On  the  contrary  every  pre- 
caution has  been  used  to  render  it — 

4.  Ufisectarian.  Members  of  all  the  leading  bodies  of  Protestant 
Christians  have  been  invited  to  take  part  in  the  work,  and  are  found 
cordially  and  actively  co-operating  in  its  accomplishment.  Church- 
man and  Dissenter,  Prelatist  and  Presbyterian,  Independent  and 
Methodist,  Baptist  and  Psedobaptist,  the  Anglican,  the  Lutheran  and 
the  Reformed,  they  who  emphasize  divine  sovereignty,  and  they  who 
put  the  stress  on  human  freedom,  they  who  see  only  unity  in  the  God- 
head, and  they  who  recognize  plurality  as  well  as  unity,  appear  alike 
in  the  lists  of  the  men  employed.  However  widely  differing  in  other 
respects  they  agree  in  regarding  the  Bible  as  God's  most  holy  word, 
the  one  rule  of  religious  faith,  the  one  norm  of  human  duty ;  and 
their  single  aim  is  to  make  the  version  the  most  exact  reflection  pos- 
sible of  the  thought,  the  spirit  and  the  expression  of  the  original. 
Their  work,  therefore,  cannot  bear  the  stamp  of  a  sect  or  party.  It 
will  not  be  colored  by  the  views  of  any  particular  school.  In  its 
freedom  from  scholastic  or  denominational  prejudices  it  will  resemble, 
or  even  excel,  the  noble  simplicity  of  the  authorized  version.  I  say 
excel,  for  even  that  great  work  was  tinged,  no  doubt,  unconsciously,  by 
the  familiarity  of  its  authors  with  the  Latin  Vulgate  ;  but  in  the  pres- 
ent case  the  concurrent  action  of  so  many  revisers  of  different  names 
is  a  security,  that  even  accidental  error  of  this  kind  will  be  guarded 
against,  and  that  whatever  other  faults  may  be  found,  there  will  be 
none  due  to  sectarian  bias.  If  this  be  so,  the  revision  will  retain 
what  has  long  been  the  glory  of  the  authorized  version — that  it  was 
the  one  bond  of  union  among  all  Protestant  Christians,  and  the  com- 
mon standard  of  their  faith.  It  is  quite  true  that  there  will  be  some 
disappointment.  Corrections  of  the  text,  or  amendments  of  the  trans- 
lation, will  occasionally  deprive  a  controversialist  of  some  passages  to 
which  he  has  been  accustomed  to  appeal  in  support  of  his  particular 
views,  and  he  will  feel  like  a  man  whose  supporting  staff  has  suddenly 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  273 

been  wrenched  from  his  hand.  But  it  is  likely  that  what  is  lost  in 
one  direction  will  be  regained  in  another,  or  even  if  this  be  not  so, 
the  evil  will  not  be  confined  to  any  one  class,  but  extended  to  all ;  so 
that  in  the  general  result  each  man  will  find  himself  as  well  able  to 
establish  his  own  views  from  the  revision  as  he  was  from  the  authorized 
version.  In  any  event  he  will  be  sure  that  whatever  disadvantage  he 
may  suffer  is  not  from  any  intentional  obliquity  on  the  part  of  the 
revisers. 

5.  The  International  ieztxxvQ  of  the  work  is  another  ground  of  en- 
couragement. The  enterprise  was  begun  beyond  sea  in  1870,  but  in 
the  next  year  an  American  committee  of  co-operation  was  organized ; 
and,  since  1872,  the  two  committees  have  been  at  work  in  constant 
correspondence  with  each  other,  having  the  same  principles  and  pur- 
suing the  same  objects.  The  advantage  of  this  arrangement  is  obvious. 
It  gives  the  American  people  a  direct  participation  in  the  authorship 
of  the  work,  so  that,  when  completed,  it  will  not  come  to  them  bur- 
dened with  any  prejudice,  as  the  sole  product  of  a  foreign  land.  On 
the  contrary,  America  will  be  able  to  welcome  it  as  a  re-revision,  in 
the  preparation  of  which  its  own  children  have  borne  an  honorable 
and  useful  part ;  for  it  cannot  be  in.  vain  that  from  twenty  to  thirty 
additional  laborers  have  been  engaged  in  the  work,  and  the  less  so,  as 
the  joint  conclusions  of  one  committee  have  constantly  been  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  other.  In  this  way,  the  workings  of  different 
minds,  and  repeated  revisions  of  the  results  obtained,  have  greatly 
diminished  the  chances  of  error.  Indeed,  the  larger  the  number  of 
persons  employed,  provided  they  have  opportunity  to  meet  and  com- 
pare their  results,  the  less  the  likelihood  of  their  work  being  dis- 
figured by  one-sided  views  or  individual  caprice.  It  is  true  that  this 
advantage  of  personal  conference  has  been  purchased  on  our  side  of 
the  water  at  the  cost  of  limiting  the  selection  of  revisers  to  those  per- 
sons whose  residence  was  within  easy  reach  of  New  York,  where  the 
sessions  of  the  committee  are  held,  thus  excluding  not  a  few  scholars 
whose  co-operation  would  have  been  very  desirable.  Still,  the  gain 
has  been  worth  its  cost. 

The  international  character  of  the  revision  has  been  an  advantage 
also  in  respect  to  the  language  employed.  There  are  found  in  Britain 
and  America  certain  differences  of  usage  which  obtain  among  all 
classes,  even  the  most  cultivated.  For  example,  the  word  corn  here 
always  denotes  maize,  but  in  Great  Britain  it  is  used  as  precisely 
equivalent  to  what  we  call  grain.  In  all  such  cases,  it  lies  with  the 
American  committee  to  bring  forward  the  fact  of  the  variant  usage, 
so  that,  if  possible,  ambiguities  may  be  avoided,  and  a  version  secured 
which  shall  express  the  same  thing  to  the  British  and  the  American 
reader.  In  the  case  of  those  words  in  which  one  usage  must  be 
sacrificed  to  the  other,  it  is  not  easy  to  say  beforehand  which  should 
give  way;  but  it  is  certain  that,  whatever  conclusion  is  reached,  it  will 
not  be  through  ignorance  of  opposing  claims,  or  lack  of  due  consid- 
eration. The  interests  of  the  fifty  millions  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
18 


274  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

will  not  be  lightly  disregarded ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  will  the  heir- 
looms of  the  language,  as  preserved  in  the  country  of  its  birth,  be 
surrendered  without  reason.  Of  course,  entire  satisfaction  to  both 
parties  is  hardly  to  be  expected,  but  it  is  certain  that  no  effort  will  be 
spared  to  do  justice  to  all  claims.  And  if  this  can  be  made  apparent 
to  the  impartial  observer,  he  will  be  inclined  to  welcome  a  revision 
which  is  not  only  undenominational,  but  also  international,  and  suited 
for  every  meridian  around  the  globe  where  the  English  language  is 
spoken. 

6.  The  work  of  the  revisers  is  Unhampered  in  every  respect.  The 
translators  of  the  authorized  version  were  restricted  by  authority  in 
regard  to  certain  terms  which  had  become  consecrated  by  long  usage. 
No  such  restriction  is  laid  upon  the  persons  now  engaged.  The 
entire  volume,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  put  before  them,  and  they 
are  at  liberty  to  use  their  best  judgment  in  relation  to  every  part  of  it, 
including  the  text,  the  division  of  the  parts,  and  the  marginal  render- 
ings. They  are  expected  to  study  the  versions  ancient  and  modern, 
and  especially  the  various  English  translations ;  but  ultimately  the 
inspired  original  is  to  be  the  guide,  and  the  first  requisite  in  all  cases 
is  fidelity.  The  revisers  are  responsible  to  God,  and  not  to  any  man 
or  set  of  men ;  nor  have  they  any  concern  with  consequences,  as  to 
the  way  in  which  the  revisions  may  affect  any  Church  or  party. 
Their  duty  is  to  put  the  reader  in  possession  of  the  truest,  fairest, 
most  idiomatic  English  expression  of  the  living  oracles.  They  need 
call  no  man  master,  nor  bear  allegiance  to  any  school  or  tradition. 
They  work  in  no  fetters  of  any  kind,  and  are  dependent  only  upon 
that  good  Spirit,  without  whose  influence  no  permanent  service  can 
be  rendered  to  the  cause  of  truth.  This  fact  will  give  weight  to  the 
final  result,  since  it  will  be  regarded  as  the  conclusion  of  various 
minds  working  independently  on  the  same  great  theme,  and  at  last,^ 
by  free  conference,  coming  to  a  representation  in  which  all  can 
heartily  unite.  This,  indeed,  is  no  guarantee  against  the  existence 
of  any  error,  but  it  certainly  does  cut  off  what,  in  all  previous  trans- 
lations of  the  Scripture,  has  been  a  fruitful  source  of  imperfection, 
and  sometimes  an  impassable  barrier  against  any  improvement. 

7.  Yet  the  revision  is  Conservative.  With  all  its  freedom  from  ar- 
bitrary restrictions,  it  is  a  revision,  and  not  a  new  translation,  of  the 
Bible.  It  gladly  accepts  as  its  basis  the  authorized  version,  whose 
excellencies  are  so  many  and  so  great;  and  it  has  for  its  fundamental 
principle  the  rule  to  make  no  change  except  such  as  is  required  by 
conscientious  fidelity  to  the  original.  And  when  such  change  is  made, 
it  is  to  be,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the  language  of  the  period  when  our  ver- 
sion appeared.  It  would  be  proper  to  adopt  this  course  as  a  mere 
matter  of  policy ;  for  no  thoroughly  new  translation,  no  matter  how 
skilfully  made,  could  ever  expect  to  supersede  a  book  so  dear  to  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  and  so  enshrined  in  precious  memories  as  the 
old  Bible.  Every  such  attempt  is  foredoomed  to  failure.  But  even 
if  this  were  not  the  case,  if  the  book  stood  only  upon  its  intrinsic 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  275 

merits,  without  regard  to  any  ancestral  recollections,  the  proper 
course  would  still  be  the  same.  For,  by  common  consent,  the  lan- 
guage of  King  James'  version  is  wholly  unequalled  in  its  simplicity, 
strength,  ease,  elegance,  and  rhythm.  It  has  long  been  a  standard  of 
grave  and  reverend  speech,  compelling  the  admiration  even  of  those 
who  had  no  sympathy  with  its  contents  or  its  aim.  No  improvement 
here  is  deemed  desirable,  or  even  possible.  The  aim,  therefore,  of 
the  revision  is  to  leave  untouched  all  that  makes  the  glory  and  attrac- 
tiveness of  the  existing  Bible,  and  only  to  remove  the  defects  which 
have  in  any  way  arisen,  whether  from  original  oversight;  or  from  the 
imperfect  state  of  criticism  and  exegesis  at  the  time;  or  from  the  grad- 
ual changes  to  which  every  living  tongue  is  liable.  The  plan,  there- 
fore, is  conservative,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  retaining  all  that 
ought  to  be  retained,  and  amending  only  what  imperatively  requires 
amendment.  The  new  book  will  produce  no  unpleasant  jar  in  the 
reader  or  hearer,  since,  in  form  and  tone  and  rhythm,  it  will  be  the 
same  as  the  old,  and  the  two  can  be  used  side  by  side  without  incon- 
venience. The  only  difference  will  be  that  corrections  and  explana- 
tions, in  which  the  majority  of  the  learned  now  agree,  will  be  put 
into  the  text  instead  of  being  left  to  be  made  by  the  oral  exposition 
of  the  pulpit,  or  by  the  innumerable  printed  helps  and  commentaries 
which  are  to  be  found  everywhere.  The  same  guarantee  against  any 
extravagance  in  this  direction,  is  the  fact,  that  among  the  rules  laid 
down  for  the  revisers,  is  one  which  requires  that  in  the  final  action  of 
the  committee  no  change  from  the  common  version  shall  be  carried^ 
unless  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds. 

8.  The  Revised  Bible  will  be  distinguished  by  its  Uniformity.  In 
this  respect  the  authorized  is  sadly  deficient.  In  many  cases  the  same 
proper  name  is  spelled  in  two  or  even  three  different  ways,  and 
the  reader  is  bewildered  if  not  seriously  led  astray.  Or,  again,  the 
same  Hebrew  or  Greek  word  is  variously  rendered  when  there  is  no 
reason,  rhetorical  or  logical,  for  the  variation,  and  sometimes  when 
the  force  or  the  elegance  of  the  passage  depends  upon  the  preserving 
of  uniformity.  This  is  owing  partly  to  the  fact  that  King  James'  re- 
vision was  executed  by  six  different  companies,  whose  results  were  not 
carefully  co-ordinated  ;  partly  to  the  feeling  of  the  translators,  that 
identity  of  words  would  "  savor  more  of  curiosity  than  of  wisdom  ;  " 
and  somewhat,  also,  to  their  habit  of  following  the  preceding  revis- 
ions made  at  different  times,  and  by  different  persons,  in  regard  to 
proper  names  and  old  ecclesiastical  terms.  All  this  is  changed  in  the 
new  revision.  The  aim  of  its  authors  is  so  to  regulate  the  work  as 
neither  to  confound  things  that  differ,  nor  to  create  differences  where 
they  do  not  exist.  They  therefore  seek  in  all  cases  where  anything 
depends  upon  the  matter,  to  render  a  Hebrew  or  Greek  word  by  the 
same  English  term,  and,  if  possible,  not  to  employ  one  English  word 
to  render  two  different  words  of  the  original.  If  this  be  successfully 
carried  out,  an  English  concordance  will  be  far  more  trustworthy  than 
it  now  is  or  can  be,  for  it  will  enable  the  unlearned  reader  to  trace 


12  76  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  history  and  use  of  a  word  with  great  certainty.  The  revisers  are 
the  more  likely  to  accomplish  this  because,  instead  of  being  divided 
into  six  companies,  they  are  divided  into  only  two — one  intrusted 
with  all  the  Old  Testament,  the  other  with  all  the  New.  Thus,  the 
same  men  critically  examine  the  entire  Hebrew  or  Greek  text,  and 
are  enabled  continually  to  watch  the  process  of  the  revision,  and  see 
that  uniformity  of  phrasing  is  maintained,  unless  there  be  good  rea- 
.son  for  a  contrary  course.  Besides,  having  before  them  the  author- 
ized version,  and  the  long  train  of  criticisms  to  which  it  has  been 
subjected  on  this  ground,  they  will  be  the  better  able  to  guard  against 
a  similar  error  in  their  own  work.  Even  in  this  way  they  may  not 
attain  perfect  exactness  ;  but,  beyond  doubt,  they  will  make  a  very 
near  approach  to  it,  and  thus  greatly  facilitate  the  efforts  of  the  mere 
English  reader  in  ascertaining  the  mind  of  the  Spirit. 

9.  The  revision  will  be  the  result  of  Alature  Deliberation.  King 
James'  Bible  occupied  between  six  and  seven  years  in  its  preparation. 
For  the  revision,  ten  years  were  originally  allowed,  but  it  has  become 
evident  that  this  is  not  enough,  and  it  is  now  likely  that  it  will  be 
fifteen  years  before  the  entire  work  is  finished.  Some  have  com- 
plained of  the  delay,  and  consider  it  a  great  trial  of  public  patience; 
but  reflecting  people  will  hardly  join  in  this  opinion.  In  a  mat- 
ter of  so  great  importance,  so  far-reaching  in  its  influence,  not  only 
in  English-speaking  Christendom,  but  beyond  it,  the  least  excusable 
of  all  faults  would  be  hasty  and  superficial  treatment.  There  must  be 
thorough  study,  patient  thought,  large  research,  and  careful  compari- 
son of  views.  The  work  must  not  only  be  based  upon  sound  princi- 
ples and  governed  by  judicious  rules,  but  must  be  carried  out  with 
conscientious  diligence  and  painstaking  care.  Less  than  this  could 
not  be  endured  for  a  moment.  To  supplant  a  book  which  has  been 
venerated  by  high  and  low  for  nearly  three  centuries,  and  has  entered 
into  the  heart  and  life  of  the  people  as  no  other  volume  has  ever  done, 
is  not  a  thing  to  be  accomplished  on  short  notice  or  by  a  sudden  burst 
of  enthusiasm.  So  grave  a  procedure  requires  the  utmost  caution 
that  no  source  of  information  be  neglected,  that  no  error  fail  to  be 
guarded  against,  and  that  in  every  case  the  best  rendering  be  adopted. 
Things  which  in  the  translation  of  other  books  would  be  of  small  im- 
portance here  assume  very  great  magnitude,  because  the  matter  in 
hand  is  the  word  of  God — that  word  through  which  we  are  saved  and 
by  which  we  are  to  be  judged.  The  great  artist  laboring  for  immor- 
tality excused  himself  on  that  ground  for  giving  attention  to  what 
to  others  seemed  trifles.  Much  more  must  all  they  who  are  engaged 
on  what  is  the  revelation  of  the  infinite  I  am  spare  no  pains  to  render 
the  version  perfect  in  all  respects.  They  may  not  succeed,  but  this 
is  the  end  they  seek.  And  the  conviction  that  such  a  spirit  has  ani- 
mated the  present  revisers,  and  that  in  consequence  everything  they 
offer  has  been  patiently  pondered  with  all  the  aid  that  could  begotten 
from  any  quarter,  will  go  far  to  win  a  favorable  reception  of  their 
work  at  the  hands  of  the  Christian  public.     For  no  other  revision  has 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  277 

had 'anything  like  the  amount  of  time  and  labor  expended  upon  it 
which  has  been  lavished  upon  this  work  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
both  in  the  individual  studies  of  its  authors  and  in  their  joint  meet- 
ings for  conference. 

10.  The  spirit  in  which  the  work  has  been  conducted  is  Reverential. 
It  has  been  a  recognized  canon  of  criticism  that  in  order  properly  to 
expound  any  book  a  man  must  be  in  sympathy  with  its  design   and 
spirit ;   otherwise,  he  will  go  hopelessly  astray,  however  well  qualified 
he  may  be  in  other  respects.     And  this  is  equally  true  in  the  matter 
of  translation.     The  cold  or  indifferent  translator  will  transfuse  his 
own  feelings  into  his  work,  while  on  the  contrary  he  who  is  profoundly 
impressed  with  the  dignity  and  preciousness  of  his  task,  and  whose 
soul  is  responsive  to  the  matter  with  which  he  deals,  becomes  alive  to 
even  its  minutest  peculiarities,  catches  almost  without  effort  its  domi- 
nant tone,  and  reproduces  the  foreign  original  in  a  faithful  counter- 
part.    It  is  this  more  than  any  other  one  trait  that  gave  to  Luther 
and  Tyndale  their  matchless  skill  and  enduring  pre-eminence  as  trans- 
lators of  the  Bible.     Their  whole  hearts  were  in  the  work  as  one  iden- 
tified with  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  man  ;  and  their  devout 
and  reverential  spirit  impressed  itself  upon  their  pages.     It  is  humbly 
claimed  that  the  present  revisers  share  largely  in  this  important  quali- 
fication.    They  have  no  fellowship  with  the  disposition  which  of  late 
years  has  appeared,    among   some  who  profess  and  call  themselves 
Christians,  to  speak  lightly  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  partial  or  imperfect 
record  of  revelation,  and  to  lessen  the  force  with  which  the  Book  lays 
hold  of  man's  mind  and  conscience.     On  the  contrary,  they  address 
themselves  to  their  work  with  humility  and  awe  as  having  to  do  with 
that  which  is  of  all  things  most  sacred.     They  may  have  different 
theories  of  inspiration,  but  to  them  the  Bible,  the  whole  Bible,  is  the 
word  of  God,  and  as  such  separated  by  an  immeasurable  interval  from 
every  other  book.     Its  constituent  parts,  therefore,  are  handled  with 
tenderness  and  solicitude.     There  is  no  temptation  to  engage  in  haz- 
ardous speculations  or  seek  after  startling  novelties,  but  the  one  thing 
to  do  is  to  render  the  meaning  of  Scripture  accessible  to  the  humblest 
reader  in  a  form  not  inconsistent  with  its  transcendent  dignity  and 
importance.     The  whole  treatment  is  reverential,  and  the  changes 
introduced  are  in  exact  consistency  with  this  feeling.     Recognizing 
the  simplicity  and  majesty  of  the  old  version,  they  seek  to  perpetuate 
the  same  in  the  revision  and  to  have  the  book  in  form  and  tone  suited 
to  the  high  and  holy  character  of  Him  by  whom  it  was  given  to  men. 
They  trust,  therefore,  that  the  devout  reader  will  never  be  needlessly 
shocked  at  anything  in  the  tone  of  the  revised  Bible,  but  find  it  still 
the  same  '-sacred  thing  which  doubt  has  never  dimmed  and  contro- 
versy never  soiled." 

11.  The  adoption  of  it  is  Optional  alike  with  individuals  and 
churches.  This  was  the  case  with  King  James'  version.  On  the  title 
page  of  that  book  it  is  said  to  be  "Appointed  to  be  read  in  churches;  " 
but  no  authority  for  this  statement  is  known  to  exist.      No  one  has 


2  78  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ever  shown  an  edict  of  Convocation,  or  an  act  of  Parliament,  or  a  deci- 
sion of  the  Privy  Council,  or  a  proclamation  of  the  King,  to  this  effect. 
The  work  was  left  to  win  its  way  by  its  own  merits,  without  physical 
or  moral  coercion  in  its  behalf.  So  it  will  be  with  the  Revision.  Its 
authors  have  no  power  to  enforce  its  use  j  nor  would  they  use  such 
power  did  they  possess  it.  They  will  send  it  forth  to  pass  under  the 
judgment  of  the  great  Christian  public  from  whose  opinion  there  is 
no  appeal.  The  scholars  of  the  land  will  determine  whether  it  has 
made  the  English  Bible  a  more  accurate  and  faithful  interpretation 
of  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  the  body  of  the  people  will 
decide  whether  it  retains  the  gravity,  ease,  and  idiomatic  strength  of 
the  older  version.  Both  parties  will  be  left  to  settle  these  points  by 
observation  and  experience  ;  and  there  will  be,  as  indeed  there  can  be, 
no  endeavor  to  forestall  these  decisions  before  they  are  made  or  to 
reverse  them  afterward.  The  question  is  one  that  belongs  exclusively 
to  the  Church  at  large  as  an  inalienable  prerogative.  This  being  un- 
derstood, there  is  nothing  to  prejudice  the  minds  of  men  ;  and  they 
can  come  to  their  conclusion  on  the  merits  of  the  case. 

If  they  find  that  there  is  a  gain  over  the  old  version  in  accuracy,  in 
vigor,  in  uniformity,  and  at  the  same  time  no  loss  in  simplicity,  dig- 
nity and  idiomatic  purity,  they  will  certainly  give  it  the  preference 
both  in  the  closet  and  the  pulpit ;  but  if  after  trial  they  are  con- 
strained to  say,  '•■  the  old  is  better,"  then  the  labor  and  expense  of 
the  revision  will  appear  to  have  been  thrown  away,  excepting  so  far 
as  they  may  benefit  an  individual  here  or  there,  or  prepare  the  way 
for  some  more  prosperous  effort  in  the  far  distant  future.  But  the 
question  must  be  decided  upon  its  merits,  and  it  will  be  vain  to  at- 
tempt to  settle  it  upon  any  other  ground.  The  interest  of  the  Chris- 
tian people  of  Britain  and  America  in  the  word  of  God  is  too  serious 
and  deep-seated  to  allow  them  to  be  influenced  by  extraneous  consid- 
erations. Whatever  they  finally  conclude  to  be  the  most  faithful  and 
accurate  expression,  in  our  tongue,  of  the  lively  oracles  of  God,  will 
surely  gain  their  suffrages  and  become  their  hand-book  for  daily  and 
devotional  use.  Proving  all  things,  they  will  hold  fast  that  which  is 
good. 

12.  Such  are  the  considerations  which  render  it  likely  that  the  at- 
tempt will  succeed,  and  the  revision  take  the  place  of  the  authorized 
version.  But  it  is  very  certain  that  this  change  cannot  be  effected 
speedily.  The  time-honored  book,  which  so  long  has  been  every- 
where accepted  as  the  English  Bible,  and  which  has  been  hallowed 
by  so  many  venerable  and  precious  associations,  will  not  be  lightly 
relinquished.  The  great  majority  of  the  adult  people  of  the  present 
generation  will  doubtless  cling  to  the  volume  in  the  use  of  which  they 
have  grown  up,  and  even  if  unable  to  answer  the  arguments  offered 
in  favor  of  the  revision,  will  simply  say  that  they  are  too  old  to 
change.  Nor  need  these  be  harshly  judged.  The  feeling  which 
prompts  such  an  utterance  is  not  superstition  and  obstinacy,  but 
rather  the  offspring  of  a  sentiment  that  is  praiseworthy — one  that 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  279 

cherishes  old  associations  and  feels  peculiarly  drawn  to  what  has  been 
endeared  to  men,  in  their  deepest  experiences  alike  of  joy  and  sorrow, 
as  a  guide,  monitor,  comforter  and  friend.  But  the  case  is  different 
with  the  younger  portion  of  the  community.  They  will  have  grown 
up  with  the  knowledge  that  the  present  version  was  considered  im- 
perfect, and  that  deliberate  measures  had  been  taken  to  provide  some- 
thing better.  They  will  thus  be  prepared  to  consider  the  matter 
more  impartially  when  the  work  is  done,  and  to  yield  as  soon  as  they 
shall  be  convinced  that  the  changes  made  are  for  the  better,  and  not 
for  the  worse.  The  case  will  be  stronger  with  those  who  come  after 
them ;  for  these  will  have  had  the  old  and  the  new  before  them  from 
the  beginning,  and  will  therefore  have  no  prepossessions  which  can- 
not easily  be  removed.  If  then  the  revisers  have  accomplished  what 
they  expected  and  attempted  ;  if  they  have  removed  existing  ob- 
scurities and  infelicities  without  introducing  any  of  their  own  ;  if  they 
have  put  the  English  reader  in  possession  of  the  chief  important  re- 
sults of  modern  scholarship,  and  yet  retained  the  warp  and  the  woof  of 
the  common  version  ;  then  may  it  be  expected  that,  in  the  course  of  a 
generation,  the  same  result  will  be  reached  as  was  seen  in  the  days  of 
King  James,  and  the  revision  will  quietly  take  the  place  of  its  pre- 
decessor in  the  closet,  the  school,  and  the  pulpit.  It  will  become  the 
universal  standard  ;  and  men  will  wonder  why  so  great  an  aid  and 
comfort  in  the  acquisition  of  biblical  knowledge  was  not  attained  at 
an  earlier  period. 

Still,  of  course,  it  is  possible  that  a  contrary  result  may  follow;  and 
in  regard  to  that  it  may  be  safely  said  that  if  the  present  effort  to 
amend  the  English  Bible  should  fail,  it  hardly  seems  possible  that 
any  other  should  ever  succeed.  When  one  considers  the  peculiar 
auspices  under  which  this  is-  prosecuted,  the  respectability  of  its 
origin,  the  moderation  of  its  aims,  the  catholic  character  of  its 
authors,  the  cordial  union  of  the  two  countries  chiefly  concerned,  the 
number  and  reputation  of  the  scholars  employed,  the  pains  that  have 
been  taken  and  the  time  that  has  been  employed,  it  may  well  be 
judged  that  such  a  combination  of  favorable  circumstances  is  not 
likely  to  occur  again,  and  if  it  should,  would  still  give  no  more  rea- 
son to  expect  a  successful  result  than  there  is  now.  The  failure  of 
this  attempt  would  therefore  be  tantamount  to  saying  either  that  the 
English  Bible  is  so  good  that  it  does  not  need  any  amendment,  or 
that  there  is  not  sufficient  learning  and  wisdom  in  the  modern  Church 
to  make  the  requisite  amendments  in  an  acceptable  manner.  Painful 
as  such  a  conclusion  would  be,  it  would  be  welcome  as  a  guard  against 
any  future  efforts  like  the  present.  It  would  prevent  the  waste  of  any 
more  time  and  money  in  the  vain  endeavor  after  an  impossibility ; 
and  it  would  lead  the  friends  of  Christ  to  consider  whether  there  is 
any  other  way  in  which  they  could  remedy  the  evils  which  flow  from 
an  inadequate  and  somewhat  antiquated  version  of  the  Book  of  books. 


28o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  President. — It  had  been  arranged  on  the  programme 
that  the  paper  next  to  be  presented  should  be  read  after,  not 
before,  the  usual  intermission  for  the  day ;  but,  owing  to  the 
great  pressure  of  subjects  to  come  before  the  Council,  it  has 
been  considered  by  the  Business  Committee  as  advisable,  with 
the  consent  of  the  author  of  the  paper,  that  it  should  now  be 
presented. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Edward  D.  Morris,  D.  D.,  of  Cincinnati^ 
Ohio,  therefore  read  the  following  paper  on 

PRESBYTERIANISM  AND   EDUCATION. 

Romanism  trains :  Protestantism  educates.  Romanism  cloisters 
learning  :  Protestantism  utilizes  and  diffuses  knowledge.  Romanism 
disciplines  a  class  :  Protestantism  develops  and  educates  the  people. 
The  training  of  Romanism  has  in  view  the  advancement  and  exalta- 
tion of  the  Church  :  Protestant  education  seeks  the  welfare  of  human- 
ity. Romish  discipline  tends  to  isolate,  narrow,  specialize  its  sub- 
ject :  the  education  of  Protestantism  broadens,  fraternizes,  ennobles 
its  possessors.  The  training  of  Rome  crystallizes  itself  in  the  monas- 
tery, gray  and  secluded  :  Protestant  education  finds  its  best  expression 
in  the  college  and  the  common  school. 

These  relations  of  Protestantism  generically  to  education  are  the 
direct  outgrowth  of  its  doctrinal  and  spiritual  position.  What  has 
been  styled  the  formal  principle  of  the  Reformation — the  right  and 
duty  of  personal  study  and  personal  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures — 
carries  with  it  as  a  certain  consequence,  immediately  the  religious, 
but  ultimately  universal  education.  The  Protestant  scheme  could 
maintain  itself  in  the  high  place  it  had  assumed,  only  through  the 
lifting  up  of  the  people  intellectually ;  its  diffusion,  and  even  its  ex- 
istence, depending  upon  such  enlargement  of  mental  capacity,  such 
increase  of  knowledge,  general  as  well  as  religious,  in  the  men  and  the 
races  whom  it  sought  to  deliver  alike  from  spiritual  and  from  intel- 
lectual thraldom.  Hence  the  spontaneous  interest  in  the  mental 
cultivation  of  all  classes,  which  manifested  itself  from  the  beginning 
wherever  the  Reformation  prevailed  ;  hence  the  rise  of  philosophy, 
the  growth  of  science,  the  spread  of  popular  intelligence  among  the 
Protestant  portions  of  Europe  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries ;  hence  that  general  quickening  and  exaltation  of  human 
life,  in  every  aspect,  which  in  such  high  degree  now  characterize 
Protestant  as  distinguished  from  Papal  nations.  To  ascribe  these 
historic  results  to  the  native  capacities  of  the  Saxon  or  the  Celtic  mind, 
or  to  the  action  of  geographic  or  climatic  causes,  or  to  the  accidents 
of  civil  development  or  political  struggle,  is  simply  one  of  those 
delusive  generalizations  in  which  the  materializing  philosophy  of  the 
day  so    frequently  betrays   its   own    weakness.     The   grand   central 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  28r 

agency  which  has  wrought  out  these  intellectual  results,  as  the  history 
of  the  past  three  centuries  is  certifying,  must  be  found  rather  in  what 
Protestantism  was  from  the  first,  as  a  spiritual  form  of  faith ;  and  in 
what  Protestantism,  moved  by  an  interior  necessity,  first  introduced 
into  European  thought  and  European  life. 

In  the  more  limited  theme  now  to  be  considered,  the  term  Presby- 
ienamsm  may  be  regarded  as  indicating  not  merely  a  specific  type  of 
Protestant  belief  or  polity,  or  a  special  variety  of  religious  experience 
or  development,  but  rather  a  certain  concrete  element  in  the  grand 
composite  of  historic  Protestantism — an  element  characterized  gener- 
ally by  definite  peculiarities  in  faith  and  structure,  and  representing 
itself  in  a  series  of  Churches  largely  alike  in  doctrine,  spirit,  organiza- 
tion, influence.  Taking  the  correlated  term,  Education,  in  its  broadest 
sense  as  including  substantially  the  entire  intellectual  development  of 
men,  we  may  regard  the  theme  assigned  as  including  three  successive 
inquiries :  What  are  the  special  relations  subsisting  between  this  Pres- 
byterianism  and  such  education  ?  What  have  been  the  practical 
manifestations  or  evidences  of  this  relationship  in  the  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Churches?  What  are  the  prominent  duties  which  such 
a  relationship  and  such  a  history  are  imposing  on  the  Presbyterian  ism 
of  our  time?  A  few  brief  and  casual  glances  in  each  of  these  direc- 
tions must  suffice. 

I.  What  are  the  special  relations  existing  between  Presbyterianism,  as 
one  division  of  Protestant  Christianity,  and  that  intellectual  training 
and  development  of  men  which  has  been  broadly  titled  Education? 

In  common  with  all  Protestants  we  earnestly  repel  the  charge  that 
spiritual  Christianity  has  no  real  interest  in  such  mental  development, 
but  is  the  rather  inimical  to  intellectual  activity  and  to  human  learn- 
ing. In  common  with  all  Protestants  we  earnestly  assert  that  no  real 
antagonism  exists  between  such  Christianity  and  either  the  highest 
forms  of  science  or  culture,  or  the  broadest  varieties  of  popular  edu- 
cation. In  common  with  all  Protestants  we  maintain  rather  that 
Christian  faith  is  itself  a  great  teacher;  that  spiritual  growth  and 
mental  growth  are  divinely  ordained  parts  of  one  grand  process  ;  that 
moral  everywhere  presupposes  or  involves  intellectual  cultivation  ;  and 
that  in  fact,  a  sound  acquaintance  with  the  Christian  scheme,  viewed 
in  its  varied  aspects  and  relations,  is  the  true  source  of  the  finest  and 
ripest  mental  development  which  our  humanity  has  as  yet  enjoyed. 
In  common  with  all  Protestants  we  affirm  the  existence  of  such  deep 
and  vital  connections  between  true  religion,  and  both  the  highest 
and  the  broadest  education  ;  and  declare  our  earnest  conviction  that 
what  God  has  thus  joined  together,  man  ought  never  to  put  asunder. 

Yet  as  Presbyterians  we  seem  to  feel  ourselves  in  some  special  sense 
and  measure  committed  to  these  high  positions.  Not  only  do  we 
hold  with  all  Protestants  that  the  largest  possible  development  of  men 
intellectually  is  to  be  diligently  sought  in  order  to  their  more  com- 
plete acceptance  of  the  gospel  as  it  is  in  Christ  ;  we  desire  such  de- 
velopment also  under  a  special  conviction   that  it  is  only  as  men  are 


282  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

thus  cultivated  mentally  that  they  are  likely  to  embrace  the  grand 
truths  of  grace  in  those  forms  and  connections  which  we  regard  as 
highest  and  best.  Believing,  on  the  one  side,  in  the  power  of  these 
truths,  thus  conceived  and  formulated,  to  elevate  directly  the  mental 
as  well  as  the  moral  life,  we  recognize  our  correlative  obligation  to  lift 
all  men  up  to  that  level  of  intellectual  capacity  where  such  concep- 
tions of  the  Christian  doctrine  may  be  readily  apprehended,  and 
where  the  soul  thus  receiving  the  truth  may  be  most  pervasively  and 
savingly  affected  by  the  truth.  Not  only  do  we  hold  with  all  Prot- 
estants that  intelligence  is  necessary  alike  to  the  proper  unfolding  of 
the  Christian  life,  and  to  the  proper  organizing  and  administration  of 
the  Christian  Church  ;  we  also  believe  that  such  intelligence  is  spe- 
cially needful  in  order  to  the  best  use  of  our  chosen  polity,  to  the 
highest  utilization  of  our  preferred  methods  of  church  activity,  and  to 
the  fullest  perfecting  of  believers  in  those  forms  of  Christian  experience 
and  living  toward  which  our  doctrine  and  our  organization  naturally 
lead.  For  such  reasons  we  are  prone  to  regard  our  Presbyterianism 
as  specially  under  obligation,  both  inherently  and  historically,  to  sus- 
tain every  interest  of  sound  education.  We  hold  ourselves  as  Presby- 
terians eminently  bound  to  utilize  and  diffuse  useful  knowledge,  to 
foster  true  science,  to  sympathize  with  the  finest  culture,  and  by  all 
just  processes  to  widen  and  exalt  the  thoughts  of  men,  doing  zealously 
what  we  may  to  lift  humanity  more  and  more  decisively  up  to  the 
largest  attainable  measure  of  intellectual  as  well  as  spiritual  life. 

The  first  specific  form  of  this  relationship  may  be  seen  in  the  obvious 
connection,  already  suggested,  between  such  education  and  the  Presby- 
terian scheme  of  doctrine.  A  type  of  Christianity  which,  like  Roman- 
ism, depends  chiefly  on  the  spectacular  in  religion;  which  exalts  the 
church  as  the  objective  source  of  salvation,  and  glorifies  the  sacraments 
as  the  only  means  of  grace,  and  enrobes  the  priesthood  with  crimson 
and  gilded  authorities,  will  care  but  little  for  the  intellectual  condition 
of  its  votaries.  In  such  a  church,  ignorance  may  indeed  become  the 
mother  of  devotion.  But  no  variety  of  Protestantism,  however  dan- 
gerously it  may  approach  the  papal  theory  in  this  regard,  could  hope 
to  prosper  by  any  such  process  ;  for  Protestantism,  even  in  its  lowest 
forms,  is  dependent  upon  the  activity  of  the  individual  mind,  calls 
into  play  the  higher  sensibilities,  requires  the  awakened  energies  of 
the  personal  conscience,  and  sets  in  productive  motion  all  the  best 
'elements  in  the  moral  nature;  ever  conscious  of  its  vital  dependence 
on  such  mental  action  and  conviction  in  those  whom  it  would  reach 
and  bless.  Such  is  the  primary  condition  under  which  Protestantism 
in  all  its  varieties  exists,  its  security  and  its  growth  standing  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  intellectual  as  well  as  moral  vigor  of  the  men  and 
the  nations  who  have  received  its  joyful  proclamation. 

It  is  not  invidious  to  say  in  this  place  that  among  all  these  varieties 
Presbyterianism  makes  manifest  most  directly,  most  vitally,  this  in- 
timate connection  between  the  intellectual  and  the  spiritual  in  religion ; 
for  that  Presbyterianism  has  little  within  it  which  appeals  to  natural 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  283 

curiosity  or  to  the  unintelligent  fancy  for  parade  and  show.  It  does 
not  even,  like  some  varieties  of  Protestantism,  appeal  largely  to  the 
aesthetic  principle — to  the  sense  of  beauty  in  form  or  in  order,  or  of 
the  artistic  in  sound  or  color,  or  of  the  elaborate  in  drapery  or  archi- 
tecture or  worship.  Nor  is  it  prone,  like  some  other  varieties,  to  rest 
much  on  the  action  of  the  emotional  element  in  human  nature  ;  to 
awaken  ardent  feeling  ;  to  play  upon  excited  sensibilities  ;  to  impel 
to  duty  through  the  agency  of  passionate  impressions.  Neither  does 
it  depend  primarily  on  the  influence  of  the  legal  principle,  whether  in 
the  form  of  abstract  conceptions  of  ethics  elaborately  presented  to  the 
mind,  or  in  the  guise  of  hierarchal  authority  assuming  to  control  alike 
the  belief  and  the  conduct.  The  primary  and  main  appeal  of  true 
Presbyterianism  always  and  everywhere  is  to  the  intellect ;  to  the  in- 
tellect as  the  proper  organ  for  the  reception  of  divine  truth,  and  as 
the  agent  through  which  that  truth  may  most  directly  and  deeply 
affect  the  conscience  and  the  life.  Setting  aside  as  at  best  secondary 
all  other  methods  of  reaching,  interesting,  saving  men,  it  rests  pri- 
marily, in  a  word,  on  persuasion — such  persuasion  as  flows  from  large 
and  deep  and  calm  perceptions  of  the  truth,  and  from  pure,  rational 
appreciation  of  that  truth. 

A  type  of  Christianity  appealing  thus  immediately  to  the  rational 
faculty,  must  be  specially  dependent,  alike  for  acceptance  and  for 
diffusion,  on  a  high  degree  of  intelligence  among  the  people.  It  is 
true  that  on  the  one  side,  such  a  type  of  Christianity  itself  becomes 
a  great  teacher,  inducing  and  cultivating  such  intelligence.  The 
effort  to  apprehend  its  teaching  is  itself  a  mental  discipline;  they  who 
have  mastered  its  doctrines  have,  in  that  act,  attained  no  small  meas- 
ure of  education.  That  much  of  the  intellectual  capacity  of  the  in- 
dividuals and  the  peoples  who  have  been  nurtured  under  Presbyterian- 
ism, is  attributable  to  the  strong  and  constant  discipline  of  Presby- 
terian doctrine,  will  not  be  questioned  by  any  thoughtful  observer. 
But,  on  the  other  side,  such  a  massive  construction  of  Christian  truth, 
starting  from  the  deep  foundations  of  the  Divine  being,  nature,  pur- 
pose ;  rising  into  proportion  under  the  shaping  influence  of  the  doc- 
trines of  sovereignty  and  predestination  and  the  covenants ;  expand- 
ing, architecturally,  into  the  grand  scheme  of  elective  grace,  and  cul- 
minating with  the  highest  ideal  of  Christ  as  sovereign,  and  of  his 
Church  and  kingdom  as  the  supreme  elements  in  human  life,  both 
here  and  hereafter ;  such  a  construction  of  divine  truth  can  expect  to 
be  extensively  apprehended  and  received  only  as  the  minds  of  men 
are  trained  to  the  consideration  of  such  high  verities,  and  by  special 
culture  are  prepared  to  accept  them.  In  some  aspects  this  might  be 
viewed  as  an  infelicity,  if  not  a  misfortune  :  it  may  tend  to  narrow 
the  range  of  appeal,  and  to  make  Presbyterianism  too  much  the  relig- 
ion of  a  class :  other  varieties  of  Protestantism,  making  less  severe 
demands  upon  the  intellect,  may  have,  in  some  respects,  a  consequent 
advantage.  Yet  the  substantial  fact  remains,  that  among  all  such 
varieties,  this  appeals  most  directly  and  constantly  to  the  rational  fac- 


284  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ulty  in  men,  and  consequently  flourishes  or  declines  as  that  faculty  is 
more  or  less  cultivated.  Whatever  trains  men  to  think,  or  enlarges 
the  area  of  their  knowledge,  or  lifts  them  upward  at  any  point  in  the 
scale  of  intelligence,  tends  therefore  to  its  wider  recognition  and 
acceptance.  Wherever  education  is  neglected,  and  the  knowledge 
and  capacity  of  men  are  narrowed,  there  this  type  of  faith  loses  its 
hold,  and  something  less  dependent  on  vigorous  thinking  takes  its 
place. 

Another  of  these  special  relations  between  Presbyterianism  and  ed- 
ucation may  be  found  in  that  peculiar  type  of  religious  experience  and 
character  which  springs  immediately  from  such  doctrinal  culture. 
Romanism  is  what  it  is  as  a  religious  development,  in  virtue  of  what 
the  Romish  system  of  belief  is.  Protestantism  generally  is  what  it  is 
as  a  spiritual  growth,  in  virtue,  largely,  of  the  sublime  system  of  evan- 
gelical truth  on  which  it  reposes.  Experience  and  character  every- 
where follow  belief:  the  dogma  or  the  confession  expressing  itself  in 
sentiments,  precepts,  practical  characteristics,  which  are  correlative  to 
it.  Out  of  the  Protestant  faith  springs  repentance  rather  than  pen- 
ance, conversion  rather  than  confession,  godliness  rather  than  asceti- 
cism. While  Romanism  expresses  itself  in  blind  credulity,  in  unrea- 
soning submission,  in  works  and  observances,  such  as  the  Church 
prescribes,  coupled  too  often  with  irreligious  living,  Protestant  doc- 
trine proves  its  quality  by  its  saving  power — by  the  spiritual  graces 
and  virtues  it  engenders,  and  the  beautiful  fruits  it  bears  in  the  regen- 
erated life.  And,  in  general,  it  may  said  that  Protestantism,  under 
whatever  name,  produces  essentially  the  same  result :  the  sweet  expe- 
riences, the  holy  virtues,  the  sanctified  manhood  wrought  in  the  soul 
through  evangelical  faith,  being  in  all  lands  and  times  substantially 
alike. 

Yet,  while  the  spirit  is  one,  there  are  differences  of  administration. 
And  each  strong  variety  of  Protestant  belief  produces  in  those  who 
receive  it,  some  corresponding  peculiarities  in  experience  and  in 
character.  Especially  will  a  body  of  Christians  who  count  their  doc- 
trines among  their  chief  glories — whose  symbols  are  their  coalescing 
bond,  their  test  of  membership  and  of  official  qualification,  and  their 
joy  and  pride  as  a  denomination-take  on  practically  the  strong  linea- 
ments of  their  creed,  and  in  their  experience  and  living  bring  into 
light  afresh  all  that  is  peculiar,  forceful,  pervasive  in  what  they  be- 
lieve. That  the  religious  development  of  those  who  accept  the  Pres- 
byterian doctrine  in  preference  to  all  other,  has  marks  and  notes 
which  correspond  peculiarly  with  their  creed,  is  abundantly  obvious. 
The  typical  Presbyterian  is  supposed  to  betray  the  special  influence 
and  action  of  his.Calvinistic  faith,  even  in  the  poise  of  his  head,  in 
the  lines  of  his  face,  in  the  manner  of  his  walk,  as  in  his  habitual 
conversation  and  life.  Of  him  it  may  be  said  with  eminence,  that  he 
is  what  he  is  as  a  Christian  man,  because  he  believes  what  he  believes. 

Of  such  a  type  of  religious  manhood,  some  measure  of  intellectual 
development  and  culture  seems  an  indispensable  condition.     As  no 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  285 

Protestant  could  flourish  spiritually  in  such  a  mental  atmosphere  as 
Rome  supplies  to  her  votaries,  so  eminently  could  no  Presbyterian 
grow  into  religious  maturity,  after  his  own  kind,  excepting  as  his 
mind  is  enlarged  by  culture,  and  thus  enabled  to  apprehend  adequately 
the  high  truths  he  has  professed  to  receive.  So  far  as  his  spiritual 
characteristics  differ,  in  form  or  in  intensity,  from  those  of  other 
evangelical  believers,  that  difference  must  be  traceable  mainly  to  the 
doctrinal  capacity  of  his  intellect :  and  any  mental  degeneracy  which 
would  render  him  incapable  of  appreciating  his  own  symbols,  would 
also  render  him  incapable  of  cherishing  the  sentiments,  of  sustaining 
the  graces,  of  keeping  up  the  forms  of  religious  life,  which  distinguish 
him  as  a  Presbyterian.  No  section  of  Protestantism  is  therefore  so 
<:onstrained  as  Presbyterianism,  as  well  by  the  forms  and  methods  of 
its  spiritual  experience,  as  by  its  system  of  doctrine,  to  foster  in  all 
practicable  v/ays  the  freest  and  broadest  education ;  to  no  other  would 
the  absence  of  such  education  bring  such  immediate  and  irreparable 
disaster. 

A  third  illustration  of  the  close  relationship  between  Presbyterian- 
ism and  education  may  be  seen  in  the  sphere  of  ecclesiastical  government 
■and  administratio7i.  A  type  of  polity  which,  like  the  papal,  throws 
the  direction  of  Church  affairs  exclusively  into  the  hands  of  the  priest- 
hood, or  which,  while  bearing  the  name  of  Protestant,  still  retains 
within  itself  some  degree  of  the  same  error,  will  be  but  little  depend- 
ent on  the  measure  of  intelligence  in  those  whom  it  controls.  If  the 
private  Christian  is  treated  as  a  subject,  rather  than  a  citizen,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Christ,  it  may  rather  be  true  that  the  kind  and  measure 
of  obedience  required  in  such  a  Church  will  be  rendered  the  more 
readily  by  minds  that  are  infantile — by  disciples  who  have  never 
learned  to  think  or  to  act  for  themselves.  But  true  Protestantism, 
while  adhering  loyally  to  Christ  as  the  Head,  and  therefore  believing 
in  the  monarchal  principle  as  incorporated  in  all  proper  Church 
administration,  still  holds  consistently  to  the  broad  democratic  con- 
ception of  the  Church,  also  justified  by  Scripture,  as  "a  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people."  And  hence,  in 
nearly  all  the  varieties  of  form  which  the  Protestant  Churches  have 
assumed  since  the  sixteenth  century,  the  capacity  of  the  people  for 
self-government  under  Christ  has  been,  in  some  degree,  recognized ; 
and  they  have  been  trained  more  or  less  thoroughly  to  the  high  task 
of  governing  themselves.  No  Protestant  body  could  afford  to  pass 
over  to  Romish  ground  at  this  point.  And  of  all  Protestants,  the 
Presbyterian  group  of  churches,  with  all  the  glorious  record  of  their 
struggles  against  priestly  authority  held  in  living  remembrance,  and 
trained  to  liberty  by  such  .a  polity  as  theirs,  could  least  afford  to 
admit,  by  any  sufferance,  the  notion  that  private  Christians  are  sub- 
jects only  in  the  Church  of  God.  A  Presbyterian  who,  while  Christ 
governs  him,  does  not  also  govern  himself  under  Christ,  is  surely  no 
-Presbyterian. 

But  such  a  duty  requires  intelligence  in  those  who  undertake  it :  it 


286  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE 

cannot  be  discharged  where  such  intelligence  is  lacking.  It  is  true, 
on  the  one  side,  that  what  may  be  called  the  drill  of  the  Presbyterian 
polity,  tends  to  cultivate  and  broaden  intellectually  not  merely  those 
who  administer,  but  hardly  less  those  who  submit  to  it.  For  the 
comprehension  of  its  principles  as  well  as  its  methods  is  as  essential 
to  right  obedience  as  to  right  exercise  of  authority :  an  ignorant 
membership  will  constantly  tend  either  to  lawless  revolution  or  to 
spiritual  vassalage.  Hence,  while  the  system  itself  educates,  it  also, 
on  the  other  side,  is  specially  dependent  on  education.  Although  it 
may  indeed  be  applied  in  the  cruder  forms  of  society,  and  even 
among  peoples  just  awakened  from  heathenism,  yet  it  always  presup- 
poses some  degree  of  Christian  knowledge,  and  is  dependent  on  the 
development  of  mental  as  well  as  moral  capacity  in  those  who  are 
ecclesiastically  regulated  by  it.  Of  no  other  form  of  polity  can  it 
be  more  truly  said,  that  intelligent,  active,  sanctified  mind  is  its 
indispensable  condition. 

II.  Presbyterianism  is  thus,  by  its  system  of  doctrine,  by  its  preva- 
lent type  of  experience  and  character,  and  by  its  polity  and  adminis- 
tration, set  in  relations  to  education,  which  in  some  respects  are 
special,  and  in  all  are  vital.  Among  all  varieties  of  Protestantism, 
this  has  chiefest  occasion  to  concern  itself  immediately  and  constantly 
with  the  great  problem  of  human  culture  in  both  its  lower  and  its 
higher  aspects.  What  fhe?i  have  been  the  practical  evidences  or  mani- 
festations of  this  close  relationship  in  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  ? 

Guizot  has  justly  described  the  Reformation  itself  as  a  "great  in- 
surrection of  human  intelligence."  For  such  an  insurrection,  the 
haughty  dogmatism  and  restrictive  assumptions  of  the  Papacy  on  one 
hand,  and  the  revival  of  classic  learning,  the  restoration  of  the  Aris- 
totelian philosophy,  the  progress  of  material  discovery,  political 
awakenings  and  convulsions,  and  other  like  causes  on  the  other  hand, 
had  long  been  silently  preparing.  And  when  the  critical  hour  came, 
the  insurrection  occurred;  not  exclusively,  though  primarily,  a  revolt 
against  Romish  doctrine  and  domination,  but  also  a  revolution  in 
favor  of  free  thought  and  of  universal  education.  A  great  insurrec- 
tion of  the  human  soul  against  errors  that  were  vital,  and  against  a 
Church  which  was  fast  changing  into  anti-Christ,  it  was  also,  in  a 
most  pregnant  sense,  a  great  intellectual  reform — an  insurrection 
which  was  the  necessary  precursor  of  a  freer  intellectual  life  for  Europe 
and  for  mankind. 

The  first  practical  movements  in  the  interest  of  general  education 
in  Europe  were  synchronous  almost  with  the  first  outbreak  of  the 
Reformation.  It  is  to  Martin  Luther  that  the  world  owes  the  original 
conception.  As  early  as  1524,  in  the  very  stress  of  his  great  religious 
struggle,  he  penned  an  earnest  address  to  the  authorities  of  the  cities 
of  Germany  in  behalf  of  Christian  schools,  declaring  in  his  own 
strong  words  that  "it  is  a  grave  and  serious  thing,  affecting  the  inter- 
ests of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  all  the  world,  that  we  apply 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  287 

ourselves  to  the  work  of  instructing  the  young."  Two  years  later, 
in  a  memorable  letter  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  Luther  advanced  the 
broad  principle  on  which  nearly  all  modern  systems  of  education  are 
founded  :  that  whatever  is  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the  state, 
should  be  supplied  by  those  who  enjoy  the  privileges  of  the  state; 
and,  consequently,  that  the  state,  as  the  natural  guardian  of  the 
young,  has  the  right  to  compel  the  people  to  support  schools  for  the 
young.  All  honor  to  Martin  Luther  for  this,  among  other  priceless 
contributions  to  our  best  modern  civilization  ! 

As  the  result  of  his  labors,  and  of  the  associated  effort  of  other 
Protestant  leaders,  the  common  school  became  even  in  the  sixteenth 
century  an  established  institution,  not  in  Germany  alone,  but  also  in 
Protestant  Switzerland,  in  the  Netherlands,  and  in  other  divisions  of 
Continental  Europe.  While  the  founding  of  some  among  the  eminent 
universities  of  the  continent  attested  on  one  side  the  strong  affinities 
between  Protestantism  and  the  highest  forms  of  culture,  these  en- 
deavors to  secure  the  training  of  the  young  of  all  classes,  this  zeal  for 
the  spread  of  intelligence  in  even  the  humblest  circles ;  this  cultiva- 
tion of  the  common  people,  were  a  far  more  impressive  proof  of  the 
vital  relation  between  the  Protestant  faith  on  one  hand,  and  an  edu- 
cated, elevated  humanity  on  the  other.  As  the  clear  vision  of  Luther 
saw  from  the  first.  Protestantism  needed  the  common  school  even 
more  than  the  university ;  and  that  great  need  it  became  one  of  the 
primary  duties  of  Protestantism  in  every  part  of  Northern  Europe  to 
supply. 

To  illustrate  the  distinctive  agency  and  influence  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  in  this  respect,  we  may  turn  to  John  Knox  and  to  Scotland. 
In  1558,  writing  from  Geneva  his  "  Brief  Exhortation  to  England," 
Knox  affirmed  that  *'  for  the  preservation  of  religion,  it  is  most  ex- 
pedient that  schools  be  ujjiversally  erected  in  all  cities  and  chief 
towns,  the  oversight  whereof  to  be  committed  to  the  magistrates  and 
learned  men  of  the  said  cities  and  towns ;  that  of  the  youth  godly  in- 
structed among  them,  a  seed  may  be  reserved  and  continued  for  the 
profit  of  Christ's  Church  in  all  ages."  In  1560,  moved  doubtless  by 
what  he  had  already  seen  on  the  continent,  he  urged  the  establishing- 
of  schools  for  the  poor  in  Scotland,  maintaining  that  such  schools 
ought  to  be  supported,  if  need  be,  by  the  kirk.  What  Martin  Luther 
did  for  Germany  and  the  continent,  John  Knox  as  earnestly  did  for 
Scotland  and  for  the  British  Isles. 

That  these  urgent  teachings  bore  early  and  abundant  fruit,  we  have 
the  amplest  evidence.  The  important  General  Assembly  of  1638, 
while  putting  into  form  the  fragmentary  records  of  preceding  Assem- 
blies, and  at  the  same  time  reviewing  their  action,  "  alloweth  this 
article,  '  anent  the  planting  of  schooles  in  Landward,'  the  want 
whereof  doth  greatly  prejudge  the  grouth  of  the  gospel,  and  procure 
the  decay  of  religion."  The  Assembly  likewise  "  giveth  direction  to 
the  severall  Presbyteries  for  the  settling  of  schools  in  every  landward 
parochin,  and  providing  of  men  able  for  the  charge  of  teaching  of  the 


a88  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

youth."  In  the  same  spirit  the  celebrated  Assembly  of  1642,  in  the 
midst  of  the  agitations  of  that  eventful  period,  ordained  that  "every 
parish  would  have  a  reader  and  a  schoole,  where  children  are  to  be 
bred  in  reading,  writting  and  grounds  of  religion  ;  "  and  also  required 
its  Presbyteries  "to  certify  from  one  Generall  Assembly  to  another, 
whether  this  course  was  continued  without  omission  or  not."  For 
reasons  which  are  familiar,  the  Scottish  school  system  grew  up  within 
the  Church,  rather  than,  as  on  the  continent,  within  the  State;  and 
therefore  from  the  beginning  assumed  chiefly  the  parochial  form.  Yet 
these  ecclesiastical  acts,  and  the  vast  number  of  others  of  like  tenor 
found  in  the  Minutes  of  General  Assemblies  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land in  its  various  branches  from  1642  to  the  present  time,  abun- 
dantly testify  to  the  fidelity  of  that  Church  to  the  cause  of  popular  ed- 
ucation. In  like  manner  do  these  acts  amply  explain  the  existence 
of  that  general  intelligence,  of  that  extensive  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
of  that  mental  action  and  vigor,  and  of  that  consequent  energy  and 
elevation  in  character,which  have  made  the  Scotch  people  well-nigh 
pre-eminent  among  the  nations. 

How  far  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  has  been 
identified  with  the  cause  of  education  in  both  the  lower  and  the 
higher  grades,  is  shown  alike  by  the  action  of  its  chief  judicatories, 
by  the  story  of  its  practical  effort,  and  by  the  growth  of  institutions 
•originating  with  it,  and  still  standing  as  monuments  of  its  zeal  and 
consecration.  Such  ecclesiastical  action,  taking  note  of  the  intel- 
lectual as  well  as  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  poor,  especially  in 
more  destitute  regions,  encouraging  the  establishment  of  both 
parochial  and  common  schools,  protesting  against  all  invasion  of  the 
national  policy  of  universal  education,  favoring  the  founding  of  aca- 
demies and  seminaries  for  both  sexes,  furthering  the  planting  and  en- 
dowment of  colleges  and  universities,  and  directly  assisting  in  the 
organization  and  control  of  institutions  for  the  special  training  of 
young  men  for  the  ministry ;  such  action  may  be  found  everywhere  in 
the  annals  of  American  Presbyterian  ism,  not  only  committing  its  va- 
rious branches  to  the  support  of  education  in  the  broadest  sense,  but 
also  indicating  a  zeal,  an  energy,  a  devotion  to  that  great  task  no- 
where surpassed. 

The  history  of  such  effort,. though  it  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
important  chapters  in  the  general  history  of  education  on  this  conti- 
nent, cannot  even  be  sketched  here.  From  the  early  days  when  men, 
who  were  Calvinists  in  belief,  and  largely  Presbyterian  in  their  concep- 
tion of  the  Church,  fousded  the  ancient  universities  of  New  England, 
through  the  subsequent  period  when  the  famous  Log  college  and  other 
like  institutions  on  the  Atlantic  coast  rose  into  form  under  Presbyte- 
rian auspices,  down  to  our  own  time  when  colleges  and  seminaries  are 
springing  up  by  natural  consequence  in  every  State  and  Territory 
where  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  any  variety  has  been  introduced, 
that  history  is  one  of  which  those  who  bear  that  name  might  justly  be 
proud.     Of  the  three  hundred  and  forty-five  colleges  reported  to  the 


SliCOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  2 89 

Bureau  of  Education  in  1878,  forty-one  were  classed  as  distinctively 
Presbyterian,  while  nearly  as  many  more  are  known  to  have  originated 
largely  through  Presbyterian  effort,  or  to  be  largely  manned  and  con- 
trolled by  men  of  Presbyterian  name  and  affiliation.  Of  the  one 
hundred  and  seventeen  theological  seminaries  and  theological  depart- 
ments in  collegiate  schools,  reported  in  the  same  year,  thirty-two  are 
distinctively  Calvinistic,  and  of  these  twenty-one  are  connected  with 
some  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Thirteen  such  seminaries, 
including  two  theological  schools  for  Germans,  and  two  theological 
departments  in  institutions  for  the  colored  race,  were  reported  to  the 
last  General  Assembly  of  the  most  extensive  section  of  that  Church  : 
having  fifty-seven  professors,  with  other  occasional  teachers,  an  at- 
tendance of  more  than  five  hundred,  and  an  aggregate  endowment 
approaching  four  millions  of  dollars.  If  these  statistics  are  studied 
comparatively  in  several  directions,  and  if  these  Presbyterian  institu- 
tions are  examined  relatively  as  to  resources,  efficiency,  and  influence, 
ample  proof  will  be  discovered  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  been 
and  still  is  among  the  foremost  in  the  vast  task  of  cultivating  and 
moulding  in  these  higher  forms  the  American  mind. 

Nor  is  that  agency  limited  to  these  higher  forms:  the  same  interest 
has  been  manifested  in  the  preliminary  work  of  educating  the  young 
of  every  class.  While  some  differences  of  opinion  have  existed  among 
Presbyterians  as  to  the  comparative  value  of  common  schools,  and 
schools  parochial  or  denominational,  yet  the  instruction  of  all  the 
youth  of  the  State  by  some  process  has  been  universally  regarded  as  of 
vital  moment.  The  general  school  system,  as  it  exists  widely  in  the 
United  States,  has  found  in  the  main  no  friend  more  reliable,  no  ally 
more  effective,  than  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Especially  has  this 
become  apparent  at  those  times  when,  in  the  interest  of  an  aggrandiz- 
ing Catholicism,  the  effort  has  been  made  to  break  up  this  system,  and 
to  beguile  the  State  into  the  support  of  sectarian  schools.  It  is  not 
improper  to  quote  here  a  declaration  adopted  in  view  of  such  effort, 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Re-united  Church,  in  its  first  meeting 
in  1870 — a  declaration  in  which  every  section  of  American  Presbyte- 
rianism  will  heartily  join  : 

"  The  public  school  in  the  United  States  is  the  most  precious  heir- 
loom of  American  liberty.  Planted  in  the  early  colonial  days,  it  has 
grown  and  expanded  into  one  of  the  most  beneficent  institutions  of 
the  country.  Its  history  is  interwoven  with  that  of  the  nation.  No 
other  agency,  if  we  except  the  Church  of  God,  has  had  so  large  a 
share  in  laying  the  foundations  of  popular  intelligence,  virtue  and 
freedom.  In  hardly  any  other  institution  is  the  characteristic  Ameri- 
can idea  so  happily  and  fully  realized.  It  cannot  be  endangered, 
therefore,  without  peril  to  the  vital  interests  of  American  society." 

III.  These  cursory  historical  glimpses  are  sufficient  to  illustrate  the 
general  fact  that  Presbyterianism  in  all  countries  and  periods  has  veri- 
fied in  practice  what  the  study  of  its  interior  relations  and  needs  would 
lead  us  to  anticipate.  A  broader  survey  would  still  further  confirm 
19 


290  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  assertion,  that  no  division  of  Protestantism  has  done  more,  strug- 
gled more,  sacrificed  more,  to  give  to  all  men  everywhere  the  inestima- 
ble blessing  of  a  sound  education.  It  is  legitimate  to  close  these 
references  by  a  brief  answer  to  the  third  inquiry  :  What  are  the 
prominent  duties  which  such  a  relationship  and  such  a  history  are 
imposing  on  the  Presbyterianism  of  our  time  ? 

The  broad  problem  of  popular  education  is  by  general  admission 
one  of  the  vital  questions  of  the  age.  This  is  true,  not  merely  under 
Republican  government,  where  every  man  becomes  a  citizen,  and  as 
such  assists  in  determining  public  policy,  and  even  in  fixing  the  charac- 
ter aiiu  destinies  of  the  nation  ;  it  is  true  under  all  forms  of  government 
in  which  the  intelligence,  the  sentiments,  the  moral  state  of  those  who 
are  governed  sustain  any  relation  to  civil  administration.  Nor  is  the 
problem  a  governmental  one  merely  or  mainly  ;  it  involves  elements 
and  issues  that  are  both  social  and  personal.  It  affects  every  interest 
of  the  individual  life;  it  enters  the  family,  and  pervades  and  shapes 
the  home ;  it  penetrates  human  experience  at  a  hundred  different 
points,  influencing  thought,  feeling,  purpose  ;  labors,  relations,  desti- 
nies, both  earthly  and  everlasting.  Hence  one  of  the  most  deep,  one 
of  the  most  pathetic  outcries  of  humanity  in  this  day,  is  for  education  ; 
an  education  which  will  bring  with  it  an  enlarged  life  in  every  aspect, 
and  will  impart  dignity  and  worth  to  all  human  experience.  The  call 
for  such  education,  at  once  an  entreaty  and  a  demand,  heard  not  in 
America  only,  but  in  Europe  also,  both  insular  and  continental,  is 
growing  louder  and  louder  each  year,  and  is  already  reverberating 
from  country  to  country  with  an  emphasis  and  a  solemnity  which  no 
thoughtful  mind  can  refrain  from  heeding. 

False  theories  of  popular  education  are  current  here  and  everywhere: 
theories  so  various,  so  vague,  so  grotesque,  as  to  be  in  large  degree  un- 
definable.  Two  of  these  errors  are  specially  prominent — the  churchly 
and  the  secular.  The  first  would  hand  education  over  exclusively  to 
the  Church,  and  make  the  priesthood  teachers,  and  limit  knowledge 
to  the  narrow  range  which  churchly  need  demands  ;  it  would  train 
rather  than  educate,  substitute  a  religious  cultus  for  mental  discipline, 
develop  the  imaginative  or  the  sensuous  rather  than  the  intellectual 
nature,  and  end,  at  least  in  the  papal  form,  in  producing  a  race  of 
superstitious  votaries  instead  of  a  generation  of  free,  disciplined, 
active  minds. 

The  second  theory  ignores  religion  altogether,  segregates  the  in- 
tellect from  either  the  feeling  or  the  conscience,  subordinates  or 
excludes  every  ethical  element  in  culture,  and  contents  itself  with 
inculcating  a  series  of  knowledges,  scientific  and  otherwise,  leaving 
the  pupil  in  ignorance  alike  of  God,  of  duty,  and  of  immortality. 
The  first  impairs  education  by  confusing  it  with  religion  ;  the  second 
destroys  it  by  secularizing  its  area  and  its  aim.  Surrender  the  school 
and  the  scholar  to  the  first,  and  Scotland  herself  would  become  Italy; 
surrender  the  school  and  the  scholar  to  the  second,  and  Germany 
would  be  transformed  into  the  France  of  Voltaire  and  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  291 

Between  these  two  errors,  so  widely  apart  in  their  distinctive  prin- 
ciples, and  yet  in  some  instances  so  singularly  confederated,  stands 
that  mediate  scheme  of  education  which  originated  with  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  in  which  all  Protestants,  and  eminently  all  Presbyterians, 
rejoice  together.  This  mediate  scheme,  planned  in  order  to  make 
education  universal,  and  recognizing,  at  least  in  such  a  country  as 
this,  the  wide  variety  of  religious  opinion  represented  in  the  common 
school,  makes  no  claim  that  the  school  shall  be  turned  into  a  place 
of  worship,  or  of  religious  drill  of  any  sort,  or  that  any  particular 
specimen  of  creed  or  doctrine  shall  be  taught  therein.  This  mediate 
scheme  may  consent  to  surrender  the  name  of  Protestant,  or  even  the 
dearer  name  of  Christian  in  any  restrictive  sense ;  it  might  even  in 
extreme  cases  consent  to  occupy  ground  where  the  believer  and  the 
deist  were  consciously  at  one.  But  it  must  ever  insist  that  no  divorce 
shall  be  wrought  between  education  and  religion ;  it  must  ever  claim 
that  the  great  and  primary  principles  of  religion  shall  be  revered 
and  inculcated  in  some  form  in  every  place  where  the  young  are  being 
trained  for  the  responsibilities  of  maturer  life. 

This  mediate  scheme  regards  as  indispensable  to  all  useful  education 
such  a  degree  of  ethical  and  religious  influence  as  shall  both  inspire  and 
rectify  the  mind  in  its  specific  studies;  such  a  degree  of  influence,  eth- 
ical and  religious,  as  shall  lead  the  pupil  to  a  right  appreciation  of 
himself,  and  of  the  work  in  which  he  is  engaged,  and  shall  finally 
send  him  forth  fitted  by  a  cultivated  manliness,  by  true  virtue,  by  a 
deep  and  fervent  sense  of  religion,  for  the  life  that  now  is,  and  that 
which  is  to  come. 

To  the  proper  application  of  this  mediate  scheme,  the  presence  of 
the  Bible  in  every  school  is  an  indispensable  condition.  Setting 
aside  all  question  as  to  the  method  in  which  this  Book  of  God  shall 
be  utilized — waiving  all  particular  issues  as  to  selections  or  mere  ver- 
sions— it  may  yet  be  claimed  that  no  substitute  for  the  Bible  has  been 
or  can  be  devised,  which  will  render  its  presence  needless;  that  no 
influence  is  so  fragrant,  no  benediction  so  pure,  no  vitality  so  quick- 
ening, as  those  which  flow  off"  t'rom  this  volume,  on  the  youthful 
mind  and  life;  and,  therefore,  that  no  education  can  be  complete, 
however  redolent  with  knowledge  or  brilliant  with  science,  which  the 
divine  benignities  of  this  Book  have  not  crowned  and  glorified.  We 
are  not  indifferent  to  the  objections,  some  of  them  weighty,  which 
formal  and  tasteless  usage,  the  handling  of  divine  things  by  irreligious 
teachers,  the  protests  of  unbelieving  homes,  the  exclamations  of  ex- 
pediency, the  doctrine  of  equal  rights  falsely  applied,  are  constantly 
urging  against  such  employment  of  the  word  of  God  as  an  instrumen- 
tality in  public  education.  But  over  against  all  this,  we  place  the 
historic  fact  that  this  word  has  been  the  source  of  the  finest  thoughts 
and  inspirations  of  mankind,  and  that  no  culture  is  equal  to  that  which 
it  supplements  and  sanctifies.  Over  against  all  this  we  place  the  dem- 
onstrated fact  that  this  word  is  the  true  basis  of  the  best  national  as 
well  as  individual  life,  and  the  only  stable  charter  of  human  liberties. 


292  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Over  against  all  this,  and  as  a  final  answer,  we  place  the  crowning 
fact  that  all  culture,  all  civilization,  all  forms  of  human  development, 
into  which  the  effects  of  this  saving  word  have  not  been  poured,  as 
some  divine  contribution  to  our  human  growth,  have  been  evanescent, 
unsatisfying,  illusive. 

To  this  mediate  scheme,  thus  consummated  by  the  presence  of  the 
Bible  in  the  school,  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  this  land,  and  of 
other  lands,  are  heartily  committed  alike  by  their  inherent  conviction 
and  by  their  denominational  action.  American  Presbyterianism  has 
given  its  final  answer  to  the  churchly  theory,  in  the  deliverance  of  one 
of  its  representative  assemblies:  "The  appropriation  of  any  portion 
of  school  funds  for  the  support  of  sectarian  institutions  would  be 
fraught  with  the  greatest  mischief,  not  merely  to  popular  education, 
but  also  to  the  interests  of  American  freedom,  unity  and  progress." 
American  Presbyterianism  has  given  its  final  answer  to  the  secular 
theory,  in  words  equally  official  and  weighty:  "The  divorce  of  popu- 
lar education  from  all  religious  elements,  while  involving  a  radical 
departure  from  the  spirit  and  principles  in  which  our  school  system 
had  its  origin,  would  be  eminently  unwise,  unjust,  and  a  moral 
calamity  to  the  nation."  On  the  essential  principles  of  the  mediate 
system,  born  of  the  Reformation  and  justified  by  three  centuries  of 
happy  experiment,  the  Presbyterianism  of  all  countries  may  and  will 
stand  together,  protesting  against  all  undue  domination  of  the  Church 
in  education,  detesting  all  attempts  to  render  education  godless  or 
irreligious,  and  covenanting  with  one  another  and  with  God,  that 
wherever  the  Church  goes  the  school  shall  follow, until  the  blended 
light  of  education  and  religion,  religion  and  education,  shall  shine  on 
every  youthful  mind  through  all  the  earth. 

The  other  great  duty  of  Presbyterianism  in  this  day  relates  to  what 
is  called  the  higher  education.  No  thoughtful  observer  can  fail  to 
realize  what  may  be  defined  as  a  progressive  loosening  of  that  close 
alliance  between  Christianity  and  liberal  education  which  originated 
in  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  and  which  hitherto  has  been  main- 
tained almost  without  interruption  for  three  long  centuries.  It  is  un- 
questionable that  in  some  degree  one  of  these  parties  is  withdrawing 
more  or  less  consciously  from  that  historic  alliance ;  the  same  ten- 
dency which  is  secularizing  education  in  the  primary,  also  betraying 
its  influence  in  this  higher  sphere.  Old  universities  planted  by  the 
care  and  sacrifice  of  Protestantism  are  in  some  instances  becoming 
harboring  places  for  doubt,  and  in  some  the  citadels  of  unbelief. 
New  institutions  of  like  grade  are  established,  in  some  cases  through 
private  munificence,  and  in  others  by  state  or  national  patronage,  in 
which,  by  conditions  prescribed,  or  by  tacit  consent,  Christianity  is 
either  entirely  excluded,  or  placed  under  restrictive  limitations. 
Other  less  concrete  illustrations  of  this  progressive  separation  will 
occur  at  once  to  the  thoughtful  observer.  The  general  result  already 
is  that  no  small  proportion  of  our  educated  mind  is  going  forth  into 
professional  and  influential  stations,  if  not  at  heart  averse  to  Chris- 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  293 

tianity,  still  resting  in  indifference  to  the  whole  matter  of  religion  as 
one  with  which  a  cultivated  man  need  not  concern  himself.  Two 
particular  manifestations  of  this  general  fact  may  be  briefly  named  : 

On  one  hand  much  of  current  science,  even  where  it  is  not  openly 
adverse  to  religion,  is  at  heart  neutral  or  indifferent.  The  challenges 
of  science,  calling  into  question  the  fundamental  verities  of  faith, 
and  assailing  at  every  point  the  spiritual  relations  between  God  and 
man,  are  indeed  sufficient  to  excite  grave  apprehensions,  and  to  arouse 
the  Church  to  a  renewed  and  more  strenuous  defence  of  the  realities 
thus  attacked.  But  there  is  a  danger  far  greater  than  this;  the  dan- 
ger that  the  scientific  mind  of  our  time  will  become  utterly  oblivious 
of  religion — so  absorbed  in  the  study  of  nature,  in  the  discovery  of 
physical  facts  and  laws,  in  the  classification  and  comprehension  of 
things  seen  and  temporal,  as  altogether  to  forget  the  grander  things 
which  are  unseen  and  eternal.  Indifferentism  is  a  more  generic, 
immediate,  fearful  peril  in  such  circles  than  positive  scepticism.  The 
secularization  of  the  scientific  mind  bodes  greater  evil  to  the  cause  of 
religion  than  all  existing  unbelief.  And  if  such  indifferentism  should 
come  to  be  characteristic  of  institutions  where  the  sciences  are  pur- 
sued, and  whence  new  generations  of  scientific  men  are  to  proceed,  the 
ultimate  injury  alike  to  religion  and  to  education  will  be  beyond 
computation. 

On  another  hand,  much  of  what  may  be  termed  culture  is  passing 
through  an  experience  essentially  the  same.  The  challenges  of  such 
culture  are  indeed  serious:  they  involve  the  reality  of  all  spiritual  ex- 
perience, the  validity  of  moral  sentiment,  the  supremacy  of  ethics 
over  aesthetics,  and  even  the  hope  and  anticipation  of  immortality. 
The  grand  in  philosophy,  the  beautiful  in  literature,  the  divine  in  art 
— light  and  sweetness  upspringing  from  the  soul  in  man  himself — are 
the  substitute  which  culture  is  presenting  as  the  highest  business,  the 
highest  aspiration  of  life.  Christianity  set  aside  as  an  imperfect  pro- 
duct of  some  past  age  outgrown  by  the  developing  thought  of  man, 
it  offers  to  humanity  an  experience  in  which  there  is  no  Christ,  no 
Church  of  God  among  men :  no  trust  or  love,  no  fears  or  hopes,  that 
lay  hold  in  any  form  on  immortality.  Yet  these  illusive  views  are 
not  the  most  serious  ground  of  apprehension.  A  greater  peril  lies  in 
the  indifferentism  which  devotion  to  culture  as  an  end  in  itself  in- 
volves. The  danger  is,  that  in  giving  itself  up  to  the  philosophic,  the 
literary,  the  aesthetic,  such  culture  will  forget  God  and  duty,  and 
altogetiier  ignore  religion  as  a  matter  unworthy  of  concern.  And  if 
such  substitution  of  culture  for  religion  comes  to  be  characteristic  of 
our  institutions  of  learning,  the  result  will  be  as  disastrous  as  if  those 
institutions  were  handed  over  wholly  to  positive  unbelief. 

In  both  of  these  directions  it  is  apparent  that  a  great  duty  is  devolv- 
ing upon  the  Christianity  of  our  time  :  the  rescue  of  the  higher 
education  from  these  liabilities,  and  the  restoration  of  that  historic 
alliance,  in  which  science  and  culture  on  the  one  hand  and  sound 
religion  on  the  other  shall  again  become  essentially  one.     Waiving 


294  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

all  reference  to  the  particular  aspects  of  the  issue  suggested,  or  to  the 
special  varieties  of  tlie  argument,  defensive  and  aggressive,  as  urged  by 
Christian  writers,  as  to  the  details  of  the  reconciliation  to  be  sought, 
we  may  still  agree  in  regard  to  the  great  underlying  duty.  Chris- 
tianity owes  it  to  itself  and  to  humanity  to  seek,  by  every  available 
process,  the  just,  pure,  divine  union  between  religion  on  one  side  and 
the  higher  learning  on  the  other.  Wherever  the  disposition  to  sepa- 
rate them  reveals  itself,  that  disposition  is  to  be  earnestly  resisted  ; 
■wherever  they  are  regarded  and  treated  as  one,  such  alliance  is  to  be 
encouraged  and  sustained. 

It  is  important  here  simply  to  recognize  the  general  nature  of  the 
process  by  which  such  unification  is  to  be  secured.  That  process  is 
essentially  one  of  education.  Legal  conflicts,  magisterial  demands, 
dogmatic  assumptions,  unseemly  denunciations  will  accomplish  noth- 
ing. The  scientist  and  the  culturist  are  to  be  led  back  by  the  hand 
of  sytnpathetic  faith  to  the  sublimer  verities  which  in  their  ardor  for 
specific  studies  they  have  overlooked  or  ignored.  While  they  may  be 
answered  on  their  own  ground,  and  by  considerations  appealing  im- 
mediately to  each  in  its  own  specialty,  there  is  a  higher  answer  which 
will  prove  itself  far  more  effective:  the  answer  of  a  clear,  calm,  deep, 
spiritual  Christianity.  They  can  and  must  be  led  to  see  that  the 
unities  between  religion  and  learning  in  either  form  are  incomparably 
greater  than  any  diversities ;  that  the  diversities  are  but  partial  and 
temporary,  while  the  unities  are  essential  and  eternal.  Even  in  the 
midst  of  present  antagonisms,  the  brain  of  science  is  asking  for 
spiritual  verities ;  and  from  the  bosom  of  culture  we  may  hear  the  old 
confession  of  Augustine:  Our  heart  hath  no  rest,  O  God,  till  it 
resteth  in  Thee  \  From  scientific  and  literary  circles,  and  from  asso- 
ciations formed  for  scientific  or  literary  ends,  and  even  from  institu- 
tions where  this  disposition  to  separate  religion  and  learning  has  been 
manifested,  evidences  are  coming  of  a  recognition  of  the  error  in- 
dulged, and  of  a  desire  for  the  restoration  of  the  ancient,  s&cred  com- 
pact. What  is  needed  is  instruction — such  instruction  as  spiritual 
Christianity  alone  can  give.  What  is  needed  is  such  statements  of 
the  grand  underlying  truths  of  Christianity  as  will  command  the 
attention  of  science,  the  interest  of  culture,  and  will  lead  both  science 
and  culture  back  to  living  and  loving  faith. 

The  task  telongs  alike  to  all  divisions  of  Christianity,  so  far  as  they 
are  qualified  to  undertake  it.  It  is  a  task  for  Protestantism  rather 
than  Roman isni ;  and  among  Protestants  it  is  in  large  degree  a  task 
for  Presbyterian  ism.  In  some  respects,  by  our  past  relations,  by  our 
theological  methods,  by  our  forms  of  experience,  and  by  our  prevalent 
conceptions  alike  of  religion  and  oi  learning,  we  are  specially  fitted  for 
this  work.  It  is  one  of  our  foremost  duties,  and  well  will  it  be  both 
for  learning  and  for  religion  if  we  are  enabled  \w  any  measure  to  set 
forth  their  inherent  harmony,  and  to  establish  on  firmer  foundations 
the  ancient  and  holy  alliance  between  them. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  295 

The  Council  next  entered  upon  a 

DISCUSSION  ON  PROFESSOR  FLINT'S  PAPER. 

The  Rev.  Geo.  D.  Armstrong,  D.  D.,  of  Norfolk,  Va. — I  am 
not  willing  to  suffer  the  paper  of  Professor  Flint  to  pass  without 
entering  my  protest  against  the  doctrine  expressed  in  it  upon 
one  point,  and  upon  one  point  only.  As  a  whole,  the  paper  is 
an  admirable  one,  and  I  listened  to  it  with  deep  interest.  The 
one  particular  against  which  I  protest  is  contained  in  the  con- 
cluding part  of  it.  In  speaking  of  the  means  by  which  the 
propagation  of  error,  growing  out  oi  the  spirit  of  inquiry  that  is 
abroad  in  the  world,  is  to  be  prevented,  Professor  Flint  spoke — 
I  do  not  think  I  use  a  harsh  expression  when  I  say  it — spoke 
sneeringly  of  Church  discipline  as  a  means  of  checking  it.  We 
must  take  the  meaning  of  words  from  the  connection  in  which 
they  occur  and  from  what  is  going  on  around  us.  The  Pro- 
fessor seemed  to  be  in  sympathy  with  those  who  claim  the  right 
to  teach,  within  the  pale  of  the  Church,  doctrines  contrary  to  the 
Confession  of  the  Church  to  which  they  belong;  and  who  com- 
plain of  being  persecuted  and  martyred  because,  by  means  of 
Church  discipline,  we  seek  to  prevent  that. 

Now,  it  has  always  been  the  position  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
that  she  had  a  creed ;  that  she  knew  what  that  creed  was ;  and 
that,  as  a  body  of  witnesses,  we  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in 
the  advocacy  of  it.  If  there  is  anything  that  we  have  prided 
ourselves  upon,  it  is  the  particularity  with  which  we  univer- 
sally hold  to  our  creed.  In  the  admirable  paper  which  he 
read  this  morning.  Dr.  Van  Zandt  tells  us,  and  he  tells  us 
very  truly,  that  when  a  minister  in  any  branch  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  stands  up  to  teach,  having  accepted  the  creed 
at  his  ordination,  he  stands  up  with  a  certificate  to  the  ortho- 
doxy of  his  teaching  from  the  ministers  of  the  Church  to 
which  he  belongs.  When  one  has  come  to  entertain  opinions 
which  he  knows  are  contrary  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  of 
that  Church,  and  teaches  those  opinions  publicly,  I  ask  you, 
is  it  honest  in  him  to  do  that  while  holding  the  certificate 
of  that  Church  to  his  orthodoxy?     Possessing  my  certificate,  as 


2^6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

he  does,  as  a  teacher  of  God's  truth,  is  it  honorable  in  him  to 
hold  fast  to  that  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  teach  not  only  what 
I  do  not  believe,  but  what  I  abhor? 

It  may  be  asked  by  some,  where  is  freedom  of  investigation 
and  discussion  if  it  is  to  be  hemmed  in  and  checked  in  this  way? 
I  answer  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  not  the  whole  of  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  world.  The  Presbyterian  Church  is  not 
the  whole  world  either.  Let  the  man  go  outside  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  then  teach  what  he  pleases.  Not  within 
the  Church,  but  outside  of  the  Church,  let  him  teach  what  he 
pleases. 

Not  only  is  the  privilege  claimed  of  teaching  inside  the 
Church  what  is  contrary  to  the  Confession  of  that  Church,  but 
those  who  thus  teach  claim  to  themselves  the  honors  of  a  sort  of 
martyrdom.  They,  forsooth,  are  the  ones  who  are  brave  enough 
to  speak  out  what  they  believe!  I  recollect  hearing,  some  time 
ago,  an  incident  of  this  kind,  which  you  can  apply  to  this  class. 
A  woman  who  had  been  preaching  woman's  rights  according 
to  the  extreme  views  entertained  by  some,  had  occasion,  in 
resuming  her  travels  after  a  lecture,  to  enter  a  crowded  car  in 
which  all  the  seats  were  occupied.  She  remained  standing  in  the 
passage-way,  expecting  that  some  gentleman  would  rise,  as  is 
customary  in  such  cases,  and  give  her  his  seat.  An  elderly 
man  who  sat  near  where  she  stood,  after  surveying  her  very 
deliberately,  inquired :  "  Madame,  didn't  I  hear  you  lecture  last 
evening  on  woman's  rights?"  "Yes,  you  probably  did,"  was 
the  answer.  "  Didn't  I  hear  you  say  then,"  he  continued, 
"that  you  thought  women  were  entitled  to  be  treated  in  all 
particulars  like  men  ?  "  "  Yes,"  she  replied  ;  "  you  did,"  "  Well, 
then,"  said  he,  "  stand  up  and  take  it  like  a  man." 

The  Rev.  Wm.  E.  Boggs,  D.  D.,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. — I  desire  to 
express  the  intense  pleasure  and  to  acknowledge  the  great  profit 
which,  I  trust,  I  received  in  hearing  on  Saturday  from  Professor 
Flint,  one  of  the  ablest  papers  which  I  have  ever  heard.  Many 
years  have  passed  since  any  man,  whom  I  have  seen  on  the 
floor  of  a  debating  body  such  as  this,  or  in  the  chair  of  a  pro- 
fessor, so  manifested  the  power  to  speak  as  did  the  gifted  brother 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  297 

who  read  that  paper.  Its  effect  was  hke  the  thrill  of  a  tremen- 
dous galvanic  battery  which  was  sending  its  currents  around 
this  hall ;  and  I  shall  carry  to  my  distant  home  the  liveliest  recol- 
lection of  the  pleasure  and  information  which  it  gave  me.  But 
in  that  paper,  I  take  it,  there  are  some  things  which  are  to  be 
received  with  qualification.  It  would  be  ungenerous  and  un- 
just to  hold  a  man  accountable  for  all  the  deductions  which  are 
made  from  the  statements  contained  in  a  half-hour  paper  upon 
a  subject  upon  which  so  much  is  to  be  said ;  but  there  is  one 
point  particularly  to  which  I  would  call  attention  as  seeming  to 
demand  revision. 

I  hold  that  the  statement  on  the  expected  discoveries  that  the 
future  holds  for  us  in  the  great  science  of  theology  should  be 
modera/;ed.  I  say  this  because  of  the  way  in  which  I  think  men 
will  act  and  will  be  governed  by  this  discrimination,  whether 
they  regard  the  great  discoveries  of  theology  as  behind  us 
or  before  us.  I  believe  the  Reformed  Churches  holding  the 
Presbyterian  faith  are  ready  to  say  that  history  proves  that 
all  the  great  discoveries  of  theology  are  behind  and  not  before 
us ;  that  in  this  respect  the  science  of  theology  is  allied  closely 
to  that  of  astronomy  and  not  to  that  of  geology;  and  that  those 
which  await  us  in  the  future  are  but  minute  details  of  the  dis- 
coveries which  are  behind  us.  And,  unless  a  man  faces  the 
future  with  that  belief  in  his  mind,  he  is  sure  to  show  something 
of  an  eccentric  determination  that  will  bring  him  out  of  the  line 
of  truth. 

I  wish  to  say  further,  in  regard  to  the  branch  of  the  Church 
which  I  represent,  that  we.  are  in  some  respects  strict  construc- 
tionists ;  that  we  hold  it  to  be  a  point  of  honor  as  among  men, 
that,  whenever  a  teacher  in  the  Church  departs  from  any  im- 
portant part  of  the  doctrine  taught  in  our  Confession,  he  should 
come  forth  like  a  man,  make  the  fact  known  to  those  who 
gave  him  authority  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  say,  like  a  man, 
"I  can  no  longer  accept  that  faith  as  I  signed  it;"  and  give 
his  doubts.  If  the  Church  says,  "  Let  him  stay  within  our 
borders,"  let  him  do  it ;  but  for  him  to  eat  the  bread  of  the 
Church,  and  to  persist  in  preaching  an  error,  while  the  Church 


298  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

is  attacking  the  foundation-stones  of  that  error,  is  not  regarded 
by  us  as  right  or  Presbyterian. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Nicholas  Hofmevr,  of  Cape  of  Good  Hope. — ■ 
Allow  me  to  express  my  hearty  consent  with  what  was  yester- 
day expressed  by  the  brother  from  Ireland  (Dr.  Watts),  namely, 
that  we  may  not  forbid  science  to  touch  on  the  higher  truths, 
such  as  the  existence  of  God.  By  man's  constitution,  he  must 
go  beyond  the  mere  phenomena,  and  ask  what  lies  beneath  and 
beyond  them.  Besides,  we  believe  with  the  apostle  Paul,  as  he 
has  expressed  himself  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  that  the  invisible  does  not  lie  on  a  higher  platform 
parallel  with  the  visible,  but  does  also  dwell  in  the  visible, 
manifests  itself  through  the  visible,  and  is  understood  by  means 
of  the  visible.  Only  let  us  approach  our  researches  in  the 
domain  of  nature  in  the  attitude  which  is  the  only  right  one 
between  us  and  our  God,  namely,  the  attitude  of  adoration 
and  worship.  The  materialistic  character  which  at  present 
often  characterizes  the  findings  of  scientists  is  the  offspring  of 
an  age  pre-eminently  defective  in  the  spirit  of  adoration  and 
worship. 

The  Rev.  Principal  G.  M.  Grant,  of  Kingston,  Canada. — I  do 
not  rise  to  defend  Professor  Flint.  That  gentleman  is  perfectly 
able  to  defend  himself  In  making  this  reference  to  him,  I  wish 
to  say  that,  from  first  to  last  in  the  reading  of  his  paper,  I  did 
not  detect  any  sneer.  The  two  leading  principles  which  he 
seemed  to  lay  down  are  principles  to  which,  I  think,  the  great 
body  of  this  Alliance  must  adhere. 

I  refer  now,  of  course,  to  the  latter  part  of  his  paper  wherein 
he  said  that  the  church  which  sought  to  meet  questions  of 
scholarship  or  speculation  by  the  exercise  of  discipline,  instead 
of  by  a  wider  scholarship  and  a  more  fearless  thought,  was  the 
real  friend  of  Agnosticism.  I  agree  with  him  in  that.  By  such 
a  course,  you  at  once  make  people  suspect  that  the  Church  is 
afraid  to  meet  disputants  on  the  platform  of  free  discussion;  and 
they  at  once  draw  their  own  conclusions. 

His  second  position  was  that,  if  we  took  the  ground  that  the 
Westminster  Confession  was  final  and  unalterable,  we  erred.     I 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  299 

say  we  do  err  if  we  take  that  position ;  for  in  doing  so,  we  place 
it  on  the  same  platform  with  the  Bible — we  become  idolaters, 
nothing  more  nor  less ;  and  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  will 
desert  the  Church  that  takes  that  position. 

The  idea  was  set  forth  in  one  of  the  papers  this  morning,  and, 
I  think,  grandly  set  forth,  that  creeds  are  not  made,  but  grow. 
I  accept  that ;  and  in  accepting  it,  I  would  ask  one  question,  and 
would  like  to  have  an  answer  to  it.  How  can  there  be  growth 
if  the  condition  of  liberty  be  not  allowed  ?  Can  there  be  any 
growth  if  you  do  not  allow  the  condition  of  liberty?  You  can- 
not answer  that  question  in  any  other  than  one  way ;  and  that 
is  in  the  negative. 

But  we  are  told  that  brethren  may  go  outside  of  the  Church. 
I  answer  that  we  do  not  indorse  secession.  No  true  minister  of 
Christ  should  secede  from  the  Church,  so  long  as  he  is  true  to 
the  one  to  whom  he  made  his  ordination  vows — the  Head  of  the 
Church.  If  he  is  preaching  what  he  believes  to  be  truth,  why 
charge  him  with  dishonor  ?  Has  the  Church  no  power  of  dis- 
cipline ?  Let  the  Church  exercise  its  power  of  discipline,  and 
cast  off  the  brother  if  he  is  unfaithful ;  for  the  point  is,  that  he 
does  not  think  himself  unfaithful,  because  he  speaks  the  language 
of  his  own  age,  and  not  the  language  of  two  or  three  cen- 
turies ago.  It  is  because  he  loves  his  Church,  and  wishes  to 
teach  all  the  truth  to  the  Church,  and  God  has  called  him  to  do 
so.  If  he  is  cast  off,  where  is  he  to  go?  He  believes  that  he  is 
more  in  agreement  with  his  own  Church  than  with  any  other. 
Is  he  to  make  another  sect  ?  We  have  too  many  sects  already. 
No ;  it  is  his  duty  to  speak  all  the  truth  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
teaches  to  his  heart,  and  if  he  is  wrong,  let  the  Church  say  so; 
and  let  no  one  taunt  a  brother  with  dishonesty  when  he  is  acting 
honestly. 

We  talk  of  ordination  vows.  A  brother  is  under  law  primarily 
to  Christ,  and  secondarily  to  the  Church,  Because  he  is  under 
law  to  Christ,  let  him  speak  all  that  Christ  teaches  him.  He 
owes  a  duty  to  the  Church ;  and  let  him  give  to  the  Church  all 
the  truth  that  he  is  capable  of  giving,  until  the  Church  says  to 
him,  "  We  cannot  tolerate  you."     Let  me  illustrate  my  meaning 


300  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

by  way  of  analogy.  You  of  the  United  States  have,  from  time 
to  time,  made  amendments  to  your  National  Constitution.  Now, 
if  you  were  to  propose,  as  a  fundamental  requirement,  that  no 
amendment  shall  be  made  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  unless  the  citizen  proposing  it  shall  have  left  the  United 
States,  gone  to  and  lived  in  Canada  or  Great  Britain,  do  you 
think  that  any  such  amendments  would  ever  be  ratified  by  you  ? 
No ;  you  have  more  faith  in  liberty,  you  have  more  faith  in 
truth,  you  have  more  faith  in  one  another,  than  to  suggest  any 
such  condition.  You  say,  let  every  man  speak  openly,  honestly 
and  faithfully;  if  we  agree  with  him,  we  will  ratify  his  proposi- 
tion ;  if  not,  we  will  reject  it.  Is  the  Church,  which  is  founded 
on  the  rock  Jesus  Christ,  more  afraid  of  liberty  than  the  State, 
which  is  founded  on  the  kingship  of  freemen? 

The  Rev.  Henry  Wallis  Smith,  D.  D.,  of  Kirknewton,  Scot- 
land.— I  stand  here  as  one  who  feels  bound,  by  the  confession 
which  he  has  signed,  to  remain  in  the  Church  to  which  he 
belongs  only  so  long  as  he  feels  that  he  can  honestly  stand  by 
and  defend  that  confession.  Therefore,  I  have  no  difficulty 
whatever  in  rising  to  express  my  deep  regret  that  any  gentle- 
man should  have  imagined  that  my  friend  and  brother  minister. 
Professor  Flint,  designed  to  indulge  in  anything  like  a  sneering 
attitude  toward  the  exercise  of  discipline  by  our  Church.  No 
one,  who  knows  Professor  Flint,  and  who  knows  how  nobly  he 
has  stood  up  for  the  Westminster  Confession,  fails  to  appreciate 
the  fact  that  he  would  be  the  very  last  man,  both  from  his 
theological  principles  and  from  his  thorough  honesty,  to  express 
any  such  sentiment.  If  Professor  Flint  had  intended  to  take 
any  attitude,  other  than  the  one  which  he  plainly  announced, 
he  would  have  expressed  his  opinions  very  distinctly  and  very 
unmistakably  in  that  direction,  and  you  would  have  had  no 
occasion  to  suspect  that  he  had  descended  to  a  sneer. 

What  Professor  Flint  said  (and  I  desire  to  emphasize  it) 
was,  that  the  mere  exercise  of  discipline  is  not  an  adequate 
means  of  replying  to  a  heretical  error.  What  he  wanted  the 
Church  to  guard  against  was  the  assumption  of  an  attitude  of 
impassability ;  and  he  adopted  that  position  because  he  believes 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  301 

that  the  Westminster  Confession  is  a  safe  starting-point,  whence 
we  can  go  forth  and  discuss  with  most  effectiveness  those 
difficult  and  theological  questions,  which  the  criticism  and 
the  philosophy  of  the  day  are  pressing  upon  us.  What  he 
desired  to  say,  I  have  no  doubt,  was  (and  it  is  what  I  desire 
to  say),  that  the  very  strength  of  the  position  of  any  Church, 
and  of  the  position  of  those  Churches  which  hold  the  West- 
minster Confession,  is  the  belief  that  from  that  position  we 
can  without  fear  meet  opposing  criticism.  I  would  add  that 
from  that  position  we  can  without  fear  follow  the  great  law  of 
conservative  development,  which,  I  believe,  has  always  been 
manifested  in  the  Christian  Church. 

I  do  not  know,  in  regard  to  what  has  been  observed  by  another 
speaker,  whether  our  great  discoveries  are  behind  or  before  us ; 
but  this  I  know,  that  I  am  directed  by  my  Master  to  search  the 
Scriptures ;  and  I  believe  there  are  depths  of  meaning  in  those 
Scriptures  which  these  nineteen  centuries  have  failed  fully  to 
develop. 

Rev.  Principal  William  Caven,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Canada. — 
There  is  no  theological  author  in  this  Council  for  whom  I  have 
learned  to  cherish  a  more  profound  respect  than  for  Professor 
Flint ;  and  I  would  deem  it  presumptuous  on  my  part,  until  his 
essay  is  completely  before  me,  to  offer  anything  in  the  way  of 
criticism  upon  it.  There  are,  however,  one  or  two  words  that  I 
ask  the  permission  of  the  Council  to  say  upon  the  subject  which 
has  been  raised  by  the  remarks  of  the  brethren. 

A  great  deal  of  confusion  is  sometimes  brought  into  the  dis- 
cussions of  this  subject  by  confounding  theology  and  biblical 
scholarship.  In  the  region  of  biblical  scholarship,  it  is  of  course 
simply  a  matter  of  fact  that  immense  progress  has  been  made,  and 
is  being  made,  from  day  to  day.  We  have  had  some  remarks 
on  that  subject  in  the  essay  of  Dr.  Chambers  this  morning. 
But  it  is  a  blunder  to  bring  up  this  subject  of  progress  in  biblical 
scholarship  in  connection  with  the  question  of  discipline,  and  of 
how  a  Church  should  treat  error.  So  far  as  concerns  the  matters 
with  which  discipline  has  to  do,  any  advancement  in  that  which 
we  have  to  expect  has  simply  no  bearing   upon  those  matters 


302  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

at  all.  No  man  is  to  be  disciplined  for  believing  in  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  seventh  verse  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  i  John,  or  upon 
any  matter  of  purely  textual  criticism,  or  upon  any  matter  that 
is  purely  an  excgetical  one,  and  which  falls  within  the  range  of 
biblical  scholarship.  I  have  never  yet  heard  of  a  Church 
undertaking  to  discipline  a  man  in  regard  to  matters  such  as 
those. 

But  it  is  a  most  serious  question  for  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
one  which  it  seems  to  me  is  in  fact  a  life  and  death  question  for 
this  Church — a  Church,  I  take  it,  which  throughout  her  whole 
history  has  been  an  eminently  dogmatic  body — whether  we  are 
to  expect  such  progress  in  theology,  that  is,  in  dogma,  as  shall 
oblige  us  to  reconsider  the  question  whether  it  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  discipline  those  who  go  far  astray  as  to  dogma.  My 
conviction  is,  that  the  province  of  literature,  as  distinct  from  the 
province  of  dogma,  is  not  the  province  of  the  Church,  It  is  the 
duty  of  eminent  members  of  the  Church,  of  eminent  teachers  in 
it  such  as  Professor  Flint  and  others,  to  deal  with  these  ques- 
tions, and  to  counteract  Agnosticism  and  other  forms  of  specula- 
tive literature.  A  man  is  bound,  if  he  understands  the  truth,  if 
he  loves  it,  if  he  has  good  opportunities  of  defending  it,  to 
defend  it  in  every  way ;  but  when  we  speak  of  the  Church,  we 
speak  of  a  body  under  an  adopted  constitution  that  has  a  deposit 
of  truth  given  to  it.  I  am  prepared  to  assert  that,  just  as  firmly 
as  would  any  Roman  Catholic,  while  I  differ  with  him  in  toto  as 
to  the  inspiration  of  the  Church.  I  hold  just  as  decidedly  as  he 
does  that  there  was  a  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints  ; 
that  men  appointed  to  the  ministry  are  to  be  sound  in  that  faith; 
and  that  the  Church  has  no  more  right  to  retain  in  the  ministry 
a  man  who  substantially  departs  from  the  faith  of  the  Church, 
than  she  would  have  in  the  first  instance  to  lay  her  hands  upon 
an  untrained  man. 

The  Rev.  D.  J.  Macdonnell,  B.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Canada. — 
There  is  no  manner  of  doubt  that  the  Church  has  the  right,  and 
uses  it,  to  exercise  discipline.  The  question  really  is,  whether, 
in  this  time  of  changing,  growing,  unsettled  opinion,  the  Church 
should  be  always  exercising  that  right.     What  are  the  limits 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  303 

within  which  the  Church  should  resort  to  its  right  ?  We  are  all 
agreed  upon  what  Principal  Caven  has  said  to  us,  that  the 
Church  is  to  guard  the  faith,  and  is  not  to  continue  in  the 
Church  as  a  teacher,  a  man  who  has  departed  from  the  faith. 
But  what  is  the  faith  ?  That  is  really  the  question  that  lies 
back  of  all. 

Two  answers  have  been  given  us  this  morning.  When  men 
get  into  difficulties  in  regard  to  matters  that  are  set  down  defi- 
nitely enough  in  their  respective  creeds  (and  these  are  generally 
young  men),  we  are  told  that  the  creeds  are  not  imposed- upon 
them,  but  that  they  are  accepted  by  them.  That  does  not  help 
us  out  of  our  difficulty.  What,  then,  are  we  told?  We  are  told 
that  they  may  stay  out  of  the  ministry ;  that  they  need  not 
accept  the  creed  ;  that  they  may  be  private  members  of  the 
Church,  and  need  not  trouble  themselves  much  about  the  creed. 
Look  at  the  result  of  that.  Here  is  a  man  who  is  called  to  the 
ministry.  He  wants  to  be  a  minister,  and  believes  himself  called 
to  preach.  He  feels  that  he  is  called  to  minister  to  the  souls  of 
men,  and  loves  to  throw  himself  into  the  work.  After  he  has 
gone  through  his  theological  training,  in  a  large  and  compre- 
hensive and  very  decidedly  expressed  creed,  we  say  to  him, 
"You  need  not  accept  the  creed  unless  you  like."  He  answers, 
"  Has  the  Church  the  right  to  impose  upon  me,  as  a  teacher, 
anything  aside  from  that  which  is  imposed  upon  a  private  mem- 
ber, anything  beyond  that  which  Christ  has  imposed?"  Even 
if  the  Church  is  agreed  on  fifty  or  five  hundred  statements  of 
doctrine,  has  the  Church  the  right  to  demand  of  me  subscription 
to  those  fifty  or  five  hundred  statements  of  doctrine  (admitting, 
I  say,  that  they  are  all  thoroughly  agreed  about  them),  if  they 
are  not  clearly  what  Christ  has  imposed  on  his  ministers  who 
are  appointed  to  speak  in  his  Church  ? 

The  other  answer  we  are  given  is  this:  "Well,  if  you  are  not 
satisfied  with  our  creed,  there  are  a  dozen  or  fifty  other  churches 
— go  into  them,"  First  of  all,  that  implies  that  the  Church  is 
not  meant  to  be  one.  We  do  not  find  anything  in  the  New 
Testament  about  fifty  or  five  hundred  churches  with  different 
scriptural  definitions  of  creeds.     What,  then,  do  you  do  practi- 


304  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

cally?  You  send  a  man  off  into  the  Congregational  Church, 
into  the  Methodist  Church,  or  into  some  other  Church,  and  then 
you  exchange  pulpits  with  him ;  after  you  have  shut  his  mouth 
in  the  Church,  you  invite  him  to  come  in  as  your  beloved 
brother.  What  do  you  admit  in  so  doing  ?  You  admit  that 
you  are  more  restricted  than  Christ,  that  you  have  imposed  upon 
that  man's  conscience  burdens  which  Christ  has  not  imposed. 
You  admit  that  you  have  tried  to  shut  the  mouth  of  a  man  who 
might  have  been  a  useful  and  trusted  minister  in  the  Church. 

Now,  what  is  proposed  to  be  done  ?  For  myself,  I  would 
propose  to  do  what  Dr.  Van  Zandt  proposes  not  to  do,  that  is, 
to  reduce  to  a  few  well-defined  articles  the  things  which  are  to 
be  absolutely  assented  to.  That  is  something  that  can  be 
attained.  Dr.  Van  Zandt  said  that  we  were  not  to  have  a  very 
few,  general,  ill-defined  articles.  Why,  who  proposes  to  have 
ill-defined  articles  ?  I  want  to  have  them  well  defined,  but  want 
to  have  but  i^w  of  them  ;  so  that,  with  my  whole  heart,  soul  and 
conscience,  I  can  say  amen  to  them  as  the  framework  of  my 
faith.  When  I  look  to  my  Master,  what  do  I  find  from  him  as 
to  faith  and  character?  As  to  faith  :  "Who  do  men  say  that  I, 
the  Son  of  Man,  am?  "and  the  answer  comes  clear,  distinct, 
well  defined,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 
And  then,  as  to  character :  "  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou 
me?" 

The  Rev.  John  De  Witt,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia. — Any  one 
who  has  had  the  pleasure  of  reading  "  Theism,"  or  "Anti- 
theistic  Theories,"  must  believe  its  author  to  be  incapable  of  a 
sneer.  I  had  intended  to  propose  a  theory  in  the  way  of  an 
Irenicon  on  this  subject ;  though  five  minutes  are  a  very  short  time 
in  which  to  do  it.  We  all  can  see  there  is  some  difficulty  here. 
Every  one  is  plagued  by  the  spirit  of  inquiry,  or  by  the  prince 
of  the  power  of  the  air,  with  doubts.  Is  there  a  place  for  a  man 
who  has  assented  or  subscribed  to  a  creed,  to  propound  tenta- 
tively his  dubitations  ?  I  do  not  know  that  our  Church  provides 
any  place  for  a  man  under  such  circumstances.  But  of  this  I 
am  assured  that,  since  I  have  asserted  that  I  sincerely  receive 
and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  as  containing  the  system  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  305 

doctrine  taught  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  the  place  for  me  to  pro- 
pound my  doubts  upon  t'hat  is  not  my  place  in  the  pulpit,  or  in 
any  position  in  which  I  assume  to  be  a  teacher.  When  I  am 
weak  in  the  faith  (and  there  are  times  when  all  of  us  may  be 
weak  in  the  faith),  I  am  not  to  go  into  doubtful  disputations. 

I  do  not  know  what  is  to  come  out  of  the  discussions  of  this 
great  Ecumenical  Council,  but  I  do  wish  that  there  might  be 
Some  way  in  which  our  Church  could  be  so  broadened  as  to 
permit  discussion  upon  the  very  points  which  we  subscribe,  pre- 
vious to  its  being  brought  into  the  judicatories  in  the  way  of 
discipline.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  clear  that  whenever 
any  one,  as  a  teacher,  does  propound  theories  on  the  subjects 
of  the  Confession,  contrary  to  his  subscription — our  constitution 
being  what  it  is — it  is  not  only  the  privilege,  but  the  duty,  of  the 
Church,  to  proceed  to  the  exercise  of  discipline. 

This  is  what  it  has  done;  and  because  it  has  done  this,  or 
although  it  has  done  this,  there  is  no  Church  that  is  so  rich  in 
speculative  literature  upon  the  very  points  that  we  so  distinctly 
subscribe.  Though  the  theory  of  the  Church  would  seem  to 
make  us  narrow,  I  do  not  think  that  historically  it  has  narrowed 
us,  or  limited  the  range  of  our  discussion. 

There  is  a  difficulty  here ;  and  it  cannot  be  settled  by  dogma- 
tizing on  the  one  side  or  upon  the  other.  But  I  do  wish  sol- 
emnly to  protest  against  a  most  vicious  illustration  made  use  of 
by  Principal  Grant.  The  supposition  that  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  our  Church  may,  in  the  exercise  of  his  teach- 
ing gifts  and  in  his  official  capacity,  impugn  or  strike  at  the 
very  constitution  which  he  has  received  and  adopted,  is  the  most 
vicious  supposition  that  I  have  ever  had  the  infelicity  of  hearing 
from  a  Reformed  Churchman. 

The  appointed  hour  having  arrived,  the  Council  adjourned 
until  2.30  p.  M. 

Monday,  September  2'jih,  1880. 
The  Council  was  called  to  order  in  the  Academy  of  Music  at 
2.30  o'clock,  the  Rev.  William  Roberts,  D.  D.,  of  Utica,  N.  Y., 
President  for  the  session. 


3o6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

After  the  usual  devotional  exercises  had  been  engaged  in,  the 
Rev,  Principal  John  Kinross,  B.  A.,  of  Sydney,  New  South 
Wales,  read  the  following  paper  on 

RELIGION   AND    EDUCATION    IN    NEW    SOUTH   WALES. 

It  is  always  a  difficult  matter  to  give  a  satisfactory  account  of  tlie 
state  of  religion  in  any  country,  especially  in  one  so  recently  settled 
as  New  South  Wales.  The  rapid  increase  of  the  population  through 
immigration  from  different  parts  of  the  world,  and  the  fact  that  the 
habits  of  this  mixed  people  are  only  in  process  of  formation,  render  it 
extremely  difficult  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  their  religious  life. 
The  internal  feelings  of  the  soul  express  themselves  in  external  con- 
duct, and  we  can  only  draw  our  conclusions  (uncertain  at  the  best)  as 
to  the  former  from  a  careful  observation  of  the  latter.  It  is  often  no 
easy  task  to  obtain  accurate  statistics  regarding  the  manifestations  of 
a  country's  religious  life  ;  and  as  I  had  no  idea  till  after  my  arrival  in 
this  country  that  I  should  have  the  honor  of  reading  a  paper  on  this 
subject  to  the  Council,  I  am  not  so  well  provided  with  documents  as 
otherwise  I  should  have  been. 

At  the  present  time  the  population  of  the  colony  is  about  700,000 
— not  so  numerous  as  that  of  this  great  city  of  Philadelphia.  To 
supply  their  spiritual  wants,  the  liberality  of  the  people  has  provided 
1,250  churches,  containing  sittings  for  200,000  people,  and  the  total 
average  attendance  on  Sundays  is  given  at  200,000. 

According  to  this  return,  not  one-third  of  the  population  attends 
any  place  of  worship.  It  is  generally  understood  that  church  accom- 
modation for  half  oi  the  people  is  an  adequate  provision  even  for  cities, 
since,  owing  to  sickness  and  other  accidental  causes,  not  more  than 
that  proportion  can  attend.  If  this  holds  good  in  the  city,  where 
every  one  has  a  church  almost  at  his  own  door,  how  much  greater 
allowance  must  be  made  for  a  country  where,  owing  to  the  great  dis- 
tances, it  is  utterly  impossible  for  many  to  attend,  and  very  difficult 
for  a  still  larger  number.  When  it  is  considered  that  a  population  of 
700,000  is  scattered  over  a  territory  extending  north  and  south  700 
miles,  and  east  and  west  nearly  600,  it  will  be  admitted,  I  think,  that 
one-third  is  equal  to  a  half  in  a  country  where  the  people  are  very 
much  less  scattered. 

With  respect  to  the  number  of  ministers  of  religion,  there  are  regis- 
tered in  all  631.  Of  these  there  beloiig  to  the  Church  of  England, 
207;  Roman  Catholic,  164;  Presbyterian,  83;  Wesleyan,  89  ;  and 
the  remainder  to  other  denominations.  As  regards  the  number  be- 
longing to  the  Presbyterian  Church,  it  does  not  amount  to  more  than 
a  tenth  of  the  whole. 

Of  Sunday-schools  there  are  1,200,  with  86,000  children  on  the 
roll,  an  average  attendance  of  65,000,  and  8,000  teachers. 

The  work  of  the  country  or  bush  minister  in  Australia  is  laborious, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  307 

and  involves  frequent  absence  from  family^  and  home.  In  many  of 
these  districts  he  will  have  three  services  every  Sabbath,  frequently  at 
different  places,  along  with  two  or  three  meetings  during  the  week. 
The  majority  of  the  ministers  belonging  to  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
whose  spheres  of  labor  are  not  in  the  city  or  suburbs,  have  three  or 
four  preaching-stations,  some  of  them  ten  or  more. 

Viewing  the  ministers  of  all  the  Christian  denominations  in  the  col- 
ony on  the  whole,  they  will,  I  humbly  venture  to  affirm,  be  regarded 
as  a  body  of  men  faithfully  doing  the  work  of  our  divine  Master, 
and  striving  to  advance  his  cause  within  their  respective  spheres. 

As  I  wish  to  confine  the  few  remarks  I  have  to  make  to  the  relations 
of  religion  and  education,  I  will  only  say  on  this  part  of  the  subject 
that,  generally  speaking,  the  relations  of  the  different  Protestant 
bodies  to  each  other  are  friendly.  Amongst  all  these  denominations, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Church  of  England,  there  are  occasional 
exchanges  of  pulpits,  and  many  of  the  ministers  of  that  church  co- 
operate in  various  works  of  Christian  usefulness  with  those  outside 
their  own  body.  As  regards  the  internal  life  of  the  churches,  united 
prayer-meetings  are  often  held  in  some  townships;  in  most  congrega- 
tions there  is  a  weekly  prayer-meeting,  and,  in  our  own  church,  meet- 
ings of  Session,  Presbytery,  and  General  Assembly  are  regularly  held. 
During  our  brief  history  as  a  cplony,  there  has  scarcely  been  a  dis- 
cussion of  a  doctrinal  character  in  any  of  the  churches,  with  the  ex- 
ception, perhaps,  of  the  subject  of  union  in  our  own  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  Young  countries  are  proverbially  given  to  boast- 
ing, but  it  is  a  matter  of  veritable  history  that  in  our  small  churches, 
after  a  few  years'  anxiety  and  discussion,  a  union  was  effected,  be- 
fore your  great  union  in  the  United  States  of  America,  which  was  ap- 
proved by  the  three  churches  of  Scotland,  although  they  themselves 
are  still  in  their  former  disunited  condition,  now  after  a  struggle  of 
many  years'  duration  to  secure  it.  We  have  many  obstacles  to  sur- 
mount, and  difficulties  to  overcome,  and  blots  to  wipe  out ;  but,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  we  hope  to  overcome  them  all. 

With  regard  to  Education,  we  have  Public  or  Pritnary  Schools, 
Grammar  Schools,  and  a  University. 

I.  There  are  1,189  public  schools,  1,825  teachers,  and  128,125 
scholars.  In  1878  there  was  an  increase  of  72  schools,  160  teachers, 
and  10,873  scholars.  The  total  cost  in  that  year  was  ^421,866,  of 
which  ^352,838  was  paid  from  the  colonial  treasury,  and  ^^69,028 
from  fees  and  other  sources. 

Of  private  schools  in  1878  there  were  543,  with  18,743  scholars 
and  1,047  teachers  ;   but  these,  unlike  the  public,  are  decreasing. 

These  statistics  clearly  show  that  the  colonists  keenly  appreciate 
the  value  of  education,  and  have  evinced  a  laudable  zeal  in  carrying 
the  system  into  effect.  Matthew  Arnold  remarks  that  the  Swiss  and 
the  Scotch  have  always  set  a  high  value  on  education,  and  we  should 
think  this  is  about  as  high  a  compliment  as  any  one  could  pay  a  peo- 
ple ;  but  the  reason  which  he  assigns  for  this  high  appreciation  on 


3o8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

their  part  is  not  quite  so  complimentary — viz.  :  that  they  perceive  its 
advantages  in  the  world— =-it  enables  one  to  get  on.  That  the  pure 
love  of  culture  for  its  own  sake  plays  a  leading  part  in  the  formation 
and  growth  of  educational  systems  in  any  country  may  be  doubtful, 
though  it  is  as  high  in  these  two  countries  as  in  any  other  ;  but  we 
do  not  claim  any  superiority  for  .the  colony  in  this  respect.  Perhaps 
the  material  advantages  of  an  efficient  system  of  education  are  more 
keenly  appreciated  in  young  countries  than  elsewhere,  and  possibly 
the  necessity  of  the  highest  culture  is  not  so  fully  recognized  as  it 
ought  to  be. 

Without  referring  to  the  various  phases  through  which  it  has  passed, 
the  present  system  of  education  is  entirely  under  the  control  of  gov- 
ernment. The  buildings  are  erected  by  the  government ;  the  salaries 
of  the  teachers  are  paid  by  government ;  and  the  schools  are  examined 
by  inspectors  appointed  by  the  government.  Although  education  is 
not  entirely  gratuitous,  there  are  two  important  provisions  which  ren- 
der it  practically  so — viz.  :  that  no  child  is  to  be  excluded  from  any, 
public  school  through  the  inability  of  the  parent  to  pay  the  fees,  and 
that  whatever  may  be  the  number  from  one  family  in  attendance,  fees 
shall  not  be  charged  for  more  than  two.  These  admirable  regulations 
bring  the  blessings  of  education  within  reach  of  the  poorest  family  in 
the  land. 

Being  fully  convinced  of  the  dangers  of  popular  ignorance,  our  col- 
onists have  rendered  it  compulsory  on  all  our  children  of  a  certani 
age  to  reach  a  given  standard  of  knowledge  ;  but  this  regulation  will 
be  enforced  only  within  some  areas,  as  there  are  many  parts  of  the 
country  where  there  are  no  schools  at  all,  or  where  the  great  distances 
render  it  impossible  to  attend. 

The  system  possesses  most  of  the  conditions  necessary  to  secure 
efficiency.  All  teachers  must  be  some  time  under  training ;  must 
submit  to  examination  before  being  appointed  to  a  school  ;  and  are 
divided,  according  to  the  results  of  the  examination,  into  three  classes, 
their  salaries  depending  upon  the  place  they  have  reached.  The 
schools  are  annually  subjected  to  a  thorough  examination  by  the  gov- 
ernment inspectors,  and  the  results  are  published  in  the  annual  report 
of  the  Council  of  Education.  Although  our  institutions  are  of  dem- 
ocratic character,  the  appointment  of  the  teacher  is  vested  in  the 
Council  of  Education,  and  not  in  the  local  board.  Again,  the  latter 
is  appointed  by  the  government,  and  not  elected  by  the  people. 
Whatever  other  loss  this  arrangement  may  entail  upon  the  colony, 
we  certainly  lose  those  lively  scenes  that  are  frequently  witnessed  at 
the  election  of  school  boards  in  the  old  country,  where  the  various 
religious  sects  and  political  parties  are  struggling  to  secure  the  return 
of  their  own  men.  It  is  highly  satisfactory  to  be  able  to  testify  that 
under  the  Council  of  Education  (which  has  been  abolished  since  I 
left  home)  no  sectarian  or  political  influence  has  been  used  in  the  ap- 
pointment of  teachers  or  in  the  management  of  the  schools. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  309 

With  regard  to  the  vitally  important  question  of  religion  in  educa- 
tion, I  remark : 

1.  The  system  of  education  in  New  South  Wales  is  not  purely 
secular.  The  provision  for  imparting  religious  instruction  is  two- 
fold— the  one  in  which  the  teacher  uses  the  Scripture  lessons,  and  the 
other  which  assigns  one  hour  each  day  to  the  ministers  of  religion, 
during  which  they  can  teach,  in  a  separate  class-room,  the  children 
of  their  own  denomination.  In  our  colony,  as  in  every  country, 
there  are  some  who  think  such  a  system  contains  too  much  of  the  re- 
ligious element,  and  others  that  it  contains  too  little.  Of  those  who 
contend  that  the  religious  element  ought  to  be  entirely  eliminated 
from  the  school,  some  believe  in  no  religion  at  all,  or  are  utterly  in- 
different on  the  matter;  others,  while  devoutly  believing  in  religious 
teaching  in  the  family  and  Sunday-school,  have  no  faith  in  the  re- 
ligious teaching  of  any  public  school,  but  especially  of  one  supported 
by  the  State.  It  affords  me  pleasure  to  say  that  the  majority  of  our 
colonists  are  not  of  this  way  of  thinking.  By  a  purely  secular  sys- 
tem, secularism,  and  secularism  only,  is  the  gainer.  We  do  not  af- 
firm that  education  in  secular  branches  only  is  worse  than  no  educa- 
tion at  all.  Knowledge  is  a  blessing  in  itself,  just  as  health,  and 
wealth,  and  mental  vigor;  and  on  the  other  hand,  ignorance  and 
imbecility  are  always  evils.  That  religion  can  be  entirely  excluded 
from  the  school,  I  very  much  question.  As  a  subject  of  instruction,  it 
may  be  easily  excluded ;  and  in  this  respect,  its  omission  will  be  only 
a  loss,  not  a  positive  evil.  Nevertheless,  it  will  come  in  indirectly, 
even  to  the  grammar  and  arithmetic  classes.  A  class  may  be  engaged 
with  a  sum  of  addition  ;  two  boys  copy  from  their  neighbors,  and 
deny  the  fact.  They  may  be  punished,  but  what  of  that?  If  in  mat- 
ters of  right  and  wrong,  which  the  teacher  cannot  avoid,  children, 
although  for  years  at  school,  have  never  heard  the  name  of  God  men- 
tioned, nor  the  love  of  Christ  appealed  to,  nor  a  future  life  enforced, 
will  they  pass  through  such  a  course  without  injury  to  their  faith?  I 
should  not  like  to  pronounce  it  absolutely  impossible  that  they  should  ; 
but  I  will  say,  without  the  slightest  hesitation,  that  it  would  be 
highly  culpable  for  us  to  run  such  a  tremendous  risk.  Accordingly 
we  have  the  Scripture  lessons  used  in  all  our  schools  with  the  neces- 
sary proviso — that  no  child  whose  parents  object  will  be  required  to 
attend  when  these  are  read. 

2.  Our  system  is  tiational,  not  denominational.  It  is  true  we  have 
not  the  whole  Bible,  but  only  Genesis,  Luke,  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  for  the  teacher;  but  the  minister  in  the  class-room  can  use 
the  Bible  and  Catechism  if  he  wishes.  These  Scripture  lesson  books 
are  those  of  Ireland,  and  were  adopted  for  the  same  reasons  as  in 
that  country.  As  Archbishop  Murray  had  sanctioned  them,  the 
Roman  Catholics  had  no  reasonable  ground  for  offence  ;  and  for 
many  years  no  objection  was  raised  by  them  on  that  ground.  But  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  the  same  all  the  world  over.  She  is  at  war  with 
the  state  on  the  subject  of  education  in   Europe  and  America.     She 


3IO  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

seems  determined  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  institution  over  which 
she  has  not  supreme  control.  About  twelve  months  ago  the  Roman 
Catholic  Archbishop  of  Sydney  issued  a  pastoral,  in  which  he  denounced 
the  public  schools  of  the  colony  as  "seed-plots  of  infidelity  and  im- 
morality," and  called  upon  all  the  faithful  to  withdraw  their  children 
without  delay.  The  design  of  the  pastoral  was  to  abolish  the  present 
system,  and  introduce  that  of  payment  by  results;  but  no  man  ever 
shot  wider  of  the  mark.  The  country  was  roused  from  one  end  to  the 
other;  the  pastoral  was  sharjjly  criticised  by  the  public  press,  and 
meetings  were  held  in  different  towns  to  protest  against  it.  A  bill 
was  soon  introduced  into  Parliament,  which  provides  for  the  with- 
drawal, of  all  aid  to  denominational  schools  after  1882.  It  passed 
with  an  overwhelming  majority,  and  has,  since  I  left,  become  the  law 
of  the  land.  The  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  well  as  the 
clergy  generally,  advocated  the  denominational  system,  but  they,  for 
the  most  part,  conducted  their  case  with  moderation.  Our  own  body 
and  the  other  Protestant  Churches  have  upheld  the  public  school 
system.  We  believe  it  secures  an  admirable  training  in  all  the  usual 
branches,  and  makes  adequate  provision  for  the  introduction  of  re- 
ligion. Primary  education  not  under  state  control  is  apt  to  de- 
teriorate ;  but  what  shall  we  say  of  religious  teaching  not  under  the 
authority  of  the  Church  ?  That  there  are  dangers  in  this  respect 
cannot  be  denied.  Our  teachers  may  belong  to  any  Church  or  to  no 
Church;  they  may  believe  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  or  in  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  they  need  not  believe  even  in  the  Apostle's 
Creed.  I  do  not  believe,  however,  that  any  teacher  could  retain  of- 
fice, who  would  openly  attack  the  Bible  or  even  any  Christian  Church. 
Some,  because  of  this  evident  danger,  think  lightly  of  religious  teach- 
ing, and  would  regard  it  as  no  great  loss,  were  it  entirely  abolished 
in  our  schools.  That  there  is  much  formality  in  school  teaching  can- 
not be  denied  ;  that  irreverence  in  modes  of  instruction  is  injurious 
may  be  freely  admitted  ;  but  these  are  by  no  means- necessary  attend- 
ants upon  such  a  system.  The  abuse  of  a  thing  is  no  argument 
against  its  legitimate  use.  It  would  be  well  if  we  could  affirm  with 
a  clear  conscience  that  the  same  evils  have  never  been  found  in  the 
Sunday-school  or  the  pulpit.  Scripture  is  Scripture  by  whomsoever 
taught ;  the  Bible  can  speak  for  itself,  even  under  very  unfavorable 
circumstances.  Let  the  facts  and  promises  and  verses  of  the  Bible 
be  lodged  in  the  memory  (the  teacher  can  secure  that  better  than  any 
other),  and  the  glorious  fruit  may  appear  in  after  life.  Surely  the 
agent  that  has  greatest  power  in  influencing  the  heart,  and  in  forming 
our  present  civilization,  as  well  a?  being  the  greatest  literary  treasure,  is 
not  to  be  denied  to  the  teacher.  The  sceptical  spirit  that  now  pervades 
some  classes  of  society,  and  the  love  of  luxury  which  so  extensively 
prevails,  loudly  call  upon  the  Churches  of  the  day  to  seize  upon  every 
opportunity  that  presents  itself  of  influencing  the  rising  generation 
on  the  side  of  Christ.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  school  con- 
tributes a  most  important  part  in   the  formation   of  human  character. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  311 

Tiie  family,  the  Church,  the  Sunday-school  and  the  public  press,  are 
all  active  agents  in  moulding  the  character  of  each  generation  ;  and 
we  do  not  advocate  the  slightest  relaxation,  but  the  contrary,  in  our 
efforts  to  secure  that  all  these  shall  more  effectively  co-operate  in  the 
great  work  of  creating  a  body  of  intelligent,  upright  and  devoted 
citizens.  The  institution  where  our  children  spend  the  best  part  of 
the  waking  hours  of  the  day,  where  the  professed  object  is  to  draw 
out  and  develop  the  intellectual  and  moral  powers  of  the  pupils,  and 
where  the  authority,  maxims  and  character  of  the  teacher  insensibly 
influence  all  who  are  under  him,  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
important  agencies  in  the  community,  so  that  if  its  influence  on  the 
side  of  religion  (were  that  possible)  were  only  negative,  the  country 
sustains  a  tremendous  loss ;  were  it  on  the  side  of  evil,  an  incalculable 
injury. 

II.  As  our  grammar  school  system  is  in  a  state  of  transition,.!  need 
not  refer  to  it.  There  is  only  one  as  yet  established  by  government. 
It  is  confined  to  secular  subjects,  and  is  conducted  with  great  effi- 
ciency. There  are  some  schools  or  colleges  connected  with  religious 
denominations,  although  there  is  none  connected  with  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church. 

III.  A  university  has  been  established  for  about  thirty  years,  and 
has  contributed  to  advance  the  higher  education  of  the  country,  by 
its  syste/n  of  public  examinations,  which  are  open  to  all  candidates 
who  choose  to  offer  themselves,  as  well  as  by  its  work  in  teaching  its 
own  students.  There  are,  as  yet,  only  four  professors — of  classics, 
mathematics,  physics  and  geology.  Tliere  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  no 
professor  of  logic,  or  metaphysics,  or  ethics;  and  a  student  can  take 
the  B.  A.  degree  without  a  knowledge  of  any  of  these  subjects.  There 
is  no  faculty  of  law  or  of  medicine  established.  The  lectures  of  the 
professors  are  open  to  all  students  without  restriction  as  to  creed,  b;it 
no  student  can  matriculate  till  he  passes  the  matriculation  examina- 
tion, and  no  student  can  pass  from  one  year  to  another  without  a 
searching  examination.  As  regards  the  university  itself,  it  is  purely 
secular.  There  is  no  religious  exercise  of  any  description  connected 
with  it.  But  connected  with  the  university  are  three  affiliated  col- 
leges belonging  to  the  Church  of  England,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  students  have  afforded 
them  residence,  tutorial  instruction,  domestic  supervision  and  reli- 
gious instruction.  The  connection  of  the  colleges  with  the  university 
is  this  :  they  cannot  admit  a  student  on  their  books  or  into  residence 
who  has  not  passed  the  entrance  examination,  and  every  college  stu- 
dent must  attend  the  university  lectures;  but  a  student  of  the  univer- 
sity is  not  bound  to  attend  any  college.  The  system  is  designed  to 
combine  the  professorial  and  the  tutorial,  the  secular  and  the  reli- 
gious— the  professorial  and  secular  in  the  university,  the  tutorial  and 
religious  in  the  colleges.  The  government  gave  half  of  the  cost  for 
the  buildings,  grant  the  salary  of  the  principals,  but  give  no  other 
endowment  nor  exercise  any  control.     The  colleges  are  religious,  not 


312  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

theological  institutions;  but  the  one  to  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
belong  will  allow  and  invite  the  teachers  appointed  by  the  Church  to 
lecture  in  the  building.  Properly  speaking,  there  is  not  one  theologi- 
cal college  in  the  whole  colony ;  our  body  is  the  only  one  that  de- 
mands a  university  education  on  the  part  of  her  ministers,  and  even 
this  law  has  been  suspended.  In  these  circumstances  we  require 
three  years  at  the  university,  and  two  at  theology  under  the  teachers 
or  tutors  appointed  by  the  Church  from  year  to  year. 

The  attention  of  the  teachers  of  religion  has  been  so  much  engrossed 
with  practical  work — the  work  of  planting  churches  in  destitute  locali- 
ties— that  little  time  has  been  left  for  the  discussion  of  subjects  that 
do  not  obviously  bear  upon  the  supply  of  present  wants.  It  is  not 
to  be  expected  in  churches  newly  formed  and  struggling  with  the  diffi- 
culties incident  to  such  a  stage,  that  many  will  trouble  themselves 
with  the  profound  questions  of  speculative  theology,  or  with  the  re- 
condite topics  of  the  higher  criticism.  But  infidelity  is  increasing  in 
the  country,  and  there  is  more  than  one  infidel  lecturer  attacking 
Christianity  in  the  theatres  of  Sydney  every  Sunday  evening.  So  far 
as  I  am  aware,  there  is  not  one  man,  in  any  denomination,  who  can 
devote  his  whole  time  to  the  study  of  theology,  still  less  is  there  one 
who  could  devote  it  all  to  one  of  its  branches.  This  demands  the 
serious  consideration  of  our  Church,  and  I  trust  that  soon  a  satisfac- 
tory solution  will  be  reached. 

The  Rev.  Sylvester  F.  Scovel,  D.  D.  Pittsburgh,  read  the 
fbliovving  paper  on 

PRESBYTERIANISM   IN   RELATION   TO  CIVIL  AND  RELI- 
GIOUS  LIBERTY. 

A  just  pride  is  a  good  thing ;  and  Presbyterians  have  much  to  be 
proud  of;  but  of  nothing  are  they  prouder  than  of  their  identification 
with  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Next  to  our  loyalty  to  Christ  is  our 
loyalty  to  liberty — and  the  second  is  born  of  the  first.  It  is  the  soul 
of  our  history,  as  it  is  the  product  of  our  principles.  The  blazonries 
about  us  at  Horticultural  Hall  are  magic  mirrors  in  which  we  may 
see  cabalistic  lines  and  symbols  into  which  we  may  read  the  suffer- 
ings and  triumphs  of  Presbyterians  for  the  noblest  idea  that  ever  kin- 
dled human  enthusiasm — liberty  for  rnenfor  sake  of  loyalty  to  Christ. 

Definitions  are  almost  unnecessary.  Civil  liberty  means  freedom 
to  do  whatever  is  right  to  be  done  between  man  and  man  ;  and  reli- 
gious liberty  means  freedom  to  do  whatever  is  right  to  be  done  be- 
tween man  and  God.  Civil  liberty  is  the  right  to  property,  life  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  in  any  way  which  does  not  injure  others. 
Religious  liberty  is  freedom  to  have,  enjoy  and  obey  any  or  no 
religion,  with  the  right  to  utter  our  religious  convictions,  and  propa- 
gate our  religious  sentiments,  and  to  abstain  from  everything  which  our 
religion  forbids,  of  course  subject  to  like  limitation  by  the  freedom 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  313 

and  well-being  of  our  neighbor.  The  two  are  essentially  one.  Real 
civil  liberty  is  always  religious  liberty,  and  religious  liberty  must 
always  create  civil  liberty.  They  are  two  chestnuts  in  one  burr — 
rough  to  the  man  who  handles  them  roughly,  but  smooth-cheeked 
and  close-lying  to  each  other. 

In  order  of  fact,  religious  liberty  has  come  first,  and  brought  civil 
liberty  after  it — which  is  incidentally  a  good  reason  for  studying,  at 
such  a  time  as  this,  the  relation  between  Presbyterianism  and  liberty. 

I.  Presbyterianism  makes  for  liberty,  by  the  necessity  of  its  own 
nature.  The  principles  of  the  one  have  an  affinity  for  the  other. 
Their  combination  is  not  mechanical  but  chemical,  i.  In  these  princi- 
ples we  begin  with  God,  including  here  the  headship  of  Christ,  which 
is  but  a  form  of  God's  ruling  in  the  world — the  nag  reaches  the  mast- 
head in  the  simple  declaration  of  the  confession,  '^  God  aione  is  Lord 
of  the  conscience  and  hath  left  it  free ^  He  who  believes  this  must 
demand  room  for  his  religion — and  that  means  religious  liberty. 
"  God  alone  "  means  that  slavish  and  blind  obedience  is  not  to  be 
rendered  to  man.  God  is  the  soul  of  Calvinism,  and  at  a  "glance  " 
of  God,  kingdoms  and  men  vanish.  Presbyterianism  makes  much  of 
God,  and  thus  makes  heroes  of  men,  for  no  man  will  always  bear  in- 
justice who  consciously  has  God  at  his  back.  An  absolute  God 
makes  laws  that  7nust  be  obeyed.  His  will  dwarfs  human  opinions 
and  enactments  too.  To  the  believer  in  God  there  can  be  but  one 
King  who  can  "do  no  wrong ; "  and  that  King  never  delegates  to 
man  a  power  which  can  contravene  or  eclipse  his  own.  John  Stuart 
Mill  counts  Calvinism  a  foe  to  freedom,  because  it  commands  obedi- 
ence as  a  supreme  virtue.  How  can  he  forget  that  "  obedience  to 
God"  and  "resistance  to  tyrants"  are  inseparable,  both  in  fact  and 
principle?  Seneca  might  teach  him,  who  said,  "  Obey  God  :  tliat  is 
liberty;"  or  Count  Agenor  de  Gasparin,  who  exclaims,  "  God  is  the 
basis  of  liberty;"  or  Voltaire,  who,  blessing  Franklin's  grandson, 
pronounced  the  two  words,  "  God  and  liberty."  The  sense  of  God, 
his  presence,  immediate  personal  relation  to  him  and  final  account- 
ability to  him  alone! — why;  from  Moses,  who  "feared  not  the  face 
of  the  king,"  because  he  saw  "  Him  who  was  invisible,"  to  John  Knox, 
•yho  feared  neither  king,  queen  nor  devil,  that  has  made  heroes.  A 
whole  people  rose  into  it  once.  Froude  says  of  the  Scotch  com- 
mons: "The  fear  of  God  in  them  left  no  room  for  the  fear  of  any 
other  thing.  The  poor  clay  which,  a  generation  earlier,  the  haughty 
baron  would  have  trodden  into  slime,  had  been  heated  red-hot  in  the 
furnace  of  a  new  faith." 

Liberty  of  "conscience"  springs  out  of  God,  and  flows  into  the 
liberty  of  "private  judgment"  in  religion,  and  thence  into  liberty 
of  opinion  in  all  things;  thence  into  liberty  of  the  press;  thence  into 
liberty  of  action.  This  Eden-fountain  becomes  "  four  heads,"  and 
the  "gold  of  that  land"  which  it  encloses  is  good.  God,  as  an 
origin,  is  apt  to  give  us  even  a  freedom  free  from  the  nonsense  of 
tinsels  and  titles,  and  a  government  acting  directly  on   the  people. 


314  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

"  The  spirit  of  tlie  Lord,"  says  Warburton,  "will  overturn  tlie  usur- 
pation of  our  unjust,  despotic  power,  and  bring  into  the  state  as  well 
as  into  the  Church  a  free  and  reasonable  service."  Lamartine  says : 
''  The  republic  of  the  men  without  God  has  quickly  been  stranded. 
An  atheistic  republic  cannot  be  heroic."  Only  theism  can  give  liberty 
of  conscience,  for  only  theism  has  a  conscience.  Take  away  God, 
and  you  take  away  liberty,  because  there  remains  nothing  to  make 
liberty  sacred.  It  is  thenceforth,  it  can  only  be  matter  of  opinion, 
and  opinions  are  spider-webs  in  times  of  trial.  Liberty  coming  from 
God  is  therefore  certain  to  come  and  certain  to  stay. 

There  are  countless  revolutions  shut  up  in  the  apostolic  exclama- 
tion :  "We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  man."  And  that  which 
is  true  of  God,  emphasized  by  Calvinism,  is  true  of  the  whole  series 
of  doctripes  which  cluster  in  harmony  and  beauty  about  him  as  their 
centre.  Calvinism  presents  an  absolute  providence,  inflexible  laws 
and  rigid  morality.  It  makes  men  of  moral  fibre.  It  can  be  "ground 
to  powder  like  flint  rather  than  bend  before  violence,  or  melt  under 
enervating  temptation."  It  attracted  and  attracts  men  who  hate  a 
lie.  It  is  furthest  removed  from  the  pernicious  poison  of  nature- 
worship.  I  was  shown  in  a  critical  time  of  the  country's  history  our 
Congress,  by  one  who  knew  it  well.  He  pointed  out  here  and  there 
the  Presbyterian  elders,  with  the  remark,  "The  fact  is,  sir,  in  such 
times  as  these  they  look  out  for  the  men  who  can  believe  the  old  blue 
book.''''  Henry  Clay,  coming  late  to  conduct  a  trial  for  murder  in  the 
interior  of  Kentucky,  and  having  sent  instructions  to  be  careful  to 
challenge  the  jury,  expressed  surprise  that  a  certain  gentleman,  whose 
firm  face  disquieted  him,  had  been  admitted.  Learning  that  he  was 
a  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  elder,  he  said,  "Our  case  is  lost!"  and 
it  was  so.  There  is  a  sort  of  natural  selection  as  well  as  an  election  by 
grace  in  this  matter.  A  sincere  belief  of  the  system  we  hold  is  in- 
compatible with  submission  to  oppression,  and  productive  of  the 
moral  metal  which  is  able  to  hold  the  fire  of  liberty. 

2.  As  much  might  be  said  of  the  second  grace  of  the  modern  trip- 
let. If  liberty  comes  from  the  theology  of  Presbyterianism,  equality 
comes  from  its  anthropology.  That  man,  men,  each  man,  and  all 
men,  are  created  alike  by  God,  and  in  God's  image,  dowered  with 
immortality,  weighted  with  accountability,  given  individual  history  by 
a  divine  scheme  of  redemption,  and  by  inhabitation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  offered  an  approximation  in  holy  character  to  God,  and  a  final 
glory  of  unspeakable  brilliancy — all  this  makes  men  essentially  equal. 
And  these  evangelical  doctrines  are  tipped  with  flame  by  the  doctrine 
of  divine  love,  in  an  election  which  is  utterly  regardless  of  external 
circumstances,  and  yet  imparts  a  distinction  which  even  the  heavenly 
intelligences  must  admire.  Dumoulin  blamed  the  Presbyterian  pastors 
of  his  time  for  wishing  to  make  yeomanry  equal  to  the  nobles,  as 
being  all  children  of  Adam,  and  equal  by  divine  and  natural  right. 
And  by  the  wonderful  coincidences  which  prove  a  providence  in 
history,  a  grandson  of  one  of  those  pastors  (a  pastor  himself)  pre- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.         .         315 

sided  over  the  "Constitutional  Assembly"  of  the  Revolution,  and 
first  signed  his  name  to  the  celebrated  "  Declaration  of  the  rights  of 
man."  How  can  it  be  otherwise?  If  God  dwarfs  men,  God  digni- 
fies the  man.  The  royal  priesthood  and  the  kingship  of  believers 
mean  equality.  The  essential  in  man  rises  above  the  accidental. 
Man  learns  from  God's  large  dealings  with  him  to  deal  largely  with 
his  fellow-man.  Presbyterianism.  emphasizes  the  soul,  and  all  souls  are 
equal.  In  the  great  struggle  in  Scotland,  nothing  was  plainer  than 
that  Presbytery  was  the  child  of  the  people,  and  Episcopacy  the  crea- 
ture of  the  State.  Presbyterianism  is  the  popular  religion.  Its  only 
aristocracy  is  that  of  service.  "He  that  will  be  great  among  you,  let 
him  be  your  servant." 

3.  As  much  should  be  said  for  the  last  of  the  three  graces — Fi-a- 
ternity.  This  is  the  product  of  our  Church  polity.  In  the  struggle  for 
liberty  this  has  been  the  most  effective  of  the  things  peculiar  to  Pres- 
byterianism. Our  un>it  of  authority  is  the  Elder.  But  I  shall  not  waste 
my  time  on  the  office  of  the  Eldership.  It  has  been  magnified  enough 
already.  The  first  thing  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  first 
thing  in  forming  a  Presbyterian  Church,  is  an  election.  That  is  the 
pulse-beat  in  our  system,  which  has  lived  out  in  its  fruits  into  consti- 
tutional monarchies  and  republics.  Franklin  was  not  altogether  or- 
thodox, but  he  was  sagacious,  and  especially  so  in  saying,  "  He  who 
shall  introduce  into  public  affairs  the  principles  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity " — we  know  him  to  have  meant  Presbyterian  princijjles — "  will 
revolutionize  the  face  of  the  world."  Presbyterianism  is  necessarily 
a  popular  religion.  It  springs  from  the  people  (in  its  adnmiislraiiofi 
of  power),  it  legislates y^r  the  people,  and  appeals  to  the  people.  It 
instructs  the  people,  elects  the  people,  claims  co-operation  from  the 
people,  leans  upon  the  people,  will  suffer  neither  learning  nor  worship 
to  obscure  Christ  from  the  people,  and  holds  its  officers  to  be  servants 
of  the  people.  It  -has  been  sustained  by  the  people  wherever  sustained 
at  all,  and  it  trusts  the  people — without  whom  it  cannot  live — for  the 
future.  Such  a  religion  7futsl  be  a  friend  to  fraternity.  And  it  com- 
pletes its  relation  to  this  side  of  freedom  by  its  catholicity.  Its 
Waldenses  taught  in  1508,  that  any  cong,regation,  be  it  great  or  small, 
is  not  the  holy,  universal  Church,  but  only  a  part  and  member  there- 
of; and  its  modern  confessions  say,  "  Communion  is  to  be  extended, 
as  God  offereth  opportunity,  to  all,  who,  in  every  place,  call  upon  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  I  believe  the  only  known  instance  of 
Scotchmen  receding  from  anything  is  that  Assembly's  of  1842,  which 
rescinds  the  "  Schismatical  act  of  1799,"  and  recognizes  the  Church 
as  one  body.  That  is  proof  positive  that  a  Church  so  fraternal  as  the 
Presbyterian  must  be  a  friend  to  the  "fraternity"  of  liberty.  The 
interest  that  extends  over  chasms  of  dividing  opinion,  and  clasps 
hands  for  common  interests,  while  non-essentials  wait,  is  an  essential 
to  popular  liberty.  The  want  of  such  a  unifying  bond  has  been  fatal 
to  many  a  well-meant  struggle  for  freedom. 

4.  Add,  now,  Presbyterianism's  emphasis  upon  the  Bible — the  whole 


3i6  ^      THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

word,  only  the  word,  and  nothing  but  the  word.  This  makes 
it  the  friend  of  freedom.  The  Bible,  the  source  of  England's  great- 
ness, the  "cannon  to  liberate  Italy,"  the  palladium  of  American  lib- 
erties ;  the  truth — the  truth  about  God,  the  world,  and  man,  and  the 
world  to  come — must  make  men  free.  Whether  the  initial  L  of  lib- 
erty, or  the  big  P  of  Presbyterian  ism,  as  in  the  monogram  of  this 
Council,  it  matters  not.  Both  may  lie  on  an  open  Bible  because 
both  spring  from  it.  The  bounds  of  the  Bible  and  freedom  are  co- 
terminous. Nay,  the  very  shades  of  liberty  are  determined  by  the 
relative  biblicism  of  the  populations. 

5.  In  our  determined  adherence  to  creed,  there  may  be  discerned 
the  conservative  force  so  necessary  to  liberty.  A  building  cannot 
take  in  all  out-of-doors — a  body  must  have  a  spinal  column.  And 
yet  we  hold  creed  and  liberty  so  well  together  as  to  secure  unity  in 
essentials  and  liberty  in  details.  The  positiveness  of  Presbyterianism 
is  the  model  of  conslitiitio7ial  liberty. 

6.  It  is  the  modern  commonplace  that  free  institutions  are  impos- 
sible without  education.  So  is  Presbyterianism  ;  and  caring  there- 
fore for  its  own  things  it  has  cared  nobly,  from  Geneva  to  Scotland, 
and  from  Prussia  to  the  United  States,  for  the  interests  of  learning. 

7.  Out  of  the  Bible  and  through  its  uniform  testimony,  by  confes- 
sions and  conduct,  Presbyterianism  teaches  the  doctrine  of  loyalty, 
patriotism,  and  obedience  to  magistrates.  Behold  the  statics  of 
liberty,  as  the  dynamics  are  provided  for  in  liberty  of  conscience. 

8.  Liberty  must  have  its  checks  and  balances,  and  Presbyterianism 
has  its  gradation  of  courts  and  rigiits  of  appeal.  But  Presbyterianism 
is  not  absolutely  republican  in  form,  having  no  two  houses  in  legisla- 
tion. It  is  liberty  we  want,  not  necessarily  republican  liberty.  Our 
early  tendency  was  well  poised  here.  Both  Knox  and  the  Continental 
Divines  could  separate  the  "essential  principles"  of  liberty  from  all 
accidentals.  The  magic  tent  of  our  Moderator's  sermon  will  cover 
any  form  of  government,  except  a  despotism. 

9.  Just  in  the  same  way  Presbyterianism  makes  for  a  condition  of 
the  Church  unshackled  by  any  connection  with  the  State.  It  demands 
such  a  relation,  at  least,  as  leaves  the  Church  free  to  follow  her  sole 
Head  in  all  her  interior  life  and  discipline.  Its  ideal  is  not  Rome — 
Pagan — with  State  over  Church,  nor  Rome — Pa]3al — with  Church 
overtopping  the  State;  nor  Arnold's  dream  of  a  Church — penetrated 
and  consecrated  State,  blending  the  two  ;  but  two  separate  institutions 
(though  possibly  with  edges  contiguous',  each  essentially  independent 
of  the  other,  and  both  under  law  to  (xod.  Ah  !  how  that  feature  of 
Presbyterianism  has  wrought  for  liberty  !  All  the  way  down  the  centu- 
ries the  heavy  hand  of  State  power,  now  moved  by  ecclesiastical 
hate,  and  now  by  its  own  rapacity,  has  been  laid  upon  the  saints 
of  the  Most  High  through  the  blending  of  the  two  kingdoms  which 
Presbytery  has  done  so  much  to  rend  apart.  From  our  standpoint  it 
is  the  feather  of  our  Presbyterian  American  cap,  that  having  no  wrestle 
here  with  papal  minions,  we,  before  some  other  denominations  and 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  317 

against  some,  made  the  dissolution  of  Church  and  State  in  this  land 
total  and  perpetual.  The  error  clung  to  Puritan  New  England,  and 
was  an  ugly  burr  in  Episcopalian  Virginia,  but  Presbyterian  Philadel- 
phia and  New  York,  together  with  the  constraint  of  providential  cir- 
cumstances, were  too  much  for  them.  And  God  has  added  the  seal 
of  his  favor.  There  are  no  such  marvellous  statistics  in  modern 
Christendom,  as  those  of  voluntaryism's  first  century  in  America. 

So  much  for  Presbyterian  principles.  In  our  exalted  God  there  is 
"liberty"  of  conscience  ;  in  our  common  gospel  crowned  with  the 
electing  grace  of  God,  there  is  "  equality;  "  in  our  polity  and  catho- 
licity there  is  "fraternity;  "  in  our  Bible  there  is  the  spiritual  force 
of  freedom  ;  in  our  creed  there  is  the  free  conservaiivism  of  freedom ; 
in  our  educational  fervor  there  is  the  inicUectual  prerequisite  to  free- 
dom ;  in  our  obedience  to  magistrates  there  is  the  statical  balance  of 
freedom  ;  in  our  affinity  for  republicanism  there  is  room  for  any  form 
of  free  institutions  ;  in  our  jealousy  of  the  Holy  of  Holies  for  the 
visits  of  the  Shechinah  (ready  to  die  rather  than  to  admit  the  statue 
of  Caligula  to  the  precincts  of  Jehovah)  there  is  the  rcpclla^it  force 
against  exterior  interference,  which  is  the  final  condition  of  perma- 
nent freedom.  There  is,  therefore,  a  normal  and  necessary  connec- 
tion between  Presbyterianism  and  liberty.  A  priori,  Presbyterians 
must  be  free  !  Such  a  religion,  as  large  as  it  is  strong,  as  deep  as  it 
is  broad  ;  like  the  cedars  clinging  to  the  rocky  sides  of  Lebanon,  will 
find  the  elements  of  liberty  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  sternest  despot- 
ism, and  bring  them  into  life.  Here  are  the  constituents  of  liberty, 
and  there  is  only  needed  the  mortar  and  pestle  of  circumstances,  and 
the  never-failing  alchemy  of  God  to  finish  the  compounding. 

II.  And  this  brings  us,  in  the  second  place,  to  history.  A  posteriori, 
Presbyterians  have  been  free.  As  we  have  seen,  they  Jiad  to  be.  But 
what  shall  I  do  with  that  marvellous  history?  Only  characterize  it; 
not  trace  it,  much  less  exhibit  it.  As  a  development  of  the  principles 
now  mentioned,  it  was  not  always  in  absolutely  right  lines  (the 
fences  of  progress  are  always  zig-zag).  It  was  not  always  unassisted 
by  other  concurrent  influences,  nor  ever  was  its  fruitage  flawlessly 
complete  and  perfect.  But  it  was  always  in  the  same  general  direc- 
tion, coming  irregularly  as  June  comes,  but  never  missing  the  way. 
It  came  with  continuity  enough  to  be  traced,  as  the  western  bound- 
ary-lines are  marked  in  blazed  trees;  and  it  came -with  ever  fresh  im- 
pulses, bounding  out  from  the  interior  truth,  and  fed  by  the  God  of 
the  truth  ;  bounding  over  obstacle  after  obstacle  ;  swinging  its  great 
tides  over  lands  and  seas  alike,  until  it  buried  the  old  world  of  des- 
potism out  of  sight  ;  nay,  until  we  have  reached  the  deposit  stage, 
and  historical  geologists  are  studying  the  megatheria  of  oppression  as 
amazing  curiosities.  Never  for  a  moment  in  all  this  advance  has  the 
force  of  Presbyterianism  failed  to  be  an  active  agent  somewhere.  The 
two  liberties  were  sought  together  because  the  state  of  things  in  Europe 
on  the  morning  of  the  Reformation  made  that  inevitable.  The  two 
despotisms  were  so  united  that  one  could  not  be  smitten  without  the 


3i8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

other.  The  party  of  absolutism  in  the  state  gave  its  mailed  hand  to 
the  feline  paw  of  the  priest  in  solemn  compact  to  prevent  liberty  of 
conscience  in  the  Church,  for  fear  of  liberty  of  thought  in  the  empire. 
Theoretically,  the  duty  of  passive  obedience  in  the  state  (on  every- 
body but  the  pope)  was  as  fully  develo])ed  as  the  duty  of  blind  obedi- 
ence in  the  Church.  Ah  !  it  was  of  God,  that  in  one  day  both  of 
them  might  be  slain.  "The  Reformation  frightened  the  rulers," 
says  Bigot,  "  because  they  said  that  those  who  dared  to  dispute  with 
Rome  would  soon  reach  the  point  of  disputing  with  their  despotic 
and  vicious  rulers."  To  be  sure  they  would,  and  did.  And  Minister 
Ferry  was  right  when  he  said,  "  Protestantism  has  been,  in  modern 
history,  the  first  form  of  liberty."  Look  at  Period  I.  (1517--1556, 
according  to  Heeren  and  Fisher),  with  its  rivalry  between  Francis  I. 
and  Charles  v.,  which  gave  Protestantism  liberty  to  be;  at  Period  II. 
( 1556-1603),  which  gave  the  world  the  heroic  struggle  of  the  Nether- 
lands, the  English  help  against  Philip  II.,  and  the  rise  of  the  Protest- 
ant Republic  of  Holland;  at  Period  III.  (1603-1648),  which  sees 
Eiglish  influence  wane  on  account  of  the  Stuart  tyranny,  and  gives 
room  to  Sweden— a  new  example  of  Protestant  liberty  and  heroism  ; 
at  Period  IV.  (164S-1702),  which  terminates  the  struggle  in  England, 
leaving  jjolitical  and  religious  liberty  triumphant  and  secure  under 
William  III.,  and  brings  Prussia  into  power — out  of  which  period,  as 
a  slide  out  of  the  telescope,  is  drawn  the  American  experience,  which 
carries  the  progress  to  its  highest  single  point.  And  it  seems  to  me 
that,  roughly  outlining,  two  more  periods  may  now,  in  view  of  our 
special  theme,  be  adtled  to  Heeren's  programme.  Period  V.  (1702- 
18 15)  will  then  embrace  the  first  full  and  final  triumph  of  Protestant- 
ism (almost  unembarrassed  with  traditions  of  old  governments)  in  the 
establishment  of  a  Christian  Republic,  and  the  definitive  settlement 
of  its  relations  to  the  old  world  by  the  war  of  181 2,  contrasted  with 
the  failure  to  establish  liberty  in  the  French  Revolution,  for  want  of 
the  Huguenots  so  cruelly  smothered  and  expelled  ;  and  Period  VL. 
(1815-1878),  from  the  Treaty  of  Paris  to  that  of  Berlin,  which  interval 
has  witnessed  the  most  astonishing  development  of  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, and  of  liberal  ideas  in  governments  already  constitutional, 
with  the  definitive  establishment  of  religious  liberty  in  France,  and 
the  first  instance  of  the  combined  Christian  civilization  of  Europe 
exerting  its  moral' power  to  establish  religious  liberty  and  confirm 
civil  liberty  in  the  unchristian  East. 

It  is  a  glorious  record,  and  within  it  there  runs  a  thread  of  blue 
which  it  is  delightful  to  recognize.  The  way  was  prepared  for  us;  and 
the  office  of  Presbyterian  ism  was  that  proper  to  the  section  of  Prot- 
estantism which  the  stress  of  providence  made  most  hardy  and  adven- 
turous— the  role  of  applying  the  truth  in  difficult  circumstances. 
Presbyterian  ism  was  always  great  on  applications.  So  Carlyle  says, 
"  Protestantism  was  a  revolt  against  spiritual  sovereignties,  popes,  . 
and  much  else.  Presbyterianism  carried  out  the  revolt  against  earthly 
sovereignties   and  despotisms.^''     Archdeacon    Blackburn   says,    "The 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  319 

• 

truth  is,  these  very  controversies  (about  the  Genevan  discipline)  firtt 
struck  out,  and  in  due  time  perfected,  those  noble  and  generous  prin- 
ciples of  civil  and  religious  liberty  which  too  probably,  without  these 
struggles,  would  hardly  have  been  well  understood  to  this  very  hour." 
As  i^resbyterianism  clasped  hands  with  the  primitive  Church,  whose 
order  was  republican  and  free,  it  was  foreordained  that  Presbyterian- 
ism  must  oppose  the  hierarchical  (to  wit,  the  oppressive)  spirit  and 
organization  which  had  been  interjected.  And  as  that  spirit  and  its 
accompanying  organization  had  advanced  to  claim  and  wield  the 
sword  of  temporal  power,  it  was  equally  written  down  that  Presby- 
terianism  must  contend  with  the  same  power  for  liberty  in  civil  things. 
And  as  civil  rulers  followed  the  baci  example  of  the  religious,  and 
leaned  back  upon  the  hierarchical  principles  as  the  point  ifappui  of 
iheir  claims  o  rule  as  they  liked  and  yet  "do  no  wrong,"  it  was 
just  as  certain  again,  as  that  alkali  will  effervesce  under  an  acid,  that 
Presbyterian  right  arms  would  follow  Presbyterian  convictions  of 
right  into  a  conflict  with  the  civil  rulers  for  civil  liberty.  Moreover, 
as  the  taste  of  liberty  is  sweeter  to  the  freeman  than  that  of  blood  to 
the  tyrant,  ifwas  morally  certain  that  Presbyterianism,  which  cast  off 
popery,  would  cast  off  everything  else  which  let  or  hindered  its  lib- 
erty.  And  yet,  again,  it  is  but  a  certainty  of  development  that  Pres- 
byterianism, having  fought  so  long  and  hard,  would  not  only  have 
scars  and  be  proud  of  them,  but  would  also  preserve  unconsciously  a 
somewhat  pugilistic  attitude,  and  would  have  its  position  of  ready  self- 
defence  mistaken  sometimes  for  the  challenging  chip  on  the  boy's  shoul- 
der, or  the  quills  on  the  fretful  porcupine.  But  those  who  come  nearer 
are  sure  to  discover  that  this  attitude  is  only  a  mark  of  development. 
We  are  soldiers'  children,  and  must  stand  straight  up.  But,  you  re- 
member, tliat  it  is  General  Sherman  who  dislikes  and  dreads  war. 

In  all  this  history  behind  us  we  have  our  place  in  universal  history, 
and  no  man  can  read  the  records  of  the  world  and  fail  to  find  Pres- 
byterianism. Popery  and  prelacy  are  sure  to  find  it,  at  any  rate,  for 
they  bear  our  scars.  Historians  of  liberty  are  sure  to  find  the  grafts 
which  Presbyterian  swords  have  stuck  into  the  liberty  tree.  His- 
torians of  heroism  will  never  be  able  to  leave  ouf  the  names  which 
star  our  records.  Historians  of  the  noble  in  womanhood  will  linger 
over  the  modest  fragrance  which  the  simple  courage  of  some,  and  the 
cultivated  devotion  of  others,  and  the  maiden-martyrdom  of  more, 
have  left  between  the  pages  of  our  records.  Historians  of  the  liter- 
ature of  liberty  will  always  be  busy  with  the  line  of  Presbyterian 
authors,  from  John  Calvin  to  John  Milton,  who  were  captains  of 
thousands  in  the  conflicts  of  thought.  Historians  of  the  great  con- 
structive forces  will  follow  the  shining  thread  from  Piedmont  to  the 
valleys  of  the  Vaudois,  with  their  unquenchable  endurance;  thence  to 
Geneva,  with  its  model  political  arrangements;  its  realized  public 
morali.ty;  thence  to  Germany,  with  the  noble  and  nobly  rewarded 
stand  of  its  nobles ;  thence  to  the  Netherlands,  to  read  and  mark  the 
moving  story  of  its  indomitable  perseverance;  thence  through  sunny 


320  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

France  to  the  war  of  culture  against  ignorance,  of  industry  against 
stupidity,  of  unflinching  truth  against  the  most  damnable  treachery 
which  stains  the  record  of  Christendom  ;  thence  to  England,  to  the 
great  struggle  that  built  the  commonwealth  which  has  never  ceased  to 
exist  in  the  common  weal  ;  thence  to  bonnie  Scotland,  to  the  "  Great 
Heart  "  of  the  Presbyterian  pilgrimage,  and  its  Mecca — Edinburghi  and 
Grayfriars ;  thence  to  the  wilds  of  America,  where  the  free-hearted 
came,  finding  what  here  they  sought — "freedom  to  worship  God." 
Here  they  must  rest,  finding  a  freedom  for  religion  so  free,  that  to 
limit  it  is  our  only  concern  ;  finding  the  heritage  of  good  of  all  ages 
so  richly  expanding  in  these  vast  vistas  that  hence  back  again  to  the 
old  world  and  far  away  to  the  East,  by  way  of  the  West,  the  light 
now  shines,  and  men  say,  '■'■The  development  of  liberty  is  eompleic ;  now 
for  its  direction  and  conservation  /''  No  names,  or  epochs,  or  par- 
ticulars are  needed  in  this  review.  The  mind  stitches  together  almost 
the  whole  civilized  and  Christian  world  to  make  the  map  for  the  area 
of  Presbyterianism's  influence.  You  marvel  to  see  how  mutually 
helpful  it  has  been  at  every  point,  how  reactive  in  its  own  course ;  as, 
e.  g.,  on  the  continent  between  Switzerland  and  France,  between 
Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  even  between  Piedmont  and  Bohemia; 
how  across  the  channel  influences  passed  which  wove  together  and 
endeared  the  whole  body  then  and  forever  since ;  how  Scotland 
blessed  England,  and  both  laid  joint  hands  in  Puritan  and  Presby- 
terian (differing  only  as  two  hands  may)  upon  America.  The  history 
only  needs  to  be  known.  Eyes  moisten  and  lips  quiver  under  the 
touching  recitals  of  martyrdoms  innumerable;  the  blood  tingles  at 
injustices  so  mean  and  oppressions  so  cruel ;  the  soul  exults  in  hero- 
isms so  lofty;  the  heart  learns  to  trust  from  faith  so  implicit ;  and  the 
courage  rises  to  any  possible  demand  at  the  sight  cf  the  quiet  sufferers 
or  the  crested  warriors.  These  were  the  thoughts  of  God  that  ennobled 
our  fathers.  Tiie  growth  of  civilization  and  intelligence  will  never 
carry  us  beyond,  but  only  nearer  to  the  height  of  their  conception  of 
the  good  and  the  true.  And  amid  the  evidences  of  abounding 
spiritual  life  which  are  found  inside  of  these  rough  integuments,  we 
shall  be  always  learning  how  the  struggle  for  liberty  may  not  weaken 
but  strengthen  our  grasp  on  the  great  central  truths  of  salvation  by  a 
crucified  Redeemer.  Away  with  the  sickly  aversion  to  controversy 
for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  wlien  we  stand  in  presence 
of  the  passionate  earnestness  with  which  a  Henderson  preached  upon 
the  moors  of  Scotland,  or  the  tenderness  of  a  Clement  Marot,  as  he 
put  the  heart  of  Christ's  truth  into  sweetest  song  (uniting  forever 
art  and  worslii])),  or  the  deep  experience  of  a  Calvin  while  fighting 
the  Libertines  in  Geneva  and  the  whole  Catholic  world  without. 
No,  no,  no  !  Blood  earnestness  is  good  anywhere  and  always  for  the 
things  of  God.  We  need  never  fear  what  shall  come  in  the  conflict 
for  the  crown-rights  of  King  Jesus.  If  we  fight  for  him,  we  shall 
always  rest  in  him. 

Fair  deductions  all  made,  honor  to  whom  honor  is  due,  and  sorrow 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  321 

felt  for  whatever  is  to  be  lamented,  still  the  history  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian struggle  for  liberty  is  an  imperishable  record  of  all  that  honors 
God  and  benefits  man.  In  that  history  every  principle  which  God 
has  entrusted  to  us  has  been  broidered  in  red  lines  into  the  records 
of  the  choicest  life  of  the  race.  It  shall  remain  our  heritage  and  our 
pride  !     Shall  it  be  also  our  inspiration  ? 

III.  To  this  we  turn.  What  Presbyterianism  ought  to  do,  a  priori, 
"we  saw  ;  what  Presbyterianism  has  done  we  have  hinted  at.  What  shall 
Presbyterianism  do  ?  What  is  its  present  duty  and  future  mission  ? — 
Shall  it  be  put  in  a  museum  like  John  Knox's  pulpit  in  Stirling  Castle  ? 
— or  encased  in  a  mummy-literature  ?  or  forgotten  in  the  lispings 
of  an  effeminate  worship,  or  dandled  away  in  a  hammock  swung 
tetween  pulpit  and  pew  ?  Ah  !  what !  how  !  in  this  time  of  the  world  ; 
■when  to  be  living  is  sublime  !  No  !  a  thousand  times  !  The  time 
for  a  living,  breathing,  energetic,  liberty-loving,  liberty-keeping,  stal- 
wart Presbyterianism  is  now,  just  now  !  I  am  sorry  I  had  not  given 
your  whole  thirty  minutes  to  this  end  of  the  theme.  See  what  work 
there  yet  is  for  Presbyterianism  in  relation  to  civil  and  religious  liberty  ! 

(I.)  Liberty  has  come  only  in  a  part  of  the  world.  It  must  be 
made  to  come  everywhere. 

I.  Liberty  for  missionary  propaganda  of  all  descriptions.  2.  Ful- 
filment of  treaties  in  the  interest  of  religious  liberty.  3.  Liberty  of 
•dissent  from  established  churches,  and  of  changing  religions.  4. 
Liberty  from  every  vestige  of  the  Church  and  State  combinations 
which  oppress,  or  hamper,  or  dampen  the  life  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
5.  Liberty  from  cruel  race-prejudice  toward  Jew,  Indian,  African  and 
•Chinaman.  A  blazing  pulpit,  and  platform,  and  press  for  our  despised 
races.  6.  Liberty  for  Romanists  against  all  Church  spoliation,  and 
all  interference  with  their  interior  economy,  and  all  expulsions.  7. 
Such  liberty,  even  for  atheists,  as  that  they  may  not  either  sneer  at 
the  fear,  or  complain  of  the  unfairness  of  Christian  governments, 

(II.)  This  liberty  is  to  be  maintained— 

1.  Against  all  the  encroachments  of  the  modern  State,  which  may 
yet  prove  the  true  antichrist  in  its  extravagant  claims  and  oppressive 
measures. 

2.  Liberty  is  to  be  maintained  against  its  first,  oldest,  and  yet  most 
active  foe — the  Church  of  Rome.  There  is  no  need  to  prove  Rome 
the  same — persecuting  principles  and  all.  Semper  Ldem  is  her  boast. 
There  is  no  need  to  emphasize  the  much  that  is  Christian  and  philan- 
thropic in  her  doctrine,  her  worship,  or  her  career.  But  just  to  say 
that  with  love  for  all  within  her  pale  who  love  Jesus,  with  heart  throb- 
bing before  the  Christ  of  her  crucifix,  and  hearts  ascending  in  her 
Te  Deums,  and  minds  quickened  by  the  logic  of  her  Augustines  and 
Anselms,  with  reverence  for  her  antiquity,  and  sympathy  for  all  that 
is  noble  in  her  art  and  architecture,  with  admiration  for  all  that  is 
touching  in  her  consecration  to  the  poor  and  helpless ;  still,  with 
firm  finger  on  St.  Bartholomew,  and  face  o'ercast  as  we  hear  the 
wail  of  the  Lowlands,  and  heart  quivering  to  the  song  of  the  martyred 


322 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


Latimers,  and  Ridleys,  and  suspicions  a  little  roused  by  the  Syllabus 
and  the  Vatican  Council,  and  the  sweeping  victory  of  Ultramontanism, 
we  will  watch  with  keen  eye  the  internal  struggle  through  which  she 
must  pass,  ready  to  clasp  hands  with  the  broken  fragments  which  we 
hope  will  form  about  the  cross  after  the  crisis ;  and  not  less  ready 
— though  sorrowfully — to  meet  her  shrewd  diplomacy  (should  it  con- 
tinue) with  the  astute  simplicity  of  a  clear  purpose  to  serve  Christ  and 
conserve  liberty,  or  even  to  stand  in  serried  rank,  and  strike  hard  and 
fast,  at  her  first  motion  toward  the  usurpation  of  temporal  dominion, 
or  her  first  gesture  to  seize  the  thumb-screw  and  the  torch.  Nay  !  it 
is  our  office  to  apply  her  blistering  past  to  every  sensitive  spot  we  can 
discover  on  her  wide  extended  surface,  until  the  tortures  of  memory 
are  transmuted  into  the  throes  of  repentance,  and  the  red  currents  of 
martyr-blood  are  reflected  in  the  sense  of  heavy  shame  crimsoning  her 
cheeks.  Until  Rome  can  say,  "  We  were  wrong  " — as  the  Protestant 
world  long  ago  said  in  view  of  its  comparatively  insignificant  record  of 
violent  persecution — the  whole  world  (secular  and  religious)  must 
maintain  a  posture  of  armed  suspicion,  and  Presbyterianism  must  be 
its  sleepless  sentinel. 

(III.)  And  then,  most  difficult  of  all,  liberty  is  to  be  defined,  and 
thus  guarded  against  the  whole  class  of  internal  foes  that  are  now 
more  dangerous  than  all  others  combined.     Defined,  I  say : 

1.  As  against  liberty  misinterpreted  into  a  false  individualism. 

2.  As  against  liberty  perverted  into  the  crushing  despotism  of  com- 
munism. 

3.  As  against  laissez-faire  and  indifference  to  morals,  prostituting" 
liberty  into  license,  and  eating  the  heart  out  of  the  State  as  surely  as 
stealthily. 

4.  As  against  the  secularism  that  disarms  the  State  morally  by 
cutting  the  nerves  that  bind  it  to  God  and  religion — a  subtler  danger 
than  almost  any  other  because  it  is  Satan  disguised  as  an  "angel  of 
light." 

The  great  issue  now  before  our  united  forces  is,  whether  Presbyte- 
rianism, having  helped  signally  to  give  birth  to  freedom,  will  as  sig- 
nally help  to  make  effective  the  limitations  which  must  obtain,  unless 
liberty  is  to  play  the  blind  Samson,  and  pull  down  alike  upon  itself 
and  its  enemies  the  crushing  weight  of  the  political  structures  under 
which  all  might  happily  live. 

The  Christian  social  philosophers  of  our  day  agree  that  Romanism 
has  shown  its  incapacity  to  be  the  regulator,  and  balance,  and  ballast, 
which  freedom  needs  for  free  peoples.  Will  Protestantism  succeed  ? 
It  will,  I  answer,  in  proportion  as  the  things  essential  to  Presbyte- 
rianism remain  uppermost  in  Protestantism,  viz.  :  i.  Firmness  to  prin- 
ciple. 2.  Flexibility  and  freedom  in  methods.  3.  Fidelity  to  the 
past  record  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which  have  never  been 
stable  except  as  they  have  been  Christian.  4.  Inseparable  identifica- 
tion with  the  rights,  the  wants,  the  needs,  and  the  sympathies  of  the 
people  ;  and,  5,  an  earnest  and  watchful  care  for  an  education  which 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  323 

shall  not  be  obligatory,  secular,  and  free,  but  obligatory.  Christian, 
and  free. 

To  close.  There  was  never  greater  need  for  heroism  in  regard  to 
our  principles,  our  history,  and  our  mission,  than  to-day.  To  die  in 
reformation  struggles  was  no  more  indispensable,  and  no  more  diffi- 
cult, than  to  live  properly  for  the  reformation  peoples,  some  of  whom 
are  well-nigh  drunk  with  reformation  liberties.  The  "enthusiasm  of 
humanity,"  founded  on  God,  and  fed  at  the  cross,  must  now  be  dis- 
played in  preventing  liberty  from  becoming  self-destructive.  There 
are  not  many  "hurrah"  elements  in  such  work,  and  few  thanks  to  be 
won  in  opposing  men's  doing  what  they  like  to  do.  It  is  the  physi- 
cian and  malaria,  rather  than  the  trumpet  and  the  tournament.  It 
is  a  work  easily  forgotten  even  by  those  who  cry  "Thy  kingdom 
come." 

But  certain  it  is,  that  liberty  must  be  based  upon  the  Bible,  or 
washed  away  from  the  shifting  sands  of  human  opinion.  Its  forces 
must  be  held  and  driven,  or  they  will  wreck  the  chariot.  Liberty 
must  acknowledge  God  and  the  Decalogue.  It  must  recognize  its 
highest  claims  as  satisfied  in  the  principles  of  that  matchless  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  which  is  shot  through  and  through  with  the 
blue  thread  of  Mecklenburg,  itself  spun  out  of  Scotch  tissue,  and  is 
at  once  Christian  and  free. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Lyman  H.  Atwater,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Prince- 
ton, N.  J.,  read  a  paper  as  follows,  on 

RELIGION  AND  POLITICS. 

Religion  includes  all  forms  in  which  man  evinces  allegiance  and 
devotion  to  the  Being  or  Beings  whom  he  recognizes  as  supreme, 
whether  Christian,  Jewish,  or  Pagan.  Politics  refers  to  organized 
states,  either  with  respect  to  the  scientific  unfolding  of  the  theoretical 
and  practical  principles  of  civil  government,  or  the  means  and  meth- 
ods of  uplifting  particular  persons,  parties,  and  policies  to  the  ascen- 
dency in  any  given  state.  These  two  departments,  though  quite  dis- 
tinct, nevertheless  overlap  and  largely  interpenetrate.  The  question 
is,  how  far  has  religion  a  place  in  politics  in  each  of  these  senses? 

Between  the  Vatican  claim  that  the  Church,  through  its  supreme 
pontiff,  is  the  infallible  and  authoritative  guide  of  the  civil  magistrate 
in  all  matters  affecting  faith  and  morals,  as  also  the  supreme  judge  of 
what  matters  come  under  this  category;  and  the  counter-maxim  of 
Hobbes  that  the  statutes  of  the  state  are  the  ultimate  source,  standard 
and  rule  of  moral  obligation — a  sentiment  which  agrees  with  much 
utilitarian  and  materialistic  speculation  in  undermining  intrinsic  and 
scriptural  morality — all  varieties  of  doctrine  on  this  subject  may  be 
found,  down  to  that  formula  of  demagogic  diabolism,  "all  is  fair  in 
politics."  Omitting  all  attempts  to  specify  all  of  these,  I  may  pre- 
mise that  the  composition  and  constitution  of  this  body,  as  I  suppose, 


.324  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

preclude  all  discussion  of  State-Church  establishments;  that,  for  vari 
ous  reasons,  I  can  only  touch  a  few  sides  of  the  subject,  such  as  per- 
tain to  all  states  as  such,  whether  possessing  religious  establishments 
or  not ;  and  that  my  concrete  references  and  illustrations  will  largely 
refer  to  my  own  country,  in  which  some  of  the  chief  problems  in- 
volved are  finding  their  solution. 

It  is  only  a  truism  to  say,  at  the  threshold,  that  the  state  is  bound 
to  protect  all  in  the  peaceable  exercise  of  their  religion  and  use  of 
property  dedicated  to  religious  purposes  up  to  the  point  at  which  the 
.abuse  of  such  liberty  becomes  licentiousness.  It  is  not  bound  to  pro- 
tect immoralities  or  breaches  of  the  public  peace  committed  in  the  name 
of  religion,  or  in  obedience  to  alleged  conscientious  convictions,  how- 
ever sincere.  To  tolerate  polygamy,  incest,  free-love,  or  other  adul- 
terous crimes;  to  allow  offences  against  life  and  health;  to  permit 
theft,  fraud,  pauper  idleness  and  vagrancy,  false  witnessing,  perjury, 
calumny  and  the  like-,  on  the  pretext  of  religious  liberty,  is  absurd. 
A  right  to  the  protection  of  society  is  not  a  right  to  undermine  it. 
The  state,  too,  can  and  should  protect  men  against  the  wrongful 
deprivation  of  their  civil  rights  by  acts  of  religious  bodies  to  which 
they  belong — acts  done  under  color  of  discipline  or  otherwise — in  a 
manner  contrary  to  their  own  fundamental  covenants  and  constitu- 
tions. 

The  state  also  may  be  obliged  to  inquire  into  the  doctrines  of  any 
religious  body,  at  least  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  rights,  franchises, 
and  ownerships  of  property,  conditioned  upon  adherence  to  certain 
doctrines.  Yet,  as  respects  disputed  interpretations  of  doctrine,  the 
decisions  of  the  highest  tribunals  of  the  Church  to  which  the  litigants 
belong  are,  prima  facie,  and,  in  ordinary  cases,  conclusive.  So  our 
courts  hold. 

But  whatever  may  be  maintained  in  respect  to  the  right  of  the  state 
to  exact  from  its  subjects  an  unwilling  support  of  any  particular  form 
of  religion,  neither  it,  nor  the  rulers  who  are  its  organs  and  representa- 
tives, can  be  exempt  from  the  obligations  of  religion.  No  state,  no 
rulers  can  wage  war  against  God  with  innocence  or  impunity.  We 
do  not  here  inquire  whether  a  state  transcends  its  function  and  com- 
mission indeed  when  it  attempts  to  impose  the  support  of  any  form 
of  religion  upon  its  subjects.  However  this  may  be,  the  state  is  not 
without  obligation  to  obey  God  in  all  that  it  is  warranted  or  under- 
takes to  do.  It  is  not  at  liberty  to  violate  any  principle  of  morality, 
or  of  the  decalogue,  the  divinely  articulated  summation  of  morality. 
The  manward  part  of  the  decalogue  touching  obedience  to  parents 
and  superiors,  and  their  reciprocal  duties  to  inferiors,  the  protection 
of  life,  chastity,  property,  truth — every  rightful  privilege  and  posses- 
sion of  man — underlies  all  legislation  pertaining  to  social  life,  and  the 
relations  of  men  to  each  other.  This,  directly  or  indirectly,  includes 
the  great  mass  of  legislation.  No  lawgiver  can  set  these  aside  without 
treason  to  the  state,  to  conscience,  and  to  God.  None  can  fail  in 
all  legitimate  ways  to  promote  the  outward  observance  of  them  without 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  325 

recreancy  to  a  sacred  trust.  No  ruler  of  a  state,  moreover,  can 
positively  set  at  naught  the  first,  or  Godward  part  of  the  decalogue, 
without  defiance  of  (rod.  It  is  vain  to  claim  otherwise  from  whatever 
side  we  view  the  subject.  Does  a  man  acquire  a  right  to  deny  or 
insult  God,  when  acting  as  a  ruler  or  magistrate,  which  would  be 
impious  if  done  by  him  as  a  private  citizen? 

As  no  man  in  any  sphere,  or  on  any  occasion,  can  be  free  from  the 
obligations  of  morality,  so,  be  it  remembered,  morality  and  religion 
interpenetrate.  Not  that  man  by  abjuring  religion  can  rid  himself  of 
his  conscience,  or  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  The  atheist  cannot  do 
this,  even  if  he  profess  or  attempt  to  do  it.  But  morality  severed 
from  the  light  and  sanctions  of  religion  is  greatly  maimed  and  para- 
lyzed, while  religion  torn  from  morality  is  a  monstrosity  and  a  mis- 
nomer. Either  without  the  other  is  a  fleshless  skeleton.  But  as- 
conscience  must  always  and  everywhere  dominate  the  man,  it  must 
itself  in  every  sphere,  private,  public,  personal,  official,  political,  be 
guided  by  the  oracles  of  God.  In  every  capacity  man  is  bound, 
"whether  he  eat,  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  he  does,  to  do  all  to  the 
glory  of  God."  He  can  no  more  escape  this  obligation  by  being  a 
statesman  or  politician  than  he  can  get  out  of  himself  To  eliminate 
the  moral,  and  so  far  forth,  the  religious  element  from  the  state,  is  to 
strike  out  its  life.  It  is  no  proof  to  the  contrary  to  say,  as  is  often 
said,  that  the  state  deals  alone  with  the  temporal  and  earthly,  the 
Church  with  the  divine  and  heavenly.  For  the  very  aim  and  founda- 
tion of  any  proper  state  is  moral ;  it  is  the  securing  to  all  their  rights 
relatively  to  each  other  and  itself.  And  what  is  a  right  but  the  fact 
that  it  is  right  that  a  given  privilege,  opportunity  or  faculty  be  secured 
to  us?  And  is  it  not  the  function  of  the  state  to  secure  such  rights, 
and  prevent  their  infringement  by  others?  The  very  aim  of  the 
state  is  to  promote  justice  between  its  subjects,  and  between  them  and 
itself,  and,  on  the  international  side,  between  itself  and  other  nations. 

The  state  itself  indeed  cannot  enforce  inward  rectitude,  or  all  its 
fit  outward  manifestations ;  but  it  can  and  ought  itself  to  refrain  from 
all  unrighteousness.  It  can  raise  the  appreciation  of  morality  among 
the  people,  and  educate  them  to  higher  moral  standards  by  its  own 
scrupulous  adherence  to  them  ;  by  its  own  protection  of  the  innocent, 
and  manifestation  of  a  due  abhorrence  of  abominable  crimes  in  its 
treatment  of  their  perpetrators  ;  so  that,  while  tempering  justice  with 
mercy,  it  should  not  turn  it  into  a  farce  by  a  sickly  and  overstrained 
philanthropy.  It  is  only  another  aspect  of  the  same  thing  to  say, 
that  the  end  of  the  state  is  to  secure  to  the  citizen  the  power  of  being 
and  doing  morally  right.  His  rights,  whether  of  free  speaking,  inter- 
course, locomotion,  or  whatever  else,  are  rights  to  do  right.  So  far 
as  the  state  falls  short  of  this  moral  ideal,  like  all  organisms,  she  and 
all  her  members  or  citizens  must  strive  to  lift  her  up  to  her  normal 
standard. 

With  those  who  accept  the  Bible  as  the  true  standard  of  life  and 
manners,  this  view  of  the  moral  constitution  and  end  of  the  state  is 


326  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

past  all  doubt.  "The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God,"  as  to 
their  rightful  origin  and  authority,  if  not  as  to  the  manner  of  their 
appointment  and  investiture  with  office.  They  are  to  be  obeyed  not 
merely  "  for  wrath  "  or  terror  of  punishment,  but  "  for  conscience' 
sake."  They  are  to  be  for  "the  punishment  of  evil-doers  and  the 
praise  of  them  that  do  well."  They  are  not  to  be  "a  terror  to 
good  works,  but  to  the  evil."  "Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth 
the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God."  Further  proof  that 
neither  morality  nor  religion  can  be  disowned  or  discarded  by  the 
state  is  superfluous.  In  all  this  the  Scriptures  only  reaffirm,  in  an 
imperverted  form,  what  is  rooted  in  the  intuitive  convictions  of  the 
race.  Atheism  and  infidelity  are  alone  equal  to  extirpating  all 
religion  from  the  state. 

How  far,  and  in  what  ways  then,  may  the  religion  of  the  Bible 
manifest  itself  in  the  public  or  political  acts  of  a  people  that  discards 
all  state  religious  establishments,  all  union  of  Church  and  State? 

It  is  clear  that  this  will  largely  depend  on  the  kind  and  degree  of 
religious  convictions  and  sensibilities  that  master  the  people,  and 
those  in  control  of  the  government.  The  effect  of  these  will  appear 
in  legislation.  Men  will  put  themselves  into  their  action,  private  and 
public.  No  theories  of  the  absolutely  non-religious  character  of  the 
state  can  drive  out  of  their  political  action  their  moral  and  religious 
sentiments — observe  I  do  not  say  their  sectarianism.  This  has  been 
conspicuous  in  the  whole  history  of  the  United  States,  both  in  respect 
to  the  national  and  local  State  governments.  These  have  very  largely 
given  expression  and  effect  to  the  moral  sense  of  the  people,  as  that 
is  inspired  and  moulded  by  a  dominant  Christianity.  For  notwith- 
standing technical  objections  to  the  contrary,  the  United  States  are 
essentially  a  Christian  nation. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  this  that  an  explicit  or  formal  profession  of 
Christianity  should  be  made  in  the  constitution  or  written  ground-law 
of  the  nation,  desirable  as  that  may  be.  There  are  institutions  which 
are  mightier  than  written  constitutions,  though  their  charters  are  un- 
written in  any  scroll  of  parchment.  The  Constitution  of  Great 
Britain  has  its  life  in  such  institutions  which  live  and  reign  in  the 
minds  and  hearts,  the  manners,  habits,  social  usages  and  laws  of  the 
nation — her  institutions  of  education,  learning,  religion  and  charity. 
An  individual  Christian  does  not  lose  his  Christianity  by  omitting  the 
phrase,  "In  the  name  of  God;  amen,"  from  his  last  will  and  testa- 
ment ;  nor  does  a  nation  lose  its  religion  by  not  making  a  formal 
profession  of  it  in  its  written  constitution.  The  admission  into  our 
United  States  Constitution  of  the  day  and  year  of  our  Lord  is  not  as 
meaningless  as  some  would  have  it.  At  this  point  neutrality  is  im- 
possible to  a  nation  and  its  rulers  in  respect  to  revealed  religion. 
Man  is  not,  as  we  have  seen,  at  liberty,  in  his  private  or  public 
capacity,  to  break  or  defy  the  law  of  God.  But  not  to  rest  on  the 
Lord's  day  from  labors  other  than  those  of  necessity  and  mercy  is  thus 
to  violate  that  law.     To  stop  secular  labor  and  recreation  on  that  day 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  327 

is  so  far  forth  to  recognize  it  as  the  Lord's  day,  instituted  in  his 
revealed  word.  Although  it  would  be  quite  right  for  the  state  to  set 
apart  by  law  one  day  in  seven,  on  account  of  the  ascertained  benefits 
of  such  rest  to  man's  physical  and  spiritual  being,  yet  this  is  not  the 
sole  or  supreme  ground  of  the  obligation.  It  is  imperative  because 
the  Lord  commands  it,  whether  men  can  discern  sanitary,  hygienic 
or  other  worldly  advantages  resulting  from  it  or  not. 

Now,  this  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  is  established,  not  only  in 
the  customs  and  habits  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  but  by 
legislation  ;  and  in  the  practice  of  our  National  and  State  Legislatures 
and  other  officers,  at  least  so  far  as  the  discharge  of  their  official  func- 
tions is  concerned.  Herein  we  have  the  most  visible  and  unquestion- 
able manifestation  of  a  nation's  attitude  towards  divine  revelation. 
So  in  requiring  the  oath,  confirmed  by  kissing  the  Bible,  with  due 
provision  for  relief  of  conscientious  scruples,  the  religion  of  the  nation 
is  evinced.  So  also  in  the  rites  which  the  vast  majority  of  the  people 
observe  on  the  most  solemn  occasions,  such  as  weddings  and  funerals, 
whether  they  are  in  visible  connection  with  any  Church  or  not,  they 
are  on  the  side  of  Christianity.  This  is  far  from  saying  or  intimating 
that  the  majority  of  these  are  real  Christians,  even  by  profession,  or 
that  they  all  believe,  or  profess  belief,  in  the  Christian  religion  ;  but 
they  are  nominal,  and  to  a  great  extent  real, believers  in  Christianity, 
as  against  any  opposing  system.  It  is  not  meant  surely  that  there  is 
not  a  deplorable  amount  of  Sabbath-breaking,  intemperance  and  pro- 
faneness,  scepticism  and  flagrant  iniquity.  But  it  is  meant  that  in  the 
predominating  belief,  usages  and  sentiments  of  the  people,  and  in  the 
manifestation  thereof,  this  is  eminently  a  Christian,  as  distingiiished 
from  an  atheistic,  infidel,  pagan  or  Mohammedan  country. 

The  United  States  are  a  Christian  nation  also,  as  the  recognized 
test  of  the  legislation  of  the  country  is  its  conformity  to  the  moral 
law,  and  this,  too,  as  interpreted  and  applied  by  the  Christian  senti- 
ment of  the  country.  Not  that  immoral  measures  are  not  sometimes 
proposed  or  even  adopted  by  our  National  or  State  Legislatures.  But 
they  are  always  urged  on  some  pretext  of  right.  They  are  opposed 
and  denounced  on  the  ground  of  their  moral  obliquity,  whatever  else 
may  be  urged  against  them.  And  once  they  are  proved  and  conceded 
to  be  morally  wrong  or  anti-Christian,  they  are  hopelessly  defeated. 

The  Christian  sentiment  of  the  country  opposes  and  often  prevents 
unrighteous  wars.  It  demands  that  its  sons,  who  serve  it  in  the  army 
and  navy,  as  also  its  prisoners,  be  not  left  in  the  condition  of  heathen, 
but  shall  be  ministered  to,  nay  that  the  sessions  of  Congress  shall  be 
opened  with  prayer,  by  Christian  chaplains,  with  due  provision  for 
religious  liberty,  whether  this  can  be  smoothly  reconciled  with  some 
abstract  theory  or  not.  It  finds  expression  in  laws  for  the  prevention 
of  intemperance,  Sabbath  desecration,  profaneness  and  sacrilege;  in 
the  summons  by  our  chief  magistrates.  State  and  national,  to  observe 
annual  days  of  thanksgiving,  and  special  days  of  fasting,  in  great 
national  crises,  which  are  accepted  with  scarce  a  whisper  of  opposition 


328  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

from  any  quarter,  and  hearty,  positive  observance  by  multitudes.  It 
also  appears  in  the  explicit  and  thankful  recognition  of  God  and  his 
providence  as  the  source  of  all  national  blessings,  in  the  annual  mes- 
sages of  our  governors  and  presidents  to  their  respective  legislatures. 

Coming  now  to  politics,  in  that  looser  popular  sense  which  obtains 
in  countries  where  rulers  are  chosen  by  popular  election,  and  which 
refers  to  the  means  employed  to  secure  the  triumph  of  particular  per- 
sons, partieSjOr  policies  at  the  polls,  we  must  content  ourselves  with 
the  fewest  words.  Religion  touches  politics  here  as  it  forbids  us  to 
further  unrighteous  measures  by  any  means,  or  the  best  policies  by 
unrighteous  means.  It  rules  out  all  lying,  slander,  fraudulent  or 
venal  voting ;  all  procuring  votes,  or  support  for  men,  parties,  or 
measures  by  bribery.  It  demands  the  support  in  the  main  of  that 
political  party,  which,  on  the  whole,  in  the  conscientious  view  of  the 
voter,  makes  most  for  righteousness  and  the  public  good.  But  here 
perplexity  often  emerges  because  the  best  political  parties  are  apt  to 
be  mounted  by  political  leaders,  who  consider  them  as  a  personal  pos- 
session to  be  used  chiefly  for  the  honor  or  emolument  of  themselves 
or  their  friends.  They  look  at  the  sacred  convictions  which  command 
votes  for  the  party  very  much  as  the  speculator  looks  upon  the  views 
abroad  which  determine  the  prices  of  the  commodities  in  which  he 
speculates.  At  length  corrupt  men,  with  corrupt  party  machinery, 
become  a  fungous  growth  upon  the  party,  of  which  it  must  rid  itself, 
or  die,  certainly  as  to  its  usefulness.  How  shall  the  right-principled 
members  of  the  party  free  it  of  these  deadly  incumbrances?  Their 
bare  protests  are  apt  to  be  unavailing.  How  shall  they  make  them 
more  than  hrutum  fiilmcn? 

First,  they  can  attend  the  primary  meetings  of  parties  at  which 
candidates  are  nominated,  and  seek  by  their  influence  and  votes  to 
promote  the  nomination  of  good  men.  Sometimes  this  suffices  ta 
correct  the  evil.  Oftener  it  fails,  because  it  is  so  easy  for  the  selfish 
and  unscrupulous  to  pack  such  conventions  with  ignorant  and  un- 
principled voters  who  outnumber  them.  Failing  here,  they  can  form 
an  independent  body  at  the  polls,  who,  when  no  great  party  issues  are 
at  stake,  can  defeat  unworthy  nominees.  Here  they  can  make  them- 
selves felt  to  good  purpose ;  for  party  managers  will  not  generally 
court  defeat  by  setting  up  candidates  so  unworthy  as  to  repel  the 
independent  voter.  All  Christians,  all  good  men,  should  become  a 
force  in  politics,  and  make  themselves  efficient  in  elevating  the  moral 
standard  of  parties,  politics  and  legislation. 

It  is  a  question  of  much  gravity  and  delicacy,  how  far  the  Church, 
by  its  teachings  as  an  organic  body,  or  through  its  pulpits,  should 
touch  the  subjects  connected  with  politics.  It  should  not  plunge  into 
the  mire  of  mere  partisan  conflicts.  It  cannot  mingle  in  the  details 
of  mere  party  strife  without  fleshly  contamination,  so  losing  its  savor 
as  the  salt  of  the  earth.  This,  so  far  from  eternizing  the  temporal,, 
secularizes  the  eternal,  and  carnalizes  the  spiritual.  None  the  less, 
however,  should  the  pulpit  no  wise  be  dumb  on  great  public  issues 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  329. 

and  policies  for  or  against  righteousness,  mercy  and  truth.  The 
ambassador  of  God  may  not  seal  his  lips  in  regard  to  great  abomina- 
tions, because  these  happen  to  be  espoused  by  some  political  party, 
or  made  planks  in  its  platform.  When  a  Church  becomes  so  subject 
to  the  "  throne  of  iniquity,"  pillared  on  wealth,  rank,  social  prestige, 
or  the  tyranny  of  political  parties  that  it  dare  not  "  cry  aloud  and 
spare  not"  against  lawless  violence,  drunkenness  and  its  guilty 
causes  and  promoters;  culpable  neglect  of  the  public  health  and 
safety,  or  traitorous  hindrance  to  the  government  when  it  bears  not 
the  sword  in  vain  against  evil-doers,  rebellion,  anarchy,  unjust  foreign 
aggression  ;  refusal  to  submit  international  differences  to  arbitration 
rather  than  the  sword;  unscriptural  divorces;  the  tolerance  of  polyg- 
amy, and  the  circulation  of  obscene  and  polluting  literature  ;  fraud, 
oppression,  extortion,  the  violation  of  national  faith ;  against  the 
abominations  connected  with  such  trades  as  make  merchandise  of  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  men  ;  against  adulterating  food  and  drink  into  poi- 
sons ;  against  expulsion  of  industrious  foreigners  by  blatant  sluggards 
and  more  blatant  demagogues ;  it  may  well  ask  itself,  what  is  its  mis- 
sion ?  why  cumbefeth  it  the  ground  ? 

When  nations  and  their  governments  have  tolerated  or  winked  at 
unrighteousness,  the  Church  has  too  often  lacked  courage  to  protest 
against  it.  But,  when  the  conscience  of  the  Church  and  ministry  has 
been  awakened  from  such  deadly  torpor,  and  borne  due  witness  against 
great  abominations,  it  has  aroused  the  nations  from  their  self-indulgent 
iniquities,  and  that  lethargy  of  conscience  which  reposed  on  that 
doctrine  of  the  pit  that  "  gain  is  godliness,  or  godliness  is  only  gain." 
It  scarcely  needs  to  be  added,  that  religion  enters  politics,  as  it  is  the 
province  of  the  Church  to  instruct  rulers,  that  they  rule  in  righteous- 
ness ;  and  to  pray  for  them,  that  they  may  bear  rule  so  wisely  and 
well,  that  all  may  lead  quiet  and  peaceable  lives  in  all  godliness  and 
honesty. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie. — It  was  the  understanding,  in  the 
Business  Committee,  that  if  we  could  spare  ten  minutes  at  this 
meeting  an  opportunity  should  be  given  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Duff^ 
from  Tasmania,  to  say  a  few  words  about  his  Church.  Mr. 
Duff  has  come,  I  suppose,  as  far  as  any  man,  to  be  present  at 
this  meeting ;  and  I  move  that  ten  minutes  may  be  allowed  him 
now  to  make  a  brief  statement. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Rev.  Robert  S.  Duff, 
M.  A.,  read  the  following  paper  on 

TASMANIA. 

Moderator,  Fathers,  and  Brethren  :  As  Tasmania  holds  a  compara- 
tively lowly  place  among  the  Australian  colonies,  being  overshadowed 
by  such  powerful  neighbors  as  Victoria,  New  South  Wales,  and  New 


330  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Zealand,  it  is  well  to  state  a  few  particulars  respecting  the  country 
itself  before  speaking  of  the  Church.  Looking  at  a  map  of  the 
Southern  Hemisphere,  you  will  observe  a  triangular-shaped  island,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  south  of  the  great  Australian  continent. 
That  is  the  land  we  live  in — an  insignificant  speck  on  the  map  of  the 
world,  but  a  very  beautiful  land,  and  possessing  considerable  possi- 
bilities for  the  future.  It  is  situated  between  40°  and  44°  south  lati- 
tude, and  144°  and  149°  east  longitude.  In  extent  it  is  one  hundred 
and  seventy  miles  from  north  to  south  and  one  hundred  and  sixty 
from  east  to  west,  with  an  area  of  over  fifteen  millions  of  acres.  It  is 
nearly  the  size  of  Ireland.  The  climate  is  proverbially  one  of  the 
most  healthy  and  delightful  in  the  world.  The  annual  rainfall  aver- 
ages tweftty-four  inches,  being  higher  than  on  the  Australian  conti- 
nent, and  lower  than  in  Britain  and  in  America.  The  mean  mid- 
winter temperature  is  about  46°  F.,  and  that  of  mid-summer  63°  F. 
We  have  no  extremes  of  heat  or  cold  ;  the  winter  is  scarcely  severe 
enough  to  merit  the  name ;  cattle  are  turned  out  in  all  seasons ;  and 
life  in  the  open  air  may  be  ehjoyed  all  the  year  round.  Brilliant 
sunshine  without  oppressive  glare  and  heat ;  long  stretches  of  fair 
weather  which  from  day  to  day  may  be  counted  on ;  clear,  starry 
nights  always  deliciously  cool  even  in  the  hottest  seasons :  these  are 
the  prevailing  features.  The  scenery  is  in  harmony  with  the  climate. 
Lofty  mountains  lifting  blue  summits  to  the  sky,  magnificent  forests 
with  inexhaustible  supply  of  timber,  spacious  park-like  landscape  with 
green  pasture  and  smiling  streams,  rivers  everywhere  with  unfailing 
flow  of  pure  water,  rich  agricultural  lands,  pleasant  homesteads,  sweet 
villages,  and  the  two  beautiful  though  small  cities  of  Hobart  Town 
and  Launceston — such  are  the  scenes  that  meet  the  eye  and  linger  after- 
ward in  the  mind.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Tasmania  is  a  favorite 
resort  for  people  from  neighboring  colonies  and  travellers  from  a  dis- 
tance, and  that  it  is  a  sanatorium  for  Indian  officers. 

The  island  was  discovered  by  the  Dutch  navigator,  Abel  Tasman, 
in  1642,  who  named  it  Van  Diemen's  Land,  in  honor  of  Anthony 
Van  Diemen,  Governor  of  Batavia,  who  had  fitted  out  the  expedition. 
From  that  summer  day  on  which  Tasman  and  his  crew  peacefully  an- 
chored in  the  silent  bay,  the  island  does  not  seem  to  have  been  again 
visited  for  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  the  native  savage  the  while 
holding  undisturbed  possession.  The  work  of  the  first  discoverer 
remained  as  he  left  it  till  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  Captain  Cook  and  others  gradually  opened  up  what  had  so  long 
been  as  a  sealed  book. 

The  settlement  of  the  colony  took  place  in  1803,  when  the  convict 
establishment  at  Botany  Bay,  near  Sydney,  which  had  existed  for 
twelve  years,  being  overcrowded,  a  number  of  the  most  dangerous 
felons  had  to  be  dispersed  and  were  brought  to  Tasmania.  In  this 
moral  eclipse  our  history  began.  Transportation  ceased  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago,  and  in  1856  the  event  was  signalized  by  changing  the 
name  from  "Van  Diemen's  Land"  to  "Tasmania,"  in  honor  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  331 

rightful  discoverer.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  society  retains 
appreciable  marks  of  moral  degradation  in  consequence  of  the  early 
convict  element.  Few  of  the  felons  have  left  any  progeny,  nearly  all 
having  been  unmarried  ;  then,  a  large  proportion  were  sent  out  for 
comparatively  trifling  offences,  who,  on  regaining  liberty,  became 
respectable  citizens,  honestly  endeavoring  to  live  down  former  dis- 
grace. The  statistics  of  crime,  the  security  of  person  and  property, 
the  moral  tone  of  domestic  and  public  life,  and  the  virtue  and  intel- 
ligence of  the  people  generally  compare  favorably  with  average  Anglo- 
Saxon  society  anywhere.  Practically  there  is  nothing  to  remind  one 
that  he  lives  in  a  land  that  was  once  a  convict  settlement. 

The  aborigines,  who  presented  probably  almost  the  lowest  type  of 
savage  tribes,  numbered  somewhere  from  5,000  to  10,000  in  the  early 
part  of  the  century.  So  rapidly  did  they  fade  before  the  pale  faces 
that  Queen  Truganinni,  the  last  of  her  race,  died  four  years  ago. 

Tasmania,  like  the  other  colonies,  has  a  governor  of  her  own,  ap- 
pointed by  the  British  cabinet,  who  holds  office  for  six  years.  The 
Parliament  consists  of  two  chambers,  the  Legislative  Council  with  six- 
teen members,  and  the  House  of  Assembly  with  thirty-two  members, 
both  elective.  The  business  capacity,  debating  power,  and  fairness 
of  the  representatives,  and  the  high  character  of  judges  and  magis- 
trates, are  a  source  of  satisfaction  and  guarantee  of  liberty  and  justice. 
The  governors  have  been  for  the  most  part  distinguished  alike  by 
public  efficiency  and  private  virtue. 

We  have  no  more  remarkable  or  pleasing  feature  than  is  presented 
by  our  system  of  education.  In  the  public  schools,  numbering  about 
170,  instruction  is  compulsory,  secular  and  free.  Perhaps  instead  of 
"secular"  one  should  say  '' unsectarian,"  for  Scripture  extracts  are 
used  ;  in  some  cases  the  Bible  itself  is  in  the  hands  of  the  childr'en, 
and  clergymen  may  at  certain  hours  visit  the  schools  for  the  purpose 
of  imparting  religious  teaching.  "  By  a  system  of  exhibitions  from 
these  schools  a  certain  number  of  pupils  of  both  sexes  are  enabled 
annually,  even  in  the  absence  of  private  resources,  to  proceed  to  the 
best  private  schools,  and  thus  qualify  themselves  eventually  for  exami- 
nation for  the  local  degree  of  associate  of  arts.  Two  Tasmanian 
scholarships  of  ;!^2oo  a  year  each,  tenable  for  four  years  at  a  British 
university,  are  awarded  annually  to  associates  of  arts  (male)  who  pass 
a  prescribed  examination."  There  is  no  lack  of  mechanics*  insti- 
tutes, public  libraries,  and  scientific  societies.  New  books  and  all 
leading  British  and  some  American  periodicals  and  journals,  arrive 
regularly,  exercising  their  usual  influence  on  the  thought  and  tastes 
of  the  people.  The  local  press  is  conducted  with  enterprise  and 
ability.  With  these  advantages,  and  with  the  evident  desire  to  make 
the  most  of  them,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  people  are  fairly 
enlightened. 

Next  to  New  South  Wales,  Tasmania  is  the  oldest  colony  of  the 
Australian  group ;  but  it  has  fallen  behind  the  others  in  the  race  of 
prosperity,  and  has,  in  consequence,  been  called  "Sleepy  Hollow." 


332  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  population  is  now  only  110,000,  and  composed  proportionately 
of  English,  Irish  and  Scotch,  without  almost  any  admixture  of  foreign 
nationalities.  But  there  are  signs  of  awakening  activity  and  enter- 
prise, giving  hope  of  a  successful  future.  Mineral  and  other  re- 
sources are  being  vigorously  developed,  and  by  liberal  land  laws  and 
other  advantages,  such  encouragement  is  given  to  immigration  as  af- 
fords a  reasonable  prospect  of  a  steady,  though  it  may  not  be  rapid, 
increase  of  population.  We  have  railways,  roads,  and  telegraph, 
lines  connecting  the  different  centres ;  a  submarine  cable  unites  us  to 
Australia  and  New  Zealand,  with  which  we  have  also  almost  daily  steam 
communication.  The  chief  exports  are  wool,  tin,  timber,  gold,  jam,, 
fruit,  hops,  grain,  bark,  stud-sheep,  etc.,  amounting  to  somewhat  less 
than  a  million  and  a  half  pounds  sterling  annually.  The  imports  are 
of  similar  value.  The  yearly  revenue  and  expenditure  are  respectively 
slightly  under  ^400,000.  Not  to  be  behind  others,  we  have  a  na- 
tional debt  of  our  own,  which,  however,  is  less  than  two  millions 
sterling.  We  have  not  many  colonists  of  great  wealth,  such  as 
abound  in  Victoria  and  New  South  Wales ;  some  of  our  merchants 
and  sheep-farmers  are  in  affluent  circumstances  ;  the  majority  of  the- 
people  are  comfortable;  extreme  poverty  is  almost  unknown. 

To  Tasmania  belongs  the  distinction  of  having  had  the  first  Pres- 
byterian minister  in  Australasia.  He  was  settled  as  early  as  1823.  A 
Presbytery  was  formed  a  few  years  later.  No  proper  connection  has 
been  sustained  with  any  particular  Church  in  the  old  country ;  our 
door  has  ever  been  open  to  all  duly  accredited  Presbyterian  ministers, 
and  at  present  our  pulpits  are  filled  by  representatives  of  the  Estab- 
lished, Free,  and  United  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Scotland,  and  of  the 
Irish  and  Victorian  Churches.  Australia,  as  a  whole,  has  practically- 
solved  the  question  of  union.  Each  of  the  other  colonies  finds  one 
Presbyterian  Church  enough,  and  strong  because  it  is  one.  We  un- 
fortunately present  the  anomaly  of  a  very  small  section  of  our  number 
standing  apart  from  the  rest  without  sufficient  cause ;  but,  with  pa- 
tience and  forbearance,  division  will  speedily  be  healed,  and  the 
process  will  doubtless  be  helped  by  the  magnificent  spectacle  of 
brotherly  unity  in  this  great  Council. 

It  must  be  admitted  the  Presbyterian  cause  has  been  less  successful' 
in  Tasmania  than  in  the  other  colonies.  We  have  only  thirteen  fully 
equipped  charges  and  two  mission  stations.  The  number  of  adherents 
does  not  exceed  10,000,  while  census  returns  show  that  Episcopalians 
are  over  50,000,  and  Roman  Catholics  over  20,000.  Obstacles  to 
our  progress  have  been  largely  removed  ;  we  now  stand  with  our 
faces  to  the  future,  eager  by  the  divine  blessing  to  do  for  our 
adopted  land,  what  she  has  a  right  to  expect  from  a  Church  with  a 
great  name  and  history  like  those  of  Presbyterian  ism.  Fresh  zeal  in 
home  and  foreign  missions,  and  increased  attention  to  the  various  de- 
partments of  Church  organization,  are  hopeful  signs;  so,  too,  the 
training  of  students  for  the  ministry  for  the  first  time  in  our  history, 
renewed    ardor   in  working   among  the   young,   the   cultivation    of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  333 

Christian  union,  and  a  magazine  which  is  an  important  aid  in  all  our 
work.  In  all  these  things,  and  above  all,  we  hope  increasingly  to  re- 
alize the  presence  of  Him  who  alone  can  give  the  success  worth 
having  in  the  labor  of  his  vineyard. 

Four  years  ago  Philadelphia  gathered  together  "  under  all  the  flags 
of  all  the  world  "  the  representatives  and  the  specimens  of  every  de- 
partment of  human  activity.  Tasmania  came  from  far,  and  rejoiced 
to  be  present.  You  then  did  something  in  this  great  land  to  "  weave 
a  web  of  concord  among  the  nations."  You  are  seeking  to-day  to 
help  in  the  same  service  for  the  Churches  whose  representatives  assem- 
ble here  under  the  one  glorious  banner  of  the  Captain  of  our  salvation. 
In  the  name  of  the  Church  in  Tasmania,  I  respectfully  thank  the 
■General  Council  for  receiving  us  into  alliance,  offer  you  the  assurance 
of  our  profound  veneration,  and  pray  that  God  may  be  pleased  to 
grant  that  our  meetings  may  promote  his  glory  in  those  exalted  ends 
for  which  men  live  and  Churches  labor. 

THE  CUMBERLAND  CASE. 
Henry  Day,  Esq.,  of  New  York. — I  desire,  with  the  consent 
■of  the  Committee  on  Credentials,  whose  report  was  made  last 
week,  and  about  which  we  had  something  to  say  on  Saturday 
last,  to  move  that  the  report  be  referred  back  to  that  com- 
mittee for  their  action  again.  I  think  there  has  been  some 
misunderstanding,  and  the  committee  so  understands,  about 
the  Cumberland  Church  and  its  application  for  admission. 
This  committee  has  only  the  right  and  jurisdiction  over 
applications  from  a  body  or  church  in  connection  with  this 
Alliance.  They  have  nothing  to  do  with  an  application,  from  a 
church  or  body  not  in  connection  with  us,  to  become  members 
of  this  body.  The  misunderstanding  has  come  out  of  that. 
Allow  me  to  say  that  the  committee  received  a  certificate  or  a 
credential  from  one  of  the  members  of  the  Cumberland  Church 
certified  by  himself  merely,  stating  that  he  was  appointed  as  a 
delegate  from  the  Cumberland  Church.  The  other  delegate 
brought  a  paper  better  certified  from  the  Cumberland  Church  ; 
but  the  difficulty  was  that  the  Cumberland  Church  is  not  now 
in  connection  with  us,  and  there  was  no  proof  that  the  Cumber- 
land Church  had  requested  to  become  members  of  this  body  or 
that  they  had  acknowledged  and  consented  to  the  constitutional 
obligations,  which,  of  course,  they  must  do  before  they  can  ask 
"to  become  members.     Now  when  the  committee  made  their  re- 


334  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

port  it  intended  merely  to  say  that  this  body  is  not  in  connec- 
tion with  us,  and  therefore  we  cannot  admit  them.  As  there  was 
some  misunderstanding  as  to  what  that  report  meant,  and  as  this 
may  be  a  precedent  to  influence  other  appHcations,  and  may 
affect  our  good  name  and  our  standing  in  regard  to  other 
churches  and  bodies  that  are  not  members,  it  is  proper  that 
the  matter  should  be  carefully  reconsidered.  Therefore,  with 
consent  of  this  committee,  who  I  think  have  done  their  duty 
(and  I  acknowledge  that  I  have  been  somewhat  mistaken  in  the 
premises),  and  in  justice  to  them,  I  make  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  report  was  referred. 

The  Council  adjourned  with  devotional  services  until  7.30  p.  m. 

September  2'jth,  1880.     7.30  p.  m. 
The  Council  was  called  to  order  in  the  Academy  of  Music  at 

7.30  o'clock,   Francis  Brown  Douglas,    Esq.,  of   Edinburgh, 

President  for  the  session. 

After  devotional  exercises  the  Rev.  George  C.  Hutton,  D.  D.,, 

of  Paisley,  Scotland,  read  the  following  paper  on 

PRESBYTERIAN  ORGANIZATION  ON  THE   MISSION 

FIELD. 

The  subject  of  this  brief  paper  may  be  described  as  Presbyterian 
Organization  on  the  Mission  Field. 

It  falls  in  suitably  under  the  head  of  "  Presbyterian  Catholicity." 

Presbyterian  ism  is  denominational  by  the  necessity  of  witness- 
bearing  for  truth,  and  the  conditions  of  ecclesiastical  work  which  can 
be  executed  only  by  the  co-operation  of  those  who  agree  in  doctrine 
and  polity.  Denominationalism  is  not  schism,  but  division  of  labor 
and  responsibility — the  separation  which  liberates  conscience  and 
unites  for  the  service  of  the  Church  all  who  are  agreed  in  what  should 
be  done  and  taught. 

Presbyterianism,  as  denominational  in  justice  to  truth  and  Chris- 
tian order,  is  not  less  catholic  in  its  universal  adaptations,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  charity  and  fraternity  which  it  cherishes  towards  other  sec- 
tions of  the  Christian  Church.  Presbyterianism  unchurches  none  who 
accept  and  worship  Jesus  as  both  Lord  and  Christ ;  and  it  has  a  right- 
hand  of  welcome  and  co-operation  for  all  in  every  place  who  own  his 
sovereignty.  Presbyterianism  on  the  mission  field  is  Presbyterianism 
in  its  place.  It  hears  the  "  marching  orders  :  "  "  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  The  Presbyterian- 
ism of  a  former  period  may  have  been  unable  to  do  more  than  contend 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  335 

for  existence  ;  but  Presbyterian  ism  worthy  of  its  name  and  inheritance 
must  be  missionary.     Only  thus  can  it  be  Christian  and  cathobc. 

Mission  work  is  the  work  of  the  Church  and  of  the  time.  Without 
it  Christianity  gives  no  sign.  The  missionary  enterprise  is  Christian- 
ity in  motion — Christianity  aggressive — going  forth  conquering  and 
to  conquer. 

The  missions  of  the  Church  are  the  offshoot  of  the  mission  of  the 
Son  of  God.  They  are  its  pubbcation  and  continuation  in  the 
action  of  the  Church.  ''As  the  Father  hath  sent  me  into  the  world, 
so  have  I  also  sent  them  into  the  world." 

Whatever,  therefore,  in  our  measures  increases  efficiency,  or  is  fitted 
to  facilitate  missionary  enterprise  in  the  general  field,  deserves  the 
serious  attention  of  the  churches,  and  of  such  a  Council  of  Presby- 
terians. 

The  Synod  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  at  its  meeting  in 
May  last,  instructed  its  delegates  to  the  General  Presbyterian  Coun- 
cil to  bring  before  that  Council,  •'  in  connection  with  the  considera- 
tion of  Missionary  Questions,  the  question  as  to  the  mode  in  which 
missionaries  of  different  churches  laboring  in  the  same  or  contiguous 
fields  may  be  associated  with  each  other,  so  as  most  efficiently  to 
secure  in  harmonious  co-operation  the  ends  contemplated  in  mis- 
sionary work." 

All  that  is  intended  or  can  be  done  in  the  space  allotted  to  this 
paper,  is  to  offer  some  general  views  of  the  subject  which  may  serve 
to  start  suitable  discussion. 

The  question  as  limited  is  that  of  the  association  of  missionaries  of 
different  churches,  working  in  the  same  or  contiguous  fields :  How 
are  the  principles  of  Presbyterian  organization  to  be  applied,  and 
turned  to  the  best  account  for  the  common  purposes  of  the  mission 
field,  among  the  laborers  of  different  churches? 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  single 
method  or  line  of  policy,  but  will  fall  to  be  modified  by  the  very- 
various  circumstances  and  stages  of  progress  of  the  several  mission 
fields. 

In  some  of  these  the  rudimentary  features  of  Church  life  alone 
exist.  Organization  is  unknown.  There  are  a  missionary  and  a  few- 
converts,  perhaps,  scattered  over  a  wide  district,  and  that  is  all.  In 
others,  several  missionaries  occupy  the  field  ;  a  church  and  a  school, 
or  churches  and  schools,  have  been  planted ;  a  native  eldership  is  at 
work,  though  native  pastors  have  not  been  tried ;  but  there  is  no  Mis- 
sion Presbytery :  only  a  Conference  of  Missionaries,  and  a  power  of 
reference  to  the  parent  Church  or  Board.  In  other  cases,  native 
agency  has  begun  to  bear  its  fruit,  and  native  churches  with  native 
pastorates,  more  or  less  supported  from  within,  partially  or  wholly 
superintended  by  missionaries,  show  considerable  strength. 

Mission  Presbyteries  have  been  formed  in  most  of  the  Presbyterian 
mission  fields,  these  being,  in  some  instances,  constituent  parts  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  with   final   powers   in  cases  of  discipline ;   and  the 


336  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

members  of  Mission  Presbyteries  enjoying  the  rights  of  ordinary  mem- 
bers of  Synods  and  Assemblies  when  present  at  the  meetings  of  these 
courts.  To  this  there  is  an  exception  in  the  Established  Church  of 
Scotland,  the  constituent  parts  of  whose  Assembly  have  a  legal  defini- 
tion which  excludes  such  arrangements.  There  is  probably  also  an 
exception  to  the  general  recognition  of  Mission  Presbyteries,  and  of 
their  members,  in  the  Supreme  Courts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
America  (South),  which  regards  it  as  not  constitutional  for  the  As- 
sembly to  form  any  Presbytery  in  a  foreign  country.  This,  however, 
may  not  prevent  the  reception  of  such  representatives  of  the  mission 
field  as  corresponding  members. 

To  these  and  such  varieties  in  circumstances  and  development  of 
Church  life  on  the  mission  field  is  to  be  added  an  actual  or  possible 
separation  of  the  jurisdictions  of  the  mission  and  the  parent 
Churches,  besides  the  variations  emerging  from  distinctions  of  race, 
language,  nationality,  progress  in  civilization  among  the  people,  and 
differences  of  culture,  and  of  ecclesiastical  position  and  training 
among  missionaries. 

To  unify  counsel  and  effort  under  these  various  conditions  in  har- 
mony with  Presbyterian  polity  is  not  less  desirable  than  difficult,  but 
it  ought  to  be  steadily  aimed  at,  and  it  has  already  been  approximated. 
Presbyterian  ism  has  its  variations  and  denominational  unities  at  home, 
whether  in  Europe  or  America.  These  are  unavoidably,  more  or  less, 
preserved  and  reproduced  in  the  mission  field  amid  variations  peculiar 
to  itself.  But  it  has  no  less  its  ideal  catholic  unity,  and  its  incor- 
porating aspirations  at  home,  and  short  of  these  it  has  its  tentative 
approximations,  and  limited  co-operations  in  various  Christian  works. 
These  aspirations,  approximations,  and  co-operations  are  no  less  legit- 
imate on  the  mission  field. 

They  are  in  one  sense  more  imperative  and  more  easily  realizable  in 
that  field  where  essentials  define  and  vindicate  their  necessity  and 
paramount  character  by  the  urgency  which  has  no  law.  Our  fellow- 
workers  in  the  mission  field  are  accustomed  to  remind  us  amid  the 
more  theoretical  controversies  which  spring  up  in  the  advanced  life  of 
the  home  Churches,  of  the  superiority  of  the  point  of  view  of  the 
missionary  to  the  heathen,  who,  in  his  conflict  with  the  primary  forms 
■of  error  and  wickedness,  has  neither  time  nor  heart  for  questions 
which  seem  the  fruit  of  an  over-fine  ecclesiasticism,  or  of  an  over- 
nice  theology,  if  not  sometimes  also  of  party  warfare.  Without 
admitting  that  the  missionary  has  all  the  advantage  sometimes  claimed 
— it  is  due  to  him,  speaking  to  us  from  the  high  places  of  the  field, 
to  receive  with  brotherly  love  and  deference  the  implied  appeal,  and 
to  examine  our  ways  in  the  controversies  of  Christendom.  It  is  not 
to  be  admitted  that  the  educated  thought  of  home  Christianity  is  ex- 
pending itself  in  barren  causes,  or  that  questions  the  growth  of 
history,  entering  into  first  principles,  forcing  themselves  on  the  times, 
in  Church  and  State,  are  to  be  suppressed  as  futile  or  secondary. 
But  it  may  well  be  allowed  that  the  missionary  is  in  a  position  to  be 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  337 

profoundly  impressed  with  the  gigantic  nature  of  the  work  before  the 
Church,  and  the  force  of  the  simple  elements  of  Christianity,  and  to 
appreciate  as  others  cannot  the  allowances  to  be  made  for  the  human 
nature  with  which  he  deals.  He  is  to  be  pardoned  if  he  is  impatient 
of  counsels  and  instructions  proceeding  from  ill-informed  or  mis- 
judging authority,  or  of  mere  technical  debates,  or  of  party  issues, 
or  the  jangle  of  unspiritual  minds,  or  even  of  what  he  regards  as 
minor  questions  of  doctrine  or  polity. 

It  is  unnecessary,  however,  to  seek  even  on  the  mission  field  for 
latitude  of  experiment  by  relaxing  a  proper  Presbyterian  polity. 
Within  its  New  Testament  limits  it  provides  every  needful  facility  for 
conference  and  co-operation  with  brethren  of  non-Presbyterian  bodies, 
and  for  drawing  close  the  bonds  of  counsel  and  common  work 
amongst  the  denominations  of  Presbyterianism  itself. 

The  Pan-Presbyterian  organization  with  its  councils,  by  which  it  is 
sought  to  advance  the  common  ends  of  Presbyterianism  among  the 
parent  churches,  suggests  a  principle  and  methods  that  might  be 
adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  mission  churches.  Here  we 
confer  or  may  confer  on  the  interests  of  the  Church,  in  all  their 
common  aspects,  and  on  the  best  means  for  prosecuting  its  enterprises 
at  home  and  abroad.  We  bring  no  jurisdiction  to  bear  on  each  other, 
but  only  the  influence  of  opinion,  and  the  action  of  our  several 
Supreme  Courts  is  free,  and  what  is  done  at  these  councils  may  or 
may  not  commend  itself  to  their  wisdom  ;  but  the  interchange  of  mind 
and  experience,  conducted  with  mutual  regard  and  disinteresttd 
spirit,  is  fitted  to  be  helpfiil  to  all.  The  leading  problems  of  the 
mission  field  might  fall  here  to  be  discussed. 

Such  councils,  larger  or  smaller,  in  the  various  mission  fields,  more 
or  less  frequent,  occasional,  or  stated,  and  local  or  district  confer- 
ences of  missionaries,  assembling  as  the  circumstances  dictate,  would 
serve  invaluable  purposes  if  systematically  adopted,  as  they  have  done 
where  they  have  been  anticipated  by  the  action  of  missionaries. 

There  is  no  reason  why  such  conferences  or  councils  should  not 
embrace  the  missionaries  of  all  evangelical  churches  in  a  district  or 
field.  Congregational  and  other  brethren  would  contribute  and 
receive  common  benefit  from  regular  or  occasional  comparison  of 
views  and  experience  in  dealing  with  the  problems  of  evangelism  and 
Church  life.  Such  wider  or  more  catholic  unions  and  councils 
tending  to  fuller  co-operation,  ought  to  be  encouraged  by  all  churches. 
Between  an  unexaggerated  Congregationalism  and  an  unaffected  Pres- 
byterianism, there  are  many  points  of  practical  harmony  which  will 
and  which  do  show  themselves  to  advantage  on  the  mission  field. 

Since  the  Union  Missionary  Convention  met  in  New  York,  in 
1854,  and  the  Liverpool  Conference  on  Missions,  held  in  1S60,  and 
subsequent  conferences,  an  important  impulse  has  been  given  to  the 
union  of  missionaries  in  conference  on  the  several  fields  both  in  de- 
nominational and  general  counsel.  The  history  of  the  more  ])rivate 
conferences  in  such  fields  as  India  and  Ceylon,  Syria  and  elsewhere, 


338  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

as  well  as  that  of  the  large  general  conventions,  show  tlie  numerous 
and  important  topics  which  can  be  handled,  and  the  many  ways  in 
which  co-operation  is  practicable,  without  encroachment  on  the  special 
responsibiUties  of  the  several  churches,  or  on  the  claims  of  denomi- 
national independence. 

In  such  conferences,  questions,  on  which  experience  throws  increas- 
ing ligiit  as  well  as  others  more  nearly  settled,  are  healthfully  stirred: 
the  qualifications  of  missionaries  in  the  various  foreign  fields  ;  ver- 
nacular preaching  and  literature;  itineracies;  medical  missions; 
concentration  or  diffusion  of  effort;  interpreters;  schools;  the 
training  of  native  agents;  native  churches;  orphanages;  native 
female  education;  female  agencies;  financial  relations  of  mission 
churches;  liberality,  self-bupport  and  systematic  giving;  the  Sab- 
bath, marriage  laws  and  caste;  translations  of  Scripture;  secular 
labor,  church  and  school  building;  Christian  villages;  property  of 
missions;  relations  to  chiefs  and  governments;  denominationalism, 
how  far  to  be  reproduced  ;  national  character  and  customs,  and  how 
to  deal  with  them;  with  many  others  of  universal  interest. 

It  may  te  too  early  to  expect,  but  is  it  to  be  set  aside  as  visionary, 
that  a  large  and  catholic  union  of  mission-sending  Churches  and 
bodies  should  map  out  the  world  between  them  into  mission  districts, 
unite  in  securing  in  home  centres  missionary  training  institutes,  and, 
on  fields  where  they  contiguously  labor,  such  common  educational 
agencies,  as  would  equally  serve  the  literary  and  school  purposes  of 
all?  Might  there  not  also  be  some  standard  of  attainment  and  disci- 
pline recognized  in  common  that  should  stamp  the  Christianity  of  the 
mission  fields  of  all  evangelical  bodies  with  a  visible  unity? 

Whatever  may  be  expected  or  desired  in  the  more  miscellaneous 
sphere  of  co-operation,  Presbyterianism,  free  and  orthodox,  ought  to 
be  able  to  reach  a  closer  approximation  among  its  sections. 

By  local  Presbyterian  councils  or  conferences,  in  which  matters  of 
more  strictly  Presbyterian  interest  could  be  discussed  and  settled, 
without  jurisdiction-as  the  terms  of  communion  ;  the  formula  suitable 
for  native  ministers  and  elders,  reserving  denominational  articles  or 
clauses;  the  general  principles  of  discipline  as  a])plicable  to  local  or 
native  circumstances,  with  the  power  or  limits  of  appeal ;  provision 
and  translation  of  Scriptures  and  other  books  or  writings;  native 
education  ;  mission  schools  ;  preparation  of  questions  of  salaries  and 
finance  for  the  courts  of  the  Church  ;  and  such  like. 

Where  Mission  Presbyteries  of  different  Churches  exist,  without 
trenching  on  their  proper  jurisdiction,  there  might  be  Associate  Pres- 
byteries, in  which  proposals  might  be  initiated — overtures  so  to  speak — 
that  might  go  with  the  force  of  collective  judgment  to  the  denomi- 
national Presbyteries  for  consideration  or  ap])roval  ;  or  these  Associate 
Presbyteries  might  be  a  kind  of  appellant  judicatory  to  which  ques- 
tions might  go  for  reference  or  decision  from  the  sectional  courts. 

These  Associate  Presbyteries  would  of  course  have  defined  duties 
and  powers,  which  might  vary  with  place  and  circumstances,  according 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  339 

to  the  judgment  of  the  delegating  authority.  In  some  cases  their 
province  might  be  limited  to  matters  connected  with  discipline,  or 
general  administrative  policy;  in  others  it  might  extend  to  doctrine 
or  finance,  as  in  preparing  or  approving  a  formula  for  native  ordina- 
tions, or  making  final  suggestions  regarding  salaries  and  expenditure, 
the  extension  of  the  missions,  new  fields,  or  taking  measures  for  raising 
funds  for  the  defined  common  purposes  of  the  missions,  whether  in 
regard  to  schools,  training  institutes,  literature,  or  what  else. 

Where  Mission  Presbyteries  do  not  exist,  the  missionaries  of  different 
Churches  might  associate  themselves  into  a  Presbytery,  as  those  of  tlie 
Presbyterian  Church  of  England  and  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
North  America  have  done  in  China  for  the  oversight  of  the  con- 
gregations belonging  to  both  missions. 

In  other  cases  the  existing  Mission  Presbyteries  of  the  several 
Churches  might  recognize  each  other,  as  does  the  Reformed 
Church  of  America  the  missionaries  of  other  Presbyterian  Churches, 
as  corresponding  or  advising  members.  In  one,  or  other,  or  in 
all  of  these  ways  might  unity  of  counsel  and  effort  be  promoted, 
as  the  several  cases  might  warrant,  and  a  sense  of  Presbyterian 
brotherhood  and  homogeneity  be  confirmed  throughout  wide  mission 
regions.  The  influence  would  react  on  the  parent  Churches  and 
thence  again  upon  the  fields,  and  pave  the  way  for  incorporations,  or 
the  sisterly  federations  of  Churches  separate  in  jurisdiction  from 
necessary  causes,  but  identical  in  doctrine,  aim  and  polity,  and  ever 
extending  the  sweep  of  their  co-operative  enterprises  throughout  the 
world.  Economy  would  combine  with  larger  efficiency,  local  and 
individual  responsibility  with  collective  and  central  resource  and 
obligation.  The  missionary  hosts  would  cease  to  appear  to  the 
critical  eye  a  series  of  jealous  camps,  and  would  be  seen,  with  what- 
ever local  coloring  and  variety,  as  but  the  subdivisions  of  one  Pres- 
byterian army — as  but  the  stars  and  stripes  of  a  common  national 
banner,  or  the  rose,  thistle  and  shamrock  of  a  United  kingdom. 

We  might  then  conceive  as  nearer  the  still  more  comprehensive 
unities  of  a  millennial  time,  when  the  Church  in  its  catholic  march 
shall  go  abroad  "  fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as 
an  army  with  banners,"  and  the  last  shout  of  the  reapers  go  up,  amid 
better  than  the  wealth  of  a  thousand  harvests,  "The  kingdoms  of 
this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ." 

To  secure  or  hasten  such  results  some  precautions  and  much  single- 
ness of  mind  with  the  spirit  of  grace,  and  supplications  and  patient 
endeavor  and  waiting,  are  indispensable. 

On  no  account  must  denominational  or  private  self-seeking  shape 
or  taint  any  measures  or  counsels  at  home  or  abroad.  This  will  be  as 
the  dead  fly  in  the  ointment  of  Presbyterian  catholicity. 

As  in  this  Pan-Presbyterian  experiment,  so  in  all  Conferences, 
Councils  or  Associate  Presbyteries  on  the  mission  fields,  or  held 
among  parent  churches,  the  limits  of  co-operation  or  counsel  con- 
sented to  as  a  basis  of  union,  or  of  a  step  towards  it,  must  be  scrupulously 


340  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

regarded.  The  engine  of  majorities  ought  not  to  be  brought  into 
play  to  produce  roughly  what  is  morally  potent  only,  as  the  fruit  of 
conviction  and  consent. 

Few  things  have  ever  more  retarded  unions  and  co-operations  in 
Church  life  than  "  hurry  and  hard  driving."  It  is  a  proverb  that 
children  must  creep  before  they  walk,  and  it  is  true  that  large  bodies 
must  do  so,  and  not  less  churches.  We  must  not  disdain  the  law  of 
growth,  or  forget  the  duty  of  mutual  respect  in  our  ardors.  We  must 
be  content  to  await  the  ripening  of  thought  and  habit  at  home  and 
abroad,  the  results  of  the  slower  stages  of  movements,  and  then  we 
shall  be  rewarded  by  the  advance  of  "leaps  and  bounds." 

With  regard  to  converts,  native  agencies  and  native  churches,  care 
must  be  taken  not  to  expect  too  much,  and,  at  the  same  time,  not  to 
require  too  little. 

The  fostering  of  the  parent  Church  must  not  be  too  suddenly  with- 
drawn ;  and,  as  of  individuals,  so  of  certain  mission  churches  imma- 
ture in  experience  and  civilization — of  some  we  must  have  compassion, 
making  a  difference.  But  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  greatly  pro- 
tracted leading-strings  and  financial  dependence  is  harmful.  It  is  not 
the  purpose  of  these  remarks  to  suggest  illustrations  which  would  be 
invidious,  but  only  to  emphasize  the  principle.  Christianity  more 
quickly  ripens  the  faculties  than  all  wisdom  besides.  It  more  quickly 
rises  to  its  feet  in  self-support,  self-government  and  self-propagation 
than  any  institution  of  man.  We  may  sometimes,  even  in  our  mis- 
sionary zeal,  overlook  the  great  differential  of  its  growth  :  the  law  and 
promise  of  the  Spirit ;  the  presence  of  its  Head,  with  whom  is  neither 
Greek  nor  Jew,  Barbarian  nor  Scythian,  bond  nor  free — who  is  not 
only  "all,"  but  "  in  all."  We  are  not,  therefore,  to  think  of  Chris- 
tians and  Christian  Churches  as  subject  only  to  the  laws  of  common 
development,  and  to  indulge  the  fears  wliich  worldly  wisdom  inspires. 

The  Christian  Church  is  a  hardy  plant,  not  to  be  reared  only  in 
hot-house  conditions,  but  to  wrestle  with  the  winds.  It  may  not,  if 
so  left,  always  shape  itself  to  our  ideals.  There  may  not  come  of 
it  the  "  minimum  stipend"  or  "the  equal  dividend  "  of  home  finance, 
the  precise  check  of  the  "Barrier  Act,"  or  the  refinements  of  a  scho- 
lastic creed  ;  but  there  will  be  the  laborer  thought  worthy  of  his  hire; 
a  "fellowship  in  the  gospel ;"  the  taught  in  the  word  communicating 
to  him  that  teacheth  us  all  good  things  ;  a  holding  fast  and  a  holding 
forth  the  word  of  life;  an  eldershij)  ruling  well,  accounted  worthy  of 
double  honor,  especially  they  that  labor  in  word  and  doctrine  ;  there 
will  be  all  the  elements  of  the  life  of  churches  such  as  overthrew  the 
paganisms  of  the  first  ages,  and  rose  amid  the  civilizations  of  a  Greek 
and  Roman  world;  the  "foolish"  and  "weak"  and  "base"  things 
of  their  time  in  the  esteem  of  society  and  its  oracles,  but  "  the  power 
of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God."  For  "the  foolishness  of  God  is 
wiser  than  men  ;  and  the  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men." 

Christianity  to-day  is  not  less  mighty  through  God  than  then  it 
was;  and,  if  allowed  to  organize  its  own  simple  forms,  "  it  will  send 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  341 

out  its  boughs,"  as  indeed  we  see  it  now,  "  to  the  sea,  and  its  branches 
unto  the  river." 

The  Christian  flock  are  to  be  trained  to  responsible  participation  in 
the  affairs  of  the  house  of  God.  They  are  not  to  be  passive  recipients 
of  privilege  or  subjects  of  church  rule,  but  factors  in  the  support  and 
extension  of  the  gospel,  exercising  their  high  franchise  in  the  calling 
of  ministers  and  elders.  They  cannot  grow  up  to  this  manhood  if 
not  trusted  with  early  freedom  and  relieved  from  simple  dependence 
and  pupilage.  The  help  which  the  strong  gives  to  the  weak  is  com- 
patible with  the  obligations  and  self-respect  of  the  latter,  and  must  be 
maintained  while  needful,  but  parental  excess  of  aid  or  government 
enfeebles  and  delays  maturity. 

In  all  associations,  even  Presbyterian,  for  the  advance  of  missions 
and  for  consolidation  of  missionary  efforts  at  home  or  abroad,  it  is 
essential  that  there  be  union  in  the  faith,  and  that  not  merely  based 
in  the  acceptance  of  common  standards  but  in  mutual  confidence. 
The  first  question  of  all  is.  What  is  the  truth  which  we  unite  to  pro- 
claim? While  vital  divergence  exists  here,  or  suspicion  of  it,  asso- 
ciation loses  its  motive  and  its  power,  and  catholicity  of  form  alone 
remains.  Pan-Presbyterianism  becomes  a  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling 
cymbal.  Better,  healthier,  that  denominations  go  their  several  ways 
independently,  at  home  and  abroad,  until  they  reach  fundamental 
concurrence  in  the  doctrines  of  grace,  of  Christ  crucified,  "who  died 
for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures,"  and  who  "  was  buried  and 
rose  again  the  third  day  according  to  the  Scriptures:  "  ''Jesus  Christ, 
the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever."  We  are  not,  therefore, 
to  cast  the  girdle  of  organization  around  the  forms  of  miscellaneous 
Christianity,  even  if  Presbyterian  in  its  order,  and  call  it  union. 
It  is  evangelical  truth  and  life  we  seek  to  extend  in  the  mission  field. 
It  is  this  that  has  won  Christianity  its  conquests  from  apostolic  times, 
and  it  is  the  union  and  offices  of  an  evangelical  Presbyterianism  we 
seek  to  secure  for  Christendom  and  the  world. 

We  have  assumed  the  duty  of  Presbyterianism  to  reproduce  Presby- 
terianism on  the  mission  field.  This  we  have  done,  holding  it  to  be 
an  elementary  scriptural  provision  combining  order  and  liberty.  This 
is  consistent  with  the  sisterly  recognition  of  other  churches,  and  sys- 
tematic conference  and  co-operation  in  general,  and  local  schemes  of 
common  interest  and  necessity.  Presbyterianism,  while  reproducing 
the  elements  of  its  polity,  will  guard  against  intrusion  on  sufficiently 
occupied  fields,  and  know  the  respect  due  to  evangelical  bodies  in 
possession.  "Life  is  more  than  meat  and  the  body  than  raiment," 
and  Christianity  is  more  than  polity.  Polity  is  an  instrument  and 
vehicle  of  church  life,  and  however  imperfect  some  of  its  forms,  if 
they  but  respect  the  first  liberties  of  Christians,  they  are  better  left  in 
their  fields  to  make  churches  of  their  fashion  than  to  be  competed 
with  in  the  face  of  heathenism  by  something  more  perfect,  while  there 
is  room  and  need  for  the  labors  of  Presbyterianism  in  untouched 
regions  beyond. 


342  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Yet  no  fear  of  censure  ought  to  prevent  Presbyterianism  planting 
itself  where  evangelical  truth  and  liberty  are  jeoparded.  While 
Presbyterianism  ought  to  reproduce  its  simple  New  Testament  ele- 
ments, it  is  not  to  aim  at  reproducing  mere  local  features  or  color, 
accidents  and  technicalities  of  purely  national  or  denominational 
history. 

"  It  is  extraordinary,"  says  the  late  John  Coleridge  Patteson,  Mis- 
sionary Bishop  of  the  Melanesian  Islands,  one  of  the  most  consecrated 
of  recent  laborers,  whose  name  stands  bright  on  the  martyr  roll, 
"  that  some  colonial  bishops  should  seek  to  reproduce  the  state  of 
things  which  is  peculiar  to  England,  the  produce  of  certain  historical 
events  which  can  have  no  resemblance  whatever  in  the  circumstances 
of  our  colonies."  He  gently  ridicules  the  conception  of  the  conven- 
tional bishop  "  in  white  tie  and  black  tail-coat,"  only,  with  Bible  in 
hand,  preaching  to  natives.  "My  costume,"  he  adds,  "when  I  go 
ashore  is  an  old  Crimean  shirt,  a  very  ancient  wide-awake,"  while  it 
was,  at  times,  his  office  "to  keep  the  crowd  in  good  humor  by  a  few 
simple  ])resents  offish-hooks,  beads,  etc."  Neither  the  white  tie  nor 
the  Crimean  shirt  is  anything  to  a  Bishop  of  Christ — that  is,  to  a  mis- 
sionary Presbyter — among  the  heathen  ;  but  fidelity,  common-sense, 
the  grace  ofliis  office,  love  to  the  souls  of  men,  and  zeal  for  the  glory 
of  God. 

In  so  far  as  vital  principles  are  anywhere  involved,  these  should  be 
taught  in  their  catholic  form  with  the  application  demanded  by  time 
and  place.  Should  a  mission  church  or  any  of  its  members  spontane- 
ously grow  into  a  more  distinctive  type,  or  should  a  Presbyterian 
mission  church  find  itself  resolved  into  distinctive  sections  by 
sympathy  with  divisions  in  a  parent  church,  the  position  should  be 
regarded  as  transient.  But  to  reproduce  or  perpetuate  gratuitously 
North  and  South,  Free  and  Established,  Old  Light  and  New  Light 
and  such  like,  anachronisms  and  foreign  features  of  detail,  is  Presby- 
terianism zealous  but  not  wise. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  Christian  Churches  in  heathen  lands 
ought  not  to  be  established  by  law.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  this  be  clearly  apprehended  in  its  full  bearing.  Presbyterianism 
must  go  to  the  mission  field  and  work  there  absolutely  free  and  on 
her  own  resources.  "  Taking  nothing  of  the  Gentiles,"  must  be  her 
motto.  However  in  the  abstract  any  Presbyterians  may  think  the 
gifts  of  states  and  governments  legitimate  in  Christian  coimtries,  or 
to  be  accepted  in  mission  fields,  in  Pan-Presbyterian  concert,  the 
policy  is  negatived.  What  Presbyterians  do  in  common  in  the  organi- 
zation of  missions  must  practically  exclude  the  authority  and  support 
of  civil  powers.  And  nothing  can  legitimately  be  imported  into  their 
counsels  or  efforts  which  has  this  origin.  In  so  far  as  particular 
Churches  or  missions  are  involved  to  any  extent  in  this  policy,  the 
responsibility  is  their  own  ;  Pan-Presbyterianism  does  not  share  it. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  obvious  that  until  Presbyterianism  has 
eliminated  from  its  counsels  and  methods  all  such  external  influences. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  343 

it  cannot  put  forth  its  strength  or  enjoy  its  native  freedom.  Hopes 
built  on  sources  of  power  without  itself,  and  counsels  affected  by  the 
policy  of  looking  beyond  the  Church,  do  not  well  combine  with  hopes 
and  counsels  inspired  by  other  views  of  the  Church's  design  and  sutifi- 
ciency  under  its  head.  Pan-Presbyterianism  needs  simplicity  of 
method  and  inspiration  to  guide  its  missions.  Christianity  cannot 
sit  on  two  stools  in  any  field,  and  Pan-Presbyterianism  must  elect  to 
rest  its  missionary  policy  on  the  sole  basis  of  the  sufficiency  of  the 
Church,  cleaving  to  the  promise  given  to  its  head,  "  Thy  people  shall 
be  willing  in  the  day  of  thy  power." 

To  this,  the  Church's  great  world-wide  work,  let  the  Churches  go, 
laying  aside  every  weight  in  the  race  of  enterprise,  and  the  sin  that 
doth  easily  beset  us,  looking  unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of 
our  faitli. 

Let  the  Church  be  w^ell  assured  of  two  things:  Forgetting  the 
world,  the  Church  forgets  itself  It  is  from  the  world  she  draws 
accessions.  It  is  the  world  she  is  set  up  to  convert,  to  absorb,  to 
assimilate,  on  pain  of  being  herself  perverted,  absorbed,  assimilated. 

It  was  by  additions  from  without  that  "  the  little  one"  of  the  earliest 
time  became  "a  thousand."  It  is  by  similar  additions  that  the 
"  small  one  "  of  to-day  is  to  become  "  a  strong  nation." 

The  missionary  enterprise  is  essential  not  only  to  the  well-being, 
but  to  the  being  of  Christianity.  This  also  is  the  article  oi"  a  standing 
or  a  falling  Church. 

And  let  the  Church  go  forth  to  her  work  assured  of  success.  There 
is  no  wisdom,  no  faith  in  perpetually  trembling  for  the  ark  of  God. 
That  state  of  mind  has  its  place  in  piety,  but  it  is  not  the  whole  of  it. 
We  are  to  be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage.  The  shout  of  a  king  is 
among  us.  The  spirit  of  efficacy  is  with  us.  The  purpose  of  eternity 
works  for  us.  The  stars  in  their  courses  figiit  for  the  Church.  Provi- 
dence is  on  our  side.      The  earth  itself  shall  help  the  woman. 

Science  and  art  and  literature,  philosophy  and  industry  shall  bring 
their  best  to  Christ.  "  Surely  there  is  no  enchantment  against  Jacob 
nor  divination  against  Israel ;  according  to  this  time  it  shall  be  said 
of  Jacob  and  of  Israel  :   VVhat  hath  God  wrought  ?  " 

The  word  has  gone  forth  to  Christ;  it  cannot  be  recalled:  "Ask 
of  me  and  I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thy  heritage,  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession." 

Let  us  work  therefore,  let  us  pray,  as  those  who  shall  win  at  length, 
hearing  with  serene  superiority  the  outcries  of  the  foe  or  the  Babel 
voices  of  the  hour  ;  knowing  that  there  is  no  wisdom,  nor  under- 
standing, nor  counsel  against  the  Lord,  and  remembering  the  words 
of  him  we  serve,  instinct  with  conscious  power:  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  u[) 
from  tiie  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 

In  the  confidence  thus  inspired,  tainted  with  no  misgiving,  let  each 
Christian  combatant  quit  himself  on  the  field,  warring  a  good  war- 
fare— 

"All-bearing,  all-nttempting,  till  he  falls, 
And  when  he  falls  write  Vici  on  his  shield." 


344  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Rev.  Principal  D.  H.  McVicar,  LL.  D.,  of  Montreal, 
Canada,  next  read  the  following : 

PRESBYTERIAN  CATHOLICITY. 

On  this  subject  I  propose  to  ask  and  answer  three  questions:  First, 
what  is  Catholicity,  and  what  does  the  true  exercise  of  it  demand  ? 
Negatively,  it  stands  opposed  to  sectarianism,  religious  bigotry,  and 
intolerance;  positively,  it  is  the  exhibition  of  that  Christian  liberality 
with  which  we  sliould  regard  the  different  sections  of  the  Church  of 
God.  It  may  be  said  in  general  that  its  proper  manifestation  does 
not  require  us  to  indorse  all  that  passes  in  our  day  by  the  name  of 
liberality  and  advanced  thought.  Specifically,  we  may  allege  that 
to  be  truly  catholic  in  spirit  and  conduct  we  do  not  require  : 

1.  To  ignore  the  Church  of  God — the  branch  of  it  to  which^we 
belong  or  any  other — as  a  thoroughly  organized  body.  On  the  con- 
trary we  must  learn  to  say,  and  to  realize  the  full  meaning  of  our 
words,  "I  believe  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church."  Yet  strange  and 
self-contradictory  as  it  may  seem,  there  are  devout  people  breaking 
off  chiefly  from  the  great  mass  of  Protestant  Episcopacy,  where  this 
credo  is  constantly  repeated,  who  think  that  they  can  reach  catho- 
licity only  through  the  disintegration  of  all  the  Churches.  To  their 
mind.5  the  gj-eat  hindrance  to  the  immediate  dawn  of  millennial  glory 
is  the  existence  of  strongly  organized  Christian  communities.  If 
bishops,  deans,  canons,  elders,  and  ordained  officers  of  all  grades 
could  be  set  aside,  if  a  universal  disestablishment  could  be  effected, 
and  the  ecclesiastical  machinery  of  the  whole  world  could  be  ]/ulver- 
ized,  out  of  this  general  ruin,  they  venture  to  think  would  emerge 
spiritual  purity  and  a  higher  Christian  life.  But,  since  in  the  mean- 
time such  a  sweeping  revolution  seems  hopeless,  they  are  content  to 
urge  the  saints  to  secure  their  own  safety  by  coming  out  from  among 
all  the  Churches. 

Now,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  this  is  utter  folly  and 
intense  sectarianism  instead  of  liberality.  It  is  not  by  depreciating 
and  despising  any  branch  of  the  Church  of  God,  however  imperfect, 
and  seeking  its  downfall,  but  rather  by  discovering  and  fostering  the 
good  that  may  be  found  in  them  all,  that  true  catholicity  is  to  be 
displayed. 

2.  This  catholicity,  however,  does  not  require  us  to  indorse  indis- 
criminately all  forms  of  religion  or  of  Church  government  as  equally 
true.  I  know  that  this  statement  is  apt  to  be  met  in  some  quarters 
with  a  cry  for  toleration,  and  I  am  in  favor  of  such  by  all  means  and 
to  the  fullest  extent,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  the  truth. 

As  Presbyterians  we  are  bound  by  our  history,  by  our  doctrines, 
and  by  every  principle  of  our  polity  to  rejoice  in  the  progress  of  the 
spirit  of  toleration  in  our  day.  This  is  one  of  the  distinguishing 
glories  of  our  age  as  compared  with  the  past.  We  cannot  be  too 
grateful  that  the  time  has  gone  by  forever  when  good  men  believed  in 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  345 

conscientiously  opposing  and  denouncing  the  discoveries  of  science, 
inflicting  untold  miseries  on  Baptists,  Quakers,  Jews,  and  others  on 
account  of  their  creeds,  burning  witches,  and  punishing  heretics  by 
death,  whether  in  Europe  or  on  this  continent. 

But  while  we  see  the  faults  and  indefensible  errors  of  our  fathers, 
even  in  the  Reformation  period,  we  refuse  to  be  carried  away  with 
the  vulgar  ignorance  that  presumes  to  say  that  all  their  work  was  nar- 
row and  bigoted  and  wrong.  No.  It  was  far  otherwise.  We  hold, 
on  the  contrary,  that  they  set  up  anew  the  framework  of  the  apostolic 
Church;  that  they  fought  great  battles  for  the  truth  and  for  humanity; 
that  they  settled  permanently  certain  fundamental  things  touching  the 
inspiration  of  God's  word,  God's  sovereignty,  Christ's  divinity  and 
sacrifice,  man's  freedom  and  responsibility,  man's  helplessness,  and 
the  efficacy  of  saving  grace  ;  that  they  feared  not  to  draw  deep  and 
broad  lines  of  demarcation  in  every  case  between  truth  and  error,  as 
they  understood  them,  and  that  their  vigorous  and  lucid  definitions 
in  not  a  few  instances  have  ever  since  guided  the  thought  and  activity 
of  the  Christian  world;  and  that  we,  while  keeping  in  living  sym- 
pathy with  our  own  age,  do  not  require  so  to  depart  from  their  spirit 
and  method  as  to  place  Buddhism,  Mohammedanism,  the  traditions 
of  Romanism,  the  ravings  of  Rationalism,  or  the  erratic  and  unveri- 
fied speculations  of  science,  on  a  level  with  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 
in  order  to  establish  our  claim  to  true  catholicity. 

3.  We  are  not  for  this  purpose  required  to  abandon  definite  theo- 
logical opinions  or  to  cease  to  formulate  such. 

There  is  a  rising  school  of  theologians  who  seem  to  delight  in  un- 
certainty. They  hint  that  many  things  in  our  theology  are  wrong, 
but  they  abstain  from  formulating  them  precisely.  They  deem  it 
almost  a  crime  to  express  themselves  clearly  on  any  subject,  or  hold 
any  position  with  firmness  and  tenacity  of  purpose.  Creeds,  confes- 
sions, and  all  crystallized  forms  of  thought  are  their  abhorrence. 
They  regard  them  as  belonging  to  the  darkness  and  the  tyranny  of  the 
past ;  and  those  who  believe  in  them  are  freely  branded  as  utterly 
lacking  in  breadth  of  thought  and  catholicity  of  spirit.  Uncertainty, 
doubt,  this  is  the  proof  of  true  greatness  and  the  highway  to  progress 
and  harmony  in  the  Christian  world. 

Now  so  far  from  yielding  to  those  apostles  of  vagueness  and  uncer- 
tainty, we  cannot  help  thinking  that  their  mission  is  totally  inoppor- 
tune and  useless  at  the  present  moment,  because  there  is  far  too  much 
scientific  fog  and  theological  mist  already  in  the  world.  We  need  no 
zealous  advocates  of  darkness  rather  than  light.  Agnosticism  can 
make  its  way  by  spontaneous  generation.  And  after  all  that  has  been 
said  in  praise  of  "  honest  doubt,"  and  the  nobility  of  mind  which  is 
implied  in  doubting,  it  would  be  far  easier  to  prove  in  the  case  of 
multitudes,  their  finiteness,  their  smallness,  and  moral  perversity  from 
their  doubts  than  their  greatness  and  far-reaching  grasp  of  truth. 
And  we  feel  quite  sure  that  doubt  and  theological  obscurity  can  never 
become  the  bond  of  catholic  union  among  the  scattered  members  of 


346  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Christ's  flock,  and  that  what  is  required  for  a  grand  realization  of 
Christian  unity  and  action  is  the  speedy  removal  of  this  formidable 
obstacle  of  uncertainty  by  a  fuller  examination  of  the  truth  and  more 
severely  accurate  definitions  in  certain  departments  than  have  yet 
been  reached. 

4.  True  catholicity  forbids  the  attempt  at  forcible  fusion  of  all 
Churches  into  one  visible  mass,  but  binds  us  to  seek  the  union  of  all 
on  the  terms  revealed  in  God's  word. 

It  is  plain  that  no  Church  can  now  arrogate  to  itself  the  title  of 
actual,  absolute,  acknowledged  universality,  without  either  using  words 
without  meaning,  or  ignoring  a  part  of  the  body  of  Christ.  The  ag- 
gregation into  one  great  body  under  one  system  of  Church  govern- 
ment of  all  the  teachers  and  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  throughout  the 
whole  world  has  hitherto  been  found  impracticable.  It  has  been  the 
cherished  dream  of  Romanism,  but  one  which  has  never  been  realized. 
The  Eastern  and  Western  Churches,  in  spite  of  all  such  notions, 
stand  to-day  mutually  excommunicated  ;  and  all  attempts  to  secure 
uniformity  or  outward  union,  whether  by  legislation,  by  force  of 
arms,  or  by  inquisitorial  cruelties,  have  only  resulted  in  disgracing 
the  Christian  name,  in  suppressing  progress  of  thought,  anil  crushing 
human  liberty.  The  error  in  these  cases  was  not  in  the  end  aimed  at, 
so  far  as  this  was  Christian  unity,  but  in  the  methods  and  means  used  to 
secure  it;  and  ic  does  not  follow  that  there  is  not  "a  more  excellent 
way."  History  compels  us  to  say  that  both  Romish  and  Anglican 
Episcopacy  have  signally  failed  to  gather  all  Christendom  into  their 
fold,  and  we  believe  that  they  are  never  destined  to  do  so.  This  may 
be  easily  accounted  for.  In  addition  to  the  unwise  methods  some- 
times heretofore  pursued  in  seeking  universal  sway,  the  mighty  fact 
cannot  be  overlooked,  and  is  being  frankly  acknowledged  by  the  most 
candid  and  enlightened  persons  in  these  bodies  themselves,  viz.  that 
their  system  very  largely  rests  on  a  human  foundation,  and  that  for 
many  of  its  essential  features  no  scriptural  authority  can  be  claimed. 
This  alone  conclusively  settles  its  destiny,  for  the  truth  of  God  in  the 
end  is  sure  to  prevail.  We  are  also  unable  to  see  how  the  opposite 
extreme,  Congregationalism,  with  its  want  of  organized  unity  and  in- 
adequate executive  power  for  purposes  of  discipline,  can  hope  to  be- 
come universal.  But  it  is  otherwise  with  Presbyterianism.  We  rest 
it  solely  upon  divine  truth.  We  have  no  wish  and  no  need  to  go  be- 
yond this  in  any  particular.  If  other  elements  are  introduced,  they 
are  foreign  to  it,  and  should  be  eliminated.  This  being  the  case, 
seeing  we  defend  nothing  more  in  our  system  than  what  is  clearly 
contained  in  the  Bible,  and  are  prepared  to  reject  and  forego  every- 
thing else,  why  should  we  hesitate  to  believe  that  it  is  destined  to  be- 
come universal?  and  why  should  we  be  timid  or  dilatory  in  pressing 
forward  in  a  wise  and  judicious  way  to  this  glorious  consummation? 

5.  True  catholicity  must  be  regulated  by  a  supreme  regard  to  the 
honor  and  glory  of  our  Divine  Saviour,  as  well  as  a  tender  concern 
for  the  members  of  his  body.     The   Headship  of  the  Lord  Jesus 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  347 

Christ  over  the  Church  and  over  the  nations  has  always  oeen  sacred 
and  dear  to  the  hearts  of  Presbyterians,  and  the  controlling  principle 
of  their  polity.  In  the  grand  fact  of  the  covenant  and  vital  'union 
with  him  of  all  believers  tliey  recognize  the  correlative  truth  that  they 
are  members  one  of  another,  and  bound  to  treat  each  other  accord- 
ingly, however  widely  scattered  over  his  footstool.  With  them  love 
and  loyalty  to  the  Head  stand  first,  and  then  come  love  and  fidelity 
to  the  members  of  the  Church,  and  to  all  men,  however  diversified 
their  spiritual  condition  may  be.  And  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  nearer  we  get  to  our  divine  Master  in  spirit,  in  fellowship,  in  con- 
duct, the  nearer  we  are  sure  to  be  drawn  to  one  another,  and  the 
broader  and  deeper  our  sympathies  with  humanity  will  become.  We 
are  bound  to  be  as  catholic  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  as  broad  in 
our  views  and  practices  as  the  word  of  God,  but  no  more  so  ;  and 
if  in  any  respect  we  are  narrower  than  this,  our  j)osition  is  indefen- 
sible. It  will  not  do  for  us  in  the  name  of  the  Friend  of  publicans 
and  sinners,  in  the  name  of  him  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save  the 
lost,  to  excommunicate  any,  however  feeble  and  foolish  they  may  be, 
whom  he  welcomes  to  his  fellowship.  By  so  doing,  we  forfeit  our 
claim  to  catholicity,  as  well  as  to  full  subordination  to  our  one 
glorious  King  and  Head.  We  are  bound  to  acknowledge  and  receive 
all  that  he  receives,  whatever  name  or  nickname  they  may  be  pleased 
to  assume.  There  may  be  things  about  many  of  them,  in  their  creeds 
and  conduct,  in  their  modes  of  worshipping  God  and  doing  his  work, 
which  we  cannot  approve  ;  but  their  very  imperfections  give  fuller 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  catholicity.  But  for  these  blemishes 
where  would  there  be  room  for  the  e.xercise  of  generous  feeling  on 
our  part?  Every  one  knows  that  we  need  but  a  very  small  measure 
of  the  charity  that  "is  not  easily  provoked,  and  that  thinketh  no 
evil"  to  enable  us  to  embrace  those  who  agree  with  ourselves  in  all 
respects.  But  when  men  differ  from  us  in  religious  matters  widely 
and  conscientiously,  it  is  then  our  catholicity  is  put  to  the  test,  not 
in  searching  out  and  reprobating  their  eccentricities  or  even  moral 
deformities,  but  in  discovering  a  basis  of  truth  which  we  hold  in  com- 
mon, and  upon  which,  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  we  may  be  able  to 
recognize  them  as  followers  of  the  Redeemer.  And,  generally 
speaking,  it  will  be  found  that  the  weakest  part  of  a  man's  creed  is 
that  which  he  holds  alone  or  aside  from  all  Christendom  ;  and  the 
strongest  part  that  which  he  holds  in  common  with  all  true  servants 
of  the  Lord.  And  hence  we  are  bound  to  aim  at  nothing  less  than 
the  full  realization  of  the  grand  catholic  and  apostolic  thought  that 
there  is  "one  body  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  we  are  all  called  in  one 
hope  of  our  calling;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and 
Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all." 

I  have  thus  answered  my  first  question  as  to  what  true  catholicity 
is,  and  what  the  exercise  of  it  demands. 

I  now  ask  my  second  question.  On  what  specific  grounds  do  Pres- 
byterians feel  bound  to  hold  and  teach  such  catholicity  ?  I  answer, 
their  catholicity  is  the  legitimate  outcome : 


348  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

1.  Of  their  views  of  the  plan  of  redemption.  They  believe  that  God 
the  Father,  in  his  great  redemptive  plan,  contemplated  the  Church  from 
all  eternity  in  her  full  catholicity,  stretching  down  from  the  beginning 
of  our  race  to  the  end  of  it.  They  do  not  look  to  the  example  of  the 
Ante-Nicene  fathers,  or  even  to  the  apostles  and  prophets,  and  the 
writers  of  the  Hagiographa  and  the  Pentateuch  for  the  origin  of  the 
Church,  but  they  go  back  to  the  glorious  ideal  in  the  divine  mind, 
as  revealed  in  the  whole  word,  to  determine  her  nature  and  inception. 
And  from  that  ideal  they  exclude  all  ignorance,  imperfection  and 
partiality.  It  was  in  no  sense  sectarian.  It  was  framed  not  in  tlie 
interests  of  a  favored  few,  or  of  a  large  number,  but  of  the  whole 
innumerable  company  of  God's  people  irrespective  of  time  and  place, 
culture,  rank,  or  social  standing  and  other  environments  in  which 
they  may  be  found.  Hence,  in  so  far  as  we  take  in  the  meaning  and 
force  of  our  own  historic  dogma  as  to  God's  sovereign  and  eternal 
purpose  touching  the  Church,  we  are  bound  to  renounce  sectarianism 
and  all  narrow  views  of  her  nature  and  constitution.  Calvinism  has 
never  been  hostile  to  catholicity.  And  Presbyterianism  as  a  form  of 
Church  government,  we  should  bear  in  mind,  cannot  be  dissociated 
from  the  doctrinal  system  which  has  gone  along  with  it  for  centuries, 
and,  therefore,  our  catholicity  is  not  on  the  surface,  put  on  for  effect, 
as  a  sort  of  external  polish,  but  springs  out  of  the  heart  of  our  most 
cherished  beliefs,  and  is  inwoven  with  the  very  life  of  the  Church. 
It  is  not  simply  got  ready  for  grand  parade  occasions  when  we  meet 
brethren  of  different  names  and  views  and  wish  to  please  them,  or 
made  to  fit  into  the  stately  insincerities  of  modePn  civilizations,  but 
it  enters  into  the  very  warp  and  woof  of  our  whole  creed.  This 
becomes  still  more  apparent : 

2.  From  our  view  of  Christ's  great  redemptive  work.  We  hold 
that  in  his  substitutionary  obedience  and  sacrifice  he  acted  neither  at 
haphazard  nor  with  ]xirtiality,  but  in  pursuance  of  a  definite  purpose 
in  which  he  had  regard  to  the  Church  as  a  whole,  as  one  flock,  one 
kingdom,  one  cathf)iic  hoily,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term.  Indeed, 
it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  any  who  regard  the  words  of  the 
Saviour  can  think  otherwise.  And  yet  we  cannot  say  that  even 
Presbyterians  have  not  sometimes  grievously  overlooked  the  Saviour's 
prayer:  "That  they  all  may  be  one:  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me, 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us ;  that  the  world  may 
believe  that  thou  has  sent  me."  We  must  confess  that  in  their  keen 
debates  as  to  the  meaning  and  application  of  certain  truths,  in  their 
strifes  and  contentions  as  to  the  relation,  for  example,  between  Church 
and  State,  and  in  their  outward  divisions  and  separations,  they  have 
sometimes  compromised  themselves  and  their  Master.  But  still  their 
doctrine,  from  first  to  last,  was  that  which  we  have  just  stated  ;  and 
who  will  venture  to  say  that  it  is  untrue?  Who,  in  his  denominational 
zeal,  will  have  the  temerity  to  declare,  I  had  almost  said  will  be  guilty 
of  the  blasphemy  of  asserting,  that  Christ  loved  Presbyterians,  or 
Episcopalians,  or  Congregationalists,  or  Baptists,  or  Methodists,  or 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  349 

any  other  body,  and  gave  himself  for  them  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
rest?  The  very  enunciation  of  the  thought  refutes  it.  Nothing  seems 
more  audacious  than  to  attempt  to  make  the  Redeemer  a  party  to  our 
little  divisions.  The  glorious  truth  commends  itself  to  the  heart  and 
conscience  of  all,  that  Christ  loved  the  Church,  and  redeemed  her  as  a 
whole,  and  not  any  one  sect  or  denomination.  This  is  the  historical 
doctrine  of  Presbyterians,  and  out  of  this  by  logical  necessity  springs 
their  catholicity. 

3.  They  have  arrived  at  the  same  result  from  their  view  of  the  office 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  salvation.  Their  doctrine  in  this  respect  is  in 
striking  contrast,  or  rather  direct  opposition,  to  that  of  certain  others. 
Roman  Catholics  and  Protestant  Ritualists  have  presumed  to  teach 
that  the  efficacy  of  grace  is  tied  to  their  own  ordinances.  They  have 
attached  such  superstitious  and  unscriptural  value  to  the  supposed 
sacerdotal  functions  of  ministers,  to  their  apostolical  succession  and 
proper  episcopal  ordination,  as  to  make  rites  performed  by  their  hands 
the  only  channel  through  which  the  Spirit  of  God  can  operate.  They 
therefore  narrow  down  the  organization  and  life  of  the  Church  of 
God  to  their  own  sect,  and  do  not  hesitate  theoretically  and  prac- 
tically to  unchurch  and  excommunicate  all  others  because  they  lack 
this  imaginary  succession.  And  inasmuch  as  the  Holy  Ghost  resides 
exclusively  with  them,  and  cannot  regenerate,  sanctify,  comfort,  or 
guide  any  beyond  their  visible  fold,  they  consign  to  eternal  ruin  all, 
whether  adults  or  infants,  who  do  not  receive  their  sacraments  through 
which  alone  saving  grace  can  be  enjoyed. 

Against  this  bigotry  Presbyterians  have  uniformly  protested.  With 
becoming  caution  and  reverence  they  have  defined  in  general  terms 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  Spirit's  work,  and  have  not  ventured  to 
fix  any  limitation  or  to  draw  any  ecclesiastical  boundary  line  by 
which  it  is  restricted.  They  have  persistently,  and  with  a  clearness 
and  fulness  which  belong  to  no  other  denomination,  proclaimed  the 
doctrine  of  common  as  well  as  efficacious  grace,  and  have  refused  to 
limit  the  operations  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  any  way.  They  have 
held  that  as  a  divine  person  he  is  always  present  everywhere,  and  that 
he  is  the  author  of  truth  and  holiness  and  life  in  all  its  forms,  and  that 
he  exerts  upon  the  minds  of  all  men,  whether  Christian  or  Pagan,  an 
influence  in  harmony  with  his  own  character  and  functions.  And 
even  with  respect  to  what  is  not  common,  but  special  and  efficacious, 
with  respect  to  his  kindling  and  perfecting  spiritual  or  eternal  life  in 
dead  souls,  their  broad  and  liberal  declaration  is  that  he  "  worketh 
when,  and  where,  and  how  he  pleaseth," 

Inasmuch,  therefore,  as  they  do  not  pretend  to  tell  with  anything 
approaching  arithmetical  certainty  the  number  of  those  in  whose  hearts 
the  Spirit  of  God  may  work  effectually,  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  not 
their  prerogative  to  exclude  from  Christ's  fold  any  who  are  temples  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  they  have  always  ascribed  to  the  Church  that  com- 
prehensiveness and  catholicity  to  which  these  views  of  grace  neces- 
sarily lead.     Accordingly  the  Westminster  Assembly  decreed    that 


350  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

''saints,  by  profession,  are  bound  to  maintain  an  holy  fellowship  and 
communion  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  performing  such  other  spiritual 
services  as  tend  to  their  mutual  edification:  as  also  in  relieving  each 
other  in  outward  things,  according  to  their  several  abilities  and  neces- 
sities, which  communion  is  to  be  extended  unto  all  those  who  in  every 
place  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  (Con.  chapter  xxvi.  ii.) 
Having  thus  shown  what  true  catholicity  is,  and  what  the  exercise 
of  it  demands;  and  having  indicated,  in  part  at  least,  the  strong  doc- 
trinal basis  on  which  it  rests  with  us,  viz. :  our  views  of  the  work  of 
the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  redemption,  I  now 
ask  my  third  and  last  question.  What  practical  course  should  we,  as 
Presbyterians,  pursue  in  order  to  extend  this  catholicity  throughout 
Christendom?  It  seems  to  me  that  we  should,  on  all  suitable  occa- 
sions and  by  every  legitimate  method,  bring  forward  the  general 
features  of  our  polity.  We  need  not  expect  that  tliese  are  to  gain 
influence  and  control  among  men  by  our  silence  and  inactivity. 
They  require  to  be  stated  and  reiterated  a  thousand  times  before  the 
world.  It  was  thus  that  they  made  progress  in  the  past,  and  being 
among  the  things  most  surely  revealed  to  us  in  God's  word,  they 
deserve  to  be  treated  in  this  manner.  To  acknowledge  the  truth  of 
our  principles,  and  yet  to  abandon  them,  or  to  refuse  to  plead  them 
judiciously,  is  to  be  guilty  of  baseness  and  moral  cowardice.  Hence, 
we  should  insist  upon  : 

1.  The  unity  of  the  Church  under  Christ,  her  only  King  and  Head. 
This  is  the  corner-stone  of  our  polity.  It  is  the  central  principle  of 
Protestantism,  and  opposes  effectually  Roman  Catholicism,  which 
rests,  from  top  to  bottom,  upon  the  dogma  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope.  We  may  safely  press  our  position  as  one  in  which  the  honor 
of  our  Lord  is  involved,  and  for  which  we  have  the  fullest  Scripture 
warrant ;  and  this  alone  is  a  tower  of  strength.  It  is  also  a  position 
upon  which  Christendom  is  very  largely  agreed.  Presbyterians,  Con- 
gregationalists,  and  all  non-episcopal  evangelical  denominations,  unite 
in  maintaining  it.  And  still  more.  A  large  number  of  devout 
Episcopalians  see  that  a  secular  head  over  the  Church  is  quite  super- 
fluous. It  is  in  no  way  essential  to  their  polity.  This  has  been 
placed  beyond-  doubt  by  the  successful  growth  of  Episcopacy  on  this 
continent  without  any  alliance  with  the  state.  Living  churches  all 
over  the  world  are  feeling  more  and  more  the  necessity  of  casting  off 
the  incubus  of  secular  control  in  spiritual  matters,  and  are  likely  to 
continue  to  do  so.  They  are  thus  being  prepared  for  closer  alliance 
under  their  rightful  Sovereign  ;  and  surely  all  these  facts  should  spur 
us  on  to  greater  fidelity  in  testifying  of  his  sovereignty,  and  should 
encourage  us  to  believe  that  this  great  central  principle  of  our  polity 
is  destined  to  be  universally  accepted. 

2.  We  should  he  careful  to  vindicate  our  system  of  Church  courts, 
as  rising  naturally  out  of  this  principle  of  unity.  We  should  show 
how  admirably  they  are  fitted  to  give  it  practical  expression.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  establish  this  view.     The  New  Testament  furnishes  in 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  351 

abundance  incontrovertible  material  for  the  purpose  ;  and  surely  there 
should  be  no  timidity  in  making  use  of  it.  There  we  read  frequently 
of  the  Church  in  the  house.  For  example,  in  the  house  of  Priscilla 
and  Aquila,  in  the  house  of  Nymphas,  and  in  the  house  of  Philemon. 
Then  we  find  the  term  Church  used  in  a  more  extended  sense  to 
embrace  what  we  designate  as  congregations.  But  these  groups  of 
believers,  whether  in  households  or  in  congregations  were  not  isolated 
from,  or  independent  of,  the  whole  household  of  faith.  Accordingly, 
this  same  term  Church  is  employed  to  signify  an  aggregation  of  as- 
semblies of  God's  people,  without  any  limit  as  to  number  or  extent, 
held  together  mider  one  spiritual  jurisdiction.  Not  that  local  govern- 
ment was  ignored  ;  for  we  read  that  they  ordained  elders  in  every 
Church,  that  there  was  a  plurality  of  bishops  or  elders  in  each  con- 
gregation, and  that  these  were  "not  only  apt  to  teach,"  but  also 
exercised  rule  over  the  people.  Thus  we  discover  the  origin  of  our 
primary  court  or  Kirk  session,  with  its  two-fold  functions  of  instruc- 
tion and  discipline.  We  read  also  of  ordination  to  office  by  the 
"  hands  of  the  Presbytery,"  and  of  that  same  court  sending  out  certain 
persons  to  do  the  work  to  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  called  them. 
In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  too,  we  have  the  record  of  the  doings  of 
a  council  held  at  Jerusalem,  in  which  a  case  came 'up  which  brought 
out  the  principle  of  the  subordination  of  local  or  congregational  in- 
terests to  the  general  voice  of  the  Church.  The  apostles  and  elders, 
after  full  deliberation,  made  their  authoritative  decree  touching  cer- 
tain matters  which  had  been  referred  to  them,  and  sent  it  down  to  be 
obeyed  by  the  churches  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and  Cilicia.  Have 
we  not  in  these  facts  the  distinct  outline  of  the  very  system  of  spiritual 
administration  which  we  follow  from  our  Kirk  sessions  up  to  our  Gen- 
eral Assemblies,  and  even  to  this  Council,  working  out  with  beautiful 
simplicity,  harmony  and  clearness  the  unity  of  the  whole  Church? 

I  cannot  but  regard  these  grand  General  Councils  as  the  culmina- 
tion of  our  system,  and  destined  to  accomplish  great  things  in  favor 
of  the  truth  and  of  our  polity.  They  may  obviously  strengthen  weak 
and  struggling  branches  of  the  Church  by  sympathy,  by  advice;  and 
by  financial  assistance;  they  may  unite  the  scattered  forces  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  grand  aggressive  missionary  enterprises  among  the 
heathen  ;  and  they  may  consider  and  determine  great  fundamental 
principles  of  doctrine  and  polity.  The  gathering  together  in  this 
way,  and  the  stamping  with  unanimous  approval  the  truth  which  is 
already  accepted  by  Christendom,  would  serve  many  useful  purposes. 
It  would  in  no  small  degree  stop  the  mouth  of  sceptics  ;  it  would 
enable  tlie  army  of  the  Lord  to  present  a  united  front  to  the  enemy  ; 
it  would  greatly  weaken  the  argument  by  which  Romanism  holds  its 
millions  in  bondage;  it  would  teach  godly  men  to  minimize  their 
differences,  instead  of  magnifying  them,  and  to  dwell  on  their  points 
of  agreement  as  of  infinitely  more  value,  and  thus  true  catholicity 
would  be  greatly  promoted. 

3.   We  should  insist  upon  the  official  equality  of  all  the  ordained 


352  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  A'LLIANCE. 

teachers  and  rulers  of  the  Church  as  clearly  revealed  in  the  Bible. 
Hence  we  cannot  consistently  with  fidelity  to  our  God  and  Saviour 
and  to  the  interests  of  the  Church,  offer  any  compromise  to  the  advo- 
cates of  the  sacrament  of  holy  orders  and  of  a  man-made  sacerdotal 
caste.  V/e  are  bound  to  do  our  utmost  to  bring  all  to  acknowledge 
the  truth  that  it  is  God,  and  God  alone,  who  makes  ministers  of  the 
New  Covenant.  He  calls  and  qualifies  them  by  his  Spirit.  They  are 
his  gift  to  the  Church,  but  not  constituted  a  povv-erful  hierarchy  to 
domineer  over  her.  It  is  her  business  to  train  and  equip  them  with 
proper  learning  for  their  work.  It  is  with  her  through  the  proper 
courts  to  designate  them  to  office,  and  to  clothe  them  with  authority 
from  her  Head  to  exercise  their  functions ;  and  this  she  does  in  ordi- 
nation, which  is  simply  a  form  of  publicly  expressing  her  recognition 
of  what  God  has  already  done  for  the  persons  ordained.  The  official 
equality  of  presbyters  and  bishops  has  always  been  maintained  by 
non-episcopal  churches,  and  now  scholarly  and  candid  ministers  of 
the  Anglican  body  concede  that  this  is  the  doctrine  of  Scripture. 
Only  Romanists  and  Romanizing  Protestants  deny  this.  But  we 
resolutely  take  our  stand  upon  Scripture,  and  Scripture  alone.  As 
already  hinted,  we  refuse  to  insert  in  the  constitution  and  polity  of 
the  Church  anythfng,  outside  of  the  word  of  God,  beyond  what  it  states 
directly  or  fairly  implies.  It  is  a  great  mistake,  in  this  connection, 
to  launch  out  upon  the  ma?-e  magnum  of  ecclesiastical  history.  I  have 
no  doubt  that,  rightly  understood,  it  furnishes  testimony  to  the  word 
of  God;  but  it  is  equally  certain  that,  as  the  Church  became  corrupt, 
her  history  can  be  made  to  support  what  is  directly  opposed  to  his 
truth.  And  hence,  were  a  thousand  arguments  against  Presbyterian- 
ism  forthcoming  from  the  domain  of  ecclesiastical  history,  they  would 
not  disturb  my  confidence  in  what  I  know  to  be  the  clear  teachings 
of  God's  truth  ;  they  would  only  prove  to  me  that  the  Church  had 
gone  most  lamentably  astray. 

4.  We  should  give  prominence  to  the  facts  that  the  purity  of  the 
Church  is  secured,  and  that  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  are 
guaranteed  by  Presbyterianism. 

No  one  can  deny  that  through  our  Church  courts,  while  every  safe- 
guard against  tyranny  is  afforded,  we  possess  a  power  of  discipline 
over  members  and  office-bearers  which  is  thoroughly  effective.  We 
can,  without  undue  precipitancy  or  delay,  without  being  impeded 
by  ecclesiastical  canons,  secular  laws  or  other  obstructions,  suspend  or 
excommunicate  for  sufficient  cause  either  public  teachers  or  private 
members  of  the  Church.  But  it  is  well  known  that  this  is  more  than 
can  be  said  of  the  other  two  forms  of  government — Congregationalism 
and  Episcopacy.  And  the  preservation  of  the  purity  of  the  Church, 
let  it  be  rememUered,  is  the  conservation  of  her  spiritual  life  and 
power  for  good  in  the  world.  For  it  is  only  in  pro[)ortion  as  she  is 
pure  that  she  will  hold  fast  and  hold  forth  the  word  of  life  in  its  ful- 
ness, and  be  acknowledged  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  instrument  of  his 
mercy  and  love  to  our  fallen  race. 


SECOND^  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  353 

Then  as  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people,  these  are  most 
fully  maintained.  With  us,  as  in  apostolic  days,  the  people  elect  all 
office-bearers,  and  thus  express  the  mind,  the  spiritual  life  and  activity 
of  the  Church  ;  they  are  represented  in  all  ecclesiastical  courts,  and 
Are  free  to  carry  any  cause,  as  they  may  think  the  interests  of  freedom 
ajid  justice  may  demand,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  of  these 
courts.  In  the  round  of  daily  religious  activity  they  enjoy  the  fullest 
liberty  to  edify  one  another  in  word  and  doctrine,  and  the  right  of 
private  judgment  even  as  to  what  is  taught  by  the  accredited  messen- 
gers of  the  Church.  And  probably  it  would  be  to  the  advantage  of 
all  concerned  were  they  required  to  take  a  more  prominent  and  active 
part  than  heretofore  in  the  public  services  of  the  sanctuary. 

Finally,  without  entering  into  further  details,  as  we  would  reach 
the  grand  consummation  so  devoutly  wished  for,  let  us  not  hide  our 
light,  on  polity  or  doctrine,  ufider  a  bushel.  Let  us  with  increased 
fervor  and  power  seek  to  advance  general  education  and  Biblical 
knowledge.  We  have  nothing  to  lose  but  everything  to  gain  by  this 
course.  Let  us  use  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  skilfully  and  fearlessly,  and 
strike  with  tiie  edge  and  not  with  the  side  of  it.  This  was  the  method 
of  fhe  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  past  when  she  made  great  and 
rnemorable  advances,  and  it  must  continue  to  be  her  method  in  the 
future  if  she  is  to  be  crowned  with  success.  Controversy  for  its  own 
sake  is  undesirable  ;  but  to  abandon  the  truth  for  fear  of  stating  it  and 
being  held  responsible  for  it  is  cowardly  and  criminal.  Love  before 
logic  is  a  good  enough  sort  of  maxim  for  some  purposes  ;  but  that  love 
degenerates  into  weakness  which  sacrifices  truth  through  an  affected 
horror  of  the  coldness  and  harshness  of  logical  definition  and  argu- 
onentation.  We  thrive  not  in  a  calm,  or  pietistic  fog,  but  by  frank 
and  manly  discussion  of  all  questions  such  as  the  spirit  of  our  age 
demands.  We  need  this  to  stir  up  our  own  energies  and  to  promote 
our  growth,  as  well  as  for  the  benefit  of  others.  We  have  no  reason 
to  fear  truth  from  any  quarter.  The  unrest,  the  searching  activity 
of  the  age,  the  discoveries  of  science,  the  wider  diffusion  of  the 
advantages  of  a  higher  education,  the  imperious  demands  for  a  rational 
basis  to  all  the  beliefs  and  practices  of  the  Church — all  these,  rightly 
taken  advantage  of,  must  promote  the  spread  of  our  creed  and  polity. 
.A.nd  if  there  are  little  bigotries  among  ourselves,  little  su]ierstitions 
which  we  have  carried  down  with  us  from  the  distant  past,  if  to  our 
Presbyterian  ism  we  attach  any  small  national  peculiarities  which 
make  it  Scottish,  American,  or  anything  but  Biblical,  let  us  not  fear 
to  sweep  them  away.  In  those  terrible,  crucial,  last  days,  God's  truth 
and  that  alone  can  stand  ;  and  it  is  only  as  Ave  can  get  men  to  accept 
this  that  they  will  be  lifted  out  of  their  narrowness  and  made  ready 
to  join  us  in  the  bonds  of  broad  and  scriptural  catholicity, 

23 


354  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Rev.  William  H.  Campbell,  D.  D.,  of  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.,  delivered  the  following  address  on  the  same  subject : 

Christian  unity  is  the  unity  of  the  Spirit.  The  Holy  Spirit  makes  it, 
and  then  they,  unto  whom  it  is  given,  must  keep  it  in  the  bond  of  peace. 

And  the  fubt  step  in  keeping  unity  is  to  recognize  the  work  of  the 
Spirit,  as  fully  and  as  fast  as  he  reveals  it,  and  then  thankfully  to 
acknowledge  his  goodness. 

This  duty  of  recognition  and  acknowledgment  lies  here  before  us 
to-day.  The  Presbyterian  family,  for  ages  substantially  one  in  faith, 
discipline  and  worship,  has  now  for  the  first,  in  this  Alliance,  a  his- 
torical oneness,  a  visible  Presbyterian  Catholic  Church.  The  report 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  first  General  Presbyterian  Council,  convened 
at  Edinburgh,  July,  1877,  calls  forth  the  grateful  acknowledgment  : 
Tlie  Lord  hath  done  great  tilings  for  tis,  wlicreof  we  are  ^lad.  And  the 
conviction  is  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  Presbyterians,  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  has,  in  this  Presbyterian  catholicity,  greater  things  in  store  for 
Christ's  cause  and  kingdom,  than  the  heart  of  man  has  yet  conceived. 

And  now  after  this  preparedness  of  heart  for  the  habitual  exercise 
of  expectancy  and  thankfulness,  this  Council  stands  ready,  with  feet 
shod  with  the  pre])aration  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  to  accept  whatever 
the  Holy  Spirit  reveals,  and  by  his  grace  to  act  in  accordance  with  it. 

And  just  here  the  question  arises,  whether  this  Second  General 
Council,  taking  in  more  fully  than  ever  before  tlie  moral  autlwjiiy  that 
is  in  this  Presbyterian  unity,  should  not  declare  itself  to  the  whole 
world  as  being  what  it  is — the  Presbyterian  Catholic  Church?  Surely 
a  form  of  discipline  set  up  by  the  apostles,  who  were  endued  with 
power  from  on  high  to  legislate  for  the  Church  of  God  on  earth-a 
form  of  discipline  which  runs  uninterruptedly  through  the  whole 
New  Testament — a  form  of  discipline  which  reason  approves  and  history 
upholds  with  its  many  and  strong  commendations,  will  continue  and 
be  excelling  down  to  the  times  of  the  restitution  of  all  things.  And 
if  this  be  so,  should  not  this  Council  of  the  Presbyterian  Catholic 
Church  humbly,  thankfully,  and  yet  firmly,  declare  itself?  Such  a 
declaration  will  express,  on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  the  teaching 
of  history  and  the  plain  leadings  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  there  is 
a  great  work  for  Presbytery  to  do  in  building  up  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  and  that  the  Prince  and  Saviour  will  not  set  aside  his  own 
divinely  appointed  servants,  either  in  the  day  of  the  coming  battles, 
or  of  the  final  triumph.  Presbyterian  Catholicity  means  little,  if  it 
does  not  mean  all  this.  And,  thanks  be  to  God,  it  can  mean  and 
«ay  all  this  without  one  thought  of  bigotry  or  exclusiveness  against 
any  branch  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord. 

Thus  are  we  prepared  to  enter  the  wide  door  which  is  opening  for 
MS,  And  the  work  that  awaits  us  is  fivefold.  (i.)  To  keep  the 
Church  fully  informed  about  every  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  family. 
4^2.)  Sympathy,  counsel  and  help  are  to  be  always  and  promptly 
given,  wherever  and  whenever  the  need  of  the  family  demands.     (3.) 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  355 

Counsel  and  co-operation  against  the  enemies  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  (4.)  Preaching  the  gospel  to  every  creature  on  earth.  (5.) 
Ever  watchful  care  lest  we  sin  against  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  by  en- 
tering into  fields  of  labor,  either  in  Christian  or  heathen  lands, 
already  fully  occupied  by  some  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  family,  or 
by  any  evangelical  Church.  Presbyterian  Catholicity,  taught  by  the 
Spirit,  will  have  for  its  maxim.  Helpful  to  all  GocT s  people  in  doing 
Goil's  work,  and  a  hindrance  to  7ione. 

And  now  that  we  may  thus  keej)  up  a  genuine  Presbyterian  one- 
ness in  our  manifoldness,  we  need  the  baptism  of  love  from  on  high. 
This  will  enable  us  to  make  much  of  our  agreement  in  the  essential 
points  of  faith,  discipline  and  worship,  and  little  of  our  points  of  dif- 
ference relatively  to  the  great  matters  of  our  agreement.  With  love 
in  our  hearts,  the  great  points  will  draw  and  keep  us  together,  while 
differences  will  lose  their  power  of  driving  us  apart. 

Thus  keeping  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  the  blessing  of  God  will  con- 
stantly shine  and  with  an  ever-increasing  brightness  on  our  catholicity, 
opening  not  only  wider  doors  of  usefulness,  but  giving  to  every 
branch  of  the  Presbyterian  family  a  growth  and  a  blessing  of  which 
we  knew  nothing  in  our  days  of  segregation. 

But  our  Lord  has  other  sheep  which  are  not  of  our  fold,  and  with 
these  we  must  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  All  who 
bear  the  image  of  Christ  belong  to  the  one  flock  of  the  one  Shepherd. 
There  are  many  folds,  and  we  in  ours  must  be  drawn  to  all  the  flock  in 
all  the  folds.  And  here,  as  in  our  own  Presbyterian  family,  love  is 
all  in  all.  This  will  draw  together  all  who  love  Christ,  calling  out  broth- 
erly kindness  into  lively  exercise,  and  causing  us  to  feel  with  all  God's 
people,  and  to  give  prompt  and  plenteous  help  in  the  time  of  need. 

And  here,  too,  we  trust,  it  will  be  seen  that  our  closer  union  a.>> 
Presbyterians  does  not  diminish  but  increase  love  and  labor,  prayer, 
faith  and  gifts  for  the  Bible  Society,  the  Tract  Society,  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  and  every  good  cause  which  calls  for  the  united 
efforts  of  all  God's  people. 

The  Council  then  adjourned,  with  the  usual  devotional  exer- 
cises, until  the  following  morning  at  9.30  o'clock. 


FIFTH   DAY'S   SESSION. 

Tuesday,  September  2%th,  1880. 
The  Council  was  opened  at  9.30  o'clock  A.  m.,  in  Horticultu- 
ral Hall,  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Lang,  D.  D.,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
President. 

After  devotional  services  the  minutes  of  the  previous  day's 
sessions  were  read.  On  the  question  of  their  approval,  the  Rev. 
John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Montreal,  said : 


S56  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

I  think  it  desirable  that  there  should  be  an  insertion  in  the 
minutes,  in  connection  with  the  resolution  on  the  subject,  of  the 
reason  why  the  Council  will  meet  not  in  1883  but  in  1884. 
According  to  the  constitution  we  should  meet  in  1883;  and  it 
occurs  to  me  it  would  be  proper  that  the  minutes  should  show 
the  reason  for  the  postponement  to  the  following  year. 

The  President. — The  chair  does  not  see  that  there  could  be 
any  harm  in  making  the  insertion  ;  and  that  perhaps  it  would  be 
well  to  have  it  made.  The  question  is  before  the  Council  for  its 
decision. 

Hon.  Wm.  Strong,  of  Washington. — I  apprehend  that  our 
minutes  should  contain  simply  a  statement  of  what  has  been 
done,  not  of  the  reasons  for  which  we  have  adopted  any  par- 
ticular resolution.  We  have  selected  the  year  1884  as  the  year 
for  the  meeting  of  the  next  General  Council.  Our  action  in 
selecting  that  date  is  a  thing  to  go  upon  the  minutes,  for  it  is  a 
part  of  what  we  have  done ;  but  the  reasons  which  have  induced 
us  thus  to  act  are  no  part  of  our  action,  and  therefore  they  could 
not  belong  to  the  minutes. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Rainy,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland. — • 
It  occurs  to  me  that  we  could  not  certainly  know  what  the  reason 
or  reasons  were  unless  they  were  expressed  in  the  resolution 
which  was  adopted.  There  may  be  different  reasons  in  differ- 
ent minds  for  the  same  action. 

The  Rev.  Wm.  Reid,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Canada. — The  constitu- 
tion does  not  bind  the  Council  to  hold  a  meeting  every  three 
years  ;  and  if  you  give  a  reason  for  holding  the  meeting  in  the 
fourth,  instead  of  in  the  third  year,  you  take  it  for  granted  that  the 
Council  ought  to  meet  every  three  years.  The  fact  is  that  the 
constitution  does  not  necessarily  require  a  meeting  every  three 
years. 

The  Rev.  George  C.  Button,  D.  D.,  of  Paisley,  Scotland. — 
Another  reason  against  the  insertion  is  that  some  of  us  might 
not  approve  of  the  reason  given  for  the  postponement  of  the 
meeting. 

The  motion  to  insert  the  reason  was  not  agreed  to ;  and  the 
minutes  as  read  were  approved. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  357 

The  Business  Committee  recommended,  and  the  recom- 
mendations were  adopted,  that  the  evening  meetings  of  the 
Council  be  continued  until  ten  o'clock  each  evening,  to 
allow  of  consideration  of  the  subjects  then  presented,  and 
that  those  speaking  on  such  occasions  be  restricted  to  five 
minutes; 

That  the  adjourned  discussion  on  creeds  be  resumed, 
as  the  order  of  the  day,  after  the  reading  of  this  morning's 
papers ; 

That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  friendly  letter  to 
all  the  Churches  of  the  Alliance,  calling  their  attention  to  some 
of  the  important  practical  matters  that  have  come  or  may  yet 
come  before  the  Council ;  and  , 

That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  arrange  for  a  series  of 
Sabbath  school  meetings  in  this  city  next  Sabbath  afternoon. 

The  Rev.  Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land, read  the  following  paper : 

THE  VICARIOUS  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

Having  been  requested  to  read  a  paper  on  this  important  subject,  I 
have  considered  that  what  was  wanted,  within  the  limits,  was  neither 
an  elaborate  examination  of  Scripture  teaching  on  the  one  hand,  nor 
a  critical  review  of  divergent  theories  on  the  other;  but  rather  a  re- 
sumt  of  the  general  bearings  of  this  great  article  of  our  creed,  and  a 
statement  of  how  a  world-wide  Alliance  like  this  may  best  hold  it 
forth,  as  one  of  the  "  things  most  surely  believed  among  us."  I  shall 
therefore  briefly  state  the  doctrine  which  we  hold,  ai^d  then  illustrate 
its  harmony  with  the  facts  of  natural  religion,  with  the  data  of  Old 
Testanient  revelation,  with  the  rest  of  Christianity  as  a  system,  and 
with  the  conclusions  and  results  of  Christian  experience. 

The  atonement  of  Christ  comes  in  as  connected  with  the  fall  of 
man,  and  the  gracious  purpose  of  redemption.  It  presupposes  on 
the  one  hand  justice,  and  on  the  other  mercy.  There  is  a  moral  char- 
acter and  government  of  God  to  be  dealt  with,  and  a  righteous  sen- 
tence of  law  binding  over  the  transgressor  to  penalty.  Any  scheme 
which  does  not  recognize  and  proceed  upon  this  moral  order  of  tlie 
universe,  is  not  in  any  proper  sense  atonement,  but  displacement  of 
law  ;  and  in  like  manner  any  scheme  which  does  no>  start  with  a  mer- 
ciful design  and  purpose  in  God,  but  brings  in  the  atonement  first  to 
create  this  in  the  Divine  mind,  equally  misconceives  the  question  by 
attempting,  and  necessarily  in  vain,  to  produce  that  which,  if  it  did 
not  already  exist  in  God,  would  preclude  the  whole  saving  process. 


358  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

How  these  aspects  of  the  divine  character,  and  these  relations  of  the 
divine  government,  equally  real  and  equally  necessary  to  be  upheld, 
are  to  be  harmonized,  is  the  problem  with  which  atonement  is  occu- 
pied. That  problem  the  Presbyterian  Church,  with  the  whole  Church 
of  Christ,  believes  to  have  been  solved  by  the  voluntary  substitution 
of  the  God-man  Mediator  in  the  room  of  sinners,  and  his  endurance 
of  their  legal  liabilities  in  his  suffering  life  and  death  upon  the  cross. 
The  sufferings  and  death  of  the  Redeemer  thus  constitute  a  sacrifice 
whereby  not  only  is  the  vastness  of  divine  love  manifested,  but  the 
rigor  of  divine  justice  is  satisfied  ;  and  thus  sin  is  truly  atoned  for, 
and  the  pardon  of  all  who  accept  it  on  this — the  sole  meritorious 
ground  on  which  it  can  be  offered — is  secured.  Though  in  the  sense 
of  ultimate  salvation,  none  are  "redeemed  by  Christ"  (to  use  the 
language  of  the  Westminster  Confession)  "  but  the  elect  only;  "  yet  it 
has  been  generally  held  in  Presbyterian  Churches,  with  whatever  con- 
troversy and  debate, that  the  atonement  is,  in  a  true  sense,  "sufficient  for 
all,  and  adapted  to  all,  and  that  its  benefits  are  freely  offered  to  all 
to  whom  the  gospel  comes;"  or,  in  the  words  of  the  second  set  of 
articles  of  the  Synod  of  Dort — till  our  own  days,  the  largest  oecu- 
menical representation  of  Calvinism — "  men  do  not  perish  in  unbelief 
through  any  defect  or  insufficiency  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  offered 
on  the  cross,  but  through  their  own  fault  " — quod  mu/ti  iji  infuielitate 
pereunt  non  fit  hostice  Christi  in  cruce  oblatcB  defectu  vel  insufficicntia, 
sed  propria  ipsoratn  culpa. 

I.  Waiving  further  discussion  respecting  the  nature  of  the  atone- 
ment, and  regarding  it  not  as  a  mere  proclamation  of  mercy,  but  as 
a  real  and  effectual  harmonizing  of  mercy  with  justice,  adequate 
through  the  divine  love  manifested  in  it,  and  the  infinite  preciousness 
of  the  ransom  paid  in  it  to  meet  the  case  of  a  guilty  world,  I  now 
proceed  to  illustrate  the  confirmation  which  this  great  and  glorious 
foundation-truth  of  our  holy  faith  finds  in  the  different  quarters  to 
which  I  have  already  referred.  And  first,  of  its  harmony  with  the 
facts  of  natural  religion.  There  are  two  extremes  into  which  we  may 
fall  in  judging  of  a  Christian  doctrine  like  that  of  atonement.  The 
one  tendency  which  in  our  day  is  in  the  ascendant,  is  to  square  Chris- 
tianity with  the  other  moral  facts  of  human  experience,  and  so-called 
religions  of  the  world,  and  to  make  it,  so  to  speak,  the  gravitating 
centre  oi  human  history  to  which  everything  else  converges.  The 
other  is  to  rest  in  the  superiority  of  Christianity  to  all  other  systems, 
and  to  pile  up  divergence  on  divergence  as  an  argument  of  divinity. 
It  will  be  found  that  the  deepest  witness  to  the  gospel  lies  in  the  union 
of  these  two  processes — in  the  vindication  for  Christianity  of  what  is 
truly  human,  while  stamped  with  a  purity  and  a  greatness  beyond  unas- 
sisted reason.  If,  then,  the  workings  of  conscience,  and  the  traditions, 
rites,  and  usages  of  religion  be  consulted,  as  to  whether  the  doctrine 
of  atonement  be  or  be  not  repugnant  to  the  deepest  human  beliefs, 
longings,  and  cravings,  it  will  unquestionably  be  found  that  Scripture 
here  finds  in  nature  a  wide  and  striking  testimony  to  its  necessity  and 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  359 

reasonableness.  And  this  is  independent  of  the  question  how  far  the 
gropings  of  nature  have  laid  hold  of  and  preserved  the  relics  of 
earlier  revelation  ;  for  truth  retained,  even  in  distortion,  is  so  far  seen 
to  be  natural.  Here,  then,  the  advocates  of  atonement  can  appeal  to 
the  broad  fact,  that  all  religions  have  prescribed  conditions,  more  or 
less  difficult,  for  the  pardon  of  sin,  and  the  recovery  of  the  sinner  to 
the  divine  favor.  There  is  a  sense  of  estrangement  and  separation 
from  God  ;  and  whether  it  be  by  working  or  suffering,  by  penance  or 
pilgrimage,  by  meditation  or  by  transmigration,  the  task  is  the  high- 
est which  the  religion  enjoins.  The  system  of  sacrifice  especially, 
found  in  all  religions,  not  only  in  the  classic  and  western  paganism, 
but  in  the  pantheistic  schemes  of  the  east,  where  it  seems  out  of  its 
native  context,  is  a  constant  witness  to  the  Bible  doctrine  ;  and  how- 
ever gross  and  unspiritual,  and  even  barbarous  and  sanguinary  in  its 
corruptions,  has  attested  the  radical  idea  of  pardon  and  reconciliation 
by  mediation  and  substitution,  by  the  mysterious  virtues  of  depreca- 
tions, penalties,  and  rites  more  or  less  associated  with  suffering.  It  is 
beyond  all  question  that  wherever  these  sentiments  and  usages  have 
existed  (and  they  have  existed  everywhere),  they  have  been  appealed 
to,  and  not  ineffectually,  by  the  Christian  teacher  and  missionary  to 
urge  home  his  own  lessons  as  to  expiation  and  propitiation  by  the  sac- 
rifice of  Christ,  and  to  point  the  truth  as  rooted  in  the  human  con- 
science, not  less  than  in  Scripture,  that  "without  shedding  of  blood 
is  no  remission."  Can  that  doctrine  then  be  a  corruption  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  meets  in  so  many  and  so  unlikely  quarters  a  desidera- 
tum of  natural  guilt  and  fear,  which  touches  not  man's  self-flattery 
and  fond  illusions,  but  his  deepest  sense  of  worthlessness  and  con- 
demnation, and  which  proves  able  to  heal  the  conscience  as  well  as  to 
soothe  it,  and  to  restore  it  to  its  healthful  action  by  enforcing  in  har- 
mony the  evil  of  sin,  and  the  certainty  of  deliverance?  If  sin  were 
not  the  terrible  and  infinite  evil  which  the  word  of  God  declares  it,  or 
if  it  were  so  hopeless  as  to  be  utterly  unpardonable,  or  if  it  were  par- 
donable in  any  other  way — as  for  example,  by  mere  prerogative,  or  by 
repentance  alone,  or  by  any  magical  rite — how  could  the  Bible  doctrine, 
which  sets  all  these  views  aside  and  holds  forth  its  own  of  pardon  by 
Christ's  satisfaction  and  sacrifice,  so  commend  itself,  as  under  the 
shadow  of  every  heathen  system  to  gather  in  its  converts,  and  to 
make  them  all  feel  that  what  these  had  been  trying  to  do  and  could 
not,  Christ  had  finished  once  for  all,  and  by  his  own  offering  had  for- 
ever  perfected  them  that  are  sanctified?- 

II.  The  doctrine  of  proper  and  vicarious  atonement  rests  on  the  data 
of  Old  Testa?nent  Revelation.  We  make  an  unspeakable  advance 
when  we  pass  over  from  the  vague,  dim,  fluctuating,  and  often  de- 
graded and  perverted  conceptions  of  atonement  found  in  other  relig- 
ions, to  the  Mosaic  economy.  Here  we  have  a  divine  institute  in 
the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  and  an  institute  which  is  both  ftilfilled 
and  explained  in  Christianity.  Many  points,  indeed,  in  the  Leviti- 
cal  system  have  been  long  and  earnestly  debated  ;  but  so  long  as  we 


36o.  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

have  an  inspired  commentary  on  it  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  its 
witness  as  a  type  to  the  reality,  efficacy,  and  finality  of  the  sacrifice 
of  Christ  cannot  be  shaken. 

It  is  impossible,  for  example,  ^o  deny  the  strictly  propitiatory  char- 
acter of  the  Old  Testament  sacrifices,  or  tliat  they  were  means  for  the 
taking  away  of  sin  ;  for  it  is  expressly  said  of  the  blood  which  the 
high  priest  offered,  that  he  "  offered  [it]  for  himself  and  for  the  errors 
of  the  people  "  (ix.  7);  and  again,  that  "  by  the  law  almost  all  things 
are  purged  with  blood,  and  without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remis- 
sion "  (ix.  22) — plainly  teaching  that,  in  some  true  sense,  sins  were 
remitted  by  Old  Testament  sacrifice  ;  and  again,  it  is  said,  that  in 
these  sacrifices  there  is  a  remembrance  of  sins  again  made  "every 
year,"  which  would  have  no  meaning,  unless  the  sacrifices  had  pro- 
fessed to  deal  to  some  extent  with  the  remission  of  sin,  though  they 
merely  attained  to  the  keeping  of  it  in  remembrance.  The  truth 
which  the  whole  scope  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  supports  is,  that 
they  were  vicarious  and  expiatory,  but  only  to  the  limited  extent  of 
remitting  ceremonial  uncleanness;  /.  e.,  they  "sanctified  to  the  puri- 
fying of  the  flesh,"  and  if  so,  how  can  there  be  any  correspondence 
of  these  offerings  with  Christ's  sacrifice,  according  to  tlieir  typical 
nature,  unless  the  efficacy  of  Christ's  sacrifice,  which  effects  the  re- 
mission of  moral  penalties  (or  "purges  the  conscience  from  dead 
works"),  rest  upon  the  same  vicarious  principle,  and  be  thus  a  real 
expiation  or  satisfaction  ?  There  is  no  meaning  in  types,  unless  the 
blood  of  Christ  were  as  truly  that  of  an  expiatory  victim  as  "the 
blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats;  "  and  the  parallel  goes  farther  than  even 
this  general  idea  of  expiation,  so  as  to  refute  some  of  the  most  plau- 
sible errors  of  our  time  :  for  as  it  was  the  animals  offered  that  were 
the  types  of  Christ,  and  not  the  offerers  of  the  animals;  and,  as  the 
animals  offered  were  not  capable  of  self-sacrifice  while  really  sacrificed, 
it  follows  that  the  essence  of  Christ's  atonement  does  not  lie  in  its 
being  self-sacrifice,  but  in  its  being  a  satisfaction  to  justice  made  in 
the  sinner's  room.  From  the  same  parallel  on  another  side  follows 
the  impossibility  of  Christ's  sacrifice  being  mainly  self-sacrifice ;  for 
the  antitype  has  fulfilled  and  ended  the  type,  so  that  it  is  no  longer 
capable  of  repetition.  But  if  Christ's  sacrifice  were  essentially  self- 
sacrifice,  it  would  be  capable  of  repetition  by  all  his  ]:)eople  ;  whereas, 
according  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  is 
peculiar  to  Christ,  and  offered, as  the  making  of  atonement,"  once  for 
all."  These  are  samples  (and  there  are  many  others)  of  the  corrobo- 
ration which  Old  Testament  sacrifices  lend  to  New  Testament  hopes, 
as  even  shadows  give  the  outline  of  realities,  and  the  law,  though 
given  by  Moses,  defines,  as  in  a  drawing  without  color,  the  grace  and 
truth  which  came  by  Jesus  Christ. 

in.  The  //f/n/ point  to  be  touched  on  is  the  harmony  between  the 
doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement  and  the  rest  of  the  Christian  systcrn. 
The  manifold  evidence  of  an  express  and  decisive  character  in  the 
New  Testament  I  here  pass  over.     I  look  only  to  the  coherence  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  361 

doctrines  and  the  general  bent  of  Christianity  as  a  system.  Now, 
there  is  one  doctrine  which  above  every  other  is  correlative  to  atone- 
ment, and  which  seems  to  lose  its  place  in  tlie  grand  structure  when 
this  in  the  proper  sense  is  denied.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  or  what  indeed  is  but  a  deeper  and  wider  foundation  of 
the  same  doctrine — the  Trinity.  These  doctrines,  setting  forth  the 
necessity  of  so  great  a  work  and  of  so  great  a  person  to  do  it,  disap- 
pear alike  from  modern  Judaism,  from  Mohammedanism,  and  from  a 
Socinianized  Christianity.  But  can  Christianity  survive  the  extinc- 
tion of  mediation  and  the  loss  of  a  divine  Mediator?  And  if  any- 
thing like  the  early  creeds  be  retained,  or  the  Te  Dcum,  or  any  other 
assertion  of  the  Saviour's  deity,  how  does  this  great  and  stupendous 
postulate  when  admitted  comport  with  the  exclusion  of  a  true  and 
proper  satisfaction  for  sin  ?  It  has  always  been  felt  that  there  was 
nothing  adequate  to  the  provision  of  a  divine  incarnation  in  the 
heralding  on  the  part  of  a  divine  Christ  of  the  free  love  of  God,  or  in 
the  acquisition  of  human  sympathy ;  and  that  some  more  awful  mys- 
tery required  such  a  sacrifice.  Nor  can  the  effort  of  Maurice  or  Bush- 
nell  to  make  sacrifice  an  eternal  law  and  necessity  of  the  divine  nature, 
be  held  to  explain  the  incarnation  ;  for  it  is  a  mere  play,  however 
interesting,  of  human  thought  without  basis  in  Scri])ture,  and  seems 
rather  brought  in  by  the  exigency  of  theory  to  evade  the  evidence  of 
Scripture  as  to  another  necessity — a  necessity  connected  with  the 
magnitude  of  the  evil  of  sin,  which  only  a  divine  person  in  our  nature 
could,  by  bearing  its  penalty,  confront  and  overcome.  The  doctrines 
of  atonement  and  incarnation  thus,  as  Bishop  Horsley  says,  recipro- 
cate:  the  one  supports  and  demands  the  other;  nor  was  there  ever  a 
more  beautiful  congruity  than  in  the  parts  of  the  sublime  Scripture- 
sentence:  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world  !  "  While  this  doctrine  alone,  with  any  sense  of  inward 
satisfaction,  accounts  for  the  appearance  of  divinity  in  the  field,  it 
also  explains  the  severe  and  all  but  overwhelming  strain  laid  on  our 
Lord's  humanity.  The  noblest"  and  most  glorious  life  has  to  be  cov- 
ered with  the  darkest  shadow.  For  the  only  pure  and  loving  One 
there  is  the  bitterest  cuj)  and  the  most  terrible  baptism,  and  the  nearest 
to  God  is  the  most  forsaken.  On  the  common  theory  this  is  expli- 
cable and  profoundly  impressive ;  but  on  what  other?  If  judicial 
infliction,  if  doom,  if  curse  be  not  here,  why  has  the  Church  been 
awed,  and  even  the  world  solemnized,  by  the  bearing  of  such  a 
burden  ?  and  why  does  the  Man  of  Sorrows  stand  alone  and  unap- 
proachable? With  profoundest  reverence  also  do  we  see  here  why,  if 
this  sacrifice  is  rejected,  there  remains  no  other,  and  how  the  urgent 
appeal  should  rise  from  the  whole  of  Scripture  in  the  light  of  issues 
which  no  other  remedy  could  have  averted,  or  can  avert,  "  how 
shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  !  "  Much  else  in 
Scripture  witnesses  to  this  central  truth,  indeed  every  doctrine,  pre- 
cept and  ordinance;  but  it  is  impossible,  as  it  is  not  required,  to 
follow  the  illustration  farther ;  and,  as  those  who  have  lately  striven, 


362  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

without  i)rofessedly  renouncing  orthodoxy,  to  recast  and  re-adapt  the 
doctrine  of  the  atonement,  have  not  been  able  to  recast  Christianity, 
it  is  not  wonderful  that  at  so  many  points  the  sense  of  disturbance 
and  dislocation  should  arise,  and  "the  effectual  working  in  the 
measure  of  every  part  "  should  be  greatly  weakened,  if  not  destroyed. 
IV.  It  only  remains  to  test  and  illustrate  this  doctrine  by  the  con- 
clusions and  results  of  Christian  experience.  We  are  far  enough  from 
agreeing  with  those  who  make  Christian  consciousness  the  fountain- 
head  of  Christian  truth,  and  the  last  measure  of  its  purity  and  propor- 
tions. But  in  subordination  to  Scripture  the  experience  of  Christians 
has  an  important  place,  and  we  could 'not  discredit  it  without  injury 
to  the  Spirit,  by  whom  "  all  are  baptized  into  one  body."  Can  it  be 
said  then,  looking  not  to  the  Christian  experience  of  former  ages,  the 
results  of  which  are  sufficiently  known,  but  to  the  Christian  experience 
of  our  own  century,  that  there  is  any  tendency  on  a  wide  scale  to 
part  with  and  disallow  the  hitherto  received  Christian  doctrine  of  the 
atonement?  I  think  that  this  question  must  be  answered  unhesita- 
tingly in  the  negative.  We  speak  of  Christians,  of  those  whose  life 
bears  the  Christian  impress,  and  who  have  the  confidence  generally 
of  the  Christian  Church — as  so  far  worthy  to  be  interpreters  of  dis- 
tinctively Christian  sentiment.  There  no  doubt  are  exceptional  men, 
and  there  are  exceptional  parties,  greater  or  less,  in  perhaps  all  Chris- 
tian churches,  who  indicate  some  kind  of  dissatisfaction  with  current 
phrases,  and  who  may  even  tend  to  cast  away  that  which  is  Scriptural 
and  precious.  But  in  many  cases,  if  not  in  most,  where  Christianity 
is  really  accepted  as  a  salvation  and  Christ  as  the  Saviour,  these 
peculiarities  may  be  charitably  regarded  as  a  recoil  from  exaggeration, 
as  an  effort  to  retrieve  some  neglected  side  of  truth  ;  and  hence,  not 
unnaturally  as  an  exaggeration  in  some  opposite  direction.  Nor  have 
the  great  body  of  those  to  whom  Christ  is  all  and  in  all  apparently 
swerved  by  any  real  deviation  from  the  faith  of  other  days.  They  do 
not  exalt  Christ  less  as  the  sin-bearer,  or  decline  from  the  fervent 
confession  that  "in  him  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  according  to  the  riches  of  his  grace."  In  the  most 
active,  zealous  and  flourishing  congregations  of  every  evangelical 
denomination,  the  great  centre  of  life  is  still  the  cross;  and  the  same 
banner  floats  above  every  successful  revival  and  every  advance  in  the 
mission  field.  Where  laxer  tendencies  exist,  they  are  not  associated 
with  separation  from  the  world  and  with  Christian  enterprise  ;  nor  has 
an  amended  doctrine  of  the  atonement  endeavored  to  make  way  either 
by  the  plea  of  higher  sanctification  or  of  use  in  missionary  warfare. 
An  excellent  test  of  the  acceptance  of  Christian  doctrine  is  its  place 
in  hymnology  ;  and  no  one  who  has  studied  recent  outbursts  of  sacred 
song,  whether  more  classic  or  more  popular,  will  have  any  difficulty 
in  deciding  that  in  all  the  living  centres  of  Protestant  Christianity, 
the  deepest  key-note  struck  continues  to  be  that  of  Paul  Gerhardt's, 
"O  Haupt  voll  Blut  und  Wunden,"  and  Cowper's,  "There  is  a 
fountain  filled  with  blood;  "  of  which,  as  examples  in  English  liter- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  363 

ature  only,  may  be  cited  :  "  Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea ;  "  "I  lay 
my  sins  on  Jesus;  "  "  Free  from  the  law,  O  happy  condition  !  "  In 
all  great  gatherings  of  Christians,  whether  as  at  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance meetings  in  Bale,  or  as  in  this  great  assembly,  no  utterances 
thrill  like  these;  and  it  cannot  be  supposed  there  is  any  change  of 
doctrine  while  the  old  strains  reach  every  heart.  I  am,  therefore,  not 
so  much  moved  as  some  by  the  alarms  of  theological  defection.  I 
dread  much  more  the  stifling  influence  of  worldliness  and  religious 
torpor  than  the  blasts  of  earnest  theological  debate  ;  and  I  would, 
therefore,  have  the  churches  represented  in  this  Alliance,  while 
watching  over  orthodoxy  by  every  right  means  and  discountenancing 
all  visible  error,  still  to  hold  on  their  path  in  the  confidence  that  their 
best  work  is  to  continue  to  preach  Christ  crucified,  whether  amidst 
calm  or  amidst  the  sounds  of  controversy,  assured  that  this  alone 
makes  way,  healing  the  wounded  conscience,  and  cleansing  the  saint 
from  all  remaining  sin  ;  and  that  the  victory  is  to  that  Church  in  the 
old  world  and  in  the  new,  in  the  homes  of  our  ripest  Christianity 
and  in  the  darkest  outfields  of  our  missions,  which  shall  most  ear- 
nestly, unswervingly,  devoutly  renew  that  ancient  confession  :  "The 
Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all,"  and  shall  turn  it  most 
gratefully  and  jubilantly  into  song, — the  song  alike  of  earth  and 
heaven  :  "  Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in 
his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his 
Father,  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  forever  and  ever.     Amen." 

The  President  [Taking  Prof.  Hodge  by  the  hand  as  he  came 
forward]:  Brethren,  may  I  for  a  moment  be  allowed  to  depart 
from  the  reticence  usually  observed  by  the  presiding  officer? 
A  Scotchman,  by  your  favor,  occupies  the  chair  to-day;  and  I 
think  I  speak  in  the  name  of  all  my  co-delegates  from  the  other 
side  of  the  ocean,  when  I  express  the  reverence,  the  admiration, 
the  gratitude  with  which  we  receive,  to  enshrine  in  our  heart 
of  hearts,  the  honored  name  borne  by  the  distinguished  Pro- 
fessor whose  hand  I  hold. 

Prof.  A.  A.  Hodge,  D.  D.,  of  Princeton,  N.  J.,  then  read  the 
following  paper : 

THE  VICARIOUS  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST,  AS  UNDER- 
STOOD BY  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES  REPRE- 
SENTED IN  THIS  COUNCIL. 

It   would  be  impossible   to  set   forth   in   the  space  allotted  to  this 

essay  all   the  evidence  upon  which   the   faith  of  the   Church  in   this 

•  great  corner-stone  of  human  redemption  rests.      I  propose,  therefore, 

to  treat  it  only  in  its  character  as  a  common  principal  article  in  the 


364  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

faith  of  those  historical  bodies  known  as  the  Presbyterian  Churches 
represented  in  this  Council. 

1st.  The  "Vicarious  Sacrifice  of  Christ"  is  a  phrase  having  a 
definite  meaning.  It  is  not  co-exteuLive  with  the  word  *'  redemp- 
tion," nor  does  it  include  the  whole  of  "  soteriology,"  nor  embrace 
those  provinces  marked  off  by  the  great  terms  "justification,"  "  sanc- 
tification,"  or  "adoption."  It  specifically  designates  the  sufferings 
and  death  of  Christ  in  their  relation  to  the  remission  of  sins,  and  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  justice  of  God.  This  "vicarious  sacrifice" 
unquestionably  has  other  aspects,  but  the  question  which  is  central  to 
all  others,  and  to  which  the  only  serious  debate  relates,  is  what  rela- 
tion do  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  sustain  to  the  forgiveness 
of  human  sins,  and  hence  to  the  salvation  of  sinners  ? 

The  doctrine  of  the  Reformed  or  Presbyterian  family  of  Churches 
is  that  the  "  vicarious  sacrifice  "  of  Christ  was  an  endurance  of  the 
penal  consequences  of  sin  by  the  offended  Lawgiver  in  the  place  of 
the  offending  subject ;  that  it  was  the  absolutely  essential  pre-condi- 
tion of  the  forgiveness  of  human  sins ;  and  that  this  absolute  neces- 
sity has  its  ground  in  the  immutable  moral  perfections  of  the  divine 
nature. 

2d.  That  tliis  has  been  from  the  beginning  the  one  unchanged, 
publicly  declared  and  covenanted  faith  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
there  cannot  be  a  shadow  of  doubt.  As  to  this  point  the  consensus 
of  all  the  Reformed  symbols  has  always  been  uniform  and  conspicu- 
ously clear.  The  First  Helvetic  Confession,  the  earliest  and  most 
simple  of  the  Reformed  symbols;  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession  and 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  the  most  generally  received  and  symbolicly 
authoritative  among  the  Continental  and  American  Churches,  teach 
precisely  the  same  doctrine  as  to  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ,  with 
precisely  the  same  tone  and  shading  as  that  taught  at  a  later  date  in 
Confessionsas  highly  developed  and  marked  by  as  specific  characteristics 
as  the  Confession  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  and  the  Formula 
Consensus  Helvetica  of  Heidegger.*  There  have  been  wide  di- 
versities exhibited  in  the  religious  life,  in  the  modes  of  worship,  and 
in  the  theological  speculations  of  the  various  branches  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  and  of  their  conspicuous  teachers  and  Avriters.  Infra-  and 
Supra-lapsarian  views  as  to  predestination  are  alike  represented  by 
high  authorities.  Differences  as  to  the  design  of  the  atonement,  as  to  our 
relation  to  Adam,  and  the  extent  to  which  and  the  manner  in  which  his 
apostacy  has  affected  us,  have  divided  our  schools  of  theology,  and 
all  claim  to  be  embraced  within  the  limits  of  our  recognized  orthodoxy. 
But  with  strictly  provincial  and  temporary  exceptions,  which  have 
secured  the  adherence  of  not  a  single  one  of  our  historical  Presbyte- 
rian bodies,  the  substitutionary  and  penal  character  of  the  vicarious, 

*  Confessio  Ifelvelica  Prior,  XI.  Confessio  Helvetica  Posterior,  Cap.  XV.  \  3. 
The  Heiflelberj^  Catechism,  Ques.  n-40.  Formula  Consensus  Helvetica,  cans 
XUI-XVI.     The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  Caps.  VIII.  and  XI. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  365 

sacrifice  of  Christ  remains  the  professed  and  covenanted  faith  of  all 
our  Churches. 

This  determines  the  sense  in  which  this  doctrine  is  professed  by 
this  Council,  the  fundamental  principle  of  its  constitution  being 
that  the  members  of  such  Churches  only  are  admitted,  "  whose  creed 
is  in  harmony  with  the  consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confessions." 

3d.  This  uniform  consensus  of  the  Churches  represented  in  this  Coun- 
cil extends  not  only  to  the  doctrine  itself,  but  also  to  its  relative  posi- 
tion in  that  whole  system  of  truths  which  is  most  surely  believed  among 
us.  This  doctrine  of  vicarious  sacrifice  is  not  only  essential  in  itself, 
but  it  is  fundamental  to  the  whole  system ;  it  is  an  architectonic 
principle  which  will  always  configure  the  entire  fabric  of  rational  be- 
lief to  its  own  law.  All  experience  proves  that  a  true  doctrine  of  the 
incarnation  carries  with  it  a  corresponding  view  of  the  vicarious  suf- 
fering of  Christ.  The  Humanitarian,  Arian  and  low  Arminian  Sub- 
ordination views  as  to  the  trinity  and  person  of  Christ  have  always 
been  connected  as  cause  or  effect  with  correspondingly  modified  views 
as  to  the  significance  of  his  suffering  and  death.  As  is  a  man's  theory 
of  virtue,  so  will  be  his  theory  of  the  atonement.  Systems  of  morals, 
whether  spiritual  or  utilitarian,  assimilate  corresponding  views  as  to 
the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  our  Lord.  The  broad  Biblical  teaching  as  to 
the  uT'iion  of  the  Christian  with  Christ,  as  to  the  nature  of  faith  and 
its  office  in  the  plan  of  salvation,  and  as  to  the  relation  of  the  work 
of  Christ  to  the  justification,  sanctification,  adoption,  perseverance 
and  glorification  of  his  people,  all  demand  the  view  maintained  by 
Our  Churches  as  to  vicarious  sacrifice.  Scriptural  experience  of  sin, 
of  its  turpitude,  of  its  guilt,  and  of  its  power  as  an  indwelling  prin- 
ciple in  our  nature,  has  never  found  moral  equilibrium  with  any  other 
view  of  the  sacrificial  work  of  Christ.  '  With  every  revival  of  religion, 
and  in  constant  proportion  to  the  depth  and  power  of  the  prevalent 
religious  experience,  this  doctrine  of  a  blood-bought  salvation  has 
always  been  the  more  sharply  emphasized  in  the  prayers,  the  hymns 
and  the  expressed  thoughts  of  God's  people.  The  cross  as  the  meet- 
ing-place of  infinite  justice  and  love,  as  the  fountain  of  inexhaustible 
streams  of  life  and  righteousness  effected  by  sacrificial  blood,  has  been 
the  inspiration  of  all  the  heroic  living  and  doing  of  the  distinctively 
Christian  type  which  has  appeared   in  the  course  of  human  history. 

This  doctrine  of  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  our  Lord,  as  the  Presby- 
terian Churches  have  always  held  it,  carries  with  it  our  whole  gospel 
and  our  entire  religious  and  ecclesiastical  life.  Any  attempt  to 
modify  this  is,  in  effect,  an  attempt  to  discard  the  whole  system  of 
religion  we  have  inherited  from  our  fathers,  and  to  substitute  a  dif- 
ferent one  in  its  place. 

4th.  \\\  the  fourth  place  we  afifirm  that  the  doctrine  common  to  the 
Presbyterian  Churches  is  in  the  broadest  sense  catholic.  The  con- 
scious grasp  of  the  Church  on  this,  as  upon  every  other  point  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  has  passed  through  a  protracted  process  of  development 


366  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

from  the  beginning,  and  has  become  clearer  and  more  consistent  with 
the  advance  of  the  ages.  But  this  growth  has  been  always  uniformly 
in  one  direction.  Different  side  views  and  complimentary  aspects  of 
the  truth  have  been  more  or  less  prominently  emphasized  at  different 
times.  But  still  the  central  principle  of  a  vicarious  suffering  of  the 
penal  consequences  of  sin  has  always  been  presupposed  and  more  or 
less  prominently  set  forth.  It  is  undeniable  that  the  ancient  Jewish 
Rabbins  and  the  early  Christian  Fathers  interpreted  the  sin-offerings 
of  the  Mosaic  ritual  just  as  we  do.  In  spite  of  all  the  fluctuation  of 
point  of  view,  and  crudeness  of  statement  which  prevailed  among  the 
early  Christians,  the  objective  reference  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  to 
the  justice  of  God  never  failed  of  a  witness  in  the  prayers,  hymns,  and 
religious  writings  of  the  Church.  From  the  time  of  Anselm  it  has 
been  more  clearly  discriminated  and  sharply  defined  and  prominently 
emphasized,  and  with  the  related  doctrines  of  the  Incarnation  and 
the  supernatural  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  has  taken  its  permanent 
place  at  the  heart  of  the  Christian  system,  the  common  principle  of 
all  creeds.  At  the  Reformation,  while  the  divergencies  between  the 
Catholic  and  Protestant  views  of  justification  or  the  personal  applica- 
tion of  redemption  were  so  great  as  to  preclude  comparison,  all 
recognized  the  fact  that  as  to  the  underlying  doctrine  of  the  vicarious 
sacrifice  of  Christ  the  parties  were  perfectly  agreed.  Since  that  date 
to  the  present  moment  all  the  various  speculative  and  partial  theories, 
as  to  the  nature  and  significance  of  that  sacrifice,  which  have  had  cur- 
rency among  the  various  Protestant  schools  of  religious  thought,  have 
also  had  their  day  in  the  Catholic  coteries.  Yet  all  the  while  the 
juridical  view  remains  with  the  Catholics  as  with  the  Protestants,  the 
only  one  which  has  general  prevalence  or  permanence  or  symbolical 
authority.*  The  same  perfect  agreement  holds  between  the  Lutheran 
and  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  between  the  several  symbolical 
books  of  each  confession. 

5th.  In  the  fifth  place,  we  affirm,  the  interpretation  given  by  our 
great  historical  symbols  to  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ  is  central, 
and  comprehensive  of  all  other  rational  views  of  the  same  ever  enter- 
tained in  the  Church,  and  the  essential  precondition  of  each  of  them. 
These  subsidiary  views  have  been  exceedingly  numerous,  and  continue 
to  be  issued  as  novelties  and  improvements  up  to  the-  present  time. 
They  are  frequently  set  forth  with  the  most  pretentious  assumptions 
of  originality,  of  spiritual  insight,  or  of  elevation  and  breadth  of  view. 
Yet  every  instance  affords  new  illustrations  of  the  general  principle, 
that  the  great  doctrines  which  are  maintained  by  the  consensus  of  all 
the  Church  creeds  are  great  whole.,,  which  embrace  and  integrate  in 
a  common  principle  all  the  elements  and  subordinate  relations  of  the 
truth  revealed.  The  originators  of  new  and  special  views  have  often 
been  men  of  original  genius  and  of  profound  religious  experience,  and 
the  controversies  they  excite  have  often  been  of  use  in  recalling  to 

*  Cone.  Trident,  sess.  6,  chap.  vii.     Cat.  Rom.^  2,  5,  63. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  367 

the  consciousness  of  the  Church  some  hitherto  neglected  aspect  or 
relation  of  the  truth  she  loves.  Nevertheless,  their  pet  theories  have 
always  been  imj)ossible  factions  of  the  truth,  incapable  of  independent 
life,  needing  the  sui)port  of  the  great  integrating  principle  emphasized 
in  the  old  formulas  of  the  fathers. 

The  truth  and  wide-reaching  significance  of  this  allegation  will 
appear  when  we  examine  in  detail  the  various  theories  which  have 
been  presented  as  substitutes  for  the  great  scriptural  and  symbolical 
doctrine  of  the  pee na  vicaria,  the  vicarious  suffering  of  the  penalty  of 
sin  in  the  stead  of  sinners.  In  each  case  it  will  be  found  that  the 
proposed  substitute,  while  it  presents  an  important  element  of  the 
whole  truth,  is  absurd  when  represented  as  an  independent  whole  in 
itself,  and  that  it  derives  its  entire  significance  from  the  underlying 
principle  o{  \.\\t  poena  vicaria  presupposed  in  it. 

For  example:  (ist.)The  theory  that  Christ  came  into  the  world 
for  the  purpose  of  undergoing  predetermined  and  deliberately  pre- 
arranged suiferings  and  death  simply  in  order  to  exhibit  the  love  of 
God  to  men,  or  to  produce  upon  the  souls  of  men  a  subduing,  or  a 
hope-inspiring  moral  impression  is  self-evidently  absurd.  Such  a 
gratuitous  sacrifice  would  have  been  no  exhibition  of  love,  and  such  a 
studious  effort  at  effect  would  have  defeated  its  own  design  by  means 
of  its  transparent  affectation.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  fact  that 
the  death  of  Christ  was  really  a  vicarious  suffering  of  the  penalty  of  sin, 
and  as  such  was  absolutely  necessary  to  render  the  forgiveness  of  sin 
consistent  with  the  essential  righteousness  of  God,  then  it  is  seen  at 
once  and  by  all  to  be  a  transcendent  exhibition  of  divine  love,  and  a 
most  efficient  means  of  subduing  the  enmity  and  of  reassuring  the 
fearful  hearts  of  sinful  men. 

(2d.)  The  doctrine  that  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  were 
simply  designed  "to  illustrate  the  principle  of  self-sacrifice,  as  due 
from  all  God's  intelligent  creatures  to  him  who  made  them,  and  as 
constituting  their  true  dignity  and  excellence  as  moral  beings,"  is, 
when  taken  by  itself,  no  less  evidently  baseless  and  irrational.  Self- 
sacrifice,  in  the  sense  of  the  mortification  of  inherent  sin,  was  im- 
possible for  Christ.  And  self-sacrifice  in  the  sense  of  the  gratuitous 
rejection  and  refusal  to  enjoy,  and  put  to  the  best  possible  account  all 
the  endowments  of  God  of  every  kind,  and  all  the  means  and  condi- 
tions of  blessedness,  was  never  demanded  by  God,  and  is  not  consistent 
with  healthy,  rational  piety.  On  the  other  hand,  when  once  the 
true  character  of  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ  and  its  absolute 
necessity  in  order  to  reconcile  justice  and  mercy  is  recognized  ;  then 
it  is  at  once  and  by  all  seen  to  be  indeed  a  transcendent  example 
of  the  purest  and  holiest  self-sacrifice  for  the  attainment  of  a  worthy 
end  otherwise  unattainable.  And  as  such  it  has  proved,  when  so  un- 
derstood, to  be  to  men  the  most  inspiring  example  of  self-sacrifice 
conceivable. 

(3d.)  The  doctrine  that  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ  consists 
simply  in  his  sentimental  identification  with  human  sinners  through 
the  combined  power  of  his  sympathy  with  them  and   his  hatred  of 


368  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

their  sin,  so  that  in  the  sufferings  growing  out  of  tliat  sympatlietic 
self-identification  lie  has  made  "a  perfect  confession  of  those  sins,  a 
confession  which  must,  in  "its  own  nature,  have  been  2i perfect  amen  to 
the  judgment  of  God  on  the  sin  of  man,"  "which  has  all  the  elements 
of  contrition  aud  repentance,"  belongs  to  the  same  class.  It  has  an 
apparent  coherence  and  verisimilitude  simply  because  it  so  trans- 
parently presupposes  the  truth  of  the  catholic  doctrine  which  we 
Presbyterians  maintain.  Obviously  vicarious  repentance  and  vicari- 
ous confession  imply  legal  substitution,  and  legal  substitution  requires 
the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  the  penalty  to  complete  it.  No  possible 
amen  to  the  "judgment  of  God  on  the  sin  of  man  "  is  so  "  perfect" 
as  that  of  the  voluntary  suffering  of  the  poena  vicai-ia.  Besides  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  consciousness  of  all  Christians  uniformly  ascribe 
our  salvation  not  to  the  spiritual  experiences,  but  to  rhe  blood  and 
death  of  Christ,  as  of  a  "  sin-offering,"  as  of  one  "  made  a  curse  for 
us."  Undoubtedly  his  vicarious  sacrifice  presupposes  his  substitution, 
and  his  legal  substitution  presupposes  his  moral  identification  through 
sympathy  and  love  at  once  with  the  offending  sinner  and  with  the 
offended  Judge.  This  moral  identification  is  doubtless  the  prerequisite 
of  his  substitution  in  the  place  of  sinners  and  of  his  sufferings  being 
accepted  in  the  stead  of  theirs.  But  the  scriptural  fact  remains  that 
he  saves  us  by  his  death,  and  his  death  avails  for  that  end  because  he 
has  so  identified  himself  with  us  that  as  he  so  regards  our  sin  his  own 
that  he  "  rei^ents  of  and  confesses  it,"  so  God  regards  his  sufferings 
ours  to  the  end  of  satisfying  the  penalty. 

(4th.)  The  theory  first  clearly  set  forth  by  Hugo  Grotius,  that  the  vi- 
carious sacrifice  of  Christ,  instead  of  being  a  xt2\ poena  vicaria,  designed 
to  satisfy  the  just  wrath  of  God  against  sin,  was  merely  an  exemplary 
exhibition  of  God's  displeasure  against  sin  as  a  wise  and  benevolent 
ruler,  is,  like  the  others,  conspicuously  absurd,  when  made  to  staml  by 
itself,  and  is  isolated  from  theChurch  doctrine  which  is  presupposed 
in  it.  How  can  the  infliction  of  suffering  be  an  example  of  a  pun- 
ishment, or  of  God's  determination  to  punish  sin,  except  precisely  in 
so  far  as  it  is  itself  a  veritable  instance  of  that  punishment?  Yet 
when  taken  in  connection  with  the  underlying  truth  of  the  Church 
doctrine  it  becomes  an  unquestionable  truth,  and  one  of  the  highest 
importance.  If  it  does  not  satisfy  the  vindicatory  justice  of  God,  it 
cannot  act  as  a  sin-deterring  example  of  the  demands  of  such  justice 
upon  really  intelligent  subjects  of  moral  law.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
it  be  indeed,  as  our  Church  affirms,  an  instance  of  the  vicarious  as- 
sumption and  endurance  of  penalty  by  the  Holy  Law-giver  himself 
in  the  stead  of  sinners,  then  certainly  this  sacrifice  of  Christ  is  the 
most  cons])icuous  and  perfect  example  possible  even  to  God  of  the 
fact  that  sin  must,  by  an  absolute  necessity,  be  punished  without  any 
possible  exception.  And  at  the  same  time  and  for  the  same  reason  it 
becomes  the  most  jjowerful  sin-deterring  motive  which  even  God  could 
present  to  the  subjects  of  his  moral  government. 

(6th.)  What  are  the  tendencies  at  present  prevalent  among  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  369 

Presbyterian  Churches  controlling  the  treatment  of  this  doctrine? 
If  what  has  been  said  above  is  true  ;  if  the  juridical  view  of  Christ's 
vicarious  sacrifice  is  the  catholic  doctrine  of  the  historical  Christian 
Churches  of  all  time  ;  if  it  is  the  doctrine  emphasized  in  each  Reformed 
Confession  without  exception  ;  and  if  it  is  essential  and  fundamental 
to  the  entire  theological  system  held  by  those  Churches;  if  these 
things  be  true,  it  is  evident  that  no  legitimate  development  of  thought 
can  ever  change  the  fundamental  principle.  It  is  still  emphasized  in 
our  prayers  and  hymns  ;  it  is  still  preached  by  all  those  preachers  who 
remain  faithful  to  their  ordination  vows;  it  still  sounds  the  key-note 
of  all  revivals,  of  all  the  mission  work,  and  really  vital  action  of  the 
Churches.  As  far  as  really  living,  the  Churches  hold  this  historical 
doctrine  as  of  old.  To  change  it  would  involve  the  revolution  of  the 
Church — not  its  development  into  a  higher  form,  but  the  substitution 
of  a  different  institution  in  its  place.  All  tendencies  of  this  sort  are 
illegitimate,  and  should  be  corrected  by  adequate  controversy,  and 
prevented  by  the  surgical  knife  of  discipline. 

The  legitimate  tendency  at  present,  therefore,  while  loyally  con- 
serving the  old  juridical  view,  as  essential  and  central,  is  to  recog- 
nize more  fully  than  before  the  real  truth  and  importance  of  all  the 
partial  and  subsidiary  side  views  and  aspects,  which  heretics  have 
perverted  by  isolating  and  exalting  out  of  their  due  secondary  and 
relative  position.  The  orthodox  doctrine  is  more  and  more  seen  not 
only  to  be  essential  and  radical,  but  also  catholic  and  comprehensive, 
affording  the  necessary  basis  for  all  the  side  lights  and  secondary 
aspects  of  the  great  scriptural  truth,  which  individuals  have  often  seen 
disconnectedly,  and  have  often  unduly  isolated  and  emphasized. 
The  statement  of  this  great  truth  at  the  hands  of  orthodox  theologians 
is  becoming  less  mechanical,  less  logically  squared,  and  more  after 
the  manner  of  the  word  and  works  of  God,  where  truth  lies  in  broad 
surfaces  and  not  in  narrow  lines,  where  it  has  breadth  as  well  as 
length,  and  where  the  glory  of  the  parts  melts  into  the  greater  glory 
of  the  whole. 

The  Rev.  T.  D.  Witherspoon,  D.  D.,  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  next 
read  the  following  paper  on 

THE  DURATION  OF  FUTURE  PUNISHMENT. 

In  approaching  the  subject  of  future  retribution  we  find  ourselves 
confronted  with  certain  facts  which  seem  worthy  of  a  moment's  pre- 
liminary consideration. 

ist.  In  favor  of  what  is  commonly  known  as  the  orthodox  doctrine, 
which  postulates  the  absolute  endlessness  of  the  state  of  the  lost,  stands 
the  almost  unbroken  testimony  of  the  Church  of  God  for  eighteen 
centuries — a  testimony  borne  with  singular  unanimity  by  this  witness- 
ing Church,  which  is  *' the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,"  through 
24 


370  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

all  its  successive  stages — apostolic,  primitive,  catholic  and  reformed — ■ 
a  testimony  expressed  through  official  symbols,  through  versions  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures  both  ancient  and  modern,  through  commenta- 
ries, homilies  and  didactic  treatises;  in  a  word  through  the  whole 
current  of  literature,  exegetical,  dogmatic,  homiletic  and  devotional 
— a  testimony  at  once  so  voluminous  and  so  explicit,  that,  if  it  were 
now  proposed  to  abandon  the  orthodox  view,  and  give  unambiguous 
expression  to  any  other  that  has  been  suggested,  every  creetl  of 
Christendom  would  need  to  be  altered,  every  version  of  the  Scriptures 
amended,  every  commentary  and  treatise  in  theology  in  part  re- 
written ;  every  lexicon,  which  treats  of  the  original  words  under  which 
the  doctrine  of  future  punishment  is  inculcated,  would  require  to  be 
revised,  and  the  great  mass  of  Christian  poetry,  oratory,  history  and 
philosophy  expurgated.  A  new  system  of  ideas  and  of  words  must  be 
introduced,  and  the  current  phraseology  of  the  Church  for  eighteen 
-centuries  be  rendered  obsolete. 

2d.  While  such  has  been  the  attitude  of  Christ's  witnessing  Church 
i\\  the  past  towards  this  doctrine,  it  is  evident  that  at  present  a  strong 
popular  current  is  setting  against  it.  Not  only  does  this  opposition 
.appear  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  professor's  chair,  and  in  the  stately 
■columns  of  the  theological  review,  but  the  secular  literature  of  the 

•  day  is  largely  tinged  with  it.  The  orthodox  doctrine  is  caricatured 
in  prose  and  travestied  in  verse.  Its  advocates  are  stigmatized  as 
■"  Pharisees,"  "dogmatists,"  "friends  of  everlasting  punishment," 
•etc.  The  entire  basis  of  the  doctrine  is  declared  to  be  "  fiendish 
vengeance."*  It  is  characterized  as  "  what  fear  and  superstition  and 
ignorance  and  inveterate  hate,  and  slavish  letter-worship  have  taught 

.and  dreamed  of  hell."t  The  effort  is  strenuously  made  to  represent 
the  opposition  as  a  healthful  reaction  of  Christian  .sentiment  from  the 
"coarse  terrorism  of  the  Puritan,"  and  of  a  sounder  exegesis  of 
^Scripture,  dispelling  the  "  baleful  meteors  of  anathematizing  ortho- 
•doxy."  And  yet  the  very  violence  of  declamation  to  which  the 
-opponents  of  the  orthodox  doctrine  resort,  their  substitution  in  such 
large  measure  of  mere  invective  for  argument,  and  of  passionate 
appeals  to  human  sympathy  for  critical  and  patient  inquiry,  leave  it 
-at  least  questionable  if  their  opposition  be  not  the  offspring  of  passion 
rather  than  of  reason,  the  outgrowth  of  a  sentiment,  rather  than  of  a 

•  conviction  based  upon  exhaustive  and  impartial  research. 

3d.  The  moral  weight  of  this  opposition  is  greatly  lessened  by  certain 
facts  which  cannot  be  disguised,  namely,  that  the  few  authorities  in 
■the  early  Church  to  which  it  appeals,  including  Origen  and  some  of 
his  disciples,  were  not  only  unsound  upon  many  other  points  of 
•Christian  dogma,  but  were  confessedly  Neo-Platonists,  seduced  into 
.a  renunciation  of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  final  retribution  by  the 
•charms  of  the  pagan  doctrine  of  metempsychosis — that  the  present 
.leaders  of  the  opposition  are  almost  without  exception  latitudinarian 

*  Maudsley's  "  Phys.,"  p.  415.  -j-  Fairar's  "  Eternal  Hope,"  p.  201. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  371 

in  doctrine,  lax  in  their  views  of  inspiration,  and  rationalistic  in 
their  theories  of  interpretation,  and  that  the  influence  their  writings 
have  exerted  has  been  due  in  great  measure  to  their  appeal  to  the 
maudlin  sentimentalism  of  the  day,  which  revolts  at  the  thought  of 
capital  punishment,  and  in  great  measure  at  penal  suffering  of  every 
kind  ;  which  looks  upon  sin  rather  as  a  misfortune  to  be  pitied,  or  at 
worst  a  disease  to  be  healed,  than  as  a  crime  to  be  visited  with  such 
condign  punishment  as  shall  be  at  once  an  expression  of  the  divine 
holiness  and  a  safeguard  for  righteousness  throughout  the  universe  of 
God. 

4th.  The  broken  and  discordant  nature  of  the  opposition  also 
deserves  a  moment's  notice.  Suppose  we  abandon  the  orthodox 
view,  dispossess  the  word  eternal  of  the  sense  of  endlessness,  and 
engraft  upon  the  word  forever  the  idea  of  an  end :  what  have  we 
then  ?  What  well-defined  system  can  these  declaimers  against  ortho- 
doxy present  ?  Between  the  conflicting  schools  of  universalism,  and 
annihilationism,  and  restorationism,  and  that  latest  and  most  popular 
of  all — shall  I  call  it  seonism? — which  holds  that  "  to  aflirm  the  end- 
ing of  punishment  is  to  fall  short  of  Scripture,  and  to  affirm  its  end- 
lessness is  to  go  beyond  Scripture,"*  whose  chief  tenet  in  other 
words  is  to  hold  that  it  does  not  know  what  to  hold,  since  the  author 
of  Scrijjture  has  left  the  whole  matter  in  hopeless  ambiguity  between 
all  these  conflicting  schools — I  say  where  is  the  Church  of  God  to 
find  solid  ground  upon  which  to  rest  the  sole  of  her  foot? 

5th.  The  only  basis  on  which  this  whole  question  can  be  safely 
rested  is  the  direct  testimony  of  the  word  of  God.  There  is  no  sub- 
ject in  which  it  is  more  perilous  to  draw  conclusions  from  what  are 
called  "  intuitions  of  the  Christian  consciousness,"  and  "arguments 
upon  moral  grounds."  We  cannot  view  the  problems  of  sin  and 
retribution  in  all  their  relations  and  with  all  their  conditions,  as  these 
are  present  to  the  mind  of  God  ;  and  even  if  we  could,  our  own 
personal  interests  are  too  deeply  involved.  There  is  too  much  play 
for  the  sympathies  which  the  anticipation  of  suffering  evokes,  and  too 
much  stupefaction  of  the  moral  sense  by  reason  of  indwelling  sin,  to 
render  it  possible  for  us  to  give  an  impartial  decision.  As  well  might 
a  criminal  in  one  of  our  courts  be  expected  to  fix  impartially  the  term 
of  his  own  imprisonment.  Our  appeal  must  be  simply  to  the  word  of 
God.  We  must  first  ascertain  what  term  it  fixes,  and  then  bring  our 
own  convictions  as  to  the  demerit  of  sin  and  the  ends  of  justice  up  to 
this  standard,  so  that  our  views  of  sin  and  penalty  shall  strictly  con- 
form to  the  doctrine  of  God's  word. 

6th.  In  this  appeal  to  Scripture  the  issue  must  rest  in  great  measure 
upon  the  interpretation  of  a  i&\i  crucial  texts,  and  the  interpretation 
of  these  upon  the  signification  of  a  few  pivotal  words.  Nothing, 
therefore,  can  be  more  unreasonable  than  the  outcry  of  our  opponents 
against  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  "  the  ignorant  tyranny  of  isolated 

*  Clemance's  ••  Fut.  Pun."  p.  8o. 


372  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

texts."*  The  doctrine  for  which  we  contend  does  not  rest  upon 
isolated  texts,  but,  even  if  it  did,  one  single  text  of  Scripture,  whose 
authenticity  is  beyond  question,  and  whose  teaching  is  unambiguous, 
is  enough  upon  which  to  found  a  doctrine,  constituting  as  it  does  a 
part  of  the  everliving  witness  of  Him  who  is  the  truth,  whose  "  yea 
is  yea,"  and  whose  "word  cannot  be  broken." 

In  coming  before  you  to-day  I  have  no  purpose  to  attempt  a  com- 
pass of  the  whole  range  of  this  controversy.  Time  would  not  permit. 
I  take  my  stand  upon  a  single  point  in  the  line  of  defense — one  that 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  key  to  the  whole  position.  I  shall  ask  your  at- 
tention to  a  review,  in  the  light  of  recent  scholarship,  of  the  signifi- 
cation of  a  single  word — a  commonplace  word,  I  know,  but  one  upon 
which  the  whole  controversy  is  made  to  hinge.  I  refer  to  the  word 
aiwc.  Of  the  original  signification  of  this  word  no  better  exi>ression 
can  be  given  than  that  found  in  the  celebrated  passage  of  Aristotle, 
in  which  he  represents  aiZ^v  as  being  "  the  complete  period  either  of 
each  particular  life  or  of  all  existence."!  We  do  not  here  insist  upon 
the  etymology  of  txl^v  given  by  Aristotle,  who  makes  it  to  be  a  com- 
pound of  a.iu,  forever,  and  Z>v,  existing,  so  that  it  carries  in  its  very 
structure  the  idea  of  eternity.  Classical  scholars  all  agree  that  it 
comes  from  that  root  whose  simplest  formation,  and  therefore  the  one 
most  colorless,  is  the  adverb  ail,  foreirer.  They  all  agree  that  this 
same  root,  passing  into  other  languages  of  the  Indo-European  stock, 
appears  in  the  German  eivig  and  the  English  aye  and  ever ;  that  it 
lies  at  the  basis  of  the  Latin  ceternus,  ceternitas,  and  the  English  eter- 
nal and  eternity.  But  that  which  we  claim  as  of  importance  is  the 
testimony  of  Aristotle  as  to  the  usage  of  the  word  to  signify  the  com- 
plete period  of  existence.  Taking  this  idea  of  the  complete  period, 
the  all  of  existence,  as  our  clue,  it  is  easy  to  trace  the  whole  classic 
usage  of  the  word  ;  for  evidently  the  first  measure  of  completed  ex- 
istence which  suggested  itself  to  the  mind  was  a  human  life.  It  was 
the  man's  all  of  existence  to  the  eye  of  sense.  Hence,  in  the  earliest 
Greek  literature  a  man's  life  is  his  atwi/.  And  so,  viewed  by  these 
same  standards  of  sense,  the  nation  has  its  ai^v — its  all  of  existence 
from  its  rise  to  its  fall.  The  material  world,  in  so  far  as  it  is  viewed 
as  temporal,  has  its  aiC^v — its  all  of  duration.  But  as  the  mind  ad-, 
vances  in  thought  beyond  the  temporal  and  finite,  there  comes  into 
view,  first  dimly  shadowed  forth,  then  more  clearly  revealed  to  cog- 
nition, a  past  in  which  there  must  have  been  existeiK:e  of  some  kind 
that  never  began,  a  future  in  which  there  must  be  existence  of  some 
kind  that  shall  never  end.  And  thus  atwr  comes  to  signify  the  com- 
plete period  of  all  existence,  past  and  future, — eternity  in  its  strictest 
sense — .that  unmeasured  and  measureless  duration  in  which  all  con- 
ceivable time  is  but  a  brief  parenthesis,  a  ripple  upon  the  surfoce  of 
an  ocean  without  bottom  and  without  shore. 

*  Farrar's  "  Eternal  Hope,"  p.  75. 

■j-  Aristotle,  "  De  Coelo,"  i.  9,  15,  liddell  &  Scott,  6th'  Eng.  ed.,  sub. -verb  a'lhv. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


373 


That  this  is  uniformly  the  sense  of  ai^v,  as  used  by  the  ethical 
writers  of  Greece,  can  hardly  be  a  matter  of  doubt.  Indeed,  the 
very  difference  of  its  usage  by  Plato  and  Aristotle  in  reference  to  the 
material  heavens  is  a  conclusive  proof.  Plato,  who  believed  the 
heavens  (oipafb^)  to  have  been  created,  and  therefore  not  eternal,  con- 
trasts them  with  a.iCjv,  saying  that  they,  long  enduring  as  they  are,  are 
the  measures  of  time  ;  but  aiCjv,  eternity,  is  without  measure,  move- 
ment, or  change.*  Aristotle,  who  believed  the  heavens  to  be  eternal, 
in  the  strict  sense  of  without  beginning  or  end,  made  them  to  be  the 
measure  of  eternity,  and  aXCav  to  be  the  full  period  which  includes  the 
existence  of  the  heavens,  as  it  also  includes  infinite  time  and  infinity, 
Or  the  infinite  itself.  Not  only  do  the  philosophers  and  ethical 
writers  claim  this  as  the  only  proi^er  sense  of  the  word  an^r,  but  even 
in  more  popular  usage,  where  reference  is  to  existence  beyond  the 
present  sphere,  this  is  the  invariable  sense  of  the  word.  Even  in  the 
Greek  poets,  where  a.lu,v  is  so  frequently  used  for  the  measure  of  human 
life,  etc.,  whenever  you  rise  to  that  which  is  beyond  this  present  life, 
aiCiV  assumes  the  full  sweep  of  its  philosophic  sense.  Thus  Jove  is  5 
otwi',  "the  eternal  one  ;"f  not,  indeed,  eternal  a  pai'te ante,  for  he  is 
immediately  called  x^ovov  Ttdii,  but  eternal  a  parte  post,  5  o.i.C^v  being 
used  as  the  equivalent  of  5  kQava-co^,  as  the  gods  are  called  ti  dii  o^tfj 
interchangeably  with  ot  aOdvatoi.  And  so,  in  the  more  popular  class 
of  prose  writers,  such  as  orators,  rhetoricians,  etc.,  whilst  we  find  un- 
questionably the  earlier  and  freer  usage  of  the  word  in  reference  to 
the  material  and  perishable  about  us,  yet  we  find  in  reference  to  the 
future,  the  invisible,  the  spiritual,  that  the  word  is  used  in  its  strictest 
sense,  dTt'a^Cjva  signifying  from  the  period  that  is  without  beginning, 
tii  atiLi-a  to  the  period  that  is  without  end.  When  we  come,  therefore, 
to  the  Scriptures,  we  are  prepared  to  expect  that  when  aiuv  and  its 
derivative  atwiaof  are  used  of  anything  pertaining  to  a  future  and  in- 
visible state,  they  will  signify  a  period  absolutely  without  end.  What 
then  do  we  actually  find  ? 

I.  When  the  Septuagint  writers  are  to  translate  passages  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  which  conveyed,  and  were  intended  to  convey 
with  the  utmost  emphasis,  the  idea  of  a  period  without  beginning  and 
without  end,  expressions  connected  with  the  being  of  God,  his  king- 
dom, glory,  mercy,  etc.,  where  the  aim  of  the  inspired  writer  was 
unquestionably  to  give  distinct,  unambiguous,  emphatic  expression  to 
the  absolute  eternity  of  that  of  which  he  affirmed,  these  Septuagint 
translators  invariably  used  the  words  aiCJv  and  attinoj.  I  say  nothing 
now  of  those  cases  in  which  oSijT  is  used  of  a  period  less  than  eternal, 
I  shall  come  to  them  directly.  I  speak  now  of  the  passages  in  which 
the  whole  power  is  lost  unless  this  idea  of  eternity  is  conveyed.  And 
I  say  that  the  fact  that  these  words  are  used  in  these  passages  indicates 
that  they  were,  in  the  minds  of  the  translators,  the  strongest  and  least 
ambiguous  words  that  could  be  found.     If  there  had  been  terms  to 

*  Tim.  37,38.  f  "  Eurip.  Herac,"  900. 


374  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

express  more  strongly  and  unambiguously  the  idea  of  eternity,  they 
would  certainly  have  been  employed. 

2.  Whilst  we  find  the  words  otuiv  and  cuuvioj  used  in  the  Septuagint 
version  to  translate  dSi^s  where  it  refers  to  a  period  less  than  eternal, 
as  of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  the  world-period  preceding  the  coming 
of  Christ,  etc.,  yet  in  every  such  case  the  limitation  arises  out  of  the 
nature  of  the  subject,  as  connected  with  the  present  material  and 
tangible  state;  nor  is  there,  in  all  the  twelve*  instances  in  which  there 
is  no  such  necessary  dependence,  a  single  one  in  which  the  words  do 
not  involve  the  idea  of  beginningless,  if  of  the  past,  and  endless,  if 
of  the  future,  unless  the  single  exception  be  found  in  that  one  passage 
which  refers  to  future  punishment  (Dan.  xii.  2),  and  there  the  same 
word,  otuvios,  which  is  used  of  the  duration  of  the  punishment,  is  used 
in  the  same  verse  to  express  the  duration  of  the  life  of  the  blessed, 
which  is  confessedly  eternal.  The  testimony  of  the  Seventy  is  there- 
fore overwhelmingly  for  the  endlessness  of  the  period  expressed  by 
otwv,  and  it  will  not,  I  think,  be  regarded  as  unsafe  if  we  take  as  our 
authority  for  the  meaning  of  atuii-  and  oiLvi-><i  the  Seventy  rather  than 
the  interpreters  of  the  modern  "j^ionian"  school. 

3.  When  we  come  to  the  NjwTestanient  usage,  the  same  principles 
appear  and  the  same  conclusions  inevitably  follow.  There  are  twenty- 
five  instances  of  the  use  of  oiwv  to  signify  periods  of  duration  which 
are  not  strictly  eternal, f  but  in  every  case  in  which  it  is  so  used  the 
subject  is  one  that  admits  of  only  a  limited  duration,  and  the  word 
oti^iv  retains  its  original  force,  as  expressing  the  totality  of  duration  of 
that  to  which  it  refers.;];  In  six  instances  it  is  used  to  contrast  the 
present  visible  oiw»»  with  the  future  invisible  one,  in  none  of  which 
is  there  anything  to  intimate  that  this  future  complete  period  is  any- 
thing less  than  absolutely  endless.§  Then  we  have  a  few  cases  in 
which  Qtww  is  used  of  the  past  in  connection  with  oTtb  and  i|.|| 

Bearing  in  mind  the  characteristic  difference  between  ano  and  ix  in 
time  relations,  the  former  signifying  from  the  hither  margin  of,  and 
the  latter  from  out  of  the  bosom  of,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  under- 
standing the  word  lui^  in  its  strict  sense  of  eternity  a  parte  anie,  in 

*  Dent,  xxxiii.  40;  Isa.  Ivii.  15;  Isa.  liv.  8;  Ps.  xc.  2;  Ps.  cxlv.  13;  Mic.  v.  2, 
Ps.  cxv.  13;   Dan.  iv.  3;   Dan.  ii.  44  j  \~a.  xl.  28;   Isa.  ix.  20;    Ps.  ex.  4. 

•j-  Matt.  xii. 32;  xiii. 22,39,  40,  49;  xxiv.  3;  xxviii.  20;  Marlt  iv.  19;  Luke  xvi. 
8;  XX.  34;  Rom.  xii.  2;  I  Cor.  i.  20;  ii.  6,  8;  iii.  18;  2  Cor.  iv.  4;  Gal.  i.  4; 
Eph.  i.  21;  ii.  2;  vi.  12;  I  Tim.  vi.  17;  2  Tim.  iv.  10;  Tit.  ii.  12;  Ileb.  i.  2; 
xi.  3  (the  two  last  by  metonymy  for  the  world  itself). 

\  An  apparent  exception  to  this  rule  is  found  in  Heb.  ix.  26,  where  r-/  c!wrt7.E[n 
■ziw  miivuv  appears,  and  is  translated  "in  the  end  of  the  world."  But  there  is  no 
reason  why  the  ritv  qlLvum  should  not  have  its  strict  sijjnificance  of  eternity  a  parts 
ante,  for  our  Lord's  "putting  away  of  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself"  is  certainly 
the  consummation  (mwrekt'ia)  of  those  eternal  ages  when  the  covenant  was  be- 
twixt them  both,  and  the  delights  of  the  adorable  Son  of  God  were  with  the  sons 
of  men. 

\  Matt.  xii.  32;  Mark  x.  30;   Luke  xviii.  30;  xx.  35;  Eph.  i.  21;  Heb.  vi.  5. 

\  Luke  i.  70;  John  ix.  32;  Acts  iii.  21  ;  xv.  18;  Eph.  iii.  9. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  375 

all  of  these.  A  single  instance  with  ?rpo  (i  Cor.  ii.  7)  will  be  re- 
served for  consideration  further  on.  With  this  one  apparent  excep- 
tion, which  as  we  will  see  is  not  a  real  one,  the  use  oi  a^C^v  in  reference 
to  the  past  is  univocal  and  in  strict  accord  with  its  original  significa- 
tion. When  we  turn  to  the  use  of  ai-C^v  as  to  the  future  with  ftj,  that 
with  which  we  are  more  nearly  concerned,  we  find  over  fifty  examples, 
in  no  one  of  which  is  tne  period  to  which  it  refers  conceived  as  having 
an  end.  It  is  true  that  in  a  few  cases  there  is  a  manifest  hyperbole  in 
the  ascription  of  eternity  to  that  which  is  not  eternal  in  its  nature,* 
but  even  in  these  cases  the  possibility  of  an  end  is  purposely  and 
definitely  excluded  by  the  form  of  the  negation,  and  we  are  brought 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  not  a  single  instance  in  which  ^45  is 
used  with  aiwi/  in  the  New  Testament,  where  the  idea  of  endlessness 
was  not  distinctly  intended  to  be  conveyed,  unless  the  passages  which 
define  the  duration  of  future  punishment  are  to  be  excepted.  Tiiat 
which  we  have  thus  seen  to  be  true  of  atwy  is  equally  true  of  aiwi-toj. 
Leaving  out  of  view  for  the  present  the  five  cases  in  which  it  is  used 
of  the  future  state  of  the  wicked, f  there  are  sixty-six  passages  in  which 
it  occurs,  having  reference  to  the  existence  of  God,  the  eternity  of 
His  kingdom  and  glory,  the  eternal  life  of  the  believer,  etc.,  and  in 
all  these,  with  two  apparent  exceptions;);  in  which  the  phrase  rtp6 
xpdi/wi/  aiwitwi/  is  used,  there  is  not  one  in  which  the  meaning  is  not 
strictly  eternal,  a  parte  ante  if  of  the  past,  and  a  parte  post  if  of  the 
future.  These  two  phrases,  together  with  the  one  above,  n^o  tC^v  aiJ^vuv, 
are  the  ones  upon  which  Canon  Farrar  has  lent  his  support  in  his 
work,  "Eternal  Hope,"  to  men  who  ridicule  the  idea  of  times  that 
are  beginningless  and  yet  were  preceded  by  the  ordinances,  purposes, 
and  promises  of  God.  Now,  it  is  one  of  the  results  of  recent  critical 
study  of  the  Greek  language — can  it  be  possible  that  Canon  Farrar 
is  ignorant  of  it? — that  there  is  distinctly  traced  in  the  post-classic 
Greek  a  usage  of  np6  with  the  genitive  in  temporal  clauses,  analogous 
to  the  use  of  ante  with  the  ablative  in  Latin,  so  that  just  as  we  have 
in  Latin  panels  ante  diebus,  signifying  a  few  days  before,  so  we  have 
in  Greek  such  phrases  as  rtp6  nt'frf  r^rpwf,  signifying  J^er  days  before ; 
and,  having  the  very  best  authority  to  sustain  me  as  to  this  usage, 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  to  translate  rtpo  xpoj-wj/  atwrtw^,  before 
Ionian  times,  as  the  "^onist  "  does,  instead  of  eternally  before, 
would  be  like  translating  ?tp6  nivn  ruif^itv,  before  five  days,  instead  of 
five  days  before.^ 

This  difficulty  out  of  the  way,  there  is  only  one  more  deserving  of 
consideration.  Canon  Farrar  and  others  ask  if  aiCjv  signifies  eternity 
in  its  strict  sense,  what  are  we  to  do  with  such  passages  as  ftjatw«/a<, 

fij   oitji'a    atiivcoj/,    fij   rouj    atwca;     Twc  aiutvuiv,    etc.,  where  we    have    atuiK 

added  to  atwy  multiplied  by  aiwv,  etc.       How  can  this  be  if  tht;  word 

*  Matt.  xxi.  19;   Mark  xi.  14;  John  viii.  35;  xiii.  8;    I  Cor.  viii.  13. 

f  Matt,  xviii.  8;  xxv.  41,  46;   Mark  iii.  29;   2  Thess.  i.  9. 

%  2  Tim.  i.  9;  Tit.  i.  2.  §  Liddell  &  Scott,  6th  Eng.  ed.,  sub.-verb  ^06  ii.  2. 


376  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

oiwi'  signifies  eternity?  The  answer  is  so  simple  that  it  seems  marvel- 
lous that  one  should  be  needed.  So  long  as  the  idea  of  eternity  is 
held  simply  as  a  logical  concept  fi?  aiwva  gives  full  expression  to  it. 
But  when  we  come  to  analyze  the  concept  and  see  what  it  contains, 
to  bring  before  the  mind  some  metaphysical  conception  of  eternity, 
then  through  the  impotence  of  the  finite  to  grasp  the  infinite,  a  new 
process  must  go  forward.  The  mind,  stretching  itself  to  embrace  the 
utmost  conceivable  period  of  duration,  makes  that  the  unit  in  a  sys- 
tem of  additions  and  multiplications,  that  by  these  as  stepping-stones 
it  may  pass  on  and  on  in  its  nearest  possible  approximation  in  con- 
sciousness to  the  infinite  period  embraced  in  its  logical  concept.  But  so 
far  from  the  idea  in  these  expressions  being  less  than  strictly  eternal, 
the  very  purpose  of  their  formation  is  to  give  the  most  emphatic  ex- 
pression possible  to  this  idea,  and  for  Canon  Farrar  and  others  to 
plead  these  passages  as  a  proof  that  aiu»»'  does  not  mean  endless  is  about 
as  rational  as  it  would  be  to  plead  that  because  we  use  in  English  such 
phrases  as  forever  and  ever,  and  eternity  of  eternities,  therefore  our 
English  words  forever  and  eternity  imply  a  period  that  may  have  an 
end.  We  have  alluded  to  the  exact  parallelism  in  the  expressions 
which  define  the  duration,  on  one  hand,  of  the  punishment  of  the 
wicked,  and  on  the  other,  of  the  blessedness  of  the  righteous.  As  this 
point  has  been  disputed  by  our  opponents,  it  may  be  well  to  notice  it 
for  a  moment.  A  recent  writer  of  the  Monistic  school,*  after  speak- 
ing of  the  "ample  Scriptures"  that  assure  us  by  stronger  statement 
of  the  endlessness  of  the  bliss  of  the  righteous,  produces  in  support 
four  passages,!  of  which  only  one  can  be  regarded  as  an  explicit 
statement  upon  the  subject,  and  that  one  (Eph.  iii.  21)  is  a  statement 
not  of  the  endlessness  of  the  life  of  the  righteous,  but  of  the  endless- 
ness of  the  glory  accruing  to  God  through  their  redemption.  After 
an  impartial  examination  of  all  the  passages  alleged,  it  may  be  safely 
affirmed  that  no  stronger  phrases  are  found,  or  can  be  found  in  Greek 
to  express  duration  than  those  which  the  sacred  writers  have  used  in 
reference  to  future  punishment.  Others  have  been  suggested,  but 
there  is  not  one  of  them  the  classic  usage  of  which  is  more  uniformly 
in  the  sense  of  eternal  and  everlasting — not  one  of  them  which  could 
any  better  withstand  the  destructive  criticism  that  has  been  brought 
to  bear  upon  aiwi/  and  aiwvioj. 

Did  time  permit,  it  would  be  easy  to  show  from  the  writings  of  the 
Christian  fathers  who  were  familiar  with  the  Greek  tongue,  the  sense 
in  which  they  understood  these  words.  They  employ  them  in  con- 
trast with  words  which  express  temporary  duration  ;|  they  use  them 
with  explanatory  or  epexegetical  clauses,  which  show  that  the  writers 
meant  them  in  the  sense  of  eternal  ;§  they  use  synonymes  which  con- 

*  Clemance  Fut.  Pun.,  p.  64.  -f-John  xiv.  19;  xvii.  24;  vi.  39;  Eph.  iii.  21. 

J  Polycarp — Address  at  martyrdom — Justin  Martyr,  Ap.  i.  8.  Iren.  Adv.  llaer. 
iv.  28,  I  and  2.    Athanasius,  4th  Fest.  Ep. 

\  Iren.  Contr.  Haeres  4,  28,  2.  Teriull.  De  Praescr.  adv.  Hneret.  Ch.  XIII. 
tertullian  De  Jud.  Dom.  Ch.  IX.  Cypr.  Lib.  ad  Demetr.  Cap.  XXIV.  Chryst.  Ep. 
Y.  ad  Theod.  Laps.  August  ad  Laurent.  Cap.  CXIIl.  De  Civ.  Dei.  Cap.  XXII.,  etc. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  377 

vey  the  idea  of  endlessness*  beyond  doubt.  But  into  this  field  we 
cannot  enter.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  in  the  light  of  the  latest  Greek 
criticism,  it  still  remains  true  that  "  if  the  idea  of  duration  without 
end  is  not  expressed  in  the  words  ai>:jv  and  otwuoj,  it  cannot  be  expressed 
by  any  words  in  the  Greek  language, "f  and  that  the  words  of  Moses 
Stuart,  written  a  half  century  ago,  stand  as  impregnable  to-day,  not- 
withstanding all  the  assaults  that  have  been  made  upon  them,  as  when 
they  were  first  uttered.  "  If  the  Scriptures  have  not  asserted  the  end- 
less punishment  of  the  wicked,  neither  have  they  asserted  the  endless 
happiness  of  the  righteous,  nor  the  endless  glory  and  existence  of  the 
Godhead."! 

And  now  if  the  conclusions  to  which  we  are  thus  brought  are  just, 
then  we  are  upon  a  proper  vantage  ground  from  which  to  consider 
the  duty  of  the  Church  of  God  in  reference  to  the  doctrine  of  endless 
punishment. 

It  is  charged  upon  the  ministry  of  the  present  day  that  it  has  in 
great  measure  changed  front  in  reference  to  this  important  doctrine 
of  Scripture ;  that  our  pulpits  no  longer  resound  with  the  words 
"hell"  and  "damnation;"  that  the  day  of  frightful  imagery  of 
gnawing  worms  and  gnashing  teeth  and  enshrouding  flames  is  forever 
gone.  If  this  change  in  the  tone  of  our  preaching — the  fact  of  which 
we  do  not  deny — means  only  that  whilst  we  still  hold  fast  and  firmly 
by  the  doctrine,  and  are  ready  on  all  proper  occasions  to  bear  testi- 
mony to  it  as  a  segment  of  the  great  circle  of  inspired  truth,  we  are 
not  accustomed  to  rack  the  imaginations  of  our  hearers  with  pictures 
of  the  abodes  of  the  lost,  painted  by  the  gloomy  fancies  of  Dante  and 
Milton,  the  change  is  one  which  we  have  every  reason  to  commend  \ 
but  if  this  change  has  come  from  any  wavering  of  conviction  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  doctrine  itself,  then  it  becomes  a  subject  for  gravest  and 
most  thoughtful  consideration.  There  are  many  aspects  of  it  in  which 
such  a  loosening  of  conviction  would  be  a  matter  most  profoundly  to 
be  deplored. 

I.  For,  first  of  all,  it  would  be  the  renunciation  of  that  great  prin- 
ciple to  wjiich  reference  has  already  been  made ;  namely,  that  all 
formulation  of  doctrine  must  base  itself  first,  last,  always,  upon  the 
simple  testimony  of  God's  word.  It  makes  an  incalculable  difference 
in  our  attitude  towards  the  word  of  God,  whether  we  hold  in  abey- 
ance all  our  ^/r/fr/ convictions,  our  preconceived  opinions,  and  the 
promptings  of  our  moral  sense,  until  we  have  first  ascertained  what  is 
the  plain  teaching  of  the  word  of  God  ;  or  whether  we  first  listen  to 
the  voices  within  us  that  whisper  of  what  ought  or  ought  not  to  be, 
what  is  accordant  with  or  repugnant  to  our  moral  sense,  and  then  go 
to  God's  word  with  the  hope,  if  not  the  fixed  purpose,  that  it  shall 
bear  us  out  in  these  conclusions  from  our  own  imagined  intuitions. 


*  [ustin   Martyr,  Trypho,  XLV.     Andreas  on  Apoc,  14.  II.      John  Damascen. 
Exp."  Fid.  Orih.  B.  II.  Ch.  I.,  etc. 

f  Tyler  Fut.  Pun.,  p.  25.  %  Stuart  Fut.  Pun.,  Ed.  of  1830,  p.  57. 


378  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

And  yet  it  is  just  in  this  way  that  all  the  difficulties  in  the  acceptance 
of  this  doctrine  have  sprung.  T\\q  prima  facie  evidence  of  Scripture 
is  so  manifestly  in  its  favor,  that  had  it  not  been  repugnant  to  the 
instincts  of  our  fallen  nature,  no  question  would  ever  have  been 
raised  concerning  it.  I  say,  then,  that  however  painful  it  maybe 
to  us  to  hold  this  view  of  the  sufferings  of  our  fellow-creatures — to 
yield  to  a  pressure  which  is  brought  to  bear  against  a  doctrine  from 
this  direction,  is  to  surrender  that  great  citadel  of  the  supremacy  and 
sufficiency  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  rule  of  faith  upon  which  the  very 
stability  and  safety  of  the  Church  of  God  depend  ;  it  is  to  sanction 
a  spirit  of  investigation  that  is  irreverent  towards  the  Authoi-  of  rev- 
elation, unscientific  in  its  critical  methods,  and  utterly  subversive  in 
the  end  of  all  soundness  of  doctrine  and  unity  of  faith. 

2d,  To  falter  in  the  maintenance  of  the  doctrine  of  endless  pun- 
ishment is  to  admit  that  in  reference  to  one  of  the  most  supremely 
important  doctrines  of  the  Christian  system,  the  Scriptures  have 
failed  to  give  us  any  definite  information,  not  by  reason  of  their 
silence,  but  by  reason  of  their  ambiguity.  That  the  Author  of  reve- 
lation should  keep  silent  upon  any  point  of  doctrine  which  he  should 
choose  to  conceal  we  can  understand ;  but  that  he  should  make  a 
revelation  of  a  doctrine,  and  yet  make  it  in  such  ambiguous  terms  that 
no  intelligent  meaning  could  be  gotten  from  his  words;  this  is — I 
speak  it  reverently — to  charge  the  Infinite  One  with  folly.  He  has  not 
kept  silent  on  the  subject  of  the  duration  of  future  punishment.  He 
has  spoken  over  and  over  again  and  in  varied  form,  and  we  challenge 
for  that  revelation  a  clearness  like  the  shining  of  his  noonday  sun. 

3.  To  shrink  from  an  explicit  testimony  to  the  endlessness  of  future 
punishment  is  to  imperil  the  souls  of  our  fellow-men.  If  men  can  be 
persuaded,  nay,  if  they  are  even  encouraged  to  a  faint  hope,  that  the 
period  of  probation  does  not  end  with  death,  that  further  offers  of 
salvation  will  be  made  them  in  that  after  world,  they  will  adventure 
all  upon  that  hope  and  postpone  to  a  future  life  the  interests  and  claims 
of  religion.  In  vain  will  we  tell  them  of  the  long  indefinite  period  of 
suffering  through  which  they  must  pass.  Let  these  "  seons  "  be  as 
long  as  they  may,  yet  if  they  are  ever  to  end  at  all,  they 'are  at  the 
most  but  as  a  moment  compared  with  eternity.  Beyond,  lie  the  ages 
upon  ages  of  celestial  glory,  and  sure  of  heaven  at  last,  men  will 
indulge  in  sin  to  their  hearts'  content.  A  solemn  responsibility  there- 
fore rests  upon  the  Church  of  God.  As  a  witness-bearer  for  the  truth 
she  must  bear  testimony  to  this  doctrine.  Unpopular  it  may  be, 
painful  it  must  be,  but  she  must,  through  her  creeds  and  symbols, 
through  her  pulpits  and  ministry,  bear  her  testimony  faithfully  to 
the  truth.  She  cannot  allow  liberty  upon  this  point.  She  may 
be  accused  of  bigotry,  of  dogmatism,  of  illiberality  if  she  requires  her 
authorized  teachers  to  hold  and  teach  so  unpopular  a  doctrine.  But 
there  is  no  other  course  for  her  to  pursue.  The  principles  involved 
are  too  fundamental.  The  interests  of  perishing  souls  involved 
are  too  great.     Her  trumpets  must  give  forth  no  uncertain  sound. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  ^yg 

For  myself,  fathers  and  brethren,  impressed  by  the  momentousness  of 
this  issue,  I  could  ask  no  higher  honor  than  that  these  feeble  words 
of  mine,  falling  like  a  faint  keynote  upon  the  cars  of  tliis  great  con- 
vocation, should  cause  it  to  arise  like  a  giant  in  his  might,  and  send 
forth  from  out  this  bannered  hall  one  bugle  blast  that,  echoing  from 
shore  to  shore,  shall  tell  to  all  the  world  that  one  great  division  at 
least  of  the  army  of  Christ  holds,  and  by  God's  help  means  to  hold, 
the  same  redoubts  of  truth  that  have  been  pressed  by  the  feet  of  God's 
veterans  in  all  the  history  of  the  Church. 

The  Council  then  proceeded  to  five  minute  discussions  on 
CREEDS  AND  CONFESSIONS. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  J.  R.  W.  Sloane,  D.  D.,  of  Allegheny,  Pa.— 
We  have  had  indeed  this  morning  a  feast  of  fat  things  and  of 
wines  on  the  lees,  well  refined.  The  paper  of  Dr.  Van  Zandt, 
which  was  read  to  us  yesterday  morning,  so  far  as  I  v/as  able  to 
hear  it,  gave  me  perhaps  as  great  personal  satisfaction  as  did 
any  other  of  the  papers  that  have  been  read  before  this  Council. 

Creeds  always  have  been  a  necessity  of  the  Christian  Church. 
They  were  formulated,  first,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  were 
within  the  pale  of  the  Church  ;  and,  secondly,  as  a  bulwark 
against  errors  that  were  outside,  or  that  were  coming  in.  They 
were  as  great  a  necessity  as  were  the  great  Ecumenical  Councils 
in  which  they  originated.  The  Council  of  Nice  was  no  more  a 
necessity  than  was  the  decree  which  was  then  promulgated,  and 
which  afterwards  found  its  final  and  full  expression  in  the  so- 
called  Athanasian  creed.  Against  that  creed  with  its  statements 
and  counter-statements,  with  its  singular  phraseology  and  with 
its  damnatory  clauses,  have  all  the  waves  of  error  in  regard  to 
the  Trinity  and  the  person  of  Christ  broken  for  more  than  four- 
teen hundred  years,  only  to  be  dashed  to  pieces. 

Moreover,  these  creeds  afford  the  finest  of  all  illustrations  of 
the  fulfilment  of  the  gracious  promise  of  our  ascended  Lord  to 
the  Church.  That  promise  was  that  he  would  give  to  her  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  lead  her  into  all  truth.  And  not  even  in  our 
systematic  theologies,  nor  even  in  our  holy  songs,  have  we  so 
fine  an  illustration  of  the  fulfilment  of  that  promise  as  we  have 
in  the  srreat  creeds  of  the  Church. 


38o  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

We  ought  to  remember  that  for  these  creeds  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  all  ages  has  contended  even  unto  the  death.  As  I 
look  back  over  the  long  line  of  witnesses,  I  trace  the  pathway 
of  the  Church  by  the  scaffold  on  which  her  witnesses  poured  out 
their  blood  like  water ;  and  by  the  stake  at  which  they  were 
burned  for  the  word  of  God  and  for  their  testimony  for  Jesus. 
It  was  not  simply  for  the  Bible  as  such,  but  for  their  understand- 
ing of  the  Bible — for  the  manner  in  which  they  apprehended  its 
great  fundamental  truths — that  they  thus  contended  even  unto 
the  death.  We  cannot  go  back  simply  to  a  single  statement  of 
the  New  Testament  and  ignore  all  the  faithful  contendings  of 
God's  witnesses  and  God's  Church  in  all  these  ages,  and  these 
struggles  of  the  past,  and  propose  a  creed  under  whose  broad 
fegis  (according  to  the  account  of  the  fabulous  tent  that  we  had 
in  the  opening  sermon)  every  form  of  error  that  the  Church  has 
ever  known,  from  Arianism  down  to  the  religion  of  the  intui- 
tional consciousness  of  our  day,  may  sit  down. 

Finally,  creeds,  instead  of  being  a  separating,  are  a  unifying 
element 

Rev.  Thomas  Neilson,  of  New  Hebrides. — Ever  since  I  was 
appointed  a  deputy  to  this  Pan-Presbyterian  Council,  I  have  put, 
to  myself  the  question,  Of  what  use  will  the  Council  be?  That 
question  I  have  answered  to  myself  in  two  ways.  If  it  is  to  be 
of  any  use,  it  is  to  be  first  in  the  way  of  a  simplification  and  a 
unification  of  the  creeds  of  the  Churches  here  represented ;  and 
second,  in  the  way  of  co-operation,  especially  in  the  work  of  for- 
eign missions. 

I  belong  to  a  very  old  Church — to  what  was  called  "  The 
Reformed  Presbyterian  "  or  "  Cameronian  "  branch  of  the  Church 
in  Scotland.  In  taking  upon  myself  ordination  vows,  I  sub- 
scribed a  very  long  creed  :  I  subscribed  the  Confession  of  Faith; 
I  subscribed  the  Catechisms,  the  Larger  and  Shorter;  I  sub- 
scribed the  Declaration  and  Testimony  of  the  Reformed  Presby- 
terian Synod.  I  bound  myself  to  maintain  the  faith  contended 
for  by  the  martyrs  in  all  the  persecutions  in  Scotland.  Now,  for 
the  last  fourteen  years  I  have  been  in  a  mission  where  we  have 
been  admitting  converted  heathen,    cannibals — men  who  have 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  381 

been  eaters  of  the  flesh  of  ministers  of  the  Christian  church  ;  and 
we  have  admitted  all  these  upon  a  creed  that  can  be  written 
upon  a  small  scrap  of  paper.  We  have  a  joint  Presbyterian  mis- 
sion in  the  South  Seas;  and  the  genesis  of  the  confession  of  our 
faith,  of  our  symbolism,  is  not  a  Prfesbyterian  one.  Our  first 
missionaries  who  went  to  that  mission  went  there  in  harmony 
with  the  London  Missionary  Society.  In  admitting  members 
from  heathenism,  we  co-operated  with  its  missionaries,  and 
adopted  the  symbolism  that  was  adopted  by  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society ;   and  we  hold  to  it. 

I  have  accepted  the  creed  and  I  have  subscribed  it  from  my 
heart.  I  believe  in  it.  And  yet  I  know  that  we  have  repre- 
sented here  very  important  points  of  difference.  In  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  the  same  marriage  law  is  laid  down  by  almost  all 
the  Presbyterian  Churches  that  I  know  of  throughout  the  whole 
British  empire.  It  is  considered  a  matter  not  of  doubt,  but  one 
of  certainty,  that  a  man  ought  not  to  marry  his  deceased  wife's 
sister.  But  that  point  is  departed  from  in  your  Presbyterian 
Churches  here  in  America,  as  I  am  given  to  understand,  or  at 
least  by  most  of  them. 

In  point  of  importance  there  are  central  matters  and  there  are 
subsidiary  matters  before  this  Council.  The  greatest  work  that 
can  be  put  before  this  Council  is  that  of  uniting  in  a  symbolism 
on  the  central  matters,  leaving  the  subsidiary  matters  free  to 
individual  councils. 

Rev.  William  U.  Murkland,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore. — If  any 
one  asks  for  the  noblest  human  defence  of  this  subject,  I  merely 
answer,  "  Look  around."  It  is  not  sufficient  to  publish  the  gos- 
pel of  the  Baptist;  to  publish  the  gospel  of  brotherly  love — but 
on  eitherside  you  have  the  great  gospel  fenced  in  and  interpreted 
by  the  historic  Churches  which  are  now  within  this  Alliance. 
Clean-cut  thinking  is  allied  to  believing.  It  is  not  sufficient  for 
a  man  to  say  simply,  I  accept  the  statements  of  Scripture,  unless 
he  states  in  what  sen^e  he  accepts  them.  The  Council  composed 
of  the  historic  Churches  of  our  Alliance  is  a  symbolical  Council; 
its  Churches  are  symbolical  Churches  :  and  one  reason  for  its 
prominent  position  to-day,  one  reason  for  its  power  in  history, 


382  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

is  the  fact  that  men  know  and  have  ever  known  where  to  put  it. 
If  you  ask  what  we  think  of  sin,  we  tell  you.  If  you  ask  what 
we  think  of  retribution,  we  tell  you.  If  you  ask  what  we  think 
of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  we  tell  you.  Therefore  the  power  of 
this  Church  is  known  ;  and  it  confronts  at  every  point  the  antag- 
onisms of  the  age. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Roman  Catholic  prelates 
of  this  country  said  to  a  friend  of  mine  not  long  ago:  "There  is 
one  Church  that  we  fear  above  all  others,  and  that  is  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  ;  because,"  he  added,  "we  always  know  where 
to  find  it,  and  it  meets  us  at  every  point  with  an  intelligent 
answer  for  its  faith  and  the  Bible  for  its  basis."  If  I  were  to  call 
for  testimony  from  another  direction,  I  would  call  upon  the 
rampant  infidelity  of  this  age  which  dares  to  say,  and  I  glory  in 
its  saying  it,  that  the  Church  which  it  hates  above  all  other 
Churches  is  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Why  is  this  ?  It  is 
because  we  stand  upon  these  historic  confessions. 

A  man  is  apt  to  promulgate  half-formed  opinions  in  which  he 
does  not  believe,  and,  in  stating  them  to  his  congregation  and 
to  the  community,  he  thereby,  figuratively  speaking,  scatters 
firebrands,  contention  and  death.  I  say  that  if  a  man  does  not 
know  what  he  believes,  let  him  descend  from  his  place  in  the 
pulpit  and  submit  his  doubts  to  the  Presbyters.  It  is  hard  for 
the  man  who  doubts  the  faith  which  he  professes,  when  looking 
back  along  the  hills  and  valleys  of  his  spiritual  life,  through 
which  he  has  walked  with  Christ,  to  say  at  the  point  of  death, 
"  I  have  fought  the  good  fight."  But,  oh,  it  is  a  grand  thought 
for  one  to  look  back  along  the  illumined  pathway  of  his  minis- 
trations, as  he  passes  into  glory,  and  to  be  able  to  add,  "  I  have 
kept  the  faith." 

The  Rev.  Donald  Macrea,  M.  A.,  B.  D.,  of  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick. — I  avow  myself  at  the  outset  as  entirely  in  sympathy 
with  that  honored  missionary  from  the  New  Hebrides  (Mr. 
Neilson,)  who  desires  to  see  a  simplification  and  unification  of  the 
creeds.  There  are,  in  my  belief,  hopeful  symptoms  that  this 
object  may  be  attained. 

The  first  of  these  is  that  we  live  in  an  age  which  has  dared  at 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  383 

least  to  venture  upon  a  revision  of  our  time-honored  translation 
of  the  Scriptures ;  and  that  revision  is  being  made  in  the  light 
of  the  sciences  of  philology  and  biblical  criticism.  I  believe 
with  my  friend,  Principal  Caven,  that  it  is  possible  to  make  pro- 
gress in  biblical  criticism  and  philology,  without,  at  the  same 
time,  departing  from  our  accepted  theology.  I  believe  that 
God's  truth  is  one ;  and  that  progress  in  one  direction  involves 
progress  in  another. 

The  other  encouraging  fact  is  that  the  report  on  creeds  and 
confessions  has  been  again  referred  to  the  committee,  in  the  ex- 
pectation that  they  will  take  some  further  movement  in  this 
direction.  I  am  not  in  the  counsels  of  the  learned  brethren  to 
whom  that  report  was  referred  ;  but  from  what  I  have  seen  of 
their  public  positions  I  do  trust  they  will  move  first  in  the  direc- 
tion of  simplicity. 

It  is  told  of  the  commentator  Scott,  that  he  issued  an  edition 
of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  with  notes,  of  which  he  gave  a  c6py 
to  one  of  his  parishioners.  Meeting  that  individual  some  time 
afterwards,  he  asked  him,  "  Did  you  read  that  work  ?  "  "  Oh, 
yes,"  was  the  reply.  "Did  you  understand  it?"  "Oh,  yes, 
and  I  hope  soon  to  understand  your  notes,"  In  reference  to 
many  of  our  Confessions  of  Faith,  the  reverse  of  this  may  be 
said  to  be  true.  We  read  the  text  and  the  proof-notes,  and  we 
are  puzzled  and  perplexed  by  the  former.  These,  when  origin- 
ally drawn  up,  were  intended,  no  doubt,  to  be  the  keys  to  an 
understanding  of  the  Scriptures  ;  but  many  humble  people  are 
obliged  to  use  the  Scriptures  to  interpret  the  keys.  I  think 
there  could  be  something  done  in  the  direction  of  simplicity, 
and,  further,  in  the  direction  of  abbreviation. 

I  think,  if  we  were  drawing  up  our  Confession  of  Faith  for  the 
first  time,  v/e  should  not  at  this  day  leave  it  at  all  doubtful, 
whether  one  chapter  in  that  book  did  or  did  not  teach  Presby- 
terian principles.  We  should  not  attempt  to  limit  the  holy  One 
of  Israel  in  deciding  the  length  of  the  period,  or  the  number  of 
days,  within  which  creation  was  effected.  So  as  to  many  other 
points.  We  should  not  present  to  an  humble  soul  seeking  eter- 
nal life^as  a  summary  of  what  he  must  believe,  the  serried  ranks 


384  THE    PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  a  document  bristling  with  500  or  600,  or  700  distinct  propo- 
sitions. 

These  are  directions,  I  think,  in  which  real  progress  could  be 
made.  As  to  unification,  I  think  that  something  could  be  done 
in  that  direction  also  as  the  days  roll  on.  Jt  is  to  be  hoped,  too, 
that  in  this  way  the  idolatry  of  the  letter  may  be  shaken ;  for 
many  do  not  know  to  what  extent  it  is  profitless.  I  know  of  a 
congregation  which  was  addressed  by  a  learned  minister,  who 
understood  the  character  of  the  people  he  was  addressing,  in 
reference  to  a  union  among  our  churches  in  Canada.  He 
appealed  to  them  on  the  ground,  first,  that  union  was  sanctioned 
by  the  Scriptures ;  that,  more  than  that,  it  was  sanctioned  by 
the  Confession  of  Faith ;  and  that,  yet  more  than  that,  it  was 
sanctioned  by  the  Shorter  Catechism.  This  was  unanswerable 
in  the  estimation  of  the  people.  Now  I  would  say  that  I  honor 
the  Confession  of  Faith ;  that,  more  than  that,  I  honor  the 
Shorter  Catechism;  but  that,  more  than  that,  I  can  put  neither 
of  them  above  God's  word. 

The  Rev.  Robert  F.  Burns,  D.  D.,  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia. — 
I  would  not  have  attempted  to  address  you  but  for  the  fact  that 
two  respected  members  of  the  delegation  from  Canada,  yester- 
day, in  discussing  this  subject,  propounded  views  similar  to  those 
which  have  been  presented  by  a  third  representative  this  morn- 
ing, who  comes  from  the  part  of  the  Dominion  from  which  I 
come,  away  down  .by  the  Atlantic.  I  have  found  that  others 
of  the  delegation  have  been  asked  whether  the  sentiments  thus 
expressed  were  the  views  of  our  delegation  ;  whether  they  were 
the  views  of  a  majority  of  our  Church.  When  that  query  was  put 
to  me,  I  certainly  could  give  but  one  answer,  and  that  was  that 
they  were  not. 

I  felt  .yesterday,  when  listening  to  the  remarks  of  Dr.  De  Witt, 
that  that  gentleman  had  struck  the  nail  on  the  head.  I  felt  that 
my  beloved  brother.  Principal  Grant  (and  no  one  loves  him,  with 
his  great  heart,  more  than  I  do),  did  speak  unadvisedly  with  his 
lips.  I  do  hope  that  the  remarks  of  Dr.  De  Witt  will  strike  him 
with  such  force  as  to  make  an  impression  upon  him  without 
breakins;  his  head. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  385 

When  my  dear  brother  from  St.  John  (Dr.  Macrea)  ran  in  the 
same  groove,  I  began  not  exactly  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of 
the  ark  of  God,  but  to  feel  a  little  non-plussed. 

Although  three  out  of  the  eighteen  gentlemen  from  our  part 
of  the  world  have  spoken  thus,  I  do  not  know  of  any  others  of 
the  number  who  indorse  their  views.  We  believe  in  a  creed. 
We  believe  in  our  own  creed,  and  we  believe  in  it  just  as  it  is. 
There  may  be  among  us  differences  of  opinion,  just  as  there  are 
among  yourselves,  as  to  the  particular  mode  of  subscription  ; 
some  favoring  an  acceptance  of  the  Confession  as  containing  the 
substance  of  doctrine,  while  others  hold  to  an  out-and-out  literal 
subscription  to  it  all.  But  when  I  hear  some  one  speak  about  a 
shortening  of  creeds,  I  am  reminded  of  a  story  which  I  will  re- 
late. An  individual  came  up  to  a  brother,  belonging  to  a  church 
that  has  an  elaborate  rubric,  who  had  given  a  pretty  short  ser- 
mon, and  said  to  him,  "  Well,  I  like  your  sermon."  The  brother 
was  pleased  with  that  remark.  "  But,"  continued  the  friend  who 
addressed  him,  "  to  be  honest  with  you,  I  don't  like  any  preach- 
ing at  all,  and  I  like  yours  because  it  is  about  next  to  nothing." 

The  Rev.  Principal  D.  H.  McVicar,  LL.  D.,  of  Montreal— 
I  presume  that  the  creed  of  a  cannibal  in  the  New  Hebrides  or 
elsewhere,  when  brought  into  the  Christian  Church,  may  be  a 
very  short  one  ;  but  that  the  creed  of  the  public  preacher  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  whole  word  of  God,  cannot  be 
quite  as  short  as  that  of  the  cannibal. 

Hints  have  been  thrown  out,  I  think,  on  the  floor  of  the 
Council  (and  they  are  quite  abundant  beyond  it),  that  there  is  a 
want  of  freedom  in  discussing  the  doctrines  of  our  Church  on 
account  of  something  in  our  polity.  I  grant  at  once  there  is  a 
limit  set  to  the  province  of  the  public  preacher.  I  hold  that  no 
man  is  entitled  to  go  before  the  people  and  deliver  a  message 
until  he  is  quite  sure  himself  that  it  is  the  truth  of  God.  There 
is  a  limit  for  him.  But  there  is  no  limit  set  for  any  one  of  the 
fathers  and  brothers  of  this  Council  in  bringing  forward  for  dis- 
cussion, by  overtures  in  Presbyteries,  in  Synods  and  Assemblies, 
any  doctrine  which  is  formulated  in  our  creed.  In  the  Presby- 
tery of  Montreal  I  would  be  willing  to  sit  for  eight  or  ten  days 
25 


386  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  hear  a  man  plead  for  an  overture  touching  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  or  any  other  great  doctrine.  I  suspect,  however,  that  we 
should  send  him  home  fully  convinced  that  he  had  undertaken 
a  very  foolish  piece  of  business,  in  assuming  to  disturb  that  doc- 
trine. Yet  he  is  at  liberty  to  bring  it  up  and  discuss  it  to  his 
heart's  content. 

It  has  been  hinted,  too,  that  there  is  something  wrong  about 
the  creeds.  These  hints  may  be  wisely  made  in  Presbytery  or 
Synod ;  but  for  one,  I  should  much  prefer  to  see  such  proposi- 
tions distinctly  formulated,  so  as  to  set  forth  exactly  what  it  is 
these  brethren  wish  and  demand.  If  the  creed  is  too  long,  pray 
tell  me  what  it  is  you  are  going  to  cut  off  If  the  creed  is  too 
diffuse  in  its  texture,  pray  give  me  a  proposition  which  you  de- 
sign to  substitute  for  that  diffusiveness  in  a  creed  which  you 
have  had  so  long.  Then  I  shall  have  something  tangible  to 
consider.  But  until  that  is  done,  these  mysterious  hints  (which 
often  conceal  far  more  than  they  express)  do  not  present  any- 
thing definite.  It  is  hinted,  too,  that  an  adherence  to  creeds 
is  calculated  to  hinder  progress.  Historically  the  evidence 
is  just  the  reverse.  The  Churches  which  have  had  long,  con- 
catenated creeds,  are  themselves,  to-day,  strong  and  vigorous. 
Churches,  on  the  other  hand,  which  have  been  constantly  ex- 
temporizing their  creeds  have  been  non-progressive.  So  that 
the  evidences  of  history  are  in  favor  of  length  in  creeds  ;  and  I 
can  conceive  of  nothing  that  would  be  a  greater  advantage  to 
the  truth  than  for  this  great  Council  to  gather  up  all  the  ac- 
cepted truths  held  by  Christendom,  and  set  the  stamp  of  its  ap- 
proval upon  them.  That  alone  would  shut  the  mouths  of  scep- 
tics, and  would  break  the  backbone  of  the  argument  by  which 
Romanism  is  accustomed  to  hold  its  votaries  in  thraldom. 
What  we  need  to  do,  is  not  to  go  back  in  formulating  creeds, 
but  to  discover  the  truth  as  we  reason  it  out  more  fully,  and  as 
we  are  ready  to  subscribe  to  it.  Progress  is  not  in  the  direction 
of  disintegration,  but  rather  in  the  direction  of  reformation. 

Rev.  Prof.  Henry  Calderwood,  LL.  D.,  of  Edinburgh. — I 
listened  with  very  great  attention  and  interest  to  the  discussion 
which  we  had  yesterday,  not  at  all  marvelling  that  there  are 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  38 7 

many  among  us  who  are  anxious  for  some  degree  of  liberty  be- 
yond what  we  at  present  enjoy,  and  not  wondering  that  there 
were  some  inclined  to  seek  a  greater  simplicity  of  creed.  But 
as  I  listened,  I  thought  it  became  obvious  that  the  discussion 
needed  to  be  somewhat  carefully  regulated  with  regard  to  all  the 
interests  involved.  What  was  sought  for  by  those  who  did  so 
earnestly  and  passionately  plead  for  increased  liberty,  or  for  a 
reduction  of  the  creed,  was  simply  that  which  would  allow  lib- 
erty to  the  individual  along  w^ith  fidelity  to  the  Church.  But 
the  question  is,  what  liberty  to  the  individual  is  to  be  allowed, 
and  under  what  circumstances  is  it  to  be  allowed  ?  The  fidelity 
of  the  Church  is  quite  above  the  liberty  of  the  individual  in  the 
Church ;  and  the  fidelity  of  the  Church  is  its  fidelity  to  its  Mas- 
ter, and  to  the  great  work  which  the  Church  has  to  do  in  in- 
structing mankind.  Accordingly,  we  must  put  the  responsibility 
of  the  Church  for  its  teachings  altogether  above  any  liberty 
which  may  belong  to  the  individual  in  respect  to  his  own  teach- 
ings. 

Next,  it  must  be  obvious  to  every  one  that  his  teaching  is  to 
be  in  harmony  with  the  creed  of  his  Church  ;  and  whosoever, 
acting  under  authority  to  teach  God's  truth  from  the  pulpit  to 
the  Church,  asks  the  liberty  to  teach  that  which  that  Church 
does  not  hold  to  be  God's  truth,  asks  what  the  Church  cannot 
grant. 

But  when  we  are  brought  down  to  this  point,  it  is  urged  that 
we  are  placing  ourselves  in  a  wrong  position,  unless  we  admit 
that  the  creed  may  be  revised.  That,  however,  is  another  ques- 
tion ;  and  one  that  stands  in  a  totally  different  position.  It  is 
the  liberty,  the  right,  and  the  duty  of  each  Church  to  revise  its 
creed,  as  that  Church  shall  see  fit,  by  means  of  its  own  repre- 
sentative courts.  It  is  for  the  good  of  theologic  truth,  it  is 
for  the  interest  of  the  whole  Church,  that  the  man  w^ho  enter- 
tains a  wish  to  modify,  alter,  or  improve,  shall  be  required  first 
to  think  so  carefully,  so  long,  and  so  patiently  about  what  he 
means  to  propose,  that  he  shall  meet  his  brethren  in  the  regular 
court  to  make  that  proposal,  and  shall  go  through  all  the  neces- 
sary restrictions  that  are  involved. 


388  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

In  the  same  way  you  may  say  it  belongs  to  us  to  remember 
that  we  may  shorten  our  creed.  Certainly,  may  the  Christian 
Church,  if  it  see  fit,  by  its  representative  office-bearers,  shorten 
its  own  creed.  But  it  is  not  the  right  of  the  individual  minister, 
whatever  his  position,  either  in  the  pulpit  or  in  the  chair,  to  be- 
gin that  work  of  reduction.  It  belongs  to  the  Church  as  a 
Church,  through  its  representative  body,  to  shorten  its  creed. 
The  Church,  rejoicing  in  its  liberty,  will  act  slowly,  cautiously, 
prudently,  and  well,  as  it  proceeds  in  this  great  work.  Let  it 
not  then  be  said  that  we  are  in  any  way  lowering  the  power  of 
the  Church  to  deal  with  its  creed ;  but  rather  that  we  are  asking 
that  Presbyterian  order  and  honor  be  constantly  and  carefully 
guarded  in  all  that  we  do  in  dealing  with  a  question  such  as  this. 

Let  us  ask  ourselves  (while  we  allow  all  such  discussion,  and 
while  we  value  it),  what  is  the  exact  position  of  this  Council, 
and  what  is  the  relation  of  the  Churches  represented  in  it  as  a 
Council  ?  We  may  yet  do  something  very  important  in  our 
history,  by  presenting  the  different  aspects  of  the  several 
Churches  in  relation  to  the  creed ;  but  if  we  have  to  do  that 
work  at  all,  we  have  to  do  it  well.  This  Council  will  follow  be- 
hind the  Churches  which  have  the  individual  right  (and  they 
cannot  be  deprived  of  it)  of  dealing  with  their  creed  ;  and  it  will 
very  slowly  and  patiently,  step  by  step  only,  and  with  the  ut- 
most caution,  do  that  which,  as  a  Council,  it  may  think  may  be 
done,  in  the  interest  of  truth  and  in  the  service  of  the  whole 
Presbyterian  Church.  Just  as  we  are  open  to  admit  free  discus- 
sion, and  yet  are  cautious  and  slow  in  formulating,  do  we  serve 
our  Churches. 

Rev.  Wm.  Reid,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Canada. — I  wish  to  ex- 
press very  cordially  my  concurrence  in  the  views  expressed  in 
the  latter  part  of  Dr.  Calderwood's  remarks.  I  wish  also  to 
correct  what  seems  to  be  an  erroneous  impression,  on  the  minds 
of  some  of  our  brethren,  to  the  effect  that  we  have  begun  to  go 
in  the  direction  of  an  alteration  or  shortening  of  our  confessions 
of  faith.  The  committee  which  has  been  appointed  has  nothing 
to  do  with  that  whatever.  As  I  understand,  all  that  it  proposes 
to  do  and  all  that  it  is  empowered  to  do,  is  to  give  a  report  showing 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  389 

a  consensus  of  the  confessions  of  the  several  Churches,  I  have 
yet  to  learn  that  there  is  the  slightest  proposal  or  suggestion  in 
regard  to  a  change. 

This  Council  is  a  new  thing.  It  is  only  feeling  its  way.  In 
some  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  there  was  some  little  degree 
of  doubt  as  to  the  expediency  of  entering  into  the  Alliance.  Of 
course  being  one  of  the  older  men,  I  am  not  likely  to  desire 
change  ;  and  I  do  feel  that,  if  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Coun- 
cil, there  should  be  any  manifestation  of  a  tendency  towards  an 
alteration  of  our  old,  time-honored  symbols,  it  would  be  a  very 
great  misfortune.  I  think,  too,  it  would  tell  against  the  harmony 
and  prosperity  of  this  Council,  and  against  the  great  good  that 
may  otherwise  result  from  meeting  together  from  time  to  time, 
and  consulting  with  regard  to  those  practical  matters  which  may 
promote  the  good  work  and  the  success  of  the  various  branches 
of  the  great  Presbyterian  family. 

Wm.  Neely,  Esq.,  of  New  York  city. — I  belong  to  and  rep- 
resent a  Church  that  has,  perhaps,  as  long  a  confession  of  faith 
as  that  of  most  of  the  Churches ;  namely,  the  Old  School  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Church.  I  have  never  regretted  the  length 
of  that  document ;  because,  when  coming  in  contact  with  lay- 
men who  simply  take  the  word  of  God  and  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  say  that  is  a  sufficient  confession  and  testimony 
for  them,  I  generally  find  such  brethren,  though  often  far  more 
intelligent  than  myself,  and  with  far  more  education  than  I  have, 
very  deficient  with  regard  to  anything  like  a  knowledge  of  sys- 
tematic theology.  It  was  my  privilege,  last  summer,  at  a  water- 
ing place,  to  have  charge  of  a  Bible  class  for  several  Sabbaths. 
I  there  met  men  who  were  superintendents  of  Sabbath-schools 
in  Presbyterian  churches  who  did  not  know  anything  about  the 
Covenant  of  Grace.  I  even  heard  two  or  three  such  superin- 
tendents deny  that  there  ever  was  such  a  Covenant,  and  had 
them  ask  me  for  my  proof  when  I  asserted  the  affirmative  of  the 
proposition.  Indeed  I  had  to  refer  to  Hodge's  Outlines  before  I 
could  convince  them  of  their  error.  Yet  they  were  intelligent 
men  and  superintendents  of  Presbyterian  Sabbath-schools.  I 
told  one  of  them  he  ouefht  to  be  ashamed  of  his  ignorance  and 


390  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ought  never  to  show  himself  again  as  a  superintendent.  I 
thought  this  morning  that  I  must  testify  to  these  things,  else 
before  God  I  would  not  be  true  to  the  cause  of  Christ  Jesus,  our 
Lord.  Creeds  and  confessions  are  necessary,  and  a  systematic 
theology  among  our  laymen  is  more  necessary  than  perhaps  we 
realize.  Our  pulpit  hardly  does  its  duty  in  this  day  if  it  does  not 
train  the  people  in  systematic  theology. 

Rev.  a.  R.  Van  Nest,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia. — It  is  my  honor 
to  represent  the  oldest  Reformed  Church  in  this  country ;  and 
I  am  very  happy  to  say  that  it  is  a  Church  which  stands  firmly 
by  its  creed,  the  confession  of  the  Synod  of  Dortrecht.  It 
has  struck  me  as  something  very  remarkable,  at  which  I  have 
been  astonished,  that  in  this  Council  there  should  be  any  differ- 
ence of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  creed  of  the  Church.  I 
have  been  astonished  that  our  own  Church  has  been  misinter- 
preted here. 

We  have  a  liturgy.  It  has  been  hinted  that  a  liturgy  is  con- 
trary to  the  word  of  God.  Our  old  liturgy  is  a  great  part  of  our 
creed.  We  take  our  liturgy  from  the  Holy  Bible ;  and  we  be- 
lieve that  in  this,  and  in  having  our  ministers  recite  it,  we  are 
presenting  the  word  of  God  to  the  people  in  the  purest  form. 
We  demand  of  every  minister  of  our  Church  that  he  shall  preach 
on  the  Heidelberg  catechism — and  he  cannot  blink  it !  When 
he  comes  up  before  the  classis  he  is  obliged  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion, "  Have  you  preached  the  Heidelberg  catechism  faithfully?" 
and  his  answer  goes  upon  the  record  of  the  Church, 

There  is  one  thing  more  that  is  peculiar  to  our  Church. 
Every  man  who  comes  into  it  has  to  do  something  that  I  do 
not  believe  any  other  Presbyterian  Church  requires  to  be  done. 
He  has  to  sign  a  formula  which  runs  substantially  thus :  we,  the 
undersigned,  hereby  sincerely,  and  in  good  conscience  before  the 
Lord,  declare,  by  this  subscription,  that  we  heartily  believe,  and 
are  persuaded,  that  all'the  articles  and  points  of  doctrine  con- 
tained in  the  confession  and  catechism  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
together  with  the  explanation  of  the  points  made  by  the  National 
Synod,  held  at  Dortrecht,  agree  with  the  word  of  God  fully.  If, 
after  signing  that,  a  brother  has  any  doubt,  he  is  obliged  to 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  391 

come  before  the  classis,  declare  it,  and  give  up  his  place.  It  is 
due  to  this  fact  that  our  Church  is  the  Gibraltar  of  Protestantism. 

I  repeat  I  have  been  astonished  at  the  intimation  that  any  of 
these  great  Calvinistic  bodies  should  have  any  desire  for  change 
in  this  matter,  or  that  we  should  lower  the  great  standard  that 
has  been  raised  by  the  fathers  and  the  martyrs  of  our  Churches. 
It  has  been  well  said  here  that  creeds  are  not  made.  No, 
creeds  are  not  made  ;  they  grow.  But  where  did  our  creeds 
grow  ?  They  grew  in  the  fires  of  persecution.  Go  to  my  own 
fatherland  of  Holland.  What  do  you  read  upon  the  columns  of 
history  there?  One  hundred  thousand  martyrs!  And  they 
produced  this  glorious  confession  of  ours.  Turn  to  Scotland : 
what  do  we  see  there  ?  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  all  over  the 
hills  of  the  country;  the  memories  of  the  old  Covenanters.  Turn 
to  France :  there  we  read  about  the  Huguenots.  Turn  to  Italy: 
what  do  we  read  there  ?  Of  the  same  glorious  old  faith  and 
the  same  grand  sufferers.  Brethren,  these  creeds  grew.  Yes, 
they  grew,  but  they  cannot  grow  now !  Never  will  we  have 
another  exhibition  of  their  growth  until  we  have  another  of 
those  scenes  of  trial  of  which  brother  Campbell  spoke  so  elo- 
quently last  night. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  of  Cincinnati.— I  think 
that  the  desire  as  expressed  here  to-day  for  a  change  of  creed, 
arises  from  a  misunderstanding  of  the  object  of  a  creed.  What 
is  a  creed  ?  The  Bible  is  God's  word  to  us.  The  creed,  as  Dr. 
Schaff  has  put  it,  is  our  answer  to  God  before  the  world  as  to 
what  we  believe  God  has  said  to  us.  Now,  that  our  creed  is  the 
creed  of  a  witnessing  Church,  we  have  heard  over  and  over 
again  ;  and  when  God  has  spoken  to  us  in  his  word  from  Gen- 
esis to  Revelation,  we  give  an  answer  to  that  word  from  Genesis 
to  Revelation.  We  witness  for  our  God,  to  a  gainsaying  world, 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  of  God. 

As  this  creed  is  the  creed  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  how 
does  it  hold  us  ?  Under  our  polity,  it  holds  the  office-bearers 
in  the  Church.  In  my  church  I  have  a  negro  woman,  a  poor 
creature,  who  can  neither  read  nor  write,  but  who  has  been 
taught  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     What  has  she  been  taught?     The 


392  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  do  you  suppose,  in  all  its  ter- 
minology and  technical  theology  ?  No  ;  do  you  think  that  we 
would  take  even  the  Shorter  Catechism,  place  it  before  that  poor 
creature,  and  ask  her  to  subscribe  to  it  under  penalty  of  being 
kept  from  the  communion  of  the  Church  at  the  Lord's  table  ? 
No.  The  terms  of  admission  into  the  Church  for  private  mem- 
bers are  one  thing ;  the  terms  of  preaching  and  teaching  and 
ruling  in  the  Church  are  another  thing.  We  have  a  standard 
of  doctrine  in  thirty-three  chapters ;  and  a  witness,  who  had 
reason  to  make  a  sharp  and  close  investigation,  says  there 
are  but  t.\yo  things  in  the  whole  revelation  of  God  con- 
cerning which  the  Presbyterian  Church  does  not  testify  in  her 
standards.  I  would  not  have  any  subtraction,  but  the  addition 
of  those.  One,  he  says,  relates  to  women  preaching.  There 
is  no  testimony  in  the  way  of  an  interpretation  of  God's  word 
on  that  subject  in  our  Confession.  The  other  is  a  melan- 
choly admission,  in  my  judgment.  It  relates  to  the  duty  of 
alms-giving,  and  to  that  practical  charity  which  behooves  all 
Christian  souls. 

The  Rev.  D.  A.  Wallace,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Wooster,  Ohio. 
— It  seems  to  me  that  the  creed  of  our  Church  subserves  a  most 
valuable  purpose  as  a  help  to  our  young  men  in  clear,  correct, 
thorough  investigation  and  conclusive  thinking.  Here  is  a 
young  man  who  starts  out,  we  will  say,  to  examine  the  doctrine 
that  was  discussed  this  morning.  There  is  put  into  his  hands  a 
work  advocating  one  or  other  or  several  of  those  partial  views 
to  which  our  attention  was  called.  He  is  enamoured  with  it,  and 
thinks  that  that  is  just  the  thing.  He  says,  "  I  agree  with  this 
doctrine ;  I  agree  with  that  one  ;  these  are  the  right  views  on  the 
subject."  But  he  brings  himself  to  examine  what  the  confes- 
sion of  faith  and  the  catechism  say  on  the  subject.  He  finds 
there  a  clearer,  fuller,  and  more  concise  statement.  He  inquires 
further  as  to  this  confession  of  faith.  He  asks  who  made  it,  and 
inquires  into  its  history.  He  ascertains  how  long  it  was  being 
prepared,  the  thoroughness  of  the  investigation  of  those  who 
prepared  it,  whence  it  came,  who  believed  it ;  and  then  he  looks 
to  see  by  what  arguments  it  is  maintained.     And  he  will  be  a 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  393 

very  presumptuous  young  man,  indeed,  who,  on  superficial  inves- 
tigation, after  such  a  looking  back  to  the  beginning,  will  say  that 
that  is  false.  Then  let  him  pass  through  the  range  of  investiga- 
tion, and  he  will  find  that  it  will  not  do  for  him  to  come  to  con- 
clusions antagonistic  to  this  confession,  without  long-continued, 
protracted,  and  very  thorough  research.  When  a  young  man 
comes  to  be  able  to  say,  "  I  believe  the  system  of  doctrine  con- 
tained in  that  confession,"  if  he  has  made  investigation,  and 
makes  his  profession  ex  animo,  he  is  one  who  is  not  likely  to 
be  a  fool.  And  when  he  goes  out  into  the  world,  makes  a  pro- 
fession, and  lays  down  a  position,  you  can  depend  upon  him  to 
maintain  it  at  least  with  some  show  of  reason.  As  I  have  grown 
older,  I  have  come  to  have  a  more  profound,  and  a  still  more 
profound,  respect  for  the  wisdom,  the  knowledge,  and  the  under- 
standing of  the  men  who  prepared  our  doctrinal  statements ; 
and  not  to  have  a  very  profound  respect  for  the  young  man, 
upon  whose  face  the  down  yet  remains,  and  who  flippantly  at- 
tacks those  doctrines. 

We  hear  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  freedom  of  investigation. 
There  should  be  freedom  of  investigation.  Liberty  is  a  God- 
given  right.  A  man  should  have  liberty  of  investigation.  But 
let  him  make  his  investigations  before  he  makes  his  vows.  Is  it 
too  much  to  ask,  after  a  young  man  has  gone  through  a  course 
in  philosophy  (in  which  every  great  principle  of  theology,  we  are 
told,  is  rooted),  after  he  has  mastered  that,  and  has  taken  his 
course  in  the  theolosfical  halls,  is  it  too  much  to  ask  that  he 
should  have  made  his  investigation  so  complete  and  thorough, 
that  when  he  professes  his  faith  at  his  ordination,  there  shall  be 
something  settled  ?  Must  he  be  forevermore  digging  around 
the  foundations  to  see  whether  there  is  any  corner-stone  there 

or  not  ? 

DEFINING  THE  CONSENSUS. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Schaff. — Before  reading  the  report  which  I 
have  now  to  submit,  I  will,  make  one  rernark,  with  a  view  to 
dispelling  a  possible  prejudice  in  regard  to  it.  The  revision  of 
an  existing  confession  of  faith  is  one  thing;  the  defining  of 
some  twenty  or  thirty  confessions  is  another  thing.     With  the 


394  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

former,  as  a  Council,  we  have  nothing  whatever  to  do.  The  re- 
vision of  an  existing  confession  of  faith  is  cxckisively  the 
business  of  the  Church  or  Churches  which  hold  that  confession. 
But  the  defining  of  the  several  confessions,  on  which  this  Coun- 
cil is  professedly  based,  is  altogether  within  the  province  of  the 
Council ;  and  whether  it  shall  or  shall  not  be  done,  is  altogether 
a  question  of  expediency.  In  that  view  we  have  framed  the 
following  resolution,  which  the  Committee  on  Creeds  and  Con- 
fessions has  instructed  me  to  recommend  the  Council  to  adbpt : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  consisting  of  members  from  the  various 
branches  of  the  Reformed  or  Presb3'terian  Churches  embraced  within 
this  Alliance  be  appointed  to  consider  the  desirableness  of  defining 
the  "Consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confessions"  (as  expressed  by  our 
Constitution) ;  and  to  report  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council. 

Resolved,  That  the  following  be  the  members  of  this  committee : 
Principal  Dr.  Cairns,  Chairman  ;  Professor  Dr.  Flint,  Professor  Dr. 
Blaikie,  Professor  Dr.  Calderwood,  Professor  Dr.  Graham,  Proles- 
sor  Dr.  Watts,  Professor  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge,  Profe.ssor  Dr.  Patter- 
son, Dr.  Wilson,  Professor  Dr.  Morris,  Rev.  Dr.  Chambers,  Rev. 
Dr.  Bomberger,  Rev.  Dr.  Dales,  and  Principal  Caven,  Professor  Dr. 
Apple,  Professor  Jean  Monod,  Professor  Dr.  Von  Oosterzee,  Pro- 
fessor Dr.  Godeb,  Rev.  Dr.  Carlin,  Rev.  Dr.  Krafft,  and  Professor 
Comba. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  S.  I.  Prime. — I  move  the  adoption  of  the 
report. 

Principal  Caven,  of  Toronto. — I  beg  respectfully  to  suggest 
that  the  name  of  Dr.  Schaff  be  added  to  that  list. 

Dr.  Schaff. — Allow  me  one  word.  I  have  very  earnestly 
protested  against  that  in  the  committee ;  and,  to  be  consistent,  I 
have  to  do  so  now.     Please  excuse  me. 

The  President. — But  I  suppose  we  need  not  accept  Dr. 
Schaff's  protestation. 

Several  Delegates. — No  ;  not  at  all. 

The  Chairman. — If  there  is  no  objection,  the  name  of  Dr. 
Schaff  will  be  added  to  the  committee. 

The  Rev.  A.  A.  Hodge,  D.  D.,  of  Princeton,  N.  J.— There  is 
no  time  to  discuss  the  resolutions  now.  Let  them  be  passed 
over  for  discussion. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  395 

The  President. — Do  you  move  that  they  be  postponed  untU 
to-morrow  morning  ? 

Dk.  Hodge, — I  do. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

The  Council  then  adjourned  to  meet  at  two  and  a  half  o'clock, 
in  the  Academy  of  Music. 

September  2'$>\\\,  1880. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  2.30  p.  m. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Nicholas  Hofmevr,  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  President. 

After  devotional  services,  the  Rev.  R.  M.  Patterson,  D.  D., 
of  Philadelphia,  read  the  following  paper : 

CHURCH    EXTENSION    IN   LARGE    CITIES. 

I.  "  The  energy  of  civilization  grows  by  a  coalescence  of  strengths 
and  by  a  competition  of  strengths."  Large  cities  are,  therefore,  one 
of  its  products,  and  one  of  its  means  as  well.  Under  the  social  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  they  grow  in  population  rapidly — more  rapidly 
than  in  ancient  times  and  in  non-Christian  lands ;  more  rapidly  than 
do  the  rural  regions.  In  1871  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Great  Britain  were  in  cities  of  over  50,000  of  a  population  ;  in  1801 
there  had  been  less  than  one-eighth.  One-sixth  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land live  in  London.  The  census  which  has  this  year  been  taken  in 
the  United  States  shows  twenty  cities  with  over  100,000  inhabitants 
each,  and  an  aggregate  of  5,952,267,  or  almost  one-eighth  of  the  whole 
nation.  Ten  years  ago  there  were  only  fourteen  cities  in  that  rank; 
in  i860  only  nine.  In  1870  we  had  twenty  cities  with  over  50,000 
inhabitants  each  ;  we  have  now  thirty-one.  "  We  are  and  are  to  be 
a  nation  of  great  cities." 

Their  closely-welded  population  ;  their  business,  social,  and  gov- 
ernmental connections  ;  their  publishing-houses  and  newspapers  ; 
their  libraries  and  the  literary  men  who  frequent  them  ;  the  capital 
that  is  centred  in  their  commercial  houses  ;  and  their  progressiveness  of 
spirit,  make  cities  the  depositaries  of  national  power.  "  Commercial 
men,"  says  an  old  novel,  "  are  the  first  class  in  the  state." 

Nor  do  the  direct  figures,  in  regard  to  a  large  city,  indicate  its  full 
strength  and  influence.  For  instance,  Boston  itself  contains  one-fifth 
of  the  population  of  Massachusetts  ;  but  one-half  of  the  population, 
and  in  value  seven-tenths  of  the  personal  property,  and  two-thirds  of 
the  real  estate  of  Massachusetts  are  within  twenty-five  miles  of  the 
State  House  in  Boston.     The  power  is  radiating. 

Balzac  has  declared,  "as  one  of  the  great  wounds  of  our  modern 
society,"  that  '•  the  nineteenth  century  France  is  divided  into  two 
great  zones — Paris  and  the  provinces  :  the  provinces  jealous  of  Paris  \ 


396  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Paris  taking  no  thought  of  the  provinces  save  to  demand  money  of 
them."  A  similar  remark  cannot  be  made  of  the  English-speaking 
nations.  The  cities  and  the  country  are  too  largely  interfused ;  and 
therefore  especially  "  the  church  that  holds  the  cities  will  control 
the  religious  character  of  the  country." 

So  it  was  also  in  the  earlier  ages.  The  apostolic  system  of  Church 
extension  was  one  of  radiation  from  the  great  centres  of  population. 
Christianity  made  its  first  progress  in  them.  Renan  says,  "  Nearly 
all  our  superstitions  are  the  remains  of  a  religion  anterior  to  Christian- 
ity, which  that  has  not  been  able  entirely  to  uproot.  If  one  would 
find  an  image  of  paganism  in  our  day,  it  must  be  sought  in  some  ob- 
scure village  in  the  depth  of  some  out-of-the-way  country.  .  .  . 
Christianity,  like  Judaism  and  Islamism,  is  a  religion  of  cities.  .  .  . 
The  great  city  once  converted,  the  small  city  and  the  country  followed 
the  movement." 

II.  Grossly  exaggerated  assertions  are  current  as  to  the  failure  of 
the  churches  to  keep  up  with  the  advancing  urban  populations.  But 
distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view.  The  evils  that  are  near  to 
us  are  magnified,  and  we  do  not  properly  compare  them  with  the  past. 
"The  good  old  time"  is  a  wretched  pessimistic  sing-song.  More- 
over, precise  statistics  are  the  growth  of  the  present  century,  and 
strangely  wild  assertions,  which  cannot  carry  all  that  they  are  matde 
to  bear,  are  perpetually  sent  out.  For  instance,  sixty  years  ago  a 
minister  of  the  Church  of  England  asserted  that  there  were  no  less 
than  760,000  unconverted  pagans  in  London.  Remember  that  the 
whole  population  was  only  1,225,694,  and  you  will  see  that  even  if, 
as  is  likely,  the  members  of  the  dissenting  churches  were  super- 
ciliously counted  as  unconverted  pagans,  the  assertion  was  an  ex- 
aggeration. 

A  wide  and  careful  comparison,  in  place  of  the  loose  generaliza- 
tions which  are  hastily  and  unscientifically  made  from  a  iQ.\\  cases  and 
in  fearful  tones  taken  up  and  cast  abroad  on  the  wings  of  the  wind, 
will  show  that  the  churches,  in  their  number,  in  the  number  of  their 
members,  arid  in  their  varied  influence,  have  been  advancing  on  the 
population,  though  it  may  be  in  that  orbital  manner  which  marks 
human  progress. 

In  this  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  one  branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  with  which  I  am  most  familiar  had  at  the  opening  of  this 
century  less  than  500  communicants,  all  told,  in  a  population  of 
nearly  70,000*  This  year  it  has  25,898  communicants,  in  a  popula- 
tion of  847,000,  In  other  words,  the  population  is  twelve  times  more 
numerous,  the  church  membership  fifty-one  times  more  numerous. 
Similar  statements,  though  not  so  strong,  may  be  made  of  the  other 
religious  denominations.  The  city  is  kept  provided  with  church- 
accommodations  sufficient  for  all  of  a  church-going  age  ;  and  the  mem- 
bership of  the  churches  is  proportionally  larger  than  it  was  four- 
score years  ago. 

lorty  years  ago  London,  with  a  population  of  1,873,676,  of  whom 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  397 

it  was  asserted  a  million  were  of  proper  age  to  attend  worship,  had  not 
more  than  200  Established  and  268  Dissenting  Churches,  and  there 
was  no  church-room  for  from  300,000  to  500,000  of  the  people.  In 
1875,  ^'^'^^''  '■^  population  of  3,445,160 — not  quite  double  that  of  1841  — 
there  were  about  1,200  places  of  worship,  500  of  them  Established  :  two 
and  a  half  times  the  number  that  existed  in  1841.  Whether  the  attend- 
ance was  as  good  in  proportion,  I  do  not  know.  It  is  asserted  that 
1,500,000,  or  nearly  one-half  of  the  inhabitants,  neglect  public  wor- 
ship and  instruction.  And  a  perhaps  ten-year-ago  declaration  of  the 
Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  that  not  more  than  two  per  cent,  of  the  working- 
people  are  church-going,  is  still  reproduced  ;  and  along  with  it  the 
statement  that  in  this  country  forty  per  cent,  of  the  same  classes  live 
in  church  absenteeism.  I  confess  that  I  do  not  credit  these  figures. 
I  read  them  with  many  grains  of  allowance. 

Moreover,  Christianity  has  so  purified  society  that  the  vices  which 
exist  appear  the  greater  and  are  the  more  noticed  because  of  the 
clearer  atmosphere  which  surrounds  us.  The  gospel  reveals  and 
blackens  sins  while  destroying  sin.  Bunyan  thus  describes  Mansoul : 
"Now  every  corner  swarmed  with  outlandish  doubters;  red-coats 
and  black-coats  walked  the  town  by  clusters  and  filled  the  houses 
with  hideous  noise,  lying  stories,  and  blasphemous  language  against 
Shaddai  and  his  son."  Froude  declares  :  "  This  is  evidently  meant 
for  fashionable  London  in  the  time  of  Charles  II."  Bad  as  the 
plague-spots  of  London  are,  widespread  as  is  the  sceptical  leaven, 
could  such  language  be  drawn  from  it  now? 

Still  the  churches  have  lagged  behind.  Much  remains  to  be  done. 
We  should  press  on  to  the  doing  of  it  with  the  words  of  Constan- 
tine,  who,  when  in  the  midst  of  the  tracing  of  Constantinople,  his  as- 
sistants suggested  that  he  had  already  exceeded  the  most  ample  meas- 
ure of  a  great  city,  replied,  "  I  shall  still  advance  until  HE,  the  in- 
visible Guide  who  marches  before  me,  thinks  proper  to  stop." 

III.  The  great  problem,  at  least  in  the  American  cities  generally, 
is  not  how  to  reach  debased  neighborhoods,  whose  inhabitants  have 
sunk  down  into  filthy  immoralities.  • 

Fifty  years  ago  nearly  one-seventh  of  the  population  of  England 
were  poor  enough  to  need  constant  or  partial  aid.  There  were,  then, 
in  Liverpool  7,862  inhabited  cellars,  containing  one-seventh  of  the 
whole  population  of  the  city.  There  were  2,270  courts,  i^w  of  which 
had  more  than  one  outlet.  Later  still,  in  1848,  during  the  Chartist 
agitation,  while  the  window  tax  still  continued,  Charles  Kingsley 
wrote  an  appeal  to  the  working  people,  in  which  he  said:  "The 
working  clergy  go  into  your  houses :  they  see  the  shameful 
filth  and  darkness  in  which  you  are  forced  to  live  crowded  together : 
they  see  your  children  growing  up  in  ignorance  and  temptation  for 
want  of  education."  Describing  one  of  the  thoroughfares  along  which 
the  procession  went  in  London  in  1872,  on  the  day  of  thanksgiving 
for  the  Prince  of  Wales'  recovery,  Dr.  Guthrie  wrote :  "Vice  and 
misery  were  the  prevailing  characteristics  of   that  sea  of  upturned 


398  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

faces."  Of  Edinburgh  he  also  declared:  "  Not  a  single  house,  nor 
a  block  of  houses,  but  whole  streets,  once  from  end  to  end  the  homes 
of  decency,  and  industry,  and  wealth,  and  rank,  and  piety,  have  been 
engulfed.  A  flood  of  ignorance  and  misery  and  sin  now  breaks  and 
roars  above  the  top  of  their  highest  tenements."  When  Dr.  Chal- 
mers took  charge  of  the  parish  of  St.  Johns,  Glasgow,  it  had  a  popula- 
tion of  ten  thousand,  a  large  proportion  of  whom  never  attended 
religious  instruction  anywhere.  And  of  the  first  one  hundred  and 
fifty  families  Dr.  Guthrie  visited  in  the  same  city,  not  five  attended 
church. 

Those  evils  have  not  developed  themselves  so  widely  in  American 
cities  generally.  Not  many  large  districts  can  be  found  here  in 
which,  in  the  words  of  Tennyson, 

"  The  poor  are  hoveled  and  hustled  together,  each  sex  like  swine." 

Carlyle,  in  his  Latter  Day  Pamphlets,  savagely  predicted:  "New 
spiritual  Pythons,  plenty  of  them  ;  enormous  megatherions  as  ugly 
as  ever  were  born  of  mud,  loom,  huge  and  hideous,  out  of  the  twilight 
future  on  America ;  and  she  will  have  her  own  agony  and  her  own 
victory,  but  on  other  terms  than  she  is  yet  aware  of."  Large 
districts  of  the  debased  poor  are  not  yet  at  least  one  of  these  wide- 
spread demons.  And  Christian  philanthropy  has  been,  during  the 
last  fifty  years,  and  still  is,  doing  much  to  remove  it  from  the  old 
world ;  as  in  New  York  such  a  sore  as  the  Five  Points  has  been  some- 
what healed.  Science,  and  sanitary  measures,  and  social  improve- 
ment under  a  Christian  influence,  which  some  of  them,  however,  do 
not  recognize,  are  elevating  the  condition  of  the  people  generally. 

But  in  reference  to  Church  extension  among  the  viciously  lapsed, 
wherever  they  may  be  found,  it  is  not  likely  that  anything  better  can 
be  devised  than  the  Scotch  system  of  evangelization.  Dr.  Robert 
Buchanan  had  a  church  built  in  the  Wynd  district  of  Glasgow  in 
1854.  In  1877  tliere  had  been  added  to  the  Free  Presbytery,  besides 
several  mission  stations,  eighteen  regularly  sanctioned  charges,  all  of 
which  owed  their  origin  to  the  Wynd  mission.  The  membership  in 
several  of  those  congregations  is  over  five  hundred  ;  in  three  or  four 
it  has  approached  one  thousand.  Dr.  Islay  Burns  declares:  "The 
mission  churches  have  furnished  a  majority  of  all  the  students  in  our 
hall  this  year,"  and  also  "a  majority  of  our  able  men."  And  Mr. 
Wells  now  writes  :  "  Seldom  does  any  district  hold  more  than  a  hand- 
ful of  out-and-out  infidels.  There  are  very  few  Protestant  children 
in  Glasgow  who  are  not  under  some  gospel  influence."  The  kind  of 
work  which  has  produced  these  results,  and  such  as  these,  photographed 
by  Mr.  Wells  in  the  Catholie  Presbyterian  for  February,  18S0,  deserves 
careful  study  and  discriminating  imitation.  The  ecclesiastical  princi- 
ples which  underlie  it  are  essentially  Presbyterian,  and  more  enduring 
than  Scotia's  hills. 

IV.  One  particularly  disgraceful  phase  of  that  general  inconsistency 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  399 

of  the  Christian  life  which  is  so  harmful  to  the  progress  of  Christ's 
cause  may  be  noted.  The  growing  disposition  to  administer  churches, 
as  if  it  was  a  part  of  their  mission  to  provide  entertainment  for  the 
people.  Fairs,  concerts,  comical  lectures,  even  oyster  suppers,  turn- 
ing the  dedicated  house  of  worship  into  a  place  of  hilarious  amuse- 
ment, are  fearfully  demoralizing  to  the  religious  life.  They  de- 
spiritualize  the  people  ;  merge  the  high  sense  of  obligation  in  pleasure- 
seeking  ;  and  blot  out  that  line  of  demarcation  between  the  world 
and  the  Church,  which  cannot  be  destroyed  without  debasing  the  one, 
and  affording  rare  comfort  to  the  other  in  its  sins.  The  ])iety  of  con- 
gregations which  tolerate  such  things  has  lost  the  high  old  Puritan 
type.  They  are  full  of  weaklings,  with  itching  ears  and  sensual 
stomachs,  who  measure  a  church  by  its  amusement-producing  capacity. 
In  the  end  no  congregation  gains  by  having  them.  It  is  not  wise  to 
introduce  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil  into  the  Church  as  allies 
of  its  king.      Timeo  Danaos  et  donaferentes. 

But  the  special  difficulties  which  church  extension  in  the  large 
cities  now  meets  are  the  following  : 

First — The  abnormally  rapid  accretion  to  their  population,  espe- 
cially in  the  United  States.  The  net  increase  of  inhabitants  in  this  city 
of  Philadelphia  in  the  last  decade  by  births  was  a  little  over  1,300  a 
year  ;  but  the  total  annual  gain  in  population  was  17,352.  So  that  there 
was  a  migration  hither  of  more  than  16,000  strangers  annually  ;  enough 
to  require  at  least  twenty  new  churches  of  average  size  for  their  accom- 
modation. Fifty  years  ago  about  a  dozen  families  clustered  around 
Fort  Dearborn  in  Illinois;  in  1837  the  city  of  Chicago  was  formed 
therewith  4,170  inhabitants;  in  1 85  o  it  had  29,963;  in  i860,  109,- 
206;  in  1870,  298,977;  in  1880,  501,979.  Holyoke,  in  his  recent 
magazine  article,  speaks  of  its  "hotels  in  which  the  population  of 
twenty  ordinary  English  parishes  would  be  lost  "  During  the 
decade  just  closed,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  added  a  hundred  per  cent,  to 
its  population;  Atlanta,  Georgia,  106;  Minneapolis,  244;  Denver, 
Colorado,  614  per  cent.  These  are  extraordinary  cases.  But  our  net 
decade  city  growth  is  about  thirty-five  per  cent. 

Much  of  this  accretion,  too,  is  not  only  foreign,  but  Romish  and 
infidel.  New  York  is  said  to  be  the  fifth  German  city  and  the  second 
Irish  city  in  the  world.  Nearly  the  half  of  its  population  are  for- 
eigners. Indeed,  the  papal  churches,  by  such  additions  alone,  can 
show  great  growth  among  us,  without  making  any  real  progress  in 
adherents. 

Of  course  it  is  very  difficult  to  keep  abreast  of  such  incoming  floods. 
Migration  itself  unsettles  people,  and  subjects  Christian  families  to 
the  danger  of  apostacy  from  church  attendance. 

Second — The  necessary  territorial  expansion  of  the  cities  is  accom- 
panied by  one  of  the  most  threatening  evils  of  the  day — the  with- 
drawal of  the  wealthy  and  the  cultivated  from  social  contact  and 
intermingling  with  the  very  poor  and  unrefined.  Lecky,  in  his 
"  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  designates  this  product  of  the 


400  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

growth  of  the  English  manufacturing  cities  "as  one  in  which  the 
political  observer  discovers  one  of  the  most  dangerous  systems  of 
revolution."  Dr.  Guthrie,  at  an  earlier  day,  had  it  revealed  to  him 
as  a  fruitful  source  of  irreligion  in  the  Scotch  cities:  "This  total 
separation  of  the  higher  from  the  lower,  of  the  more  decent  from  the 
less  decent,  of  the  wealthier  from  the  poorer  classes  of  society,  has 
originated  much  of  the  irreligion,  the  crime,  the  misery,  that  deform 
the  face  of  our  city."  It  has  become  one  of  America's  impending 
dangers.  It  destroys  the  humanizing  influence  which  each  class 
should  have  upon  the  other.  It  inspires  the  inchoate  socialistic 
movements  of  the  age.  It  creates  neighborhoods  in  which  Church 
work  is  either  largely  abandoned  ;  or  is  done  by  missions,  which  as 
satellites  to  distant  wealthy  churches,  deaden  the  self-respect  that 
Presbyterians  should  have,  or  by  poor  churches  which  find  it  difficult 
to  sustain  the  means  of  grace  and  whose  life  is  a  constant  struggle  for 
existence,  in  which  it  is  hard  even  for  the  fittest  to  survive.  And  it 
produces  here  and  there  religious  anomalies,  which  are  one  of  the 
greatest  blots  on  the  Protestant  name — churches  which  the  wealthy 
alone  can  and  are  expected  to  attend. 

Third — Romanism,  with  its  usual  worldly  foresight,  spends  its 
strength  on  the  cities.  It  is  perfectly  magnificent  in  its  real  estate 
speculations,  even  to  Archbishop  Purcell's  extent  of  failing  to  the 
tune  of  three  and  a  half  millions — but  leaving  the  property  safe  in  the 
hands  of  the  hierarchy.  Its  judicious  management  of  churches,  keep- 
ing them  few  in  number  but  crowded  with  worshippers  and  with  a 
multiplicity  of  priests,  and  the  show  it  makes  by  its  property,  bewilder 
the  public  mind  with  the  impression  of  greater  strength  than  really 
belongs  to  it. 

The  numerical  and  social  power  of  Romanism  in  this  country  is, 
for  political  effect,  overrated.  The  claims  which  it  makes  are  exag, 
gerated.  There  is  one  territory  in  which  the  papal  prelate  has 
returned,  from  year  to  year,  a  papal  population  more  numerous  than 
are  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory.  It  is  supposed  that  Purgatory 
lies  beneath,  and  that  its  denizens,  whom  the  flesh-and-blood  census- 
takers  cannot  count,  are  included  in  the  ecclesiastical  returns,.  Else- 
where, however,  the  Papal  Church  is  annually  losing  more  of  its  own 
children  than  it  gains  by  perversions  from  Protestantism,  though  im- 
migration and  purchase  have  caused  it  to  multiply.  But  it  makes  very 
much  of  those  in  high  position  who  go  into  its  bosom.  Its  work  is 
beaver-like.  It  has  become  a  dangerous  power  in  the  free  cities  of 
America. 

Fourth — The  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  rapid  church  exten- 
sion, however,  and  one  which  we  are  just  beginning  to  feel  in  its 
power,  is  the  unscientific  scepticism  of  the  day.  Charles  Kingsley 
wrote:  "The  power  will  pass  more  and  more,  if  all  goes  healthily 
and  well,  into  the  hands  of  scientific  men."  It  has  largely  done  so. 
The  class  who  most  directly  reach  the  masses  are  unhappily  the  trun- 
cated physicists.     Their  irreligious  leaven   is  very  pervasive.     Like 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  401 

the  Egyptian  frogs  its  spawn  creep  everywhere.  Not  merely  the 
ponderous  treatise,  but  the  review,  the  magazine,  the  pamphlet,  the 
novel,  editorials  and  squibs  in  the  daily  press  throw  them  up.  The 
mechanical  classes  are  especially  assailed  ;  and  the  mechanics  who 
begin  to  doubt,  at  once  leave  the  churches  and  turn  upon  and  revile 
them.  Fashionable  society  people  will  continue  to  attend  worship 
after  faith  is  lost.  The  bone  and  sinew  of  the  people  will  not  be, 
even  to  that  extent,  hypocritical.  Matthew  Arnold  has  said  of  Eng- 
land :  "We  have  an  upper  class  materialized,  a  middle  class  vulgar- 
ized, and  a  lower  class  brutalized."  Such  distinctions  will  not  be 
acknowledged  in  this  land.  As  Holyoke  says,  "  There  are  no  com- 
mon people  in  America,  as  in  the  English  sense."  Nor  does  the 
irreligious  scientism  of  the  day  vulgarize  and  brutalize  its  subjects. 
It  as  yet  leaves  the  large  proportion  of  its  slaves  high-minded,  moral, 
attentive  to  social  duties.  It  has  a  morality  which  is  the  child  of 
Christianity,  though  with  parricidal  hands  it  seeks  to  destroy  its 
parent.  In  this  morality  lies  the  greatest  power  with  which  it  is 
clothed ;  and  this  practical  Agnosticism  is  drawing  many  from  Chris- 
tianity. 

These  four  things  combined  make  the  defensive  and  aggressive 
work  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  large  cities  more  difficult  than  it  has 
been  in  any  age  since  the  days  of  the  apostles — more  difficult  than  it 
was  then. 

V.  To  meet  and  overcome  these  enemies,  and  to  extend  the 
kingdom  of  redemption  : 

First — The  different  Christian  churches  should  bid  each  other  God- 
speed in  the  supreme  mission  of  winning  souls  to  Jesus.  Carlyle  has 
savagely  said  that  the  "  ultimate  question  between  every  two  human 
beings  is,  Can  I  kill  thee,  or  canst  thou  kill  me?"  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  that  spirit  has  too  often  appeared  in  the  mutual  strife 
of  Christian  societies.  Dr.  Guthrie,  speaking  even  of  his  noble 
ragged-school  enterprise,  was  compelled  to  write:  "It  is  a  very  sad 
thing  that  you  cannot  attempt  the  salvation  of  these  poor  outcasts 
without  interference  from  parties  who  were  leaving  them  quietly  to 
perish."  Now,  to  our  Presbyterian  doctrine  and  government  we 
believe  may  be  emphatically  applied  the  assertion  that  "  strong  beliefs 
win  strong  men,  and  then  make  them  stronger."  But  there  are 
intellectual  and  emotional  differences  in  humanity;  and  if  some  may 
be  first  approached  and  won  to  Christianity  by  the  more  highly  emo- 
tional Methodists,  others  by  the  excessively  formal  Immersionists, 
others  by  the  Ritualists,  others  even  by  the  rough  Salvation  Army, 
let  us  be  glad  and  rejoice.  Religion,  in  any  form  and  any  degree  of 
purity,  is  better  than  no  religion. 

Second — The  churches  should  be  in  active  sympathy  with  all  refor- 
matory movements.  Lord  Derby,  in  a  recently  delivered  speech, 
said:  "Pauperism  is  national  dishonor;  so  is  drunkenness;  so  is 
preventible  disease;  so  is  the  mise^-able  squalor  in  which  our  poorer 
classes  in  the  large  towns  lie,  even  when  they  escape  the  work-house. 
26 


402  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

These  are  the  most  really  formidable  enemies  we  have,  as  a  nation, 
to  contend  with  ;  and,  if  we  attack  them  sincerely,  we  shall  have 
enough  fighting  to  last  our  time."  Now,  the  gospel  is  really  the 
fountain-head  of  what  Gladstone  has  described  as  "  the  great  moral 
forces"  which  move  onward  in  their  might  and  majesty  against  these 
social  evils  of  the  day.  The  churches  and  their  ministers  should, 
therefore,  co-operate  with  them,  and  place  a  guiding,  not  a  checking 
hand  upon  them.  The  Presbyterian  Church  is  essentially  conserv- 
ative. We  glory  in  that  ;  but,  as  one  of  the  finest  among  the  recent 
creations  of  fiction,  the  laird  of  Denny-mains  in  Black's  "  White 
Wings  "  says  :  "  While  it  is  only  a  lot  o'  radical  bodies  that  are  for 
upsetting  institutions  that  have  been  tried  by  time  and  not  found 
wanting,"  yet  "a  wise  conservative  knows  how  to  march  with  the 
age,"  in  moral  movements,  it  may  be  added,  whose  motive  power 
comes  from  the  gospel. 

Especially  should  we  be  unequivocal  in  our  preaching  and  practice 
in  reference  to  temperance.  "  Drunkenness,"  says  Mr.  Wells  in  his 
Catholic  Presbyterian  article,  "  is  the  most  malignant  social  cancer  in 
Scotland;  beyond  all  comparison  the  most  stupendous  outward  hin- 
drance to  the  gospel.  Whiskey  is  the  most  successful  proselytizer  fur 
the  sect  of  the  non-church  going."  Dr.  Guthrie  found  that  in  eight 
cases  out  of  ten  the  outcast  children  of  the  streets  were  of  drunken 
l)arents.  It  will  further  be  found  by  every  pastor  that  the  immense 
majority  of  the  cases  of  apostacy  from  the  Christian  life  commenced 
with  drinking.  Now  it  will  be  admitted,  even  by  those  who  think 
that  they  themselves  can  be  moderate  and  safe  in  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cating liquor,  that  the  only  security  for  the  multitude  lies  in  total 
abstinence;  and  no  man  who  is  himself  known  to  be  a  drinker  in  any 
degree  can  influence  the  masses  against  the  terrible  demon  of  the  day. 
No  church  which  hesitates  to  throvv  all  its  influence  on  the  right  side 
of  this  question  practically  can  or  should  extend  itself  in  large  cities 
or  elsewhere. 

Third — One  of  the  marvels  of  the  day  is  the  multiplication  of  cheap 
literature.  It  is  not  merely  of  obscene  books  and  papers— thougli 
they  have  been  ruinous — or  of  a  "dressy  and  exaggerated  literature," 
which  purists  properly  condemn  as  one  of  our  curses;  but  the  best 
works  of  fiction,  poetry,  history,  essays,  science,  and  religion,  are  scat- 
tered broadcast,  and  meet  us  at  stalls  on  the  corners  of  the  streets,  for 
twenty,  fifteen,  ten,  five,  even  three  cents  a  volume.  Particularly,  be 
it  noted,  there  is  a  wonderful  activity  in  the  dissemination  of  works 
which  are  irreligious  in  their  tone ;  they  thus  circulate  freely  and 
widely;  and  they  are  helping  to  undermine  the  faith,  especially  of  col- 
lege boys  and  working  people.  In  both  hemispheres  we  need  ortho- 
dox men  to  do  for  sound  science  and  theology  what  Tyndall  and 
Huxley  are  undoubtedly  doing  by  their  popular  presentation  for  phy- 
sicism  ;  what  Charles  Kingsley,  for  instance,  did  in  his  Toztm  Geology. 
Popular  primers  and  books  on  the  great  themes  of  religion,  prepared  by 
masters  and  issued  in  cheap  form,  are  greatly  needed.  Yea,  more,  a  fruitful 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  403 

blessing  would  be  the  raising  up  of  first-class  popular  writers  who 
would  largely  use  the  novel  in  the  interest  of  evangelical  religion. 
Any  great  publishing  houses  that  would,  in  the  preponderating  relig- 
ious line,  by  cheap  issues  imitate  the  "  Franklin  Square  Library,"  or 
the  "  Standard  Series,"  or  the  "  Seaside  Library,"  or  the  "  Humboldt 
Library  of  Popular  Science  and  Literature,"  would  soon  be  repaid. 
The  various  union  and  denominational  publishing  concerns  which  are 
under  evangelical  influence  should  devote  themselves  more  to  this 
work.  It  would  be  a  great  help  to  church  extension.  The  pulpit 
will  never  be  superseded  by  the  press;  but  the  press  is  either  the  pul- 
pit's mightiest  foe  or  its  most  irresistible  ally.  The  engine  which  is 
being  so  largely  used  to  assault  the  faith  of  men,  and  thereby  kill 
church  attendance,  should  be  seized  and  turned  on  the  enemy  with 
more  effective  ammunition  and  more  of  it. 

Fourth — The  Sabbath  school  must  be  mentioned,  and  yet  need  only 
be  mentioned,  as  an  important  means  of  Church  extension.  Dr.  Guth- 
rie said  :  "I  had  not  labored  three  months  in  the  parish  when  I 
became  perfectly  satisfied  of  this,  that  it  was  impossible  to  raise  the 
lower  classes  in  towns  unless  through  the  means  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion." The  children  of  the  outside  world,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
church,  should  thus  be  looked  after,  not  only  for  their  own  sake,  but 
for  the  mediate  influence  through  them  on  the  adults.  The  only  sug- 
gestion needed  to  be  made  here  is,  that  we  should  be  careful  not  to 
separate  the  school  from  the  church,  nor  permit  any  line  to  be  drawn 
between  the  two,  but  to  U5e  the  school  as  one  agency  through  which 
the  church  does  its  work ;  and  to  have  the  scholars  always  and  every 
Sabbath  at  the  church  services,  none  of  which  should  ever  be  without 
a  portion  for  the  children.  The  evil  of  the  non-attendance  of  the 
young  in  the  sanctuary,  which  is  said  to  be  growing,  should  be  over- 
come. And  it  deserves  to  be  considered  whether  the  christening  of 
some  special  services  as  "  Children's  Church  "  does  not  increase  that 
evil. 

VL  In  addition  to  these  hints,  which  concern  all  the  churches, 
there  are  some  others  concerning  the  polity  and  policy  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  which  should  be  emphasized. 

First — Seek  to  have  strong  churches,  rather  than  many  of  them,  in 
the  cities.  Feeble  organizations  are  a  necessity  in  sparsely  settled 
regions.  In  many  of  our  cities  they  are  the  withes  with  which  the 
wily  Delilah,  operating  in  the  hearts  of  unsanctified,  dissatisfied  and 
selfish  elders,  trustees  and  church  adherents,  has  been  binding  our 
religion  unto  death.  The  Church,  through  its  Presbyteries,  should 
break  them  by  consolidating  such  struggling  organizations  as  are  now 
in  existence,  and  by  guarding  against  the  creation  of  similar  ones. 
Many  weak  churches  cripple  the  Church.  Rome  shows  her  wisdom  in 
this  respect.  In  this  city,  with  a  population  not  really  larger  than  the 
Presbyterian,  she  has  only  about  one-third  of  the  congregations;  but 
she  keeps  them  aH  full,  organizing  a  new  one  only  when  the  overflow 
of  the  old  makes  it  necessary :  and  thereby  she  makes  the  greater 
impression,  has  the  greater  influence,  and  extends  herself  more  surely. 


404  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Second — Keep  the  pulpit  in  the  foreground  and  high  up  as,  under 
God,  the  great  Presbyterian  power.  Not  by  a  liturgy ;  not  by  the 
aesthetics  of  worship;  not  by  artistic  singing;  not  by  social  entertain- 
ments, imj^ortant  as  these  may  be  in  their  place; — but  by  preaching, 
has  our  Church  become  the  force  which  it  is  in  the  world.  And  one 
Paul,  whom  we  do  not  believe  to  be  antiquated,  asserted  that  "  it 
pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save.^'  The  culture 
of  the  age  makes  it  more,  rather  than  less,  necessary  to  preserve  and 
increase  this  power.  Our  preachers  should  be  pre-eminently  learned 
and  should  be  trained  to  use  their  learning  for  popular  effect;  not 
indeed  by  philosophical  or  scientific  discussions  in  technical  language; 
for  if  Wordsworth  be  wrong  in  his  idea  that  the  vernacular  of  the 
uneducated  is  better  adapted  to  poetical  purposes  than  that  of  the 
educated,  it  is  true  that  the  popular  language  ought  to  be  largely  the 
language  of  the  pulpit ;  and  to  fathom  the  mental  currents  of  the  day, 
and  in  simple  words  to  meet  the  difficulties  of  scepticism  and  present 
the  eternal  verities,  is  the  highest  of  intellectual  triumphs. 

This  preaching  must  also  deal  with  every-day  life.  Thirty  years 
ago  F.  W.  Robertson  wrote:  "  If  a  clergyman  refuse  to  touch  on 
such  subjects,  which  belong  to  real,  actual  life,  the  men  will  leave  his 
church  ;  and,  as  is  the  case  in  the  Church  of  England,  he  will  only 
have  charity  orphans  who  are  compelled  to  go,  and  old  women,  to 
preach  to." 

Now  in  large  cities,  where  thinking  is  at  red  heat,  it  deserves  to  be 
considered  whether  one  or  both  of  two  things  should  not  be  sought 
after  :  whether  we  should  not  have  more  commonly  in  every  congre- 
gation the  preacher  or  doctor  and  the  pastor;  or  whether  our  ruling 
elders  should  not  be  brought  more  into  the  foreground  for  the  main  dis- 
charge of  the  pastoral  work,  leaving  the  minister  more  largely,  though 
by  no  means  exclusively,  to  his  studious  preparation  for  the  pulpit. 
Our  Church  should  practically,  more  than  she  does,  and  as  Rome 
wisely  does  with  her  priests,  recognize  the  diverse  gifts  of  her  minis- 
ters, and  be  judicious  in  the  use  of  them  in  different  positions. 

For  the  development  of  the  full  efficiency  of  eldership,  it  is  further 
worthy  of  consideration,  whether  young  men  of  promise  should  not 
early  in  their  Christian  life  be  taken  hold  of  by  our  sessions,  and 
specially  trained  for  the  office  of  elder,  and  then  be  in  due  time 
called  to  it  and  ordained  in  it.  If  a  special  training  is  needed  for  the 
ministers,  why  not  for  the  eldership? 

In  this  way  we  might,  without  the  use  of  evangelists  or  undenomi- 
national city  missionaries,  reach  more  effectively  the  outlying  and  less 
thoughtful  masses,  and  bring  them  into  the  Church  under  the  higher 
intellectual  training  of  the  pulpit.  The  English  Methodist  connec- 
tion, it  is  stated,  has  thirty-eight  thousand  preachers,  of  whom  only 
thirty-six  hundred  are  ordained  ministers.  We  have  the  material 
and  the  Scriptural  mould  for  a  similar  exhibition.  We  should  look 
for  and  cultivate  the  preaching  gift  in  the  eldership  at  large. 

Third — Whatever  slowness  there  may  be  in  Church  extension  is,  how- 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  405 

ever,  due  less  to  the  ministry  than  to  the  private  membership  of  the 
churches.  What  proportion  of  them  realize  their  individual  duty  to 
labor?  Emerson  is  right  in  his  theory  of  education,  that  instruction 
is  only  half  the  battle,  provocation  being  the  other  half.  What  pro- 
portion of  our  church  people  are  provoked  to  activity  in  church 
work  while  enjoying  the  pulpit  instruction  ?  "  We  must  individualize ; 
the  masses,  as  they  are  called,  must  be  approached  man  by  man." 
But  no  pastor,  with  the  far-reaching  demands  that  are  made  upon  him 
in  our  modern  city  life,  can  do  that  thoroughly.  The  elders,  with  the 
claims  of  prospering  business  on  their  time,  cannot  do  it  all.  It  is 
essential  that  the  people  themselves  who  are  already  in  the  Church 
shall  so  seek  to  reach  and  influence  those  who  are  around  them. 

There  are  some  who  are  first  attracted  to  the  church  by  the  jireach- 
ing.  There  are  others  who  are  first  reached  by  the  social  influence 
of  Christian  neighbors.  That  the  work  of  the  Church  may  be  most 
widely  done,  the  two  agencies  must  be  combined  ;  and  the  two  must 
further  co-operate  in  building  up,  in  an  intelligent  faith,  those  who 
are  received,  and  in  stimulating  all  in  all  the  graces  of  the  Christian 
life.  Mr.  Wells  says:  "  Perhaps  the  best  way  to  reach  the  lapsed  in 
the  higher  classes  is  just  to  reach  the  lapsed  in  the  lowest.  Extremes 
may  be  nearer  meeting  here  than  we  fancy.  Dean  Stanley  and 
Dr.  TuUock,  for  instance,  are  extremely  anxious  that  the  Church 
should  secure  the  very  highest  intellectual  culture,  so  that  she  may 
win  the  cultured  who  are  outside  her  pale."  But  both  views  are 
right.  Reach  both  classes  through  the  same  means:  the  pulpit  power 
and  the  consistency  and  activity  of  the  individual  membership  ;  though 
for  the  one  class  at  the  outset  the  predominating  influence  may  be 
found  in  the  one  means,  while  the  other  means  may  have  the  over- 
mastering influence  upon  the  other  class.  But,  with  both  and  all,  the 
members  of  every  Christian  church  should  together  form  a  cyclopean 
building,  stone  upon  stone,  with  no  foreign  mortar  between.  Or 
rather  true  Church  extension  is  coral  like.  Each  polype  multiplies 
itself  by  division,  the  divided  halves  growing  after  a  time  into  com- 
plete and  separate  animals,  and  they  in  turn  dividing,  but  all  remain- 
ing united,  and  thus  extending  over  the  rocky  bottom  of  the  sea  into 
one  grand  mass.  So  our  churches  should  be  a  grand  system  of  living 
organisms,  each  in  turn  enlarging,  and  in  time  throwing  off  from 
itself  another  and  that  another,  yet  all  remaining  bound  together  by 
and  in  the  one  life. 

There  seems  to  be  something  radically  unpresbyterian  and  un- 
christian in  the  idea  of  having  mission  churches  labelled  for  the  poor, 
and  intended  to  be  for  the  poor  alone,  in  any  part  of  a  city  which  has 
once  been  under  Christian  influence.  It  is  not  enough  for  the  wealthy 
Xo  give  their  money  for  the  work  in  such  missions  :  personal  labor, 
personal  contact,  personal  sympathy  with  the  children  in  the  Sabbath 
school,  and  with  the  people  in  their  homes,  as  they  are  met  on  the 
street,  and  when  they  appear  in  the  church:  the  personal  inter- 
mingling of  rich  and  poor  in  the  same  house  of  worship;  this  is 


4o6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

needed  to  win  the  poorer.  And  be  it  remembered  the  poor  of  thi:i 
generation  will  be  the  controlling  men  of  the  next — unless  you  hold 
them  now,  your  power  in  the  future  is  gone.  Methodism  has  reached 
the  position  which  it  occupies  because  it  went  down  at  the  outset  es- 
pecially to  the  low,  and  still  continues  to  work  largely  among  them. 
The  highly  aristocratic  Episcopal  Church  has  of  recent  years  been 
turning  its  attention  more  that  way.  And  the  most  pronounced 
Evangelical  cannot  withhold  the  meed  of  his  praise  from  the  Roman- 
izing Ritualists  for  the  extent  to  which  they  are  working  among  the 
working  people. 

Dr.  Chalmers,  in  his  sermon  On  Preaching  to  the  Qvmnon  People, 
longed  for  "  the  spectacle  to  be  again  realized  in  towns  which  might 
still  be  witnessed  in  country  parishes  where  high  and  low  meet  to- 
gether, and  the  congregation,  though  sprinkled  over  with  a  few  of  rank 
and  of  opulence,  is  chiefly  made  up  of  our  men  of  handicraft  and  of 
hard  labor."  That  is  the  normal  condition  of  a  true  church  of 
Christ.  In  every  city  whatever  is  needed  to  keep  or  restore  it,  should 
sedulously  be  attended  to.  \^,  for  instance,  in  any  quarter  the 
erection  of  costly  edifices  entail  church  expenses  whicli  practically 
bar  the  masses  of  the  people  from  them,  they  should  not  be  encouraged. 
Let  the  rich  go  into  the  churches  of  the  poor,  and  let  the  poor  be 
drawn  into  the  churches  of  the  rich.  In  other  words,  let  the  dis- 
tinction of  rich  and  poor  churches  never  exist. 

And  wherever  the  Spirit  of  God  is  present  in  his  saving  power  this 
will  be  exhibited.  "In  a  revival  and  awakening,"  says  Joseph  Cook 
in  his  latest  volume,  "I  have  seen  factory  proprietors,  managers,  and 
operatives  sitting  side  by  side  on  the  floor  in  the  same  aisle  in  an 
overcrowded  church,  and  singing  psalms  from  the  same  book,  where 
a  few  weeks  previo)isly  they  had  been  almost  ready  to  draw  knives 
and  use  them  on  each  other's  throats."  The  great  power  is  after  all 
the  Spirit's  presence.  And  for  that  the  Lord  shall  always  and  ear- 
nestly be  inquired. 

Fourth — Our  denomination  would  gain  if  it  were  to  restore  the  apos- 
tolic order  of  deaconesses.  The  best  work  of  the  day  is  largely  done 
by  the  women  of  the  church.  Among  our  city  populations  there  is 
much  of  it  that  can  be  done  by  them  better  than  by  men.  They 
ought  to  be  recognized,  and  guided  and  developed  in  the  church 
line.  Doing  the  work  of  the  church  so  largely,  they  have  a  right  to 
be  recognized  officially  in  the  church.  The  influence  of  the  celibate 
priests,  by  which  they  were  shut  out  from  the  positions  in  which  the 
apostles  placed  them,  should  no  longer  be  permitted  to  sway  us. 

Fifth — It  is  due,  not  only  to  itself,  but  to  its  extending  influence,  that 
Presbyterian  ism  should  be  more  churchly  in  its  tone  than  it  is  gener- 
ally understood  to  be.  While  excommunicating  no  Christian  believer, 
nor  the  child  of  any  Christian,  nor  any  organization  of  Christians, 
we  claim — if  we  do  not  we  have  no  historic  standing  to  justify  our 
meeting  here — we  claim  to  be  in  our  doctrines  and  government  pre- 
eminently the  scriptural  Church.     We  have  not  what  Junius,  in  his 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  407 

celebrated  "Duke  of  Grafton  Letter,"  described  as  "a  system  of 
government  which  may  well  be  called  a  reign  of  experiments."  The 
apostolic  form  was  the  Presbyterian.  The  apostolic  system  of  doc- 
trine was  what  we  now  call  the  Calvinistic.  And  amid  all  the  aberra- 
tions which  prevail  among  true  Christians,  the  Church,  in  the  millen- 
nial age,  will  accept  this  doctrine  and  government.  Never  should 
we  substitute  the  Church  for  Christ ;  but  neither  should  we  disfigure 
the  head  by  hiding  the  body,  nor  dishonor  the  head  by  underrating 
the  body.  Let  us,  not  polemically  but  calmly  and  impressively, 
teach  that  all  should  accept  our  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  systems, 
and  that  the  Church  which  holds  them  is  the  most  proper  and  the 
safest  one  to  be  in.  We  lose  in  the  two  extremes  of  social  life  by  not 
being  churchly  enough. 

Sixth — Presbyterians  pre-eminently  should  labor  in  the  practical  be- 
lief of  the  sovereignty  of  God,  of  his  electing  love,  and  of  the  neces- 
sity of  the  Spirit's  efficacious  influence.  Let  us  not  in  our  work  for- 
get our  belief.  Think  more  of  laboring  in  strict  scriptural  ways  tiian 
of  the  immediate  results;  convinced  of  this,  that  God's  work  will  be 
done,  in  his  own  time,  in  his  own  way,  and  to  the  extent  to  which 
he  has  determined — by  us  if  we  are  faithful ;  by  others  if  we  are  not. 
A  Greek  writer  tells  of  a  man  who  cut  the  wings  of  his  bees  and 
placed  the  finest  flowers  near  them  in  order  to  save  them  the  trouble 
of  a  flight  to  Hymettus.  But  his  bees  made  no  honey;  they  could 
not  work  against  nature.  The  asserted  scientific  principle  does  not 
always  hold  good  that  results  are  accomplished  by  the  method  which 
costs  least  force.  Nor  can  we  improve  on  God's  way.  or  do  his  work 
of  salvation  faster  than  his  Spirit  is  sent  to  do  it.  The  chariot  has 
never  moved  as  rapidly  as  men  think  it  should  have  dpne.  Present 
inefficiency  is  often  set  over  against  the  success  of  the  apostles.  It 
has  been  supposed,  however,  that  the  churches  of  the  apostolic  age 
did  not  numlier  more  than  two  hundred  in  the  whole  world.  But  the 
grace  of  God  fails  not.  Every  elect  blood-bought  soul  will  be  gath- 
ered into  the  kingdom.  These  large  cities  will  be  evangelized.  The 
nations  are  Christ's.  They  are  all  to  acknowledge  him  as  their  King. 
With  calm  assurance  our  faith  beholds  7i  great  oXxy,  into  which  all  the 
redeemed  are  to  be  gathered,  and  of  which  infallible  prophesy  has 
written  :  *'  The  nations  of  them  which  are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  light 
of  it,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  and  honor  into 
it,  and  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  that  defileth, 
neither  whatsoever  worketh  abomination  or  maketli  a  lie,  but  they 
which  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life." 

Let  us,  fathers  and  brethren,  so  live,  teach,  and  rule,  that,  under 
the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  and  those  to  whom  the  Lord  has 
sent  us  may  appear  among  the  untold  myriads  who,  washed  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  shall  forever  glorify  and  enjoy  God  in  that 
LARGE  city. 


4o8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  following  paper  on  the  same  subject,  by  Rev.  W.  J.  R. 
Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  was  also  presented: 

CHURCH  EXTENSION  IN  LARGE  CITIES. 

The  example  of  the  Master  is  the  wisdom  of  the  disciple,  and  his 
methods  of  propagating  tlie  gospel  of  the  kingdom  furnish  the  model 
for  his  Church.  "  It  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  made  an  end  of 
commanding  his  twelve  disciples,  he  departed  thence  to  teach  and 
preach  in  their  cities"  (Matt.  xi.  i).  When  the  people  of  Caper- 
naum "  stayed  him  that  he  should  not  depart  from  them,  he  said 
imto  them,  I  must  preach  the  kingdom  of  God  to  other  cities  also; 
for  therefore  was  I  sent.  And  he  preached  in  the  synagogues  of 
Galilee"  (Luke  iv.  42-44).  His  principal  point  was  the  Holy  City, 
and  his  disciples  were  commissioned  to  preach  repentance  and  remis- 
sion of  sins  in  his  name  among  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem 
(Luke  xxiv.  47).  In  accordance  with  this  specific  divine  mission  of 
the  Saviour  and  of  his  apostles  and  disciples,  they  took  early  posses- 
sion of  the  great  cities,  and  Jerusalem,  Samaria,  Antioch,  Cesarea, 
Damascus,  Ephesus,  Colosse,  Phillipi,  Thessalonica,  Corinth,  Athens, 
and  Rome  became  centres  of  Christian  teaching.  The  primitive 
preachers  planted  churches  in  the  provincial,  civil,  military,  and 
religious  capitals  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  they  ordained  elders  and 
placed  pastors,  evangelists,  and  teachers  "  in  every  city."  These 
were  the  great  centres  of  population,  and  the  distributing  reservoirs  of 
trade,  learning,  arts  and  sciences,  religion  and  civilization,  and,  in- 
deed, of  all  national  resources.  Thence  the  gospel  could  go  out  in 
every  direction,  taking  advantage  of  commerce  and  travel,  business, 
government  and  religious  festivals,  and  forcing  its  way  through  the 
wickedness  of  paganism  and  the  decay  of  Judaism.  Pentecost  was 
possible  only  in  Jerusalem,  and  at  the  great  national  festival  which 
brought  those  diverse  tongues  together.  Moreover,  cities  give  char- 
acter to  the  surrounding  country.  There  the  best  and  the  worst  types 
of  humanity  are  found.  The  most  refined,  active,  enterprising,  and 
pious  dwell  alongside  the  most  degraded,  helpless,  and  worthless  of 
the  population.  There  Christian  philanthropy  and  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  find  their  best  opportunities  among  the  lost  multitudes  whom 
the  Good  Shepherd  came  to  seek  and  to  save.  The  Christian 
churches  of  our  great  cities  are  really  the  only  effective  breakwaters 
against  the  tides  of  ungodliness  which  have  overwhelmed  the  proudest 
of  ancient  capitals  in  those  terrific  hours  when,  like  the  Amorites, 
"  their  iniquity  was  full."  In  this  general  estimate  we  must  not  dis- 
regard the  great  difference  between  pure  and  corrupt  churches  in 
large  cities,  nor  the  evangelizing  power  of  feeble  and  infant  and  mis- 
sion churches  in  their  smaller  spheres,  and  in  their  aggregate  influences 
upon  the  entire  community  in  which  they  live.  A  genuine  revival 
of  religion  in  a  city  is  likely  to  have  more  immediate  and  wider  prop- 
agating force  than  in  places  of  less  population  and  resources,  and  a 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  409 

large,  strong,  working  city  church  has  unlimited  opportunities  for 
doing  the  Lord's  work. 

Church  Extension  in  large  cities  is  chiefly  a  question  of  ways  and 
means.  It  implies  the  existence  of  mother  churches,  which  shall 
justify  their  right  to  live,  not  merely  by  self-preservation,  but  by 
propagating  their  own  kind  or  a  better  offspring.  A  sterile  church 
is  a  moribund  church.  No  new  churches  grew  out  of  that  one  in 
Sardis  which  had  a  "  name  to  live,  and  was  dead."  A  self-propagat- 
ing church  will  grow,  like  a  goodly  tree,  from  within  itself,  from 
root  and  stock  and  branches  and  fruit,  bearing  seed  after  its  own 
kind. 

These  general  principles  suggest  the  specific  discussion  of  Church 
Extension  in  large  cities  in  the  light  of  the  Preamble  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  General  Presbyterian  Alliance,  which  says  that  "  the  time 
seems  to  have  come  when  "  the  Churches  represented  in  it  "  may  all 
more  fully  manifest  their  essential  oneness,  have  closer  communion 
with  each  other,  and  promote  great  causes  by  joint  action."  I  have 
said  that  the  question  we  are  now  considering  is  chiefly  one  of  ways 
and  means  ;  but  it  also  involves  much  of  '•  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and 
love  and  of  a  sound  mind."  Is  a  new  church  of  this  or  that  com- 
munion needed  here  or  there?  Is  there  population  that  demands  it? 
Can  it  live  a  decent  and  useful  church  life  ?  Will  if  seriously  conflict 
with  other  established  or  weak  churches  of  Christ,  and  specially 
with  those  of  like  faith  and  order?  Is  it  to  be  a  sectarian  experiment 
or  a  speculator's  church  to  improve  adjacent  property?  or  a  miserable, 
lean  starveling  or  a  self-sustaining,  earnest,  and  life-giving  church  of 
the  Redeemer? 

Putting  the  subject  into  more  definite  form,  it  seems  to  be  in  ac- 
cordance wifh  the  spirit  and  objects  of  this  Council  to  suggest  that 
Church  Extension  in  large  cities  ought  to  be  so  conducted  as  to  secure 
such  ends  as  these  :  To  prevent  undue  crowding  of  churches  of  like 
faith  and  order  in  certain  sections  of  those  cities,  and  the  crushing 
out  of  poor  and  small  and  weak  churches,  that  are  doing  a  good  work, 
by  those  that  are  rich  and  large  and  strong ;  to  secure  a  proper  inter- 
denominational spirit  of  comity  and  co-operation  in  the  location  of 
new  churches  ;  to  promote  the  peaceful  and  profitable  union  of  con- 
tiguous churches  that  are  struggling  for  existence  ;  to  promote  new 
and  substantial  church  growth  in  favorable  localities  ;  to  save  old 
churches  by  timely  removal  to  better  locations  ;  to  economize  man- 
power and  money-power  and  church-power  by  concentration  in  order 
to  diffusion  ;  and  to  prevent  the  waste  which  is  sure  to  follow  these 
hurtful  plans,  or  that  lack  of  plans,  by  which  so  much  money,  time, 
and  toil  have  been  squandered  upon  unsuccessful  experiments. 

The  most  practicable  methods  of  Church  Extension  in  large  cities  are 
such  as  follow : 

I.  The  natural  process  of  tvhat  may  be  called  church  evolution,  by 
which  an  established  church  evolves  a  new  one  from  itself,  by  its  own 
overgrowth,   or  by  colonization  in  some  other  section  of  the  city 


41  o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

where  a  good  site  can  be  had,  and  where  an  incoming  or  neglected 
population  may  invite  the  effort. 

2.  The  planting  of  a  Sunday-school  or  a  inission  afnong  people  who 
may  be  gathere.l  in,  and  with  a  direct  view  to  church  orgai.ization  at 
an  early  date. 

3.  The  Benefactor' s  or  Patron' s  Plan,  by  which  wealthy  individuals 
or  families  may  erect  church  edifices,  either  as  memorials  of  the  de- 
parted, or  as  permanent  gifts  to  the  Lord  and  his  Church.  These, 
however,  are  exceptional  cases,  and  they  have  not  always  resulted  ac- 
cording to  the  founders'  wishes. 

4.  Ilie  erection  of  chapels  and  mission-buildings  by  wealthy  church 
corporations,  which  also  furnish  the  ministry  and  schools  as  part  of 
their  parochial  system.  The  principal  difficulty  in  such  instances  has 
arisen  from  keeping  the  chapel  ministers  and  congregations  and  wor- 
ship in  a  subordinate  and  dependent  position.  It  does  not  thoroughly 
develop  the  branches,  and  yet  what  can  they  do  if  entirely  severed 
from  the  parent  stock?  Good  sound  Christian  common  sense  on 
both  sides,  and  a  true  Christ-like  spirit,  will  remedy  this  trouble.  In 
our  own  country,  at  least,  experience  proves  that  as  soon  as  possible 
every  minister  and  mission  and  chapel  that  can  stand  alone  should  be 
encouraged  and  aided  to  do  so,  and  thus  to  serve  Christ  in  their  sep- 
arate and  independent  church  life. 

5 .  The  Denominational  or  Ecclesiastical  Plan  of  Church  Extension 
in  large  cities  now  claims  larger  notice,  as  it  throws  the  whole  weight 
of  an  organized  ecclesiastical  body  into  the  work.  This  involves  the 
oversight  and  orderings  of  church  boards  or  committees,  and  a  regular 
system  of  operations,  which  have  accomplished  great  results  in  the 
various  Christian  communions  of  Europe  and  America.  In  Glasgow 
alone,  under  the  powerful  influence  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church  of  Scotland,  in  the  six  years  from  1828  to  1834,  twenty 
church  edifices  were  built,  at  an  expense  of  j[^2o,ooo.  In  1835,  by  a 
much  mightier  effort,  under  the  same  auspices,  sixty-four  churches 
were  built,  at  a  cost  of  ^^65,000,  contributed  during  that  single  year 
— "about  as  many,"  says  his  biographer,  "as  the  whole  preceding 
century  had  given  birth  to,  or  were  being  built,  in  connection  with 
the  Establishment."  And  in  May,  1838,  Dr.  Chalmers  reported  to 
the  General  Assembly,  as  the  result  of  four  more  years  of  labor, 
"  that  nearly  two  hundred  churches  had  been  added  to  the  Estab- 
lishment, for  which  upward  of  ^200,000  had  been  contributed." 
(Hanna's  "  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Dr.  Chalmers,"  iii. 

443-445.  447-467 ;  iv.  42.) 

Again,  when  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  set  out  upon  its  great 
career,  470  of  the  600  churches  that  were  needed  were  erected  in  a 
single  year.      {Ibid.,  iv.  352,  353;  362,  363;  478,  47?-) 

These  facts  show  what  has  been  done  by  a  right  system  of  Church 
Extension  properly  administered,  and  particularly  what  can  be  ac- 
complished under  the  leadership  of  one  strong,  enthusiastic  and 
directing  mind,  with  a  genius  for  the  work,  and  fired  with  love  for 
souls  and  for  the  glory  of  God  in  and  through  his  Church. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  411 

The  principles  which  are  now  embodied  in  the  various  denomina- 
tional boards  of  Church  Erection  and  Church  Extension  in  this  coun- 
try and  in  Great  Britain  are  intended  to  apply  to  their  entire  fields,  and 
specially  in  the  extension  and  erection  ol' churches,  in  cities  as  well  as 
in  the  country,  among  those  who  cannot  otherwise  enjoy  these  privi- 
leges. They  all  proceed  upon  the  wise  plan  of  helping  poor  and 
weak  churches  to  help  themselves,  by  giving  pecuniary  aid  in  such 
ways  as  to  avoid  debt  and  to  secure  the  church  property  to  the  denom- 
ination for  which  and  by  whose  means  it  has  been  erected.  The 
methods  and  precautions  of  these  agencies  have  resulted  in  very  large 
additions  to  the  number  of  churches,  and  especially  in  the  foundation 
and  establishment  of  new  ones  in  the  right  places. 

A  few  facts  from  recent  reports  will  show  the  extent  of  this  noble 
work  at  home  and  abroaci  : 

During  the  fourteen  years  ending  January  i,  i<S8o,  the  Church  Ex- 
tension Board  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
aided  2,683  churches,  by  both  donations  and  loans,  and  disbursed 
51,509,172.44;  and  7,000  of  the  17,000  churches  have  been  built 
within  the  last  nine  years,  and  one-third  of  all  this  increased  number 
have  been  thus  aided.  The  Wesleyan  Chapel  Committee  of  Great 
Britain,  now  sixty  years  old,  has  expended  in  the  past  twenty-five 
years  $24,092,385,  or  nearly  one  million  a  year,  in  aid  of  5,684 
new  edifices,  and  about  $45,000  per  year  in  payment  of  church  debts. 
The  Presbyterian  Board  of  Church  Erection,  with  an  average  annual 
income  of"  $100,000,  during  the  last  decade  has  aided  yearly  about 
180  churches;  and  it  is  officially  stated  that  "more  than  half  the 
Presbyterian  churches  built  during  the  last  twenty  years  have  received 
aid"  from  this  Board.  The  American  Congregational  Union,  organ- 
ized in  1853,  has  helped  in  the  erection  of  new  churches  in  the  pro- 
portion of  one  to  every  thousand  dollars  of  its  receipts.  How  many, 
of  all  the  churches  thus  aided,  were  in  cities,  is  not  known  to  us, 
although  they  undoubtedly  received  their  full  share  of  these  funds. 
The  facts  which  now  follow  are  taken  from  the  Church  Extension 
Annual  0/ the  AT.  E.  Cliurch  for  1879,  and  these  bear  directly  upon 
the  subject  in  hand,  and  should  command  the  admiration  and  study 
of  all  earnest  workers  in  this  cause. 

"  The  most  remarkable  work  of  Church  Extension  in  the  world  is 
that  accomplished  under  the  '  Metropolitan  Wesleyan  Chapel  Building 
Committee,'  in  the  city  of  London.  The  Comniittee  was  organized 
in  April,  1861,  and  the  work  began  about  a  year  afterwards.  There 
were  then  in  the  city  of  London  some  80  chapels,  affording  some- 
thing over  30,000  sittings,  and  the  membership  numbered  about 
12,000,  served  by  some  30  ministers.  About  ten  years  ago  Sir  Fran- 
cis Lycett  offered  to  give  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  towards  the 
erection  of  50  additional  new  chapels  in  London,  provided  the  prov- 
inces should  respond  with  a  like  sum.  His  offer  was  accepted,  the 
provinces  responding  with  nearly  $75,000  more  than  his  munificent 
offer.     According  to  the  latest  information  we  have   been  able  to 


412  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

obtain,  more  than  half  of  the  proposed  additional  chapels  have  been 
completed,  each  furnishing  accommodations  for  i,ooo  persons,  and 
they  have  now  about  130  chapels,  85  ministers,  20,000  members,  and 
over  100,000  sittings." 

After  this  general  summary  of  facts,  I  venture  to  set  forth  a  local 
plan  which  has  worked  well  in  my  own  city  and  denomination,  and 
which  may  incite  others  to  go  and  do  likewise.  The  first  Reformed 
Church  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  was  founded  in  1833,  and  struggled  for  life 
in  a  population  which  afforded  little  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  material 
that  formerly  gave  name  and  vitality  to  our  churches.  Fifteen  years 
later  (in  1848),  it  sent  forth  its  first  daughter  church,  and  a  German 
church  was  also  organized  and  aided  by  its  members.  Eight  years 
after  that  it  gave  up  a  large  company  of  its  choicest  families  and  mem- 
bers to  form  its  third  offshoot,  which  is  now  the  largest  and  most 
powerful  of  this  family  of  churches.  In  1866,  by  the  united  efforts 
of  the  three,  a  new  German  church  was  established.  In  1868,  the 
mother  church,  generously  aided  by  her  two  daughters,  contributed 
still  larger  numbers  of  communicants  and  families  and  liberal  gifts,  to 
found  a  new  and  successful  church  in  the  south  part  of  the  city.  One 
year  later,  1869,  the  East  church  was  formed,  principally  from  the 
Second,  but  with  the  help  of  the  others;  and  in  1871  still  another 
was  started  in  the  northern  suburb  of  Woodside.  In  each  case  of  a 
new  church  organization,  all  the  previously  existing  churches  that 
were  able  have  united  their  counsels,  prayers,  and  pecuniary  contribu- 
tions. There  is  also  a  Consistorial  Union,  which  embraces  all  the 
ministers,  elders,  and  deacons  of  our  city  churches,  who  meet  at 
stated  times  for  conference,  information,  and  mutual  aid  in  promoting 
Sunday-school  and  mission  work,  helping  the  weak  churches  to  help 
themselves,  and  the  general  care  of  our  denominational  interests. 
This  is  a  purely  voluntary  association,  which  does  not  interfere  with 
ecclesiastical  supervision,  and  stimulates  and  strengthens  the  spiritual 
intercourse  and  welfare  of  all  our  churches,  while  it  casts  the  entire 
denominational  influence,  sympathy,  and  interest  into  each  successive 
new  mission  and  church  enterprise. 

In  the  erection  of  the  largest  and  costliest  of  these  church  edifices, 
the  following  plan  was  adopted: — Very  liberal  subscriptions  were  first 
secured  from  the  founders  and  their  helpers  in  sister  congregations. 
Then  the  entire  congregation  and  Sunday-school,  the  Ladies'  Society, 
the  Young  People's  Union,  and  even  the  infant  school,  were 'enlisted 
as  church-builders,  and  for  years,  while  the  edifice  was  being  con- 
structed, and  until  the  last  cent  of  debt  was,  removed,  between  five 
and  six  hundred  givers  were  contributing  in  weekly  and  monthly  pay- 
ments, according  to  their  ability.  The  building  of  the  sanctuary 
became  a  means  of  grace  to  many  Christian  people,  whose  characters 
and  virtues  were  developed  by  this  training  to  systematic  and  propor- 
tionate and  cheerful  giving  of  their  substance  to  the  Lord.  They 
made  it  a  part  of  their  worship  on  every  Lord's  day,  and  built  their 
lives,  with  their  offerings,  into  the  Lord's  house,  from  its  corner-stone 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  413 

to  its  topstone.  It  may  illustrate  the  extent  and  strengthen  the  appli- 
cation of  these  principles  and  plans,  to  state  that  the  whole  sum  thus 
raised  and  paid  for  all  purposes,  during  the  first  eleven  years  of  this 
single  church,  was  over  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  It  is  also 
entirely  supported  by  voluntary  weekly  payments  in  envelopes.  Any 
subscription,  of  even  the  smallest  weekly  sum,  entitles  the  subscriber 
to  a  sitting  or  pew,  as  may  be  needed.  No  pew  in  the  church  is  sold, 
nor  has  it  any  price  put  upon  it  as  rental,  and  no  one  pays  more  for 
church  sittings  than  is  voluntarily  proffered.  The  subscriptions  range 
from  five  dollars  to  ten  cents  per  week.  The  pews  are  assigned  to 
subscribers  annually,  in  April,  at  a  congregational  meeting  for  the 
l)urpose.  This  plan  has  worked  so  well  in  hard  times,  and  accommo- 
dates itself  so  thoroughly  to  all  classes  of  the  people,  that  they  would 
not  readily  change  its  essential  features. 

Conclusion. — While  no  one  method  will  suit  all  places,  those  which 
have  been  set  forth  in  this  paper  certainly  combine  suggestions  and 
practicable  plans  that  may  be  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  all  large 
cities.  They  show  the  absolute  need  of  thorough  organization,  intel- 
ligent oversight,  and  effective  co-operation  ;  and  they  present  the 
highest  motives  for  enlarged  exertion,  and  specially  for  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  wealth  of  the  rich,  the  competence  of  those  who  are 
neither  ])oor  nor  rich,  and  the  small  offerings  of  the  lowliest  and  of 
the  children,  to  the  extension  of  the  Ciuirch  of  Christ  in  those  great 
centres  of  population  and  of  power.  They  demonstrate  the  applica- 
tion of  Dr.  Chalmers'  famous  declaration  of  "the  power  of  littles" 
to  Church  Extension,  and  they  illustrate  as  forcibly  the  close  logical 
and  spiritual  connection  of  John  Wesley's  three  principles,  "justifi- 
cation, sanctification,  and  a  penny  a  week."  In  other  words,  they 
show  how  Church  Extension  in  large  cities  may  be  carried  forward 
successfully  by  uniting  the  efforts  of  all  classes  of  Christian  people, 
according  to  their  ability,  and  by  systematic  and  continuous  benefi- 
cence, which,  while  it  enlists  the  help  of  all,  makes  the  work  neither 
a  tax  nor  a  task,  but  "  a  work  of  faith  and  a  labor  of  love."  Churches 
that  are  thus  built  bring  with  them  into  the  world,  like  children  of 
promise,  a  wealth  of  love,  which  is  their  best  inheritance,  and  insures 
the  tenderest  care. 

And  let  me  add,  that  these  principles,  faithfully  carried  out,  have 
been,  and  will  be,  found  very  effective  for  the  prevention  or  the  re- 
moval of  church  debts,  which  are  never  church  blessings,  but  almost 
invariably  are  church  curses,  crippling  the  ministry,  blighting  benefi- 
cence, keeping  those  who  would  otherwise  come,  out  of  the  sanctuary, 
and  often  "making  havoc  of  the  church"  under  the  blows  of  the 
sheriff's  hammer.  Happy  the  day,  when  Church  Extension,  in  city 
and  country  alike,  shall  be  free  of  this  cruel  and  fateful  bondage  to 
the  indiscretions  and  the  errors  of  church-builders,  who  do  not  count 
the  cost  before  they  begin  to  build. 

If  this  venerable  Second  Council  of  the  Presbyterian  General  Alli- 
ance of  the  world  can  so  voice  its  own  constitutional  principles  as 


414  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  inaugurate  their  practice  in  the  great  work  of  Church  Extension  in 
large  cities,  by  planting  and  building,  and  paying  for  and  sustaining, 
Christian  churches  where  and  when  they  are  most  needed,  avoiding 
jealous  rivalries  and  self-destroying  conflicts  with  sister  churches  and 
branches  of  the  Christian  family,  and  commending  the  most  success- 
ful methods  which  experience  has  developed,  some  of  the  difficulties 
of  the  great  problem  may  be  more  readily  overcome,  and  a  new 
impetus  may  be  given  to  the  work  for  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
himself  was  sent  into  this  world. 

The  late  British  Premier,  Lord  Beaconsfield,  said  some  years  ago : 
"  I  have  ever  myself  been  of  opinion  that  it  was  in  the  great  cities  of 
the  earth  the  Church  would  effect,  in  this  age,  its  most  signal  tri- 
umphs." The  history  of  the  gospel  Church  fully  confirms  that 
statement  of  a  patent  fact.  In  many  of  the  great  cities  of  Christen- 
dom, the  churches  that  were  first  planted  have  outlived  all  other 
institutions,  and  they  have  put  on  new  life  with  the  changes  and 
emergencies  of  successive  ages.  Every  new  Church  of  Christ  points 
forward  to  the  better  future  of  this  world,  and  to  the  things  that  are 
not  seen  and  eternal.  And  every  wise,  persistent,  and  successful 
system  of  Church  Extension  in  large  cities  is  a  better  herald  than 
Constantine's  cross,  of  the  final  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ  and 
his  Church. 

The  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Reid,  D.  D.,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  read  the 
following  paper  on 

CHURCH    EXTENSION    IN    SPARSELY    SETTLED 
DISTRICTS. 

Thickly  settled  districts  liave  the  first  claim  on  the  Church.  The 
gospel  is  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  it  must  be  carried  where  souls 
are.  Other  things  being  equal,  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  bring  the 
gospel  within  the  reach  of  a  thousand  souls,  rather  than  of  one. 
Populous  cities  are  the  centres  of  influence ;  and  such  cities,  when 
evangelized,  shine  forth,  far  and  near,  with  a  light  which  cannot  be 
hid.  The  example  of  the  Master  and  of  his  inspired  apostles  shows 
that  the  Jerusalems  and  Ca])ernaums  and  Antiochs  and  Romes  of  the 
earth  are  first  to  be  occupied.  Nevertheless,  the  same  example  and 
reason  itself  teach  us  that  sparsely  settled  districts  should  not  be 
neglected.  There  were  devils  to  be  cast  out  in  Gadara,  as  well  as 
in  the  populous  towns  on  the  other  side  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee;  Paul 
found  souls  to  be  saved  in  Galatia,  as  well  as  in  Ephesus.  The  gospel 
is  for  the  world,  and  no  part  of  it  can  be  overlooked.  But  though 
there  is  "  one  Lord,  one  iaith,  one  baptism  "  for  the  country  as  well 
as  the  city,  there  is  of  necessity  so  much  difference  in  the  method  of 
working,  that  it  will  not  do  to  say,  "  Come  into  the  city,  and  it  shall 
be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do." 

I.  The  Church,  in  laying  its  plans  for  the  conquest  of  the  world 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  415 

for  Christ,  nmst  not  overlook  sparsely  settled  districts.  The  soul 
living  in  a  dug-out  is  as  precious  as  the  one  whose  home  is  in  a  palace. 
He  who  reclines  in  his  glittering  carriage  in  the  crowded  park  is  in 
no  greater  danger  of  eternal  death  than  he  who  rides  his  mustang 
over  the  lonely  prairie. 

Sparsely  settled  districts  have  furnished  the  world  the  most  stalwart 
manhood.  There  are  portions  of  this  globe  on  which  the  curse  of 
barrenness  has  fallen  so  lightly,  that  they  seem  almost  to  have  re- 
tained their  original  fruitfulness.  There  is  little  demand  on  the  labor 
of  the  husbandman  ;  the  plains  and  valleys  scarcely  ask  for  cultiva- 
tion ;  yet  they  are  covered  with  abundance ;  homes  spring  up  in 
clusters  and  crowds.  But  the  inhabitants  of  these  districts  are,  fur 
the  most  part,  sunk  in  the  lowest  degradation,  and  are  far  behind 
other  nations  in  what  is  manly  and  civilized.  If  you  would  find  a 
people  presenting  the  finest  spectacle  of  greatness,  order,  intelligence 
and  manhood,  you  must  go  to  those  lands  in  which  there  is  a  con- 
stant struggle  for  existence;  and  the  sterile  soil  forbids  a  crowded 
population.  In  such  regions,  manhood  has  reached  its  highest  honors 
and  civilization  gained  its  greatest  victories. 

Many  of  the  most  successful  Christian  teachers  have  been  born  and 
nurtured  in  sparsely  settled  districts.  Illustrations  of  the  truth  of 
this  assertion  will  suggest  themselves  to  every  reader  of  ecclesiastical 
history.  And  what  has  been  is  yet.  In  the  city  the  attractions  of 
law,  the  excitement  of  business,  and  the  wealth  of  commerce  have  a 
charm  which  wins  the  young  from  the  pulpit  and  the  study.  The 
Church  must  expect  a  goodly  numl)er  of  its  teachers  and  leaders  from 
the  homes  of  the  country,  in  which  the  god  of  this  world  does  not 
reign  with  absolute  tyranny. 

Not  a  few  of  the  churches,  which  have  proved  themselves  most 
faithful  in  enduring  persecutions  and  in  resisting  the  encroachments 
of  error,  were  planted  in  sterile  and  mountainous  regions.  The 
simple  mention  of  faithful  churches  suggests  the  Waldenses  of  Italy 
and  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland,  whose  faithfulness  under  trial  of 
every  kind  has  passed  into  a  proverb.  It  is  written  in  history  as  well 
as  in  the  word,  that  many  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  and 
who  have  obtained  a  good  report  through  faith,  "wandered  in  des- 
erts, and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth."  It 
would  have  been  well  for  the  race,  if  there  had  been  more  Swiss 
mountains  and  Scottish  glens  as  homes  for  tlie  faithful  saints. 

As  the  Church  now  needs,  and  as  it  ever  will  need,  a  sturdy  man- 
hood, courageous  teachers  and  faithful  disciples,  it  will  not  do  to 
neglect  the  sparsely  settled  districts,  which  in  all  the  ages  have  been 
the  cradles  of  sturdiness,  courage  and  faithfulness. 

II.  The  Churcli  whose  plans  do  not  look  to  the  evangelization  of 
sparsely  settled  districts,  and  whose  ecclesiastical  machinery  is  not 
adapted  to  this  work,  is  not  rightly  executing  the  great  commission  : 
"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 
It  matters  not  what  claims  such  an  organization  may  put  forth  to  be 


4i6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

a  Church  or  the  Church,  if  it  cannot  do  the  work  the  Lord  has  given 
it  to  do,  it  is  deceiving  itself  with  a  name  to  live. 

In  some  respects  thinly  inhabited  regions  offer  an  easier  field  to 
cultivate,  and  present  fewer  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel 
than  the  great  centres  of  ])opulation.  'J'he  necessary  expenses  for 
sustaining  the  ordinances  of  religion  are  less;  and  in  this  campaign 
against  the  world  and  its  prince,  as  in  every  other,  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  wise  to  sit  down  and  count  the  cost.  The  temptations  of  Satan 
are  less  numerous  and  open,  if  not  less  powerful.  Though  "  the  trail 
of  the  serpent"  is  over  all  the  earth,  he  does  not  build  synagogues  at 
every  "parting  of  the  way  "  and  beneath  every  green  tree.  Licen- 
tiousness, intemperance,  infidelity  and  mammon  build  their  strongest 
entrenchments,  and  station  their  bravest  champions,  in  the  crowded 
cities.  No  place  is  without  danger,  but  the  thronged  streets  are  "  the 
high  places  of  the  field,"  where  souls  stand  in  greatest  jeopardy.  If 
a  Church  cannot  meet  unorganized  opposition,  how  can  it  hope  to 
overcome  embattled  legions,  marshalled  by  all  the  wiles  of  the  devil? 
"If  thou  hast  run  with  the  footmen,  and  they  have  wearied  thee, 
how  canst  thou  contend  with  horses?  "  A  Church  which  cannot  solve 
the  easy  problems  of  mountain,  prairie  and  forest,  is  not  able  to 
grapple  successfully  with  the  harder  problems  of  market-place,  grog- 
shop and  tenement  house. 

A  large  part  of  the  earth's  surface  is  correctly  described  by  the 
words,  "  sparsely  settled  districts."  So  it  will  remain  for  centuries 
to  come.  The  prophetic  history  of  the  future  tells  of  a  time  when  all 
the  world,  and  not  cities  alone,  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  Lord.  They  that  dwell  in  the  wilderness,  as  well  as  the  kings  of 
Tarshish,  shall  bow  before  the  Messiah.  In  that  day,  the  desert,  as 
well  as  the  garden,  is  to  blossom.  The  Church  that  does  not,  or  can- 
not, work  in  the  scattered  homes  of  the  wild  frontier,  is  not  keeping 
step  to  the  music  of  prophecy.  The  gospel  is  wisely  arranged  for 
"  every  creature,"  and  that  ecclesiastical  organization,  which  is  not 
adapted  for  carrying  the  gospel  to  "  every  creature  "  in  the  north, 
south,  east  and  west,  is  not  fulfilling  the  commission  of  its  ascended 
Lord. 

III.  If  the  Presbyterian  polity  does  not  meet  the  necessities  of 
sparsely  settled  districts,  it  ought  to  be  reformed,  or  abandoned  for 
something  better,  if  reform  is  impossible.  All  our  arguments  in  favor 
of  Presbyterianism,  drawn  from  the  synagogue  and  its  bench  of  elders, 
from  the  inspired  history  of  the  early  C'hurch,  and  from  the  writings 
of  the  Christian  fathers,  will  be  drowned  in  the  overwhelming  cry  of 
human  need.  If  there  is  a  single  province,  on  continent  or  island, 
amidst  the  drifted  snows  of  the  north  or  the  luxuriant  vegetation 
of  the  south,  which  Presbyterianism  is  not  adapted  to  reach  and 
evangelize,  it  is  not  the  instrument  by  which  God  intends  to  accom- 
plish his  purposes.  No  believer  in  the  wisdom  of  the  infinite  will 
think  tliai  the  agency  of  God,  which  cannot  do  the  work  to  be  done. 
The  need  of  the  race  is  the  touchstone,  by  which  to  test  the  polity  we 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  417 

esteem  so  highly.  No  Presbyterian  should  fear  the  trial.  Confident 
in  our  cause,  we  should  take  this  cup  of  "the  water  of  jealousy  " 
with  no  trembling  hand.  Let  Presbyterian  ism  stand  or  fall  by  its 
adaptation  to  the  wants  of  the  world. 

IV.  Presbyterianism  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  work  of  Church 
extension  in  sparsely  settled  districts.  The  experience  of  the  ages 
has  shown  that  stability  and  unity  are  necessary  to  real  success  in  any 
enterprise ;  and  the  Presbyterian  form  of  Church  government,  with 
its  gradation  of  courts,  binds  all  its  parts  in  one  as  with  bands  of 
steel.  This  form  of  government  also  provides  for  that  degree  of 
flexibility  and  freedom  in  its  courts  and  agents,  which  is  essential  to 
greatest  efficiency.  Under  this  government  the  Church  is  one,  but 
the  parts,  each  one  free  in  its  own  sphere,  are  many.  It  furnishes 
the  best  illustration  of  the  words,  '■^E  Pluribus  U/upii.'"  The  unity 
gives  the  greatest  strength  ;  the  freedom  permits  the  greatest  activity 
in  the  use  of  that  strength.  This  unity,  combined  with  this  free- 
dom, this  strength,  imited  with  this  activity,  make  Presbyterianism 
a  power  in  evangelizing  all  districts,  whether  sparsely  settled  or 
otherwise. 

But  how  can  the  inherent  strength  and  activity  of  the  Presbyterian 
system  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  solution  of  the  problem  before  us? 
Any  method  of  work,  which  interferes  with  the  unity  of  the  Church 
on  the  one  hand,  or  with  the  freedom  of  its  agents  on  the  other,  must 
be  rejected.  Many  plans,  which  are  in  harmony  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  "  government  by  Presbyters,"  might  be  suggested.  One, 
which  has  been  tried  and  not  found  to  be  altogether  wanting,  will  be 
briefly  outlined. 

(a.)  A  committee  of  missions  is  provided  for  by  law,  consisting 
of  one  delegate  from  each  Presbytery  in  the  bounds  of  the  Assembly 
or  Synod.  This  committee  meets  annually,  a  few  days  before  the 
meeting  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  it  has  the  general  management 
of  the  home  mission  work  of  the  Church. 

{b.)  Each  Presbytery  collects  money  for  this  part  of  the  Church's 
work,  and  forwards  it  to  a  common  treasury.  It  examines  the  terri- 
tory under  its  care,  selects  its  mission  stations,  and  reports  their  con- 
dition, need  and  prospects  to  the  general  committee.  It  also  reports 
the  names  of  all  its  licentiates  and  unsettled  ministers,  who  are  able 
for  ministerial  work.  The  advantage  of  placing  all  the  money  in  a 
common  treasury  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  those  Presbyteries  which 
have  the  widest  and  neediest  fields  are  the  poorest  in  this  world's 
goods.  If  each  Presbytery  expended  its  funds  in  its  own  bounds,  the 
strong  would  not  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak.  In  selecting  mission 
stations,  especially  in  a  land  Avhere  different  branches  of  the  Presby- 
terian family  are  laboring  side  by  side,  there  is  need  of  care.  One 
church  should  not  injure  or  interfere  with  another.  Ecclesiastical 
courtesy  has  too  often  been  overlooked  ;  and  two  or  three  feeble 
organizations  covered  the  field,  when  one  would  have  been  sufficient 
for  the  need.  Presbyteries,  occupying  the  same  territory  but  belong- 
27 


41 8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ing  to  different  denominations,  should  understand  the  first  principles 
of  common  politeness,  and  not  hinder  one  another's  work,  or  trespass 
upon  one  another's  rights.  It  may  not  be  well  to  have  such  a  statute 
formally  enacted,  but  it  should  have  a  place  among  the  unwritten  laws 
of  the  churches. 

(^.)  When  the  general  committee,  at  its  annual  meeting,  receives 
these  reports  from  the  Presbyteries,  it  considers  the  wants  of  the  whole 
territory  it  represents,  and  makes  such  appointment  of  men  and 
appropriation  of  money,  as  its  ability  permits  and  the  necessities  of 
the  field  demand.  The  delegate  from  each  Presbytery  knows  his  own 
field,  and  makes  a  full  presentation  of  its  needs.  When  all  parts  of 
the  Church  are  represented  by  such  interested  delegates,  it  is  not 
likely  that  injustice  will  be  done  to  any  through  ignorance  or  preju- 
dice. 

{d.')  The  action  of  the  committee  is  approved,  after  amendment 
if  necessary,  by  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  then  each  Presbytery  is  left 
free  to  assign  the  missionaries  appointed  to  it  to  their  fields  of  labor, 
and  to  expend  the  money  appropriated   to  its  mission  stations. 

A  plan  like  this  leaves  Presbyteries  their  full  measure  of  freedom  in 
the  management  of  their  own  affairs,  and  yet  binds  them  together, 
and  gives  each  the  strength  of  the  whole  Church.  It  makes  provision 
for  the  most  sparsely  settled  districts,  for  it  groups,  if  need  requires 
it,  several  mission  stations,  and  makes  them  one  pastoral  charge,  sup- 
plied by  a  missionary  adequately  supported.  Under  this  arrangement, 
each  feeble  mission,  though  it  stands  alone  in  the  wilderness,  is  united 
to  all  the  other  congregations  in  the  Presbytery,  and  through  the 
Presbytery  to  all  other  Presbyteries ;  and  in  this  union  there  is 
strength.  Each  missionary  or  pastor,  while  he  labors  in  his  restricted 
field,  feels  that  he  has  the  power  of  the  whole  Church  at  his  command, 
and  he  works  with  a  confidence  which  nothing  but  the  power  of  the 
whole  Church  could  inspire.  At  the  same  time,  the  Presbytery,  the 
congregation  and  the  missionary  have  sufficient  freedom  of  inde- 
pendent action  to  take  advantage  of  whatever  emergency  may  arise. 

By  its  marvellous  combination  of  united  strength  and  far-reaching 
activity,  Presbyterian  ism  shows  itself  to  be  adapted  to  the  need  of 
sparsely  settled  districts  as  well  as  of  crowded  cities.  It  abides  the 
test  of  experiment.  In  answer  to  every  doubt  and  question,  we  point 
to  the  history  of  the  past  and  the  records  of  the  present  and  say, 
"  Come  and  see."  What  Presbyterian  ism  has  already  done  for  Church 
Extension  in  sparsely  settled  districts  gives  assurance  that  it  will  here- 
after do  its  part  in  making  all  wildernesses  bud  and  blossom  as  the 
rose. 

It  cannot  be  that  too  much  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  cities, 
where  men  crowd  and  jostle  each  other  in  the  struggle  for  life  and  for 
wealth ;  but  it  may  be  that  the  Church  has  neglected,  in  its  missionary 
operations,  the  sparsely  settled  districts,  from  which  have  sprung  so 
many  of  the  sturdy  men,  successful  teachers  and  faithful  churches  of 
history.     But  the  work  in  all   its  departments  is  one.     The  whole 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  419 

world  is  the  field,  ripening  for  the  coming  harvest.  "What,  there- 
fore, God  hath  joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder."  Country 
and  city,  desert  and  garden,  are  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain  to- 
gether, waiting  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God ;  but  they 
are,  before  the  final  chapter  of  the  history  of  redemption  is  written, 
to  be  "delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God." 

The  Rev.  Robert  Knox,  D.  D.,  of  Belfast,  Ireland,  followed 
with  a  paper  on 

THE  EVANGELIZATION  OF   IRELAND. 

If  you  look  at  Ireland  on  a  map,  it  is  a  mere  speck  in  the  great  At- 
lantic ;  and  yet  that  little  island  has  wielded  for  ages,  and  continues 
to  wield,  a  mighty  influence  on  Britain  and  all  the  dependencies  of 
Britain,  and  on  this  great  continent  of  America.  Hence  it  becomes 
a  matter  of  supreme  importance  to  bring  the  Irish  people  under  the 
power  of  the  gospel,  not  only  for  their  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of 
those  countries  whose  character  and  destinies  they  influence. 

In  round  numbers,  Ireland  has  a  population  of  5,000,000.  Little 
more  than  one  in  four  of  these  are  Protestants,  and  this  proportion 
has  been  maintained  with  little  variation  for  the  last  two  hundred 
years. 

To  Christian  men  in  other  lands  it  may  appear  strange  that  the 
gospel  has  made  so  little  progress  among  a  people  peculiarly  susceptible 
of  religious  impressions.  The  explanation  is  not  far  to  seek.  The 
Church  established  by  law  for  three  hundred  years  had  all  the  advan- 
tages which  high  rank,  great  wealth,  and  political  power  could  give, 
while  the  Irish  race  were  repressed  by  the  most  grinding  penal  laws, 
refused  all  legitimate  opportunities  of  education,  excluded  from 
positions  of  trust,  and  were  regarded  as  incapable  of  holding  any  of 
the  high  offices  of  state.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  people  nat- 
urally proud  and  sensitive  should  resent  being  thus  treated,  not  only 
as  a  conquered,  but  as  an  inferior  race?  In  their  heart's  core  they 
resented  the  injustice,  and  cherished  burning  hatred  against  the  re- 
ligion which  they  associated  with  spoliation,  and  whose  very  presence 
was  the  symbol  of  their  national  degradation. 

Then  the  priests  made  common  cause  with  the  people  through  the 
long  and  weary  years  of  their  misery,  and  came  to  be  regarded  not 
only  as  patriots,  but  martyrs,  and  the  successors  of  a  long  line  of 
martyrs.  This  bound  the  masses  as  with  a  chain  of  adamant  to  the 
ancient  creed.  To  the  priest  was  given  up  reason  and  conscience, 
and  thus  the  Irish  people  became  the  most  abject  slaves  of  the  Roman 
pontiff  in  all  Christendom. 

The  penal  laws  are  now  removed,  but  churches  and  statesmen  are 
beginning  to  learn  that  it  is  not  so  easy  to  obliterate  the  memory  of 
ages  of  oppression.     The  old  grudge  rankles  in  the  bosom.     While 


420  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

other  countries  are  throwing  off  the  papal  yoke,  the  Irish  hug  their 
chains  and  cling  to  the  old  superstition. 

The  present  policy  of  religious  equality  seems  to  have  quickened 
Catholicism  into  new  life.  It  has  inflamed  the  zeal  of  priests  and 
people,  and  excited  the  most  extravagant  hopes.  From  a  condition 
of  sullen  inactivity  Rome  has  started  up  "as  a  giant  refreshed  with 
wine."  The  watchwords  now  are,  "Ireland  for  the  Irish!" — "Ire- 
land for  Rome;"   "  Protestantism  must  be  conquered  or  expelled." 

Never  was  the  Romish  Church  so  active  and  aspiring  as  at  this 
moment.  The  hierarchy  is  intensely  Ultramontane,  so  that  every 
line  converges  to  the  one  centre — Rome.  The  whole  machinery  of 
the  Latin  Church  is  brought  into  the  field  and  worked  with  the  most 
consummate  ability.  The  land  swarms  with  clerical  orders.  Friars 
of  every  description — Augustinian,  Dominican,  Franciscan — inter- 
penetrate the  country.  The  Jesuits  expelled  by  other  nations  find  a 
welcome  and  congenial  work  among  the  Irish  race.  Redemptorist 
Fathers  carry  the  torch  of  revivalism  into  the  great  centres  of  popula- 
tion, while  nuns  and  Sisters  of  Mercy  ply  the  work  of  education  and 
proselytism  with  ceaseless  energy.  The  laity  are  worked  into  a  frenzy 
of  expectation,  and  think  no  sacrifice  too  great  for  Mother  Church. 
In  view  of  their  poverty,  their  givings  are  marvellous,  so  that  the 
land  is  being  covered  with  the  most  stately  buildings.  Cathedrals, 
colleges,  and  schools  meet  the  eye  everywhere.  The  masses  are 
led  to  believe  not  only  that  theirs  is  the  oldest  and  the  truest,  but 
the  only  true  religion,  and  that,  like  Aaron's  rod,  it  is  destined  to 
swallow  up  all  others.  Unhappily,  they  are  fortified  in  this  belief 
by  the  apostacy  of  so  many  of  the  clergy  and  the  higher  classes  in 
England  and  also  in  their  own  country.  Every  new  pervert  is  hailed 
with  a  note  of  triumph.  On  a  people  so  imaginative  as  the  Irish  this 
process  in  the  Episcopal  Church  has  a  powerful  effect.  They  are  ac- 
tually made  to  believe  that  Protestantism  is  vanishing  away — that  the 
laity  will  soon  follow  the  lead  of  the  clergy  who  are  renouncing  the 
Reformation  and  giving  in  their  submission  to  Rome.  Then  the 
whole  machinery  of  national  education  is  being  worked  as  far  as  pos- 
sible in  the  Catholic  interest.  The  claim  of  the  hierarchy  is  that  it 
shall  be  separate,  exclusive,  and  under  the  control  of  the  clergy.  Be- 
sides all  this,  every  effort  is  made  to  grasp  civic  and  political  power, 
and  this  power  is  made  subservient  in  a  thousand  ways  to  Mother 
Church. 

Such  are  the  agencies  and  aspirations  of  Rome.  These  agencies 
cover  the  land,  and  their  power  is  increased  tenfold  by  the  fact  that 
they  are  guided  by  one  central  authority,  from  which  there  is  no  ap. 
peal.  Whilst  the  Protestant  forces  are  divided,  and  often  in  con- 
flict with  each  other,  the  whole  machinery  of  Rome  moves  on  with 
ceaseless  energy,  guided  with  consummate  ability,  no  force  lost,  no 
interest  divided. 

Such  is  Irish  Romanism  in  this  present  year  of  grace.  What  can  a 
handful  of  Protestants  do  against  this  exceeding  great  army,   this 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  421 

swelling  tide  of  Catholic  revival,  united,  resolute,  quivering  with  in- 
tense ambition  to  recover  all  that  was  lost  at  the  Reformation? 

In  the  face  of  all  we  have  just  said,  we  see  no  reason  for  despair. 
If  on  no  other  ground,  we  take  our  stand  here.  "  He  that  is  for  us 
is  greater  than  all  that  are  against  us."  Ireland  shall  one  day  sparkle 
as  a  brilliant  on  the  brow  of  Christ.  The  truth  spoken  in  faith  and 
love  is  all-conquering.  This  conviction  nerves  us  for  present  action 
and  gilds  the  future  with  hope. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  paper  to  show  what  other  Prot- 
estants have  done  and  are  doing.  It  is  rather  our  business  to  set 
forth  the  plans  and  purposes  and  claims  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  aimmg  at  the  evangelization  of  Ireland. 

This  Church  is  few  in  number — not  over  half  a  million — that  is, 
about  one  in  eight  of  the  Catholic  population.  It  is  limited  in  re- 
sources also,  for  the  Presbyterians  of  Ireland  were  oppressed  and  per- 
secuted for  ages  like  their  Catholic  countrymen.  They  had  a  hard 
struggle  to  make  for  themselves  a  home  in  Ulster  and  to  provide  the 
means  of  grace  for  their  own  household.  Their  day  of  deliverance 
came  at  last.  They  now  breathe  freely,  and  have  begun  to  realize 
that  God  has  given  them  a  special  mission,  and  that  mission  is  to 
their  own  countrymen.  God  planted  them  in  Ireland  that  they  might 
become  his  agents  in  its  evangelization. 

This  work  is  little  more  than  begun,  but  it  is  begun  in  earnest.  The 
lines  are  laid  by  which  it  is  hoped  one  day  to  encompass  the  whole 
land  and  bring  the  people  under  the  power  of  the  truth.  A  church 
has  been  erected  and  a  minister  located  in  every  position  of  influence 
over  the  whole  land.  These  churches  are  made  centres  of  evangelistic 
operations.  In  addition  to  these  centres,  ministers  are  employed  to 
itinerate  and  hold  up  Christ  wherever  they  find  an  open  door.  In 
the  darkest  regions  of  the  West,  mission-schools  have  been  organized, 
into  which  the  young  are  gathered  and  trained  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  word  of  God.  Besides  all  this,  every  county  is  traversed  by  col- 
porteurs, who  carry  the  Bible  and  other  books  full  of  the  gospel  to 
the  homes  of  the  people,  and  scatter  among  them  those  leaves  that  are 
for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 

Such  is  the  work  begun.  It  is  the  day  of  small  things.  The  cloud 
that  rises  out  of  the  north  is  not  yet  bigger  than  a  man's  hand  ;  who 
can  tell  how  soon  it  may  ascend  and  spread  over  the  whole  sky  and 
break  in  showers  of  blessing  on  the  people  ? 

These  means  are  very  simple,  but  we  can  use  no  other.  We  know 
of  no  means  for  the  conversion  of  men  but  the  truth — the  truth  spoken 
in  faith  and  love — in  the  pulpit,  in  the  school,  in  the  family,  in  the 
highway  and  the  market-place ;  the  truth  shining  in  the  sacred  page 
and  in  the  life  of  redeemed  men  and  women.  It  is  not  great  arma- 
ments of  war  God  wants,  but  living  men — men  full  of  faith  and  of 
•the  Holy  Ghost ;  men  with  the  pitcher  in  the  hand  and  the  lamp 
within  the  pitcher. 

What  is  wanted  is  that  these  means  be  multiplied  till  every  son  of 


42  2  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Erin  shall  have  the  opportunity  of  knowing  what  the  truth  is  and  of 
seeing  what  the  truth  can  do  in  making  men  pure  and  free. 

Notwithstanding  all  we  have  said  of  the  zeal  and  vast  resources 
of  Rome,  there  is  much  in  the  present  condition  of  Ireland  to  inspire 
hopes  of  ultimate  success.  The  eye  of  faith  can  discern  here  and  there 
some  bright  rays  breaking  through  the  gloom. 

Not  only  in  the  great  cities,  but  in  distant  glens  and  hamlets  there 
is  springing  up  a  class  of  men  who  wince  under  their  spiritual  bond- 
age, and  are  ready  as  opportunity  offers  to  strike  a  blow  at  the  power 
of  the  priest.  This  class  is  increasing  rapidly,  and  are  a  cause  of 
much  anxiety  to  their  spiritual  guides.  They  begin  by  limiting  the 
functions  of  the  priest  to  what  is  spiritual,  and  repudiating  his  au- 
thority in  what  is  secular.  This  incipient  rebellion  generates  other 
thoughts,  and  so  these  men  soon  pass  away  altogether  from  the  control 
of  the  clergy.  At  present  the  movement  is  more  political  iXxAXi  relig- 
ious. Who  can  tell  what  may  come  of  it  once  the  mystic  tie  is 
broken  ? 

Bat  there  is  a  deeper  and  more  hopeful  current  among  the  Irish 
people.  Those  who  know  them  best — looking  below  the  surface  and 
feeling  the  pulse  of  their  inner  life — tell  us  that  there  is  a  spirit  of 
earnest  religious  inquiry  abroad — that  many  still  in  the  bosom  of 
the  church  are  dissatisfied  with  empty  ceremonialism,  and  are  yearning 
for  something  that  will  bring  true  peace  and  joy  to  the  guilty  soul. 
Then  yearning  does  not  always  find  public  expression.  To  throw  off 
the  shackles  of  early  conviction  and  prejudice  involves  a  great  strug- 
gle, and  to  renounce  Romanism  in  Ireland  is  often  perilous  to  life  and 
limb.  But  it  is  not  so  in  this  free  country,  and  so  you  find  in  some 
of  your  great  cities,  just  now,  unmistakable  signs  of  this  deep  spiritual 
current. 

It  is  our  conviction  that  a  new  and  brighter  era  is  dawning  in  Ire- 
land. The  people  are  educated,  intelligence  is  spreading.  The  press 
is  making  the  dwellers  in  the  remotest  mountain  home  acquainted 
with  all  the  great  public  movements  of  the  day.  One  ground  of  com- 
plaint after  another  is  being  removed.  Beneficent  legislation  is  sweep- 
ing away  every  plea  by  which  priests  and  politicians  inflamed  the 
masses  and  deepened  their  prejudices  against  England  and  the  Protes- 
tant faith.  The  country  is  in  a  transition  state.  The  door  that  was 
closed  against  the  gospel  for  centuries  is  being  opened  in  a  way  that 
we  knew  not.  A  great  change  is  impending.  It  may  come  from 
without.  It  is  more  likely  to  come  from  within.  It  is  ours  to  be 
ready  for  the  emergency  that  we  may  go  in  and  possess  the  land. 

In  the  opinion  of  thoughtful  men  the  present  activity  of  the  Romish 
Church  is  spasmodic — a  spasmodic  grasp  at  power  which  is  felt  to  be 
slipping  away.  To  retain  the  allegiance  of  the  unreflecting  masses,, 
thev  are  being  dazzled  and  deceived  by  magnificent  buildings  and 
pretended  visions  of  the  Virgin.  It  will  not  all  do.  The  hammer  of. 
the  Almighty  is  striking  "  the  feet  of  the  image  that  are  partly  iron 
and  partly  clay." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  423 

In  offering  the  gospel  to  their  countrymen  the  Presbyterians  of  Ire- 
land have  a  special  vantage  ground.  They  had  no  part  in  framing 
penal  laws.  These  laws  bore  down  heavily  on  themselves,  and  they 
had  no  small  share  in  their  removal.  Again  and  again  the  oppressed 
end  persecuted  Catholics  appealed  to  the  sturdy  Presbyterians  of  the 
North  for  sympathy  as  the  well-known  friends  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  Against  us  they  cherish  no  grudge.  With  us  they  have  no 
old  quarrel  to  settle. 

This  leads  me  to  observe  that  there  is  one  thing  essential  to  the 
successful  prosecution  of  this  work — sympathy  with  the  Irish  people. 
The  want  of  this  has  marred  the  power  of  the  gospel  hitherto.  The 
country  wants  rest  and  sympathy.  It  has  been  too  long  under  the 
reign  ^/l:^^^/-inexorable  law.  Oppressed  by  the  state,  enslaved  by  the 
priest,  the  people  are  yearning  not  only  for  liberty  but  love,  sympathy, 
the  tender  touch  of  a  soft  and  friendly  hand.  This  is  the  key  that 
will  open  the  Irish  heart.  Approach  them  in  the  spirit  the  Saviour 
breathed,  and  there  is  no  more  hopeful  field  for  the  gospel.  Make 
them  to  know  and  feel  that  you  are  neither  an  alien  nor  an  enemy  to 
their  race — that'  you  love  their  country  and  their  Saviour,  and  tliey 
will  listen  with  gratitude  and  gladness  to  the  story  of  redeeming  love. 

If  Ireland  is  to  be  evangelized  it  shall  never  be  by  the  Bible  in  one 
hand  and  the  bayonet  in  the  other.  It  shall  never  be  by  denouncing 
the  pope  as  anti-Christ  and  Rome  as  the  scarlet  whore.  The  evangel- 
ist must  get  into  sympathy  with  the  people  ;  be  ready  to  listen  with 
patience  to  the  story  of  their  national  wrongs,  and  feel  for  them  as 
every  Christian  man  ought  to  feel  in  the  presence  of  misery. 

In  point  of  fact  this  unhappy  country  has  never  been  fairly  treated, 
either  by  Church  or  State.  For  seven  ^centuries  it  has  been  the  battle- 
field of  rival  statesmen,  and  it  has  baffled  all  their  efforts  to  quell  the 
turbulence  of  the  people  and  lift  it  up  to  some  measure  of  social  com- 
fort. To  tlie  present  hour  it  is  the  prey  of  unprincipled  adventurers. 
What  the  people  want  is  the  gospel.  Under  the  power  of  the  gospel 
the  nation  was  once  free  and  happy — the  home  of  the  oppressed — the 
refuge  of  the  persecuted  saints  of  the  Most  High.  When  the  rest  of 
Christendom  was  shrouded  in  mediaeval  darkness,  Ireland  held  by  the 
truth  and  sent  forth  her  scholars  and  missionaries  over  all  Europe. 

In  an  evil  hour  this  -beautiful  island  was  sold  by  an  English  sov- 
ereign to  the  pope.  From  that  day  her  learning  declined.  Her  light 
grew  dim.  Her  liberties  gave  place  to  grinding  bondage,  until  at  last 
in  the  reaction  of  divine  justice  this  people  have  become  a  trouble 
and  a  scourge  to  those  who  neglected  and  oppressed  them. 

It  is  high  time  to  deal  with  the  Irish  race  on  another  principle — 
to  try  on  them  the  power  of  love.  There  is  no  people  in  the  world 
more  grateful  for  kindly  treatment.  Is  it  not  worth  a  mighty  effort 
on  our  part  and  yours  to  win  them  for  Christ?  Men  may  laugh  at 
their  foibles,  but  is  there  not  something  in  their  very  misery  to  excite 
compassion?  In  the  mouth  of  many  they  are  a  byword,  and  men 
make  merry  over  their  peculiarities,  but  after  all  they  have  many  noble 


424  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

traits  of  character.  They  are  quick  of  intellect,  endowed  with  great 
powers  of  endurance,  patient  in  suffering,  respectful  to  their  superiors, 
cherishing  a  veneration  for  learning  that  amounts  to  superstition,  and 
clinging  to  their  faith  like  martyrs. 

Wherever  they  have  had  a  fair  field  and  measured  their  strength 
with  other  men  they  have  been  renowned  over  the  world  as  warriors, 
orators,  and  statesmen. 

We  repeat,  it  is  worth  a  mighty  effort  to  conquer  this  people  for 
Christ. 

In  this  work,  Britain  and  America  have  a  deep  interest.  This  pro- 
lific race  are  spreading  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken.  There 
are  over  300,000  of  them  in  Scotland,  upwards  of  500,000  in  Eng- 
land, and  on  this  continent  their  sons  and  descendants  number  many 
millions.  They  swarm  in  your  great  cities,  in  your  hives  of  indus- 
try, and  wherever  there  is  rough  work  to  be  done.  Let  it  be  borne 
in  mind  that  wherever  they  settle  they  bring  with  them  their  charac- 
ter and  habits,  and  down  deep  in  their  heart  of  hearts,  their  fealty  to 
Rome.  What  influence  are  they  likely  to  yi«ld  on  your  social  life  and 
on  your  free  institutions?  You  have  often  said  already,  "these  men 
do  exceedingly  trouble  our  city."  To  statesmen  in  England  and 
America  they  have  become  a  menace  or  a  snare.  It  is  not  so  much 
their  numbers  that  make  them  formidable,  but  the  fact  that  in  those 
great  questions  that  affect  your  national  life,  they  yield  up  reason  and 
conscience  to  another  and  move  en  masse  to  the  falling  booth. 

I  repeat,  England  and  America  have  a  deep  interest  in  bringing 
the  Irish  people  under  the  power  of  the  gospel.  This  cannot  be 
effectually  done  by  dealing  with  those  who  are  landed  on  the  shores 
of  either  country.  It  must  be  done  at  the  fountain-head.  The  salt 
must  be  cast  into  the  well's  mouth.  Irish  Romanism  must  be  met 
and  conquered  on  Irish  soil. 

In  closing  this  paper  I  trust  it  will  not  be  considered  out  of  place 
for  me  to  say  that  in  this  great  and  arduous  work,  the  Presbyterians 
of  Ireland  feel  that  they  have  a  strong  claim  on  the  sympathy  and  help 
of  America.  It  was  an  Irish  Presbyterian,  from  the  centre  of  Donegal, 
who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  American  Church ;  and  from  the  days 
of  Francis  McKemie  till  this  hour,  America  has  been  thinning  our 
ranks  and  draining  our  resources.  Thousands  of  what  you  call  the 
Scotcli -Irish  are  landed  every  year  on  your  shores.  This  process,  so 
exhausting  to  us,  has  been  going  on  for  a  century  and  a  half.  Not  a 
few  of  these  have  become  your  statesmen  and  warriors,  your  orators, 
merchants,  and  ministers  of  religion.  Others  have  helped  to  clear 
your  forests  and  build  your  great  cities,  and  yourselves  would  be  the 
first  to  acknowledge  that,  in  many  cases,  they  form  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  your  churches.  Thus  you  have  become  numerous  and  rich 
by  making  us  poor.  And  now  in  that  great  enterprise  we  have  under- 
taken, we  are  not  ashamed  to  put  forth  a  claim  on  you.  By  the 
Church's  Head  we  are  placed  in  the  forefront  of  the  hottest  battle ; 
but  the  battle  is  yours  as  well  as  ours,  and  we  feel  assured  you  will  not 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  425 

leave  the  little  remnant  who  still  cultivate  the  hills  and  valleys  of 
Ulster  to  wage  war  against  such  terrible  odds.  For  your  own  sakes, 
and  in  memory  of  all  you  owe  to  Ulster,  "Come  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord  against  the  mighty."  If  we  succeed,  as  by  the  help  of  heaven 
we  expect  we  shall,  the  richest  benefit  will  be  yours,  for  then  you 
would  be  receiving,  year  by  year,  an  influx  of  free,  enlightened,  law- 
abiding  Churchmen  and  women. 

Here  is  a  work  worthy  the  united  energies  of  the  Presbyterians  of 
Ireland,  England,  Scotland,  and  America. 

Since  this  paper  was  written  the  Council  has  resolved  to  hold  its 
next  meeting  in  Belfast.  Men  and  brethren,  permit  me  to  urge  on 
you  to  study  in  the  interval,  earnestly  and  prayerfully,  the  subject  of 
this  paper,  the  only  real  cure  for  the  miseries  of  Lreland,  so  that  when 
you  come  among  us  we  may  have  the  benefit  of  your  mature  and  en- 
lightened judgmen.t. 

CHURCH   EXTENSION  IN  AMERICA. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — The  Programme  Committee  have  in- 
vited the  Rev.  Dr.  Kendall,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  to  speak  for  a  few  minutes  this  afternoon  on  the  ques^ 
tion  of  the  extension  of  the  gospel  in  our  country. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Kendall,  D.  D. — The  extension  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  sparsely  settled  districts  of  this 
country  has  usually  been  called  the  work  of  home  missions, 
in  distinction  from  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  and  from 
the  work  of  city  missions,  the  evangelization  of  the  poor,  and 
the  neglected  in  cities.  If  I  speak  with  regard  to  a  single 
denomination  here  represented,  it  is  because  I  understand  its 
work  better  than  I  do  the  work  of  the  other  denominations.  I 
gratefully  acknowledge  what  the  others  have  done,  and  what 
all  denominations  are  doing  in  the  work  of  evangelizing  the 
masses  throughout  the  entire  country. 

The  work  of  home  missions  is  coeval  with  our  history.  Be- 
fore we  became  a  nation,  and  as  soon  as  we  became  a  Church,  the 
work  of  home  missions  began  in  its  essential  features.  The 
first  Presbyterian  church  in  New  York  city  received"  missionary 
aid  from  the  old  country;  and  nearly  all  the  early  churches  on 
the  continent  received  aid  from  the  mother  country  in  like  man- 
ner. When  the  churches  at  the  East  became  strong,  and  the 
children  of  the  churches  went  west,  first  over  into  Western  New 


426  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

York  and  over  the  Allegheny  mountains  to  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  churches  at  the  East,  the  old  people  in  the  old 
churches,  helped  their  sons  and  daughters  to  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  in  the  new  and  sparsely  settled  territories  lying  be- 
yond. The  same  thing  was  true  as  they  went  farther  on,  down 
the  Ohio  river,  and  along  by  the  lakes,  into  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Michigan  and  Illinois,  until  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
lay  spread  out  before  the  country  and  before  the  Church.  Then 
the  great  rallying  cry  was  to  save  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  future  centre  and  strength  of  all  the  population  in  this 
country — to  rescue  it  from  the  grasp  of  the  papists,  and  to 
evangelize  it  in  the  Protestant  faith.  • 

It  was  not  until  within  ten  or  twelve  years  that  the  population 
largely  went  beyond  the  line  of  States  that  have  their  eastern 
boundary  on  the  Mississippi  river.  There  were  States  organ- 
ized, there  were  territories  surveyed ;  but  the  population  was 
very  sparse,  and  the  aggregate  was  very  small,  down  to  the 
time  when  the  Pacific  railroad  was  built.  The  Northern  Pa- 
cific on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Union  Pacific  in  the  centre,  and 
various  movements  toward  the  Southern  Pacific,  not  then  exactly 
inaugurated  but  approaching  completion  now,  were  pushed  so  as 
to  open  the  whole  country,  while  the  population,  like  pent  up 
waters,  was  waiting  for  access  to  that  which  lay  beyond.  When 
those  railroads  were  built,  it  broke  over  as  though  the  barriers 
had  been  removed.  We  have  scarcely  known  anything  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  certainly  nothing  in  the  history  of  this 
country,  to  compare  with  the  movement  of  population  into  that 
section  of  country  lying  directly  west  of  those  States  that  line 
the  Mississippi  river.  Allow  me  to  picture  it  in  parcels,  for  it  is 
too  large  to  be  pictured  as  one. 

I.  Take,  for  instance,  Dakota,  on  the  north,  reaching  up  to  the 
British  possessions ;  add  to  that  Nebraska,  and  Kansas,  and  the 
Indian  Territory  and  Texas ;  and  you  have  one  broad  section 
extending  across  our  country  from  the  north  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  comprising  650,000  square  miles.  It  is  as 
large  as  all  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  river 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  427 

except  the  four  Gulf  States.  We  have  been  250  years  settling  and 
evangeHzing  that  section  of  the  country ;  and  the  work  is  by  no 
means  complete,  for  there  are  more  missionary  stations  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  York,  than  in  almost  any  other  States  of  the 
Union.  More  and  more  as  you  go  farther  west,  the  larger  are 
the  proportions  of  missionary  stations,  clear  to  the  Mississippi 
river  and  beyond.  This  section  of  country  just  named  is  as  fair 
as  any  the  sun  shines  on,  from  the  north  to  the  south ;  it  has 
only  one  small  lake,  called  the  Devil's  lake,  in  the  north,  with  not 
one  rocky  ridge,  nor  one  mile  square  of  swamp  or  marsh,  with 
almost  every  acre  o^  it  tillable  land.  It  is  filling  up,  one  year, 
with  floods  of  hundreds  of  thousands  pouring  into  Texas ;  the 
next  two  years  the  same  tide  pouring  into  Kansas ;  and  this 
year  pouring  its  great  flood  into  Dakota.  While  we  have  not 
the  full  returns  of  the  census  to  tell  us  how  many  people  have 
gone  in  the  last  ten  years,  the  demand  for  ministers  and  for 
churches  is  just  as  great  now  as  it  was  ten  years  ago  ;  show- 
ing that  we  have  not  kept  pace,  or  more  than  kept  pace,  with 
the  population.  Measuring  the  population  by  the  growth  of 
the  Church — and  I  am  only  speaking  of  one  denomination — 
we  had  in  that  great  territory  lOO  churches  ten  years  ago,  and 
we  have  now  475.  Yet  ten  years  ago  the  demand  for  mission- 
aries, and  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  was  not  any  more 
intense  and  urgent  than  it  is  to-day. 

II.  Take  that  section  of  the  country  which  lies  on  the  Pacific 
ocean,  California,  the  southern  part  of  it  that  great  sanitarium 
to  which  so  many  invalids  go  year  after  year,  the  land  of 
pomegranates,  of  figs,  of  orange  orchards,  of  gardens,  of  vine- 
yards ;  and  go  up  along  the  coast — to  the  central  part  of  the 
State,  where  its  great  wheat-fields  are,  and  to  the  mountains 
that  are  crowned  with  evergreens,  and  whose  sides  are  full  of 
silver  and  gold  ;  go  farther  up  to  the  great  timber  country, 
Oregon  and  Washington  Territories;  and  you  find  very  much 
the  same  condition  of  things.  In  380,000  square  miles,  with  a 
population  growing  at  the  rate  of  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  for 
the  last  ten  years,  we  had  only  61  churches  ten  years  ago.  We 
have  now  175  churches  there. 


428  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

III.  Look  at  the  great  mineral  belt  lying  between  these 
two  sections,  containing  the  Rocky  Mountain  system,  con- 
stituted of  two  States  and  six  Territories,  with  855,000 
square  miles.  There  is  scarcely  a  fertile  valley  in  it  that 
has  not  been  opened  by  the  railway  system.  Those  terri- 
tories are  full  of  silver  and  gold,  though  the  available  culti- 
vatable  land,  from  which  the  produce  may  be  reaped  for  immediate 
consumption,  is  not  as  large  as  in  the  East  or  West ;  but  wher- 
ever the  precious  metals  are  found,  there  men  always  will  go. 
No  seas  will  keep  them  back  ;  no  deserts  will  deter  them  ;  no 
numbers  of  savages  or  wild  beasts  will  k^p  them  away  from 
that  which  they  so  much  desire.  In  all  the  mountain  fastnesses 
on  the  north  and  on  the  south,  in  these  great  territories,  we  find 
mining  camps  and  mining  cities,  and  the  population  developing 
all  the  time,  and  calling  for  missionaries.  In  that  great  section 
of  country  we  had,  ten  years  ago,  but  five  churches.  Now 
we  have  seventy-five  churches  ;  and  a  demand  for  more  men  on 
the  north  and  on  the  south  in  equal  proportion  to  any  other 
part  of  the  country. 

In  addition  to  the  magnitude  of  this  great  work  in  this  great 
field  that  is  laid  before  us  for  home  missionary  occupation,  we 
strike  a  population  such  as  we  have  never  encountered  before,  and 
such  as  has  scarcely  been  encountered  anywhere  else  on  the  face 
of  the  earth.  We  have  a  population  of  about  1 25 ,000  of  the  most 
bigoted  papists  in  New  Mexico,  as  bigoted  as  they  are  in  Spain, 
and  as  ignorant  as  can  be  found  in  almost  any  part  of  the  world. 
We  have  in  Utah  about  150,000  subjects  of  a  system  of  com- 
bined Judaism  and  Mohammedanism,  a  system  wonderfully  com- 
pact in  its  organization,  and  a  population  of  whom  Paul  might 
have  said,  as  he  did  of  another  population,  "  I  perceive  that  ye 
are  too  superstitious,"  or  what  perhaps  would  be  better  trans- 
lated, "  too  religious,"  so  religious  as  everywhere  to  invoke  the 
presence  of  God,  with  an  apparent  disregard  of  all  the  laws  of 
God  whose  presence  they  invoke — one  of  the  worst  systems, 
one  of  the  rottenest  systems,  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
and  yet  a  system  of  wonderful  efficiency  and  power. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  429 

We  have  begun  work  with  both  these  populations  ;  we  have 
a  presbytery,  and  ten  or  a  dozen  churches,  and  ten  or  a  dozen 
Presbyterian  ministers  in  each ;  we  have  six  or  eight  native 
h'centiates  that  labor  among  the  Mexican  population ;  we  have 
thirty  female  Christian  teachers  at  work  in  Utah,  beginning  with 
the  children  to  uproot  the  vile  system  which  the  government 
itself  seems  to  be  willing  to  try  to  take  hold  of  and  uproot.  We 
are  changing  the  sentiment  of  the  children  as  we  get  hold  of 
them,  so  that  in  towns  where  we  have  had  a  school  a  year  or 
two,  it  is  said  there  is  not  a  young  lady  left  that  is  in  favor  of 
polygamy.  In  that  way,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  we  are  reach- 
ing those  masses. 

Then  in  the  midst  of  that  great  section  of  country  lie  nearly 
all  the  Indian  tribes,  200,000  strong.  They  are  no  longer  left 
isolated  and  by  themselves  ;  the  white  people  have  come  to 
them,  and  are  all  around  them  ;  their  streams  have  been  fished, 
and  the  fish  are  all  gone ;  the  buffalo  have  been  hunted  until 
they  are  gone ;  their  game  is  all  gone ;  the  Indians  themselves 
will  all  be  gone  soon,  unless  we  educate  them  and  lift  them  up 
and  teach  them  how  to  live,  by  some  other  process ;  and  there 
is  no  such  process  but  the  Christian  religion. 

I  commend  to  you  the  magnitude  of  this  great  work;  I  com- 
mend to  you  these  peculiar  features  of  it,  which  make  it  so  very 
hard ;  I  commend  it  to  the  men  of  the  Church,  the  ministers 
and  the  elders,  and  to  the  women  of  the  Church  who  have 
begun  so  effectively  their  schools  among  the  Indians,  and  the 
Mormons,  and  the  New  Mexicans.  May  God  bless  them  and 
their  evangelical  labors  until  from  sea  to  sea  this  great  land 
shall  have  been  evangelized. 

The  Council  then,  with  devotional  exercises,  adjourned  until 
the  evening  at  7^  o'clock. 

Tuesday,  September  2%th,  1880. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  7.30  p.  m.,  in  the  Academy 
of  Music,  Wm.  p.  Webb,  Esq.,  of  Eutaw,  Alabama,  President. 

After  devotional  services.  Dr.  Calderwood,  from  the  Busi- 
ness Committee,  recommended,  aad  the   recommendation  was 


430  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

agreed  to,  that  a  letter  to  the  Churches  represented  in  this  Coun- 
cil be  prepared  by  the  Revs.  Dr.  Paxton,  of  New  York,  and  Dr. 
Marshall  Lang,  of  Glasgow. 

Dr.  Calderwood,  also  from  the  same  committee,  recommended 
that  all  business  matters  not  provided  for  by  the  appointment 
of  special  committees,  or  included  in  the  printed  Programme,  be 
taken  up  as  the  business  of  Saturday  forenoon ;  and  that  the 
hour  from  twelve  to  one  o'clock  be  taken  as  the  formal  close 
and  farewell  of  the  Council :  which  was  agreed  to. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  of  Chicago,  111.,  then  r.ead 
the  following  paper  on 

SABBATH-SCHOOLS:  THEIR  USE  AND  ABUSE. 

There  are  two  great  departments  of  Christian  labor  which  may  almost 
be  said  to  have  been  created  during  the  past  century — Foreign  Mis- 
sions and  Sunday-schools.  It  is  true  that,  strictly  speaking,  neither 
has  ever  been  entirely  omitted  from  the  activities  of  the  church. 
Especially  were  Foreign  Missions  the  glory  of  primitive  Christianity. 
And  not  only  in  those  early  days,  but  in  Christian  homes  and 
churches  of  every  century,  God's  command  that  the  children  should 
be  taught  his  word  has,  of  course,  been  widely  observed  and  with 
fidelity  and  love.  Its  vital  importance  could  not  be  hidden  from 
men  like  Huss  and  Gerson  and  Luther  and  Knox.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  Waldenses,  the  Scotch,  the  Puritans,  instructed  their 
children  in  the  Scriptures,  often  with  a  tenderness  and  thoroughness 
which  no  later  day  has  surpassed. 

>Tevertheless,  it  is  quite  true  that  the  institution  of  Sunday-schools, 
as  we  now  see  them,  is  scarcely  an  hundred  years  old.  In  1780  they 
were  practically  unknown.  It  is  certainly  a  most  extraordinary  phe- 
nomenon which  we  have  witnessed — the  growth  of  the  little  seed 
which  was  planted  in  Gloucester  an  hundred  years  ago  to  that  im- 
mense and  powerful  system  which  has  now  extended  to  every  Christian 
land.  The  facts  upon  this  subject,  gathered  principally  through  the 
industry  of  Mr.  E.  Payson  Porter,  of  Philadelphia,  have  been  of  late 
very  completely  presented.  It  is  enough  to  say  at  present  that  there 
are  now  within  the  bounds  of  Protestant  Christendom  not  less  than 
twelve  and  a  half  million  scholars,  and  one  and  a  half  million  teachers 
in  our  Sunday-schools — a  total  of  full  fourteen  millions. 

The  development  of  this  system  has  perhaps  been  more  rapid  and 
extended  in  America  than  in  any  other  land.  In  the  United  States 
and  Canada  we  have  7,000,000  Sunday-school  scholars,  and  nearly 
a  million  teachers.  These  schools  are  found  everywhere.  They  are 
the  pride  of  our  strongest  metropolitan  churches,  and  in  the  log  school- 
houses  of  our  far-off  frontier  they  gather  about  themselves  tiie  hope 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  431 

and  affection  of  tens  of  thousands  of  hardy  settlers.  They  constitute 
a  vast  national  university.  They  have  certainly  affected  our  national 
character  and  the  current  of  our  national  history,  and  it  is  equally 
certain  that  the  future  of  the  nation  and  the  future  of  this  immense 
and  rapidly  growing  system  of  Sunday-schools  are  largely  bound  up 
together. 

The  extension  of  these  schools  has  been  scarcely  less  remarkable  in 
Great  Britain.  In  the  century  they  have  there  grown  from  nothing 
to  a  total  of  more  than  5,000,000  scholars  and  teachers.  In  France 
they  had  their  beginning  at  Bordeaux  in  1815,  but  did  not  receive 
their  first  vigorous  impulse  until  1852.  Yet,  although  the  Protestant 
population  of  France  is  so  limited,  there  are  now  seen  there  1,100 
schools,  with  nearly  50,000  attendants.  In  Holland  they  were  in- 
troduced as  late  as  1836,  and  have  received  their  principal  increase 
since.  i86o.  A  thousand  schools  are  now  found  there,  and  100,000 
scholars.  In  Switzerland,  from  their  first  beginning  in  1821,  in 
Canton  de  Neuchatel,  they  have  riiicn  to  an  attendance  of  81,000. 
In  Sweden,  where  they  were  unknown  in  1850,  and  where  after  their 
first  introduction  they  were  suppressed  for  a  time  by  the  police,  we 
now  find  150,000  scholars.  In  Germany,  although  first  introduced 
before  that  date,  a  new  life  and  enlargement  of  them  began  only  in 
1863,  chiefly  through  the  labors  of  Mr.  Brockelmann,  who  was  in- 
terested in  the  scheme  by  Mr.  Albert  Woodruff,  of  Brooklyn;  and  as  a 
result,  Germany  now  numbers  2,000  schools  and  200,000  scholars. 
They  are  firmly  rooted  in  Italy,  and  continually  extending,  as  well  as 
in  every  country  of  Europe  from  Norway  to  Portugal,  not  to  speak  of 
many  thousands  in  other  quarters  of  the  globe. 

To  look  upon  the  astonishing  development  of  this  new  branch  of 
Christian  activity  is  impossible  without  asking.  What  are  the  7'easons 
for  it  ? 

Some  very  incautious  words,  as  I  must  think,  have  been  spoken  in 
answer  to  this  question.  It  was  said  a  few  evenings  since,  in  the 
hearing  of  the  Council,  and  the  statement  was  loudly  applauded,  that 
the  institution  of  Sunday-schools  was  kept  agoing  by  light,  secular 
music,  parades,  processions  and  picnics.  May  I  be  permitted  to  say, 
with  all  respect  for  the  honored  and  beloved  teacher  who  uttered  that 
statement,  as  well  as  for  those  who  applauded  it,  that  there  could  not 
possibly  be  a  more  complete  mistake  ? 

Our  wide  Sunday-school  system,  which  has  yielded  its  harvests  now 
for  a  hundred  years,  and  which  graduated  more  than  125,000  members 
into  the  evangelical  churches  of  America  during  the  last  year,  has  far 
more  solid  reasons  for  its  existence  than  these. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  there  are  still  many  honored  brethren  to 
whom  the  facts  on  this  subject  are  only  imperfectly  known.  Per- 
haps it  is  not  strange,  for,  except  one  has  investigated  it  somewhat 
carefully,  he  will  have  no  conce[)tion  of  the  intellect  which  has  been 
drawn  into  the  service  of  our  Sunday-schools,  nor  of  the  amount  or 
quality  of  the  work  which  is  being  expended  upon  them. 


432  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

I  hope  I  may  be  forgiven  if  I  speak  with  some  warmth  and  confi- 
dence, but  I  feel  sure  that  it  can  be  shown  that  this  great  fabric  is 
resting  to-day  upon  a  foundation  of  the  most  thorough  and  valuable 
labors.  Some  suggestions  of  caution  respecting  it  are  most  certainly  in 
place,  and  they  are  most  welcome.  Its  improvemfent  must  be  our  con- 
stant study;  but  if  an  institution  in  which  12,000,000  of  our  children 
every  Sabbath  for  successive  years  are  taught  the  vital  truths  of  God's 
word,  in  which  one  and  a  half  million  of  our  best  church  members  are 
toiling  through  heat  and  cold,  and  in  which  our  own  Worden  and 
Dulles,  our  Rogers  and  Ormiston,  and  Crosby  and  Palmer,  and  Reid  and 
Humphrey,  and  Dawson  and  Hall  are  the  master-builders — if  this  is 
not  solid,  then  nothing  is  solid.  There  is  in  many  minds,  I  know,  a 
vague  fear  of  those  works  of  darkness  called  Sunday-school  processions 
and  picnics.  It  is  said  that  we  must  hasten  to  take  these  dangerous 
things  in  hand.  It  seems  to  be  forgotten  that  even  this  venerable 
Council  has  had  one  procession  already,  and  if  it  breaks  up  without 
going  on  a  picnic  to  Princeton  or  elsewhere,  it  will  do  better  or 
worse  than  any  General  Assembly  I  have  known  for  the  last  twenty 
years. 

But  what  I  now  especially  propose,  is  to  examine  the  reasons  for 
that  rapidity  with  which  the  Sunday-school  system  has  been  developed, 
and  for  the  vast  proportions  which  it  assumes. 

1.  The  first  of  the  reasons  which  may  be  named  for  the  rapid 
increase  of  Sunday-schools,  is  that  they  met  a  great,  waiting  neces- 
sity. 

There  were  in  the  midst  of  Christendom  millions  of  utterly 
neglected  children.  A  frightful  mass  of  ignorance  and  heathenism 
existed  in  the  heart  of  the  Christian  world.  It  was  imperative  that 
some  way  of  instructing  and  saving  these  children  should  be  found  by 
the  church  ;  and  when  once  Christian  ingenuity  had  struck  upon  the 
plan,  the  field  which  awaited  its  application  was  immense.  But  it 
was  not  the  utterly  neglected  children  alone  who  called  for  these 
schools.  Multitudes  more  there  were,  whose  religious  instruction  was 
most  meagre,  the  children  of  parents  overworked  and  ill-taught  them- 
selves. And  it  has  been  found,  that  even  the  most  devoted  and  intel- 
ligent of  Christian  parents  can  receive  invaluable  aid,  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  their  children,  from  the  co-operation  of  suitable  teachers, 
and  from  the  stimulus  and  companionship  in  study  supplied  to  the 
children  through  the  Sunday-schools.  Sunday-schools  have  had, 
therefore,  a  manifold  opportunity.  They  entered  upon  their  work, 
soon  to  discover  that  the  material  for  their  enlargement  was  practically 
without  bounds. 

2.  And  if  the  necessity  was  waiting,  so  also  was  the  force  waiting 
requisite  for  its  relief. 

That  force  was  the  Christian  laity.  The  idea,  that  the  work  of 
teaching  the  millions  of  any  population  the  saving  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  must  be  required  at  the  hands  of  the  clergy  alone,  was  left 
behind  forever.     A  million  and  a  half  of  the  laity  have  been  added. 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  433 

by  this  movement,  to  the  stated  teachers  of  Christian  truth.  Con- 
sider only  the  field  which  has  been  opened  by  it  for  the  labor  of 
(.Christian  women.  It  is  probable  that,  in  America  alone,  not  less 
than  700,000  of  the  most  intelligent  and  godly  women  of  the  church 
have  been  added,  by  Sunday-schools,  to  the  evangelizing  force. 

3.  Other  advantages  connected  with  the  system  were  discovered, 
after  it  had  been  fairly  introduced.  The  mine  had  hardly  been 
opened,  before  the  lode  proved  even  richer  than  the  miners  had 
thought.  Veins  of  usefulness,  unlooked  for,  opened  at  every  step  of 
the  way. 

Not  the  scholars  only  have  been  benefited.  Sunday-schools  have 
been  found  to  be  an  invaluable  field  for  the  improvement  of  the  adult 
members  of  the  church,  the  teachers.  They  have  given  an  unprece- 
dented stimulus  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  The  social  study  of 
the  Bible,  as  in  teachers'  meetings,  has  been  increased  literally  a 
thousand-fold.  Parents,  also,  long  neglecting  the  Bible,  have  become 
interested  in  it.  The  lessons  brought  from  the  school  by  the  children 
were  to  be  learned  at  home,  and  the  children  must  have  the  parents' 
explanations  and  aid.  Especially  since  the  introduction  of  the  Inter- 
national series  of  lessons,  a  very  great  increase  of  expository  preach- 
ing is  observable  throughout  all  parts  of  the  land,  and  all  preaching 
has  tended  to  a  more  Biblical  form.  Our  booksellers  also  inform  us 
that  the  demand  for  Commentaries  on  the  Scriptures  has  been  surpris- 
ingly enlarged,  as  well  as  for  all  works  illustrative  of  the  Bible,  and 
aiding  in  its  study. 

In  the  same  line  is  the  immense  mass  of  periodical  literature  which, 
especially  within  the  past  eight  years,  has  been  called  into  existence, 
devoted  to  the  elucidation  of  the  Sunday-school  lessons.  I  refer  now 
to  that  designed  particularly  for  the  use  of  teachers.  Our  best  relig- 
ious newspapers  contribute  weekly  expositions  of  the  lessons,  and 
these  are  supplied,  in  many  cases,  by  the  foremost  intellects  and  the 
ripest  scholars  of  the  church,  the  chancellors  of  universities,  profes- 
sors in  our  theological  seminaries,  and  leading  pastors.  These  weekly 
expositions,  found  in  our  family  religious  journals,  aggregate  not  less 
than  300,000  copies.  In  addition  to  these,  each  denomination  has  its 
monthly  Sunday-school  magazine,  designed  especially  for  teachers. 
Three  of  these  reach  a  combined  circulation  of  1 70,000.  One  of  these, 
j)ublished  by  the  Presbyterians,  at  1334  Chestnut  street,  Philadelphia, 
has  a  circulation  of  21,000;  that  of  the  Baptists  reaches  35,000;  that 
of  the  Methodists,  114,000.  These  are  figures  which  might  occasion 
some  reflection.  Not  less  than  600,000  expositions  of  the  weekly 
lessons,  prepared  in  the  main  by  the  best  minds  in  the  church,  go  forth 
constantly  to  instruct  the  teachers. 

4.  And  our  teachers  are  not  only  stimulated  by  the  Sunday-school 
to  a  new  study  of  the  Bible — they  are  also  quickened  and  trained  in 
tlie  art  of  teaching,  made  apt  to  teach,  and  wise  in  winning  souls. 
Pastors  on  every  side  can  testify  to  the  new  anxiety  for  the  salvation 
of  others,  which  they  have  seen  springing  up  in  the  hearts  of  Sunday- 

28 


434  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

school  teachers.  We  have  found  ourselves  closeted  with  teachers  who 
were  asking  us,  earnestly  to  show  them  how  to  guide  souls.  New  in- 
quiries, new  prayers,  new  spiritual  longings,  and  spiritual  tact  and 
skill  have  been  evoked  in  instances  without  number. 

It  is  largely  to  meet  this  want  that  there  has  arisen  so  great  a  num- 
ber of  Sunday-school  Institutes  and  Normal  Classes,  Sunday-school 
Assemblies  and  Conventions.  By  some,  these  gatherings  have  been 
(|uite  overlooked  ;  by  others,  they  have  been  lightly  esteemed.  Thev 
may  have  called  forth  only  some  dignified  or  anxious  remark  as  to  their 
irresponsible  and  miscellaneous  character;  but  he  is  a  blind  man  who 
fails  to  see  that  they  speak  at  least  of  a  great  want,  of  a  deep  desire  in 
the  heart  of  the  people,  of  an  earnest  purpose,  too,  and  tliat  either 
for  good  or  ill  they  must  have  vast  power.  Not  less  than  5,220 
of  these  Sunday-school  Conventions  and  Institutes  and  Assemblies 
were  held  in  America  during  the  past  year,  an  average  of  over  100  a 
week,  or  of  14  each  day.  None  continued  less  than  one  entire  day  ; 
several  hundred  for  two  or  three  days;  thirteen  had  an  average  dura- 
tion of  eight  days.  In  these  gatherings,  every  question  bearing  on  the 
personal  improvement  of  teachers,  on  the  methods  of  Sunday-school 
instruction,  and  of  securing  the  conversion  and  Christian  training 
of  scholars,  is  presented.  To  such  practical  questions,  then,  during 
the  last  year,  at  least  5,540  days  have  been  given,  or  more  than  fifteen 
years  of  time. 

And  the  number  of  teachers  also  is  steadily  increasing  who  enroll 
themselves  in  normal  classes,  seeking,  for  successive  months,  instruc- 
tion in  their  work,  from  the  most  skilful  pastors  and  practised  teachers 
in  the  church. 

From  all  these  particulars,  upon  which  I  have  cast  but  a  passing 
glance,  it  will  be  seen  what  a  vast  and  busy  university  the  Sunday- 
school  system  has  become  for  the  teachers  themselves. 

5.  As  to  the  scholars,  the  Sunday-school  gives  admirable  oppor- 
tunity for  adapting  instruction  to  their  nature  and  capacities. 
'  Not  only  is  the  general  fact  regarded  that  most  of  the  scholars  are 
young,  but  a  still  closer  regard  for  their  varying  age  and  ability  is 
provided  for  by  the  system  of  classes.  The  teacliing  can  be  conducted, 
also,  with  a  freedom  and  simplicity  and  conversational  familiarity 
especially  suited  to  children.  Reviews  and  examinations,  which  lend 
constant  stimulus  and  life  to  the  scholar,  are  easily  secured.  At  the 
same  time,  this  youthful  audience  awaits  the  pastor,  whenever  he  may 
think  it  wise  to  address  them. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  aids  which  are  prepared  for  the  teachers  in 
their  study.  The  most  skilful  pastors  and  instructors  are  preparing 
aids  for  the  children  also  in  their  lessons,  weekly  lesson-leaves,  con- 
taining explanations  of  the  lesson,  questions  upon  it,  and  practical 
thoughts.  The  Westminster  Question-Book,  published  at  1334  Chest- 
nut street,  last  year  reached  an  edition  of  70,000  copies.  The  weekly 
lesson-leaves  .sent  forth  from  the  same  office  were  240,000.  Those 
^iven  by  the  combined  Presbyterians  of  thi  •  louiUry  for  their  scholars 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  435 

number  over  600,000.  Similar  aids  for  the  children  are  issued  by  the 
Methodists  to  the  number  of  1,200,000,  and  by  the  publishers  of  the 
Sunday- School  Times  and  the  Sunday-School  World — both  admirable 
periodicals — more  than  half  a  million. 

6.  Sunday-schools  give  opportunity  also  for  devotional  services  es- 
pecially suited  to  the  wants  and  the  spiritual  development  of  the 
young. 

Responsive  readings  enliven  the  service.  In  the  prayers  nothing 
hinders  a  very  full,  an  almost  exclusive  adaptation  to  the  wants  and 
temptations  of  early  life.  As  for  the  music,  endless  criticisms  upon 
this  subject  are  easy,  and  very  frequently  they  have  been  just ;  but 
after  all  reasonable  abatement  has  been  made,  it  remains  true  that  our 
Sunday-school  music  has  proved  a  mighty  spiritual  force.  These 
simple  hymns  have  been  the  first  voice  of  many  youthful  hearts  in 
penitence  and  prayer.  Their  more  spirited  and  joyous  measures  have 
attracted  thousands  to  the  house  of  God,  by  the  air  of  hearty  glad- 
ness  with  which  they  have  filled  the  place. 

What  is  needed — and  it  can  be  easily  secured — is  a  larger  use  of  the 
nobler  hymns,  the  standard  hymns  of  the  Church.  The  church  and 
the  school  should  employ  the  same  book,  and  the  book  should  accord- 
ingly be  adapted  to  both. 

7.  Sunday-schools  give  to  their  scholars  not  only  teachers,  but  in  the 
persons  of  their  teachers,  the  warmest  spiritual  friends.  A  minute 
pastoral  care  is  thus  secured  in  a  multitude  of  cases  through  the 
teacher ;  and  through  the  teacher  the  scholars  are  also  brought  into 
earlier  and  closer  connection  with  the  pastor  himself,  and  with  the 
rife  of  the  church.  We  who  are  pastors  make  these  assertions  fear- 
lessly, knowing  well  that  they  can  be  substantiated  by  proofs  innum- 
erable. Exceptions  there  are,  of  course,  to  every  rule ;  but  we 
know  how  often  the  spiritual  condition  of  our  young  parishioners,  es- 
pecially in  large  parishes,  is  made  known  to  us  by  their  Sunday-school 
teachers  and  superintendents,  and  how  they  open  pathways  for  us  to 
the  children's  hearts. 

8.  Sunday-schools  have  also  furnished  an  opportunity  for  placing  in 
the  hands  of  the  millions  who  attend  them,  pure  and  wholesome  read- 
ing. 

Here,  again,  criticism  would  be  easy,  as  it  has  been  most  abundant. 
Of  the  more  than  eleven  thousand  different  books  which  have  been  pre- 
pared for  the  Sunday-school  market,  and  which  have  found  their  way, 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  into  our  Sunday-school  libraries,  not  a  few 
are  weak,  and  some  entirely  unsuitable.  Careful  selection  is  required. 
It  would  be  far  better  if  libraries  could  be  gradually  formed,  instead 
of  receiving,  as  is  often  the  case,  hundreds  of  new  books  at  a  time. 
Every  book  could  then  undergo  careful  scrutiny.  But  the  high  excel- 
lence and  usefulness  of  many  of  the  books  which  reach  the  children  and 
the  children's  homes,  through  the  Sunday-school  libraries,  is  beyond 
all  question.  They  will  be  found  to  be  the  work  of  the  most  s[)iritua1 
and  cultivate!  minds.     Tlie  names  of  the   Boards   of  Publication    by 


436  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

which  they  are  issued — our  own  Presbyterian  Boards,  the  American 
Sunday-School  Union,  publishers  such  as  the  Carters,  Randolph,  and 
others  equally  conscientious,  together  with  the  best  publishers  of 
Great  Britain — these  alone  would  establish  a  strong  presumption  in 
their  favor,  and  whoever  examines  them  will  be  prepared  to  answer 
the  reflections  often  cast  on  their  literary  quality,  as  a  class,  and  to 
employ  them  with  thankfulness.  The  number  of  these  books  circu- 
lated throughout  the  community  by  means  of  our  schools,  is  not 
always  considered  in  our  estimate  of  their  influence.  The  Sunday- 
school  libraries  of  the  State  of  Illinois  alone  number  369,000  vol- 
umes.    Those  of  New  York,  876,000. 

To  books  are  added  papers,  adapted  generally,  though  not  exclu- 
sively, to  the  younger  children.  Of  these  there  were  distributed  last 
year  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  10,000,000.  The  two  papers  for  young 
readers  published  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  in  this  city,  at  1334 
Chestnut  street,  have  a  monthly  issue  of  450,000. 

9.  Our  Sunday-schools  have  also  been  found  to  furnish  excellent 
oj)portunities  for  training  the  young  in  the  principles  of  temperance, 
and  in  the  work  of  missions  and  practical  benevolence. 

The  contributions  of  our  Presbyterian  schools,  in  America,  to  for- 
eign missions  during  the  past  year,  were  not  less  than  $40,000,  proba- 
bly more ;  while  to  home  mission  work,  in  its  various  forms,  an 
equal  if  not  a  larger  sum  was  given. 

In  Illinois  Sunday-schools  last  year,  the  benevolent  contributions 
were  $39,000.  The  Sunday-schools  of  America  and  Canada  probably 
gave  last  year  to  benevolent  purposes,  $250,000. 

In  these  schools  our  children  often  meet  personally  our  noblest 
home  and  foreign  missionaries,  and  listen  to  their  inspiring  words. 
They  are,  moreover,  organized  into  juvenile  missionary  societies  and 
familiarized  in  ten  thousand  instances  with  missionary  intelligence  and 
effort,  in  a  manner  which  should  awaken  our  ardent  thankfulness  and 
hope.  It  has  been  said  that  Southey's  "Life  of  Nelson"  has  offi- 
cered the  British  navy  for  fifty  years.  It  is  equally  true  that  the  mis- 
sionary biographies  and  examples,  with  which  the  children  of  the 
Church  are  being  made  familiar  through  these  schools,  have  sent  hun- 
dreds of  heroic  laborers  already  to  heathen  lands.  Upon  this  point 
— the  connection  of  the  Sunday-school  movement  and  foreign  missions 
—the  words  of  President  Hopkins  are  most  valuable  :  "  What  we  now 
need,"  he  says,  "  is  a  generation  of  Christians  like  that  of  the  Israel- 
ites, born  in  the  desert,  having  the  inheritance  directly  before  them, 
and  as  their  normal  condition  an  enthusiasm  appropriate  to  such  a 
position.  And  is  it  not  for  this  that  the  great  army  of  Sunday-schools 
is  now  being  mustered  and  brought  into  unity?" 

10.  The  very  rapid  spread  of  our  Sunday-school  system  has  been 
secured  by  another  circumstance.  It  was  early  found  that  this  form 
of  Christian  work  naturally  invited  to  Christian  union. 

Sunday-school  teaching,  of  necessity,. deals  chiefly  with  the  elements 
and  essentials  of  Christian  truth  ;  with  those  great  and,  vital  facts  in 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  437 

which  all  denominations  of  evangelical  Christians  agree.  Every  de- 
nomination has  its  own  force  and  its  own  organization,  and  ought  to 
have  regard  to  its  own  special  work ;  but  all  are  united,  also,  in  other 
organizations,  in  which  they  move  together.  A  prominent  illustration 
of  this  is  seen  in  our  American  Sunday-School  Union.  This  is  a 
union  not  of  churches,  but  of  individual  Christians,  of  the  Baptist 
denomination,  the  Methodist,  Presbyterian,  Congregational,  Re- 
formed, and  Episcopal.  Its  officers  and  missionaries  are  from  these 
various  denominations.  Its  Committee  of  Publication  comprises  rep- 
resentatives of  all ;  and  no  book  is  published  by  them  to  which  any 
member  of  the  committee  shall  object.  Yet  their  missionaries  and 
their  publications  are  disseminating  widely  the  essential  and  energetic 
truths  of  the  evangelical  faith.  For  eight  years  Rev.  John  Hall, 
D.  D. ,  has  furnished  the  expositions  of  the  lessons  for  their  weekly 
publication,  and  a  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  Philip 
Schaff,  D.  D. ,  has  just  been  added  to  the  works  they  issue.  The  field  of 
this  Union  is  chiefly  those  newer  portions  of  the  country  where  a  sparse 
and  heterogeneous  population  makes  denominational  schools  difficult  or 
impossible.  As  soon  as  practicable  the  Union  schools  are  adopted  by 
some  evangelical  denomination.  During  the  fifty-six  years  of  its  life, 
this  society  has  established  more  than  68,000  Sunday-schools  in 
America,  with  441,000  teachers,  and  3,000,000  scholars. 

It  is  this  affinity  of  the  Sunday-school  work  for  Christian  union 
which  has  called  into  being  the  International  Sunday-school  Commit- 
tee, and  the  International  series  of  lessons.  It  is  this  which  has  made 
possible  the  Sunday-school  Assemblies  and  Institutes  of  recent  years, 
to  which  I  have  alluded,  each  an  Evangelical  Alliance  within  its  field, 
hastening  forward  the  day,  if  not  of  uniformity,  yet  of  a  better  Chris- 
tian unity  in  the  Church  at  large. 

If  I  may  now  add  one  more  to  the  reasons  for  the  rapid  development 
of  Sunday-schools,  it  may  be  stated  generally,  that  they  have  been 
advanced  because  of  the  evident  approval  and  blessing  of  God  which 
has  attended  them. 

It  has  been  seen  and  felt  that  they  began  at  the  right  end  ;  that  they 
dealt  with  the  most  hopeful  class — the  young.  Parents  have  been 
greatly  aided.  The  preaching  of  the  gospel  has  had  prepared  for  it  a 
favorable  soil.  Revivals  have  been  made  more  durable  in  their  fruits, 
and  the  churches  have  received  into  their  communion  thousands, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands,  of  their  most  intelligent  and  steadfast 
members. 

But  the  question  has  already  arisen  in  your  minds:  Are  there  no 
drawbacks  in  this  Sunday-school  work?  Have  no  abuses  attached 
themselves  to  it?  no  dangers  been  disclosed? 

It  is  alleged  that  Sunday-schools  have  weakened  the  sense  of 
parental  responsibility,  and  lessened  the  amount  of  religious  instruc- 
tion given  by  parents.  If  this  were  true,  it  would  be  lamentable 
indeed.  The  Scotch  have  a  proverb  :  "An  ounce  of  mother  is  worth 
a  pound  of  clergy. 


438  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  more  of  clergy  does  not  mean  less 
of  mother.  The  children  may  have  both ;  and  in  point  of  fact,  have 
the  clergy  weakened  maternal  influence,  or  have  they  stimulated  and 
guided  mothers?  In  the  same  way,  more  of  Sunday-school  does  not 
mean  less  of  mother :   it  may  mean  more. 

Instances  there  may  have  been  where  parents  committed  their  chil- 
dren too  much  to  the  clergy,  or  to  Sunday-schools  ;  but  we  are  confi- 
dent, at  all  events,  that  the  cases  are  overwhelmingly  more  numerous 
in  which,  by  both  pulpit  and  school,  parents  have  been  stimulated  and 
directed  in  their  own  duty. 

It  is  alleged  that  Sunday-schools  have  tended,  in  some  places,  to 
withdraw  children  from  the  regular  church  services.  But  here  again 
it  is  a  question  how  far  Sunday-schools  are  responsible  for  this  with- 
drawal. They  may  be  so  to  some  extent ;  but  may  it  not  be  charge- 
able, in  a  large  degree,  to  a  growing  laxity  in  family  government,  for 
which  the  pulpit  is  in  part  to  blame?  May  it  not  be  chargeable  also 
to  a  lack  of  adaptation  in  the  services  of  the  church  to  the  capacity 
and  wants  of  the  young  ?  And  is  it  not  just  possible  that  the  evil 
result  of  these  things,  had  it  not  been  for  Sunday-schools,  would  have 
been  even  more  disastrous  than  they  have  been  ? 

I  find  the  Sabbath-School  Committee  of  one  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  lamenting  the  "partition  wall,"  as  they  term  it, 
which  tends  to  rise  between  the  Sunday-schcol  and  the  church.  If 
such  a  wall  is  found,  the  church  can  have  no  one  but  herself  to  thank 
for  it.  Such  a  wall  can  never  rise  if  pastors  and  sessions  receive  the 
Sunday-school  into  their  hearts;  if  they  approach  it, not  occasionally, 
and  with  cold  and  belated  authority  alone,  but  cherish  it  with  a  con- 
stant attention,  giving  it  their  presence,  and  pouring  out  upon  it 
prayer  and  love.  If  this  is  done  in  the  school,  the  children  will 
learn  to  know  and  to  love  their  pastor  and  their  elders.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  children  should  be  required  by  parental 
authority,  or  rather  trained  by  parental  care,  to  attend  the  regular 
services  of  the  church.  But  how  is  this  to  be  more  easily  secured? 
Certainly  not  by  making  the  schools  less  attractive  to  the  children, 
and  less  adapted  to  their  wants ;  but  by  making  the  church  services 
more  so.  If  in  the  music,  the  prayers,  the  preaching  of  the  church, 
the  younger  children,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  are  almost  forgotten, 
if  there  is  nothing  in  which  they  can  actively  join  ;  if  they  sit  hungry 
and  find  no  portion  in  the  stately  services  of  God's  house,  it  is  inev- 
itable that  they  should  early  plead  for  liberty  to  stay  away.  It  is 
absolutely  touching  to  see  how  easily  little  children  are  interested 
and  made  thankful.  How  they  rejoice,  as  one  that  findeth  great 
spoil,  in  even  a  little  of  the  sermon  which  they  can  understand,  and 
how  they  reward  us  for  it  !  VVlio  has  not  seen  their  eyes  sparkle  with 
that  pleasure?  And  how  they  welcome  a  prayer  or  hymn  which  was 
plainly  meant  for  them  to  share  !  The  pastor  who  in  his  ministrations 
remembers  the  children,  and  provides  for  them,  will  never  find  his 
church   forsaken  by  the  children ;    he  will   have  in   them  his  most 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  439 

animated  hearers  and  his  most  loyal  friends.  And  the  Sunday-school 
will  be  his  best  ally. 

As  regards  the  future  of  our  Sunday-schools,  the  one  great  desider- 
atum is,  undoubtedly,  better  teaching. 

They  have  no  necessity  to  compare  with  this.  The  question  which 
takes  precedence  of  all  others  is:  How  shall  the  standard  of  teaching 
be  elevated?  To  this  question  we  answer,  unhesitatingly,  that,  at 
least  among  Presbyterians,  it  must  be  accomplished  through  the  efforts 
of  our  pastors  and  sessions.  If  all  the  elders  of  our  churches  were 
present  in  the  schools  and  magnified  them  ;  if  they  would  themselves 
teach,  statedly  examine,  and  suitably  reward  the  scholars,  not  leaving 
all  this  to  the  superintendent  alone,  a  very  great  stimulus  would 
immediately  be  felt  by  every  teacher.  School-rooms  and  class-rooms 
should  be  so  built  that,  when  a  superior  teacher  is  found,  many  schol- 
ars can  be  placed  under  his  care.  This  will  help  also  to  retain  the 
older  scholars.  In  tlie  finances  also  of  the  church,  the  Sunday-school 
should  find  special  and  liberal  provision.  But  especially  must  the 
pastor  devote  himself  to  the  work  of  helping  and  training  the  teachers. 
Pastors  should  come  instructed  and  prepared  for  this  from  the  theo- 
logical seminary.  They  are  to  give  seed  to  the  sowers.  The  pastor 
who  fails  to  inspire  and  direct  the  Sunday-school  teachers — generally 
the  elite  of  the  church — loses  half  his  opportunity.  Every  parish 
should  have  its  adult  Bible-class  which  shall  be  also  a  normal-class  ; 
and,  if  his  strength  allow,  and  no  other  competent  instructor  is  found, 
the  pastor  must  conduct  it.  Here  is  one  of  the  best  guarantees  that 
our  schools  shall  preserve  sufficiently  their  denominational  character. 
If  in  this  class  parents  also  are  gathered,  it  must  result  in  great 
assistance  to  the  children  with  their  lessons  at  home.  Scarcely  any 
form  of  labor  can  give  the  pastor  wider  and  more  durable  usefulness, 
second  only  to  the  direct  preaching  of  the  word.  It  might  be  safe 
even  to  exchange  one  of  our  more  public  services  for  this  greatly 
needed  work. 

To  this  closer  intimacy  with  the  Sunday-schools,  General  Assem- 
blies and  Presbyteries  are  now  very  generally  calling  our  sessions  and 
pastors.  Every  Assembly  in  America,  and  in  some  branches  of  the 
Church  nearly  every  Presbytery,  has  its  special  committee  on  Sunday- 
schools,  and  devotes  a  special  session  to  their  interest.  A  few  of  the 
choicest  and  most  practised  of  our  ministers  have  been  set  apart  by 
the  Church  to  give  to  this  work  their  undivided  care.  They  are 
travelling  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  seeking  by  institutes  and 
conventions  and  normal-classes,  and  by  addressing  Synods  and  Pres- 
byteries, to  inspire  all  pastors  and  teachers  with  their  zeal,  and  direct 
them  to  the  best  methods  of  labor.  It  is  by  such  ecclesiastical  recog- 
nition and  nurture  as  this,  given  in  the  valuable  publications  of  our 
Boards,  given  by  pastors  and  sessions  and  Presbyteries,  and  by  help- 
ful leaders,  sustained  and  commissioned  by  the  Church  at  large — it  is 
by  these  means  our  schools  are  to  grow,  and  to  grow  in  living  union 
with   the  churches.      Under  this  nurture  they  are   separated  by  no 


440  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

partition-wall  from  the  church;  they  are  one  with  her,  integral  parts 
of  the  church;  as  it  has  been  well  expressed:  "Transepts  of  the 
cathedral,  from  every  part  of  which  the  high  altar  is  in  sight." 

One  thought  upon  this  subject  should  be  lodged  in  every  heart. 
Astonishing  as  has  been  their  development,  the  work  of  Sunday- 
schools  is  but  just  begun.  Even  in  America,  where  we  number  six 
and  a  half  million  scholars  in  our  schools,  we  have  at  least  eleven 
million  children  yet  outside.  And  the  tide  of  immigration  is  adding 
to  them  every  day.  Not  one  class  of  society,  but  all  classes  must 
be  gathered  into  these  schools;  and  let  it  be  our  future  aim — not 
children  only,  but  adults  as  well. 

In  Great  Britain,  also,  a  vast  work  must  still  remain,  while  upon 
the  continent  of  Europe  Sunday-schools  are  yet  in  their  infancy. 
Few  questions  seem  more  important  than  how  we  may  most  efficiently 
aid  our  brethren  who  may  desire  the  extension  of  these  schools  in 
European  lands. 

As  for  our  own  country,  mark  how  perfectly  the  land  is  divided  and 
subdivided  by  the  public  school  system  for  the  purposes  of  secular  in 
struction.  The  school  districts  cover  every  square  mile,  that  not  a 
child  maybe  overlooked.  The  school  census  in  each  State  searches 
every  county,  every  township,  every  district,  and  reaches  every  child. 
Responsible  officers  know  "  the  names  of  all  who  are  denied  or  who 
neglect  to  avail  themselves  of  the  benefits  of  the  school  privileges." 
Can  any  good  reason  be  given  why  the  land  should  not  be  as  method- 
ically and  minutely  mapped  out  in  the  work  of  religious  education? 
If  the  churches  of  any  district  can  supply  its  needs,  the  work  is 
theirs.  There  will  be  no  limit  to  the  enterprise  of  any  denomination  ; 
but  for  the  supply  of  the  neglected  districts  which  must  remain,  all 
evangelical  churches  should  unite  in  a  complete  organization  which 
shall  cover  every  square  mile.  The  offer  of  Sunday-school  instruction 
should  be  carried  to  every  child  in  America.  If  the  land  can  be  thus 
districted  and  searched  in  the  interest  of  secular  education  and  of 
political  success,  it  can  be  done,  and  it  ought  to  be  done,  in  the  in- 
terest of  Christian  teaching.  In  five  States  of  the  Union,  Connec- 
ticut, Illinois,  Maryland,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey,  numbering  214 
counties,  every  county  has  an  organized  alliance  for  this  end.  If  this 
can  be  secured  in  five  States,  it  can  be  in  all. 

The  cry  has  gone  up,  and  it  is  hourly  waxing  louder,  that  the  Bible 
be  taken  from  our  public  schools.  From  many  of  them  it  is  already 
banished.  Education,  it  is  contended,  must  be  secularized.  A  liter- 
ature fitted  to  sow  seeds  of  doubt,  to  stimulate  worldliness,  and  inflame 
evil  passions,  is  soliciting  even  the  children's  eyes.  To  meet  these 
destroying  powers,  to  win  and  save  the  children,  should  arouse  every 
energy  of  the  Church.  And  she  must  not  despise  new  methods.  God's 
Spirit  and  truth  are  promised  her;  but  God's  Spirit  is  the  author  of 
Christian  ingenuity  as  well  as  of  Christian  love. 


SECOND  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  441 

The  Rev.  Alexander  Macleod,  D.  D.,  of  Birkenhead,  Eng- 
land, read  the  following  paper  on 

THE  CHILDREN'S  PORTION  IN  THE  SABBATH   SERVICE. 

What  I  wish  to  advocate  is  the  introduction  of  suitable  words  for 
children  in  the  regular  ministrations  of  the  pulpit. 

At  least  one  in  every  three  who  come  to  our  churches  is  a  child 
under  twelve  years  of  age.  In  every  congregation  of  worshippers, 
therefore,  there  is  a  congregation  of  children. 

Sunday  brings  to  those  young  hearts  a  certain  stir  of  expectation. 
Everything  is  different  from  other  days — the  very  preparations  an- 
nounce that  it  is  to  some  great  festival  the  family  are  going.  The 
thoughts  of  the  children  are  set  towards  a  great  occasion.  Sundaj- 
after  Sunday  they  go  up  to  it  with  expectation  in  their  hearts;  and 
Sunday  after  Sunday  in  the  majority  of  our  churches,  this  expectation 
is  not  recognized  :  their  presence  is  not  felt — they  are  not  once  ad- 
dressed. The  psalms  and  hymns  express  experiences  at  which  they  have 
not  arrived.  The  sermon  is  in  a  language  they  do  not  understand.  At 
length  the  great  occasion  has  come  to  an  end.  The  people  are  faring 
back  to  their  homes.  But  not  one  word  has  been  spoken  to  the  chil- 
dren ;  who,  nevertheless,  as  baptized  persons,  are  members  of  the 
flock,  and  concerning  whom  our  Lord  left  this  injunction:  "Feed 
my  lambs." 

Who  can  think  of  the  immense  number  of  children  scattered  over 
our  Presbyterian  churches,  who  come  up  to  the  public  service  Sunday 
after  Sunday,  with  eager  hope  of  finding  some  interest  for  their  young 
souls,  with  that  hope  growing  smaller  and  smaller  as  the  brief  years 
of  childhood  run  out,  until,  at  last,  the  pathetic  habit  is  formed  of 
expecting  nothing?  Who  can  think  of  this,  and  not  sympathize  with 
the  desire  to  provide  for  them  also  a  portion  in  the  service,  which 
they  shall  look  forward  to,  and  by  which  their  spiritual  lives  shall 
be  fed  ? 

I  count  myself  happy,  that  it  is  before  a  Council  of  Pre.sbyterians  I 
have  to  speak  this  word  for  the  children. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  never  known  a  time  when  the  religious 
training  of  her  children  was  not  a  subject  of  the  deepest  interest  to 
her.  Her  Sunday-schools  are  an  honest,  most  earnest,  endeavor  to 
supply  a  portion  of  that  training;  but  they  cannot  adequately  fulfil 
all  that  is  desired. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  monument  of  the  Presbyterian  Church's  inter- 
est in  the  religious  training  of  children  is  its  catechisms.  I,  person- 
ally, have  the  best  of  reasons  for  thinking  well  of  one  of  these.  I 
was  brought  up,  theologically  speaking,  on  the  Westminster  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism.  It  is  a  book  I  greatly  honor.  Nothing  I  am 
about  to  say  implies  the  suggestion  that  it  should  be  laid  aside.  But 
I  am  bound  to  report  that  the  good  I  got  out  of  it  was  not  till  the 
years  of  my  childhood  were  past.     As  a  child  I  did  not  understand  it. 


442  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

1  do  not  think  many  of  my  generation  did.  It  was  a  task  book.  It 
was  a  treasury  of  doctrinal  statements  set  in  terms  too  abstract  and 
theological  for  children  to  take  in :  statements  none  the  less  good  to 
be  lodged  in  the  memory,  good  as  forms  of  thought  for  the  future,  but 
beyond  the  comprehension  of  all  except  a  specially  gifted  few  among 
such  children  as  I  have  known. 

In  childhood  it  is  the  imagination  that  is  most  fully  developed  and 
most  eager  for  food.  At  every  turn  those  young  eyes  open  upon  new 
vistas  and  reaches  of  wonderland.  Everything  presents  itself  to  them 
in  the  resemblance  of  something  else:  the  stars  are  lamps  ;  the  rain- 
bows, ladders;  the  clouds,  islands  in  a  sea  of  blue.  This  is  the  time, 
also,  when  the  world  they  see  seems  to  veil  another  unseen  ;  when 
woods  seem  to  be  peopled  with  strange  forms  of  being;  when  moun- 
tains have  secret  doors  opening  into  hid  kingdoms  of  diamond  and 
gold  ;  when  shadows  on  the  wall,  and  the  sighing  of  trees,  and  the 
prattle  of  brooks,  are  living  things.  It  is  the  time  especially  when 
the  past  lies  behind  the  child  like  a  golden  age — when  stories  of  that 
past  are,  of  all  things,  most  welcome  to  the  soul.  Thought,  feeling, 
emotion,  everything,  is  touched  with  imaginative  receptiveness.  If,  at 
this  time,  the  heart  is  to  be  reached,  it  must  be  through  the  gates  of 
the  imagination. 

My  suggestion  is,  that  we  should  recognize  and  meet  this  condition 
of  mind;  that  we  should  follow  where  nature  beckons;  that  we 
should  set  ourselves  to  meet  this  susceptibility  and  yearning  of  child- 
hood by  truth  set  in  imaginative  forms ;  using  the  word  in  a  large 
elastic  sense,  let  me  say  by  stories — -sermon-stories — which  the  child's 
own  pastor  shall  tell. 

I  do  not  undertake  to  say  what  is  the  best  arrangement  for  bringing 
in  the  stories.  The  arrangement  that  would  suit  one  congregation  may 
be  unsuitable  for  another.  But  I  offer  the  following  as  suggestions 
which  at  least  are  practicable.  In  churches  where  two  lessons  are  read 
in  the  morning  service,  the  second  might  be  set  apart  for  the  children 
— might  itself,  in  fact,  in  the  very  words  of  the  Bible  story,  be  the 
children's  portion.  Just  there,  every  child  might  be  apprised  that  the 
words  read  and  the  brief  remarks  made  in  connection  with  them  were 
theirs.  In  churches  where  instrumental  music  is  used,  the  time  con- 
sumed in  playing  over  the  tunes  and  in  executing  little  snatches  of 
cadence  between  the  singing  of  verses,  if  gathered  together,  would 
probably  give  all  the  time  that  would  be  required.  In  churches  where 
quartet  and  duet  singing  is  allowed,  the  proper  place  would  be  there. 
Let  the  quartet  singers  fall  back  into  the  choir  ;  let  the  children's 
sermon  come  in  their  place. 

In  churches  where  there  are  neither  two  lessons,  nor  organ,  nor 
quartet  singing,  I  suppose  I  am  not  far  from  the  fact  in  supposing  that 
the  .sermon  is  at  least  three  quarters  of  an  hour  in  length.  Let  the 
minister  cut  it  down  to  thirty  minutes.  He  will  thereby  have  done 
two  good  things  :  he  will  have  greatly  improved  the  working  quality 
of  his  sermon,  and  he  will  have  found  a  good  quarter  of  an  hour  for 
his  word  to  the  children. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  443 

The  practical  aims  \vc  have  in  the  Christian  up-bringing  of  our 
young  people  determine  the  kind  of  stories  we  should  tell.  Our  pur- 
pose is  not  entertainment,  but  instruction.  We  are  set  to  train  up 
the  children  in  gospel  principles  and  to  lives  which  shall  be  the  em- 
bodiment of  the  gospel.  Not  any  story,  therefore,  will  suit  for  the 
work — not  stories  for  stories'  sake  ;  only  stories  which  have  more  or 
less  the  formative  principles  of  the  gospel  in  them ;  stories  which 
have  truth,  as  truth  is  found  in  the  parables  ;  or  truth  of  actual  event, 
a.s  it  is  found  in  biography  or  history.  Stories  which  have  Christian 
truth  neither  in  the  one  form  nor  the  other,  which  are  mere  fiction,  are 
inevitably  detected  by  children,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  discarded 
just  because  they  are  untrue.  The  stories  which  a  minister  of  the 
gospel  will  tell  will  be  stories  of  life  rather  than  death.  Morbid 
stories — stories  which  give  undue  prominence  to  the  details  of  the 
deathbed — he  will  soon  come  to  feel  can  only  work  evil  in  young 
minds.  The  grand  purpose  of  the  gospel  is  life,  not  death — purer  life, 
higher  life,  holier  life.  We  are  sent  into  the  world  to  live,  and  every 
word  spoken  by  the  Christian  minister  should  be  promotive  of  this 
purpose.  This  does  not  require  that  there  shall  never  be  reference  to 
death.  It  is  the  gospel  of  immortality  we  have  to  preach.  The  won- 
der of  divine  grace  has  its  triumphs  in  the  deathbed  as  well  as  in 
active  life.  But  in  the  main  it  is  life,  not  death,  we  have  to  illustrate 
and  commend.  Our  Sunday  stories,  therefore,  should  be  brimful  of 
life;  wholesome  with  the  wholesomeness  of  life;  and  their  natural  in- 
fluence should  be  along  the  lines  which  lead  to  manly  and  womanly 
worth,  to  honesty,  purity,  temperance,  and  truth  in  the  daily  life. 
They  should  be  such  stories  as  go  to  make  boys  brave  and  honorable, 
and  girls  tenderhearted  and  pitiful  with  the  pity  and  tenderness  of 
God. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  the  stories  should  be  moral.  They  chould 
not  be — in  the  hands  of  the  gospel  minister  they  cannot  be — such  as, 
in  the  name  of  religion,  discredit  morality.  We  are  set  to  educate 
and  foster  Christianly  the  natural  affections  ;  therefore  we  shut  out, 
e.  g.,  those  hateful  stories  which  tell  of  drunken  fathers  and  mothers, 
lectured  and  sometimes  converted  by  good  little  abstainers.  I  have 
been  an  abstainer  all  my  days,  but  I  am  brund  to  testify  against  a 
great  deal  that  is  admitted  in  temperance  literature,  and  specially  I 
testify  against  such  stories  as  I  have  just  referred  to.  They  are  stories 
which  exhibit  as  heroes  children  who,  instead  of  covering  themselves 
with  a  garment  and  going  backward,  go  forward  with  impudent,  open 
eyes  to  look  at  and  to  censure  their  parents'  shame.  Children  who 
are  set  forth  in  these  stories  as  "heroes"  are — or  would  be,  if  they 
had  ever  existed — intolerable  little  prigs. 

Just  as  bad  are  stories  which  commend  an  impossible  morality.  We 
are  set  to  train  Christ's  little  ones  to  lives  passed  under  conditions 
which  have  been  appointed  by  the  tenderest  considerations  for  their 
weakness.  They  are  to  do  what  they  can ;  no  more.  They  are  not 
called  to  angelical  conditions,  but  to  human.     They  are  not  to  be  ex- 


444  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

horted  to  a  morality  too  high  for  them,  or  so  severe  as  to  give  them  a 
distaste  for  the  gospel  which  has  called  them  to  it.  We  shall  there- 
fore exclude  stories  which  set  up  impossible  standards,  or  which  invite 
them  to  sacrifices  they  are  as  yet  simply  not  old  enougli  to  understand. 

But,  above  all,  the  stories  ought  to  have  in  the  heart  of  them  some 
fair  vision  of  God,  which  is  the  same  as  saying  they  ought  to  be  gos- 
pel stories.  Some  aspect  of  the  divine  face,  or  some  reflection  of  the 
divine  character,  or  something  which  should  suggest  these,  should  be 
in  them  all.  It  is  the  gospel  we  are  set  to  preach  to  the  grown-up 
jjeople ;  it  is  the  same  gospel  we  should  preach  by  our  sermon-stories 
to  the  children. 

I  shall  never  forget  a  little  speech  made  once  in  a  company  of  Sun- 
day-school teachers,  of  whom  I  was  one,  by  an  old  Secession  elder  in 
Glasgow.  It  was  at  the  time  when  Kitto's  illustrated  Bible  was  first 
brought  out.  People  imagined  that  they  were  getting  something  very 
grand  when  they  were  getting  pictures  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  wood- 
cuts of  palm  trees  and  beasts  of  burden  and  dresses  and  buildings. 
But  this  old  elder,  who  had  looked  into  the  heart  of  the  Bible  more 
deeply  than  we  young  teachers,  said,  *'  It  may  be  useful  and  very  in- 
teresting to  tell  your  classes  of  the  height  and  the  girth  of  the  cedars 
of  Lebanon,  and  the  dimensions  of  the  temple  of  Solomon,  and  such 
things  ;  but  in  my  experience  there  is  nothing  will  interest  a  child  so 
much,  or  bear  repetition  so  many  times,  or  do  so  much  good,  as  the 
story  of  the  cross  of  Christ." 

And  I  entirely  assent  to  that  statement.  The  story  itself  as  it  lies 
in  the  Bible  ;  illustrations  of  it,  or  of  little  bits  of  it,  as  we  have  sup- 
plied sometimes  in  the  loving  and  self-denying  conduct  of  mothers 
and  mother-hearted  souls,  are  the  stories  which  most  easily  fascinate  a 
child,  which  make  the  deepest  impression,  and  which  are  the  happiest 
openings  for  children  into  the  knowledge  of  the  love  of  God. 

But  now  comes  the  natural  inquiry  :  Where  are  such  stories  to  be 
found  ?  See  the  wisdom  and  provident  goodness  of  God  :  great  por- 
tions of  the  book  we  are  set  to  expound  come  to  us  in  the  form  of 
stories.  An  endless  supply  is  there,  and  boundless  variety,  and 
touched  with  both  imaginative  and  ethical  force.  In  Genesis  and 
Exodus  alone  are  stories  which  will  last  for  a  whole  year.  We  have 
only  to  name  the  heroes  of  Bible  history  to  recall  the  rich  materials 
prepared  for  our  use — Abel,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraham,  Joseph,  Moses, 
Jonah,  Samson,  Samuel,  David.  We  have  only  to  think  of  the  events 
of  which  the  Bible  is  the  record  to  see  the  same  thing — the  expulsion 
from  Eden,  the  deluge,  the  ten  plagues,  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea, 
the  life  in  the  wilderness.  What  cliild  will  not  feel  the  awful  side  of 
the  divine  majesty  in  the  story  of  Belshazzar's  feast?  or  the  weird 
doom  of  filial  disloyalty  in  the  death  of  Absalom  ?  or  the  pathos  of 
human  life  in  the  anguish  wliich  rings  in  the  137th  Psalm? — "  How 
shall  we  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land  ?" — or  the  protective 
care  of  God  in  the  preservation  of  Daniel  in  the  lions*  den  ?  or  the 
wonder  and  miracle  of  his  presence  in  that  story  of  the  form  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  445 

Son  of  Man,  who  was  s^en  walking  with  the  three  children  in  the  fire? 
And  see  how  the  life  of  our  Lord  has  been  told.  That  life  unfolds  in 
a  way  that  might  justify  the  supposition  that  it  was  meant  to  be  told 
to  children.  It  arrests  the  imagination  and  engages  the  heart  of  a 
child — the  manger  in  the  stable,  the  star,  the  wise  men,  the  visit  to 
the  temple,  the  preaching  at  Nazareth,  the  baptism  by  John,  the 
temptation.  We  have  elements  in  these  events  of  an  interest  which 
never  loses  its  fascination  for  children.  And,  as  if  these  were  not 
enough,  we  have  line  upon  line  of  other  and  as  interesting  materials 
in  that  life.  There  is  the  rich  fulness  of  incident  and  circumstance 
in  the  history  of  the  public  ministry;  the  parables  are  just  stories  of 
the  kind  and  for  the  kind  of  minds  1  am  bringing  before  you  ;  the 
miracles  are  stories;  and  last  of  all,  as  the  old  Secession  elder  said, 
there  is  the  endlessly  interesting  story  of  the  sufferings  at  the  end. 

And  we  are  not  confined  to  the  Bible.  The  history  of  God's  deal- 
ings with  his  people,  and  of  their  contendings  for  his  kingdom  and 
truth,  is  another  Bible  outside  of  the  Bible  we  know.  Why  should 
our  children  not  be  instructed  on  the  Lord's  day  in  the  glorious 
memories  of  the  Reformation  ?  Why  should  we  ever  suffer  to  be  for- 
gotten the  heroic  faith  under  persecution  which,  in  every  country, 
those  who  followed  the  Reformation  sustained?  Is  it  nothing  to  have 
stories  like  those  of  the  Waldensian  valleys,  of  the  Puritan  pilgrims, 
of  the  Scottish  Covenanters?  or  is  it  wise  to  know  all  we  do  of  the 
conquests  of  the  gospel  among  the  heathen,  and  let  our  children  grow 
up  in  ignorance  of  them  ? 

God  has  set  the  teachers  of  the  word  in  a  world  that  is  teeming  with 
illustrative  stories.  Did  He  intend  the  poets  to  sing  to  idle  worldlings 
only?  Why  should  the  Christian  ballads  {e.g.)  of  the  venerable 
Whittier  not  be  used  in  the  spiritual  teaching  of  the  young?  Why 
should  the  preacher  not  make  incursions  into  the  field  of  general 
literature?  Shakespeare  himself  will  minister  to  the  children  if  we 
let  him.  The  best  sermon  on  the  necessity  of  clean  hands  and  a  clean 
heart  is  first  to  tell  his  story  of  Macbeth  ;  and,  if  all  other  books 
should  fail,  there  remains  the  glorious  dream  of  the  Bedford  prisoner. 
This  will  supi^ly  many  a  Sunday  story,  and  be  good  for  the  highest 
ends  in  the  Christian  training  of  the  young. 

And  we  are  not  confined  to  books.  Life  is  surging  all  around  us, 
and  sending  in  whole  tides  of  interesting  incident  through  the  news- 
papers every  morning.  Never  a  week — if  we  care  to  gather  them — 
but  illustrations  of  Bible  lessons  may  be  found  in  that  supply  alone. 

I  will  close  by  pointing  out  the  good  we  might  expect  if  this  sug- 
gestion were  adopted. 

I.  There  will  be  good  to  the  minister. 

Mr.  Philips  Brooks  in  his  Yale  lectures  expresses  the  fear  that 
preaching  to  children  may  impair  the  power  of  preaching  to  adults. 
If  that  fresh  and  genial  spirit  has  himself  preached  to  children,  it  has 
not  impaired  his  power  to  speak  to  the  adults.  It  did  not  impair 
the  power  of  Norman  MacLeod,  nor  of  William  Arnot.     It  will  not 


446  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

impair  the  power  in  any  true-hearted  speaker  for  God.  But  it  will 
quicken  his  spirit.  It  will  simplify  his  preachfng  of  the  gospel.  It  will 
be  like  a  bath  in  young  heartedness.  Having  set  the  child  in  the 
midst,  we  will  turn  round  like  the  Master  to  the  rest  of  the  flock,  and 
speak  to  them  with  the  tenderness  and  simplicity  of  heart  which 
spiritual  contact  with  childhood  never  fails  to  imjjart. 

2.  It  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  adult  portion  of  the  congregation. 
People  never  cease  to  be  affected  by  the  memories  of  their  childhood. 
That  song  murmurs  behind  us  along  all  the  path  of  life.  We  are 
never  far  from  the  subtle  tendrils  that  hold  us,  or  are  ready  to  lay 
hold  of  us  and  bring  us  back  to  the  fair  visions  of  the  early  years. 
Touch  the  hearts  of  the  children  in  your  flocks,  and  you  have  thereby 
touched  the  hearts  of  the  parents.  When  the  shepherd  wishes  the 
dam  to  follow  him  he  carries  the  lamb  on  his  shoulder.  It  is  true  in 
the  narrower  sphere  of  the  congregation  as  in  the  world-wide  sphere 
of  the  race  that  a  little  child  shall  lead.  And  sometimes  si)eaking  to 
the  children,  or  evoking  their  praise,  you  touch  chords  in  the  parental 
heart  which  nothing  else  can  touch.  It  is  not  alone  in  Longfellow's 
song,  that  fathers  rejoice  to  hear  the  voice  of  their  daughter  in  the 
praise.  To  real  fathers  before  you,  that  voice  will  sound  like  the 
dear  mother's  in  paradise  ;  and  hard  rough  hands  in  real  life  will  "wipe 
the  tears  out  of  their  eyes." 

We  were  talking  the  other  day  about  the  enrichment  of  Presbyterian 
worship.  What  we  are  in  search  of  awaits  us  here.  And,  coming 
this  way,  it  will  come  to  us,  not  from  without,  but  from  within. 
Recognize  the  presence  and  the  claims  of  the  children  ;  and  when 
the  minister's  brief  word  to  them  is  ended  give  voice  to  their  songs. 
And  by  one  bound — by  that  one  addition — Presbyterian  worship  shall 
have  ascended  to  a  height  and  richness  which  an  imitated  liturgic  ser- 
vice could  never  reach. 

3.  But  chiefly  it  will  be  good  for  the  children.  The  little  sermon 
or  story  to  the  children  will  make  the  Sabbath  a  delight  to  them. 

It  will  draw  their  young  hearts  into  the  same  acts  of  worship  with 
their  parents. 

It  will  be  the  sowing  of  their  young  mind  with  .seed  of  thought. 
^  We  can  never  tell   the  immense  results  in  after  life  to  which  the 
simplest  looking  event  in  childhood  may  lead  up. 

A  little  boy  at  Tarsus  once  heard  the  story  of  Gideon  and  the 
earthen  pitchers.  And  in  his  old  age  he  lifted  up  that  story  into 
eternal  forms  of  still  fertile  thought  in  that  great  utterance,  where  the 
memory  of  Gideon's  lights  and  pitchers  is  made  to  illustrate  both 
the  light  which  God  in  the  gospel  commanded  to  shine  out  of  dark- 
ness, and  the  power  and  e.xcellency  which  he  has  stored  up  in  preachers 
who  in  themselves  are  but  earthen  vessels. 

Be  sure  we  have  not  come  yet  to  the  last  visions  of  life  in  the  stories 
of  the  Bible.  There  are  wells  of  truth,  ideals  of  practice,  solutions  of 
problems,  still  untouched  in  those  tales  of  the  divine  past. 

Drop   them,   ministers  of  the   gospel,  one   by   one   as   you  have 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  447 

opportunity  into  the  soil  of  young  hearts.  You  will  tell  some  day. 
for  example,  the  story  of  the  runaway  slave  whom  Paul  found  in  the 
slums  of  Rome  and  sent  back  to  Philemon,  his  master.  And  who 
knows?  Out  of  that  soil  prepared  by  God,  in  after  years,  shall  sprin^^ 
up  the  very  word  we  are  waiting  for  ;  the  very  solution  of  the  problem 
we  had  before  us  the  other  day,  of  the  relation  between  employers  and 
the  employed. 

And  in  other  ways,  past  naming,  good  shall  spring  forth.  The  life 
of  the  pulpit  shall  flow  like  a  river  through  the  lives  of  the  children. 
And  the  boys  and  girls,  who  are  to  be  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the 
years  to  come,  shall  rise  up  to  call  us  blessed. 

I  am  not  advocating  an  untried  proposal.  Many  congregations  in 
England  and  Scotland  have  had  happy  experience  of  it  for  years. 

Would  that  it  might  become  an  ordinance  in  every  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  world  ! 

At  every  morning  service,  for  one  ten  minutes  out  of  the  ninety,  let 
the  minister  be  in  direct  contact  with  the  souls  of  the  children.  Let 
never  a  day  pass  in  which  he  shall  not  give  wings  to  a  story  of  God's 
love  or  Christian  life.  It  will  go  up  and  down,  and  in  and  out 
throughout  the  week  which  follows,  doing  work  for  God.  Doing  this, 
we  shall  whet  and  keep  whole  the  appetite  of  the  children  for  the 
services  of  the  sanctuary.  Doing  this,  we  shall  open  the  windows  of 
heaven  and  give  them  also  glimpses  of  the  vision  of  God.  And  in 
that  golden  space,  in  those  so  consecrated  minutes,  we  shall  bring 
back  for  the  children,  and  it  may  be  for  their  parents  as  well,  the 
days  when  Jesus  spoke  to  his  disciples  in  parables,  and  taught  tho.se 
children  of  his  love  as  they  were  able  to  receive  his  words. 

RECENT  EVANGELISTIC  WORK  IN  PARIS. 

Next  on  the  programme  was  a  paper  on  this  subject  by  the 
Rev.  George  Fisch,  D.  D.,  of  Paris,  Dr.  Fisch  was  not  able  to 
be  present;  but  he  had  forwarded  his  paper,  which  was  committed 
to  the  editors,  and  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix,  page  909. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  R.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  of  Wilmington,  N.  C. 
read  the  following  paper  on 

EVANGELISTS  AND  EVANGELISTIC  WORK. 

Christianity  is  more  than  Churches,  These  are,  however,  its  rep- 
resentatives by  which,  as  to  its  main  features,  Christianity  is  judged. 
Shall  it  thus  be  judged  falsely  ?  It  no  doubt  often  is  ;  and  always, 
whenever  this  Church  or  that  fails  to  exhibit  the  true  gospel  spirit,  or 
conceals  the  true  gospel  purpose,  or  falters  in  the  true  gos])el  work.  The 
true  spirit  of  Christianity  is  the  love  it  bears  from  God  to  our  race  ; 
its  corresponding  \.xwt purpose  and  work,  to  commend  this  love  to  all 
men,  in  the  presentation  of  the  great  salvation.     That  Church,  at- 


448  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

cordingly,  which  has  no  success  in  proclaiming  God's  saving  grace, 
ought  to  have  no  place  among  the  acknowledged  representatives  of 
Christianity ;  whilst  the  Church  which  publishes  this  grace  the  most 
effectually,  ought  to  be  thought  of  as  occupying  the  foremost  place  of 
all.  Church  glory  is,  in  other  words,  proportioned  not  to  the  har- 
monies of  its  creeds,  or  to  its  historical  orthodoxy,  but  to  the  direct- 
ness and  perseverance  of  its  efforts  at  evangelization.  Had  an  apostle 
been  asked,  what  are  all  those  churches  for,  which  you  are  planting 
here  and  yonder — in  Antioch,  in  Ephesus,  in  Philippi,  in  Corinth — 
he  might  have  replied  :  "As  a  matter  of  course,  they  have  not  been  or- 
ganized for  themselves  alone,  any  more  than  is  the  new  heart  of  an 
individual  believer  for  itself;  but  as  a  means  for  extending  the  tidings 
with  which  tJicy  have  been  made  glad  to  such  as  are  yet  unacquainted 
with  the  preciousness  of  Christ.  See,  therefore,  what  I  and  the  others 
of  our  number  are  engaged  in  doing :  we  no  sooner  establish  the  es- 
sential worship  in  any  central  spot,  than  we  go,  journey  upon  journey 
(attended  by  one  or  more  of  the  men  who  share  our  spirit),  to  make 
it  known  in  the  regions  beyond."  Thus  there  have  been,  from  the 
first,  two  great  agencies  of  influence  emerging  from  the  idea  of  a 
l)ractical  Christianity :  the  agency  that  conserves,  the  agency  that 
conveys.  There  must,  on  the  one  hand,  be  those  fixed  ministries,  by 
which  to  store  spiritual  power,  by  which  to  concentrate  gospel  light ; 
but  there  must  be  also  those  other  and  equally  needful  ministries 
by  which  this  amassed  treasure  shall  be  dispensed  and  this  gathered 
light  be  diffused.  No  Church  must  selfishly  retain  and  consume 
what  it  has  received — it  must  not  monopolize  what  it  enjoys — but, 
putting  on  the  shoes  of  swiftness,  must  traverse  the  entire  world  in 
publishing  the  news  of  which  it  is  the  appointed,  and  ought  to  be  the 
winged,  herald. 

Thus  evangelism  is  seen  to  differ  from  mere  propagandism  ;  the  one 
crying,  come,  be  of  our  Christ ;  the  other,  come,  be  of  our  Church ; 
the  one  urgent  for  the  Lord's  sake,  the  other  for  opinion's  sake;  the 
one  extensively  Christian,  the  other  narrowly  denominational.  Every 
separate  Church,  in  obedience  to  the  same  necessity  which  authorized 
its  detached  existence  at  the  first,  is  perhaps  bound  to  proclaim  its 
supposed  superior  claims  over  all  its  sisters  to  orthodox  completeness. 
I)Ut  the  Church,  however  loud  and  however  just  are  its  pretensions  to 
l^re-eminency,  which  makes  its  own  increase  its  chief  aim,  places  the 
less  before  the  greater ;  the  right  order  being  this  :  Christian  first, 
then  denominational.  The  genus  is  more  comprehensive  than  any  of 
the  species  which  it  includes.  The  life  is  more  than  the  organs  which 
express  it. 

True  evangelism,  then,  is  that  which,  repudiative  of  mere  sectarian 
rivalry,  and  for  the  sake  of  catholicity,  consents  to  join  the  hands  of 
co-operation  with  all  Christians  in  the  one  common  work  which  all 
Christian  Churches  profess  to  have  in  view. 

There  are  thus,  therefore,  two  things  which  in  this  aspect  of  the 
evangelistic  work,  Presbyterianisra  is  especially  fitted  to  accomplish, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  449 

and  which  I  will  venture  to  suggest :  The  first  is,  to  impress  upon  its 
evangelism  the  distinctive  mark  of  a  benevolence  which  rises  above 
all  Chiirchism.  And,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  Presbyterianism  is  qual- 
ified for  this,  because,  in  a  distinguishing  degree,  it  is  possessed  of  the 
rarest  elements  of  a  genuine  denominational  liberality — and  it  is  so 
possessed  for  the  reason  that,  having  a  charity  as  broad  as  the  truth 
Vyhich  makes  it  so  strong,  it  presents  no  offensive  claim  to  exclusive- 
ness.  It  is,  accordingly,  in  a  position  to  say  to  all  the  other  evangel- 
ical Churches:  I  believe  in  you  so  far  as  you  believe  in  our  common 
Lord,  and  only  just  so  far  I  ask  you  to  believe  in  me  :  come,  then,  let 
us  serve  together,  with  interlocked  hands,  in  that  field  which,  to  all 
of  us  alike,  is  the  world  :  our  several  shares  in  the  ensuing  converts 
being  left  to  him  whose  providence  shall  determine  their  respective 
ecclesiastical  homes.  I  am,  indeed,  Presbyterian,  and  so  expect  to 
remain — Presbyterian  I  wish  you  all  were — but  then  I  am  what  you 
also  are,  or  ought  to  be,  a  Christ-adorer  first,  a  Church-admirer  next. 
There  are  already  associations,  grand  and  growing,  in  which  we  are 
unitedly  free  to  sit  down  together:  such  as  those  Bible  societies  which 
nation  after  nation  has  instituted,  to  the  praise  of  our  common  and 
comprehensive  Christianity.  Why  may  there  not  be  a  similar  organi- 
zation whose  one  most  noble  purpose  it  shall  be  to  utilize,  on  foreign 
and  in  home  fields,  whatsoever  of  the  evangelical  spirit  we  severally 
possess?  There  are  difficulties,  but  may  these  not  be  overcome,  when 
we  combine  to  meet  them,  and  with  no  other  fear  in  our  hearts  than 
<he  fear  of  God  ? 

If  in  such  candor  Presbyterianism  might  speak  to  its  denominational 
neighbors  everywhere,  with  some  hope  of  an  equally  frank  re- 
sponse, why  should  not  this  General  Council  take  measures  to  give 
Substantive  existence  to  so  desirable  a  possibility  as  is  thus  suggested? 
It  would  hi  only  another  step  in  the  direction  whither  all  our  doc- 
trinal beliefs,  hand-in-hand  with  all  our  past  history,  have  steadily  led 
-^i.  e.,  of  paths  that  rise  at  every  important  point  higher  than  churchly 
prejudice  and  its  attendant  pride  ;  a  step  which  would  find  a  con- 
spicuous footing  in  the  inauguration  of  a  scheme,  the  first  effect  of 
which  would  be  to  marshal  suitable  representatives  from  all  evangel- 
ical Christendom  in  a  Council  whose  proceedings  would  have  as  wide 
a  generality  as  the  preached  gospel  already  has,  and  whose  one  ex- 
clusive aim  would  be  that  gospel's  universal  spread  ;  a  Council  sim- 
ilar in  construction  to  that  of  the  "  Evangelical  Alliance,"  but  having 
no  outlook  except  for  the  practical  eye,  and  therefore  from  only  a 
single  window,  that  from  which  could  be  seen  in  actual  result  the  ful- 
filment of  Dmiel's  prophecy,  when  *'  many  shall  run  to  and  fro,  and 
knowledge  shall  be  increased." 

A  co-operation  so  reputable,  and  even  so  splendid  as  this  idea  sug- 
gests, would,  were  it  feasible,  present  to  the  world  a  feature  of  Chris- 
tianity, which,  because  it  is  a  feature  not  now  beheld  on  the  face  of 
the  Church,  raises  against  our  religion  the  sneer  of  a  well-understood, 
and,  I  might  add,  a  well-directed  infidelity.  The  hindering  objection 
29 


450  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  such  a  scheme  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  character  of  the  gospel 
itself,  which  instructs  with  respect  to  the  Fatherhood  of  God  not 
more  fully  than  it  does  with  respect  to  \\\t  brotherhood  of  believers. 
Opposition  to  it  can  proceed  only  out  of  that  poverty  of  the  Christian 
spirit  which  is  disposed  to  sink  the  welfare  of  the  whole  body  in  tiie 
dreary  marsh  of  denominational  selfishness — a  poverty  which  is  at 
once  a  scandal  and  a  snare,  and  which  it  will  require  some  tremendous 
effort  of  fraternal  combination  to  remove,  but  whose  removal  is  abso- 
lutely necessary,  unless  we  wish  to  believe  that  another  space  of  nine- 
teen centuries  must  be  covered  by  the  ineffectual  struggles  of  truth  to 
overtake  and  subdue  the  errors  that  the  past  1900  years  have  failed  to 
reach  and  to  conquer. 

If,  however,  the  plan  now  outlined  be  treated  as  impracticable,  or 
even  should  it  be  adopted,  there  is  another  important  suggestion  I  will 
venture  upon  this  opportunity  to  make.  Our  own  Presbyterian  system 
is  itself  incomplete.  It  needs — it  has  always  needed — the  addition 
of  a  new  element  to  its  ministerial  force.  As  things  are,  we  have  one 
variety  of  the  preaching  office  ;  we  require  another.  We  have  the 
rooted  ministry  ;  let  this  be  supplemented  by  a  branching  ministry. 
VVe  have  our  fixed  batteries;  we  need  to  have  also  our  flying  artillery. 
We  have  many  whose  duty  and  whose  joy  it  is  to  stand  for  Christ 
in  set  places  and  at  given  times ;  we  ought  to  have  quite  as  many 
whose  duty  and  whose  joy  it  shall  be  to  run  for  Christ  into  all  places 
and  at  all  times;  men  who  do  not  wait  for  inquiring  comers,  but  who 
themselves  go  out  to  find  and  to  bring  ;  the  highway  heralds,  the  street 
and  lane  messengers,  the  compellers.  Have  we -noi  these,  however? 
Yes,  but  in  what  meagre  numbers  !  The  laity  has  seen  the  deficiency, 
and  therefore // goes  forth,  self-actuated,  to  do  what  it  can  for  the 
lost  whom  no  one  else  is  finding.  Yet  who  does  not  know  that  evils 
not  a  few  are  wrapped  up  in  every  such  spontaneous  effort  of  un- 
trained piety  or  undisciplined  knowledge? — with  brilliant  exceptions, 
it  may  be,  now  and  then,  to  prove  the  rule.  There  is,  indeed,  a  sense 
both  wide  and  important,  in  which  every  follower  of  the  Son  of  God 
should  regard  himself  as,  by  the  very  possession  of  his  new  heart,  an 
evangel  of  the  New  Testament.  And  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  not 
until  all  believers  shall  have  had  written  upon  their  characters  and 
possessions  "  holiness  to  the  Lord,"  in  letters  that  the  blindest  passer- 
by may  perceive  and  must  admire,  that  the  promised  millennial  glory 
is  to  be  let  down  upon  a  regenerated  world.  Undoubtedly,  there- 
fore, evangelists  ought  to  be  as  numerous  as  Christians.  But  I 
am  speaking  of  God's  official  xA^an  of  salvation,  in  pursuance  of  which 
men  are  to  be  rightly  taught  and  rightly  churched  by  a  method  for 
which  he  has  left  no  room  to  place  a  substitute :  the  method  of  a  reg- 
ularly ordained  and  commissioned  ministry.  This  being  suitably 
worked,  all  else  will  go  by  itself,  and  just  because  it  is  the  supreme 
method  of  Him  who  cannot  err.  Well,  how  shall  this  divine  order- 
ing be  best  obeyed  ?  Simply  by  accepting  it  in  all  its  largeness,  as 
embracing  the  complete  equipment  of  a  two-fold  ministry ;  the  one  for 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  451 

establishing,  the  other  for  enlarging ;  this  for  coherence,  that  for 
conquest;  a  moiety  for  garnering,  a  moiety  for  gathering.  As  mat- 
ters now  stand,  the  work  of  propagative  evangelization  is  regarded  as 
a  thing  extraneous,  and  is  shaped  by  the  uncertain  touches  of  mere 
chance,  being  in  too  many  instances  committed  to  men  who  happen 
to  be  available  for  the  time  current  who  have  nothing  else  to  do,  and 
not  to  men  peculiarly  fitted  and  personally  called.  What  is  wanted, 
in  short,  is  a  systematized  itineracy  composed  of  mental,  moral  and  phy- 
sical material  that  is  specially  adaptable  to  this  business  and  to  no  other, 
particularly  for  countries  like  America,  where  the  spaces  to  be  cov- 
ered are  so  large;  and  like  P'rance,  where  the  truth  as  we  hold  it  is 
comparatively  so  little  known  ;  and  like  Germany,  where  infidelity 
needs  to  be  pursued  with  swifter  limbs  than  any  which  have  yet  been 
used  ;  and  like  heathendom  at  large,  which  lies  before  the  Church  a 
constant  reproach.  And  it  ought  to  be  from  among  the  very  best 
sons  of  the  Church  that  these  itinerants  are  chosen — men  who  shall 
be  educated  in  seminaries  where  the  training  will  be  such  as  to  enable 
its  outgoing  proficients  to  command  a.  hearing  from  all  classes  of  so- 
ciety, low  and  high,  or  selected  from  among  those  who  already  are 
in  the  ministry — its  Jirst  men,  as  proved  by  success. 

Is  all  this  not  possible?    Who  can  say?     It  has  never  been  tried. 

And  even  though,  in  the  incipiency  of  the  experiment,  there  may 
be  found  only  a  few  apostolic  souls  to  give  it  a  start,  yet  what  if  these 
should  turn  out  to  be  men,  who,  like  Duff,  stream  with  holy  fire  with- 
out ceasing  from  the  channel  of  prudence,  or  like  Martyn,  alive  with 
energy,  whilst  solid  with  learning,  or  like  Baker,  uniting  the  utmost 
simplicity  with  the  deepest  earnestness  !  Then  to  these  would  soon  be 
added  other  twos  and  threes,  until  after  a  whi-le  a  grand  cor])s  of  trav- 
elling gospellers  would  be  seen,  who  evermore  refusing  a  fixed  hab- 
itation except  in  heaven,  might  serve  to  move  the  world  as  it  has  not 
hitherto  been  moved.     With  these  hints,  I  relieve  your  patience. 

The  following  discussion  was  then  had  upon  the  papers  of  the 
evening : 

Rev.  Jos.  T.  Smith,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore. — If  all  the  brethren 
here  had  the  heart  and  the  art  of  the  good  brother  who  would 
have  the  children's  service  introduced  into  the  Church,  it  would 
mark  a  new  era  in  our  Presbyterian  worship ;  but  unfortunately 
that  peculiar  tact  that  would  get  hold  of  children's  minds,  which 
that  brother  fortunately  has,  is  not  a  gift  that  God  has  given  to 
all  his  servants.  How  shall  we  bring  our  children  into  our 
churches  and  make  them  participate  in  the  service  ? 

We  can  address  them  by  name  ;  but  shall  we  pass  over  all  the 
classes  in  the  congregation  and  address  each  by  name  ?  We 
can  gather  illustrations  that  will  be  striking  to  them;  and  none 


45^  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  less  so  to  all  the  rest.  We  can  understand  how  other  parts 
of  the  service  can  be  made  appropriate  to  children,  and  they 
participate  in  them  ;  but  I  for  one  would  like  to  have  the  experi- 
ence of  some  good  brother  as  to  how  we  are  to  reach  the  chil- 
dren and  give  them  a  portion  in  the  sermon. 

The  attitude  of  the  Session  towards  the  Sunday-school,  I 
think,  is  now  so  well  defined,  and  so  well  understood,  that  the 
danger  which  threatened  us  but  a  little  while  ago  is  gone.  To 
bring  our  influence  to  bear  upon  the  children,  we  have  all  found 
in  our  experience  as  pastors,  is  the  right  arm  of  our  strength  ; 
and  I  believe  that  the  pastor  who  stands  aloof  from  the  Sunday- 
school  and  does  not  incorporate  his  whole  being  with  it,  suffers 
immeasurable  los.s. 

The  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York. — I  have  felt  for  the  last 
two  or  three  years  as  though,  before  I  died,  I  wanted  a  chance 
to  say  one  word  in  relation  to  Sabbath-schools.  Having  been 
for  thirty-five  years  a  superintendent,  it  is  not  necessary  for  me 
to  say  that  I  love  and  honor  the  Sabbath-school.  But  for  the 
last  year  or  two  I  have  had  very  serious  fears  in  regard  to  it, 
especially  in  our  city  of  New  York— I  will  not  speak  outside  of 
that. 

Children  in  our  city,  and  especially  those  connected  with  our 
churches,  are  very  differently  situated  from  what  they  once 
were.  Children  of  parents  connected  with  the  churches  are 
burdened  as  they  never  were  before  with  their  weekly  lessons. 
When  I  was  young,  and  when  I  had  a  young  fimiily  around  me, 
in  all  our  Presbyterian  churches  in  New  York  it  was  the  habit 
of  parents  to  take  with  them  their  children  to  the  weekly  prayer- 
meeting  or  lecture.  Now,  the  poor  children  come  home  with 
their  arm  full  of  daily  lessons  and  the  parents  have  not  the  heart 
to  ask  John  or  Mary  to  go  with  them  to  the  evening  meeting^ 
because  they  must  have  their  lessons  ready  for  the  morning  ; 
and  the  child  loses  that  love  for  the  church  service  that  we 
children  used  to  have,  and  our  children  had  when  they  were 
young. 

How  is  it  on  the  Sabbath  ?  Most  of  our  Sabbath-schools  arc 
in  the  morning;  the  children  go  at  half-past  nine ;  they  have 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  453 

their  lessons  ;  they  take  their  lesson  books ;  and  as  we  enter  the 
sanctuary,  the  Sabbath-school  is  out,  and  we  see  the  children, 
ten,  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent,  of  them,  with  their  library  books 
in  their  hands,  turning  away  from  the  house  of  God  and  going 
home  to  read  their  library  books  because  they  have  had  an  hour 
and  a  half  already,  and  the  kind  heart  of  the  parent  will  not  ask 
them  to  go  into  church.  In  the  evening  we  have  at  the  church 
a  very  meagre  number  of  people,  and  only  here  and  there  a 
child. 

The  fact  is,  that  our  children,  our  sons  and  our  daughters,  are 
growing  up  without  a  love  for  the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  and  as 
they  grow  into  manhood  and  womanhood,  they  like  the  popu- 
larity of  some  different  church,  and  instead  of  being  good  Pres- 
byterians they  are  good  Episcopalians  or  something  else.  Now, 
I  love  the  Sabbath-school.  I  say  Amen  to  every  word  our 
good  brother  has  said.  What  would  the  West  do  without  the 
Sabbath-schools  ?  But  I  do  say  that  you  had  better  keep  your 
children  at  home,  and  never  let  them  enter  the  Sabbath-school, 
if  they,  by  attending  it,  leave  the  church,  and  lose  their  love  for 
the  church,  and  grow  up  without  that. 

The  Hon.  Judge  W.  Strong. — I  am  very  glad  that  Mr.  Dodge 
has  alluded  to  this  phase  of  Sabbath-school  instruction  in  this 
country.  I  have  long  had  upon  my  heart  a  painful  sense  of  what 
perhaps  may  be  called  an  abuse  of  the  Sabbath-school.  I  refer 
to  the  effect  that  Sabbath-schools  have  had — not  a  necessary  effect, 
but  still  an  unhappy  effect — upon  the  Christian  education  of  our 
children.  I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  esteem  of  the  value  of  our 
Sabbath-school  system,  or  of  the  instruction  which  is  given  in  the 
Sabbath-school.  It  furnishes  almost  all  the  religious  education 
that  a  large  majority  of  the  children  and  the  youth  of  this  country 
receive.  A  very  large  majority  of  the  children  who  are  gathered 
in  our  Sunday-schools  are  not  the  children  of  the  church. 
They  are,  in  a  large  measure,  the  children  of  those  who  do  not 
attend  churches ;  and  unless  they  have  the  benefit  of  Sabbath- 
school  instruction  they  will  have  no  religious  education.  Their 
parents  will  not  give  it  to  them,  for  their  parents  are  not  re- 
ligious. 


454  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

But,  so  far  as  regards  the  children  of  our  church  members,  are 
Sabbath-schools  a  benefit  to  them  ?  They  ought  to  be,  they 
might  be ;  but  are  they  a  benefit  on  the  whole  to  the  children 
of  our  Christian  families?  What  has  been  the  fact?  What 
does  the  observation  of  all  of  us  teach  in  regard  to  this  matter? 
Have  not  parents  turned  over  the  religious  education  of  their 
children  to  the  Sabbath-school  teacher?  And  have  they  not 
treated  the  religious  education  of  their  children  precisely  as 
they  treat  their  secular  education?  They  have  said,  "our  chil- 
dren will  receive  their  secular  education  from  the  week-day 
school-master;"  and  they  have  said  in  effect,  "  our  children  will 
receive  their  religious  education  from  the  Sabbath-school 
teacher."  Now  I  hold  "that  no  Sabbath-school  teacher,  however 
competent  he  may  be,  can  supply  the  place  of  the  Christian 
father  and  the  Christian  mother.  Nobody  is  as  near  to  his 
child  as  the  father,  and,especially,the  mother;  and  who  does  not 
know  (though  there  are  some  most  noble  exceptions),  that  in  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  Christian  families  in  this  country — 
aye,  Presbyterian  families — there  is  little  attention  paid  by  the 
father — more,  I  trust,  by  the  mother — to  the  religious  education 
of  the  child :  very  little  personal  effort  made  to  bring  a  child  to 
Chrisu 

It  was  not  so  in  the  days  of  my  youth.  I  thank  God  I  had 
a  Christian  father  and  a  Christian  mother,  and  that  on  every 
Sabbath  day,  as  well  as  on  other  days,  in  the  afternoon  we 
gathered  together  and  received  the  instruction  of  a  father  and  a 
mother.  We  were  taught  the  Westminster  catechism ;  we 
repeated  it  every  Sabbath  from  beginning  to  end.  I  have  it  now 
in  my  memory,  every  question  and  every  answer.  Not  only  that, 
frequent  appeals  were  made  to  us,  and  most  tender  appeals,  by 
our  parents,  to  give  immediate  attention  to  the  subject  of  personal 
religion.  Is  that  the  case  in  Christian  families  now  ?  Why  not  ? 
Why  it  is  because  Christian  parents  have  felt  that  they  might 
roll  over  the  responsibility  of  the  religious  education  of  their 
children  upon  the  Sabbath-school  teacher.  What  I  want  is 
this :  I  want  our  ministers  to  spread  before  the  churches,  before 
Presbyterians  in  every  church,  the  imperative  duty  of  personally 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  455 

attending  to  the  religious  education  of  their  children,  and  of 
personally  leading  their  children  to  Christ. 

Hon.  Peter  S.  Danforth,  of  New  York. — We  are  entering 
now  upon  the  second  century  of  Sabbath-schools.  A  hundred 
years  ago,  in  a  little,  dark  street  in  Gloucester,  Robert  Raikes 
started  with  his  ragged  school.  Now  what  do  we  see?  14,184,880 
children  in  the  Sabbath-schools.  "  What  hath  God  wrought  " 
in  the  last  one  hundred  years  !  We  start  out  with  the  watchword. 
"All  the  children  for  Jesus,"  and  shall  it  be  said  that  we  shall 
stop  this  work  because  Christian  ministers  and  Christian  parents 
do  not  discharge  their  duties  ?  Are  these  reasons  why  we 
should  lessen  our  effort  in  the  Sabbath-school  ?  Oh,  no !  If 
there  are  any  Christian  ministers  who  do  not  discharge  their 
duty  in  this  regard,  I  pray  them  to  be  up  and  doing.  If  there 
are  any  Christian  parents  who  fail  to  discharge  their  duties  to 
their  children,  I  pray  them  to  be  up  and  doing  their  duty.  But 
do  not  let  us  stop  one  moment  in  the  work  of  the  Sabbath- 
school.  Rather  let  our  efforts  be  increased.  It  is  not  a  time 
now  to  stop ;  the  time  now  is  to  increase  our  efforts. 

Only  the  day  before  yesterday  I  went  into  one  of  the  model 
schools  of  this  city,  and  how  my  heart  rejoiced  when  I  looked 
and  found  upon  the  record  2,200  children,  and  145  or  150 
teachers  enrolled.  Why  the  work  is  a  grand  and  glorious  work, 
and  it  should  not  receive  any  diminution  from  the  fact  (if  it  is 
so,  of  which  I  am  not  aware  except  as  I  have  heard  some 
intimation  here  this  evening)  that  Christian  ministers  and 
Christian  parents  are  not  discharging  their  duties  to  the  children. 
I  would  have  the  efforts  continually  increase  on  the  part  of 
Christian  people  to  engage  in  this  work. 

I  know  that  it  has  been  charged  against  the  Sabbath-school 
that  children  sometimes  were  left  at  home  for  the  purpose  of 
preparing  their  lessons  for  the  school ;  but  if  the  parents  will 
discharge  their  duty  that  will  not  be  the  case.  The  Sabbath- 
school  has  proved  a  nursery  and  a  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  In 
this  vast  audience  I  ask,  where  is  the  Christian  minister,  where 
is  the  Christian  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  that  would 
say  for  a  moment  let  us  do  away  with  the   Sabbath-schools  ? 


456  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

About  twenty-five  years  ago  I  said  to  a  Christian  man,  You 
ought  to  hav^c  a  Sabbath-school  in  your  church.  "  Oh,  no," 
says  he,  "  this  is  a  new-fangled  institution ;  we  will  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it,  and  our  Consistory  are  united  in  that  idea  " — and 
where  is  that  church  to  day?     It  is  out  of  existence. 

The  Rev.  James  Nish,  of  Australia. — I  have  listened  with  the 
deepest  interest  to  the  admirable,  instructive,  and  very  effective 
papers  to  which  we  have  been  privileged  to  listen  this  evening.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  their  publication  will  do  much  to  deepen  the 
interest  of  Presb^'terian  churches  throughout  the  world  in  the 
great  work  of  the  Sabbath-school ;  and  will  also  lead  many  of  our 
ministers  to  introduce  what  Dr.  Macleod  has  called  the  children's 
portion  into  the  sanctuary  exercises. 

Referencewasmadeby  Dr.  Mitchell  to  a  statement  which  fell  frorn 
the  lips  of  a  member  of  this  Council  a  few  evenings  ago.  I  think  he 
misunderstood  the  drift  of  that  statement.  It  was  merely  a  play- 
ful hit  at  those  who  were  afraid  that  innovations  would  be  introi 
duced  into  our  service,  a  hint  to  them  that  there  were  some  inno- 
vations in  connection  with  Sabbath-school  management  on  which 
it  might  do  to  keep  their  eye.  But  I  am  quite  certain  the  learned 
brother  who  made  this  allusion  did  not  intend  to  cast  any  reflec- 
tion on  Sabbath-schools  in  general ;  and  I  should  deeply  regret 
if  this  portion  of  the  paper  should  be  handed  over  to  the  pub- 
lication committee.  The  brother  I  am  sure  did  not  intend  to 
reflect  upon  the  management  of  Sabbath-schools,  and  assuredly 
the  members  of  this  Council  did  not  applaud  that  sentiment; 
they  merely  joined  in  the  playful  hit. 

I  do  not  know  where  the  statistics  which  surround  this  room 
have  been  obtained.  I  am  afraid  that  they  are  not  altogether 
reliable;  and,  if  the}^  are  to  be  published  in  the  volume  which  is 
to  be  given  forth  from  this  Council,  they  should  be  accompanied 
by  a  note  indicating  that  they  are  only  approximate. 

I  see  in  reference  to  Australia  that  the  number  of  Sunday- 
schools  is  said  to  be  1,300.  Australia  is  naturally  misunder- 
stood. It  is  looked  upon  as  a  small  island.  I  can  assure 
you  that  it  is  not  an  island  simply,  but  a  continent,  and 
will  very  shortly  take  its  place,  I  hope,  among  the  continents  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  457 

the  world.  There  is  no  place  where  the  work  of  Sabbath- 
school  teaching  excites  a  deeper  interest,  and  where  it  is 
necessary  that  wc  should  attend  more  thoroughly  to  this  work 
of  Sunday-school  teaching ;  for  I  regret  to  say  that  in  our 
public  schools,  at  least  in  Victoria,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
important  of  the  colonies,  religious  teaching  is  already  prac- 
tically excluded,  and  we  have  therefore  to  depend  upon  the 
efficient  manner  in  which  our  Sabbath-schools  are  conducted. 
We  are  giving  much  heed  to  this  matter,  and  a  far  larger  num- 
ber than  1,300  schools  have  been  established,  and  a  far  larger 
number  than  100,000  scholars  meet  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath 
in  them. 

The  Rev.  James  I.  Brownson,  D.  D.,  of  Washington,  Pa. — 
I  wish,  in  a  very  few  moments,  to  emphasize  a  point  brought 
out  by  the  first  excellent  paper,  and  to  state  that  there  is  a  neces- 
sity far  greater  than  some  of  our  brethren  who  have  here  spoken 
seem  to  recognize,  for  the  union  and  identification  of  the  Sab- 
bath-school with  the  church  as  part  of  it,  as  under  its  control 
not  only,  but  its  management,  and  dependent  upon  it  for  its  life. 
I  know  that  great  progress  has  been  made  of  late  in  this  par- 
ticular. I  know  that  pastors  and  sessions  are  more  united  with 
the  Sabbath-schools  than  formerly;  and  yet  in  some  of  the  most 
carefully  trained  portions  of  the  Church  in  this  land,  in  precisely 
quarters  where  it  might  be  less  expected,  there  have  been  dem- 
onstrations of  late  of  a  contrary  course  to  the  detriment  and  peril 
of  that  spiritual  jurisdiction  in  the  church  without  which  the 
church  and  the  Sabbath-school  must  jointly  suffer. 

I  can  illustrate  by  the  simple  fact  that,  in  the  oldest  and 
densest  settlement  of  Presbyterians  west  of  the  Allegheny  Moun- 
tains, that  very  question  of  jurisdiction  over  the  Sabbath-school 
has  risen  under  new  forms,  from  influences  derived  from  ex- 
ternal organizations,  until  the  venerable  presbytery  with  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  connected  has  been  obliged,  only  within 
the  last  few  weeks,  to  direct  (not  to  recommend,  but  to  direct) 
the  session  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  orthodox  churches 
of  Western  Pennsylvania,  one  blest  perhaps  more  than  any  other 
with  that  revival  spirit  to  which  many  of  you   have  referred,  to 


458  THE  .PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

take  charge  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Sabbath-school  in  that  old 
and  venerable  church.  Why?  Because  through  external  in- 
fluences, improperly  allowed  I  admit,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Sab- 
bath-school has  been  usurped,  the  literature  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  has  been  chosen,  and  the  teachers  have  been  regulated, 
by  a  power  not  only  outside  of  the  legitimate  jurisdiction  of  the 
church,  the  pastor  and  the  session,  but  in  rivalry  and  contest 
with  it,  until  the  presbytery  was  obliged  to  intervene  and  declare 
the  scriptural  doctrine  and  the  scriptural  authority  upon  the 
question. 

Now  that  old  question  is  not  dead.  It  comes  up  in  various 
forms.  I  admit  that  our  excellent  brother  who  read  that  excel- 
lent paper  has  given  the  chief  reason  why  such  a  thing  should 
not  occur.  I  admit  that  if  pastors  and  sessions  were  always  in 
their  places,  were  always  so  interested,  so  earnest,  and  so  faith- 
ful in  the  great  work  of  the  Sabbath-school  as  to  identify 
their  own  jurisdiction,  their  own  work  with  it,  such  things 
could  scarcely  occur.  But  they  do  occur,  and  therefore 
it  is  necessary  that  the  church,  the  mother  of  the  Sabbath- 
school,  the  spiritual  mother  of  the  children  of  the  covenant, 
should  not  only  declare  her  own  proper  jurisdiction,  but  should 
wield  it  in  the  love  of  Jesus,  and  in  fidelity  to  those  who  have 
been  placed  in  charge  of  the  lambs  of  the  flock,  and  thus  main- 
tain a  loving  practical  union  between  the  church  and  the  Sab- 
bath-school. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Howie,  of  Glasgow. — These  unhappy  dif- 
ferences between  the  church  and  the  Sabbath-school  would  be 
avoided,  not  by  any  assertion  of  right  on  the  part  of  the  church, 
but  by  the  minister  and  the  office-bearers  all  taking  their  full 
share  in  Sabbath-school  work.  In  my  own  congregation,  with 
1 20  Sabbath-school  teachers,  we  have  between  forty  and  fifty  of 
our  office-bearers  taking  part  in  that  work  ;  and  I  do  not  find  that 
there  is  any  collision  of  the  kind  that  has  been  here  indicated. 

One  of  the  most  important  questions  we  have  to  face, 
however,  is  that  of  getting  the  children  into  our  churches.  I 
am  struck  with  the  fact  that,  considering  the  millions  you  have 
in  your  schools  in  America,  you  have  only  120,000  coming  from 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  459 

them  annually  into  church-fellowship.  It  will  take  a  long  time  to 
get  the  children  into  the  church  at  that  rate.  I  think  that  parents 
and  teachers  have  a  great  deal  of  power  in  this  matter.  In  my 
own  congregation  we  have  attending  our  services  regularly 
about  one  hundred  of  the  most  hopeless  boys,  orphan  boys,  that 
could  be  found  in  any  community.  In  Canada  I  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  meeting  some  of  that  class ;  and  I  hope  the  brethren 
there  will  take  an  interest  in  them.  These  boys  worship 
regularly  in  my  congregation.  They  are  brought  by  their 
superintendent,  they  are  carefully  trained ;  and  I  find  that 
they  are  amongst  the  most  intelligent  of  my  audience. 
They  can  enter  into  the  church  services  notwithstanding  all  the 
nonsense  that  we  hear  talked  from  time  to  time  of  the  inability 
of  children  to  understand  church  services. 

There  is  one  other  matter  that  I  think  attention  ought  to  have 
been  directed  to  this  evening:  the  quality  of  our  teachers — I 
mean  their  spiritual  quality.  Everything  depends  on  the  getting 
of  converted  teachers ;  teachers  who  will  aim  at  the  conversion 
of  the  young.  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  instruction 
(and  I  indorse  all  that  has  been  said  as  to  the  necessity  of  that), 
but  should  not  teachers  rather  be  aiming  at  immediate  results? 
I  was  asked  to  an  annual  union  meeting  in  Canada  in  connec- 
tion with  Sabbath-schools.  After  earnest  addresses  had  been 
given  to  the  children,  I  found  to  my  great  sorrow  afterwards 
that  the  teachers  had  remained  together  and  wound  up  the 
proceedings  with  a  ball.  If  these  are  the  kind  of  teachers  who 
are  engaged  in  the  work,  we  had  better  have  fewer  of  them  ; 
better  have  those  who  are  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
aiming  at  the  conversion  of  the  young.  If  they  have  that, 
I  am  sure  the  church  will  never  come  into  conflict  with 
them. 

Dr.  Knox. — Does  this  evening  close  the  discussion  on  this 
subject?  or  will  there  be  any  other  opportunity  to  say  a  word 
regarding  Sunday-schools  ? 

The  Chairman. — That  will   rest  with  the  Council;  they  may 
.  extend  the  time  or  close  it,  I  should  say,  whenever  they  think 
proper. 


46o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Council  adjourned,  with  devotional  services,  to  meet  in 
Horticultural  Hall  to-morrow  morning  at  9.30  o'clock. 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION. 

Wednesday,  September  2c)tJi,  1880. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  9.30  a.  m.,  by  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Main,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  President. 

The  usual  devotional  services  were  held,  and  the  minutes  of 
yesterday's  meetings  were  read  and  approved. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — The  trustees  and  faculty  of  Union 
College,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  have  cordially  invited  the  members 
of  the  Council  to  visit  the  college  and  accept  the  hospitalities  of 
the  institution.  This  invitation  has  been  brought  by  President 
Potter,  of  the  College,  in  person.  I  move  that  it  be  accepted, 
and  that  the  members  of  the  Council,  after  the  adjournment, 
visit  the  institution,  if  they  can  find  it  convenient. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

The  Rev.  Principal  D.  H.  MacVicar,  LL.  D.,  of  Montreal. 
— I  submit  the  following  report  from  the  Committee  on  Cre- 
dentials: 

Your  cominittee' have  had  before  them  two  applications:  First, 
from  delegates  from  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  ;  Second, 
from  delegates  from  the  Reformed  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  After 
a  careful  consideration  of  all  the  facts  and  claims  in  this  connection, 
your  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  minute  : 
"  In  the  judgment  of  the  Council,  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  Alliance  by  churches  should  precede  the  admission  of  delegates ; 
and  in  the  absence  of  evidence  that  the  constitution  has  been  adopted 
by  cither  of  these  churches,  the  delegates  cannot  be  received." 

I  may  be  allowed  to  explain  that  the  committee  has  limited 
itselfto  the  point  mentioned  in  this  minute.  We  have  not  gone 
into  the  merits  of  the  case  in  any  sense  ;  we  have  not  considered 
what  the  views  held  by  the  two  bodies  mentioned  may  be.  We 
have  simply  looked  at  the  matter  in  the  light  of  the  Constitution, 
and  submit  this  recommendation. 

It  was  moved  and  seconded  that  the  report  be  accepted,  and 
the  motion  was  agreed  to. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  461 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Jenkins. — Is  the  report  accepted  or  is  it 
adopted  ? 

The  President. — It  is  adopted. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Bruce. — There  is  a  misunderstanding  among 
the  members  as  to  what  has  been  done. 

Principal  MacVicar. — What  is  done  is  this:  The  Council 
has  adopted  this  minute:  In  the  judgment  of  the  Council  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  AlHance  by  churches  should 
precede  the  admission  of  delegates ;  and  in  the  absence  of  evi- 
dence that  the  Constitution  has  been  adopted  by  cither  of  these 
churches  their  delegates  cannot  be  received. 

Dr.  Jenkins. — I  move  the  adoption  of  that  report. 

The  President. — I  understood  that  it  was  received  and 
adopted. 

Dr.  Jenkins. — "Accepted,"  Mr.  Chairman,  not  adopted.  I 
move  it  be  adopted. 

Principal  MacVicar. — The  reading  of  the  article  by  the 
committee  was  to  this  effect:  that  the  Churcii  was  required  to 
signify  its  acceptance  in  some  way  of  the  faith  of  the  Council. 

Dr.  Schaff. — Have  these  delegates  refused  to  accept  the 
Constitution  ? 

Principal  MacVicar. — As  a  committee,  we  did  not  feel  that 
we  were  at  liberty  to  put  any  such  question ;  that  the  churches 
themselves  were  to  do  so. 

Dr.  Jenkins. — I  would  like  to  hear  the  article  read. 

Professor  Bruce. — I  wish  to  know  whether,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  all  the  churches  here  represented  have  formally  adopted  the 
Constitution. 

The  Chairman. — Yes,  they  have  accepted  it. 

Professor  Bruce. — Have  we  documentary  evidence  of  that? 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Mathews. — In  1875  there  was  a  conference 
held  in  London,  when  the  Constitution  of  the  Alliance  was  pre- 
pared. At  that  meeting  it  was  agreed  that  the  churches  whose 
delegates  were  there  should  be  held  as  constituting  the  Alliance. 
It  was  further  agreed  :  "That  it  should  be  publicly  announced 
that  Presbyterian  churches  desiring  admission  to  the  Alliance 
should  forward  their  application   to  the  general  committee  at 


462  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  meeting  in  Edinburgh."  Three  years  ago  the  General  Com- 
mittee gave  in  a  report  in  which  the  following  occurs:  "In 
addition  to  the  twenty-two  churches  represented  at  London,  the 
following  have,  more  or  less  formally,  expressed  a  desire  to  be 
connected  with  the  Alliance."  Then  follows  a  list  of  churches 
that  have  so  expressed  the  desire.  The  committee  went  on  to 
say,  "  the  committee  think  that  when  there  is  no  plain  evidence 
to  the  contrary,  the  responsibility  of  deciding  whether  they 
ought  to  join  the  Alliance  should  rest,  in  the  first  instance,  on 
the  churches  themselves ;  and  they  recommend  that,  in  the 
meantime,  the  applications  be  granted." 

Professor  Bruce. — That  "  more  or  less  formally"  is  an  elastic 
phrase.  I  think  the  mere  fact  that  a  church  sends  deputies  is 
an  index  of  acquiescence. 

Dr.  Mathews. — In  the  resolutions  which  were  adopted  in 
Edinburgh,  approving  of  the  report  of  the  committee,  the  fol- 
lowing clause  occurs:  "The  Council  sanction  the  admission  of 
the  additional  churches  enumerated  in  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, on  the  understanding  that  they  are  not  committed  in  all 
time  coming  to  regard  all  these  churches  as  fulfilling  the  defini- 
tion on  which  this  Alliance  rests,  or  as  entitled  to  belong  to  it." 

The  understanding,  I  should  think,  would  be,  in  the  first 
place,  that  churches  apply  for  admission  ;  and,  when  they  have 
made  application,  the  Council,  or  its  committees,  will  then 
inquire  into  the  merits  of  the  application,  and  ascertain  whether 
the  churches  have  accepted  the  basis.  But  the  initiative  must 
be  taken  by  the  churches  in  the  formal  application. 

The  Hon.  I.  D.  Jones,  of  Baltimore. — I  most  respectfully  sub- 
mit that  the  sending  of  delegates  to  this  Council,  whose  Con- 
stitution has  been  published  far  and  wide  for  the  past  three 
years,  is  an  evidence  of  the  acceptance  of  the  Constitution  on 
the  part  of  those  sending ;  and  that  we  ought  not  to  be  so  critical 
as*to  raise  objection  where  none  substantially  exist.  I  am  not 
satisfied  that  a  formal  adoption  by  all  the  bodies  that  are  rcpic- 
.sented  here  has  been  required.  The  sending  of  delegates  under 
the  Constitution  would  seem  to  be  an  evidence  of  their  acceptance 
of  it. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  463 

The  Rev.  W.  H.  Goold,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  moved  that  the 
report  be  recommitted. 

The  Rev.  Principal  Caven,  of  Toronto. — I  think  it  would  be 
very  unwise  for  the  Council,  at  this  time,  to  adopt  a  resolution 
that  is  quite  so  stringent  as  the  Committee's.  I  may  be  in  en- 
tire sympathy  with  its  object ;  but  I  do  not  wish  to  prejudge 
any  case  ;  and  I  submit  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  adopt  a 
resolution,  imposing  upon  churches  that  may  yet  apply  any- 
thing more  stringent  than  has  been  passed  through  by  the 
churches  that  are  already  connected  with  this  Alliance.  The 
very  things  which  have  been  read  by  Dr.  Mathews  fail  to 
show  that  any  church  in  this  Alliance  has.  In  a  strict  sense, 
adopted  the  Constitution.  I  am  perfectly  willing  that  all  the 
churches  represented  here  should  formally  adopt  that  Constitu- 
tion; but  I  deprecate  any  act  of  the  Council,  as  it  were,  cutting 
short  this  matter,  and  possibly  prejudging  it  by  adopting  at  the 
present  time  such  a  resolution. 

Dr.  Schaff. — I  ask  for  information,  whether  a  single  Re- 
formed or  Presbyterian  Church  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  or 
in  Africa,  or  Asia, has  formally  or  informally  adopted  our  Con- 
stitution ? 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie. — Having  been  somewhat  familiar 
with  the  application  of  these  churches  three  years  ago,  I  would 
state  that  the  committee  which  was  appointed  by  the  Conference 
in  London  to  receive  the  applications  of  churches,  being  the 
only  committee  that  that  Conference  appointed,  was  so  over- 
burdened with  work  that  it  was  physically  and  absolutely  im- 
possible for  it  to  take  into  consideration  the  case  of  each  of  the 
applying  churches.  The  only  thing  we  could  do  was  to  recom- 
mend what  has  been  read  from  the  report,  and  what  was  sub- 
stantially approved  of  by  the  Council  which  met  in  Edinburgh. 
It  was  simply  the  excessive  pressure  upon  our  time,  and  the  im- 
possibility of  looking  into  the  circumstances  of  each  case,  that 
led  to  that.  But  I,  for  one,  certainly  had  the  understanding 
that,  in  future,  when  new  applications  would  be  but  few,  and 
when  there  would  be  much  more  time  to  consider  them,  this 
question  of  admission  should  be  put  upon  a  somewhat  different 


464  THE    PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

footing.  It  is  for  this  Council  to  declare  whether  the  more  hasty 
method  of  admission  that  was  necessary  in  Edinburgh,  is  to-be 
the  method  that  is  to  be  sanctioned  for  all  time. 

The  Rev.  James  Nish,  of  Australia. — We  ought  to  adjourn 
the  discussion  of  this  question  until  to-morrow  morning.  There 
should,  moreover,  be  an  addition  made  to  the  standing  orders 
of  this  Council.  In  the  church  with  which  I  am  connected,  we 
have  as  a  standing  order,  that  no  report  shall  be  considered  by 
our  Assembly,  unless  it  has  been  printed  and  put  into  the  hands 
of  the  members.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  arrive  at  a  satisfac- 
tory conclusion  in  regard  to  reports  that  are  read  one  minute  to 
be  determined  on  the  next.  Several  matters  have  been  disposed 
of  in  that  way  in  the  Council.  You  are  introducing  a  very  dan- 
gerous practice.  All  reports  that  are  submitted  to  this  Council 
for  approval  should  be  printed,  and  be  in  the  hands  of  members 
at  least  half  an  hour  before  you  arrive  at  a  decision  upon  them. 

This  question  is  a  very  important  one.  It  Vv'ill  affect  all 
churches  that  are  to  apply  in  the  future  for  admission  into  this 
Alliance.  We  should  not  be  hasty  in  our  decision — we  can  well 
enough  wait  until  to-morrow.  It  is  more  than  likely  these 
churches  will  not  be  received  into  the  Alliance  during  this  ses- 
sion of  the  Council.  If  in  order,  I  will  give  notice  of  the  adop- 
tion of  such  a  new  standing  order,  as  I  have  indicated ;  and  I 
move  now  that  we  defer  further  discussion  on  this  question  until 
to-morrow  morning. 

Principal  McVicar. — I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Coun- 
cil to  the  simple  fact  that  it  is  quite  needless  to  remit  the  report 
to  the  committee;  for  as  it  is  now  constituted  it  is  unanimous. 
The  only  course  I  can  see  for  the  Council  to  take,  is  itself  to  de- 
clare whether  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  is  to  be  required 
or  not.  It  is  not  competent  for  the  committee  to  do  so.  We 
interpret  the  existing  legislation  of  the  Council  in  that  direction. 
That  may  be  wrong :  we  have  no  wish  to  press  that ;  -we  have 
no  wish  to  exclude  these  churches;  we  have  no  wish  in  the  case 
at  all ;  and  we  simply  bring  the  matter  in  the  form  in  which  it 
stands  for  your  action. 

It  is  of  no  use,  however,  to  send  it  back  to  us,  unless  you  tell 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  465 

us  that  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  is  either  required,  ojr 
not  required.  Tell  us  that  and  we  shall  be  able  to  do  some- 
thing; otherwise  we  can  do  nothing. 

Wm.  p.  Webb,  Esq.,  Eutaw,  Alabama.— I  move  that  the  re- 
port be  laid  on  the  table,  and  be  macfe  the  order  of  the  day  for 
to-morrow,  at  ten  o'clock,  or  at  any  other  hour  the  Council  can 
conveniently  consider  it. 

The  Rev.  James  Nish. — That  motion  is  the  same  as  mine. 

The  Rev.  C.  A.  Dickey,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia.— It  is  very 
evident  that  there  is  a  great  division  of  opinion  in  connection 
with  this  matter;  but  it  is  one  that  must  ultimately  be  settled  by 
the  committee.  This  Council  must  have  confidence  in  its  com- 
mittees, or  its  business  will  not  be  satisfactorily  presented.  You 
will  pay  a  very  poor  token  of  respect  to  the  gentlemen  who  have 
taken  so  much  trouble  in  connection  with  this  matter,  if  you 
carry  a  resolution  recommitting  the  report.  I  do  not  believe 
that  any  one  of  the  members  of  the  committee  would,  under 
such  circumstances,  act  again.  Dr.  McVicar  has  intimated  to 
that  effect;  therefore,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  it 
is  desirable  that  the  matter  should  receive  much  more  mature 
consideration  than  it  can  possibly  receive  if  it  should  be  brought 
up  again  to-morrow,  and  discussed  in  the  same  desultory  man- 
ner that  it  has  been  discussed  to-day. 

All  the  churches  in  the  Alliance  should  enter  through  the 
door.  One  of  the  great  dangers  to  which  we  shall  be  exposed 
will  be  the  admission,  through  some  rapid  and  desultory  way,  of 
churches  with  which  the  great  body  of  the  Council  are  not  in 
full  and  thorough  sympathy.  I  therefore  think  we  should,  at 
once  and  without  any  qualification,  accept  the  resolution  of  the 
committee.  It  is  not  the  exclusion  of  the  churches  that  have 
applied:  that  is  not  the  effect  of  the  resolution  that  has  been 
proposed ;  but  simply  the  recommendation  that  the  matter  be 
more  maturely  and  gravely  considered  than  is  possible  under  the 
circumstances  surrounding  us  now. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Bruce,  of  Glasgow. — I  desire  to  give  notice 
of  this  motion  :  that  the  application  of  these  two  churclics  be 
regarded  as  sufficient  evidence  of  the  acceptance  of  the  Consti- 
30 


466  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tution  of  this  Alliance  ;  and  that  accordingly  their  deputies  be 
received. 

The  Rev.  Principal  R.'Mny,  of  Edinburgh. — In  general  I  agree 
with  the  report  of  the  committee,  though  there  is,  in  my  mind, 
a  doubt  about  the  phrase  which  the  committee  has  suggested. 
It  is  a  question  whether  "the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Alliance  "  is  a  wise  and  safe  phrase  in  which  to  put  the  general 
meaning  of  the  committee.  Even  if  I  fully  agree  with  the  com- 
mittee, as  very  likely  I  might  do,  I  should  require  time  to  con- 
sider whether  that  is  the  proper  phrase  in  which  to  put  the 
distinctive  finding  of  the  Council. 

Dr.  Dickey. — I  feel  very  confident  that  the  chairman  of  the 
committee  is  fully  able  to  defend  his  report ;  but,  at  his  request, 
I  would  like  to  make  a  word  or  two  of  explanation  of  the  action 
of  the  committee.  There  are  some  things,  which,  if  the  Council 
would  keep  in  mind,  would  settle  this  question  without  much 
further  debate  or  discussion.  This  Committee  on  Credentials 
has  been  very  careful  not  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  decid- 
ing on  the  admission  of  the  churches. 

Prof.  Bruce. — I  speak  to  order.  Notice  of  motion  has  been 
given.     This  gentleman  is  going  into  the  merits  of  the  case. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Boggs,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia. — I  rise  to  a  point 
of  order.  A  motion  has  been  made  and  seconded,  and  is  before 
the  Council,  to  lay  the  report  on  the  table  until  to-morrow  morn- 
ing at  ten  o'clock.     Such  a  motion  is  not  debatable. 

The  President. — The  chair  does  not  understand  that  the  mo- 
tion has  been  seconded. 

Principal  McVicar. — The  motion  was  to  adjourn  the  discus- 
sion. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  DeWitt. — I  rise  to  ask  the  unanimous  consent 
of  the  Council  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dickey,  in  behalf  of  the  com- 
mittee that  he  represents,  may  make  a  statement.  If  this  matter 
is  to  be  discussed  to-morrow  morning,  it  is  important  that  this 
Council  should  have  the  views  of  the  committee  before  them  in 
order  to  prepare  for  the  debate.  Dr.  Dickey  appears  upon 
your  platform  as  a  member  of  that  committee,  making  a  state- 
ment in    behalf  of  the    committee.     Is    it    not    ris^ht    that   this 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  467 

Council  should  give  him  unanimous  consent  to  make  that  state- 
ment ? 

Dr.  Dickey. — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  my  brother  for  his 
courtesy ;  but  I  have  this  floor  by  right,  I  think,  and  not  by 
courtesy. 

Hon.  Samuel  Sloan,  of  New  York. — The  great  difficulty  with 
the  Council  is,  that  we  do  not  know  what  the  motion  is.  There 
are  two  or  three  motions,  one  after  another. 

The  President. — Allow  me  a  single  word.  It  is  true,  as  has 
been  said,  that  there  are  several  motions  before  the  Coun- 
cil, and  they  do  seem  somewhat  at  variance  with  one  another, 
and  not  to  be  very  direct  upon  the  point  before  us.  In  the 
country  from  which  I  come,  the  first  motion  that  would  be 
allowed  to  be  submitted  would  be  the  question  on  the  adoption 
of  the  report  or  not.  That  motion  would  take  precedence. 
Anything  else  as  a  substitute  for  it  could  be  introduced.  The 
chair  understands,  therefore,  that  the  question  before  the  Coun- 
cil is  this  first  of  all :  Is  this  report  to  be  adopted  or  not? 

The  Rev.  James  Nish. — It  is  in  perfect  order,  when  the  adop- 
tion of  a  motion  is  moved,  to  move  that  its  consideration  be  de^ 
ferred.  That  is  perfectly  competent,  and  that  is  the  motion  I 
submit,  that  we  defer  the  consideration  of  this  report  until  to- 
morrow morning. 

Dr.  Goold. — In  favor  of  this  motion,  I  withdraw  my  motion 
to  the  effect  that  the  report  shall  be  recommitted. 

Prof.  Bruce. — I  wish  the  chairman  would  instruct  me  how 
the  motion  which  I  put  into  his  hands  would  be  in  order.  I 
wish  to  bring  it  before  the  house. 

Dr.  Dickey. — I  do  not  think  the  floor  should  be  taken  from 
me  for  any  other  thing — 

Prof.  Bruce  (interrupting). — My  motion  was  given  notice  of 
before  this  gentleman  spoke.  I  wish  to  have  that  stated  to  the 
house. 

The  President. — As  I  understand  it,  there  are  two  motions 
before  the  house  at  present :  the  one  is  the  adoption  of  the  re- 
port, which  motion  has  been  moved  and  seconded ;  the  other  is, 
that  the  consideration   of  this  question  be  deferred  until    to- 


468  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

morrow  morning.  In  the  meantime  there  is  a  proposal  from 
Prof.  Bruce,  and  it  would  be  well  for  him  to  read  what  motion 
he  is  prepared  to  suggest. 

Prof.  Bruce. — The  motion  I  gave  notice  of  is  this :  that  the 
applications  of  the  two  churches  named  be  regarded  as  sufficient 
evidence  of  their  acceptance  of  tlie  Constitution  of  the  Alliance; 
and  that  thei'efore  their  deputies  be  received  as  members  of  this 
Council. 

The  President. — You  should  make  that  motion,  and  that  will 
be  a  third  motion. 

Hon.  Samuel  Sloan,  of  New  York. — This  confusion  arises 
from  the  different  parliamentary  practice  in  the  old  country  and 
in  this.  In  the  old  country  you  can  put  one  motion  after  an- 
other, in  the  order  in  which  they  v/ere  made,  having  three  or 
four  before  the  house  at  once.  Every  man  speaks  on  his  own 
motion,  and  then  motion  is  put  against  motion.  But  according 
to  American  parliamentary  order,  we  can  have  but  one  motion 
at  once,  with  amendments  to  be  voted  on  first. 

Dr.  Blaikie. — The  first  motion  before  us  is  that  the  report 
be  adopted.  Suppose  that  the  Council  should  approve  of  that 
motion,  would  that  exclude  the  consideration  of  the  two  amend- 
ments ? 

Dr.  Schaff. — We  have  to  vote  on  the  amendment  first;  and, 
if  that  is  lost,  we  go  back  to  the  original  resolution.  It  is  ac- 
cording to  American  rule  to  vote  on  the  amendment  first. 

The  President. — It  seems  as  if  it  would  only  be  right  that 
Dr.  Dickey,  who  is  to  speak  for  the  committee,  should  be  heard 
by  the  Council. 

Dr.  Lang,  of  Glasgow. — Dr.  Bruce's  motion  has  not  been 
seconded.     I  would  submit  that  as  a  point  of  order. 

The  President. — Is  any  one  prepared  now  to  second  it? 

The  motion  was  seconded  by  a  delegate. 

Dr.  Dickey. — I  was  challenged  yesterday  on  the  street  with 
the  charge  of  having  kept  silent  an  entire  week  in  this  Council. 
I  am  very  sorry  that  when  I  rise  simply  to  make  a  few  words  of 
explanation  I  should  cause  the  introduction  of  such  a  confusion. 
I  would  like  briefly  to  give  the  history  of  these  two  cases  as  they 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. _  469 

present  themselves  to  the  committee.  The  committee  made  its 
first  report,  which  was  not  considered  as  definitely  stating  what 
we  knew  to  be  the  mind  of  the  committee,  but  which  has  been 
definitely  stated  to-day.  That  report  was  recommitted  on  the 
motion  of  the  gentleman  from  New  York  (Mr.  Day),  although 
in  a  rather  informal  manner,  without  any  reconsideration.  Yet 
the  committee,  because  they  wanted  to  harmonize  the  Council 
in  this  matter,  received  it  as  they  sent  it  back  to  us. 

What  we  want  to  keep  in  mind  is  the  fact  that  there  are  two 
questions  involved— the  one  the  question  of  the  credentials  of 
certain  men  who  apply  to  this  Council  for  admission,  and  the 
other  the  question  of  the  standards,  or  rules,  or  qualifications,  or 
conditions  of  certain  churches  which  are  represented  by  these 
individual  men.  The  committee  has  only  undertaken  to  settle 
one  question,  namely,  whether  these  brethren,  coming  with  cer- 
tain papers,  have  sufficient  credentials  to  enter  this  particular 
Council  at  this  particular  time.  We  have  not  gone  into  the 
greater  question — whether  the  churches  which  they  represent 
should  be  represented  in  this  Council.  We  feel  that  that  is  too 
solemn  a  question  to  be  decided  in  the  rush  and  confusion  of  a 
morning's  debate.  We  believe — and  have  enough  faith  in  the 
purpose  of  this  Council — we  believe,  as  a  committee,  that  such 
a  question  should  be  put  by  this  Council  into  the  hands  of  a 
special  committee  to  decide  whether  or  not,  or  by  what  means, 
these  churches,  or  any  other  churches  that  may  apply  for  ad- 
mission into  this  Council,  shall  be  received.  Are  we  ready,  as 
a  Council,  to  take  the  position  that  we  are  nothing  but  a  ball  of 
rolling  snow,  that  will  gather  everything  in  its  path  ?  If  so,  like 
the  ball  of  snow,  we  will  melt  on  the  first  suns  that  come  upon 
us.  And  therefore  your  committee  has  endeavored  to  hedge 
the  Council.  We  have  not  gone  into  the  merits  of  the  case  in 
any  way,  either  as  they  pertain  to  the  individual  men,  or  as  they 
pertain  to  the  principles  of  the  church  involved. 

Is  it  not  more  important  that  this  Council  shall  be  a  unit 
than  that  two  or  three  individuals  shall,  at  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion, have  the  simple  privilege  of  wearing  the  blue  badge  of  a 
delegate  for  two  days  ?     Is  it  not  a  far  more  important  matter 


470  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

that  this  Council  should  preserve  its  unity,  its  harmony  and 
•its  consistency?  Is  not  this  Council,  in  view  of  its  third  meet- 
ing, ready  to  take  some  sort  of  stand  as  to  what  terms  of  ad- 
mission shall  be  made,  as  to  whether  there  shall  be  a  door  or 
not  to  it  ?  If  it  is  to  be  all  door,  then  I  am  afraid  we  shall  have 
few  commissioners  to  sit  among  you  in  such  a  solemn  conclave 
as  this. 

I  hope  that  this  point  which  I  try  to  make  will  be  kept  clear. 
As  a  member  of  this  committee,  having  sat  solemnly  on  this 
question  for  nearly  a  week,  what  I  would  like  to  see  done  to 
the  report  would  be  to  soften  it,  if  it  seems  a  little  too  strong,  to 
•the  extent  of  not  having  the  churches  represented  formally  at 
this  Council.  Then  let  this  committee,  or  another  competent 
committee,  take  the  whole  matter  into  consideration,  and  by  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Council,  when  we  go  to  the  Green  Isle,  I 
hope  that  the  committee  will  be  able  to  prepare  such  conditions, 
and  to  prepare  them  so  plainly,  that  under  the  tent  of  our  Mod- 
erator we  shall  all  meet,  not  however  in  the  distraction  in  which 
we  would  meet  if  we  were  to  press  it  now,  but  in  the  harmony 
and  unity  that  should  be  the  exponent  of  Presbyterianism. 

The  Rev.  A.  M.  Milligan,  D.  D. — There  is  a  confusion  as 
to  what  is  the  point  before  us.  One  class  of  the  Council  regard 
this  question  as  one  of  opening  the  door  to  all  bodies  who 
would  apply  for  membership.  That  point  has  been  referred  to  a 
committee  to  report  upon  it  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council 
in  Belfast,  and  we  cannot  touch  upon  that  now,  reconsidering 
the  act  by  which  it  was  so  put  into  the  hands  of  the  committee. 
The  point  before  us  is  simply  this :  shall  members  of  these 
churches,  before  the  churches  themselves  are  received  into  the 
Alliance,  be  recognized  on  this  floor?  That  is  the  question  be- 
fore us,  and  not  the  question  of  receiving  the  churches  which 
they  represent  into  the  Alliance. 

The  Rev.  W.  P.  Breed,  D.  D. — We  are  a  young  body,  and 
we  are  feeling  our  way  to  something  clear  and  definite.  If  the 
Alliance  is  to  continue,  it  will  be  very  necessary  that  we  act 
cautiously,  and  take  no  rash  steps.  I  feel  the  intensest  interest  in 
the  continuance  and  prosperity  of  this  body.     So  far  we  have  ad- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  471 

vanced  step  by  step,  and  I  hope  during  this  Council  that  we 
shall  take  no  step  rashly.  If  I  understand  Prof.  Bruce's  motion, 
it  would  certainly  destroy  the  Alliance.  Dr.  Samuel  Cox 
used  to  say  of  a  certain  minister  that  he  would  baptize  anything 
that  would  hold  still  long  enough  ;  and  Prof  Bruce's  motion 
will  admit  anything  into  this  body  that  will  make  application. 
"  The  application  on  the  part  of  these  brethren  to  come  into  this 
body  is  prima  facie  evidence  that  they  ought  to  be  admitted." 
There  is  not  a  body  of  Christians  in  the  land,  or  of  unchristians 
either,  or  of  anybody  else,  that  might  not  come  in  on  such  a 
proposition,  if  I  understand  it.  I  hope  this  matter  will  be  passed 
over  for  the  present,  and  not  passed  here  in  the  midst  of  this 
present  excitement ;  because  one  single  false  step  might  prove 
to  be  a  fatal  one. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Watts,  D.  D.,  of  Belfast. — I  agree  with 
my  brother  Dr.  Breed,  that  if  we  wish  to  dissolve  this  Alliance, 
we  will  pass  Prof  Bruce's  motion.  Our  Constitution  has  been 
appealed  to.  I  would  ask  your  attention  to  the  second  article  of 
that  Constitution,  which  makes  it  a  condition  of  membership  that 
the  church  applying  shall  have  "  a  creed  in  harmony  with  the 
consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confessions." 

Is  there  any  evidence  that  one  of  these  churches  in  particular 
has  a  confession  or  creed  that  is  in  harmony  with  the  consensus 
of  the  Reformed  Confessions  ?  There  is  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary ;  and  I  trust  this  Council  will  not  admit  a  body  that  is 
known  to  have  a  confession  that  is  not  in  harmony  with  the 
consensus. 

The  President. — I  appeal  to  the  Council  to  this  effect.  I  think 
it  of  great  importance  that  we  should  maintain  harmony  as  far  as 
possible ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  question  of  the  admission 
of  these  few  delegates  to  this  Council  is  practically  at  this  stage 
of  our  proceedings  of  no  consequence  whatever.  If  you 
adopt  the  report  of  the  committee,  with  the  softening  indication 
that  Dr.  Dickey  gave,  you  commit  yourselves  in  the  meantime 
to  nothing  ;  and  you  reserve  the  general  question  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Council  at  Belfast,  when  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Applications  to  which  reference   has  been   made  will 


472  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

hz  brought  up  for  consideration.  In  point  of  fact  there  is  prac- 
tically nothing  before  this  Council,  except  the  question  whether 
these  few  brethren  shall  be  admitted  for  three  days  to  be  mem- 
bers of  this  Council, 

The  Rev.  D.  J.  Macdonell,  B.  D.,  of  Toronto. — It  may  seem 
a  small  matter  whether  four  or  five  gentlemen  have  the  right  to  sit 
here  for  two  or  three  days.  It  seems  to  me  if  there  be  nothing 
more,  there  is  a  point  of  courtesy  involved  even  in  that.  We 
have  kept  them  sitting  here,  while  we  shoved  the  question  off 
from  Wednesday  to  Thursday,  from  Thursday  to  Friday,  from 
Friday  to  Saturday,  from  Saturday  to  Monday,  from  Monday  to 
Tuesday.and  to  Wednesday,  and  here  we  are.  Now^  we  are  begin- 
ning to  say  there  is  no  use  touching  it  at  all.  An  amendment 
which  I  propose  to  submit  is  to  insert,  in  room  of  the  closing 
words  of  the  report  of  the  committee,  some  such  words  as  these  : 
"  without  deciding  finally  the  question  of  the  admission  to  the  A1-' 
liance  of  the  churches  named,  the  delegates  be  recognized  in  the 
meantime  and  admitted  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  mem- 
bers of  Council  at  this  meeting;  and  that  the  whole  question  of 
the  mode  of  admission  of  churches  to  the  Alliance  be  remitted 
to  a  committee  -to  report  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council." 
That  would  not  close  the  question  of  the  admission  of  these 
churches,  and,  for  that  matter,  it  would  not  close  the  question  of 
the  admission  of  the  churches  that  are  already  represented  here; 
for  it  appears  that  there  has  been  no  very  formal  rule  applied  to 
the  admission  of  members.  We  are  beginning  to  draw  the  cords 
very  tight  now  in  connection  with  two  churches  that  are  desirous 
of  being  members  of  the  Alliance.  They  have  shown  their  desire 
certainly ;  for  otherwise  what  would  be  the  sense  of  appointing 
delegates  ?  and  what  would  be  the  sense  of  gentlemen  coming  and 
sitting  on  the  floor  of  this  Council  Alliance,  patiently  and  cour- 
teously holding  their  tongues  until  they  have  a  right  to  speak, 
if  those  churches  do  not  adopt  the  Constitution  in  spirit,  and  if 
they  do  not  want  to  be  recognized  as  members  of  the  Alliance  ? 
If  there  is  any  reasoning  that  commends  itself  to. me,  it  is  the 
reasoning  of  Prof.  Bruce  that  these  churches  have  shown  their 
desire  to  be  in  the  Alliance  with  us.     I  confess  for  my  part  I  do 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  473 

not  see  the  tremendous  principle  involved  in  receiving  these 
gentlemen  courteously,  without  deciding  finally  the  admission 
of  their  respective  churches. 

Dr.  Watts  has  introduced  the  question  of  the  orthodoxy  of 
one  of  the  churches.  All  I  have  to  say  is,  that  that  does  not 
come  out  in  the  report  of  the  committee,  and  some  of  us  do  not 
know  anything  about  it  at  all — do  not  know  whether  the  church 
is  orthodox  or  heretical.  If  that  had  been  brought  in  by  the 
committee,  we  should  have  to  deal  with  it.  All  we  know  is,  that 
here  are  two  Presbyterian  churches  which  have  appointed  dele- 
gates to  this  Assembly.  What  I  would  like  to  see  done  is  to 
have  a  vote  taken  first  on  Prof  Bruce's  amendment.  If  it  carries, 
good  and  well.  Then  I  would  like  to  see  adopted  the  amend- 
ment which  I  have  read. 

The  Rev.  Principal  Rainy. — I  am  not  disposed  to  overrate  the 
importance  of  the  admission  or  non-admission  of  the  churches  ; 
but  I  should  not  think  it  would  be  a  very  desirable  thing  to 
admit  these  brethren  who  now  appear  as  delegates,  and  after- 
wards seriously  to  raise  the  question  of  excluding  the  churches 
whom  they  represent.  On  the  other  hand,  I  do  not  proceed 
upon  the  ground  laid  down  by  Prof  Watts.  I  know  nothing,  as 
a  member  of  this  Council,  of  the  Constitution  or  the  documents 
connected  with  the  creed  of  these  churches,  and  I  do  not  pro- 
ceed upon  any  consideration  of  that  kind  in  the  view  I  take  of 
the  pending  question.  The  report  of  the  committee  implies 
that  adopting  the  Constitution  of  this  Alliance  by  a  church  is  a 
proper  foundation  for  sending  delegates  to  the  Council.  Now 
there  may  be  a  question  in  our  minds  as  to  what  the  meaning  is 
of  adopting  the  Constitution.  In  point  of  fact,  it  is  a  question 
whether  the  churches  that  are  here  represented  have  adopted 
that  Constitution.  I  think  it  is  very  likely  that  many  members 
of  the  Council  legitimately  hesitate  about  adopting  that  phrase 
and  the  principle  it  seems  to  carry  ;  but  it  appears  to  me  that 
it  would  be  more  reasonable  to  adopt  a  motion  of  this  kind  : 
"Resolved,  That  the  Council  are  unable,  lioc  statu,  to  admit  as 
members  brethren  representing  churches  whose  relation  to  the 
Constitution  has  not  been  explained  and  cannot  now  be   con- 


474  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sidered."  Then  further,  the  Council  might  resolve  at  a  future 
day  to  appoint  a  committee  to  consider  the  whole  matter  of  the 
admission  of  churches  who  may  in  future  send  delegates  to 
meetings  of  the  Council. 

Principal  McVicar. — As  far  as  I  can  understand  or  interpret 
the  minds  of  the  committee,  we  should  have  no  objection  at  all 
to  what  Principal  Rainy  proposes. 

James  Macdonald,  Esq.,  of  Edinburgh. — The  papers  which 
are  handed  to  us  are  dated  respectively  the  13th  and  17th  of 
September,  and  the  way  in  which  they  have  been  sent  to  us 
— addressed,  not  to  the  clerks  of  the  Council,  but  to  the  Local 
Business  Committee  in  Philadelphia — disposes  effectually  of  the 
question  of  courtesy. 

Principal  Rainy's  amendment  was  agreed  to,  and  the  report  as 
so  amended  was  adopted. 

The  first  order  of  the  day  would  have  been  the  reading  of  a 
paper  on  The  Theology  of  the  Reformed  Cliiirch,  by  the  Rev. 
Prof  J.  J.  Van  Oosterzee,  D.  D.,  of  Utrecht.  Being  unable  to 
attend  in  person,  he  had  sent  his  paper,  which  was  committed 
to  the  I^ditorial  Committee  for  publication.  It  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix,  p.  914. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Alexander  Mitchell,  D.  D.,  of  St.  Andrews, 
then  read  the  following  paper  on 

THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  WITH 
SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE  WESTMINSTER 
STANDARDS. 

The  Westminster  Assembly  meant  their  Confession  to  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  consensus  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  especially 
of  the  British  Churches,  as  expressed  in  their  respective  symbols. 
They  meant  it  to  be  a  bond  of  union,  not  a  cause  of  strife  or  division, 
among  those  who  held  fast  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Reformed  Churches.  And  in  that  logical  and  system-loving  age, 
it  was  thought  that  they  had  been  wonderfully  successful  in  carrying 
out  their  intentions.  Their  work,  according  to  Baillie,  was  "  cried 
up  by  many  of  their  greatest  opposites  as  the  best  Confession  yet 
extant."  Even  Baxter  spoke  of  it  as  the  most  excellent  for  fulness 
and  exactness  he  had  ever  read  from  any  church,  and,  with  all  his 
individualism,  could  fix  on  nothing  in  it  as  contrary  to  his  jndgmpnt, 
save  a  few  minute  things  which,  he  did  not  deny,  were  capable  of  a 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  475 

benign  interpretation.  The  Church  of  Scotland  adopted  it  as  being 
in  nothing  contrary  to  her  received  'doctrine.  The  English  Presby- 
terians petitioned  the  English  Parliament  to  sanction  it,  and  it  was, 
with  a  few  well-known  exceptions,  sanctioned  by  it,  and  substantially 
acquiesced  in  by  Independents  and  Baptists,  as  well  as  Presbyterians. 
In  our  day  a  less  favorable  view  has  been  taken  of  it  by  many,  and  not 
a  k'fi  hard  things  have  been  said  of  it — some  by  professed  friends, 
more  by  avowed  opponents  of  its  teaching.  In  the  introduction  to 
the  published  volume  of  the  "Minutes  of  the  Assembly,"  I  endeav- 
ored to  vindicate  it  from  the  more  serious  charges  which  had  been 
brought  against  it,  and  claimed  for  it  that  the  justice  should  be  done 
it  to  read  it  in  the  light  of  the  writings  and  known  sentiments  of  the 
men  who  drew  it  up ;  and  less  exclusively,  than  has  long  been  done  in 
the  light  of  the  teaching  and  traditions  of  later  times,  to  separate  it 
from  those  accretions  which  in  the  lapse  of  centuries  have  gathered 
round  it,  and  in  any  measure  obscured  its  fair  form  and  true  propor- 
tions. I  abide  by  what  I  then  said  as  to  the  inspiration  and  conse- 
.sequent  canonicity  and  authority  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  as  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  blessed  Trinity;  of  Christ  the  Mediator;  of  redemp- 
tion, justification  and  sanctification  through  him  ;  of  the  Sabbath,  and 
of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  especially  of  the  myste- 
rious doctrine  of  predestination  ;  and  beg  you,  breviiaiis  causa,  to 
hold  as  here  repeated  what  I  there  advanced.  Since  that  time,  the 
last  named  doctrine  has  been  anew  assailed  and  misrepresented  by 
some,  of  whom  better  things  might  have  been  expected.  It  has  been 
asserted  in  particular,  that  they  who  hold  the  doctrine  as  there  set 
forth  cannot  preach  to  their  perishing  fellow-sinners  the  love  of  God 
and  the  freeness  of  Christ's  salvation.  I  deem  it  a  sufficient  reply  to 
such  assertions  to  call  attention  to  the  fact,  that  they  have  never  ceased 
fiiithfully  and  fully  to  preach  these  great  truths,  and  that  none  have 
ever  done  so  with  more  winning  tenderness,  or  more  marked  success, 
than  the  men  who  thoroughly  accepted  its  teaching  on  this  mysterious 
subject,  as  Rutl\erford  and  Leighton,  Sedgewick,  Arrowsmith,  Cal- 
amy  and  Bunyan  in  the  seventeenth  century ;  Willison,  Boston, 
Whitfield,  Ebenezer  and  Ralph  Erskine  in  the  eighteenth,  and  Chal- 
mers, M'Cheyne,  Spurgeon,  Nicolson  and  Crawford,  and  many  hon- 
ored brethren  in  your  own  land,  in  our  own  day.  By  none  in  recent 
times  has  the  general  Fatherhood  of  God  been  more  resolutely  and 
successfully  defended  than  by  the  last  named  of  these  British  divines, 
who  was  fully  persuaded  that  in  this,  as  in  other  articles  of  his  creed, 
he  was  following  faithfully  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Westminster  divines. 
Even  the  so-called  "grim"  Synod  of  Dordt  denounced  it  as  a  cal- 
umny against  the  Reformed  Churches,  to  assert  that  they  held  "  that 
God  of  his  own  absolute  or  arbitrary  will,  and  without  any  respect  of 
sin,  hath  foreordained  or  created  any  part  of  mankind  to  be  damned, 
or  that  his  decree  is  in  any  such  sense  the  cause  of  sin  or  of  final 
unbelief,  as  it  is  the  cause  of  faith  and  good  works;"  and,  as  Dr. 
Cairns  told  you  yesterday,  asserted  in  unmistakable  terms  that  no  man 


476  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  whom  the  gospel  was  offered,  perished  from  any  insufficiency  in  the 
atonement  of  Christ,  but  because-he,  by  unbelief,  rejected  tlie  remedy. 
It  has  been  said  by  one  whom  we  all  honor  and  esteem  for  the  many 
services  he  rendered  to  the  Presbyterian  Churches,  that  "while  the 
[old]  Scottish  Confession  bears  the  impress  of  Knox,  and  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  that  of  Melanchthon,  the  Westminster  Confession,  sub- 
stantially the  same  in  doctrine,  bears  unmistakably  the  stamp  of  the 
Dutch  theology  in  the  sharp  distinctions,  logical  forms,  and  juridical 
terms  into  which  the  Reformed  theology  had  gradually  moulded  itself 
under  the  red  heat  of  the  yVrminian  and  Socinian  controversies." 
This  was  meant,  no  doubt,  in  part  of  that  doctrine  of  the  covenants 
or  federal  theology  which  many  in  Britain  and  Germany  have  been 
accustomed  to  associate  too  exclusively  with  the  name  of  Cocceius, 
and  to  trace  too  confidently  to  the  influence  which  the  jurists  of  his 
age  had  on  him.  Hallam,  one  of  the  most  accurate  of  English 
writers,  has  distinctly  traced  this  tendency  to  him,  affirming  that 
Cocceius  "was  remarkable  for  having  viewed,  more  than  any  pre- 
ceding writer,  all  the  relations  between  God  and  man  under  the  form 
of  covenants,  and  introduced  the  technical  language  of  jurisprudence 
into  theology;"  "  that  this  became  a  very  usual  mode  of  treating  the 
subject  in  Holland,  and  afterwards  in  England.".  Dr.  Hodge  showed 
you  yesterday  that  some  of  these  juridical  terms  were  not  unknown 
even  to  the  Roman  Catholic  theologians  before  the  Reformation,  and 
to  the  theologians  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches  from  their 
origin  ;  and  oidy  last  year  we  have,  for  the  first  time,  been  put  into  a 
position  to  affirm  that  the  federal  theology  as  it  is  called  is  not  of 
such  recent- origin  in  the  Reformed  Church,  as  the  above  statements 
had  led  many  to  suppose.  In  the  remarkable  work  of  Dr.  Heinrich 
Heppe  on  the  history  of  Pietism  and  Mysticism  in  the  Reformed 
Church,  published  at  Leyden  in  1879,  there  is  a  very  imj^ortant 
chapter  on  the  federal  theology  of  the  Reformed  Church,  in  which  its 
history  and  development  in  Holland  and  Germany  previous  to  the 
time  of  Cocceius  is  distinctly  traced  and  clearly  demonstrated.  The 
only  regret  of  readers  in  America  and  Britain  must  be,  that  an  author 
who  had  so  carefully  examined  the  writings  of  their  puritan  forcfi;thers, 
and  lovingly  vindicated  for  them  a  high  place  in  the  development  of 
y)ietism  and  of  the  inner  religious  life  in  the  Reformed  Church,  should 
have  given  no  detailed  account  of  what  they  achieved  in  the  related 
department  of  federal  theology,  but  contented  himself  with  quoting 
the  statements  from  our  standards,  as  sufficient  proof  that  in  Britain, 
as  well  as  in  Holland,  opinion  had  been  fully  matured  on  that  subject 
before  the  time  of  Cocceius.  I  have  thought  I  could  not  better  fulfil 
the  task  your  committee  have  laid  on  me  than  by  devoting  the  first 
part  of  this  paper  to  a  very  brief  account  of  what  had  been  taught  and 
held  in  Britain  on  the  doctrine  of  the  covenants  before  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  I  have  little  doubt  that  Heppe  is  right  in 
tracing  back  the  doctrine  to  Alasco  and  his  East  Friesland  congre- 
gation, or  to  Henry  Bullinger — the  successor  of  Zvvingli  at  Zurich — 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  477 

whose  writings  in  his  own  day  were  only  less  influential  than  those  of 
his  great  Genevese  contemporary,  and  whose  relations  with  the  Eng- 
lish Reformers  were  even  more  close  and  cordial.  It  falls  to  be  traced 
back,  however,  in  his  writings  not  merely  to  the  year  1556,  as  Heppe 
tells  us,  v/hen  he  first  published  his  '■'■  Covipendiuin  Religionis  Cliris- 
tiance,'^  but  to  the  year  1534,  when  he  first  published  his  treatise,  "Z><f 
Testamenfo  sen  Eccdere  Dei  iinico  et  e/crno."  This  was  two  years 
before  Calvin  had  given  to  the  world,  even  in  its  most  rudimentary 
form,  his  immortal  "  Institutes,"  and  from  that  date  onwarfis  the 
Reformed  Church  may  be  said  to  have  had  from  one  of  its  most 
trusted  leaders,  thougli  in  brief  form,  a  pretty  definite  account  of 
God's  gracious  dealings  with  our  race  under  the  form  of  a  covenant 
of  grace,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  pretty  distinct  statement  of  its  im- 
portant place  in  the  system  of  revealed  truth — containing  the  germ,  in 
fact,  of  our  Protestant  historical  theology:  "//;  hisce  porro  In-evissimis 
capiiibus  foederis  tot  a  cons  is  tit  sumnia  pie  tat  is,  iino  nihil  aliiid  omnium 
octatiini  Sanctis,  per  universani  scripturam  tradituvi  constat,  qnam  quod 
hisce  capitibus  comprehensuni  est  nisi  quod  successione  temponim  sini!;ula 
fusi'js  ct  clarius  exposita  stint.'"  About  the  very  time  when  the  first 
edition  of  this  treatise  appeared  at  Zurich,  references,  somewhat 
indefinite  no  doubt,  are  made  to  the  covenan'ts  by  Tyndale,  the  Eng- 
lish reformer  and  martyr,  in  his  prologues  to  more  than  one  of  the 
books  of  Scripture  translated  by  him  ;  and  the  year  after  the  second 
edition  appeared,  the  doctrine  contained  in  it  was  taught  at  Oxford 
by  Peter  Martyr,  in  his  lectures  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans ;  at 
Cambridge  by  Martin  Bucer,  in  his  lectures  on  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  and  at  London  by  John  Alasco,  who,  with  his  congrega- 
tion, had  been  invited  over  by  Edward  VI.,  the  young  king,  and 
embodied  this  doctrine  in  his  catechism  and  baptismal  service. 

The  influence  of  Bullinger  on  the  development  of  religious  thought 
in  England  was  greatly  increased  after  the  return  of  the  English 
exiles  from  Zurich,  in  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign. 
Soon  after  it  was  enjoined  by  authority  that  every  minister  under  the 
degree  of  M.  A.,  and  not  being  a  licensed  preacher,  should  have  a 
copy  of  BuUinger's  "  Decades  or  Sermons,"  and,  from  time  to  time, 
should  read  and  analyze  a  ])ortion  of  them.  It  was  through  these 
sermons,  partly  in  the  Latin  edition,  still  more  in  the  English,  that  his 
teaching  on  this  subject  took  firm  root  in  England,  and  before  the 
end  of  the  century  began  to  bear  fruit  in  tiie  appearance  of  formal 
treatises  on  the  subject  of  at  least  as  early  date  as  the  treatise  of 
Gomarus,  "  de  fadere  Dei,'''  in  Holland.  An  anonymous  treatise  on. 
the  subject  is  said  to  have  appeared  in  1594,  and  about  the  same  time 
the  work  of  Olevianus  was  translated  into  English.  The  well-known 
treatise  of  Principal  Rollock,  of  Edinburgh,  "■Questiones  et  Respon- 
siones  aliquot  de  Eadere  Dei,'"  appeared  in  1596,  and,  like  the  trea- 
tise of  Howie,  Principal  first  at  New  Aberdeen,  and  afterwards  at  St. 
Andrews,  "  De  Reconciliatione  Dei  cum  hominibus,"  gives  unmistakable 
proof  that  he  was  acquainted  with,  and  to  a  certain  extent  embraced, 
the  teaching  of  the  Herborne  school  on  this  and  some  related  subjects. 


478  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

I  cannot  confidently  trace  any  such  decided  connection  between 
the  writers  of  that  school  and  Whitaker,  Perkins  and  Preston,  the 
leaders  according  to  Heppe  in  the  pietistic  and  practical  puritan 
movement  at  Cambridge,  and  who  treat  more  or  less  fullv  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  covenants  and  its  place  in  theology.  Dr.  Preston,  like 
Andrew  Melville,  makes  explicit  mention  of  the  covenant  of  works, 
as  well  as  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  "  You  must  know,"  he  tells  his 
hearers,  "that  there  is  a  double  covenant.  There  is  a  covenant  of 
works,  and  a  covenant  of  grace.  .  .  .  The  covenant  of  works  runs  in 
these  terms:  'Do  this  and  thou  shalt  live,  and  I  will  be  thy  God.' 
This  is  the  covenant  which  was  made  with  Adam,  and  which  is  ex- 
pressed by  Moses  in  the  moral  law,  Do  this  and  live.  The  second  is  the 
covenant  of  grace,  and  that  runs  in  these  terms :  '  Thou  shalt  believe, 
thou  shalt  take  my  Son  for  thy  Lord  and  thy  Saviour,  and  thou  shalt 
likewise  receive  the  gift  of  righteousness,  which  was  wrought  by  him 
for  an  absolution  of  thy  sins,  for  a  reconciliation  v/ith  me,  and  there- 
upon thou  shalt  grow  up  in  love  and  obedience  towards  me,  and  I 
will  be  thy  God  and  thou  shalt  be  my  people.  This  is  the  covenant 
of  grace.  Thou  shalt  believe,  and  take  my  Son  and  accept  the  gift  of 
righteousness,  and  I  will  be  thy  God.'  "  This  is  the  doctrine  which 
was  taught  and  somewhat  expanded  by  Cartwright,  Davenant, 
Downame,  Amesius,  Twisse,  Ussher,  Slater,  Roger  and  others  before 
the  meeting  of  the  Westminster  Assembly.  In  many  of  the  catechisms 
published  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  as  explicit  refer- 
ence is  made  to  the  doctrine  of  the  covenants  as  in  the  catechisms 
composed  by  the  Westminster  Assembly.  In  fact  the  treatises  of 
Rollock,  Slater  and  two  or  three  others  are  in  catechetical  form,  show- 
ing how  important  it  was  deemed  to  be,  carefully  to  inculcate  this 
doctrine  and  give  prominence  to  it.  But  the  most  remarkable  of  all 
the  works  on  this  subject,  which  appeared  in  England  before  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  is  unquestionably  Ball's  "Treatise 
of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  wherein  the  gradual  breakings  out  of 
gospel  grace  from  Adam  to  Christ  are  clearly  discovered,  the  differ- 
ences between  the  Old  and  New  Testament  are  laid  open,  divers 
errors  of  Arminians  and  others  are  confuted,  the  nature  of  up- 
rightness and  the  way  of  Christ  in  bringing  the  soul  into  communion 
with  himself.  .  .  are  solidly  handled."  This  is  valuable,  not  only  as 
one  of  the  fullest  and  most  mature  specimens  of  puritan  teaching  on 
the  subject  of  the  covenants  completed  just  before  its  author's  death 
in  1640,  and  published  after  the  assembly  had  actually  commenced  its 
sittings,  but  still  more  as  having  been  edited  by  Simeon  Ashe,  a 
well-known  member  of  the  assembly,  and  ushered  in  with  two  addresses 
to  the  reader  ;  the  one  signed  by  him  and  the  other  by  five  other  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  assembly,  Reynolds,  Cawdrey,  Calamy, 
Hill  and  liurgess  ;  both  addresses  highly  commending  the  author  and 
his  work,  and  expressing  a  hope  that  by  the  faithful  improvement  of 
his  labors  the  reader's  knowledge  of  the  federal  transactions,  between 
God  and  his  people  through  Jesus  Christ,  may  be  much  augmented. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  479 

It  treats  first  of  the  various  significations  of  the  words  "covenant" 
and  "testament,"  distinguishes  between  a  covenant  and  a  simple 
promise  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  law  on  the  other,  defines  covenant  in  its 
most  general  acceptation  as  signifying  a  free  promise  of  God,  but  with 
stipulation  of  duty  from  the  reasonable  creature,  "  a  mutual  compact  or 
agreement  betwixt  God  and  man,  whereby  God  promiseth  all  good  things, 
especially  eternal  happiness,  unto  man  upon  just,  equal  and  favorable 
conditions,  and  man  doth  promise  to  walk  before  God  in  all  acceptable, 
free,  willing  obedience,  expecting  all  good  from  God  and  happiness 
in  God.  Then,  descending  to  particulars,  it  treats  briefly  of  the  first 
covenant  made  with  man  at  his  creation,  termed  the  covenant  of 
works  or  of  nature,  and  goes  on  to  define  the  covenant  of  grace  as 
that  free  and  gracious  promise  which  God  of  his  mere  mercy  made  in 
Jesus  Christ,  with  man,  a  miserable  and  wretched  sinner,  promising 
unto  him  pardon  of  sin  and  eternal  happiness,  if  he  will  return  from 
his  iniquities,  embrace  mercy  reached  forth  by  faith  imfeigned,  and 
walk  before  God  in  sincere,  faithful  and  willing  obedience  as  becomes 
,  .  .  the  partakers  of  such  precious  promises."  "  The  covenant  was 
made  in  Christ,  in  and  through  whom  we  are  reconciled  unto  God ; 
sins  were  never  remitted  unto  any  man,  no  man  was  ever  adopted  into 
the  place  and  condition  of  a  son  by  grace  and  adoption,  but  by  him 
alone  who  is  the  same,  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever,  Jesus  Christ, 
true  God  and  true  man."  "  Externally  this  covenant  is  said  to  be 
made  with  every  member  of  the  Church,  even  with  the  parents  and 
their  children,  so  many  as  hear  and  embrace  the  promises  of  salva- 
tion, give  and  dedicate  their  children  unto  God  according  unto  his 
direction  ;  for  the  sacraments,  what  are  they  but  seals  of  the  covenant  ? 
But  savingly  and  effectually,  and  in  special  manner,  it  is  made  only 
with  them  who  are  partakers  of  the  benefit  'promised.  And  as  the 
covenant  is  made  outwardly  or  effectually,  so  some  are  the  people  of 
God  externally  and  others  internally  and  in  truth."  The  author, 
then,  deals  with  the  matter  historically,  and  treats  at  greater  length 
than  had  been  done  till  his  time,  or  probably  was  done  again  till  the 
time  of  Witsius,  of  the  covenant  of  grace  as  revealed  to  Adam  immedi- 
ately upon  his  fall — of  the  same  as  made  and  manifested  to  Abraham, 
to  Moses,  to  David,  and  to  Israel  after  the  captivity,  and  finally  under 
the  New  Testament,  dwelling  at  length  on  the  nature  and  extent  of 
Christ's  mediatorial  work,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  actually  brings 
his  people  into  covenant  with  him.  The  same  year  that  Ball's  treatise 
was  published,  there  also  issued  from  an  English  press  an  edition 
of  a  remarkable  work  on  the  same  subject  written  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  bearing  the  title,  "A  Treatise  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace, 
as  it  is  dispensed  to  the  Elect  Church  effectually  unto  salvation,  being 
the  substance  of  divers  sermons  upon  Acts  vii.  8,  by  that  eminently 
holy  and  judicious  man  of  God,  Mr.  John  Cotton,  teacher  of  the 
Church  at  Boston  ;  "  and  in  the  succeeding  year  there  was  published 
also  in  England  the  following  treatise  from  this  side:  "The  Gospel 
Covenant ;  or,  the  Covenant  of  Grace  opened,  wherein  are  explained  : 


48o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

I  St.  The  differences  between  the  covenant  of  grace  and  the  cove- 
nant of  works ;  2d.  The  different  administrations  of  the  covenant 
before  and  since  Christ;  3d.  The  benefits  and  blessings  of  it;  4th. 
The  conditions  ;  5th.  The  properties  of  it — preached  at  Concord,  in 
New  England,  by  Peter  Bulkley,  sometime  Fellow  of  John's  College, 
Cambridge." 

Several  other  treatises  by  Blake,  Strong  and  Rutherford  followed 
within  a  few  years — all  in  harmony  with  what  the  Westminster  divines 
had  formulated,  and  tending  to  show  how  deep  an  interest  had  been 
awakened  among  our  puritan  forefathers  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic 
on  this  subject  before  the  treatise  of  Cocceius  appeared,  and  still  more 
before  it  was  cast  into  its  ultimate  shape.  It  is  the  more  necessary  to 
draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  this  was  not  its  original  shape,  as 
Hallam  has  given  as  the  title  of  the  edition  of  1648  what  was  only 
adopted  as  the  title  of  the  edition  of  1654.  Tiie  former  bore  the  title 
of  ' '  Collatioues  de  Testattienio  et  Foedere  Pet  ad  illitstrandmn 
viethodiini  et  analogian  doctrime  pietatis  in  Scripti/ris  traditam,'" 
and  consisted  simply  of  a  series  of  disputations  or  academical  exposi- 
tions, forty-nine  in  number.  It  was  the  latter  which  bore  the  title, 
'^'■Suvima  Doclrince  de  Fcedcre  et  Tcstamento  Dei  Explicaia,''  and 
was  divided  into  sixteen  chapters,  and  in  many  respects  recast. 

I  come  now  to  the  second  part  of  my  paper. 

There  are  two  or  three  topics  of  minor  importance  which  I  could 
not  take  up  in  the  introduction  to  the  "  Minutes  of  the  Assembly," 
but  which  in  consequence  of  prevalent  misunderstandings  I  should  like 
to  notice  on  this  occasion.  They  really  are  matters  of  minor  importance, 
and  it  might  fairly  be  said  that  not  one  of  them  is  essential  or  even 
material  to  the  Reformed  system  of  doctrine,  or  ought  to  be  regarded 
as  imposed  on  the  conscience  in  the  same  way  as  matters  entering  into 
the  sum  and  substance  or  the  system  of  the  Reformed  doctrine.  But 
this  is  not  all  that  can  be  said  about  them,  or  that  it  is  expedient 
should  be  said  now  that  currency  has  been  given  to  so  many  un- 
guarded statements  about  them.  The  first  to  which  I  advert  is  the 
(piestion  so  often  and  confidently  propounded  of  late,  that  the  Con- 
fession represents  the  creation  of  the  world  as  having  taken  place  in 
six  "natural  or  literal  days,"  which  almost  all  orthodox  divines  now 
grant  that  it  did  not.  But  the  whole  ground  for  the  assertion  is  fur- 
nished by  the  words  "  natural  or  literal,"  which  they  have  themselves 
inserted.  The  authors  of  the  Confession,  as  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge  has  well 
observed,  ''  simply  repeat  the  statements  of  Scri])ture  in  almost  identical 
terms,  and  any  interpretation  that  is  fairly  applicable  to  such  passages 
of  Scripture,  as  Gen.  ii.  3  and  Exod.  xx.  11,  is  equally  applicable  to 
the  words  of  the  Confession.  It  is  quite  true,"  as  he  adds,  "  that  since 
the  Confession  was  composed,  .  .  .  new  arguments  have  been  furnished 
against  interpreting  the  days  mentioned  in  the  above  passages  of 
Scripture  as  literal  days.  But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  figurative  interpretation  of  the  word  '  days '  in  these  passages 
originated  in  modern  times,  and  was  altogether  unknown  to  the  men 


SECOXD    GEXERAL    COUNCIL.  481 

who  framed  the  Confession.  To  prove  it  a  mistake  it  is  not  necessary 
to  have  recourse  to  the  ingenious  conjecture,  that  some  of  the  Cam- 
bridge men  in  the  assembly  may  have  been  acquainted  with  the 
manuscrijjt  work  of  Dean  Colet,  preserved  in  their  archives,  and  only 
given  to  the  public  in  our  own  time,  in  which  the  figurative  interpreta- 
tion of  the  days  of  creation  is  maintained." 

There  is  no  lack  of  evidence,  in  works  published  before  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Assembly,  and  familiar  to  several  of  its  members,  to  show 
that  the  figurative  interpretation  had  long  before  Dean  Colet's  time 
commended  itself  to  several  scholars  and  divines.  If  there  was  one 
Jewish  scholar  with  whose  writings  such  men  as  Lightfoot,  Selden, 
(lataker,  Seaman,  and  Coleman  were  more  familiar  than  another,  it 
was  Philo  of  Alexandria  ;  and  Philo  has  not  hesitated  to  characterize 
it  as  "  rustic  simplicity,  to  imagine  that  the  world  was  created  in  six 
days,  or,  indeed,  in  any  clearly  defined  space  of  lime."  Augustine, 
the  great  Latin  doctor,  with  whose  works  several  of  tbe  Westminster 
divines  were  far  better  acquainted  than  most  of  their  successors,  in 
his  literal  Commentary  on  Genesis,  maintains  that  the  days  of  the  crea- 
tion week  were  far  different  {longe.  diversi  and,  again,  multiim  inipares) 
from  those  that  now  are  in  the  earth.  Procopius,  a  Greek  writer  not 
unknown  to  some  of  the  Westminster  divines,  teaches  that  the  num- 
ber of  six  days  was  assumed  not  as  a  mark  of  actual  time,  but  as  a 
manner  of  teaching  the  order  of  creation;  while  in  certain  commen- 
taries in  that  age,  attributed  to  the  venerable  Bede,  and  largely  read 
in  England,  though  now  deemed  spurious,  a  similar  opinion  is  said  to 
be  found.  The  figurative  interpretation  therefore  of  the  six  days  of 
creation  is  no  make-shift  of  hard-pressed  theologians  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  was  held  by  respectable  scholars  and  divines,  from  early 
times,  and  was  known  to  the  framers  of  our  Confession  ;  and  had 
they  meant  deliberately  to  exclude  it  they  would  have  written  not  six 
days,  but  six  natural  or  literal  days. 

The  next  topic  to  which  I  shall  advert,  is  the  charge  made  against 
the  Confession  as  teaching  that  not  all  infants  dying  in  infancy,  but 
only  an  elect  portion  of  them,  are  saved.  Its  exact  words  are,  "  Elect 
infants,  dying  in  infancy,  are  regenerated  and  saved  by  Christ  through 
the  Spirit."  This  statement,  it  is  averred,  necessarily  implies  that 
there  are  non-elect  infants  dying  in  infancy  not  regenerated  and 
saved.  It  does  not  seem  to  me  to  imply  any  such  thing.  It  might 
have  been  susceptible  of  such  an  interpretation  had  it  been  allowed 
to  stand  in  the  form  which  it  appears  to  have  borne  in  the  draft  first 
brought  in  to  the  Assembly — "elect  of  infants,"  not  elect  infants. 
But  the  very  fact  that  the  form  of  expression  was  changed,  shows  how 
anxious  the  divines  entrusted  with  the  methodizing  of  the  Confession 
were  to  guard  against  pronouncing  dogmatically  on  questions  t)n 
which  neither  Scripture  nor  the  Reformed  Churches  had  definitely 
l)ronounced.  The  statement  occurs,  it  is  important  to  notice,  not  in 
the  chapter  treating  of  predestination,  but  in  the  chapter  treating  of 
effectual  calling;  ami  is  meant,  not  to  define  the  proportion  of  infants 
31 


482  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

dying  in  infancy  who  sliall  be  saved,  but  to  assert  the  great  truths, 
that  by  nature  they  are  every  one  of  them  in  the  massa  pcrdiiionis  ; 
that  they  can  only  bj  separated  from  it,  and  saved  by  the  electing 
iove  of  the  Father,  the  atoning  work  of  the  Son,  and  the  renewing 
of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  that  even  they,  however  as  yet  incapable  of  ■ 
the  exercise  of  reason  and  faith,  may  be  regenerated  and  made  meet 
for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.  As  Dr.  Hodge  has  briefly 
but  clearly  expressed  it:  "  The  Confession  affirms  what  is  certainly- 
revealed,  and  leaves  that  which  revelation  has  not  decided  to  remain 
without  the  suggestion  of  a  positive  opinion  upon  one  side  or  the 
Qther."  In  historical  vindication  of  this  interpretation  of  their  mean- 
ing, I  deem  it  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  judgment  of  Davenant 
and  the  other  English  divines  at  the  Synod  of  Dordt,  who  were 
the  precursors  and  teachers  of  the  leading  English  divines  of  the  As- 
sembly. The  Arminians  had  maintained  that,  as  all  infants  dying  in 
infancy  were  ui\doubtedly  saved,  there  could  not  be  said  to  be  any 
election,  so  far.,  as  they  were  concerned.  The  English,  though  per- 
sonally not  much  in  advance  of  their  brethren  on  the  continent,  gave 
special  prominence  in  their  reply  to  the  statement,  that  even  granting 
the  premises  of  the  Armiinans,  the  conclusions  drawn  from  thejn 
were  by  no  means  legitimate  or  necessary.  Election  and  preterition, 
they  said,  had  respect  to  the  whole  mass  of  fallen  humanity,  not  to 
certain  separate  divisions  of  it  according  to  age  or  circumstances,  and 
that  though  a  certain  number  of  infants  dying  in  infancy  might  not 
be  separated  from  or  elected  out  of  a  certain  other  number  also  dying 
in  infancy  and  not  saved,  yet  if  all  were  separated  from  tlie  common- 
niass  of  mankind  sinners,  and  bound  up  in  the  bundle  of  life,  that- 
was  quite  sufficient  to  constitute  an  election  of  them,  and  to  warrant 
such  an  ex|)ression  as  elect  infants  dying  in  infancy.  "Ad  rationem 
electionis  divinse  sive  ponendam  sive  tollendam  circumstantia  aetatis 
est  quiddam  impertinens.  .  .  .  Fac,  igitur,  omnes  infantes  servari  ne 
uno  quidem  proeterito  tamen  quia  electio  et  preteritio  respicit  massam 
non  aetatem,  licet  non  e  numero  infantium,  tamen  e  communi  massa 
hominum  peccatorum  segregati  sunt  quod  ad  electionis  rationem  con- 
stituendain  sufficit  "  (Acta  Synodi  Dordrechtanae,  p.  499,  4th  ed.). 
Few  of  these  divines,  or  of  their  successors  at  Westminster,  had  prob- 
ably, in  personal  opinion,  advanced  as  far  as  good  Bishoj)  Hooper — 
the  pupil  of  Bullinger,  and  the  prototype  of  moderate  puritans — who 
said:  "It  is  ill-done  to  condemn  the  infants  of  Christians  that  die 
without  baptism,  of  whose  salvation  by  the  Scriptures  we  be  assured. 
...  I  would  likewise  judge  well  of  the  infants  of  the  infidels  who 
have  none  other  sin  in  them  but  original.  ...  It  is  not  against  the 
faith  of  a  Christian  man  to  say  that  Christ's  death  and  passion  extend- 
eth  as  far  for  the  salvation  of  innocents,  as  Adam's  sin  made  all  his 
posterity  liable  to  condemnation.  But  the  best  of  them  had  come  to 
adopt  the  first  part  of  his  opinion,  and  from  reverence  for  him  and 
others  whom  they  loved,  to  refrain  from  pronouncing  positively 
attain st  the  second." 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  483 

The  last  topic  to  which  I  shall  advert  as  having  been  quite  as  much 
misunderstood  as  either  of  the  preceding,  is  the  concluding  statement 
in  the  same  chapter :  "  Much  less  can  men,  not  professing  the  Christian 
religion,  be  saved  in  any  other  way,  be  they  ever  so  diligent  to  frame 
their  lives  according  to  the  light  of  nature  and  the  law  of  the  religion 
they  do  profess,  and  to  assert  and  maintain  that  they  may,  is  very  per- 
nicious and  to  be  detested."  This  is  a  softening  down  of  a  statement 
made  in  more  extreme  form  in  the  English  articles,  and  in  some  of 
the  continental  Confessions,  and  perhaps  the  Baptists  somewhat  im- 
proved it  in  1677  when,  under  the  guidance  of  John  Bunyan,  they 
changed  the  words  "not  professing  the  Christian  religion"  into 
"  not  receiving  the  Christian  religion,"  to  make  it  more  clear  that 
they  meant  the  statement  to  be  limited  to  those  who  had  had  the 
Christian  religion  tendered  to  them  and  had  refused  to  receive  it,  and 
continued  professedly  to  live  by  the  light  of  nature  and  the  law  of 
the  religion  they  professed.  That,  I  think,  was  what  the  Westminster 
divines  also  had  chiefly  in  view  (I  will  not,  in  remembrance  of  cer- 
tain questions  in  the  larger  catechism,  say  exclusively  in  view)  to 
bear  their  testimony,  in  conuiion  with  other  Reformed  Churches, 
against  the  Spiritualists  or  the  Pantheists  of  the  school  of  Servetus, 
as  well  as  against  the  Deists  and  Free-thinkers  among  themselves,  who, 
living  in  the  full  blaze- of  the  light  of  revelation,  preferred  nature's 
twilight,  and  despised  the  riches  of  God's  goodness  and  forbearance 
and  long-suffering.  They  who  hold  that  the  words  of  the  Confession 
were  meant  to  have  a  wider  application,  should  at  least  do  its  framers 
the  justice  to  remember  that  all  they  do  absolutely  define  is,  that  the 
persons  spoken  of  cannot  be  saved  by  the  light  of  nature,  or  the  law 
of  the  religion  they  profess,  and  that  when  they  go  on  in  a  subsequent 
chapter  to  define  the  Church  of  visible  professors  and  outward  ordi- 
nances, all  that  they  venture  to  affirm  is,  that  out  of  it  there  is  no 
"  ordinary  possibility  of  salvation." 

In  conclusion  let  me  repeat,  that  all  I  contend  for  is  that  the  West- 
minster divines  have  not  pronounced  against  the  more  liberal  views, 
on  such  subjects  which  modern  Calvinists  have  generally  adopted  ;  not 
that  they  themselves  held  them,  but  that  they  knew  of  them,  and 
knew  them  to  be  tolerated  or  favored  by  several  whom  they  loved  and 
honored  for  the  good  service  they  had  done  in  their  day  and  genera- 
tion, and  that  they  were  content  to  give  forth  no  binding  determina- 
tion in  regard  to  them.  Their  main  object,  as  I  said  in  the  outset,  was 
to  set  forth  in  their  Confession  the  great  principles  of  the  faith  com- 
mon to  the  Reformed  or  Calvinistic  Churches,  without  exalting  into 
principles  points  on  which  these  Churches  had  not  thought  fit  to  de- 
cide. And  I  believe  that  in  adherence  to  their  creed  and  method  lies 
our  only  hope  of  a  united  Anglo-Saxon  Presbyterianism — Calvinistic 
yet  comprehensive,  strong  yet  forbearing  in  the  use  of  its  strength, 
earnest  and  untiring  in  self-sacrificing  Christian  work.  Such  have 
always  been  the  characteristics  of  living  evangelical  churches  Vi^ith  a 
good  backbone  of  Calvinism  in  them — abundant  labors,  memorable 


4S4  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

achievements,  heroic  sufferings — even  when  there  has  been  least  of  that 
sweetness  and  gentleness  which  all  profess  to  prize,  but  in  which  we 
all  yet  feel  we  come  far  short  of  what  we  ought  to  be.  Whereunto 
we  have  attained,  may  we  by  God's  grace  be  enabled  to  walk  by  the 
same  rule  and  mind  the  same  thing,  and  if  in  anything  we  are  other- 
wise minded,  may  God  reveal  his  will  unto  us,  and  guide  us  in  a  plain 
path. 

The  following  paper  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  Thomas  G. 
Apple,  D.  D.,  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  on 

THE   THEOLOGY  OF  THE   GERMAN   REFORMED 
CHURCH. 

I  esteem  it  an  honor  and  a  privilege  to  present  some  remarks  on  the 
present  occasion  before  this  learned  and  venerable  assembly,  on  "  The 
Theology  of  the  German  Reformed  Church."  The  occasion  is  one 
that  rejoices  the  hearts  of  all  who  long  and  pray  for  closer  union  and 
co-operation  among  all  portions  of  the  one  Church  of  our  Lord.  As 
the  principle  of  Church  unity,  according  to  the  Protestant  theory, 
holds  primarily  in  the  union  of  all  believers  in  one  common  Lord, 
"  o.ie  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,"  it  follows  that  the  external  union 
in  the  organization  of  the  Church  must  be  free,  not  constrained.  Dif- 
ference and  variety  are  not  opposed  to  unity.  It  is  not  inconsistent, 
therefore,  with  the  object  and  purpose  of  this  Alliance  to  study  the 
differences  as  well  as  the  agreement  of  the  Churches  that  are  repre- 
sented in  its  plan  and  organization.  They  all  belong  to  one  great 
family,  and  it  is  no  more  to  be  expected  that  they  should  entirely 
agree  in  their  apprehension  of  all  particular  truths  than  that  members 
of  the  same  family  should  all  look  entirely  alike.  It  is  sufficient  that 
the  family  resemblance  should  appear  in  all,  and  that  this  resemblance 
should  reveal  the  unity  of  the  common  family  life. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Germany,  extending  now  into  other  lands, 
and  maintaining  a  vigorous  independent  organization  in  America,  has 
its  roots  in  original  Protestantism,  having  started  in  German-Switzer- 
land simultaneously  witli  the  Lutheran  Reformation  in  Wiirtemberg, 
and  establishing  itself  subsequently  in  the  Palatinate  and  in  other  sec- 
tions of  (Germany.  Among  all  the  Reformed  Churches,  it  led  the  way 
in  develo[)ing  the  peculiar  type  of  Protestant  doctrines  and  principles 
which  has  distinguished  them  in  different  lands,  in  the  Netherlands,  in 
France,  E'lgland,  and  Scotland,  from  the  Lutheran  Church.  This 
distinction  started,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  divergence,  between  the 
Reformed  and  the  Lutheran  Church  on  the  central  doctrine  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  that  manifested  itself  already  in  the  early  history  of 
the  Reformation,  whilst  it  comprehended  differences  in  reference  also 
to  many  other  doctrines  and  principles.  Zwingli,  approaching  the 
Reformation  more  from  an  objective  stand-point,  starting  with  the  sov- 
ereignty of  God  and  the  sole  authority  of  Scripture,   directed  his 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  485 

opposition  primarily  against  the  tendency  in  the  Roman  Church 
towards  idolatry,  as  this  manifested  itself  in  the  worship  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  and  the  saints,  and  the  worship  of  the  host  in  the  mass.  Luther 
started  more  from  a  subjective  standpoint,  directing  his  opposition  to 
the  Judaizing  errors,  the  semi-Pelagianism,  of  the  Roman  Church  in 
holding  forth  the  merit  of  good  works.  Against  tliis  he  urged  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone  through  the  all-sufficient  merits 
of  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  em])hasis  Zwingli  placed  upon  the  authority 
of  the  Word  of  God  in  the  Scriptures,  and  upon  the  divine  sover- 
eignty, over  against  all  worship  of  the  creature,  and  m  finding  in  this 
the  ultimate  ground  of  the  election  of  believers  unto  eternal  life  and 
of  their  justification  and  salvation,  in  his  doctrine  of  rhe  Lord's 
Supper  over  against  the  Lutheran  view,  as  well  as  the  Roman  theory 
of  transubstantiation,  and  in  the  practical  account  he  made  of  the 
ethical  significance  of  the  law  in  the  life  of  the  believer,  as  well  as  in 
the  organization  and  discipline  of  the  Church,  he  advanced  principles 
which  became  permanent  characteristics  of  the  Reformed  Churches  in 
general. 

His  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  formulated  mainly  from  the 
standpoint  of  opposition  to  the  error  of  the  mass,  and  no  doubt  lacked 
somewhat  of  the  positive  element  that  was  given  to  it  by  Melanchthon 
and  Calvin,  and  which  found  expression  subsequently  in  the  Reformed 
Confessions  generally;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Zwingli  did 
not  altogether  overlook  the  positive  side,  participation  in  the  body  and 
blood  of  the  Lord  in  the  holy  communion,  and  that  if  his  life  had 
been  spared  he  would  have  appeared  more  fully  in  agreement  with 
Calvin.  It  was  on  this  doctrine  that  the  division  first  took  place 
between  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Reformation,  in  the  effort  to  har- 
monize and  unite  them  at  the  celebrated  Marburg  Conference  in  1529. 
At  this  conference  the  fifteen  articles  were  adopted,  which,  after  pass- 
ing through  some  modifications,  became  the  basis  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession  \  but  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  a  sharp  divisioi^. 
took  ])lace,  which  no  subsequent  efforts  could  heal.  We  may  accejit 
this  division  as  a  necessity  which  was  overruled  in  saving  both  the 
Reformed  and  Lutheran  Confessions  from  falling  into  a  fatal  extreme 
on  either  side.  It  stands  in  portions  of  the  Protestant  world  even 
to-day  as  representing  the  different  types  of  doctrine  and  life  that 
characterize  these  two  original  divisions  of  Protestantism,  and  when 
inwardly  reconciled,  it  will  serve  to  bring  them  more  fully  into  har- 
mony and  union.  Whatever  necessity  there  was,  therefore,  for  this 
division  in  order  to  preserve  sound  doctrine,  Zwingli  assumed  a 
responsibility  here  which  became  shared  with  him  more  or  less  by  all 
the  Reformed  Churches,  and  in  so  far  he  may  be  regarded  as  their 
representative,  and  thus  one  of  their  great  leaders.  It  serves  to  show, 
also,  that  differences  in  the  enjoyment  of  freedom  are  better  than 
constrained  uniformity,  and  that  they  may  be  overruled  to  aid  in  the 
unfolding  of  the  fruitfulness  and  fulness  of  truth. 

Meantime,  and  before  Calvin  came  upon  the  scene,  a  modification 


486  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

was  going  forward  in  the  bosom  of  the  German  Church-life,  under  the 
influence  of  Melanchthon.  He  had  been  led  by  independent  study  to 
differ  from  some  of  the  views  of  Luther,  although,  while  Luther  lived, 
he  seemed  unable  or  unwilling  to  assert  the  difference.  This  differ- 
ence always  referred  itself  to  this  salient  point,  in  reference  to  wliich 
the  original  separation  of  the  two  Protestant  Confessions  had  taken 
place  under  no  little  excitement  and  peril,  although  here  again,  as  in 
the  case  of  Zwingli,  it  reached  also  to  other  points.  This  divergence 
of  Melanchthon  from  Luther's  views  became  the  representative  and 
rallying  point  in  Germany  for  what  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  Reformed 
type  of  doctrine,  and  gave  indications,  at  one  time,  of  carrying  with 
it  the  larger  portion  of  German  Protestantism.  The  old  and  strict 
Lutheran  element  became  at  length  aroused,  and  asserted  itself,  not 
without  partisan  bitterness  over  against  Philippism,  or  crypto-Calvin- 
isra,  as  this  latter  was  called,  until  the  Lutheran  Confession,  passing 
through  a  number  of  discussions,  reached  its  full  development  in  the 
Formula  Concordia;,  while  Melanchthonianism  became  more  and  more 
attracted  to  the  Reformed  Church  and  the  Reformed  type  of  doctrine 
outside  of  Germany.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  it  was 
the  presence  and  influence  of  Calvin,  and  his  distinct  and  clear  state- 
ment of  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Sup|)er,  as  well  as  other  doctrines, 
that  strengthened  and  confirmed  Melanchthon  in  holding  his  position 
in  distinction  from  that  of  Luther.  While  the  Reformed  Church 
honors  the  learned  and  gentle  Melanchthon,  the  Preceptor  Germaniai, 
the  author  of  the  Loci  Communes  and  the  altered  Augsburg  Confession  ; 
and  while  the  German  Reformed  Church  finds  in  his  type  of  doctrine 
and  his  mild  and  catholic  spirit  one  of  the  leading  elements,  if  not 
the  leading  element,  in  her  Confession,  yet  when  Calvin  comes  upon 
the  stage  he  stands  forth  clearly  and  confessedly  as  the  theologian  of 
the  great  Reformation.  Calvin  at  first  sought  to  maintain  harmony 
with  Luther;  he  gave  his  sanction  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  as 
altered  by  Melanchthon,  and  Luther,  it  is  said,  approved  in  turn  of 
his  tract,  de  ccena  Domini ;  but  when  the  progress  of  the  sacramentar- 
ian  controversy  required  it,  he  joined  his  sympathy  with  the  Swiss 
Reformers,  while  at  the  same  time  he  enunciated  the  view  which  com- 
plemented and  completed  the  view  of  Zwingli,  and  which  was  adopted 
in  all  the  leading  Reformed  Confessions. 

Thus  we  have  three  leading  Reformers,  whose  teaching  and  influ- 
ence became  united  in  the  origin  of  the  German  Reformed  Church, 
Zwingli,  Melanchthon  and  Calvin.  The  Reformed  Church  in  the 
Palatinate  was  organized  and  established  under  the  influence  and 
direction  of  Melanchthon.  The  type  of  doctrine  maintained  there 
previous  to  the  formation  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  Melanch- 
thonian,  but  there  were  also  disorganizing  elements  at  work  disturb- 
ing its  peace,  and  on  this  account  the  Palatinate  Elector,  with  true 
fatherly  affection  for  his  people,  and  deep  concern  for  their  spiritual 
welfare,  applied  to  Melanchthon  for  advice  in  establishing  the  Churc  h 
in    his   Electorate   on   a   firm   foundation.      There   were   Lutheran, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  487 

Calvinistic,  and  Melanchthonian  theologians,  occupied  as  teachers  iti 
the  University  of  Heidelberg.  The  ultra  Lutherans  were  soon  elimi- 
nated, and  there  remained  only  the  influence  of  Calvin  and  Melanch- 
thon,  together  with  some  adherents  of  Zwingli.  These,  we  may  say, 
united  in  the  formation  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  the  most  irenical 
and  the  most  widely  favored  of  all  the  Reformed  Confessions,  the 
chief  Confession  of  the  German  Relormed  Church  in  Europe,  and 
the  only  Confession  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America. 

From  this  brief  statement  it  is  not  difficult  to  determine  the  leading 
feature  cf  the  faith  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  as  compared 
with  other  branches  of  the  Reformed  Church.  While  Hcppe  has 
labored  to  show  that  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  owes  every- 
thing to  Melanchthon  antl  nothing  to  Calvin,  and  such  writers  as 
Sudhoff  and  Sweitzer  have  tried  to  show  that  its  stand-point  is  purely 
Calvinistic,  the  truth  must  doubtless  be  found  between  these  two 
positions.  It  was  moulded  under  the  influence  of  Calvin  and 
Melanchthon,  and  also  to  some  extent  that  of  Zwingli  and  his  fellow 
Swiss  Reformers. 

In  its  doctrinal  position  as  contained  i.n  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
it  asserts  in  general  the  position  of  Calvinism  over  against  Arminian- 
ism,  or  we  may  say  it  asserts  the  old  Augustinian  position  on  the  sub- 
jects of  sin  and  grace  over  against  Pelagianism.  It  asserts  the  utter 
ruin  of  the  whole  race  through  the  fall  and  disobedience  of  our  first 
parents  in  paradise,  so  that  man  as  the  race  or  as  an  individual  has  no 
ability  to  recover  himself  from  this  lost  condition.  All  who  are  bom 
into  the  world  are  involved  in  their  very  birth  in  sin  and  guilt.  The 
origin  of  this  sinful  and  guilty  condition  is  traced  to  the  fall  of  man, 
and  its  nature  is  explained  only  so  far  as  this  explanation  is  to  be 
found  in  the  organic  character  of  the  race  as  related  to  the  first  pair, 
or  we  may  say  in  the  relation  between  the  generic  and  the  individual 
life  of  man,  according  to  which  relation  the  fall  of  the  first  parents 
of  the  race  included  in  it  the  fall  of  the  race.  The  fall  is  viewed  as  a 
concrete  fact  and  not  as  abstract,  as  generic  and  not  cs  according  to 
•Pelagius,  merely  individual.  It  traces  the  origin  of  sin  to  the  free 
will  of  man  under  the  temptation  of  the  devil,  and  thus  avoids  the 
metaphysical  mystery  that  lies  beyond.  It  thus  avoids  all  fatalism  as 
connected  with  the  origin  of  sin,  while  in  regard  to  the  extent  and 
nature  of  the  fall  and  its  consequence  it  is  ecpially  devoid  of  all  taint 
of  Pelagianism. 

So  also  man's  recovery  from  the  fall  is  attributed  absolutely  and 
unconditionally  to  the  free  and  unmerited  grace  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Instead  of  starting  here,  however,  in  the  divine  sovereignty, 
or  the  eternal  abstract  will  of  God  in  election  and  predestination  as 
metaphysically  apprehended,  it  refers  directly  to  Jesus  Christ,  the 
God-man,  who  freely  offered  himself  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  man. 
The  redemption  is  organic  as  the  fall  is  organic.  The  second  Adam 
forms  a  parallel  with  the  first  Adam,  yet  the  redemption  wrought  out 


488    •  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

by  Christ  inures  to  the  salvation  of  those  only  who  are  born  again 
and  made  partakers  of  his  life  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
subjective  condition  for  being  made  partakers  of  Christ  and  of  pos- 
sessing his  righteousness  as  our  justification  before  God  is  faith, 
"which  involves  a  living  apprehension,  not  simjjly  of  an  abstract  doc- 
trine, but  of  the  whole  ))erennial  fact  of  Christianity  as  embodied  in 
the  Apostles'  creed."  The  great  cardinal  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  alone,  through  the  imputation  of  Christ's  satisfaction,  righteous- 
ness and  holiness,  in  opposition  to  all  idea  of  merit  on  the  part  of  the 
believer  himself,  is  asserted  in  the  strongest  language.  This  threefold 
imputation  itself  implies,  however,  that  the  objective  righteousness, 
which  is  thus  set  over  to  our  account  in  Christ,  involves  iVom  the 
very  start  the  principle  of  our  personal  sanctification.  A])prehended 
by  faith,  it  has  become  already  the  power  of  a  new  divine  life  in  the 
subject  of  this  faith;  "for  it  is  impossible  that  those  who  are  thus 
implanted  into  Christ  should  not  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  thankful- 
ness." Faith  itself,  comprehending  thus  in  itself  the  whole  force  of 
the  Christian  life,  is  no  product  of  the  human  will.  The  Holy  Ghost 
"  works  it  in  our  hearts  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  confirms 
it  by  the  use  of  the  sacraments."  Dr.  J.  W.  Nevin,  "  Hist,  and  (ien. 
of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism."  Thus  while  we  find  here  the  substantial 
and  positive  elements  of  the  Calvinistic  system,  at  least  under  some 
of  their  aspects,  the  subject  is  treated  rather  Christologically  than 
theologically,  and  the  metaphysical  questions  pertaining  to  the 
sovereignty  of  God  in  relation  to  rhe  human  will  are  not  brought 
forward. 

In  setting  forth  the  substance  of  revelation  as  contained  in  Holy 
Scripture,  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  is  distinguished  among  the 
Reformed  Confessions  by  the  prominence  it  gives  to  the  apostles' 
creed.  In  holding  to  the  inspired  word  of  God  as  above  all  human 
teaching  in  authority,  it  nevertheless  seeks  to  appiehend  the  Scriptures 
in  the  light  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  as  unanimously  confessed  in 
this  oldest  oecumenical  creed.  This  teaches  in  sum  the  objects  of 
faith  as  set  forth  in  the  H)ly  Scriptures.  The  catechism  did  not  seek 
to  recast  the  original  fiindamentals  of  the  Christian  faith,  it  was  not 
the  object  of  the  Reformation  to  do  this,  but  rather  to  remove  the 
errors  and  corrui^tions  that  had  crept  into  the  Church,  and  assert 
such  new  principles  only  as  were  necessary  for  this  purpose,  and 
at  the  same  time  aided  .in  the  legitimate  historical  progress  of  Chris- 
tian truth.  In  this  it  avoided  the  danger  of  radical  subjectivism  and 
linked  itself  with  the  true  Catholic  Church  of  the  past.  While  it 
regarded  all  human  creeds  and  confessions  as  inferior  to  the  inspired 
Scriptures  in  authority,  it  gave  to  them  their  proper  place  as  helps  in 
the  right  understanding  of  the  fundamental  mysteries  presented  in  the 
Bible. 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments,  this  church  symbol  ado])ts 
without  reserve  the  Calvinistic  theory.  In  regard  to  the  Lord's 
S  ijiper,  it  incori)orates  the  Zwinglian  element  of  the  symbolical  and 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  489 

commemorative  character  of  the  sacrament,  in  opposition  to  the 
Roman  theory  of  a  repetition  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  in  the  mass, 
maintaining  that  the  sacrifice  on  the  cross  was  offered  once  for  all, 
and  cannot  be  repeated  ;  and  that  in  the  holy  supper  we  are  made  to 
partake  of  the  merits  of  that  one  sacrifice  only  by  faith  in  the  use  of 
the  elements  of  bread  and  wine;  but  going  beyond  this  it  asserts  just 
as  clearly  that  in  the  holy  communion  the  believer  also  feedr;  upon  the 
glorified  body  and  blood  of  Christ  through  faith  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  is  thus  nourished  into  everlasting  life.  'Die  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  are  not  present  in  any  sense  as  unprisoned  in  the 
bread  and  wine  according  to  the  Lutheran  theory,  so  that  all  who 
partake  of  the  one  necessarily  also  partake  of  the  other,  whether  be- 
lievers or  unbelievers;  but  neither  on  the  other  hand  is  this  presence 
one  of  subjective  remembrance  only  on  the  part  of  the  communicant  ; 
but  it  is  an  objective  spiritual  real  presence,  exhibited  and  guaranteed 
to  the  believer  in  the  use  of  the  elements  in  the  holy  sacrament.  This 
view  of  Calvin  "  passed  into  all  the  leading  Reformed  Confessions  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  and  must  be  regarded  as  the 
orthodox  Reformed  doctrine,"  while  Zwingli's  theory,  which  is  more 
simple,  and  intelligible,  has  considerable  popular  currency,  but  no 
symbolical  authority.  Dr.  Schaff  in  Creeds  of  Christendom,  vol.  ii., 
p.  456.  For  this  view,  although  the  same  was  really  held  by  Melanch- 
thon,  the  catechism  is  doubtless  mainly  indebted  to  the  full  and 
unmistakable  presentation  of  it  by  Calvin  ;  and  this  view  it  was 
mainly,  and  not  his  doctrine  of  predestination,  which  was  designated 
as  Calvinism  and  crypto-Calvinism  by  the  Lutherans,  and  which 
obtained  for  the  Reformed  as  a  term  of  reproach  the  name  of  sacra- 
meutarians.  As  this  doctrine  is  so  central  and  far-reaching,  we  may 
be  pardoned  for  dwelling  upon  it  a  little,  as  it  connects  itself  with  the 
broader  doctrine  of  the  mystical  union  of  believers  with  Christ,  which 
has  formed  one  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  faith  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church,  and  enters  into  its  theology.  It  was  in  this  form 
especially  that  the  substance  of  the  doctrine  of  the  new  regenerate 
life  was  presented  in  the  Reformed  Confessions.  As  fallen  man 
derives  his  corrupt  nature  from  Adam,  by  reason  of  which  he  is  in- 
cluded in  the  fall  and  becomes  subject  to  spiritual  and  eternal  death, 
so  by  virtue  of  his  union  with  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  he  becomes 
possessed  of  a  new  regenerate  nature,  and  thus  shares  with  him  in  the 
victory  over  sin  and  death,  and  inherits  with  him  eternal  glory.  Ar.d 
this  participation,  according  to  Calvin,  refers  not  only  to  the  divir.e 
nature  of  Christ,  but  also  to  his  glorified  humanity,  so  that,  as  he  was 
accustomed  to  state  it,  although  the  flesh  of  Christ  is  now  in  heaven 
a'ld  believers-  on  the  earth,  yet  this  .separation  is  overcome  by  the 
Moly  Spirit,  and  the  union  is  effected  in  the  sphere  of  the  supernatural. 
He  is  particular  in  stating  this  lest  he  may  be  misunderstood.  In  his 
Institutes  he  says:  "Nor  am  I  .satisfied  with  those  persons  who,  after 
having  acknowledged  that  we  have  communion  with  Christ,  when 
they  mean  to  describe  it,  represent  us  merely  as  partakers  of  his  Spirit, 


490  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

l)ut  make  no  mention  of  his  flesh  and  blood."  Anfi  again  :  "  Now, 
though  tlie  power  of  giving  life  to  us  is  not  an  essential  attribute  of 
the  body  of  Christ,  which,  in  its  original  condition,  was  subject  to 
mortality,  and  now  lives  by  an  immortality  not  its  own,  yet  it  is  justly 
represented  as  the  source  of  Jife,  because  it  is  endued  with  the  plen- 
itude of  life  to  communicate  to  us  .  .  .  therefore,  he  showed  that  the 
fulness  of  life  dwelt  in  his  humanity,  that  whoever  partook  of  his  flesh 
'and  blood  might,  at  the  same  time,  enjoy  a  participation  of  life." 
I'he  explanation  thus  given  by  Calvin  has  been  superseded  by  con- 
ceiving of  this  presence  of  the  humanity  of  Christ  as  dynamic,  but  the 
fact  of  the  presence,  in  Calvin's  view,  remains  undisputed. 

This  union  is  effected,  not  indeed  by  the  sacraments  ex  opere 
operate,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  on  the  subjective  condition  of  faith, 
and  through  the  word  and  sacraments  as  divinely  appointed  means  of 
grace.  The  word  and  the  sacraments  work  to  the  same  end,  the 
grace  offered  is  one  and  the  same  for  salvation  ;  it  is  offered  through 
the  word  and  confirmed  in  the  believing  use  of  the  sacraments.  How 
this  can  apply  to  the  children  of  believers  in  the  use  of  baptism,  it  is 
not  necessary  here  to  attempt  to  explain.  It  is  sufficient  simply  to 
state  that,  according  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  as  well  as  the 
Reformed  Confessions  generally,  they  are  included  with  their  parents 
in  the  promise  of  the  covenant,  and  thus  entitled  to  the  sacrament  of 
baptism.  They  are,  therefore,  to  be  treated  and  trained  as  in  the 
covenant,  and  there  is  thus  a  basis  prepared  for  religion  as  educa- 
tional, giving  us  the  idea  of  Christian  nurture  as  related  to  baptism,  a 
great  truth,  which  even  among  Pedobaptist  churches  is  so  much 
overlooked  at  the  present  day.  The  idea  that  Christianity  is  life,  and 
as  such  deeper  than  self-conscious  experience,  in  the  sense  in  which 
only  adults  can  be  the  sul)jects  of  it,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  true 
Christian  culture  ;  and  only  as  this  is  held  can  infant  baptism  hold  its 
proper  meaning.  Apart  from  this  such  baptism  becomes  an  empty 
sign  and  gradually  passes  into  disuse,  or  remains  only  as  a  dead  tra- 
dition. In  presenting  this  as  a  Protestant  Reformed  doctrine,  we 
assume,  of  course,  the  necessity  of  faith  and  the  conscious  experience 
of  the  grace  of  God,  for  the  unfolding  of  the  Christian  life. 

Having  thus  referred  briefly  to  some  of  the  salient  points  in  the 
original  faith  of  the  German  branch  of  the  Reformed  Church,  it 
remains,  in  a  like  brief  and  general  way,  to  characterize  its  theology. 

It  is  the  province  and  task  of  theology  to  reduce  to  systematic  and 
scientific  form  the  dogmas  of  faith  derived  by  a  believing  church 
from  the  teachings  of  God's  word,  having  for  its  guide  and  ecclesi- 
astic authority  the  denominational  confession  which  it  rej^resents, 
and  relating  itself  to  the  present  conditions  of  the  Christian  life  as 
imfolding  itself  in  the  midst  of  historical  progress.  It  must,  therefore, 
not  only  expound  scientifically  the  form  of  doctrines  already  formu- 
lated and  as  formulated,  but  it  must  have  in  view  also  the  carrying 
forward  of  tliese  doctrinal  formulas  to  a  higher  plane  of  apprehension. 

Hence  theology  must  be  historical  and  progressive.     The  subject- 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  491 

matter  remains  ever  the  same  unchanging  revealed  truth,  but  its  appre- 
hension must  advance  with  the  progress  of  Christian  life,  and  in  oppo- 
sition to  new  forms  of  unbelief.  The  Protestant  theology  of  the 
nineteenth  century  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  the  same  as 
that  of  the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  century.  A  wonderful  progress 
has  been  made  in  history,  in  philosophy,  science,  in  social  problems 
during  the  three  centuries  that  now  lie  between  the  present  and  the 
age  of  the  Reformation.  Under  the  impulse  of  that  freedom  of 
thought  which  was  brought  in  with  the  Reformation,  the  great  modern 
systems  of  philosophy  have  arisen,  and  in  part  also  passed  away  to 
make  room  for  others  yet  to  arise  in  the  onward  progress  of  thought. 
During  these  centuries  the  Protestant  faith'  has  been  called  to  battle 
with  the  most  gigantic  form  of  error  and  unbelief  since  the  days  of 
Gnosticism — I  mean  Modern  Rationalism.  Like  a  great  wave  it 
swept  over  England,  France,  and  Germany.  As  the  smoke  of  the 
battle  passes  away,  we  behold  the  citadel  of  truth  still  standing,  and 
more  firm  than  ever.  The  Reformation  doctrines  become  clothed  in  the 
vigor  of  their  early  youth  ;  but  we  behold  great  changes  in  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  scientifically  formulated,  and  the  method  in  which 
they  are  defended. 

During  the  scholastic  period  of  Protestant  theology  in  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries,  the  defence  of  Christianity  rested  in 
an  extreme  and  exclusive  way  upon  the  Bible,  while  the  old  Reforma- 
tion doctrine  of  Christian  life  and  Christian  experience,  testifying  the 
presence  of  divine  grace  in  the  heart,  was  kept  comparatively  in  the 
background.  The  necessities  of  the  contest  revealed  to  the  Church 
that  Christians  have  not  only  the  Bible,  the  written  word  of  God,  for 
their  defence,  but  that  they  have  also  an  ever-living  Christ,  who  is  not 
only  over  and  above  the  Church,  but  also  in  the  Church,  as  he  was 
in  the  ship  on  stormy  Gennesaret.  A  reaction  took  place  which 
served  to  bring  more  to  the  front  again  the  material  principle  of 
Protestantism,  while  the  formal  principle  still  maintains  its  place. 

In  the  progress  of  German  theology,  especially  since  the  time  of 
the  philosopher  and  theologian,  Schleiermacher,  who  himself,  it  must 
be  granted,  mingled  much  in  his  teaching  that  is  very  far  from  being 
orthodox,  German  Reformed  theology,  in  common  with  German  the- 
ology generally,  has  made  great  account  of  the  Christological  Princi- 
ple in  organizing  its  system  of  doctrine.  The  Reformation  principles 
remain  undisturbed,  but  they  are  related  from  a  different  stand-point. 
And  this  change  has  come  not  by  theological  speculation,  but  in  a 
legitimate  historic  way.  The  assault  of  unbelief,  it  was  found,  directed 
its  force  not  only  against  the  Bible,  but  against  the  person  of  Christ, 
in  the  mythical  theory  of  Strauss  and  the  infidel  romance  of  Renan. 
Never  before  did  the  Church,  in  response  to  this  assault,  produce  a 
richer  literature  in  reference  to  the  person  of  Christ,  and  as  a  result 
the  doctrine  of  the  person  of  our  Lord  has  taken  its  place  as  central 
in  theological  science. 

In  the  person  of  Christ  the  primal  questions  and  problems  in  regard 


492  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  a  personal  Deity  are  solved.  The  question  of  this  age  between 
faith  and  unbelief,  it  is  sometimes  said,  turns  not  on  the  peculiarities 
of  the  Christian  religion,  but  on  that  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all  religions,  the  existence  of  a  personal  God.  It  is  a  struggle  between 
theism  and  atheism.  The  Christological  stand-point  puts  the  question 
just  the  other  way.  The  real  contest  is  between  Christism  and 
atheism,  Jesus  Christ  the  only  living  and  true  God,  or  no  God  ;  for 
out  of  Christ  God  is  forever  unknowable,  and  only  in  him  is  the 
Fatlierhood  of  God  absolutely  revealed.  We  mean  not  to  undervalue 
the  universal,  intuitive  consciousness  of  God  in  man,  nor  the  revela- 
tion in  nature,  reason,  and  conscience,  but  the  knowledge  of  God 
obtained  from  this  source  does  not  support  the  revelation  in  Christ, 
but  the  revelation  in  Christ  supports  it.  The  first  steps  of  all  true 
knowledge  of  God  must  begin  in  Christ,  and  the  greatest  progress  in 
this  knowledge  can  never  transcend  him.  He  is  the  Alpha  and  the 
Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  ending.  The  whole  contest  of  this 
age  in  regard  to  acknowledging  or  rejecting  belief  in  a  personal  God 
resolves  itself  absolutely  into  acknowledging  Christ  as  the  supreme 
Lord  of  the  universe,  over  all  God  blessed  forevermore  ! 

As  the  person  of  Christ  is  the  absolute  revelation  of  God,  so  also  is 
he  the  centre  and  source  of  the  work  of  Redemption.  There  are 
many  separate  doctrines  pertaining  to  soteriology,  growing  out  of  the 
work  of  Christ  for  man's  salvation,  and  it  is  often  disputed  which 
aspect  of  his  work  should  be  regarded  as  principal  and  central.  His 
incarnation,  his  active  and  passive  obedience,  his  death  on  the  cross, 
his  resurrection  and  ascension,  are  all  cardinal  facts,  but  they  all  find 
their  proper  significance  in  his  divine-human  person.  What  he  has 
done  for  fallen  man  receives  its  true  value  from  what  he  is.  The 
doctrine  of  the  atonement  has  given  rise  to  different  theories :  the 
primitive  theory  of  an  offering  made  to  Satan,  the  Mediaeval  Anselmic 
theory  of  satisfaction  to  God,  and  the  modern  governmental  and 
moral  suasion  theories.  Elements  of  truth  are  contained  in  all  of 
them,  but  as  held  separately  they  become  each  one  imperfect  and  de- 
fective. The  central  point  from  which  to  view  them  all,  and  to  unite 
and  harmonize  the  truth  in  them  all,  as  well  as  to  eliminate  th.eir 
errors,  is  the  person  of  Christ  as  Redeemer,  the  generic  Head  ol  a 
regenerate  race,  in  whom  the  separation  Lciween  God  and  man  is  over- 
come and  the  true  at-one-ment  accomplished. 

Chrifjt  is  not  only  the  means  of  salvation,  through  whom  redemption 
is  made,  but  he  is  also  the  source  of  salvation,  and  it  may  be  sug- 
gested that  the  metaphysical  questions  concerning  the  divine  will  and 
sovereignty  as  related  to  man's  salvation  must  here  find  their  solution. 
The  doctrine  of  the  divine  foreknowledge  and  foreordination  is  too 
clearly  revealed  in  the  word  of  God  to  be  questioned  and  doubted, 
and  the  Reformed  Church  has  no  disposition  to  suppress  it  simply 
because  human  reason  may  not  be  able  fully  to  comprehend  it ;  but 
the  Christological  principle  leads  us  to  regard  this  will  of  God  not  as 
abstract,  not  as  before  Christ  and  out  of  Christ,  but,  according  to  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  493 

wording  of  the  Reformed  Confessions,  in  Christ  he  hath  chosen  his 
people  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

The  harmony  of  the  divine  will  and  human  will,  involving  the 
question  of  human  freedom,  is  established  primarily  in  the  person  of 
our  Lord,  and  all  the  difficulties  in  reference  to  it  must  find  their 
solution  there.  On  the  plane  of  abstract  ratiocination  logic  ever  tends 
to  carry  us  either  towards  a  determinism  which  ends  in  fate,  or  towards 
indifferentism  which  lands  us  in  mere  blind  chance.  The  two  factors 
come  together,  the  divine  will  and  the  human  will,  harmoniously  in 
the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  and  his  life  presents  the  actual  solu- 
tion of  the  ajJi^arent  contradiction  between  necessity  and  freedom. 
There  the  question  may  be  studied  in  a  living  concrete  way,  and  if 
the  mystery  still  remains  for  human  reason,  the  fact  nevertheless  chal- 
lenges our  implicit  faith. 

We  might  bring  forward  other  examples  to  illustrate  the  manner  in 
which  the  principle  which  makes  the  person  of  Christ  central  in  the- 
ology, as  he  is  the  central  Sun  in  the  spiritual  universe,  serves  to 
organize  all  separate  doctrines  of  our  holy  religion  in  relation  to  this 
common  centre,  but  these  must  suffice. 

In  presenting  this  as  a  leading  characteristic  of  German  Reformed 
theology  we  mean  not  to  claim  it  as  peculiar  to  that  theology.  It  is 
characteristic  of  the  later  orthodox  German  theology  as  a  whole, 
which  made  common  cause  against  the  assaults  of  modern  rationalism. 
Nor  do  we  mean  to  hold  up  German  theology  as  free  from  serious 
faults  as  compared  with  the  theology  of  other  portions  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  The  German  Reformed  Church  in  this  country,  while  it 
has  cultivated  sympathy  with  the  fatherland  and  sought  to  receive 
from  it  all  that  is  good  and  true,  values  its  Reformed  birthright  of 
freedom  too  highly  to  bow  before  any  other  authority  than  the  word 
of  God.  We  hail  what  is  good  and  true  in  the  progress  of  Reformed 
theology  in  Scotland,  England,  Holland  and  other  countries  as  well, 
for  they  all  grow  out  of  one  great  common  heritage.  Much  less  do 
we  subordinate  theology  to  any  of  the  great  systems  of  philoso])hy  that 
have  arisen  in  Germany  in  the  modern  age.  Much  that  they  have 
produced  will  stand  as  permanent  acquisitions  to  philosophical  science, 
but  much  has  already  passed  away  and  much  will  yet  pass  away  as 
mere  hay  and  stubble.  The  data  of  Christian  theology  as  given  by 
revelation  stands  above  all  the  deductions  of  mere  reason.  But  the- 
ology never  can  ignore  philosophy  or  science.  Reason  and  natural 
truth  are  from  God  as  well  as  supernatural  revelation,  and  the  truth 
of  revelation  must  continually  authenticate  itself  more  and  more  in 
the  realm  of  philosophy  and  science  as  the  true  light  that  is  to  illu- 
mine all  truth.  Protestantism  stands  committed  from  the  beginning 
to  the  position  that  Christian  truth  is  able  to  jiermeate  and  mould  all 
forms  and  sjjheres  of  human  thought  without  external  force  or  com- 
pulsion, and  without  resorting  to  any  assumed  human  infallible  author- 
ity, and  therefore  it  must  meet  philosophy  and  science  by  the  power 
of  truth  a'lone.  The  experience  of  the  past  affords  good  encourage- 
ment that  the  triumph  over  error  is  not  uncertain. 


494  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

In  accepting  what  we  have  designated  as  the  Cliristological  princi- 
ple in  its  theology,  however,  the  German  Reformed  Church  does  not 
undervalue  the  importance  which  it  has  always  attached,  in  common 
with  all  the  Reformed  Churches,  to  the  formal  principle  of  Protes- 
tantism, the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  j^ractice,  and  next  to 
this  the  authority  of  its  Reformation  Confessions  as  in  harmony  with 
the  Reformed  Confessions  generally. 

"  Zwingli  begins,"  we  are  told  in  the  Creeds  of  Christendom  by 
Dr.  Schaff,  "with  the  objective  (or  formal)  principle  of  Protestant- 
ism, namely,  the  exclusive  and  absolute  authority  of  the  Bible  in  all 
matters  of  Christian  faith  and  practice.  The  Reformed  Confessions 
do  the  same  ;  while  the  Lutheran  Confessions  start  with  the  subjective 
(or  material)  principle  of  justification  by  faith  alone,  and  make  this 
'the  article  of  a  standing  or  falling  church.'"  While  both  these 
divisions  of  Protestantism  alike  hold  to  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  as  above  all  human  traditions,  the  Reformed  Churches  have 
always  been  distinguished  for  the  emphasis  they  placed  upon  this 
truth.  And  the  German  Reformed  Church  claims  here  to  stand  fully 
abreast  with  her  sister  Reformed  Churches.  A  distinction  is,  indeed, 
made  between  the  objective  facts  of  revelation  and  the  written  word  ; 
between  what  is  sometimes  called  the  subject-matter  and  the  written 
form  of  revelation  ;  but  while  they  are  distinguished,  they  are  never 
separated.  The  incarnate  word  and  the  written  word  are  in  a  pro- 
found sense  one. 

There  was,  indeed,  as  we  have  already  seen,  a  tendency  in  the  sev- 
enteenth and  eighteenth  centuries  to  present  the  revelation  in  the 
written  word  in  a  somewhat  one-sided  way.  The  letter  of  Scripture 
seemed  to  be  substituted  in  the  place  of  the  living  Christ,  and  belief 
in  its  mere  doctrines  as  orthodox  was  too  much  identified  with  that 
living  faith  which  is  wrought  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Faith 
thus  became  mere  formal  orthodoxy.  And  the  defence  of  Christianity 
was  made  to  rest  entirely  in  the  proof  before  the  bar  of  reason  of  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scri])tures.  This  appeared  particularly  in  England 
in  the  contest  with  deism;  but  it  existed  also  in  Germany,  and  it 
required  a  revival  of  the  Christian  life  in  both  countries  to  direct 
attention  to  the  difference  between  a  formal,  lifeless  orthodoxy  and  a 
living,  experimental  Christianity.  But  while  the  Bible  in  this  way 
may  become  a  dead  letter,  and  reverence  for  it  turn  into  mere  Bibli- 
olatry,  the  truth  nevertheless  remains  that  the  word  of  God,  in  its 
true  sense  and  meaning,  in  its  internal  life  and  power,  is  of  funda- 
mental importance  for  the  faith  of  the  Church.  And  this,  not  merely 
because  we  are  dejjendent  upon  the  written  word  for  our  knowledge 
of  the  great  facts  of  Christianity — for  we  can  conceive  of  this  knowl- 
edge coming  down  to  us  more  or  less  correctly  through  an  unwritten 
tradition — but  because  the  Bible  is  the  ever-living  word  of  God,  and 
has  power  through  the  preaching  of  it  to  beget  faith  in  the  heart 
through  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

As  the  written  word  stands  in  Christ  the  Incarnate  Word,  so  Christ 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  495 

is  also  in  the  written  word.  "  My  words,  they  are  spirit  and  they 
are  life."  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  it  claims  this  life  and 
power  for  itself  in  passages  too  numerous  to  mention.  We  must 
regard  the  Bible,  therefore,  not  only  as  the  record  of  revelation,  the 
critical  standard  for  all  true  faith  and  right  practice,  but  also  as  carry- 
ing in  it  a  living  power  to  beget  and  to  nourish  faith.  It  is  not  only 
necessary  for  theologians  in  constructing  their  systems  of  theology, 
but  for  all  people  in  the  beginning  and  maintenance  of  Christian  faith 
and  Christian  life.  Systematic  theology  must,  therefore,  find  its 
basis  and  source  in  Biblical  theology,  or  in  the  Bible.  This  position 
is  accepted  and  maintained  in  the  theology  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church. 

She  cannot  look  with  indifference,  therefore,  upon  the  new  contest 
that  is  being  waged  against  the  Bible  from  the  standpoint  of  science. 
In  one  sense,  it  is  an  old  contest  that  has  been  waged  over  and  over 
again  in  the  history  of  the  Church  ;  but  the  new  appliances  that  have 
been  gained  by  the  wonderful  progress  of  science  and  worldly  knowl- 
edge generally  renders  it  in  some  sense  a  new  contest.  The  contest 
is  not  between  the  Bible  and  science,  but  between  the  Bible  and  a 
misuse  of  the  teachings  of  science  in  the  hands  of  unbelief.  More 
and  more  it  has  been  made  to  appear  that  the  light  of  the  word  of 
Crod  illumines  all  earthly  knowledge  ;  and  as  the  Church  apprehends 
more  and  more  the  hidden  depths  of  that  well-spring  of  heavenly  wis- 
dom, its  light  will  continue  to  shine  with  increasing  si)lendor  through 
the  night  of  a  fallen  world  until  the  heavenly  day  shall  dawn. 

While  then  we  characterize  the  theology  of  the  Reformed  Church 
as  Christological,  we  may  characterize  it  also  as  Biblical — Christ  and 
his  word,  one  and  inseparable. 

One  more  characteristic  of  German  Reformed  theology  to  which 
we  refer  is  what  we  may  designate  its  church ly  character,  or  the  ]:)la(;e 
and  importance  which  it  assigns  the  Church  in  the  redeeming  work 
of  Christ. 

As  to  the  general  position  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  on  this 
subject,  we  may  say,  that  it  is  fundamentally  in  harmony  with  that 
held  by  the  Reformed  Churches  generally.  It  recognizes  the  Church 
as  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  which  comprehends  in  its  communion 
all  true  believers  in  all  ages  of  the  world.  The  Reformation  teaching 
universally  brought  forward  a  distinction  between  what  was  designated 
as  the  visible  and  the  invisible  Church  in  opposition  to  the  Roman 
view,  which  identified  the  two.  This  distinction  may  be  made  from 
different  points  of  view.  It  may  be  made  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
divine  decrees,  making  the  invisible  Church  to  consist  of  the  elect. 
It  may  be  made  in  such  sense  as  to  undervalue  the  necessity  or  im- 
portance of  the  visible  Church.  In  German  Reformed  theology  it  is 
conceived  of  rather  in  the  sense  of  the  ideal  and  the  actual  church. 
The  fact  itself  of  a  distinction  is  recognized  in  the  Protestant  view  as 
a  necessary  inference  resulting  from  actual  history.  The  Jewish 
Church  evidently  fell   into  error  and   corruption,  and   the  Apostle 


496  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Paul  clearly  distinguishes  between  the  external  Israel  and  the  s{)iritual 
Israel.  The  Roman  Church  of  the  mediaeval  period  fell  into  error 
and  corruiJtion,  and  it  became  evident  that  the  organization  of  the 
Hierarchy  no  longer  properly  re];)resented  and  expressed  the  spiritual 
life  of  the  faithlul.  The  conclusion  was  rightly  drawn,  therefore, 
that  a  distinction  must  be  made  between  the  essence  and  the  form  of 
Ciiristianity.  Indeed,  the  Saviour  clearly  teaches  that  external  mem- 
bership in  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  does  not  always  and  neces- 
sarily imply  participation  in  the  spirit  and  life  of  that  kingdom. 

But  these  two,  the  visible  and  the  invisible,  the  internal  and  the 
external,  or  the  ideal  and  the  actual,  must  not  be*  separated,  in  the 
s|)irit  of  Donatism,  except  so  far  as  proper  and  wholesome  discipline 
may  be  required  to  preserve  the  purity  of  the  Church.  The  full  and 
final  separation  cannot  take  place  until  the  end  of  the  world.  Though 
the  Jewish  Church  tell  into  error  and  corruption,  yet  salvation  was  of 
the  Jews;  but  the  spiritual  life  of  the  old  organization  was  taken  up 
in  the  new  form  which  the  Church  assumed  in  its  Christian  form. 
Although  there  is  not  a  full  "parallel  between  the  two  cases,  yet  it  is 
sufficient  to  show  that  the  life  of  the  Christian  Church  at  certain 
epochs,  in  like  manner  emerges  from  the  old,  corrupt  form,  and 
passes  into  new  without  destroying  the  true  historical  continuity  of 
the  Church.  Thus  the  Church  continues  as  one  organic  body,  reach- 
ing down  through  all  the  ages  in  real  historical  succession,  and 
extends  into  all  lands  without  losing  its  true  spiritual  unity.  There 
may  be  different  external  organizations,  while  there  is  one  orgaiusm. 

'Fhe  importance  attached  to  the  Church  by  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism appears  in  the  fact  that  it  is  treated  of  in  the  second  part, 
which  exijounds  the  way  of  redemption,  and  not  in  the  third  part, 
which  treats  of  tliankfulness,  from  which  we  may  infer  that  the  Church 
i^  not  merely  a  union  of  those  who,  without  it,  have  already  received 
the  gifts  of  divine  grace,  but  that  membership  in  it  and  the  enjoyment 
of  its  ordinances  i)ertain  necessarily  to  the  reception  and  growth  of 
the  grace  of  salvation.  This  importance  appears  also  in  the  place 
that  is  given  in  the  catechism  to  infant  baptism,  and  in  the  attention 
paid  by  the  Church,  from  the  beginning,  to  catechization,  and  the 
meaning  attached  to  the  rite  of  confirmation  in  receiving  catechumens 
into  full  communion  in  the  Church,  and  admitting  them  to  the 
Lord's  Supper.  It  appears  in  the  place  that  is  given  to  the  Apostles' 
Creed  in  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  recognizing  the  proper  use  of 
this  form  of  tradition  in  the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures.  It  appears 
in  the  retaining  of  liturgical  forms  in  the  public  worship  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, in  the  observance  of  the  leading  Church  festivals,  and,  in 
general,  in  the  conservative  spirit  manifested  in  the  manner  in  which 
ancient  and  venerable  churchly  Usages  are  retained. 

We  may  not  say,  perha])s,  that  more  importance  is  thus  attached  to 
the  Church  in  its  visible  character  than  the  words  of  Calvin  express 
so  strongly,  where  he  says  of  it,  that  "  there  is  no  other  way  of  entrance 
into  life,  unless  we  are  conceived  of  her,  born  of  her,  nourished  at 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  497 

her  breast,  and  continually  preserved  under  her  care  and  government 
till  we  are  divested  of  this  mortal  flesh,  and  become  like  the  angels;" 
or  where  he  says:  ''As  it  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  believe  that 
Church  which  is  invisible  to  us,  and  known  to  God  alone,  so  this 
Church,  which  is  visible  to  us,  we  are  commanded  to  honor,  and  to 
niaintain  communion  with  it,"  and  that  "out  of  her  bosom  there 
can  be  no  hope  of  remission  of  sins,  or  any  salvation  ; "  but  in  actual 
fact  and  history,  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  is  more  churchly 
in  doctrine,  customs  and  usages,  than  other  Reformed  Churches  hold- 
ing to  the  Presbyterian  polity. 

It  is  known  to  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  internal  history 
of  the  Reformed  Church  in  this  country,  that  this  formed  one  of  the 
subjects  in  the  long  theological  controversy  which  has  agitated  that 
body,  and  which  has  now  happily  come  to  a  close.  In  the  remarks 
I  have  made  upon  it,  I  have  endeavored  to  set  forth,  not  the  view  of 
any  party  or  school,  but  what  is  now  the  attitude  of  the  whole  Church. 
The  controversy  forms  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  Reformed  Theology, 
in  this  country,  which  belongs  to  the  past.  The  return  of  reconcilia- 
tion and  peace  finds  us  a  united  Church — our  unity,  though  strained 
and  tested,  has  never  been  broken — and  the  good  results  are  already 
manifest  in  the  increased  prosperity  which  attends  the  practical  work 
committed  to  her  care. 

Our  Church  has  inherited  a  precious  legacy  from  her  past  history. 
From  the  mountains  of  Switzerland,  where  the  voice  of  Zwingli,  and 
his  fellow  Swiss  Reformers,  first  sounded  the  note  of  the  Reformation  ; 
from  her  home  in  the  Palatinate,  where  she  was  nourished  under  the 
care  of  the  pious  Elector,  and  the  teachings  of  the  disciples  of 
Melanchthon  and  Calvin  ;  from  scenes  of  persecution,  where  her 
people  sealed  their  faith  by  martyrdom;  and  through  the  struggles 
and  trials  of  her  early  settlers  in  this  country,  pilgrims  from  the 
fatherland,  and  exiles  for  conscience  sake,  she  has  gone  forth  and 
lived  and  prospered  under  the  care  of  the  great  head  of  the  Church, 
and  she  comes  in  this  Alliance,  through  her  humble  representatives, 
to  present  her  greeting  in  this  joyous  reunion  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  throughout  the  world. 

COMMITTEE  ON  CREEDS  AND  CONFESSIONS. 

The  Council  next  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  special  re- 
port of  the  Committee  on  Creeds  and  Confessions. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Blaikie. — The  committee  unanimously  rec- 
ommend the  following  action :  "Resolved,  That  a  committee 
of  divines  from  the  various  branches  of  the  Reformed  or  Presby- 
terian Churches  embraced  with  this  Alliance  be  appointed  to 
consider  the  desirableness  of  defining  the  consensus  of  the  Re- 
formed Confession  as  required  by  our  Constitution,  and  to  report 
32 


498  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council."  And  then  follows  the  list 
of  the  proposed  members  of  the  committee.  Perhaps  I  may  be 
allowed  to  say  that  if  the  Council  shall  proceed  to  appoint  a 
committee,  I  shall  ask  them  to  withdraw  my  name,  which  ap- 
pears on  far  too  many  committees,  and  to  substitute  for  it  one 
much  better  qualified — Prof  Rainy. 

The  Rev.  A.  A.  Hodge,  D.  D..  of  Princeton,  N.  J.— I  take  the 
floor  at  this  time  because  it  was  by  my  motion  yesterday  that  the' 
vote  was  postponed  upon  this  question.  I  am  one — one  of 
quite  a  number,  I  am  sure — who  originally  doubted  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  going  further  with  this  matter ;  but  I  rise  now  for  the 
purpose  of  withdrawing  on  my  part  all  opposition  to  the  resolu- 
tion. I  would  rather  second  it,  and  vote  for  it  for  this  reason  : 
You  observe  that  the  resolution  is  simply  for  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  to  consider  the  desirableness  of  drawing  out  and 
stating  the  consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confession,  and  of  re- 
porting simply  upon  this  question  of  desirableness  to  the 
Council  which  is  to  meet  in  Belfast  four  years  from  this  time, 
I  am  sure  that,  as  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  amongst  us,  this 
matter  ought  not  to  be  settled  at  this  time,  and  that  it  can  best 
be  considered  by  this  committee,  and  that  no  harm  can  be  done 
by  the  committee  continuing  to  consider  it  for  four  year^.  But 
I  propose,  not  at  my  personal  instance,  but  after  conference  with 
Dr.  Schaff  and  Principal  Cairns,  the  convener  of  the  committee, 
that  there  be  added  to  it  the  Rev.  Principal  Rainy,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
J.  Marshall  Lang,  of  Glasgow,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nelson,  of  Geneva,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  of  New  York,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sloan, 
of  Allegheny. 

Princip.\l  Cairns. — I  regret  to  say  that  I  have  a  note  from 
Prof  P""lint,  expressmg  his  inability  to  act  on  the  committee, 
thus  :  "  I  shall  not  be  able  to  give  the  time  and  attention  which 
would  be  proper  and  necessary.  I  confess  that  some  of  the  rea- 
sons against  the  appointment  of  the  committee  appear  to  be 
weighty."  I  would  humbly  submit  that,  in  spite  of  this  letter, 
inasmuch  as  Prof  Flint  will  not  be  committed  to  anything,  and 
can  act  according  to  his  convictions,  as  all  of  us  must  do,  we 
.shall  do  ourselves  great  service,  and  do  Prof  P^lint  no  injus- 
tice, by  still  continuing  him  on  the  committee. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  499 

The  additions  moved  by  Dr.  Hodge  were  agreed  to  ;  the 
nominations  were  confirmed ;  and  the  report  as  so  amended  was 
adopted. 

The  Council  proceeded  to  a  discussion  upon 

BIBLE   REVISION. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Schaff. — The  subject  of  Bible  revision  should 
not  be  passed  over  in  silence.  There  is  a  practical  point  here 
involved  which  it  is  important  for  this  Council  to  consider  at 
least.  The  Council  has  merely  moral  influence,  not  authorita- 
tive ;  and  whatever  authority  it  may  acquire  hereafter,  must  be 
acquired  by  its  own  merits,  by  hard  work.  But  here  is  a  prac- 
tical question  for  us  which  may  give  very  useful  work  to  it. 

You  all  know  that  this  revision  of  the  English  version  of  the 
Scriptures  is  not  a  work  for  scholars,  but  is  intended  for  the 
churches,  and  for  all  parties  in  the  churches  using  the  present  au- 
thorized version  of  King  James.  Sooner  or  later  this  revised 
version,  which  is  made  by  representatives  of  all  English-speaking 
Protestant  churches  in  England,  Scotland,  and  in  this  country, 
will  come  before  the  various  Synods  and  General  Assemblies, 
which  are  represented  in  this  Council,  for  consideration.  The 
New  Testament  portion  is  nearly  completed.  Two  more  sessions 
will  finish  it;  they  will  be  held  in  October  in  New  York.  It  is 
expected  that  next  February  the  New  Testament  thus  revised 
will  be  published  by  the  University  press  of  Oxford,  and  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  various  churches  for  their  consideration. 

Now  I  respectfully  submit  if  it  is  not  wise  and  expedient  for 
this  Council  to  ask  the  different  churches  here  represented  to  take 
this  New  Testament  into  consideration  at  the  earliest  possible 
opportunity.  I  profess  I  would  like  to  see  more  Presbyterian 
churches  take  part  in  this  great  question.  It  is  gratifying  to 
know  the  fact  that  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  a  Church,  in 
England,  Scotland  and  the  United  States,  has  for  the  first  time 
in  history  a  formal  share  in  the  work  of  giving  the  word  of 
God  in  the  English  language  to  English-speaking  people. 
The  present  version  was  made  by  the  Church  of  England  ex- 
clusively before  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  formally  organized 


Soo  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

in  England.  Now  this  revision  comes  before  the  world  as  much 
a  Presbyterian  work  as  the  work  of  the  Church  of  England. 
And  I  therefore  appeal  to  your  self-respect,  if  I  may  say  so,  to 
father  this  child  as  early  as  you  see  proper,  but  at  all  events,  to 
take  the  work  into  consideration.  If  you  do  not  like  it,  of  course 
you  will  reject  it.  It  depends  altogether  upon  the  pious  judg- 
ment of  the  churches  whether  this  new  version  shall  take  a 
place  along-side  of  the  old,  or  in  place  of  the  old  one  we  love 
so  much. 

You  need  not  be  afraid  that  this  revision  will  break  up  the 
sacred  associations  which  cluster  around  our  English  Bible.  It 
is  the  fundamental  rule  of  the  committees,  in  England  and  in 
this  country,  to  retain  the  same  idiom  and  vocabulary  in  the 
revision,  and  I  think  you  will  all  be  pleasantly  surprised  when 
you  see  the  book — that  it  will  read  like  the  good  old  book,  only 
a  little  better. 

The  Hon.  Judge  Strong  offered  the  following  resolution, 
which  was,  under  the  rules,  referred  to  the  Business  Committee : 

The  Council,  having  had  its  attention  called  to  the  revision  of 
the  English  Scripture  now  in  progress,  beg  leave  to  recommend  this 
work,  when  finished,  to  the  careful  and  candid  consideration  of  the 
various  churches  represented  in  this  body. 

Next  followed  a  discussion  on 

PRESBYTERIANISM  AND  EDUCATION. 

The  Rev.  G.  C.  Hutton,  D.  D.,  of  Paisley,  Scotland. — The 
interesting  and  able  paper  that  was  read  by  Principal  Kin- 
ross seemed  to  me  to  contain  a  very  strong  expression  of  ap- 
proval of  the  system  of  common  school  education  which  he 
described  as  prevailing  in  New  South  Wales,  and  implied  a 
rather  strong  condemnation  of  an  opposite  system  which  was 
called  entirely  secular.  In  Scotland  we  have  had  considerable 
controversy  upon  that  subject.  I  cannot  regard  the  system 
which  he  described  as  prevailing  in  his  land,  and  which  prevails 
elsewhere,  and  in  some  respects  in  Scotland  also,  as  entirely  to 
be  commended.  I  think  that  it  does  not  at  all  belong  to  the 
State  to  provide  for  the  religious  education  of  the  people,  either 
the  children  or  the  adults.     The  description  which   Principal 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  501 

Kinross  gave  of  the  New  South  Wales  plan  seems  to  show  that 
it  was  a  mutilated  Scripture  alone  which  was  recognized  in  that 
system ;  the  whole  Scripture  was  not  recognized,  but  only  some 
portions  of  it.  Here,  then,  is  the  supreme  authority  in  education 
refusing  to  recognize  the  full  Scripture. 

Then  as  to  the  condemnation  implied  of  what  is  called  the 
secular  system,  I  think  that  condemnation  is  not  justifiable. 
The  secular  system  is  simply  a  system  by  which  we  divide  the 
labor  in  education.  It  is  not  education,  but  a  contribution  to 
the  schooling  of  the  children.  It  is  in  itself  a  good  thing,  and 
it  may  be  allowable  for  "the  State  to  say,  we  shall  contribute.  It 
is  a  good  thing,  and  we  shall  insist  upon  the  children  enjoying 
it.  In  that  I  can  see  nothing  contrary  to  the  interests  of  religion. 
In  that  I  can  see  what  is  entirely  consistent  with  the  honor  of 
religion,  and  I  do  not  therefore  like  at  any  time  to  hear  it  con- 
demned. 

It  is  supposed  that  in  this  system  is  danger  to  moral  or  indi- 
vidual freedom.  Why,  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  whether  hold- 
ing office  under  the  church  or  under  the  State,  we  retain  an 
individual  liberty  which  we  cannot  renounce,  an  individual 
liberty  of  discussion  as  to  what  we  shall  say  to  our  fellow-men 
or  to  children  whom  we  have  under  our  church,  and  under  such 
a  system  called  secular.  It  only  needs  that  there  shall  be  the 
right  man  put  into  position.  He  shall  know  what  to  say  with 
the  wisdom  that  the  occasion  demands.  He  is  not  shut  up,  and 
dare  not  be  shut  up,  by  any  arrangement,  against  saying  to  a 
child  that  which  he  thinks  needful  in  the  interests  of  morality 
and  of  school  discipline.  I  hold,  therefore,  that  to  deduce  a  sort 
of  illustration  of  that  kind,  is  really  to  caricature  a  system  which, 
if  honestly  carried  out,  may  be  very  fruitful  to  the  best  interests 
of  common  school  education  in  the  colonies  and  in  other  parts 
of  the  world.  I  think  a  good  healthy  system  of  common  school 
education,  in  which  religious  instruction  is  not  made  formally  a 
branch,  is  lawful,  is  consistent  with  all  the  interest  of  religion, 
and  is  conducive  to  the  glory  of  God. 

The  Rev.  James  Dodds,  D.  D.,  of  Glasgow. — I  come  from 
Scotland  as  well  as  Dr.  Hutton,  and  we  have  met  upon  plat- 


502  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

forms  and  discussed  this  subject  before.  And  although  not  upon 
many  other  points,  our  views  here  are  as  wide  as  the  poles 
asunder.  I  believe  in  the  old  Scottish  traditions — religious  in- 
structions in  the  schools,  not  confined  to  any  particular  hour  of 
the  day,  but  interpenetrating  the  whole  work  of  the  school. 
That  made  Scotland  what  she  was  in  the  past,  and  that  has  made 
her  such  a  mother  in  Israel  as  she  has  become. 

We  have  to  some  extent  had  our  own  system  mutilated.  In 
1872,  an  act  was  passed  which  placed  religion  in  a  different  posi- 
tion from  what  it  had  occupied  before.  The  multiplication  of 
our  rival  denominations  in  Scotland,  and  the  difficulties  which 
prevailed  throughout  the  country  in  consequence,  rendered  it 
necessary  that  there  should  be  some  modification  of  the  old 
system  ;  but  we  have  not  broken  off  altogether  from  the  old 
traditions. 

The  preamble  of  the  act  of  Parliament,  under  which  Scottish 
education  is  conducted,  contains  this  proviso-:  that  religious  in- 
struction shall  be  conducted  according  to  use  and  wont  in  Scot- 
tish schools.  Under  that  proviso  of  the  preamble,  in  Glasgow, 
where  I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  member  of  the  school  board,  and 
in  other  districts  of  the  country,  satisfactory  religious  instruction 
is  given  in  the  schools.  However,  there  are  other  parts  of  the 
country  where  the  same  value  is  not  attached  by  those  who  rep- 
resent the  public  to  religious  instruction,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  the  unity  of  our  system  is  to  some  extent  broken ;  but  I 
should  be  sorry  to  be  in  this  Council  and  not  stand  up  and  say 
that  I  thank  God  we  still  can  act  under  the  old  traditions  in 
connection  with  this  new  act.  I  thank  God  that  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  religious  instruction  is  being  given.  There  is  a 
movement,  too,  in  many  of  the  churches  for  giving  it  more  satis- 
factorily than  is  the  case  in  some  districts;  and  I  hope  that  this 
movement  will  grow  and  strengthen. 

In  your  country,  I  am  sorry  to  find,  you  stand  very  much,  in 
many  of  the  States,  in  the  position  to  which  Dr.  Hutton  and 
others  would  fain  bring  Scotland.  I  hope,  however,  that  you 
will  be  alive  to  the  necessity  of  giving  religious  instruction  in 
the  schools;  that  you  will  not  merely  suffer  the  Bible  to  be  read 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  503 

without  note  or  comment.  I  asked  in  visiting  one  of  your 
schools  yesterday  in  Philadelphia,  what  was  meant  by  this  reading 
of  the  Bible  without  note  or  comment.  Would  it  be  considered 
lawful  to  give  a  poetical  definition  or  geographical  description 
when  such  is  required  to  illustrate  a  passage?  "  No,"  the  reply 
was  ;  "  there  must  be  no  such  thing.  It  would  be  considered  as 
an  infringement  of  the  regulation  which  provides  for  the  read- 
ing of  the  Bible  without  note  or  comment.  You  maybe  thank- 
ful that  the  Bible  is  not  proscribed  in  the  schools."  But  I  do 
not  think  this  is  a  satisfactory  position  for  the  Bible  to  occupy. 

Of  course  I  am  very  well  aware  of  the  many  difficulties  that 
prevail  in  connection  with  this  subject,  and  that  make  it  so  hard 
to  legislate  upon  it;  but  I  think  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
should  give  forth  no  uncertain  sound  in  the  matter.  If  we 
were  holding  fast  by  the  views  of  Knox  and  other  reformers  ;  if 
we  were  using  all  our  influence  for  God,  to  make  religious  in- 
struction regular  and  systematic  in  the  schools  ;  then  there  would 
not  be  so  many  complaints  as  we  have  heard  in  this  Council  of 
the  falling  away  of  members  of  the  working  class  and  other 
classes  of  the  community;  we  would  not  hear  such  complaints 
of  the  inefficiency  of  our  Sunday-schools  :  for  it  is  only,  I  believe, 
when  the  Sunday-schools  supplement  the  work  of  the  week-day 
schools  in  this  matter  of  religious  instruction  that  the  religious 
knowledge  of  the  people  will  be  placed  in  a' satisfactory  position. 

Rev.  Dr.  Milligan,  Pittsburgh. — It  is  not  in  Scotland  alone 
that  this  question  of  secular  education  is  absorbing  attention. 
It  is  a  question  that  is  agitating  from  centre  to  circumference 
this  great  country.  Secular  education  not  only  means  that  sec- 
tarian and  denominational  education,  but  everything  of  a  relig- 
ious character,  should  be  excluded  from  the  schools ;  and  the 
Book  of  God  is  the  only  book  that  is  condemned  by  it  as  unsuit- 
able to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  our  children.  This  is  only  a 
part  and  parcel  of  the  communistic  infidelity  which  aims  to 
sweep  every  Christian  element  out  of  our  nation.  It  is  an  effort 
to  divorce  the  community  from  God,  from  his  religion,  and  from 
all  that  is  holy  in  the  history  of  our  race.  According  to  it  we 
may  not  even  interpret  the  meaning  of  the  geographical  terms; 


504  THE  rRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

everything  that  touches  upon  rehgion  must  be  exckided.  Why? 
Because,  forsooth,  our  pubHc  schools  are  supported  by  the  con- 
tributions of  some  that  are  unbehevers  as  well  as  those  that  are 
Christians. 

Now,  I  ask,  for  what  purpose  was  the  public  school  sys- 
tem inaugurated  ?  Why  was  the  public  school  established 
in  our  country  ?  It  was  in  order  to  prepare  our  children  for 
being  mature  citizens  and  intelligent  members  of  society  ;  it 
was  to  educate  them.  And  I  ask  you  if  a  man  is  all  made  up 
of  mere  intellect?  I  ask  you  if  there  is  not  a  moral  and  spiritual 
nature  in  man  that  goes  to  make  the  element  of  greatness  ?  I 
ask.  If  you  deprive  a  man  of  moral  culture  and  moral  training 
along  with  his  intellectual  training,  whether  you  do  not  only 
thereby  prepare  him  to  be  the  sharper  scoundrel  and  the  greater 
rascal?  The  man  that  cannot  write,  cannot  forge;  the  man  that 
is  not  capable  of  intellectual  power  and  exercises  will  be  in- 
capable of  a  thousand  wickednesses  that  an  educated  man  who 
is  taken  away  from  Christianity  and  away  from  God  will  be  capable 
of  perpetrating.  The  question  is  simply  here  as  our  Lord  has 
put  it :  "  He  that  is  not  for  me  is  against  me."  And  of  all 
things,  education  that  does  not  lead  us  toward  God,  leads  us 
away  from  him. 

Without  Christianity,  what  would  our  race  be?  What  is  the 
world  where  Christianity  has  not  penetrated  ?  Where  has  the 
liberty  of  the  world  been  born  and  cradled  and  developed  ?  Has 
it  not  been  where  the  Reformation  was  successful — in  Switzer- 
land, on  those  Alpine  heights  ;  in  Scotland,  on  those  moors  and 
those  rocky  regions,  where  men  were  trained  up  in  the  knowl- 
edge and  culture  and  fear  of  the  Lord  ?  Was  it  not  thence  that 
our  land  got  its  grandeur  and  glory  ?  Martin  Luther  was  just 
nine  years  old  when  this  land  was  discovered,  and  for  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  popery  endeavored  to  colonize  it,  and  failed. 
It  was  when  the  Puritans,  the  Scotchmen,  the  Hollanders,  and  the 
Huguenots,  who  were  hunted  from  their  own  land  by  the  fires 
of  persecution,  came  to  find  an  asylum  here,  that  the  tree  of  lib- 
erty was  planted,  and  our  nation  derived  the  great  central  idea 
that  made  us  capable  of  being  a  free  republic. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  505 

Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — I  am  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of 
Dr.  Milligan's  remarks,  and  feel  to  the  bottom  of  my  soul  the 
same  sentiment  in  regard  to  the  necessities  of  religious  educa- 
tion; but  I  would  regret  extremely  to  have  our  friends  from  for- 
eign lands  suppose  that  there  is  any  city  in  this  Union  in  which 
the  law  is  so  written,  or  so  accepted,  as  to  exclude  religion  from 
the  schools  in  the  sense  in  which  he  has  conveyed  it  to  this  As- 
sembly. I  think  that  the  view  which  he  has  given  would  repre- 
sent us  as  a  worse  than  heathen  land. 

There  is  not  any  part  of  the  country  where  we  labor  under 
greater  disabilities  on  this  subject  than  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  one-half  of  the  population  is  Roman  Catholic,  where  we 
have  more  Irish  than  they  have  in  Dublin,  and  more  Jews  than 
they  have  in  Jerusalem.  And  yet  there  is  not  a  school  in  the 
city  of  New  York  that  is  conducted  on  the  principles  represented 
by  my  beloved  friend,  Dr.  Milligan — not  one.  There  is  not  a 
school  in  the  city  of  New  York  where  the  Bible  may  not  be 
read,  and  where  such  instruction  may  not  be  given  as  tends  to 
the  inculcation  of  sound  principles  of  Christian  morality — not 
one.  And  I  have  been  in  those  schools  myself  with  the  Mayor 
of  the  city  of  New  York  when  he  read  the  word  of  God,  and 
when  I  have  followed  with  the  same  sort  of  an  address  as  I  am 
pleased  to  give  to  a  Sunday-school  when  I  address  it ;  and  there 
we  have  sung,  with  Roman  Catholic  teachers  and  scholars,  the 
choicest  and  sweetest  of  the  Moody  and  Sankey  hymns.  What 
is  done  in  the  city  of  New  York  I  suppose  may  be  done  in  Pitts- 
burg, where  Dr.  Milligan  lives,  and  in  any  other  city  in  this 
country. 

Dr.  Milligan. — Let  me  ask  if  the  school-board  of  Cincinnati 
has  not  excluded  the  Bible  from  the  schools,  and  if  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Ohio  has  not  sustained  that  board  ? 

*Dr.  Prime. — I  speak  for  the  city  of  New  York;   Cincinnati 
must  speak  for  itself. 

Dr.  Milligan. — I  hope  that  the  editors  of  New  York  hear 
what  is  going  on  in  our  country. 

The  Council  adjourned,  after  devotional  exercises,  until  this 
afternoon  at  2.30  o'clock. 


So6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

September  ^ih,  2.30  p.  m. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order,  in  the  Academy  of  Music, 
by  the  Rev.  James  M.  Rodgers,  of  Londonderry,  Ireland,  Pres- 
ident. 

After  devotional  services,  the  Rev.  D.  D.  Bannerman,  M.  A., 
of  Perth,  Scotland,  read  the  following  paper  on  the 

GROUNDS  AND   METHODS   OF   ADMISSION  TO   SEALING 
ORDINANCES. 

The  two  meanings  in  which  I  shall  chiefly  use  the  word  ''  Church  " 
in  this  paper  are  those  regarding  which  there  is  general  agreement  in 
Reformed  Christendom. 

1.  The  "  Church  "  means  in  Scripture  the  whole  company  of  the 
elect — "all  who  have  been,  are,  or  shall  be  gathered  into  one  under 
Christ  the  Head."*  ^'■Ecclesia  tmiversalis,''''  says  Luther,  quoting 
with  emphatic  approval  words  of  John  Huss,  which  had  been  con- 
demned by  the  Church  of  Rome,  '■'■  est prcedestinatorum  iiniversitas.''^ 

This  "General  Assembly  and  Church  of  the  first-born,  which  are 
written  in  heaven,"  all  agree  to  call  the  "  Church  Invisible  "  in  this 
sense  at  least  that,  although  all  its  members  are  seen  and  known  of 
God,  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  now  be  gathered  into  one  place, 
or  that  each  should  be  seen  and  known  certainly  by  the  eye  of  man. 

2.  The  word  Church  in  Scripture  means  a  society  or  fellowshiij  in 
any  place  of  professed  believers,  or  "  visible  saints" — to  use  the  old- 
fashioned  phrase — meeting  together  statedly  for  worship,  and  visible 
in  their  associated  capacity  to  the  eyes  of  men.|  It  is  not  needful 
for  our  present  purpose  to  inquire  whether  this  society  is  to  be  con- 
fined to  the  single  congregation  worshipping  together,  or  whether,  as 
Presbyterians  believe,  there  is  Scripture  warrant  for  saying  that  the 
principle  of  representation  may  come  in,  and  the  unity  and  responsi- 
bilities of  the  Church  visible  be  carried  further.  Nor  need  we  refer 
now  to  that  doctrine  of  the  catholic  visible  Church,  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  on  earth,  which  holds  so  marked  a  place  in  the  Westminster 
standards,  and  in  the  thoughts  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  divines  of 
the  seventeenth  century. § 

We  have  no  occasion  in  this  paper  to  go  beyond  the  two  senses  of 
the  word  now  indicated,  using  it  to  denote, y?rj-/,  the  whole  company 
of  those  who  are  Christ's ;  and  secondly — what  all  admit  to  be  the  //;/'// 
at  least,  of  the  Church  as  manifested  on  earth — the  worshipping  con- 

*  Conf.,  c.  XXV.,  I. 

f  K6<;tlin,  Luther's  Lehre  von  der  Kirche,  Stutlg.,  1853,  p.  9. 

j  Owen,  "  Works  "  (Goold's  ed.),  xv.,  252  f.  262,  320  f.  Bannerman,  "  The  Church 
of  Christ,"  I.  II  f.,  15. 

§  Walker,  "  Theolocjy  and  Theologians  of  Scotland,"  Edinb.,  1S72.  Lect.  iv., 
*'  Doctrine  of  the  Visible  Church." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  507 

gregation,  gathered  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  joined  together  on  the 
basis  of  some  common  relation  to  him.  What  kind  of  relation,  and 
how  to  be  tested,  is  what  we  shall  have  to  consider  presently. 

The  Church,  therefore,  is  essentially  a  fellowiiiip — a  cotmmttiion. 
It  consists  of  those  "called  out" — as  the  name  ixx-Kr^ri.o.  suggests — 
from  the  promiscuous  multitude,  and  gathered  togetJur  for  common 
ends.  And  in  the  first  and  highest  sense  the  Church  is  essentially, 
and  from  its  very  nature  as  defined,  a  "  pure  communion." 

Setting  aside  for  the  present  such  cases  as  that  of  elect  infants,  and 
keeping  to  that  of  members  in  complete  standing,  the  true  Church  as 
existing  on  earth  is  the  fellowship  of  true  believers  with  their  Lord 
and  with  each  other,  and  of  such  only.  "All  saints  who  are  united 
to  Jesus  Christ,  their  Head,  by  his  Spirit  and  by  faith,  have  fellowship 
with  him  in  his  graces,  sufferings,  resurrection,  and  glory.  And  being 
united  to  one  another  in  love,  they  have  communion  in  each  other's 
gifts  and  graces."*  If  any  man  is  not  a  true  believer,  he  is  not  of 
that  fellowship.  "If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, "he 
is  under  the  anathemaf  of  that  "  holy  catholic  Church,  which  is 
invisible." 

"The  Church,"  said  Melanchthon,J  in  that  defence  of  the  great 
Reformation  Confession  of  Augsburg,  which  became  itself  a  standard 
in  the  derman  Church,  "the  Church  is  primarily — before  all  else — 
the  society  of  those  who  have  faith  and  the  Holy  S])irit  in  their 
he5.rts."  "  Es  weiss,  Gottlob  ein  Kind  von  sieben  Jahren,"  Luther 
puts  it  in  his  emphatic  way,  "was  die  Kirche  sei.  namlich  die  heiligen 
Glaiibigen,  und  die  Schiiflein,  die  ihres  Hirten  Stimm  hiiren."  §  All 
Reformed  Christendom  holds  that  the  Church,  in  its  ideal  and  in  its 
true  constituency — "  ecclcsia  qitce  re  vera  est  coram  Deo  "  (Calvin) — is 
and  must  be  a  pure  communion. 

But  then  it  is  as  universally  admitted  that,  in  point  of  fact,  that  is  not 
realized  on  earth.  Whenever  you  pass  from  "  saints  united  to  Christ 
by  his  Spirit  and  faith,"  to  "saints  by  profession,"  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  an  element  of  uncertainty  comes  in,  do  what  you  will 
to  avoid  it.  It  is  owned  on  all  hands  that,  as  there  was  a  traitor  among 
the  twelve,  and  an  Ananias  and  Sapphira  in  the  Pentecostal  Church, 
so  there  may  be,  and  generally  are,  men  and  women  not  real  believers 
in  every  worshipping  congregation  in  this  world,  and  that  the  solemn 
ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  "  the  communion  " — which,  from  its 
very  nature  and  name,  ought  to  be  the  sign  and  embodiment  of  the 
truest  fellowship — is  actually  partaken  of  by  not  a  few  who  have  no 
part  or  lot  in  the  matter  of  salvation. 

*  Conf.,  c.  xxvi.,  I. 

f  I  Cor.  xvi.,  22. 

I  Apol.  Conf.,  Alio;,  iv.  So  in  the  early  editions  of  his  "  Loci  :  "  "  Ecclesia  proprie 
et  ijrincipaliter  sij^nificat  congrefjationem  justonim,  qui  vere  crcduiit  Chri>-to  et  sancti- 
ficantur  Spiritu  Chrisli."  Cf.  Jul.  Miiller,  "  Dogmatische  AlihraivJIunfien,"  Biemen, 
1870,  pp.  297.  Krauss,  "  Protestant  Dogma  von  der  unsichtbaren  Kirche,"  Gotha, 
1876,  pp.  34-42. 

§  Art.  Schmalk,  cf.  Calvin,  /ns/.,  lib.  iv.  c.  I.  3,  7. 


5o8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Further,  it  is  almost  as  generally  allowed  that  this  involves  serious 
guilt  on  the  part  of  members  or  office-bearers,  or  both. 

Well,  the  subject  set  down  for  this  afternoon  calls  us  to  consider: 
In  what  light  are  we  to  look  upon  this  state  of  things,  and  how  ought 
it  practically  to  be  dealt  with  ?  If  the  Church  on  earth  ought  to  be 
a  "pure  communion,"  a  fellowship  of  true  believers  only,  by  what 
means  is  that  to  be  brought  about  or  aimed  at  ?  Or,  translating  these 
questions  into  the  ecclesiastical  language  of  the  Programme :  What 
are  the  Scriptural  grounds  and  methods  of  admission  to  sealing 
ordinances  ? 

What  that  last  phrase  means  I  need  not  pause  to  explain  in  this 
Council.  "  Sacraments,"  as  the  Westminster  Confession  expresses  it, 
"are  holy  signs  and  seals  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  immediately  in- 
stituted by  God,  to  represent  Christ  and  his  benefits,  and  to  confirm 
our  interest  in  him;  as  also  to  put  a  visible  difference  between  those 
that  belong  unto  the  Church  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  solemnly 
to  engage  them  to  the  service  of  God  in  Christ  according  to  his 
word  " — c.  xxvii.  i.  And  Iwtii  the  sacraments  of  the  New  Testament 
are  rightly  included  by  the  Programme  Committee  in  the  designation 
of  the  subject,  because  the  question  of  qualifications  for  membership 
in  the  visible  Church  is  equally  raised  by  both.  Except  as  regards 
the  relative  order  of  the  two  ordinances — a  point  which,  though  it 
greatly  disturbs  our  Baptist  brethren,*  happily  creates  no  practical 
difficulty  for  us — to  ask  what  is  needful  in  an  applicant  for  adult  bap- 
tism is  the  same  thing  as  to  ask  what  is  needful  in  an  applicant  for 
admission  to  the  Lord's  table. 

With  reference  to  baptism  as  dispensed  to  infants,  the  general  ad- 
mission among  competent  theologians  that  adult  baptism  forms  the 
normal  instance  of  the  administration  of  this  sacrament, f  makes  it 
suitable  to  treat  the  case  of  infants  separately,  and  in  the  light  of 
principles  reached  in  discussing  the  general  question.  Many  difficult 
and  delicate  practical  points  will  thus  be  best  approached. 

On  what  principles,  then,  ought  sealing  ordinances  to  be  admin- 
istered? What  is  the  mind  of  Christ,  the  Head,  for  his  church,  office- 
bearers, and  members  in  this  thing?  For  it  is  clear  that  two  classes 
of  questions  naturally  arise,  questions  for  the  Church  or  its  representa- 
tives who  admit  in  its  name,  and  questions  for  the  person  seeking  ad- 
mission to  the  communion  of  the  Church.  We  may  ask — ist.  What 
sort  of  persons  are  the  office-bearers  justified,  before  God,  in  receiv- 

*  Comp.  on  the  one  side  And.  Fuller,  "  On  Terms  of  Communion,  Works,"  Lond., 
1837,  Vol.  v.,  pp.  288-31 1  ;  and  on  the  other  Robert  Hall,  "  On  Terms  of  Commun- 
ion, Works,"  Loncl.,  1831,  Vol.  II.  The  question  discussed  is  not,  as  might  be  sup- 
posed from  the  heading,  that  of  the  qualifications  for  church  membership  generally, 
but  simply  that  which  divides  the  "  strict  communion  Baptists  "  from  those  of  that 
denomination  who  advocate  "  free  "  or  "  mixed  "  communion,  the  former  party  ex- 
cluding from,  the  Lord's  table  all  Christians  not  baptized  by  immersion  at  full  age, 
and  the  latter  admitting  Christians  baptized  in  infancy. 

f  Cunningham,  "Works,"  Edin.,  1S63,  II.,  125  f.  Bannerman  "Church  of 
Christ,"  II.,  108  f. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  509 

ing  to  baptism  or  the  Lord's  table?  Or,  2d.  What  sort  of  persons 
are  themselves  justified  before  God  in  coming  forward  ?  The  two  ques- 
tions are  quite  distinct :  Was  it  right  in  Philip  the  Evangelist  to  admit 
Simon  the  Samaritan  soothsayer  to  the  communion  of  the  church? 
and — Was  it  right  in  Simon  himself  to  make  the  profession  in  con- 
nection with  which  he  was  admitted?* 

The  subject  is  an  important  one,  both  from  a  theoretical  and  a 
practical  point  of  view,  as  all  must  feel  who  have  studied  it,  and  the 
wide  literature  connected  with  it.  It  leads  into  many  difficult  and 
complicated  questions  in  both  spheres,  wliich  call  for  a  clear  under- 
standing and  a  firm  grasp  of  the  principles  of  God's  word  bearing 
upon  them,  and  no  little  Christian  wisdom  and  faithfulness  in  apply- 
ing those  principles. 

In  what  I  say  now  I  shall  confine  myself  very  much  to  \.\\q  grounds 
or  general  principles  of  admission  to  sealing  ordinances.  The  methods 
most  suited  to  give  effect  to  those  principles  may  be  better  brought 
out  in  conference,  or  under  the  topic  which  is  to  follow,  "  The  Prov- 
ince and  Use  of  Discipline." 

Two  things  are  obvious-  almost  at  a  glance  in  reading  the  words  of 
our  Lord  and  his  apostles  regarding  church  membership,  (i.)  There 
ought  to  be  discipline  in  the  Church,  a  certain  exercise  of  authority 
for  the  admission  or  exclusion  of  members,  as,  indeed,  no  society  re- 
quiring common  action  for  common  ends  can  possibly  subsist  in  an 
orderly  way  without  it;  and  (2)  There  may  be  an  excess  of  it.  It 
may  be  exercised,  even  from  praiseworthy  motives,  on  wrong  princi- 
ples and  by  incompetent  hands,  and  the  result  be  evil  in  the  Lord's 
eyes. 

For  example,  in  Matt,  xviii.  15,  our  Lord  tells  us  how  an  offending 
"brother,"  a  fellow-disciple,  is  to  be  dealt  with  about  his  trespass, 
ending  with  "but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the  church,  let  him  be  unto 
thee  as  an  heathen  man  and  a  publican."  And  on  the  other  hand,  in 
an  earlier  chapter  of  the  same  gospel  (xiii.  24-30,  36-43),  "the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  the  Church  as  manifested  in  this  world,  is 
likened  to  a  field  in  which  the  owner  sowed  good  seed,  but  an  enemy 
mingled  tares;  these  representmg  respectively,  as  our  Lord  expounds 
it,  "  the  children  of  the  kingdom  "  and  "  the  children  of  the  wicked 
one."  -And  when  the  servants  appeal  to  the  householder:  "Wilt 
thou  then  that  we  go  and  gather  them  up?"  his  answer  is,  "Nay: 
lest  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root  up  also  the  wheat  with  them. 
Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest;"  clearly  showing  this, 
at  least,  that  mistaken  zeal  for  the  purity  of  the  Church's  membersliip 
might  be  ready  to  use  means  for  that  right  end  which  were  not  right, 
which  would  do  more  harm  than  good,  and  were  against  the  will  of 
the  Church's  Head. 

In  point  of  fact,  two  extremes  in  this  matter  have  been  manifest  in 
the  history  of  the  Church. 

I.  There  have  been,  and  there  are,  communities,  nominally  Chris- 

*Acts  viii.  5-  24. 


5ro  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tian,  in  which  the  greatest  laxity  and  corruption  of  manners  have 
widely  prevailed,  without  any  remedy  being  sought  for,  or  any  gen- 
eral wish  for  it  being  apparent.  And  there  are  other  churches,  with 
many  signs  of  spiritual  life,  and  very  many  most  excellent  and  con- 
sistent Christians  in  their  ministry  and  membership,  where,  at  the 
same  time,  alongside  of  the  former,  we  see  many  others  whose  lives 
are  palpably  of  an  opposite  kind  ;  and  the  door  of  communion  is 
practically  open  to  any  who  desire,  from  whatever  motive,  to  enter, 
and  no  attempt  is  made  by  the  church — and  perhaps,  from  its  consti- 
tution and  circumstances,  no  attempt  is  practicable — to  exercise  upon 
those  within  its  pale  that  "  godly  discipline  of  the  primitive  church," 
the  absence  of  which  the  Church  of  England  deplores  every  year  in 
the  preface  to  the  Commination  Service. 

Everything  which  exists  generally  finds  some  one,  in  virtue  of  that 
fact,  to  produce  reasons  for  its  existence  and  for  its  right  to  continue 
to  be.  But  apart  from  that  tendency — which  is  far  from  being 
without  its  advantages — principles  which  would  open  the  Lord's  table 
to  men  not  even  professing  to  be  Christians  have  been  defended  by 
some  truly  good  and  able  men,  who  wer^  not  embarrassed  in  this 
matter  by  their  ecclesiastical  position,  and  who  were  of  a  thoroughly 
evangelical  spirit. 

It  may  not,  e.  g.,  be  so  well  known  to  all  members  from  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic  as  it  doubtless  is  here,  that  about  the  beginning 
of  last  century  a  theory  of  this  kind  was  propounded  by  Mr.  Stod- 
dard, the  grandfather  of  President  Edwards,  and  himself  an  eminent 
and  pious  man.  He  taught  that  ''unconverted  people,  as  such,  had 
a  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  the  Lord's  Supper;  "  that  "  those  who 
really  rejected  Christ,  and  disliked  the  gospel  way  of  salvation,  and 
knew  this  to  be  true  of  themselves,"  might  and  should  come  to  the 
sacrament,  and  be  admitted  by  the  church,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a 
converting  ordinance,  and  that  they  desire  to  get  a  blessing  from  it. 
Through  Mr.  Stoddard's  influence  these  views  were  widely  adopted 
by  the  ministers  and  people  of  New  England  ;  and  in  1750  Jonathan 
Edwards  himself  was  actually  deprived  of  his  charge  at  Northampton 
for  opposing  this  theory  and  urging  greater  purity  of  communion.* 
I  must  not  pause  now  to  point  out  how  this  theory  of  Stoddard's  was 
a  natural  reaction  from  the  previous  theory  and  practice  of  Inde- 
pendent churches  in  New  England,  but  may  just  say  in  passing  that 
as  few  evils  in  this  world  are  without  some  compensating  benefit,  so 
the  deplorable  injustice  by  which  Edwards  was  ejected  from  his  min- 
istry at  Northampton  had  two  good  results:  it  gave  us  his  great  treat- 
ise on  ■'  Qualifications  for  Communion  in  the  visible  Christian  Church," 
and  it  helped  at  least  to  make  him  a  Presbyterian. | 

*»<  Works,"  I.onri.,  1834,  Vol.  I.,  p.  clvii.  ff. 

f  "As  to  the  Pieshyteiian  form  of  church  government,"  he  wrote  in  July,  1750,  to 
Dr.  John  Erskine,  of  Edinburgh,  "  I  h.ave  long  been  perfectly  out  of  conceit  of  our  un- 
settled, independent,  confused  way  of  church  government  in  this  land  ;  and  the  Presby- 
terian way  has  ever  appeared  to  me  most  agreeable  to  the  word  ol  God  and  the  itason 
and  nature  of  things."     "  Works,"  ut  supra,  p.  clxiii. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  511 

II,  But  the  other  extreme — that  represented  by  the  servants  in  the 
parable — has  been  more  generally  attractive  to  men  of  a  devout  and 
earnest  spirit  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  why  it  should  have  been  so.  It  is 
a  true  and  lofty  thought  that  the  Church  of  Christ  in  its  ideal  is  es- 
sentially a  pure  communion,  of  those  "  washed  and  sanctified  and 
justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our 
God."  It  is  true  that  the  hypocrite  and  the  unbeliever  have  no  right 
to  join  themselves,  even  in  name,  to  its  fellowship  on  earth,  and  that 
all  lawful  and  scriptural  means  should  be  used  to  bring  this  home  to 
the  conscience  of  all  such  persons.  "  Do  we,"  a  Scottish  divine 
wrote  nearly  230  years  ago,  "in  opposing  your  doctrine  concerning 
the  necessary  qualifications  of  church  members  in  relation  to  external 
church  fellowship,  oppose  a  thing  because  it  is  such  as  it  ought  to  be? 
Nay,  we  but  oppose  you  who  make  the  door  of  the  visible  Church 
straiter  than  ever  the  Lord  made  it,  and  so  in  effect  disclaim  the  way 
allowed  by  God  himself  for  ordering  his  Church  as  not  wise  enough, 
nor  accurate  enough.  Or  do  we  set  ourselves  against  a  Church,  such 
as  you  describe,  consisting  of  all  truly  godly,  so  far  as  men  can  judge? 
God  forbid,  and  far  be  it  from  us.  Were  there  such  a  Church  in  the 
world,  it  would  be  very  dear  and  precious  in  our  estimation,  and  we 
should  bless  the  Lord  for  the  riches  and  power  of  his  grace  bestowed 
upon  them.  We  wish  from  our  souls  that  our  churches,  and  all  the 
churches  in  the  world,  were  of  such  a  complexion  and  constitution. 
And  we  acknowledge  that,  as  it  is  the  duty  of  every  professor  in  the 
visible  Church  in  the  sight  of  God  that  they  be,  not  only  'so  far  as 
men  can  judge,'  but  in  truth  and  in  deed  truly  gracious,  having  true 
saving  faith,  repentance  and  sanctification  ;  so  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
ministers  and  of  every  one  in  the  church,  according  to  their  station 
and  capacity,  to  endeavor  by  all  means  instituted  by  God  that  it  may 
be  so. ' ' —{^'^  Examination  of  Mr.  Lockyer'  s  Lecture  at  Edinburgh  (i  65 1 ) 
Concerning  the  Matter  of  the  Visible  Church.'^  Edin.,  1654,  103;  cf. 
Mailer  tit  supra,  386  f.) 

It  is  most  fit  and  right  that  Christian  men  and  women  should  be 
deeply  grieved  at  every  instance  in  which  one  called  a  brother  or 
sister  in  the  Lord  has  manifestly  yielded  to  unholy  impulses,  and  has 
brought  reproach  on  the  name  of  Christ  and  of  Christian  in  such  a 
way  that  even  "  the  love  that  hopeth  all  things  "  must  doubt,  or  more 
than  doubt,  whether  the  root  of  the  matter  were  ever  found  in  them. 

Unhai)py  instances  of  this  kind  may  multiply  in  the  experience  of 
a  Christian  man  ;  they  may  seem  to  thrust  themselves  in  his  way,  until 
he  is  greatly  saddened  and  disheartened.  Then  perhaps  he  turns  to 
others,  in  whose  lives  there  are  no  positive  offences  of  that  sort ;  but 
he  sees  them  eager  and  absorbed  in  worldly  things,  with  little  appar- 
ent warmth  or  interest  in  the  things  of  God  ;  and  he  says  within 
himself,  hastily,  but  not  unnaturally:  "These,  too,  are  sensual, 
having  not  the  Spirit."  Thus  he  comes  to  feel  as  if  he  could  not 
trust  those  with  whom  he  is  joined  in  outward  fellowship  for  sym- 
pathy in  the  spiritual  matters  which  he  has  most  at  heart.     He  looks 


512  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

round  him  in  the  congregation  on  a  communion  Sabbath,  and  sees 
one  and  another  there  whose  presence  seems  to  him  to  make  it  not  a 
pure  fellowship  in  which  the  Lord's  presence  and  blessing  might  be 
confidently  and  joyfully  expected. 

It  is  an  easy  step  from  this  point  to  the  conclusion  :  "  There  is 
something  far  wrong  in  this  state  of  things.  Some  different  principle 
ought  to  be  applied  to  secure  that  none  but  the  truly  converted  and 
spiritually  minded  shall  enter  the  church  as  members,  or  sit  at  the 
Lord's  table.  Should  not  the  church,  or  its  representatives,  lay  it  on 
their  conscience  to  receive  none  to  communion  unless  they  are  fully 
persuaded,  on  sufficient  evidence,  that  this  man  is  born  again,  and  is 
a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus?  "  This  is  what  is  generally  known  as 
the  Independent  theory  of  admission  to  sealing  ordinances.* 

And  then  a  further  question  will  arise  for  some  minds :  If  the 
Church  is  essentially  a  pure  communion,  does  not  impurity  in  its 
membership,  which  might  have  been  prevented,  destroy  the  essence 
of  a  church,  and  turn  away  all  divine  blessing  from  its  ordinances? 
And  ought  we  not  to  separate  from  any  professedly  Christian  society 
which  does  not  appear  to  us  a  pure  communion  in  this  sense  ;  and,  if 
absolute  purity  cannot  be  attained  on  earth,  at  least  "join  the 
purest  ?  "  Has  the  old  warning  no  application  here  :  "  Come  out  of 
her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  and  that  ye 
receive  not  of  her  plagues;  "  "  Come  out  from  among  them  and  be 
ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord  ;  and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing,  and  I 
will  receive  you  and  will  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my 
sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty." 

Many  of  us  are  familiar  with  such  reasonings  and  their  results,  in 
the  case  of  the  Plymouth  Brethren. 

Now,  such  a  line  of  thought  and  feeling  has  undoubtedly  much 
about  it  which  ought  to  awaken  genuine  sympathy  and  respect. f  I 
am  convinced  that  the  want  of  such  sympathy  and  respect  has  greatly 
impaired  the  effectiveness  of  many  a  pamphlet  against  Plymouthism. 
If  we  wish  rightly  to  meet  error  in  doctrine  or  practice,  the  first  thing 
needful  is  clearly  to  recognize  to  what  truth  or  side  of  truth  it  allies 
itself  in  earnest  minds,  and  what  true  spiritual  instincts  are  seeking 
satisfaction  in  this  way. 

Plymouthism,  with  its  errors  and  its  unhappy  results,  can  be  best 
met  on  the  one  hand  by  the  true  scriptural  doctrine  concerning  the 
Church,  and  on  the  other  by  the  practical  manifestation  of  that  spirit 
of  mutual  help  and  fellowship,  which  ought  to  characterize  all  the 
members  of  the  Church.  It  may  be  well  for  each  of  us  to  consider 
how  far  we,   in  our  Church  relationship,  may  have  been  lacking  in 


*  It  is  held  by  Independents  under  various  forms,  which  need  not  he  referred  to 
here.  The  practice  of  very  many  Independent  churches  is  substantially  identical 
with  our  own. 

j-  Comp.  Bersier's  interestin<T  account  of  how  he  was  led  from  the  school  of  Vinet 
in  this  matter  to  the  position  which  he  now  holds. — "  L'Eglise,"  Paris,  1S77,  pp. 
vi.,  f.  8-16. 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  513 

that  inward  grace  of  brotherly  love  from  which  there  would  naturally 
spring  those  words  an«i  deeds  of  frank  and  kindly  Christian  inter- 
course and  friendship  for  which  many  are  half  consciously  craving, 
and  the  support  of  which  some  temperaments  peculiarly  miss. 

Such  thoughts  and  feelings  as  have  led  some  to  Plymouth  ism  natu- 
rally arise  in  the  minds  of  earnest  men  and  women,  perhaps  recently 
brought  under  the  j^owcr  of  the  truth,  who  have  learned  to  shrink 
strongly  from  sin  and  to  cherish  fervent  desires  after  holiness  and 
the  fellowship  of  the  holy,  but  have  not  been  accustomed,  it  may  be, 
to  think  out  their  thoughts  clearly  for  themselves,  nor  to  recognize  the 
importance  of  grasping  the  7Cihole  teaching  of  Scripture  on  any  sub- 
ject instead  of  simply  one  part  or  aspect  of  it.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
obvious  that  the  practical  conclusion  to  which  such  a  theory  of  "  pure 
communion  "  points,  and  the  attitude  towards  others  which  it  almost 
necessitates,  have  much  about  them  likely  to  ally  itself  to  human 
infirmities  as  well  as  to  Christian  instincts.  "  Pure  communion,"  in 
the  Plymouthistic  sense,  appeals  not  only  to  the  zeal  of  a  young  con- 
vert, but  to  his  natural  self-confidence,  his  proneness  to  sweeping 
criticism  and  hasty  inferences  from  half-seen  truths,  to  the  spirit  that 
loves  to  feel  itself  superior  in  insight  and  attainment  to  those  to  whom 
it  had  hitherto  looked  up. 

The  main  and  decisive  question  regarding  qualifications  for  Cluuch 
membership  is,  of  course,  "What  saith  the  Scripture?"  But,  before 
proceeding  to  that,  two  considerations  may  be  noted,  which  are  of 
the  nature  of  presumptive  evidence  against  the  theory  of  pure  com- 
munion to  which  reference  has  been  made. 

(ist.)  It  manifestly  reduces  the  possibility  of  Church  fellowship  tO' 
a  minimum.  "Join  the  purest,^'  plainly  means  "Join  the  s??iallest.'^' 
If  the  essence  of  a  Church  is  destroyed,  or  at  least  its  purity  fatally 
tainted,  by  the  presence  of  an  unworthy  member  in  its  fellowship,, 
one  about  whom  there  may  reasonably  be  suspicions — as  has  been 
often  asserted  from  the  days  of  Tertullian  and  the  Novatians*  onwards 
— then  there  is  less  danger  of  that  with  a  hundred  members  than  with 
five  hundred,  with  twenty  than  with  a  hundred,  with  ten  than  with 
twenty.  Nay,  of  whom  can  a  man  be  so  sure  as  of  himself,  and  per- 
haps one  or  two  of  his  own  family, whose  spirits  for  years  he  has  had 
more  opportunity  of  trying  than  in  the  case  of  any  beyond  that 
circle?  Once  lay  such  responsibility  for  purity  of  communion  upon 
a  scrupulous  conscience,  and  experience  has  amply  shown  what  a 
future  of  constant  divisions  is  before  you,  ending  not  unfrequently  in 
absolute  and  literal  individualism  in  religion. f 

For  (2d)  the  testimony  of  history  on  the  subject  is  very  clear  and 
unmistakable.     The  views  about  pure  communion  now  referred   to 


*  Gieseler, "  Eccles.  Hist."  (Eng.  Transl.)  Edin.,  1846,  I.  284 ;  Neander,  "  Church 
Hist."  (Toirey's  Tr.insl.)  I.  330  it.  HI.  270,  34. 

•}•  Accordinjr  to  this  theory,  as  Wood  points  out  to  Cromwell's      Provost  of  Eton, 
"likely  there   never  was  in  the  world  a  true  visible   Christian  Church,  unless  it  was 
that  of  the  eleven  after  that  Judas  hanged  himself,  nor  ever  shall  be."   p.  84. 


33 


514  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

were  far  too  obvious  not  to  occur  soon.  Whenever  Christianity 
ceased  to  be  persecuted  ;  whenever  men  saw  in  any  country  that  it  was' 
the  winning  cause,  and  social  and  other  advantages  were  connected 
with  it,  there  it  speedily  became  manifest  that  some  had  found  their 
way  into  the  Church  who  were  not  of  it.  The  same  difficulties  and 
feelings  of  distress  arose  in  pious  minds,  and  the  same  method  of 
escape  naturally  suggested  itself.  The  method  has  been  tried,  in  fact, 
•over  and  over  again  at  intervals — sometimes  pretty  wide  ones — for  the 
last  1, 600  years — now  by  those  calling  themselves  the  pure  ones 
(oi  xa^apdt)  in  the  third  century;  now  by  the  Donatists  in  the  fourth 
.and  fifth  ;  now  by  various  of  the  smaller  sects  in  Germany  and  Hol- 
land in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  again  by  the  "Seekers"  and 
'Others  under  the  English  commonwealth  in  the  seventeenth.  And  it 
has  always  wrought  out  its  own  refutation.  The  theory  with  its  at- 
tendant practice,  more  or  less  strict,  lived  for  a  generation  or  two, 
■was  examined  and  rejected  by  the  ripest  Christian  judgment  of  the 
"Church  of  the  time,  and  then  gradually  died  out,  disappearing  so 
••completely  that  when,  a  century  or  two  afterwards,  from  the  old  causes, 
it  sprang  up  again,  it  had  generally  been  quite  forgotten,  and  so  came 
with  the  power  of  novelty  to  run  the  same  cycle  and  end  as  before. 
Its  reappearance  is  not  by  any  means  among  the  worst  signs  of  an  age. 
Through  the  natural  operation  of  human  infirmities,  it  has  often  been 
, associated  with  seasons  of  revival  for  which,  as  a  whole,  the  Church 
had  reason  to  give  hearty  thanks.  It  has  emerged  again  in  an  aggres- 
:sive  form  in  our  own  time.  But  nothing  has  been  said  in  support  of 
it  by  Darby,  Macintosh,  Davis  or  Kelly,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  which 
,had  not  been  said  in  substance  and  often  almost  in  the  same  words — 
of  which  I  could  give  curious  illustrations — before  by  those,  e.  g.,  with 
■whom  Augustine  contended  in  the  fifth  century,  and  those  whom 
, Richard  Baxter  in  England,  and  Wood,  of  St.  Andrews,  in  Scotland, 
.had  to  oppose  upon  this  topic  in  their  day.* 

Every  age,  of  course,  must  fight   its  own  battle,  but  it  may  do  so 
■with  better  heart  as  it  comes  to  know  that  it  is  really  an  old  adversary 
■  whom  it  is  meeting  in  a  new  garb,  but  no  stronger  than  when  he  was 
.defeated  on  the  same  ground  long  ago.     And  no  age  and  no  Christian 
iman,  in  facing  any  serious  question  of  doctrine  or  practice,  has  any 
right  to  neglect  the  deliberate  decisions  of  the  highest  sanctified  judg- 
ment of  the  Church  upon  the  same  question  in  former  generations. 
'The  promise  of  "  the  Spirit  of  truth  to  guide  into  all  the  truth  "  was 
not  given  for  us  and  our  generation  alone,  but  has  been  fulfilled  all 
along  the  way  by  which  God  has  led  his  Church  on  earth.     And  it  is 
■well  for  us  therefore  to  remember  that  once  and  again,  and  yet  again, 
,the  verdict  of  history  has  been  given  upon  this  theory  of  "pure  com- 

*  J.  N.  Darby,  "  What  is  the  Church?"  Lond.  1870.     "The  Doom  of  Christen- 

•  dom."     "  What  is   the   Church  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  and  what  is  its  present 
state."     "  What   the   Christian    has   atnid    the   ruin   of  the   Church,"    etc.     C.    H. 

.Macintosh,  "The  Assembly  of  God."     Davis,  "Help  for  Inquirers."     W.  Kelly, 

•  "Lectures  on  the  Church  ot  God.". 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  515 

munion,"  and  has  declared  that,  however  plausible  in  some  of  its  as- 
pects, it  is  radically  unsound  and  practically  unworkable. 

The  question  then  is,  what  is  the  true  and  safe  ground  between  the 
two  unscriptural  extremes  of  lax  discipline  and  neglect  of  the  grave 
responsibilities  which  do  lie  upon  the  Church  in  this  matter  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  of  using  means  with  a  view  to  purity  of 
communion  which  are  unwarranted  and  incompetent?  In  answering 
this  question,  it  is  of  the  first  importance  to  keep  clearly  before  us  a 
distinction  made  at  the  outset.  It  serves,  if  rightly  understood  and 
applied,  to  clear  up  not  a  little  confusion  of  thought  upon  this  subject, 
to  prevent  many  consciences  from  being  burdened  with  painful  respon- 
sibilities which  they  are  not  called  to  take  upon  them,  and  by  assuming 
•which  they  are  brought  into  a  wholly  morbid  state.  And  it  tends  to 
put  the  responsibility  effectively  upon  those  to  whom  it  really  belongs. 
I  mean  the  distinction  between  the  ground  of  admission  to  sealing 
ordinances  ^^  in  foi-o  ecclesice''''  and  "  in  foro  Dei,"  to  use  the  old  for- 
mula. In  other  words,  what  according  to  Scripture  will  fully  justify 
the  Church,  or  its  office-bearers,  in  admitting  a  man  is  one  thing  ;  what 
according  to  Scripture  will  justify  the  man  himself  m  the  sight  of  God 
in  asking  admission  is  another  and  quite  a  different  thing. 

As  to  the  first,  I  believe  that  what  Scripture  requires  is  a  serious 
and  intelligent  profession  of  faith  in  Christ  and  obedience  to  him, 
with  a  corresponding  conduct ;  as  to  the  second,  the  real  existence  in 
the  man  of  what  he  professes — a  true  faith  and  sincere  obedience.  The 
Church  is  responsible  only  for  what  concerns  the  first-named  qualifi- 
cation ;  the  man  himself,  and  he  only,  for  what  concerns  the  second. 
That  is  to  say,  the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth  should 
be  open  to  every  one  coming  with  a  credible  profession*  of  what  is 
needful  for  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  heaven. 

This  is,  in  substance,  the  answer  given  by  the  Reformed  Church 
generally  by  the  lips  of  all  her  leading  theologians  who  have  discussed 
this  subject. f  In  all  essential  points  it  is  just  the  answer  of  President 
Edwards  in  his  masterly  treatise  on  "Qualifications  for  Communion." 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  lamented  Dr.  Charles  Hodge — I  speak  with 
the.  greatest  reverence  for  his  memory — has  been  hardly  fair  to  Ed- 
wards in  the  statement  of  his  position  given  in  the  "  Systematic  The- 

*  By  "  cyedibW''  profession  there  is  implied  no  judgment,  whether  of  charity  or 
otherivisc,  on  the  part  of  the  minister  or  elders  admitting  the  applicant,  as  to  his 
real  spiritual  state,  but  simply  a  judgment  as  to  certain  facts,  namely,  as  explained 
ahove,  that  the  man  makes  this  profession  in  an  apparently  serious  spirit,  that  he 
has  l<nu\vledge  enough  to  understand  what  he  is  doing,  and  that  there  is  nothing  in 
his  known  conduct  to  give  the  lie  to  what  he  now  says  and  does.  cf.  Durham, 
"Treatise  Concerning  Scandal,"  Edin.,  1659,  88  ff.     Wood,  ut sttpra,  29  f.,  152  f. 

f  So,  e.  g.,  Prof.  Wood,  of  St.  Andrew's,  in  his  singularly  clear  and  able  reply  to 
Lockyer,  the  first  champion  of  the  Independent  theory  of  church-membership  upon 
Scottish  ground.  The  latter  had  given  his  lecture — published  at  Leiih,  in  1652 — 
the  ambitious  name  of  "A  Little  Stone  out  of  the  Mountain."  Hence,  the  quaint 
first  title  of  Wood's  re]ily:  "A  Little  Stone,  pretended  to  be  out  the  Mountain,  tried 
and  found  to  be  a  Counterfeit."  cf.  ApoUonii,  "  Consideratio,"  etc.  Cap.  I.  '•  De 
qualificatione  membrorum  ecclesiae,"  Lond.,  1644. 


5i6  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ology  "  (III.  569  ff.)-  "According  to  this  theory,"  Dr.  Hodge  says, 
"the  Church  consists  of  those  who  are  'judged'  to  be  regenerate. 
None  but  those  thus  declared  to  be  true  believers  are  to  be  received 
as  members  of  the  Church."  Now,  I  admit  that  Edwards  gives  some 
ground  for  such  a  representation  by  a  certain  ambiguity  in  one  clause 
of  his  thesis:  "  That  none  ought  to  be  admitted  as  members  of  the 
visible  Church  of  Christ  in  complete  standing  but  such  as  are  in  pro- 
fession, aud  in  the  eye  of  the  Church' s  Christian  judgment,  godly  or 
gracious  persons."*  But  this  ambiguity  is  removed  if  we  have  due 
regard  to  the  explanation  of  the  statement  which  he  himself  gives. 
What  the  Q\-\\\xz\i  judges  is  not,  according  to  him,  that  the  applicant 
is  regenerate,  but  simply  that  he  makes  a  serious  and  intelligent  pro- 
fession of  faith  and  obedience,  and  that  his  outward  conduct  is  agree- 
able thereto  ;  this,  as  he  expressly  says,  whatever  X\\q  private  suspicions 
or  fears  of  the  minister,  or  any  other,  about  him  may  be.f 

Edwards'  position,  in  fact,  is  thoroughly  Presbyterian  in  substance, 
although  with  a  tinge  of  the  old  Independent  phraseology,  very 
natural  in  a  New  England  man.  An  additional  proof  of  this  may  be 
found  in  his  willingness  to  subscribe  the  Westminster  Confession,! 
including,  of  course,  its  well-known  definition  of  the  visible  Church 
as  consisting  of  all  those  who  pro/ess  the  true  religion,  together  with 
their  children. 

With  respect  to  the  Scripture  evidence  for  this  view  of  the  true 
grounds  of  admission  to  sealing  ordinances,  it  is  impossible  to  do 
more  than  indicate  it  in  the  most  general  way.  It  is  derived  from 
many  quarters,  and  is  of  many  kinds,  direct  and  indirect.  Strong 
arguments  in'  behalf  of  the  position  now  laid  down  may  be  drawn 
from  general  principles  and  considerations  connected  with  the  Scrip- 
ture doctrine  of  the  Church,  its  nature  and  design.  It  is  supported 
— as  Edwards  and  others  have  conclusively  shown — by  the  basis  on 
which  God  placed  his  Church  in  the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  and 
by  what  is  told  us  of  the  principles  of  Baptist's  ministry.  But  let  us 
pass  at  once  to  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  and  the  precepts  and  practice 
of  his  apostles  on  this  subject.  We  must  refer  to  a  few  jjassages  only, 
and  barely  indicate  the  kind  of  proof  wiiich  they  afford. 

1st.  As  to  our  Lord's  teaching. 

I  need  not  say  here  how  unmistakably  and  emphatically  he  required 
a  r^(2/ spiritual  change  in  all  who  would  be  his  discij^les  indeed,  and 
have  place  in  his  true  and  spiritual  Church — "  Except  a  man  be  born 
again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God  .  .  .  Except  a  man  be  born 
of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 
"  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children  ye  shall  not 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  "Not  every  one  that  saith  unto 
me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  § 

*  "  Works,"  I.ond.,  1834,  I.,  434. 

tif'.,  435  452.475- 

X  Expressed  to  Dr.  Erskine  in  the  letter  already  referred  to,  "  Works,"  I.  clxiii, 

^  John  iii.  3  ff. ;  Matt.  vii.  21  ;  xviii.  3. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  517 

Nor  is  it  necessary  for  our  present  purpose  to  refer  to  passages  as  to 
dealing  with  a  brother  who  has  trespassed,  as  to  the  keys  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  etc.,  which  prove  that  discipline  is  to  be  exercised  in 
the  visible  fellowship  of  believers  on  earth.  The  question  before  us  is 
rather  as  to  the  h)nits  of  discipline, — the  point  at  which,  with  respect 
to  the  applicant  for  communion  or  the  member  claiming  full  privi- 
leges, the  responsibility  of  the  church  or  its  office-bearers  ceases,  al- 
though that  of  the  man  himself  remains. 

Now  I  need  not  prove,  for  it  is  admitted  on  all  sides,  that  the 
Saviour  in  his  teaching  both  states  and  takes  for  granted  that,  in 
point  of  fact,  there  will  be  always  more  or  fewer  unworthy  members 
in  the  visible  Church  on  earth.  That,  of  course,  does  not  settle  the 
point,  Who  are  to  blame  for  their  presence  there,  themselves  or 
others  ?  But  it  may  be  helpful  to  some  minds  to  remember  that  this 
fact  which  so  troubles  them  was  clearly  before  the  mind  of  the  Head 
of  the  Church  from  the  first.  Sad  though  it  be  in  itself,  it  did  not 
take  him  by  surprise,  nor  does  it  defeat  his  purpose  of  blessing  for  his 
Church  and  by  it.  "  When  once  the  Master  of  the  house  is  risen  up 
and  hath  shut  to  the  door,"  he  told  his  disciples,  "  many  "  should 
"stand  without  and  knock,"  and  plead  in  vain.  "  We  have  eaten 
and  drunk  in  thy  presence,  and  thou  hast  taught  in  our  streets  ;"  but 
he  shall  say,  ''  I  know  you  not,  whence  ye  are.  Depart  from  me,  all 
ye  workers  of  iniquity."* 

Nay,  that  very  experience,  painful  as  it  must  be  to  every  spiritually- 
minded  man,  of  close  outward  connection  in  solemn  acts  of  worship 
with  one  of  whom  there  is  much  reason  to  fear  that  he  has  no  real  in- 
terest in  the  things  of  God,  was  part  of  the  daily  life  of  the  Saviour 
upon  earth.  And  with  him  it  was  no  mere  dread  or  suspicion.  While 
he  sometimes  apparently  spoke  of  all  the  apostles,  on  the  ground  of 
their  profession,  as  if  all  were  true  disciples  ("  Ye  that  have  followed 
me,  ye  also  shall  sit  on  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tril:)es  of 
Israel  "),  at  other  times  he  showed  that  he  knew  well  and  felt  pain- 
fully that  there  was  a  traitor  even  in  the  inmost  circle  of  the  infant 
church:  "Ye  are  clean;  but  not  all;"  "Have  not  I  chosen  you 
twelve,  and  one  of  you  is  a  devil  ?  " 

But  I  must  not  dwell  on  this.  I  would  draw  attention  for  a  moment 
or  two  to  that  remarkable  series  of  parables  regarding  the  Church 
or  kingdom  of  heaven  as  manifested  on  earth  —  those  parables  in 
which  we  see  the  wheat  and  the  tares  together  in  the  field  ;  the  draw- 
net,  enclosing  fishes  good  and  bad  ;  the  guests  at  the  king's  supper 
worthy  and  unworthy  ;  the  wise  and  foolish  virgins  together  in  the 
house,  alike  in  name  and  outward  preparation  and  avowed  purpose. 
Now,  in  the  teaching  of  those  parables  three  things  stand  out  clearly 
as  to  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  on  earth  :  (i)  That  there  is  an  ac- 
tual mingling  in  it  now  of  the  worthy  and  the  unworthy,  and  that  it 
is  not  by  the  hands  of  men,  but  of  angels  or  the  Lord  of  angels,  that 

*  Luke  xiij-  25-30 


5i8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  final  separation  is  to  be  made:  '■'■They  shall  gather  out  of  his  king- 
dom all  the  stumbling-blocks  "  {jiavto.  xb.  axuvbaxa)  "  and  them  which 
do  iniquity  ;  "  "  He  shall  thoroughly  purge  his  floor,  and  gather  his 
wheat  into  the  garner."*  (2)  That  the  church  or  its  office-bearers 
are  implicitly  or  expressly  forbidden  to  do,  in  the  way  of  separation, 
what  they  may  be  disposed  to  think  they  jtiight,  and  what  possibly,  to 
a  certain  extent,  they  could  do.  And  (3)  That  the  reason  for  this 
prohibition  is  that  there  are  some  kinds  of  separation  for  which  their 
hands  are  incompetent,  their  eyes  not  sufficiently  keen  or  sure,  and  in 
trying  to  effect  which  they  would  be  certain  to  do  harm,  although 
seeking  to  do  good. 

Thus,  e.  g.,  in  Matt.  xiii.  24  ff.,  the  servants  saw,  as  they  believed, 
the  tares.  Should  they  not  therefore  go  and  gather  them  up?  "  But 
he  said,  Nay;  lest  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares" — they  might  succeeii 
in  removing  some  of  these — "  ye  root  up  also  the  wheat  with  them." 
There  could  hardly  be  a  more  direct  reply,  by  anticipation,  to  the 
arguments  of  those  who  urge  that  the  Church  on  earth  should  be  con- 
stituted upon  the  principle  of  admitting  and  retaining  none  but  the 
regenerate,  and  that  the  office-bearers  are  bound  to  be  persuaded  in 
their  own  judgment  that  a  man  is  truly  converted  before  receiving 
or  retaining  him  as  a  member  in  their  fellowship. 

The  only  possible  escape  from  the  plain  teaching  of  this  parable  is 
to  assert  that  the  argument  proves  too  much  ;  that  according  to  this 
view  there  should  be  no  discipline  in  the  church  at  all.  But  to  make 
such  an  assertion  is  simply  to  evince  ignorance  of  the  first  principles 
of  sound  and  sober  interpretation  of  Scripture.  It  is  an  axiom,  ad- 
mitted by  all  who  are  competent  to  judge  in  the  matter,  that  no  par- 
able was  ever  meant  to  teach  all  truth.  Each  one  is  designed  to  bring 
out,  in  a  vivid  and  impressive  way,  some  special  truth  or  aspect  of 
truth,  which  again  was  meant  to  be  supplemented  by  other  parables 
or  passages  of  the  word.  The  duty  of  church  discipline,  of  caring  in 
a  suitable  way  for  purity  of  communion,  rests  upon  its  own  full  evi- 
dence. Here,  and  in  other  like  passages,  we  learn  an  important  cotn- 
•'panicn  truth,  namely,  the  danger  of  measures  to  which  we  might  be 
prompted  by  a  mistaken  zeal  for  the  honor  of  the  Master.  As  Augus- 
tine said  in  reply  to  Donatist  advocates  of  pure  communion  :  "  We 
ought  to  obey  our  Lord  in  the  gospel,  both  when  he  tells  us  that  he  Avho 
will  not  hear  the  church  should  be  to  us  as  a  heathen  man  and  a  pub- 
lican, and  when  he  forbids  us  to  gather  out  the  tares,  lest  in  so  doing 
we  root  up  the  wheat  also ;  for  both  precepts  may  well  be  kept."f 

2d.  The  practice  of  the  apostles  shows  how  they  understood  the 
principles  laid  down  by  our  Lord  when,  both  before  and  after  his 
resurrection,  he  "  gave  commandments  to  the  apostles  whom  he  had 
chosen,  speaking  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God."^ 

*  Matt.  xiii.  41  ;  iii.  12. 

f  Comp.  Wiiod,  tit  supra,  163-6.    "  Trench  on  the  Parables,"  86  f.  Miiller,  312  f. 

j  Acts  i.  2  f. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  519 

We  see  in  the  Apostolic  Church  a  vigorous  and  faithful  discipline,  as, 
e.  g.,  in  the  case  of  Simon  Magus,  but  no  test  for  admission  beyond  a 
profession,  on  the  part  of  the  applicant,  of  faith  in  Christ  and  a  pur- 
pose to  follow  him.  So  with  the  3,000  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and 
with  the  5,000  shortly  after.  So  with  the  admissions  under  Philip  at 
Samaria.  No  blame  whatever  seems  imputed  to  the  evangelist  for  re- 
ceiving the  soothsayer  into  the  church  too  hastily.  On  the  contrary, 
we  find  him  immediately  afterward  honored  to  receive  the  Ethiopian 
treasurer  on  a  still  shorter  probation  and  on  precisely  the  same  prin- 
ciples. So  with  Cornelius  at  Caesarea,  with  the  converts  at  Philippi, 
and  many  others. 

The  difficulty  which  is  apt  to  strike  one  in  connection  with  these 
cases  is,  in  fact,  not  as  to  the  strictness,  but  the  apparent  ease,  with 
which  applicants  were  admitted.  It  might  not  be  quite  plain  at  first 
sight  how,  when  professing  converts  were  so  quickly  received  to  com- 
munion, there  could  be  sufficient  evidence  that  their  profession  was  a 
serious  and  intelligent  one.  When  we  consider,  however,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  times,  that  to  profess  Chris- 
tianity meant  then  to  be  ready  to  suffer  or  even  to  die  for  it;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  simplicity  and  power  of  the  apostles'  preaching, 
we  shall  see  that  there  really  was  a  reasonable  guarantee  that  the  ap- 
plicant understood  sufficiently  what  he  was  doing,  and  was  in  earnest 
in  the  profession  he  made.  But  certainly  there  was  no  time  for  such 
lengthened  examination  and  probation  as  could  warrant  the  office- 
bearers of  the  church  in  saying  of  such  as  the  Samaritan  soothsayer, 
that  he,  in  their  deliberate  judgment,  was  a  regenerate  man,  and  ad- 
mitting him  on  that  ground. 

3d.  And  so  also  in  the  Apostolic  Epistles. 

These  are  addressed  to  those  "called  saints,"  "brethren  in  the 
Lord,"  to  "the  Church  of  God  which  isat  Corinth,"  "  to  them  that  are 
sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,"  "to  them  that  have  obtained  like  precious 
faith  with  us,"  etc.  And  yet,  at  tiie  same  time,  it  appears  from  the 
same  epistles  that  there  are  some  in  those  churches  of  whom  the  apos- 
tle "stands  in  doubt,  lest  he  has  bestowed  upon  them  labor  in  vain;" 
others  "who  have  sinned  already  and  not  repented,"  who  have  given 
way  to  gross  disorders  and  heresies;  and  some  retained  in  commun- 
ion, whom  he  has  to  enjoin  the  church  at  once  to  put  out  oi  their 
fellowship.*  The  fitting  remedy  for  such  a  state  of  thing,  where  the 
evil  has  gone  the  length  of  "scandal,"  /.  e.,  open  sin,  or  serious  error 
in  doctrine,  is  pointed  out,  viz.,  the  faithful  exercise  of  discipline; 
"we  command  you,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye 
withdraw  yourselves  from  every  brother  that  walketh  disorderly,  and 
not  after  the  instruction  which  he  received  from  us."  "A  man  that  i^ 
an  heretic,  after  the  first  and  second  admonition,  reject."  "Them 
that  sin  before  all,  rebuke,  that  others  also  may  fear."      But  no  change 

*  I  Cor.  V.  I  ff. ;  xi.  21  ;  xv.  12;  2  Cor.  xii.  20  f . ;  Gal.  iv.  ll;  v.  4. 


520  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

is  indicated  as  to  the  principles  of  admission  to  membership,  or  doubt 
implied  as  to  their  soundness. 

Now,  it  is  plain  that  the  titles  by  which  those  apostolic  churches  are 
addressed,  and  the  state  of  matters  actually  existing  among  them,  are 
just  what  we  should  expect  upon  the  supposition  that  the  grounds  of 
admission  in  each  case  had  been  those  above  stated.  Their  members 
had  been  received  on  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  and  purpose  to 
follow  holiness.  The  Christian  society  or  church  in  each  place  had 
been  constituted  on  the  ground  of  that  profession  ;  and  they  are, 
therefore,  addressed  in  terms  of  it.  But  it  by  no  means  followed  that 
the  actual  spiritual  condition  of  each  of  the  members  corresponded  to 
the  titles  given  to  the  church  as  a  whole.  "  In  the  superscription  of 
letters  to  societies  of  men,"  as  President  Edwards  puts  it,  "we  are 
wont  to  give  them  that  title  or  denomination  which  properly  belongs 
to  them  as  members  of  such  a  body.  Thus  if  we  should  write  to  the 
Royal  Society  of  London,  or  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris, 
it  would  be  proper  and  natural  to  give  them  the  title  of  '  Learned  ; ' 
for  whether  every  one  of  the  members  truly  deserve  the  epithet  or 
not,  yet  the  title  is  agreeable  to  their  profession,  and  what  is  known 
to  be  aimed  at  and  professedly  insisted  on  in  the  admission  of  mem- 
bers. ...  So  it  seems  to  be  the  manner  of  the  apostles  in  their  epis- 
tles to  Christian  Churches  to  address  them  under  titles  which  imply  a 
profession  and  visibility  of  true  holiness."  "Not  any  pretended 
skill  of  the  pastor's  in  discerning  the  heart,  but  the  person' s  own 
serious  profession  cox\ctxx\\Yi^\\\\2A  he  finds  in  his  own  soul,  after  he 
has  been  well  instructed,  must  regulate  the  public  conduct  with  re- 
spect to  him,  where  there  is  no  other  external  visible  thing  to  contradict 
and  overrule  it.  And  a  serious  profession  of  godliness,  under  these 
circumstances,  carries  in  it  a  visibility  to  the  eye  of  the  church's  ra- 
tional and  Christian  judgment."* 

I  have  thus  briefly  indicated  some  of  the  Scripture  evidences  for 
what  I  believe  to  be  the  true  ground  of  admission  to  sealing  ordi- 
nances in  the  church.  The  position  advocated  further  conmiends 
itself  by  its  great  practical  advantages,  as  all  who  have  sought  to  act 
upon  it  know. 

To  admit  any  one  to  communion  on  the  principle  of  saying  or  im- 
plying that  he  was  a  converted  person,  in  my  judgment,  is  what  I 
should  be  very  sorry  to  do,  both  for  my  own  sake  and  for  his,  unless 
shut  up  to  it  by  the  plainest  teaching  of  Scripture,  and  that,  as  we 
have  seen,  leads  to  a  very  different  conclusion. 

I.   For  my  own  sake. 

All  ministers  and  elders,  who  hold  the  views  on  this  subject  which 
I  support,  must  feel  that  they  have  responsibility  enough  in  doing  their 
own  part  towards  applicants  for  admission,  in  dealing  tenderly  and 
yet  faithfully  with  them,  in  avoiding  what  might  flutter  and  perplex 
the  young  and  ignorant,  in  putting  the  truth  clearly  and  simply,  in 
showing  them  about  what  a  man  is  to   examine  himself,  in  using  all 

*"  Works,"  I.,  456,  475. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  521 

suitable  means  to  bring  them  to  a  right  spirit  in  dealing  with  the 
great  question  of  their  own  salvation — in  dealing  with  Christ,  the 
Lord,  for  themselves.  We  should  altogether  refuse  to  be,  or  to  sectiiy 
responsible  in  any  way — save  as  regards  faithfulness  in  such  prelim- 
inary steps — for  their  answer,  for  tha  conclusion  that  it  is  right  for 
them  to  make  a  public  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  and  obedience  to 
him. 

We  may  have  our  own  impressions  on  the  point.  Of  some  we  may 
stand  in  doubt,  as  they  come  forward  ;  upon  others  we  may  look  with 
hope  and  confidence;  over  others,  again,  we  may  have  great  joy  of 
heart.  It  may  be  the  duty  of  a  minister  to  advise  a  man  to  wait, 
while  it  may  not  be  his  duty  to  refuse  him  access  to  communion,  if  he 
persists  in  his  desire,  and  takes  the  full  responsibility  of  his  action. 

But  it  is  the  greatest  relief  to  every  true  minister  of  Christ  to  feel 
that  what  he  is  called  to  make  the  ground  of  his  admission  of  appli- 
cants, is  not  a  judgment  even  of  charity  as  to  their  spiritual  state — of 
which  God  alone  can  rightly  judge — but  a  judgment  oi  facts,  which 
we  are  competent,  with  due  care  and  faithfulness,  to  judge  ujion, 
namely,  that  the  applicant  has  knowledge  enough  to  understand  what 
he  is  doing,  and  that  his  profession  is  seriously  made,  with  nothing  in 
his  outward  life,  so  far  as  known  to  us,  to  bring  discredit  upon  it.* 

2.  For  the  sake  of  the  applicant  himself. 

I  should  be  most  unwilling,  as  a  minister,  to  take  any  other  position 
than  that  now  explained.  We  avoid  thereby  not  a  few  obvious  dan- 
gers. Difficulties  enough  remain  within  the  sphere  left  to  the  pastor 
in  this  matter, f  and  mistakes  may  still  be  made.  A  young  minister, 
especially,  is  apt  to  expect  that  all  experiences  of  conversion  and  the 
Christian  life  are  to  be  cast  in  one  mould.  But  the  limitation  of  his 
responsibility  makes  it  less  likely  that  weak  but  sincere  believers  will 
be  rejected,  and  the  wheat  thus  rooted  up  in  the  attempt  to  get  rid  of 
all  the  tares.  "  Were  this,"  says  Wood,  "  made  an  universal  rule  of 
admission  into  church  fellowship,  namely,  a  declaration  of  the  exper- 
imental work  in  their  heart,  that  they  may  be  judged  regenerate, 
verily,  many  an  honest,  gracious  soul  would  never  obtain  such  a  judg- 
ment upon  them  while  they  live ;  there  being  many  such  who,  put 
them  to  declarations  of  this  kind,  could  say  little  or  nothing.  .  .  . 
Nay,  it  were  in  effect  to  erect  a  stage  for  hypocrites  to  out  themselves 
upon,  and  to  cast  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  honest  hearts  not 
indued  with  the  gift  of  expressing  themselves.";]; 

Certainly,  by  the  position  laid  down  we  reduce,  to  a  great  extent, 
the  temptation  to  insincere  profession  of  experiences,  which  the  ap- 
plicant knows  will  be  expected,  which  a  hypocrite  will  make  readily, 

*  Bannerman,  "Church  of  Christ,"  I.,  79  f. 

f  The  well-known  answer  to  the  question  in  the  Larger  Catechism  :  "  May  one 
who  douliteth  of  his  lieing  in  Ciirist,  or  of  his  due  preparation,  come  to  the  Lord's 
Supper?"  is  admirable  in  spirit,  but  difficult  of  practical  application  in  particular 
cases, 

J  Wood,  ut  supra,  147. 


522  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  which  one  not  wishing  to  be  so  may  be  pushed  into  by  pressure 
of  circumstances.'*' 

Again,  if  the  minister  or  the  elder's  judgment  of  the  applicant 
being  a  converted  person  is  the  warrant  for  his  admission,  he  will  be 
very  apt  to  rest  in  that  afterwards  ;  the  more  so,  it  may  be,  the  more 
elaborate  the  process  by  which  the  minister  satisfies  himself. 

Where  the  pastor  takes  the  attitude  already  indicated,  he  is  far  more 
likely  to  reach  the  great  end  of  rousing  conscience,  and  of  making  the 
man  or  woman  with  whom  he  is  dealing  feel  how  solemn  a  thing  it  is 
to  covenant  with  Christ,  and  how  the  duty  and  responsibdity  of  it  lie 
upon  himself  or  herself  alone.  To  have  that  individual  res])onsibility 
earnestly  and  affectionately  laid  upon  the  conscience  by  a  true  minis- 
ter of  Christ  is  the  most  awakening  experience  through  which  the 
applicant  can  pass.  He  is  maae  to  realize  that,  while  of  such  things 
as  knowledge  and  outward  conduct  man  may  judge,  as  to  the  true 
qualifications  in  the  sight  of  God,  he  that  judgeth  him  is  the  Lord. 
When  it  comes  to  the  turning-point  of  the  whole  matter,  Is  it  right 
for  him  to  call  himself  a  disciple  of  Christ,  to  profess  faith  and  obedi- 
ence ?  he  is  sent  alone  into  the  presence  of  the  King  to  find  his  answer 
there  in  secret  on  his  knees.  The  profession  involved  in  his  coming 
to  the  table  of  communion  is  thus  emphatically  his  own  profession  of 
the  hope  that  is  in  him  as  to  his  personal  relation  to  Christ ;  and  he 
makes  it  as  such  before  the  Lord  and  before  his  people. 

Instances  will  no  doubt  rise  to  the  memories  of  many  pastors  here, 
in  which  young  people  were  in  this  way  aroused  to  a  sense  of  spir- 
itual need,  and  led  to  seek  and  find  a  Saviour,  and  whose  after-life 
proved  the  reality  of  the  change  which  they  then  underwent,  but  who 
came  to  them  quite  ready  to  assent  vaguely  to  any  form  of  profession 
which  the  minister  might  put  into  their  lips,  and  who  would  have 
said  "  Yes  "  to  any  leading  questions  asked. 

Appendix. 
Whose  Chihiren  Ought  to  be  Admitted  to  Baptism  ? 

This,  as  Dr.  Hodge  truly  says,  is  "a  very  delicate,  difficult,  and 
important  question."  I  can  offer  but  a  few  notes,  indicative  chiefly 
of  the  kind  of  problems  that  arise  in  connection  with  it,  and  of  the 
lines  in  which  a  solution  has  been  sought. 

I.  All  Presbyterians  agree  that  the  infants  of  members  of  the  visi- 
ble Cliurch  in  full  standing  ought  to  be  baptized.  There  is,  further, 
very  general  agreement  that  infants  should  be  baptized  who  are  in 
such  a  position  that  members  of  the  church  can  rightly  stand  to  them 
so  far  "  in  loco parentum,^^  can  become  responsible  for  their  Christian 


*  "  This  accurate  and  pretended  cleanly  way  of  these  brethren."  snys  Wood,  in 
words  which  might  seem  written  with  an  eye  to  more  recent  divelopments  of  the 
theory  of  pure  communion,  "  thoufjh  it  tend  to  exclude  many  who  may  he  truly  re- 
generate, yet  may  let  in  any  unregenerate,  if  ihey  can  but  play  the  hypocrite  hand- 
somely, and  have  some  book-learned  knowledge."  163. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  523 

education,  and  are  willing  so  to  do.  This  latter  head  includes  such 
cases  as  those  c^  orphans,  children  adopted  in  Christian  families  or 
by  Christian  missions  at  home  or  abroad.  The  question  of  the  bap- 
tism of  heathen  children  was  before  the  Synod  of  Dort.  A  ft-w  years 
after  tloombeeh,  a  leading  theologian  of  the  Dutch  Church,  discussed 
a  number  of  points  of  this  kind  in  a  letter  to  John  Durie.  *  The  rule 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  such  cases  is  given,  as  follows,  by  Steu- 
art,  of  Pardovan  :f  "  In  case  of  children  exposed,  whose  bdptisnj  after 
inquiry  cannot  be  known,  the  session  is  to  order  the  presenting  of  the 
child  to  baptism,  and  the  session  itself  is  to  see  to  the  Christian  edu- 
cation of  the  child.  As  also  when  scandalous  persons '(/.  <?.,  those 
out  of  communion  for  gross  offences)  cannot  prevail  with  any  fit  per- 
son, or  rather  relation,  to  present  the  child  in  their  name,  or  when 
the  relations  of  deceased  parents  refuse  to  become  their  sponsors,  then 
the  session  is  to  order  as  is  said." 

Some  interesting  extracts  are  given  by  Dr.  Hodge  from  the  deci- 
sions of  the  Assembly  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Chun  h  regarding 
the  baptism  of  apprentices,  "children  of  parents  in  servitude,"  and 
heathen  children. | 

But  II.  May  those  infants  be  baptized  who  are  not  in  such  plainly 
exceptional  circumstances,  who  are  children  of  parents  themselves 
baptized  and  not  under  discipline,  but  not  members  in  full  standing? 

How,  e.  g.,  are  ministers  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  to  deal 
with  parents  outwardly  consistent  in  life,  and  most  regular  in  church 
attendance,  who  will  on  no  account  make  the  profession  implied 
in  coming  to  the  Lord's  table?  How  are  our  brethren  in  the 
Protestant  Churches  of  France,  Italy  and  Spain  to  deal  with  men  who 
have  discarded  all  faith  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  in 
which  they  were  baptized,  who  are  desirous  that  their  children  should 
receive  baptism  from  Protestant  pastors  and  be  brought  up  under 
Christian  influences,  although  they  are  not  prepared  to  make  or  imply 
any  positive  profession  of  faith  themselves?  Are  we  to  refuse  to  such 
men  any  recognized  standing  in  the  visible  Church  for  themselves  or 
their  children  ? 

It  is  obvious  that  the  more  strict  the  rules  regarding  admission  to 
the  Lord's  table,  the  more  pressing  in  a  practical  point  of  view  such 
questions  become.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  to  find  them  emerging  at 
an  early  date  among  the  Independent  Churches  of  New  England. 
About  the  same  time,  or  somewhat  earlier,  they  were  fully  discussed 
in  Holland.  We  may  note  three  of  the  answers  then  given  to  the 
question  :  May  the  children  of  parents  baptized,  but  not  in  full  com- 
munion, be  received  to  baptism? 

X.  Yes  ;  on  the  ground  of  the  parents*  baptism.  The  parents  are 
members  of  the  visible  Church,   although  not   in   full  communion. 

*"  Epistnla  ad  celeheriim,  viruni   Joh."   Duraeum,  Lugdun  Batnv.,  1660,  313-56. 
f  "  Collections."      Ediii.,  1709,  124;   comp.  Act  IV.  of  Assembly,  1712. 
X  "  Syst.  Theol."     Lond.  and  Edin.,  1873,  III.  561  f. 


524  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Their  standing  as  such  was  recognized  by  their  baptism,  and  has  not 
been  forfeited  so  long  as  they  are  not  actually  cut  off  from  it  in  the 
exercise  of  discipline.  They  have,  indeed,  failed  to  improve  their 
privileges  as  they  ought,  and  are  not  yet  qualified  for  admission  to  the 
Lord's  table  ;  but  this  failure  in  duty  on  their  part  must  not  be  visited 
upon  their  children  by  denying  them  baptism.'*' 

2.  Yes  \  because  baptism  is  but  the  initial  sacrament.  A  higher 
standard  of  attainment  and  profession  is  needful  for  admission  to  the 
Lord's  Supper  than  in  the  case  of  one  seeking  baptism  for  himself,  or 
at  all  events,  for  his  children.  This  view  was  advocated  in  Holland 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  the  theory  popularly  known  in 
New  England  about  the  same  period  as  the  Half-way  Covenant.  It 
was  decided  in  a  Synod  at  Boston,  where  the  question  was  fully  dis- 
cussed, that  "  such  baptized  persons  as,  without  being  prepared  to  come 
to  the  Lord's  Supper,  were  of  blameless  character,  and  would  own  for 
themselves  their  baptismal  obligations,  ought  to  be  allowed  to  present 
their  children  for  baptism." 

The  propositions  on  which  this  conclusion  was  based  are  given  by 
Dr.  Hodge,  who  adds  that  this  decision  "  came  to  be  approved  by  the 
general  practice  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  New  England. 
Such  also,"  he  goes  on,  "it  is  believed,  although  on  somewhat  dif- 
ferent principles,  was  the  general  practice  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  this  country  until  within  a  comparatively  recent  period  of  its 
history."  f 

Dr.  Hodge  himself  appears  to  incline  to  this  position.  He  quotes 
with  approbation  Dr.  Cotton  Mather's  defence  of  it.  "Those,"  he 
says  himself,  "who,  having  been  themselves  baptized,  and  still  pro- 
fessing their  faith  in  the  true  religion,  having  competent  knowledge, 
and  being  free  from  scandal,  should  not  only  be  permitted,  but  urged 
and  enjoined  to  present  their  children  for  baptism,  that  they  may  be- 
long to  the  church,  and  be  brought  up  under  its  watch  and  care.  To 
be  unbaptized  is  a  grievous  injury  and  reproach,  which  no  parent  can 
innocently  entail  upon  his  children.  The  neglect  of  baptism,  which 
implies  a  want  of  appreciation  of  the  ordinance,  is  one  of  the  crying 
sins  of  this  generation."!  On  the  other  hand.  Dr.  Hodge  clearly 
states  that  "  the  requirements  for  participation  in  both  sacraments  are 
the  same.  .  .  .  Those,  under  the  Christian  dispensation  entitled  to 
baptism  are  entitled  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  Those  who,  unbaptized, 
would  be  entitled  to  baptism  for  themselves,  are  entitled,  and  they 
only,  to  present  their  children  for  baptism.  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  are  not  converting  ordinances.  They  are  to  be  administered 
only  to  those  who  profess  to  be  Christians."  § 

In  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  while  the  theory  of  Church  member- 

*  Hoornheek,  ut  supra,  315  f.    Comp.  Bersier,  "L'Eglise,"  14  f.     Hodge,  "The 
Church  ami  its  Polity."      Edin.,  1879.      215  f. 
t"Sy<t.  Theol.,"  III.  567  ff.  572. 
iP-579.  §P.  574f. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  525 

ship  is  that  of  the  Westminster  standards,  the  practice  is  to  a  consid- 
erable extent  akin  to  that  of  New  England  under  the  "  Half-way  Cov- 
enant." Many  truly  earnest  and  consistent  Christians  hold  back  there 
from  participation  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  while  receiving  baptism  for 
their  children.  No  doubt  with  respect  to  them  the  position  of  the 
pastor  may  often  be:  "  These  are  ?v>Y//'<7//>' communicants.  I  should 
have  no  hesitation  in  admitting  them  to  full  communion  did  they 
apply  for  it,  although  from  special  scruples  and  distrust  of  themselves 
they  shrink  from  doing  so."  * 

3.  Yes  ;  because  both  sacraments  are  seals  of  an  external  covq.xv3S\.\.. 
The  visible  Church  is  based  upon  this  covenant,  and  it  is  to  the  Church 
visible  that  the  sacraments  belong.  The  conditions  of  entrance  are  a 
profession  of  historical  or  intellectual  faith  in  the  true  religion,  and  an 
outward  conformity  to  its  rules.  Applicants  for  the  sacraments, 
therefore,  do  not  profess  to  be  Christians  except  in  an  outward  way. 
They  simply  declare  that  they  are  not  infidels  or  scoffers,  and  that 
they  wish  church  privileges  for  themselves  and  their  children. 

De  March  and  Gomar  advocated  this  theory  in  Holland.  Vitringa 
and  others  strongly  opposed  it.  De  Moor  gives  a  full  account  of  the 
controversy. 

This  was,  in  substance,  the  position  of  Stoddard,  Blair  and  others 
in  America  in  the  eighteenth  century,  to  which  reference  has  been 
already  made.f 

All  who  have  given  any  attention  to  this  subject  must  agree  with  the 
suggestion  of  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Utrecht  in  1648  regarding 
one  of  George  Gillespie's  famous  CXI.  Propositions,  that  further  light 
was  desirable  on  the  question,  "  How,  and  how  far  the  power  of  the 
church  has  to  do  with  (and  its  duty  may  be  discharged  towards) 
i7icompleie  members  of  the  Church,  so  to  speak ;  that  is  to  say,  those 
baptized  in  infancy  and  all  other  catechumens,  and  even  hearers." 

The  Rev.  T.  P.  Stevenson,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  also  read 
the  following  paper  on 

BAPTISM:    ITS   AUTHORITY   AND    MEANING,    AND    THE 
PROPER  SUBJECTS  OF  THE  RITE. 

The  use  of  water  as  an  emblem  of  spiritual  purification,  and  of 
washing  as  a  religious  rite,  is  not  peculiar  to  Christianity.  Herodotus 
tells  us  that  the  ancient  Egyptians,  if  they  came  in  contact  with 
swine,  deemed  themselves  defiled,  and  for  cleansing  washed  themselves 
in  the  Nile.t  Great  spiritual  virtue  is  ascribed  by  the  Hindus  to  the 
waters  of  the  Ganges.  These  usages  of  widely  separated  people  either 
point  to  some  original  institute  of  worship  which  antedated  the  dis- 

*Comp.  Schleiermacher's  "  Conception  of  an  Outer  and  Inner  Circle  of  'Aspirants  ' 
and  Members  of  the  Church."  Christliche  Glaube,  2d  Ed.  \  148.  2\  150.  Miiller, 
ut  supra,  356  f. 

f  Hodge,  lit  supra,  563-566.  J  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  47. 


526  THE    rj^F.SnyJEA'/.I.Y  ALLIANCE. 

persion  of  the  human  family,  or  are  to  be  taken  as  testimonies  to  the 
naturalness  and  inherent  fitness  of  water  as  an  emblem  of  spiritual 
cleansing. 

In  connection  with  the  true  religion,  the  use  of  water  is  at  least  as 
old  as  the  days  of  Moses  and  the  Levitical  institutions.  The  people 
were  commanded  to  wash  their  clothes  before  meeting  with  God  at 
Sinai.  A  laver  was  placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  tabernacle,  and  ten 
lavers,  replenished  continually  from  a  brazen  sea  which  held  "three 
thousand  baths,"  stood  in  the  court  of  the  temple.*  Aaron  and  his 
sons  were  washed  with  water  u{)on  their  induction  to  the  priesthood, 
and  were  required  to  wash  their  hands  and  feet  as  often  as  they  went 
in  to  discharge  the  duties  of  their  office.  The  very  sacrifices  were 
washed  with  water  before  they  were  laid  on  the  altar.  The  leper  and 
whoever  contracted  ceremonial  defilement,  must  bathe  his  flesh  in 
water  before  he  could  approach  the  sanctuary,  and  these  occasions  of 
impurity  were  so  numerous,  and  many  of  them  so  inevitable,  that  the 
requirement  was  an  important  sanitary  regulation,  as  well  as  an  im- 
pressive spiritual  lesson.  And  when  Moses  had  finished  the  announce- 
ment of  the  law,  he  took  the  blood  of  sacrifice,  zciifh  zvatcr,  and 
"sprinkled  both  the  book  and  all  the  people."  f  These  purifications 
were  sometimes  by  immersion  ;  sometimes  by  pouring  or  sprinkling. 

But  they  were  all  the  expression  of  a  penitent  mind,  of  a  desire  for 
that  pardon  and  cleansing  which  the  washing  at  once  symbolized  and 
helped  to  convey.  In  this  long  line  of  baptismal  precedents  appears 
at  length  the  example  of  a  stern  prophet  who  preached  the  baptism 
of  repeatance,  and  drew  all  Judea  to  be  baptized  of  him  in  Jordan. 
Then,  as  his  short  but  fervid  ministry  drew  to  its  close,  came  One 
mightier  than  he,  whose  it  is  to  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  who 
sent  out  his  apostles  to  preach  and  to  baptize.  He,  in  turn,  ere  the 
heavens  opened  to  receive  him,  laid  on  hisdisciples  the  great  commis- 
sion, "Go,  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  While,  therefore,  the 
New  Testament  ordinance  of  baptism  bears  the  broad  seal  of  Christ's 
express  appointment,  it  was  no  new,  strange,  and  unprecedented  in- 
stitution. It  was  not  only  in  harmony  with  the  ideas  and  feelings  and 
religious  usages  of  the  people,  but  it  was  the  continuation,  with  some 
modifications,  of  previously  existing  ordinances  of  the  Church  of  God. 
In  this  fact  we  discern  the  operation  of  a  law  which  I  notice  and  em- 
phasize here  that  I  may  appeal  to  it  again  :  the  law  of  gradual  pro- 
cesses in  all  the  works  of  God.  As  the  twilight  attempers  the  glory 
of  the  rising  sun,  as  spring  interposes  between  February  and  Jime,  as 
the  acorn  does  not  in  a  day  become  an  oak,  nor  the  babe  become  a 
man,  so  the  colors  of  which  the  web  of  history  is  woven  do  not  appear 
in  clear,  sharp  lines  and  strong  contrasts,  but  kindred  colors  are  near- 
est each  other,  and  each  blends  into  its  neighboring  hues.  So  the  Old 
Testament  dispensation  was  preparatory  to  the  New,  and  the  New  is 

*2  Chronicles  iv.  5.  -j-  Hebrews  x.  17. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  527 

the  complement  of  the  Old.  There  was  no  violent  transition  from 
the  one  to  the  other.  Ordinances  which  had  foreshadowed  the  great 
sacrifice  were,  of  necessity,  abolished,  for  sacrifices  are  offered  to  God, 
and,  when  once  adequate,  need  to  be  offered  no  more  ;  but  even  this 
change  was  gradual,  and  the  whole  E|)istle  to  the  Hebrews  is  an  argu- 
ment to  mitigate  its  unwelcomeness  by  proving  that  we  still  have  an 
altar  and  a  priest,  none  the  less  glorious  that  they  are  invisible  in  the 
heavens.  Institutions,  however,  which  dealt  ^oith  man  in  his  constant, 
enduring  needs,  his  need  of  instruction,  of  reformation,  of  worship, 
were,  in  all  their  essential  features,  retained.  Among  these  was  the 
washing  with  water  for  the  putting  away  of  sin.  New  Testament 
baptism  cannot,  therefore,  be  rightly  studied  apart  from  the  similar 
Old  Testament  institutions  out  of  which,  historically,  it  arose.  This 
fact  helps  at  once  to  confirm  its  authority,  to  interpret  its  meaning, 
to  fix  the  mode  of  its  administration,  and  to  determine  the  persons  to 
whom  it  may  be  administered. 

The  True  Significance  of  Baptism. 

I  pass  next  to  consider  the  meaning  and  efficacy  of  baptism. 
"What  mean  we  by  this  service?"  What  is  accomplished  by  it? 
In  answer  to  this  question  one  voice  fises  distinct  and  positive,  an- 
nouncing a  lofty  view  of  this  ordinance  and  demanding  acceptance 
for  it  under  pain  of  eternal  separation  from  Christ  and  his  salvation. 
It  is  the  voice  of  those  who  teach  that  regeneration  is  effected  in  and 
by  the  act  of  baptism.  According  to  this  view,  the  Spirit  of  God 
broods  or  moves  on  the  face  of  the  water  in  the  baptismal  font,  as  he 
moved  on  the  face  of  the  deep  at  the  first  creation,  and  there  imparts 
spiritual  life  as  lie  then  brought  life  and  order  and  beauty  out  of  chaos. 
Quoting  their  own  words,  "  Water,  sanctified  by  our  Lord's  baptism, 
is  the  womb  of  our  new  birth."*  "Baptism,"  says  Dr.  Pusey, 
"hath  the  germ  of  spiritual  life."  f  "  It  is  that  mystery  whereby  we 
are  made  partakers  of  the  Incarnation — baptized  into  the  '  One  Body,' 
the  body  of  our  incarnate  Lord."  \  "  The  partaking  of  the  Incarna- 
tion and  the  Christian  relation  of  sonship  to  God  are  imparted  through 
baptism,  and  are  not  imparted  without  it."§  "Regeneration  is  the 
'  being  born  again  of  water  and  the  Spirit,'  or  by  God's  Spirit  moving 
again  on  the  face  of  the  waters,  sanctifying  them  for  our  cleansing, 
and  cleansing  us  thereby."  ||  This  is  not  only  the  Romish  doctrine 
of  baptism.  It  has  recently  been  revived  and  strenuously  urged  in 
the  Church  of  England  and  her  branches,  and  has  even  appeared 
among  the  Reformed  Churches.  It  matters  little  to  its  advocates  that 
the   great    Reformers    and    their    immediate    successors — Archbishop 

*  "  Tracts  for  the  Times,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  43,  N.  Y.  edition. 

■{•"Sermon  before  the  University  of  Oxford,"  N.  Y.  edition,  p.  5. 

j  "  Tracts  for  the  Times,"  N.  Y.  edition,  Vol.  II.,  p.  44. 

\  Ibid.  p.  31. 

II  Ibid.  pp.  47,  48. 


528  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Cranmer,  Bishops  Ridley  and  Latimer  and  Coverdale,  and  all  the 
most  eminent  men  in  the  early  history  of  the  English  Church,  and  a 
great  array  of  illustrious  names  along  her  path  from  then  till  now, 
Jewell  and  Whitgift  and  Usher  and  Hooker  and  Jeremy  Taylor  and 
Hopkins  and  Pearson  and  Burnet  and  Tillotson  and  Seeker — have 
earnestly  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration,  or  that 
her  Catechisms  and  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  have  pronounced  against 
it.  All  the  more  earnestly  do  they  and  their  sympathizers  in  other 
churches  make  their  appeal  to  the  word  of  God.  And  right  gladly 
do  we  accept  this  appeal.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  seek  to  overwhelm 
intense  and  sincere  convictions  by  the  citation  of  any  lower  au- 
thority. 

It  is,  of  course,  altogether  impossible,  within  the  limits  of  this 
paper,  to  examine  the  several  passages  of  the  word  of  God  which  are 
supposed  to  teach  this  doctrine.  But  it  is  admitted  that  there  is  one 
ruling  text,  which,  like  a  master-key  throwing  back  the  bolts  of  every 
lock,  controls  the  interpretation  of  the  rest.  The  doctrine  of  bap- 
tismal regeneration  stands  or  falls  with  our  understanding  of  John  iii. 
5  :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 

These  words  were  uttered  in  answer  to  the  question  of  Nicodemus, 
"  How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?"  And  when,  to  this  reply 
of  Jesus,  the  inquirer  still  responded,  "  How  can  these  things  be?" 
the  divine  Teacher  answered  him  with  words  not  of  further  explana- 
tion, but  of  reproof:  "  Art  thou  a  master  in  Israel,  and  knowest  not 
these  things?" 

The  new  birth  of  which  Christ  had  spoken  was  a  subject  with  which 
Nicodemus  ought  to  have  been  familiar.  And  so,  indeed,  he  ought, 
if  Christ's  words  denoted  simply  that  moral  and  spiritual  change 
which  the  truth,  made  effectual  by  the  Spirit,  works  in  the  soul,  en- 
lightening the  understanding,  quickening  right  emotions,  and  renew- 
ing the  will.  This  change  was  indispensable  to  salvation  under  the 
Old  Testament  as  well  as  under  the  New,  and  it  behooved  every  "  master 
in  Israel  "  to  be  able  to  point  it  out  to  others.  But  if  our  Saviour  was 
here  expounding  the  value  and  significance  of  the  new,  and,  in  this 
respect,  altogether  unprecedented  ordinance  of  Baptism  as  an  "over- 
whelming mystery  "  and  "miracle,"  having  a  specific  reference  to 
his  own  incarnation,  so  that  thereby  we  are  made  "  members  of  the 
body  of  our  incarnate  Lord,"  even  as  he  was  made  partaker  of  our 
humanity  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Virgin's  womb,*  then  was 
the  Lord  indeed  setting  forth  new  truth,  of  which  it  was  not  strange 
that  Nicodemus  should  be  ignorant,  which,  until  now,  it  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  know,  and  the  reproof  of  the  Master  was  not 
deserved. 

2.  The  analogies  of  Christian  truth  create  a  presumption  against 
the  interpretation  of  these  words  which  we  oppose.     The  change  re- 

*  "  Tracts  for  the  Times,"  vol.  ii.  p.  43. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  529 

quisite  to  salvation  is,  in  its  real  nature,  a  moral  and  spiritual  change. 
Whatever  means  may  be  used  to  symbolize  or  to  effect  it,  it  is  agreed 
that  the  change  itself  is  a  change  in  the  judgments,  desires,  and  voli- 
tions of  the  soul  itself.  The  very  nature  of  this  change  admits  for  its 
accomplishment  only  a  spiritual  agent,  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  and  a  spirit- 
ual instrumentality,  divine  truth.  The  washing  of  the  body  with  water 
can,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  have  nothing  to  do  with  producing 
a  moral  change  in  the  soul.  And  the  principles  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment, under  the  remedial  dispensation,  require  that  the  Spirit  and  the 
truth  be  left  free — not  tied  to  any  ceremonial  observance,  but  free  to 
work  their  blessed  effects  in  the  human  soul  under  all  circumstances 
and  even  in  the  very  hour  and  article  of  death.  The  solitary  traveller 
breathing  his  last  among  pagans  in  a  heathen  land  ;  the  explorer 
perishing  on  the  burning  sands  of  the  desert ;  the  soldier  dying  un- 
tended  on  the  field  of  battle,  though  he  call  to  mind  the  teachings  of 
his  youth  and  the  words  of  the  blessed  Evangel,  cannot,  on  this  view, 
turn  to  God  and  be  saved,  unless  he  can  find  water  and  priestly,  or  at 
least  Christian,  hands  to  administer  it  to  him,  because,  forsooth,  this 
text  ties  the  work  of  regeneration  to  the  ordinance  and  the  moment 
of  baptism.  The  sentiment  which  excludes  unbaptized  persons — even 
infants — from  burial  in  the  ground  where  the  dust  of  the  Christian 
dead  reposes,  is  a  not  unnatural  inference  from  this  doctrine. 

3.  The  change  of  the  new  birth  which  is  here  spoken  of  is  elsewhere 
in  Scripture  constantly  ascribed  to  the  instrumentality  of  the  word  alone, 
without  reference  to  baptism  :  "  Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  by  the 
word  of  truth.  .  .  .  Receive  with  meekness  the  engrafted  word,  which 
is  able  to  save  your  souls."*  "  Seeing  ye  have  purified  your  souls  in 
obeying  the  truth  through  the  Spirit,  .  .  .  see  that  ye  love  one  another, 
.  .  .  being  born  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible, 
even  the  word  of  God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever.""}"  If  the 
truth,  revealed  in  the  word  and  wielded  by  the  Spirit,  is  the  only  in- 
strument of  regeneration,  it  is  easy  to  understand  an  allusion  in  some 
passages,  as  in  this  from  John,  to  the  washing  with  water,  which  sym- 
bolizes the  Spirit's  work.  But  if  the  washing  with  water  be  an  insep- 
arable and  indispensable  instrumentality  in  our  regeneration,  it  is  im- 
possible to  understand  those  passages — and  they  are  a  great  multitude 
— from  which  all  allusion  to  it  is  omitted. 

4.  The  "kingdom  of  God,"  mentioned  in  the  text  under  consider- 
ation, has  two  forms  of  existence,  one  visible  and  on  tlie  earth,  the 
other  invisible  and  spiritual.  The  baptism  with  water  is  the  appointed 
door  of  entrance  into  the  one  ;  regeneration  by  the  vSpirit  is  the  door 
of  entrance  into  the  other.  Without  baptism  by  water  a  man  cannot 
become  a  member  of  the  visible  Church  ;  without  the  baptism  of  the 
Spirit  he  cannot  enter  the  spiritual  and  invisible  kingdom.  Of  this 
spiritual  renovation,  water-baptism  is  a  symbol  or  type  ;  and  of  this 
twofold  form  of  his  kingdom  and  twofold  condition  of  admission  the 

*  James  i.  18,  21.  f  I  Pet.  i.  22,  23. 

34 


530  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Master  says — in  words  whose  luminous  simplicity  rebukes  the  mystical 
perversion  which  they  have  suffered  at  the  hands  of  some  of  his  dis- 
ciples— "  Exce])t  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 

5.  This  interpretation  will  not  abide  the  test  of  Christian  experi- 
ence. Baptism  does  not,  in  point  of  fact,  mark  the  line  between  the 
old  life  and  the  new.  The  fruits  of  the  Spirit — repentance  and  faith 
toward  God — are  found  and  are  sought  for  before  baptism,  and  a])pli- 
cation  to  receive  this  ordinance  is  evidence — in  many  cases  most  con- 
spicuous and  decisive  evidence — of  a  change  of  heart;  evidence  than 
which  no  better  can  be  furnished  after  baptism.  So,  too,  the  sense 
of  pardon,  consciousness  of  God's  love,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost — 
all  the  inward  testimonies  of  the  Spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of 
God — are  enjoyed  by  multitudes  of  God's  people  before  as  well  as 
after  the  reception  of  this  rite.  On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be 
claimed  that  all  those  who  have  been  baptized,  either  in  infancy  or 
in  adult  years,  have  been  regenerated.  An  infant  thus  renewed  ought, 
as  soon  as  it  can  perceive  truth,  to  display  a  love  for  divine  things,  de- 
light in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  a  cheerful  readiness  to  do  his  will, 
not  needing,  with  diligent  instruction  and  solicitous  reproof  and  pain- 
ful discipline,  to  be  brought  afterward  under  the  power  of  the  truth. 
Whether  this  be  the  uniform  effect  of  the  administration  of  this  ordi- 
nance we  cheerfully  leave  to  the  decision  of  those  who  have  oppor- 
tunity to  judge. 

II.  There  is  another  view  of  the  meaning  of  baptism  which,  es- 
pecially in  view  of  an  inference  which  is  drawn  from  it  as  to  the 
mode  of  its  administration,  demands  attention.  It  is  the  view  of 
those  who  maintain  that  the  ordinance  of  Christian  baptism  is  expres- 
sive not  only  of  cleansing,  but  of  burial  and  resurrection.  ''There 
is  something  in  baptism  that  is  calculated  to  be  an  emblem  of  a  resur- 
rection as  well  as  of  a  burial."*     Upon  this  view,  I  remark  : 

I.  It  confuses  the  symbolical  significance  of  the  rite,  and  destroys 
its  simplicity  and  expressiveness.  It  teaches  that  at  least  three  dis- 
tinct ideas — in  the  hands  of  some  expositors  even  more — are  embodied 
and  set  forth  in  this  ceremony:  (i)  Cleansing;  (2)  Burial;  (3) 
Resurrection.  This  is  in  violation  of  one  of  the  prime  requirements 
in  such  symbol,  that  it  have  unity  and  simplicity.  Practically  it  is 
found,  moreover,  that  the  popular  apprehension,  and  even  the  pulpit 
expositions  of  the  ordinance  in  the  churches  where  this  view  is  taught, 
tend  powerfully  to  simplify  its  meaning  by  dropping  out  of  sight  the 
idea  of  cleansing,  aid  giving  exclusive  prominence  to  the  two  cognate 
ideas  of  burial  and  resurrection.  The  sermons,  hymns  and  prayers 
in  connection  with  the  administration  of  baptism  in  these  churches 
bear  ample  witness  to  this  fact.  Furthermore,  washing  with  water  is 
symbolical  of  a  spiritual  fact ;  the  removal  of  our  sinfulness  and  the 
renovation  of  our  spiritual  nature  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

*  Carson  on  "  Baptism,"  p.  144.   London  ed. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  531 

But  "burial  in  baptism"  is  symbolical,  not  of  a  fact,  but  of  a  purely 
figurative  or  emblematic  thought,  viz.  :  that  in  the  hour  of  the  new 
birth  we  die  and  rise  again  to  newness  of  life.  But  that  is  only  a 
figure  of  speech.  I'here  is  no  proper  and  literal  sense  in  which  we  die 
with  Christ  and  are  raised  again.  This  view,  therefore,  confuses  the 
meaning  of  the  ordinance,  not  only  by  multiplying  the  ideas  of  which 
it  is  the  expression,  but  by  making  it  .partly  the  symbol  of  a  symbol, 
j'artly  the  symbol  of  a  fact. 

2.  Burial  was  no  part  of  the  meaning  of  the  manifold  washings  of 
the  Old  Testament,  though  its  advocates  zealously  maintain  that  they 
were  performed  by  immersion,  or  submersion. 

3.  This  view  has  no  support  in  the  baptism  of  John,  though  the 
same  teachers  maintain  strenuously  the  substantial  identity  of  John's 
baptism  with  Christian  baptism. 

4.  The  idea  of  burial  did  not  attach  to  baptism  as  administered  by 
Christ  and  his  disciples,  for  the  burial  and  resurrection  of  the  Lord 
himself — the  historical  facts  on  which  this  interpretation  is  based — 
had  not  yet  taken  place. 

5.  This  view  is  not  warranted  by  any  words  of  Christ  in  reference 
to  this  ordinance.  His  silence  on  this  point  is  natural,  if  the  original 
and  simple  meaning  of  washing  with  water,  with  which  the  church 
had  so  long  been  familiar,  was  to  be  retained  ;  but  this  silence  is  not 
intelligible,  if  our  Lord  was  instituting  a  service,  the  chief  part  of 
whose  meaning  was  wholly  new.  See  how  fully  he  expounds  the 
meaning  of  the  other  sacrament — the  Lord's  Supper  ! 

6.  The  whole  support  of  this  view  i*  found  in  two  passages  of  Paul, 
so  nearly  identical  that  they  are  practically  one  passage:  "Know  ye 
not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  were  bap- 
tized into  his  death  ?  Therefore,  we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism 
into  death  ;  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the 
glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life." 
Romans  vi.  3,  4;  also,  Colossians  ii.  12.  On  these  verses  I  remark 
simply:  (i.)  They  are  susceptible  of  a  natural  and  entirely  reason- 
able interpretation,  consistently  with  the  view  which  regards  baptism 
as  the  symbol  of  spiritual  cleansing.  The  change  of  regeneration, 
elsewhere  likened  to  a  new  birth,  to  a  new  creation,  and  to  a  resur- 
rection from  the  dead,  is,  in  a  true  and  important  sense,  a  dying  to 
our  former  life,  occupations  and  associations,  and  a  rising  to  newness 
of  life.  Death,  ravishing  us  away  from  this  present  world  and  bear- 
ing to  the  scenes  of  another  life,  is  not  a  greater  change  than  that 
which  passes  upon  regenerate  children  of  God.  This  work  of  the 
Spirit  is  symbolized  by  baptism.  The  grace  which  is  thus  conveyed 
to  us  is  the  fruit  of  the  death  of  Christ.  Therefore,  by  a  true  and 
most  impressive  figure,  we  are  said  in  our  baptism  to  be  baptized  into 
the  death  of  Christ,  and  to  rise  to  a  new  life.  The  view  which 
re'gards  the  apostle  as  speaking  of  the  spiritual  significance  of  baptism, 
rather  than  as  alluding  to  the  mode  of  its  administration,  is,  exegetic- 
ally,  at  least  as  sound  and  defensible  as  the  other.     These  verses, 


532  THE   PRESBYTER  IAN  ALLIANCE. 

then,  being  entirely  capable  of  this  interpretation,  cannot  be  pressed 
into  the  service  of  the  other.  Yet  they  are  the  only  scriptural  support 
for  the  view  which  regards  baptism  as  symbolical  of  burial  and  resur- 
rection. (2.)  That  stress  is  to  be  laid  upon  the  spiritual  meaning, 
not  upon  the  figurative  allusion  in  these  verses,  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  in  the  next  verse  the  figure  changes  again:  "If  we  have 
been //a;//^^  together  in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  shall  be  also  in 
the  likeness  of  his  resurrection."  Rom.  vi.  5.  If  the  previous  verses 
determine  burial  and  resurrection  to  be  part  of  the  significance  of 
baptism,  this  verse  requires  us  to  add  to  its  manifold  significations  the 
further  ideas  of  the  planting  and  springing  of  the  seed.  From  such 
complications  we  find  relief  only  by  adhering  to  the  original,  funda- 
mental and  simple  meaning  of  the  rite. 

Concerning  the  mode  of  baptism,  I  say  nothing  further  than  is 
involved  in  the  foregoing  observations  as  to  its  meaning,  and  pass  on 
to  consider 

The  Proper  Subjects  of  Baptism. 

The  following  proposition  commands  the  assent  of  all  Christians: 
"  Baptism  is  to  be  administered  to  all  those  who  profess  their  faith  in 
Christ  and  their  obedience  to  him."  But  the  further  proposition  of 
the  Westminster  standards,  that  "  the  children  of  those  who  are  mem- 
bers of  the  visible  Church  are  to  be  baptized,"  is  strenuously  denied 
by  a  large  body  of  our  fellow-Christians.  The  truth  of  that  proposi- 
tion rests  on  the  following  considerations: 

I.  The  children  of  believing  parents  stand,  by  virtue  of  that 
fact,  in  a  special  relation  to  God.  God  is  the  God  of  families,  as 
well  as  of  individuals.  He  clothes  parents  with  their  authority  ;  he 
requires  families  to  worship  him  ;  he  has  made  special  promises  to 
families  which  believe  and  obey  him,  and  "  pours  out  his  fury  upon 
the  families  which  call  not  on  his  name."  These  promises,  coupled 
with  these  conditions,  are  of  the  nature  of  a  covenant,  so  that  we  can 
properly  say  that  Christian  families,  as  such,  are  in  covenant  with 
God.  An  interesting  analogy  lies  at  hand  in  the  relation  of  nations 
to  God.  No  small  part  of  the  Scriptures  is  occupied  with  the  revela- 
tion of  the  principles  of  God's  moral  government  over  these  larger 
societies.  They  are  subject  to  his  law,  capable  of  obedience  and  of 
rebellion,  rewarded  and  punished,  pardoned  when  penitent,  and  de- 
stroyed when  incorrigible,  like  any  other  subjects  of  his  sway.  Relig- 
ion is  therefore  inseparable  from  national  life,  if  that  life  is  to  be 
righteous  or  secure,  and  nations  which  fear  God  and  trust  him  are,  in 
an  important  sense,  in  covenant  with  him.  These  social  principles 
cannot  be  too  earnestly  contended  for.  They  cannot  be  generally 
obscured  or  forgotten  without  social  and  public  ruin.  Over  against 
them  is  the  view  which  regards  religion  as  a  principle  whose  only 
sphere  is  the  individual  soul ;  a  principle  which  takes  on  no  socul 
form  or  manifestation,  except  in  the  Christian  Church.  This  view, 
Avhen  consistently  held,  denies  the  right  of  the  nation  and  the  family 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  533 

alike  to  worship  God.  According  to  this  view  the  members  of  a 
femily  may  properly  pray  together,  as  individuals  who  lodge  together 
for  the  night  do  well  to  unite  in  prayer,  but  not  as  an  organic  unity, 
standing  in  personal  relation  to  God.  According  to  this  view  the 
children  of  believing  parents  sustain  no  organic  relation  to  God  or 
to  his  Church  different  from  that  sustained  by  the  children  of  the 
unconverted.  With  the  word  of  God  in  our  hand  it  ought  not  to  be 
difficult  to  determine  which  of  these  aspects  of  human  society  is  the 
divine  aspect.  God's  covenant  with  Abraham  was  "  with  him  and  his 
seed  after  him."  The  severest  charge  against  Israel  which  Ezekiel 
was  commissioned  to  utter  was  this  :  "  Thou  hast  taken  thy  sons  and  thy 
daughters  whom  thou  Jiast  borne  unto  me,  and  these  hast  thou  sacri- 
ficed unto  them.  .  .  .  Thou  hast  slain  viy  children."  Ezekiel  xvi. 
20,  21.  Take  now  these  facts  and  principles:  Christian  families  as 
families  are  in  covenant  with  God  ;  God  claims  the  children  in  such 
families  as  his  children  ;  the  family  is,  practically,  whatever  may  be 
our  theories,  the  unit  of  organization  in  the  Church  as  in  the  com- 
monvveakh,  lying  as  it  does  at  the  foundation  of  them  both.  These 
principles  furnish  strong  a  priori  or  presumptive  evidence  that  the 
children  of  believing  parents  are  to  be  acknowledged  as  members  of 
the  Christian  Church. 

2.  Children  were  members  of  the  Church  during  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  covenant  with  Abraham,  by  which  he  and  his  posterity 
were  constituted  a  visible  society  ivith  definite  relations  to  God,  ex- 
pressly included  his  seed,  and  the  seal  of  membership  in  that  society 
— circumcision — was  impressed  thenceforward  upon  his  infant  chil- 
dren. Here  there  is  no  question.  But  it  is  denied  that  the  Abra- 
hamic  society  was  a  Church  at  all  ;  and  it  is  further  denied  that  the 
New  Testament  is  historically  the  same  organization  with  which  that 
covenant  was  made.  The  people  of  God  under  the  Old  Testament, 
it  is  said,  were  not  a  Church,  but  only  a  nation,  under  a  peculiar  and 
exceptional  religious  constitution.  It  is  true  they  were  a  nation  ;  but 
that  there  was  also  a  true  Church  enfolded  within  the  national 
organization,  yet  distinct  from  it,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  citizen- 
ship in  the  nation  did  not  carry  with  it  admission  to  all  religious 
privileges.  These  privileges  were  forfeited  by  many  causes  which  did 
not  work  exclusion  from  the  pale  of  the  commonwealth.  The  provi- 
sion, "  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  people,"  as  annexed  to  cer- 
tain moral  and  ceremonial  offences,  did  not  mean  either  banishment 
or  death,  but  exclusion  from  the  congregation  of  the  Lord  and  the 
courts  of  the  tabernacle. 

If  the  people  of  God,  moreover,  were  not  a  Church,  and  the  true 
Church,  how  shall  we  understand  the  promises  of  world-wide  enlarge- 
ment and  unprecedented  prosperity  which  were  made  to  them?  It 
was  declared  to  them,  in  their  organic  or  corporate  character,  "Thou 
shalt  break  forth  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left ;  thy  seed  shall 
inherit  the  Gentiles,  and  make  the  desolate  cities  to  be  inhabited.  .  .  . 
O  thou  afflicted,  tossed  with  tempest  and  not  comforted  !     Behold,  I 


531  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

will  lay  thy  stones  with  fair  colors  and  thy  foundations  with  sapphires. 
.  .  .  The  Gentiles  shall  come  to  thy  light,  and  kings  to  the  bright- 
ness of  thy  rising.  Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about  and  see  :  all  they 
gather  themselves  together,  they  come  to  thee.  The  abundance  of 
the  sea  shall  be  converted  unto  thee,  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles  shall 
come  unto  thee.  The  sons  also  of  them  that  afflicted  thee  shall  come 
bending  unto  thee,  and  all  they  that  despised  thee  shall  bow  them- 
selves down  at  the  soles  of  thy  feet,  and  they  shall  call  thee  The  City 
of  the  Lord,  The  Zion  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel."  Isaiah  liv.  Ix. 
If  these  promises  were  made  to  the  nation,  they  can  only  be  fulfilled 
by  the  universal  expansion  of  that  national  organization  until  it  fills 
the  earth  and  includes  the  whole  human  family.  And  by  the  same 
argument  the  identity  of  the  New  Testament  Church  with  the  Church 
of  the  Old  Testament  dispensation  is  put  beyond  question.  If  these 
glorious  promises  of  universal  enlargement  and  unparalleled  prosperity 
were  made  to  an  organization  whose  existence  terminated  with  the 
introduction  of  the  new  dispensation,  when  were  they  fulfilled  ?  How 
can  they  ever  be  fulfilled?  How  can  the  New  Testament  Church  be 
the  heir  to  this  inheritance,  if  no  organic  identity  subsists  between 
her  and  the  people  of  God  in  former  days?  What  becomes  of  the 
covenant  with  Abraham  :  "In  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed  ;  "  and  of  Paul's  declaration,  "  If  ye  be  Christ's,  ye  are  Abra- 
ham's seed  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise?  "  Therefore  we  con- 
clude that  the  Church  as  a  visible  society  is  one  under  both  dispensa- 
tions, and  her  children,  therefore,  were  expressly  recognized  as 
members,  for  a  period  of  two  thousand  years. 

3.  No  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  ordaining  the 
exclusion  of  children,  was  announced  by  Christ.  We  are  justified  in 
asking  for  the  record  of  a  change  so  fundamental  and  far-reaching  in 
the  very  structure  of  the  covenant  society.  It  is  incredible,  moreover, 
that  such  a  change  was  received  with  silent  acquiescence  by  all  the 
adherents  of  the  new  economy  ;  that  a  change  so  vital  should  have 
left  no  trace  of  the  ^discussions  or  the  conflicts  to  which  it  must  have 
given  rise.  Can  we  suppose  that  the  discontinuance  of  circumcision 
leaves  so  broad  a  mark  upon  the  pages  of  Paul's  epistles,  and  that  the 
exclusion  of  the  children  of  all  subsequent  generations  of  believers, 
through  the  whole  period  of  childhood,  from  the  pale  of  the  visible, 
left  none  at  all  ?  The  silence  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  re- 
specting infant  baptism  is  a  matter  of  small  moment.  The  funda- 
mental question  is,  Are  our  children  with  us  members  of  the  visible 
Church?  That  they  were  so  recognized  by  the  apostles,  in  the 
absence  of  any  record  to  the  contrary,  is  as  certainly  to  be  believed  as 
that  missionaries  sent  out  by  a  Presbyterian  church,  knowing  the  con- 
stitution and  law  of  their  church  on  this  subject,  would  receive  the 
children  of  believers  into  the  churches  they  would  form,  or  that  mis- 
sionaries from  Baptist  churches  would  exclude  them. 

4.  The  historical  proof  that  infants  have  been  commonly  admitted 
to  baptism  in  all  ages  of  the  Christian  Church  scarcely  admits  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  535 

brief  citation  which  alone  is  possible  here.  A  council  of  sixty-six 
bishops  or  pastors,  at  Carthage,  in  the  year  253  after  Christ,  expressly 
decided  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  postpone  the  baptism  of  infants 
till  the  eighth  day  after  birth,  as  some,  following  the  law  of  circum- 
cision, maintained.  Augustine,  in  his  controversy  with  Pelagius, 
■asks  why  infants  are  baptized  if  they  have  no  sin  ;  and  Pelagius  re- 
sents, as  a  slander,  the  imputation  that  he  discountenanced  the  baptism 
of  infants.  The  Waldenses,  who,  through  the  dark  ages,  maintained  in 
so  great  purity  the  true  religion,  administered  the  seal  of  baptism  to 
infonts.  Of  this  fact,  their  confessions  and  the  records  of  their  histo- 
rians leave  no  doubt.  The  baptism  of  the  infant  children  of  believers 
has  been  the  general  custom  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, from  the  ajjostolic  pericfd  to  the  present  day.  Children  have 
been  members  of  every  form  of  social  organization  which  God  has 
ever  instituted  among  men.  They  are  citizens  in  the  commonwealth. 
Let  a  babe  be  ravished  from  its  cradle  by  a  foreign  power,  and  all  the 
forces  of  the  nation  move  for  its  recovery  as  promptly  as  for  the 
proudest  statesman  in  her  council  chambers.  Children  trod  the  path 
of  Old  Testament  history  with  patriarchs  and  prophets,  members  like 
them  of  the  Church  of  the  living  God.  We  have  reason  to  believe 
that  a  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  are,  and  to  all  eter- 
nity will  be,  children  ;  that  the  streets  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  will 
be  full  of  boys  and  girls  playing  in  the  streets  thereof. 

A  l)ahe  in  heaven  is  a  babe  forever. 

Babes,  thuugli  part 
Of  tlie  true  archetypal  house  of  God 
Built  on  the  heavenly  Zion,  are  not  now 
Nor  will  Ije  ever,  massive  rocks  rough-hewn, 
Or  ponderous  corner-stones,  or  fluted  shafts 
Of  columns,  or  far-shadowing  pinnacles, 
But  rather  as  the  delicate  lily-work 
By  Hiram  wrought  for  Solomon  of  old, 
Enwreathed  upon  the  brazen  chapiters, 
Or  flowers  of  lilies  round  the  molten  sea. 

The  only  organization,  not  of  a  purely  human  character,  in  heaven 
or  on  earth,  from  which  infants  are  sought  to  be  excluded,  are  those 
Christian  churches  which  do  not  recognize  them  as  members.  The 
attempt  does  not  succeed.  The  mistaken  views  of  men  cannot  alter 
the  truth  or  subvert  the  arrangements  of  God.  These  brethren  can 
no  more  keep  children  out  of  their  churches  than  they  can  out  of 
their  homes.  They  may  refuse  to  enroll  their  names  in  their  books, 
and  withhold  from  them  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  but  their  children 
are  born  in  the  Church,  and  their  membership  is  not  made  void,  nor 
are  the  blessings  connected  with  it  prevented,  by  the  temporary 
obscuration  of  this  important  truth. 

If  the  line  of  argument  we  have  followed  is  the  true  support  of 
Infant  Baptism,  it  yields  the  unavoidable  inference  that  only  the 
children  of  /W/VzvV/^'- parents  are  to  be  baptized.     The  indiscriminate 


536  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

administration  of  baptism  to  all  infants  for  whom  it  is.  desired  disre- 
gards the  only  grounds  on  which  infants  have  the  right  to  be  baptized 
at  all. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Jonathan  Edwards,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Dan- 
ville, Ky.,  read  the  following  on 

CHURCH  DISCIPLINE:   ITS  PROVINCE  AND  USE. 

In  the  following  paper  a  few  remarks  will  be  offered  to  the  Council 
on  the  subject  of  Church  Discipline  :  its  Province  and  its  Use.  The 
statements  will  be  general,  with  but  little  discussion  of  particular 
points  or  questions. 

At  the  outset  a  few  explications — mere  truisms,  indeed — may  be 
allowed  by  way  of  definition. 

Discipline,  in  general,  is  the  practical  application  of  law.  Law  is 
here  considered  in  its  relation  to  individuals — not  classes  nor  masses 
— and  may  include  order  and  instruction. 

Discipline  pertains  to  a  state  of  pupilage.  Whoever  is  in  any  sense 
a  disciple  is  amenable  to  discipline. 

Discipline  presupposes  government;  that  is,  an  acknowledged  supre- 
macy, regal  or  popular,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  derives  from  it  both 
its  dignity  and  its  type.  It  is  one  of  the  functions  of  government, 
representing,  however,  not  so  much  its  majesty  as  its  mercy. 

In  its  relation  to  law,  discipline  indicates,  not  the  penalty,  but  the 
educating  power  and  righteousness  of  the  precept.  Its  stringency  is 
not  punitive  but  corrective  and  preventive.  Even  excommunication, 
as  Calvin  says,  is  not  anathema. 

Government  without  discipline,  if  this  be  conceivable,  is  majesty 
only  in  name,  a  mere  vaporing  pretense  without  assimilative  or  execu- 
tive force,  and  without  the  power  to  do  good. 

Law,  apart  from  discipline,  if  this  be  conceivable,  is  theory  without 
practice,  advice  without  urgency  or  illustration. 

Discipline  without  government  is  plastic  force  without  a  model  ; 
without  law  it  is  tyranny  and  unreasonable  caprice. 

Thus  government,  law,  and  discipline  are  inseparable.  They  imply 
each  other.  Their  interests  are  common.  Whatever  interferes  with 
the  due  exercise  of  discipline  militates  against  the  dignity  and  the 
beneficence  of  both  government  and  law.  Whoever  undervalues, 
neglects,  or  is  recreant  to  discipline  is  in  so  far  injurious  to  govern- 
ment and  law,  and  unfaithful  to  the  obligations  of  good  citizenship. 
Discipline  is  the  duty  and  the  hope  of  all  who  would  enjoy  the  bene- 
fits of  society  and  of  instruction. 

Discipline  is  of  necessity  inherent  in  every  association  or  organiza- 
tion authorized  among  men,  especially  those  Avhich  exist  by  divine 
warrant,  viz. :  the  Family,  the  State,  and  the  Church.  In  each  of 
these  great  institutions  the  ends  sought  to  be  attained  are  substantially 
the  same,  viz.  :  unity,  assimilation,  and  peace.  To  each,  discipline 
is  a  law  of  very  life  \  without  it  each  would  lose  its  value,  even  if,  for 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  537 

all  that  is  normal  and  beneficent,  it  did  not  perish  from  the  earth. 
The  case  in  regard  to  the  church  is  very  clear  indeed.  The  church  is 
a  family  and  also  a  state ;  and  shares  with  all  families  and  states  the 
right  and  need  of  discipline.  But,  in  addition,  discipline  has  been 
committed  to  her  by  her  loving  Lord  and  Redeemer.  She  is  specially 
commissioned  and  endowed  for  its  exercise.  Discipline  is  her  special 
duty,  the  token  and  the  measure  of  her  love  to  God  and  man,  to 
truth  and  peace.  To  be  lax  and  inefficient  in  this  is  to  be  unfaithful 
to  her  spouse  and  untrue  to  her  mission,  and  is  the  sure  token  that 
her  candlestick  is  soon  to  be  removed.  All  the  history  of  recreant 
churches  which  have  been  disowned  and  forsaken  of  God  and  all  the 
warnings  to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  have  equal  reference  to  neg- 
lected discipline. 

The  points  thus  far  made  are,  briefly,  that  discipline  is  inseparable 
from  the  idea  of  a  church  ;  that  it  is  necescary  to  the  continued  exist- 
ence of  the  church,  and  that  it  is  the  church's  special,  solemn  duty, 
a  form  of  homage  and  worship  to  her  Lord. 

The  ends  for  which  discipline  is  to  be  exercised  are  "  the  removal 
of  offences  ;  the  vindication  of  the  honor  of  Christ ;  the  promotion  of 
the  purity  and  general  edification  of  the  Church;  and  also  the  benefit 
of  the  offender  himself."      Dis.  L  2. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  these  ends  the  Church  is  endowed  with 
a  two-fold  power,  that  of  rank  and  that  of  jurisdiction. 

The  power  of  rank,  as  here  used,  is  general  or  special,  according  as 
discovered  in  the  membership  or  in  the  ministry.  An  eminence 
attaches  to  every  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  All  are  kings — 
all  are  priests.  This  their  Royal  Priesthood  is  available  for  purposes 
of  discipline.  Hence,  they  are  found  looking,  "  every  man  not  on 
his  own  things,  but  every  man  also  on  the  things  of  others"  (Phil. 
ii.  4);  "looking  diligently  lest  any  man  fail  of  the  grace  of  God" 
(Heb.  xii.  15);  "exhorting  one  another"  (Heb.  x.  25);  "able  also 
to  admonish  one  another  "  (Rom.  xv.  14). 

There  is  also,  and  more  ostensible,  a  power  of  rank  belonging  to 
the  office  of  the  ministry  which  is  effective  in  discipline.  They  bear 
the  title  (Bishop)  which  implies  official  and  continued  oversight. 
They  are  justly  held  responsible  for  spiritual  declension  and  disorder 
(Ezek.  xxxiv. ;  Rev.  ii.  2).  Their  ministrations  are  all,  directly  or  in- 
directly, disciplinary.  Alike  in  the  casual  interview,  the  pastoral 
visit,  the  sermon  is  the  element  of  discipline  discernible. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  paper  no  further  mention  need  be  made  of 
these  general  and  special  forms  of  the  power  of  rank,  save  to  remark 
that  every  church-member  and  every  minister  should  bear  in  mind 
the  influence  and  the  responsibility  of  their  rank  and  office,  their 
"high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Formal  discipline,  in  Presbyterian  polity,  or  actual  process,  as  it  is 
termed,  is  in  each  congregation  referred  to  the  session,  otherwise 
called  the  Parochial  Presbytery,  a  kind  of  standing  organization  for 
the  purpose;   and  it  is  carefully  ordered  that  in  the  composition  of 


538  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

this  body  the  dignity  of  both  the  membership  and  the  ministry  should 
be  united.  Here  begins  and  thus  is  constructed  the  power  of  juris- 
diction. The  session  is  the  primary  church  court.  As  to  constituent 
elements  all  others  are  like  it,  and  the  power  of  jurisdiction  which 
resides  in  them  all  is  based  upon  this  double  foundation,  and  is  exer- 
cised with  a  double,  concurrent  right.  Conversely,  this  secures  to 
every  subject  of  discipline  the  right  to  be  tried  by  a  plurality  of  judges, 
and  these  representing  all  the  orders  in  the  Church.  Experience  has 
shown  that  this  is  in  the  interests  of  both  liberty  and  equity. 

The  right  of  an  accused  church-member  to  complain  or  appeal 
under  a  sense  of  grievance  or  injustice  is,  of  course,  sacred.  The 
unity  of  the  Church  and  the  vital  relations  which  subsist  between  the 
members,  as  set  forth  in  i  Corinthians  xii.  12,  14,  27,  render  this,  in 
the  abstract,  unquestionable.  The  exercise  of  the  right,  however,  is 
limited  by  the  patience  of  the  Church  and  the  claims  of  other  ques- 
tions, not  to  speak  of  the  restriction  arising  from  denominational 
divisions.  Thfe  peculiarities  in  the  matter  and  form  of  appeal  and 
complaint  severally  are  not  essential.  They  are  largely  matters  of 
usage  in  different  countries,  and,  provided  the  end  be  attained  of 
effectuating  an  adequate  representation  of  the  case  to  the  higher  courts 
and  to  larger  districts  of  the  Church,  they  may  be  allowed  to  vary. 

The  province  of  discipline  includes  only  what  is  overt,  but  extends 
to  both  vvords  and  deeds,  example  and  influence.  Words,  that  is, 
doctrinal  sentiments,  must  tally  with  "the  form  of  sound  words." 
The  proximate  standard  of  orthodoxy  among  Presbyterians  is,  of 
course,  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms  ;  that  which  is  ulti- 
mate and  controlling  is  Holy  Scripture.  The  Confession  of  Faith  is 
accepted  and  used  as  a  true  extract  of  Scripture,  formally  applicable 
to  cases  as  they  arise.  It  is  not  an  open  question,  among  Presbyte- 
rians, what  is  truth.  The  ministers  have,  without  exception,  under- 
written the  Westminster  standards  as  containing  the  system  of  doc- 
trine taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  For  them — for  their  conscience 
and  for  their  office — these  are  truth.  Deviation  from  this  system  of 
doctrine  is  heresy,  and  this  is  matter  for  discipline.  Heresy  is  dis- 
traction to  the  Church.  It  involves  alienation  of  affection,  conflict 
of  sentiment,  division  of  effort.  It  is  a  great  and  ruinous  evil — and 
a  great  sin  as  well.  It  indicates  decline  in  personal  piety.  It  is,  in 
its  pride  of  opinion,  largely  of  the  nature  of  rebellion  against  God 
and  the  truth.  It  argues  dishonesty.  It  is  no  less  than  dishonest  to 
continue  one's  name  in  subscription  to  a  creed  which  one  no  longer 
accepts,  and  to  receive  from  a  church  rewards  of  place  or  of  pay  for 
service,  when  such  service  does  not  include  the  defence  of  her  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  and  when  it  is  not  rendered  "  heartily  as  to  the 
Lord."  Heresy  is  to  be  proceeded  against  with  discipline  on  the 
basis  of  its  unsoundness,  its  injuriousness,  and  its  dishonesty,  all 
which  are  in  contravention  of  ordination  engagements. 

Of  course,  no  one  expects  that  there  ever  will  or  can  be  absolute 
unanimity  in  sentiment  or  uniformity  of  statement ;  and,  of  course, 
this  paper  does  not  propose  to  visit  with   inquisitorial  severity  mere 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  539 

discrepancies  with  the  standards  .in  thought  or  word.  There  always 
will  be  special  cases  to  be  treated  specially  and  indulgently.  There 
are  men  of  genius  whose  eccentricities  demand  that  they  should  be 
measurably  a  law  unto  themselves.  There  are  venturesome  men  who, 
pushing  in  all  directions,  like  the  ram  in  the  prophet's  vision,  strain 
the  formulas  of  orthodoxy  to  their  utmost  tension.  There  are  men 
of  sprightly  fancy  and  affluent  diction  who  disdain  the  plain,  homely 
words  of  Scripture  and  of  the  Confession.  There  are  men  who  have 
picked  up  something  like  a  Brazilian  or  Cape  May  pebble,  and  finding 
it  susceptible  of  some  polish  and  sparkle,  mistake  it  for  a  gem  of  the 
first  water,  and  are  ever  pointing  out  how  defective  and  how  imprac- 
ticable is  the  original  circlet  of  truth  worn  by  the  Church  in  that  it 
did  not  from  the  beginning  include  their  jewel,  and  does  not  now  re- 
ceive it,  on  the  same  strand  with  the  others.  There  are  men  who 
have  a  great  deal  of  human  nature  in  their  composition.  Like  the 
man  in  the  old  Latin  play,  nothing  human  is  ever  alien  to  them. 
They  elevate  to  the  highest  position  the  several  achievements  of  the 
reason.  They  exaggerate  human  philosophy,  human  science,  human 
legends  and  traditions.  If,  between  such  parties  and  the  Confession 
of  Faith  there  be  some  occasional  friction  or  even  jostling,  they  may 
yet  be  borne  with.  Their  peculiarities  do  not  necessarily  infer  heresy, 
and,  while  they  tax  patience,  they  also  furnish  amusement,  and  at 
least  save  the  Church  from  stagnation. 

Of  course,  as  these  terms  indicate,  discipline  for  heresy  is  confined 
mainly  to  the  ministry.  Whatever  crudity  or  even  error  of  opinion 
may  obtain  among  private  members  of  the  Church,  is  construed  and 
is  provided  against  as  an  imperfect  discipleship.  What  is  needed  for 
them  is,  simply,  better  instruction.  If,  as  is  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
the  case,  a  private  member  must  be  disciplined  concerning  his  opin- 
ions, it  must  be  rather  with  reference  to  that  arrogant  restlessness  in 
the  diffusion  of  error  which  disturbs  the  peace  of  the  Church  than  to 
the  error  itself.  Private  members  are  not  properly  called  upon  to 
subscribe  any  formulas  of  doctrine,  but  merely  to  profess  such  as  con- 
nect with  the  essentials  of  personal  experience  and  discipleship. 

Conduct,  too,  falls  within  the  province  of  discipline.  Not  only 
immoralities,  but  improprieties  are  to  be  corrected.  The  drift  of 
each  one's  life  and  example,  the  general  character  of  one's  association 
and  influence,  are  to  be  reached  and  regulated  by  Christian  principle. 
"  The  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour  "  is  to  be  adorned  "  in  all  things." 
Men  are  known  by  their  company.  Christian  men  define  their  posi- 
tion as  in  Psalms  cxix.  63,  "  I  am  a  companion  of  all  them  that  fear 
thee,  and  of  them  that  keep  thy  precepts."  And  it  was  no  imperti- 
nent challenge  with  which  Peter  was  assailed  (Acts  xi.  3),  "Thou 
wentest  in  to  men  uncircumcised,  and  didst  eat  with  them." 

Discipline  must  not  be  hasty.  Both  the  dignity  and  the  delibera- 
tion proper'  to  such  a  solemn  transaction  forbid  haste.  Justice  to  the 
accused  party  requires  that  ample  time  be  allowed  for  traversing  both 
the  indictment  and  the  testimony.  Time  is  also  required  for  the  case 
to  gain  a  certain  amount  of  definiteness  and  notoriety,  and  secure — 


540  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

what  is  very  important — the  concurrent  judgment  of  the  people. 
In  default  of  available  evidence,  the  church  must  wait — and  may  wait 
in  faith.  In  all  such  instances  the  Head  of  the  Church  is  holding  the 
case  in  his  own  hands. 

All  offences  are  not  to  be  disposed  of  in  the  same  manner.  There 
is  a  legitimate  distinction  to  be  drawn  between  private  and  public 
offences,  and  there  are  two  sorts  of  each  of  these.  A  private  offence 
may  be  so  called  either  because  known  to  but  few  persons,  or  because 
it  is  personal  and  committed  against  an  individual.  A  public  offence 
may  be  such,  either  because  known  to  many  or  because  committed 
against  a  public  person,  a  family,  a  state,  or  a  church.  Personal 
offences  are  to  be  first  referred  to  the  power  of  rank  for  adjustment, 
and,  failing  this,  to  the  power  of  jurisdiction,  w'^^  Luke  xvii.  3,  4: 
"If  thy  brother  trespass  against  thee,  rebuke  him;  and  if  he  repent, 
forgive  him.  And  if  he  trespass  against  thee  seven  times  in  a  day, 
and  seven  times  in  a  day  turn  again  to  thee,  saying,  I  repent,  thou 
shalt  forgive  him."  Matt,  xviii.  15-17:  "Moreover,  if  thy  brother 
shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  between  thee  and 
him  alone.  If  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother.  But 
if  he  will  not  hear  thee,  then  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in 
the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  word  may  be  established. 
And  if  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  them,  tell  it  unto  the  Church.  But  if 
he  neglect  to  hear  the  Church,  let  him  be  unto  thee  as  a  heathen  man 
and  a  publican."  Public  offences,  of  whatever  sort,  are  to  be  re- 
ferred to  the  power  of  jurisdiction  only. 

As  to  the  great  regulative  principle  in  the  administration  of  disci- 
pline, some  valuable  remarks  of  Augustine,  cited  by  Calvin,  "Insti- 
tutes," Book  IV.,  chapter  xii.,  section  11,  are  here  in  place: 

"All  pious  order  and  method  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  ought  con- 
stantly to  regard  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace ;  which 
the  apostle  commands  to  be  kept  by  mutual  forbearance ;  and  without 
the  preservation  of  which,  the  medicine  of  chastisement  is  not  only 
superfluous,  but  even  becomes  pernicious,  and  consequently  is  no 
longer  a  medicine." 

Again  :  "  He  who  attentively  considers  these  things  neither  neglects 
severity  of  discipline  for  the  preservation  of  unity,  nor  breaks  the 
bond  of  fellowship  by  an  intemperance  of  correction." 

He  concludes  with  Cyprian  :  "  Let  a  man,  therefore,  in  mercy  cor- 
rect what  he  can  ;  what  he  cannot,  let  him  patiently  bear  and  affec- 
tionately lament." 

If,  therefore,  discipline  honestly  prosecuted  fail,  as  it  sometimes 
does,  at  once  to  remove  a  scandal,  or  to  purge  an  offence  ;  if  the 
people  suspect  that  the  church  courts  use  too  little  diligence  in  the 
correction  of  evil ;  or  if  the  ministers  feel  that  in  a  given  case  pru- 
dence has  grievously  restricted  power,  it  does  not  follow  that  church 
discipline  is  useless,  or  that  the  Church  is  corrupt,  or  that  anything 
better  can  be  done  or  gained  by  withdrawing  from  her  communion. 
It  follows  only  that  the  Lord  reigns,  and  that,  in  the  case  supposed,  he 
has  not  yet  revealed  his  arm  or  declared  his  counsel. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  541 

Of  the  restoration  of  those  who  "bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  re- 
pentance;" of  .discipline  as  a  special  means  of  grace  to  those  by 
whom  it  is  administered,  and  of  discipline  as  a  transaction  of  peculiar 
solemnity,  it  would  unduly  lengthen  this  paper  to  speak. 

The  aim  of  discipline  has  already  been  stated.  This  indicates  its 
adaptation,  and  this,  again,  its  use.  By  the  blessing  of  Christ  and 
the  working  of  his  Spirit,  it  accomplishes  its  object.  It  promotes 
unity,  order,  and  peace.  It  makes  real  to  the  consciousness  of  indi- 
vidual members,  and  manifest  to  the  view  of  the  world,  that  the 
church  is  one  in  interest,  sympathy,  and  duty.  It  constrains  the 
membership  "  to  walk  by  the  same  rule  ...  to  mind  the  same  thing." 
It  straightens  the  ranks  of  the  moving  sacramental  host,  furbishes 
anew  their  weapons,  and  quickens  their  march.  It  gives  note  of  alarm 
as  to  the  nearness  and  subtlety  of  error  and  sin,  and  makes  life  and 
duty  more  serious.  It  assimilates  the  church  membership  to  one  an- 
other, to  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  to  the  laws  of  his  spiritual  king- 
dom. It  promotes  a  healthful  mutual  subordination,  and  an  intelli- 
gent public  spirit  in  church  affairs. 

Discipline  has  many  evils  and  hindrances  to  contend  with — some 
of  which  may  now  be  considered. 

I.  Not  a  little  of  its  moral  value  is  lost  for  want  of  such  interde- 
nominational comity  as  establishes  the  discipline  of  each  in  the  con- 
sent of  all.  There  is  a  sad  lack  of  formal  comity  between  the  denom- 
inations ;  but  little  recognition  of  either  each  other's  ordination  or  dis- 
cipline. Indeed,  many  of  these  bodies  exist  in  a  state  of  reciprocal 
censure,  not  to  say  excommunication,  each  refusing  to  hold  with  the 
others  either  correspondence  or  communion.  Upon  the  general 
subject  thus  presented,  it  may  be  remarked : 

(i.)  The  existence  of  distinct  denominations  in  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  probably  unavoidable.  The  development  of  other  new  ones 
may  yet  be  looked  for. 

(2.)  The  existence  of  these  denominations  is  not  in  itself  a  sin ; 
the  evil  and  inconvenience  of  their  separateness  may  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum  ;  and  the  rise  of  new  denominations  may  be  anticipated 
without  fear  or  regret.  If  those  churches  which  are  of  the  same  fam- 
ily as  to  government  could,  by  mutual  agreement  and  without  sur- 
rendering their  distinct  organizations  and  autonomies,  be  grouped  to- 
gether for  general  aggressive  church  work,  this  would  go  far  to  relieve 
the  difficulty  of  the  case.  There  would  then  be,  in  Protestant  Chris- 
tendom, three  groups  of  churches  (the  Congregational,  the  Prelatic, 
and  the  Presbyterian) — among  which  denominational  strife  and  the 
nullification  of  each  other's  discipline  had  ceased  ;  while  between  the 
groups  it  might  not  be  difficult  to  establish  relations  of  at  least  re- 
spectful Christian  recognition  and  correspondence.  Then,  should 
new  denominations  arise,  the  necessary  general  consent  might  be  se- 
cured for  their  being  ranged  severally,  in  fraternal,  co-operative  rela- 
tions with  the  group  to  which  they  belong — much  as  in  this  country 
territories  develop  into  and  by  act  of  Con-gress  are  admitted  as  in- 
tegral States  of  the  Union. 


542  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

(3.)  As  to  our  own  Presbyterian  group  of  Churches,  there  need  he 
no  waste  of  either  Avisdom  or  words.  This  Council  is  not  called  upon 
to  consider  the  right  or  the  reason  to  be  of  any  of  these.  But  it  is 
conceived  to  be  no  violation  of  propriety  if  this  paper  suggest  to  each 
and  to  all  representatively  present,  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren.  The  pecu- 
liarities which  ye  profess  and  prefer  sufficiently  explain  your  being 
apart,  but  the  discipline  which  formally  debars  you  from  either  co- 
operation or  communion  is  both  Unlovely  and  unwise.  "  Come  now, 
and  let  us  reason  together."  Holding  the  same  symbols  of  faith  and 
order,  have  ye  not  reached  a  period  in  your  history,  a  stage  in  your 
growth,  when  ye  can  fully  and  heartily  recognize  your  mutual  piety 
and  Presbyterianism  ?  Cannot  the  walls  of  partition  now  or  soon  be 
taken  down  ?     "  When  shall  it  once  be?  " 

Possibly  the  suggestion  is  premature — possibly  even  romantic — but 
the  fact  remains  that,  for  want  of  such  comity,  discipline  suffers. 
The  standard  of  both  orthodoxy  and  order  is  unsettled  and  uncertain. 

2.  Another  hindrance  to  discipline  in  the  Church  is  a  double  mis- 
apprehension concerning  it — partly,  that  it  arises  in  some  occasional 
exigency  of  the  Church — partly,  that  it  is  measured  by  the  controlling 
interests  of  the  Church.  These  vague  notions  restrain  all  concerned 
from  the  due  exercise  of  discipline  as  though  it  were  a  personal  quarrel 
occasioning  disturbance.  It  is  difficult  to  secure  a  just  appreciation 
of  discipline  except — First — it  be  referred  to  the  kingly  office  of  Christ. 
Jesus  reigns,  and  king  is  his  title  of  office.  He  is  not  merely  eminent 
or  supereminent  and  all-excelling,  as  Agamemnon  was  king  of  men. 
He  is  not  merely  one  who  deserves  to  be  a  king,  or  one  who  may  or 
shall  one  day  be  a  king.  He  is  king,  and  his  kingly  office  is  as  really 
and  as  constantly  needed  in  man's  redemption  as  his  offices  of  prophet, 
to  cure  human  ignorance,  or  of  priest,  to  atone  for  human  guilt. 
Church  discipline  does  not  arise  upon  occasion.  It  is  a  permanent 
institution,  a  divine  ordinance,  the  token  of  Christ's  kingly,  as  preach- 
ing is  the  token  of  his  prophetic  presence. 

Second — to  the  Church,  not  as  a  mere  society  whose  controlling  policy 
is  ever  varying,  but  as  a  true  kingdom,  correlative  to  Christ's  kingly 
office.  It  is  not  the  invention  of  men.  It  does  not  stand  in  their  con- 
sent. It  is  an  organization  both  great  and  strong,  and  discipline  in  the 
Church  is  but  the  voice  of  "  the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus." 
"It  must  needs  be  that  offences  come,"  but  it  were  an  unwise  negli- 
gence to  be  surprised  at  their  coming,  and  it  were  unfaithfulness  alike 
to  Christ  and  to  his  people  not  to  deal  with  them.  Discipline  is  not 
a  disturbance  of  the  peace  of  the  Church.  Offences  are  disturbances 
— discipline  is  the  Church's  attempt  to  restore  and  to  keep  peace. 

3.  Church  discipline  suffers,  as  do  all  governmental  institutions, 
from  human  insubordination  and  perverseness.  Still  do  men  arise  after 
the  order  of  Diotrephes,  who  love  to  have  the  pre-eminence.  Still 
does  fierce  and  fiendish  communism  speak  evil  of  dignities.  These  co- 
operate to  bring  discredit  upon  discipline  and  to  hinder  its  processes. 
More  mischievous  than  either  of  these,  and  more  difficult  to  cope 
with,  is  rationalism.      Rationalism  is  all  for  progress,  and  claims  for 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  543 

its  several  innovations  and  changes  that  they  are  simply  steps  of  pro- 
gress— this  being  used  as  the  synonym  for  improvement.  Discipline 
is  represented  as  absurd  old-fogyism,  unfriendly  to  human  improve- 
ment. Rationalism  makes  loud  pretensions  to  liberalism.  It  repu- 
diates Church  bigotry;  it  denounces  spiritual  tyranny.  It  exalts  to 
infallibility  the  reason  of  man,  while  discipline  is  again  caricatured  as 
an  usurpation.  It  is  enough  to  reply  to  charges  like  these,  that  disci- 
pline in  the  Church  is  not  that  undue  exercise  of  power  which  is 
tyranny — not  that  unreasonable  adherence  to  obsolete  tenets  which 
is  bigotry — nor  that  stupid  persisting  that  "the  thing  which  hath 
been  is  that  which  shall  be,"  which  is  (perhaps)  old-fogyism.  The 
questions  raised  by  rationalism  do  not  connect  directly  nor  only  witli 
Church  discipline,  but  involve  the  entire  Christian  system  of  both 
doctrine  and  order.  The  conservatism  of  the  Church  is  conceded. 
It  is  proper  that  with  such  a  scheme  of  truth  in  her  hands  for  preserva- 
tion and  for  publication  she  should  be  slow  to  sanction  innovations  in 
either  forms  or  formulas.  The  presumption  is  always  against  novelties 
in  religion.  The  true  is  not  new — the  new  is  probably  not  true  nor 
right  nor  good.  Yet  there  is  nothing  herein  to  restrain  progress  or 
to  punish  free  thought.  That  advancing  civilization  of  which  the 
Church  is  the  author  may  be  allowed  to  suggest,  here  and  there,  a 
grace  of  manner,  of  rhetoric  or  of  art.  Advancing  science  may  be 
allowed  to  suggest  some  deeper  meaning,  some  richer  interpretation  for 
words,  idioms,  incidents.  There  may  be  variations  in  religion,  even 
as  there  are  in  music;  but  those  of  religion,  like  those  of  music,  must 
still  preserve  and  must  indicate  the  original  theme,  the  key  and  the 
leading  note  of  each  measure.  There  has  always  been  that  elasticity 
in  religion  which  kept  pace  with  advancing  science  and  civilization. 
The  scientific  allusions  of  Scripture  are  not  displaced  by  the  latest 
discoveries.  It  is  possible  that  both  Job  and  David  knew  less  of 
material  nature  than  many  a  modern  scientist,  yet  there  is  nothing  in 
their  writings  to  betray  either  ignorance  or  error. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  remark  further,  that  a  class  of  difficulties  in 
actual  process  might  be  prevented  by  a  better  study  of  canon  and 
ecclesiastical  law,  and  a  careful  avoidance  of  complication  with  the 
forms  of  civil  law.     And  with  this  we  close. 

The  Rev.  John  H.  A.  Bomberger,  D.  D.,  of  Collegeville,  Pa., 
read  the  following  paper  on 

REGENERATION. 

The  subject  now  soliciting  consideration  may  seem,  at  first  view,  to 
intrude  itself  rather  abruptly  and  illogically  upon  the  notice  of  the 
Alliance  just  at  this  time.  A  little  reflection,  however,  may  reverse 
this  impression.  It  may  not,  indeed,  come  in  as  opportunely  and 
forcibly  as  Paul's  inspired  and  marvellously  fitting  parenthesis  in  that 
master-piece  of  heavenly  logic,  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  It  wholly 
shrinks  from  any  such  pretension.  And  yet,  if,  amidst  our  just 
admiration   of  many  of  the   papers  which  have   thus   far  intensely 


544  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

engaged  our  thoughts  and  deeply  moved  our  hearts,  we  pause  to  ask 
where  we  are,  and  what  we  have  been  doing,  instead  of  regarding  the 
theme  which  now  ])leads  for  a  hearing  as  out  of  place,  its  earnest 
consideration  may  be  pronounced  not  only  logically  admissible  but 
theologically  imperative. 

No  one  who  gave  due  attention  at  least  to  those  papers  read  which 
treated  of  the  most  vital  and  fundamental  doctrines  discussed,  could 
fail  to  mark  that  each  assigned  a  cardinal  fact  or  truth  which  could 
not  then  be  dwelt  upon,  and  yet  which  lay  as  a  fundamental  dogma, 
at  the  basis  of  the  entire  argument.  If  in  any  instance  the  assumption 
was  invalid  or  false,  the  argument  reared  upon  it  must  falter  and  fall. 
The  truth  or  the  fact  so  assumed  was  that  of  Regeneration. 

Let  me  briefly  illustrate  the  matter.  Take  the  plenary  inspiration 
of  the  Bible  so  ably  presented,  and,  I  think,  unanswerably  vindicated 
last  Friday  morning.  It  was  proven  beyond  dispute  that  the  divine 
word  written  comes  to  man  not  as  the  hesitating  utterance  of  human 
opinions  and  counsels,  but  clothed  from  its  grand  opening  sentence 
to  its  closing  "Amen  !  "  with  authority  from  God  which  demands 
unquestioning  submission  and  suffers  no  doubt.  But  of  what  avail  the 
celestial  light,  brighter  than  that  of  the  sun,  which  shines  through  all 
its  revelations,  promises  and  precepts  for  eyes  blind  from  the  birth  ; 
or  its  self-authenticating  facts  and  truths  for  hearts  as  hard  and  dead 
as  stones  ?  And  how  shall  the  power  of  spiritual  vision  be  restored  to 
those  blind  ages,  how  shall  the  stony  heart  be  turned  to  flesh,  except- 
ing through  a  spiritual  Regeneration  ? 

Themes  discussed  by  other  papers  read,  especially  those  relating  to 
the  atonement,  and  to  worship,  furnish  even  more  impressive  illustra- 
tions of  the  same  fact.  All  presuppose  and  take  for  granted  that  in 
some  deep  and  vital  sense,  those  on  and  in  whom  the  benefits  and 
blessings  of  the  economy  to  which  they  all  belong  are  to  display  their 
wondrous  efficacy,  and  find  their  most  gracious  ends,  must  be  fitted 
for  such  effects  by  being  first  made  subjects  of  quickening  renewing 
grace.  And  the  more  fully  those  several  papers  were  appreciated,  the 
more  readily  will  the  need  of  some  definite  testimony  on  our  part  in 
regard  to  the  doctrine  of  Regeneration  be  conceded. 

Apart,  however,  from  its  claims  because  of  its  relations  to  other 
doctrines  pertaining  to  the  material  and  formal  principles  of  our  faith, 
I  may  justly  urge  reasons  for  bearing  such  testimony  in  this  case, 
intrinsic  to  the  subject  itself.  Like  every  other  cardinal  doctrine  of 
evangelical  Christianity,  each  generation  of  believers  holding  them, 
must,  to  hold  them  heartily  as  well  as  intellectually,  reach  convictions 
of  their  truth  by  processes  of  personal  experience  as  earnest  and  vital  as 
those  through  which  the  first  full  persuasion  of  their  truth  was  attained. 
The  articles  of  a  creed  may  be  mentally  learned  from  a  book,  or  by 
oral  tradition.  They  may  be  held  by  mere  intellectual  assent,  and 
indorsed  or  avowed  as  naked  verities  satisfactorily  demonstrated.  But 
to  believe  them  with  genuine  gospel  faith,  such  as  can  and  will  with 
a  full  soul  declare  :    "  We  believe  and  are  persuaded  " — they  must  be 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


545 


learned  by  heart — by  a  broken  heart  and  a  contrite  spirit,  into  which 
as  it  bends  in  meek  docility  at  Jesus'  feet  grace  and  truth  stream  to 
be  absorbed  there  as  the  nourishing  food  of  its  renewed  vitahiy. 
Only  the  seeing  eye  can  know  what  vision  is.  Only  the  hearing  ear 
can  know  what  music  is.  Only  the  tasting  mouth  can  know  what  honey 
is.  And  so  to  know  aright  what  Christ  and  his  truth  are  we  must  attain 
to  the  knowledge  by  the  method  most  intensely  personal  and  experi- 
mental. It  was  manifestly  thus  that  the  great  and  good  men  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  to  whose  piety  and  learning  the 
Reformed  Churches  are  indebted  under  God  for  the  treasures  they  have 
bequeathed  in  the  doctrinal  symbols,  and  in  the  theologies  of  those 
days,  attained  to  the  clear  and  cheering  certainty  of  faith  which  attests 
its  presence  and  vitality  in  all  their  writings.  They  spoke  by  the  book 
— but  by  it  as  that  which,  like  the  prophet's  roll,  they  had  "eaten, 
and  found  in  their  mouths  like  honey  for  sweetness  "  (Ezek.  iii.  3). 
"That  which  they  had  heard,  which  they  had  seen  with  their  eyes, 
which  they  had  looked  upon,  and  their  (own)  hands  had  handled,  of 
the  word  of  life,  they  declared  unto  us"  (i  John  i.  i,  3).  And  they 
could  declare  it  with  the  trumpet-tongued  emphasis  and  assurance 
which  so  notably  characterizes  the  doctrinal  testimony  of  those  days, 
because  they  had  so  learned  the  gospel. 

Need  the  inferential  lesson  be  pointed,  that  to  apprehend,  appre- 
ciate and  maintain  the  same  faith  with  like  clear  unwavering  convic- 
tions now,  it  must  be  learned  in  the  same  way?  Or  that  other 
equally  obvious  admonitory  lesson,  that  the  cause -of  much  of  the 
wavering,  hesitating  half-heartedness,  much  of  the  "spiritual  dis- 
lodgement,"  "eclipse  of  faith,"  much  of  the  tendency  to  revise,  to 
modify,  and  reconstruct  our  ancient  creeds,  much  of  the  "broad-mar- 
gined," kindly  accommodating,  in  omnibus  caritas  theology,  troubling 
the  Christianity  of  modern  times,  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  our 
old  confessions  and  their  declarations  of  faith  have  been  read  and 
pondered  only  in  a  formal,  dialectic,  critical  way?  Studied  as  fossils, 
it  is  no  wonder  they  have  seemed  to  be  only  like  dead  men's  bones, 
or  the  dried  sinews  of  the  oxen  slain  at  Gideon's  sacrifice. 

If  the  old  gospel  faith  in  its  pure  integrity  shall  be  loved  with  the 
old  fervor,  and  vindicated  with  the  energy,  vigor,  and  success  which 
"  subdued  kingdoms,  .  .  .  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  .  .  .  (and) 
turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,"  it  must  be  learned  in  the 
old  way,  in  spite  of  all  the  obtrusive  arrogance  of  the  "  latest  dis- 
coveries," whether  in  the  fields  of  Teutonic  idealism,  Gallic  posi- 
tivism, British  agnosticism,  American  materialism,  or  a  demi-deified 
aesthetics. 

Admitting  these  premises  as  fairly  applicable  to  all  the  articles  of 
our  common  Reformed  faith,  the  doctrine  now  claiming  consideration 
may  justly  ask  to  be  dealt  with  in  harmony  with  them.  As  set  forth 
in  our  standards,  as  taught  in  our  Catechisms,  and  as  seeking  our 
warm  assent  and  honest,  zealous  advocacy,  it  asks  to  be  studied  in  the 
light  and  by  the  aids  in  and  by  which  those  studied  it  who  there  speak 
35 


546  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  and  inculcate  the  doctrine.  What,  then,  is  Regeneration  according 
to  the  word  of  God,  as  apprehended  and  believed  by  the  Reformed 
Church? 

A  luminous  hint  of  our  faith  regarding  the  fundamental  doctrine 
has  doubtless  been  discerned  in  the  significant  assumption  of  many  of 
the  essays  and  arguments  already  submitted  to  the  Alliance,  of  the 
great  gospel  truth  which  has  always  been  emphasized  by  Reformed 
Confessions,  and  taught  by  Reformed  theologies,  that  redemption  is 
not  an  economy  or  a  covenant  of  grace  which  deals  with  man  in  a 
merely  forensic,  formal,  commercial  way,  offering  and  applying  salva- 
tion as  it  were  ab  extra.  On  the  contrary,  its  great  ultimate  purpose 
with  regard  to  man  is  rightly  conceived  and  claimed  to  be  to  beget 
and  build  up  in  him  a  life  in  essential  correspondence  with  its  own 
living  heavenly  source  and  nature.  Under  this  economy,  true  god- 
liness is  not,  primarily  and  chiefly,  a  dead  name,  but  a  vital  power; 
not  a  sensuous  form,  but  a  spiritual  fact.  Its  Christianity  is  not  a  sar- 
cophagus, however  elaborately  hewn  and  gorgeously  decorated  by  re- 
ligious art.  Its  church  is  not  a  charnel-house  of  baptized  corpses, 
though  most  profusely  adorned  with  floral  crosses,  fragrant  wreaths, 
and  thornless  crowns.  It  is  a  living  temple,  and  as  such  must  be 
built  of  "  lively  stones." 

That  this  view  of  redemption  by  an  expiatory  vicarious  atonement 
through  Jesus  Christ  has  been  distinctively  and  prominently  character- 
istic of  the  Reformed  system  from  the  first,  could  be  demonstrated  by 
volumes*  of  proof;  and  there  is  nothing  in  its  doctrine  of  imputa- 
tion, or  of  justification,  or  of  any  other  article  of  its  faith,  that  in  the 
least  conflicts  with  that  view.  This  fact  refutes  a  score  of  calumnies 
often  reiterated  against  our  faith. 

But  where  shall  the  material  for  the  spiritual  house  contemplated  by 
the  economy  of  grace — the  living  stones  for  the  living  temple  to  be 
reared — be  found  ?  How  shall  they  be  obtained  ?  The  vicarious 
atonement  of  that  economy,  considered  separately  or  per  sc,  makes 
full  provision  for  the  salvation  of  man  as  a  guilty  and  condemned  sin- 
ner,, as  legally  and  judicially  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  This, 
however,  constitutes  only  one  part  or  side  of  the  effects  of  the  Fall 
and  the  penalty  of  sin.  That  Fall  and  penalty  involve  the  sinner  at 
the  same  time  in  spiritual,  moral  death,  and  in  all  the  corruption,  de- 
basement, and  disabilities  of  his  inmost  personal  life  which  such  a 
death  entails,  and  entails  not  only  judicially,  but  by  the  natural  and 
inevitable  operation  of  the  law  of  man's  being  as  a  rational,  moral 
person. 

Here,  then,  the  case,  viewed  in  the  clear  light  which  the  Scriptures 
bring  to  bear  upon  it,  reveals  another  exigency  to  be  provided  for,  if 
redemption  shall  prove  truly  effective  of  its  purpose.  The  sinner  must 
not  only,  as  guilty  and  "condemned  already,"  be  rescued  from  the 

*  See  Niemeyer's  "Reformed  Confessions;"  Heppe's  "  Ref.  Dogmatics ;"  El)- 
rard's  "  K.  w.  Dogm.-Geschichte;  "  the  works  of  the  early  Reformed  theologians. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL,  547 

dreadful  penalty  resting  upon  him  in  this  respect  by  an  adequate  vica- 
rious satisfaction,  but,  as  spiritually  and  morally  dead  in  regard  to  all 
his  highest,  holiest,  and  most  truly  vital  relations,  he  must  be  restored 
to  life — to  life  in  its  only  true  heavenly  sense. 

And  here  it  is  that  the  economy  of  redemption,  displaying  its  mar^^ 
vellous,  divine  adaptation  to  all  the  extreme  needs  of  sinful  man's  lost 
condition,  reveals  its  provision,  on  the  basis  of  the piacular  atonement, 
and  as  an  integral  part  of  the  scheme  of  saving  grace,  for  the  dead 
sinner's  resuscitation,  for  the  depraved  sinner's  purification,  for  the 
carnal  sinner's  regeneration. 

If.  now  this  necessarily  hasty  review  of  the  leading  facts  and  truths 
with  which  our  subject  stands  antecedently  connected  serves  its  pur- 
pose, it  will  prepare  the  mind  for  a  clearer  appreciation  of  the  several 
essential  points  included  in  this  fundamental  gospel  doctrine  ;  will 
enable  us  to  detect  and  shun  some  specious  errors  which  have  sought 
to  supplant  it  ;  and  supply  means  of  vindicating  it  against  assaults  of 
scepticism  and  infidelity. 

The  leading  points  in  the  doctrine  are  : 

1.  By  the  judicial  and  ethical  effects  and  consequences  of  the  Fall, 
man  individually,  and  human  nature  in  its  totality  (generically),  was 
subjected  to  a  (psychico-ethical)  spiritual  state  and  character  which 
rendered  it,  per  se,  "  incapable  of  any  good  and  inclined  to  all  wick- 
edness," and  therefore  unfit  for  the  "kingdom  of  God,"  and  even 
inimically  averse  to  the  grace  it  brought  to  fallen  man. 

2.  The  evil  into  which  man  thus  wilfully  plunged  by  his  own  dis- 
obedience and  apostacy  from  God,  corrupted  and  depraved  the  in- 
most centre  of  his  being,  the  elemental  constituents  of  his  personal 
life,  his  reason,  affections,  will,  conscience,  entailing  upon  all  not 
only  the  loss  of  his  original  uprightness,  but  a  servile,  helpless  subjec- 
tion "  to  the  law  of  sin  and  of  death."  Hence,  in  order  to  render  it 
psychically  and  ethically  possible  for  man  personally  to  appropriate 
the  grace  of  redemption — or,  in  Bible  language,  truly  to  "  see  "  and 
really  to  "enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  " — he  must  undergo  a 
total  radical  change  in  regard  to  all  of  him  and  all  in  him  that  has 
been  so  affected  by  sin. 

3.  The  nature  (so  far  as  this  can  be  brought  within  the  grasp  of 
the  mind)  and  extent  of  the  remedial  change  thus  demanded  are  set 
forth  in  the  Scriptures  by  the  use  of  terms  and  phraseology  which, 
though  clogged  with  the  imperfections  of  human  thought  and  speech, 
and  not  fully  adequate  to  the  new  service  in  which  they  are  employed 
in  their  transfer  from  a  physical  and  secular  to  a  sacred  and  spiritual 
sphere,  are  sufficiently  clear  and  explicit.  It  may  be  certainly  as- 
sumed that  they  are  the  best  for  the  purpose  which  the  language  neces- 
sarily used  in  the  case  sup])lied  ;  and  that  if  interpreted  according  to 
those  laws  of  thought  and  speech  which  God,  who  made  man  rational 
and  endowed  him  with  the  gift  of  speech,  imposed,  they  will  furnish 
all  the  knowledge  needful  for  a  right  understanding  of  the  doctrine 
.tiught. 


548  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Those  terms  and  phrases  are  so  familiar  that  it  would  be  needless  to 
cite  them  here,  excepting  to  have  them  definitely  under  our  eye  for 
our  present  purpose.  They  are  such  as  "born  again"  (or  "  born 
from  above"),  "begotten,"  "created,"  "quickened"  (/.  e.,  "made 
alive"),  "raised"  {i.e.,  resurrected  from  the  dead),  "being  re- 
newed," "being  turned,"  "  converted,"  putting  in  man  "  a  new 
heart,"  and  others  of  similar  import,  but  more  fully  descriptive  of  the 
thing  designated.  It  would  be  instructive  to  consider  each  of  these 
terms  separately  in  their  bearing  upon  the  subject  before  us.  But  time 
for  this  fails  us.  Through  all  their  variety,  however,  of  formal  expres- 
sion and  implied  metaphor  (for  they  are  obviously  concrete  and  fig- 
urative, and  not  abstract  terms),  it  will  be  readily  discerned  that  they 
agree  in  teaching,  under  different  aspects,  the  following  general  truths: 
First,  that  the  change  wrought  in  Regeneration  affects  the  inmost  vital 
spring  and  centre  of  man's  being  as  a  spiritual,  rational,  ethical  person. 
Secondly,  that  it  is  a  change  wrought  in  full  harmony  with  the  original 
generic  constitution  and  ethical  nature  of  man  as  a  distinct  order  of 
created  being.  Thirdly,  that  it  is  a  change  wrought  by  God,  by  his  super- 
natural divine  influence  operating  upon  man  in  harmony  wi'.h  the  ethical 
personal  character  he  possesses  by  the  design  and  will  of  his  Creator. 
And  finally,  that  whilst  the  grace  effecting  this  result  works  an  illumi- 
nation of  the  understanding,  turning  its  natural  darkness  into  light— 
a  cleansing  of  the  heart,  turning  its  carnal  lusts  into  holy  love,  and  a 
conquest  of  the  rebellious  will,  bringing  it  into  glad  submission  to  the 
will  and  law  of  God — it  does  so  by  reaching  back  of  these  faculties 
of  the  human  soul  into  the  basis  and  centre  of  their  unity  and  life, 
into  man's  inmost  personality,  and  renewing,  spiritually  reviving,  or 
resuscitating,  recreating,  re-begetting  and  regenerating  that — but 
doing  what  is  thus  done  on  and  in  that  human  personality.  Hence, 
it  is  not  the  purpose  or  aim  of  gospel  regeneration  to  beget  or  create 
a  new  order  of  beings  in  the  intelligent  universe  of  God;  an  order, 
for  instance,  compounded  of  the  substances  of  two  previously  distinct 
natures  now  to  be  organically  fused  into  one ;  or  constituted  by  an 
infusion  of  the  substance  of  the  nature  of  God  into  that  of  man,  and 
so  transforming  man  into  a  substantially  new  creature — a  tertiiim  quid, 
a  being  of  a  theanthropic  nature  unlike  anything  in  heaven  or  earth  ; 
but  realizing  that  false  and  antiscriptural  conceit  of  ancient  Buddhism 
and  some  modern  speculations,  viz.  :  the  final  and  fullest  manifesta- 
tion in  time  of  the  eternal  God-head.  So  far  from  all  such  "vain 
imaginations"  (to  give  them  no  more  specific  designation)  is  the 
truth,  that  the  Scriptures  always  and  everywhere  assume  and  assert  the 
unbroken  and  unchanged  personal  identity  of  the  regenerated,  as  pre- 
served through  all  the  wonderful  spiritual  changes  of  the  heavenly 
work.  Need  corroborative  illustrations  of  this  fact  be  adduced  ?  The 
mere  mention  of  it  must  suggest  so  many  as  to  make  their  statement 
seem  almost  ridiculously  superfluous.  And  yet  not  only  Ebrard  and 
Hodge,  but  older  Reformed  theologians,  even  back  to  Ursinus,  Bul- 
linger  and  Calvin,  found  occasion  for  rebuking  the  opposite  view. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  549 

especially  as  advanced  under  a  specious  modification  of  Eutychi- 
anism.* 

But  whilst  regeneration  is  not,  on  the  one  hand,  a  transmutation  of 
man  into  another  order  of  being,  as  just  stated,  so,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  not  merely  a  reformation  in  the  common  moralistic  sense.  It 
involves,  necessarily,  the  most  thorough  ethical  reformation  that  can 
be  conceived  of,  so  that  whoever  imagines  himself  "born  again," 
whilst  he  still  lives  and  delights  in  sin,  deceives  himself.  Little,  if 
any  less,  deluded,  however,  are  those  who  think  that  because  they 
have  been  led  to  see  the  wrong  and  folly  of  sin  and  error,  to  change 
their  manner  of  life,  profess  assent  to  the  Christian  faith,  and  observe 
divine  ordinances  in  fellowship  with  a  church,  they  must  of  course 
belong  to  the  number  of  the  truly  regenerate.  Theoretically  this  error 
has  but  few  formidable  advocates,  for  it  is  too  glaringly  at  variance 
with  any  intelligent  view  of  the  constitution  of  man,  of  the  essential 
nature  of  true  piety,  and  with  the  sad  experiences  of  human  life.  It 
is  to  be  feared,  however,  \\\2X  practically  too  many  nominal  Christians 
are  under  the  blinding  and  perilous  bondage  of  this  delusion.  Of  the 
notion  of  an  ecclesiastical  Regeneration,  or  Regeneration  as  a  change 
of  formal  relation,  as  from  the  world  to  the  visible  Church,  it  is 
needless  to  speak. 

4.  As  to  the  special  divine  agency  in  Regeneration,  it  is  declared 
to  be  pre-eminently  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  is  ascribed  to 
him.  This  is  in  notable  agreement  with  what  the  Scriptures  teach, 
as  shown  above,  of  its  peculiar  nature,  and  is  corroborative  of  the 
sense  in  which  it  is  called  a  creation.  It  is  "  the  Father  Almighty," 
who  at  the  beginning  "created  the  heavens  an4  the  earth'''  out  of 
nothing.  But  in  this  new  creation,  this  renovation,  Regeneration  of 
what  had  been  broken,  ruined,  depraved  in  man  through  sin,  it  is  the 
distinctive  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  effectually 
to  apply  the  redemption  by  Christ  to  the  end  it  contemplates.  In 
every  case  the  source  of  efficacious  power  and  grace  is  the  Triune 
God-head.  But  the  Scriptures  refer  distinctive  offices  to  the  several 
persons  of  the  God-head,  which  significantly  reveal  the  special  char- 
acter and  quality  of  the  gracious  work  ascribed  to  each.  As,  there- 
fore, the  new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus  is  not  one  of  the  psychical 

*  It  would  be  no  difficult  task  to  show  that  the  error  animadverted  upon  here  is, 
in  all  its  premises  and  assumptions,  as  unphilosophical,  notwithstanding  its  preten- 
tious profundity,  as  it  is  unscriptural ;  indeed,  that  it  is  the  former  because  it  is  the 
latter;  for  the  truth  of  God  is  the  only  genuine  philosophy,  even  as  his  "  wisdom  is 
higher  than  the  wisdom  of  men."  The  entire  organic  theory  of  the  relation  of  God 
to  the  universe,  of  the  Creator  to  the  creature,  whether  in  regard  to  things  physical 
or  psychical,  carnal  and  sensuous  or  spiritual,  the  world  or  Christianity,  is  not  only 
false,  but,  in  comparison  with  the  doctrine  of  the  word  of  God,  superficial  and 
shallow.  All  pantheising  schemes  are  (see  Christlieb's  "Modern  Doubt,"  etc.); 
and,  after  having  for  a  time  deceived  men  by  their  audacity,  are  found  to  be  so. 
Organic  laws,  organic  life — that  is,  laws  and  life  working  l)y  organs,  and  dependent 
upon  organic  functions,  are  far  from  being  the  mightiest  or  best. 


550  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 

substance  of  man,  but  of  the  spiritual  quality  and  character  of  that 
substance  (depraved  by  sin),  it  is  ascribed  to  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  And  it  is  held  to  be  his  by  such  direct  omnific  inter- 
position, tliat  every  claim  o{  co-efficient  human  synergism  is  excluded. 

5.  This  brings  us  to  the  next  important  point,  the  means  employed 
by  the  Spirit  in  Regeneration,  and  this  as  necessarily  involving  the 
relation  between  it  and  conversion,  if  indeed  modern  theology,  yield- 
ing to  pressure  from  vi^ithout,  has  not  gone  too  far  in  discriminating 
between  the  two  parts  of  the  process. 

That,  ordinarily,  means  are  used  by  the  Spirit  in  this  work  is  so 
explicitly  taught  by  the  Spirit  himself,  and  is  so  commonly  and  un- 
hesitatingly admitted  by  our  standard  authorities,  that  the  citation  of 
proofs  is  needless,  A  few  exceptional  cases,  as  the  Regeneration  of 
infants,  admit  of  special  explanation.  But,  not  to  allow  these  to 
divert  attention  from  the  main  matter,  it  is  of  greater  importance  to 
note  the  nature  of  those  means  and  the  method  of  their  application,  as 
both  these  characteristics  cannot  but  throw  additional  light  upon  the 
work  itself.  For  we  thus  learn  not  only  what  the  means  are,  but 
why  just  such  particular  means  and  methods  have  been  chosen  and 
constantly  used.  And  this  may  be  ascertained  from  the  Scriptures 
in  two  ways: 

First,  from  the  express  command  of  Christ  in  regard  to  the  work. 
The  Regeneration  of  men  should  be  effected  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
through  the  gospel.  Hence,  the  great  edict  of  the  King  of  grace,  by 
which  he  ordained  his  earthly  ministers  and  prescribed  their  primary 
function  :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  unto  every 
creature."  Hence,  also,  that  special  commission  fully  accordant 
with  this  one,  issued  three  years  later  by  the  Lord  from  heaven  to 
regenerated  Saul :  "I  send  thee  to  open  their  eyes,  and  to  turn  them 
from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God  ;  that 
they  may  receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  inheritance  among  them 
that  are  sanctified  by  faith  that  is  in  me."  Thus  of  God's  own 
sovereign  choosing,  and  by  his  own  supreme  appointment,  was  "  the 
gospel  to  be  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  unto  every  one  that 
believed."  And  only  unto  them  who  so  "received  him,  gave  he 
power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,"  who  were  "born  not  of  corrup- 
tible seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God  which  liveth  and 
abideth  forever.  .  .  .  And  this  is  the  word  which  by  the  gospel  is 
preached  unto  you."  Wherefore,  another  inspired  apostle  testifies : 
"  Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the  word  of  truth,  that  we  should 
be  a  kind  of  first-fruits  of  his  creatures."  "The  good  seed  is  the 
word  of  God." 

But,  secondly,  the  same  fact  may  be  learned  frorn  the  ma?iner  in 
which  those  to  whom  the  Lord  originally  gave  his  commandment  to 
use  this  means  obeyed  it.  It  is  expressly  declared,  as  though  with 
divine  foresight  of  some  future  attempt  to  pervert  the  import  of  the 
great  commission  in  the  interest  of  hierarchical  sacerdotalism,  that 
''they  went  forth  and  preached  everywhere,  the  Lord  working  with 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  551 

them  and  confirming  the  word,  with  signs  following."  How  uni- 
formly and  zealously  they  all  did  so,  is  shown  in  Acts  throughout. 
How  far  one  of  them,  and  that  one  the  most  blessed  of  all  in  the  vast 
fruits  of  his  labors,  went  in  executing  his  apostleship  in  this  sense, 
may  be  inferred  from  that  declaration  of  his  which,  to  some  modern 
minds,  has  seemed  so  hyperbolical  that  they  can  hardly  read  it  with- 
out stammering,  viz. :  the  notable  declaration  of  Paul — "  For  Christ 
sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the  gospel." 

That  in  all  this  "  the  gospel  "  and  "  preaching"  are  put  in  anti- 
thetical distinction  from  the  ceremonial  ordinances  of  Christianity  is 
so  obvious  in  every  view,  that  the  unanimity  with  which  Reformed 
theologians  always  have  assumed  it  is  readily  appreciated,  and  that 
the  only  surprise  is,  that  it  should  ever  be  otherwise  understood  and 
explained. 

It  should  not  be  necessary  to  add,  however,  that  by  the  "gospel," 
or  the  gospel  preached,  as  the  chief  means  of  regeneration,  is  not 
meant  the  bare  statement  of  certain  gospel  truths  and  facts  as  mere 
verbal  communications  of  knowledge  to  the  intellect  of  man,  appeals 
to  his  feelings,  and  moral  influences  bearing  upon  his  will.  No  Re- 
formed confessions,  and  no  theology  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  any 
recognized  authority,  ever  taught  such  a  view.  It  is  utterly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  doctrine  of  that  Church  concerning  the  Scriptures,  as 
the  ever  inspired  word  of  God.  That  word  and  the  Spirit  who  gave 
it  are  considered  inseparable,  and  thus  it  is  the  means  used  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  which  operates  the  wondrous  result. 

What  then  ?  Are  the  sealing  ordinances  of  no  account  in  the  gracious 
transaction  ?  Especially,  is  no  place  to  be  given  to  the  sacrament  of 
baptism  as  a  medium  for  the  conveyance  of  grace,  and  an  instrument 
in  the  hands  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  the  purposes  of  divine  grace? 
Far  from  it.  The  Holy  Ghost,  who  works  regeneration  -in  the  heart 
by  the  gospel,  confirms  the  work  by  the  use  of  the  sacraments  "as 
holy  signs  and  seals  appointed  of  God  for  this  end,  that  by  the  use 
thereof  lie  may  the  more  fully  declare  and  seal  to  us  the  promise  of 
the  gospel,  viz.,  that  he  grants  us  freely  the  remission  of  sin  and  life 
eternal  for  the  sake  of  that  one  sacrifice  of  Christ  accomplished  on  the 
cross."*  Such  signatory  virtue  as  certainly  pertains  to  the  sacraments 
as  the  Lord  ordained  their  use,  and  so  far  they  are  to  be  faithfully 
observed  as  grace-bearing,  that  is,  means  or  media  of  conveying  the 
grace  which  God  is  pleased  to  work  through  them  ;  all  that,  but  tw 
more.  And  whoever  denies  this  to  them,  takes  from  the  word  of  God. 
Whoever  assays  to  add  more,  presumes  to  supplement  what  God  has 
made  complete.  The  dreadful  penalty  in  either  case  is  known.  But 
their  sealing  virtue  in  every  particular  is  made  dependent  upon  suita- 
ble conditions.  No  seal  is  put  upon  an  empty  casket  ;  it  would  be 
worthless  there.  No  signature  is  affixed  to  a  blank  bond  or  covenant ; 
it  would  have  no  force  or  meaning  there.     So  the  sacraments  pre- 

*  Heidelberg  Catechism,  Question  65. 


552  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

suppose  the  presence  of  grace  already  wrought  in  the  subject  in  whom 
they  are  employed  by  the  Spirit  for  its  fuller  confirmation  in  and  unto 
the  regenerate.  Wherefore,  baptism  is  called  "  the  washing  of  regen- 
eration "  and  "  the  washing  away  of  sins,"  by  a  familiar  metonomy, 
on  account  of  this  ethical  as  well  as  ceremonial  relation  to  the  work ; 
which  may  be  found  fully  explained  by  our  Reformed  fathers  three 
centuries  ago,  whose  writings  also  anticipate  and  refute  all  the  sophis- 
tries employed  in  support  of  the  error  of  baptismal  regeneration. 

But  does  not  the  Holy  Ghost  effect  the  result  by  employing  a  germ 
of  supernatural  quality  and  power,  obtained  from  a  source  outside  of 
humanity,  miraculously  and  mysteriously  inserted  in  and  added  to  the 
native  substance  of  the  soul,*  and  operating  in  it  with  quickening, 
new-creative  energy  to  the  production  of  a  regenerated  life  ?  And  is 
not  water  baptism  the  formal  sacrament,  the  medium  and  channel, 
"the  golden  pipe  of  the  sanctuary,"  through  which  this  germ  or 
seminal  substance  is  conveyed  ? 

Or,  to  borrow  another  style  of  speech,  does  not  the  Holy  Spirit 
work  the  great  change  in  man  by  communicating  to  the  substance  of 
the  soul  a  new  vivifying  life-principle  derived  from  the  glorified  hu- 
manity of  Christ,  and  thus  begetting  the  soul  in  Christ  unto  good 
works?  And  is  not  here,  at  least,  baptism  the  channel  of  the  convey- 
ance of  this  quickening  principle? 

In  the  sense  in  which  such  questions  are  put  by  those  holding  the 
views  they  virtually  represent,  they  must  be  answered  with  a  prompt, 
emphatic  negative,  especially  so  far  as  they  fix  the  medium  of  the  as- 
sumed conveyance.  And  as  regards  the  use  of  such  terms  as  germ, 
seed,  ox  principle  of  life,  whilst  they  may  be  allowed  with  proper  quali- 
fications to  express  a  truth,  experience  teaches  the  necessity  of  cau- 
tion in  admitting  them,  lest  by  their  too  free  acceptance  a  vital  truth 
should  be  betrayed,  and  noxious  error  insinuated  in  its  place.  The 
treacherous  iota  of  the  Arian  heresy  suggests  a  solemn  warning  here. 
"  Christ  is  our  life."  And  all  the  grace  the  Holy  Ghost  imparts  was 
procured  by  him,  and  flows  from  him  as  the  fountain-head.  This  is 
not  mere  metaphor  ;  it  is  fact.  But  it  is  fact  under  a  metaphor,  and 
the  figure  of  speech  must  not  be  perverted  by  an  interpretation  which 
would  make  it  teach  a  doctrine  at  variance  with  the  entire  tenor  of 
the  gospel,  and  subversive  of  the  evangelical  faith.  Christ  is  not  our 
life  in  any  pantheistic  sense.  Nay,  the  mystical  union  established 
between  the  regenerated  soul  and  him  is  not  even  a  hypostatical 
union  of  their  two  natures.  Man  is  not  deified  by  regeneration.  In 
it  men  become  Christians,  but  are  not  made  Christs. 

6.  In  regard  to  the  WffM^?^  adopted  by  the  Spirit  in  the  gracious 
work,  or  hon>  he  accomplishes  it  through  the  gospel,  we  meet  with 
no  essentially  greater  difficulty  than  invests  all  inquiries  after  first 
principles  of  power,  and  life,  and  the  inner  relations  of  causes  and 
effects.     It  will  suffice,  therefore,  to  answer  in  the  Lord's  own  words  : 

*  "  Wilberforce  on  Baptism,"  p.  43,  and  all  writers  of  that  school. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  553 

"The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof, 
but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.  So  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  There  is,  however,  one  fact  here  de- 
serving distinct  emphasis — it  is  that  the  divine  method  in  this  case,  as 
in  all  else  pertaining  to  the  effective  application  of  redemption,  is  in 
entire  unison  with  what  God  himself  made  man  to  be. 

From  what  has  been  said,  and  we  think  upon  convincing  evidence, 
concerning  the  means  used  in  regeneration,  and  the  method  of  their 
application,  as  well  as  from  the  commonly  admitted  effects  of  the 
work,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  Reformed  confessions  and  theology,  at 
least  those  of  earlier  times,  were  led  to  regard  and  treat  it  as  nearly, 
if  not  quite  synonymous  with  conversion,  and  to  employ  this  term  as 
covering  both  facts  and  truths.  Plausible  reasons  are  indeed  given 
for  so  distinguishing  between  the  two  as  to  represent  the  one  as  ex- 
pressing what  God  does  in  the  case,  and  the  other  as  indicating  what 
man  does.  But  it  may  be  fairly  questioned  whether  this  distinction 
has  not  been  pressed  too  far,  and  whether,  after  all  the  inner  relation 
between  both  is  not  so  close  and  vital  as  rather  to  justify  the  older 
method  as  being  at  once  more  strictly  scriptural,  and  therefore  more 
truly  philosophical  and  scientific?  Certainly  there  is  room  and  rea- 
son, in  view  of  evangelical  as  well  as  theological  interests  at  stake,  for 
a  careful  reconsideration  of  this  point.  Our  earliest  theologians  were 
not  ignorant  of  the  claims  which  might  be  urged  in  favor  of  the  dis- 
tinction referred  to,  but  intelligently  preferred  the  method  they 
adopted. 

To  complete  the  task  attempted  in  this  essay,  it  would  be  proper  to 
enumerate  the  leading  effects  of  regeneration  upon  the  subject  of 
grace.  But  our  prescribed  limit  has  been  already  exceeded,  and 
those  effects  must  be  left  to  be  legitimately  inferred. 

Summing  all  up  then  into  a  single  proposition,  regeneration  maybe 
defined  as  that  act  of  the  Holy  Spirit  working  by  gospel  means  upon 
the  inmost  personal  life  of  man,  by  which  that  life  is  rescued  from 
the  power  and  corruption  of  sin,  renewed  in  righteousness  and  holi- 
ness in  Jesus  Clirist,  brought  into  living  spiritual  union  with  God  in 
Christ,  and  thus  radically  changed  in  the  tenor  and  nature  of  its 
thoughts,  desires  and  will. 

Or,  to  adopt  a  briefer  statement,  the  authorship  of  which  will  prob- 
ably be  recognized  by  many,  "  it  consists  in  a  change  of  the  corrupt 
mind  and  will  into  that  which  is  good,  produced  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
through  the  preaching  of  the  law  and  the  gospel,  which  is  followed  by 
a  sincere  desire  to  produce  the  fruits  of  repentance,  and  a  conformity 
of  the  life  to  all  the  commands  of  God."  f 

After  devotional  services  the  Council  adjourned  until  7.30 
o'clock  this  evening. 

*  Ursinus. 


554  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

September  igth,  7.30  p.  m. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  by  T.  W.  Taylor,  Esq.,  of 
Toronto,  Canada,  President,  and  the  session  was  opened  with 
devotional  exercises. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  William  Gregg,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Canada, 
read  the  following  paper  on 

SABBATH   OBSERVANCE.  , 

Assuming  that  the  Sabbath  is  a  divine  institution,  and  of  perpetual 
obligation,  and  also  that  the  first  instead  of  the  seventh  day  of  the 
week  is  now  to  be  observed  as  the  day  of  weekly  rest,  I  intend  to  refer 
to  some  of  the  ways  in  which  our  religious  interests  are  secured  by  the 
observance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  There  are  important  benefits 
of  a  temporal  kind  which  result  from  Sabbath  observance.  It  tends, 
for  example,  to  promote  health  and  strength  both  of  body  and  mind, 
to  secure  domestic  happiness,  and  to  advance  national  prosperity. 
These  are  benefits  which  are  well  worthy  of  consideration  ;  but  I  con- 
fine myself  at  present  to  those  which  are  of  a  religious  nature.  There 
are  two  advantages  of  this  kind  to  which  I  intend  to  advert,  viz.,  in 
the  first  place,  to  the  value  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  as  a  standing 
monumental  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  especially  of 
the  resurrection  of  Christ ;  and  seeondly,  to  its  usefulness  as  a  means 
of  sustaining  and  developing  Christian  life. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  the  observance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  con- 
stitutes a  standing  monumental  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Christianity, 
and  especially  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  It  is  a  central  article 
in  the  creed  of  Christendom,  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  having  died 
for  our  sins,  rose  again  from  the  dead.  According  to  the  teaching  of 
Scripture,  this  great  fact  gives  assurance  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  of 
the  completion  and  acceptance  of  his  work  of  redemption,  of  a  future 
judgment,  and  of  the  eternal  blessedness  of  believers.  We  are  further 
taught  that  if  Christ  be  not  raised,  our  faith  is  vain.  Such  being  the 
importance  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  first  day  of  the  week,  on  which  he  is  recorded  to  have  risen 
from  the  dead,  would  come  to  have  a  peculiar  significance  in  the 
minds  of  Christians,  and  that,  either  with  or  without  express  com- 
mand, they  would  regard  it  with  peculiar  honor.  No  recorded  fact 
could  claim  to  be  more  worthy  of  honorable  commemoration  than  the 
fact  of  the  resurrection.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  should  find  that, 
in  point  of  fact,  the  early  Christians  did  observe  the  first  day  of  the 
week  with  special  reference  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  that  they 
transferred  to  it  the  sacred  honors  with  which  the  seventh  day  had 
been  formerly  regarded,  that  everywhere  and  continuously  they  thus 
observed  the  first  day  of  the  week,  it  would  surely  be  a  warrantable 
conclusion  that  they  had  the  best  reasons  for  believing  in  the  reality 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  555 

of  the  resurrection.  In  no  other  way  could  their  general  observance 
of  the  Christian  Sabbath  be  explained  or  accounted  for.  The  fact 
of  a  nation  or  community  observing  merely  one  day  in  each  year,  in 
commemoration  of  some  remarkable  event,  is  strong  evidence  of  the 
reality  of  that  event ;  but  far  stronger  would  be  the  evidence  of  the 
event,  if  one  day  in  each  week  were  set  apart  in  memory  of  it,  and 
observed  from  the-  time  of  its  alleged  occurrence.  Now,  we  claim 
that  there  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  from  the  apostolic  age  the  first 
day  of  every  week  has  been  generally  observed  by  Christians  with 
special  reference  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  that  a  convincing 
proof  or  confirmation  is  thus  furnished  of  the  reality  of  this  event. 

What  is  the  evidence  which  can  be  adduced  that  the  first  day  of  the 
week  was  observed  by  the  early  Christians  with  reference  to  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ?  It  is  to  be  found  partly  in  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures,  which,  not  to  speak  of  their  inspiration,  are  at  least  as 
reliable  as  any  other  ancient  records,  and  partly  in  the  uninspired 
writings  of  the  early  Christian  fi.;thers,  and  the  records  of  the  early 
Christian  Church.  The  New  Testament  Scriptures  contain  but  few 
notices  of  the  observance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath ;  but  all  these 
point  to  its  observance  with  special  reference  to  the  resurrection  of 
Christ.  In  the  gospel  by  John  we  read  that  on  the  evening  of  the 
first  Christian  Sabbath,  when  the  disciples  were  assembled,  the  risen 
Saviour  appeared  to  them,  and  showed  to  them  his  hands  and  his  side, 
and  that  they  were  glad  when  they  saw  the  Lord.  John  further  in- 
forms us  in  his  gospel  that  when  the  disciples  we're  assembled  on  the 
next  first  day  of  the  week,  or  the  eighth  day,  the  Lord  again  appeared 
to  them,  and  for  the  special  benefit  of  Thomas,  repeated  the  evidence 
of  his  resurrection.  The  first  day  of  the  week  was  thus  associated,  in 
the  minds  of  the  disciples,  with  the  fact  of  the  resurrection.  John 
still  further  informs  us,  in  the  book  of  Revelation,  that  he  was  in  the 
Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day;  and,  in  the  light  of  what  he  records  in  his 
gospel,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  this  was  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  and  that  this  was  called  the  Lord's  day,  because  on  that  day 
our  Lord  arose  from  the  dead.  No  other  day  was  so  well  entitled  to 
be  called  the  Lord's  day  as  the  first  day,  the  day  of  his  resurrection  ; 
and  accordingly,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  the  early  Christian  writers 
understood  the  Lord's  day  to  be  the  same  as  the  first  or  eighth  day  of 
the  week.  In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  we  read  of  the  disciples  at 
Troas  coming  together  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  to  break  bread, 
and  of  Paul's  preaching  to  them  on  that  day.  We  find,  also,  that  in 
one  of  his  epistles,  Paul  instructs  the  Corinthian  Christians  to  make 
collections  for  the  poor  saints  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.  The 
meeting  of  the  disciples  at  TrOas  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and 
the  choice  of  the  same  day  as  the  day  for  making  charitable  contribu- 
tions, can  be  most  satisfactorily  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that 
this  day  was  observed  by  the  disciples  in  honor  of  our  Lord's  resur- 
rection. 

In  the  early  Christian  writings  and  records  we  have  more  distinct  • 


556  THE  PRESBYTEHIAN  ALLIANCE. 

testimonies  to  the  fact  that  the  early  Christians  were  accustomed  to 
observe  the  first  day  of  the  week  with  special  reference  to  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ.  Thus,  in  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  written  probably 
about  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  we  have  these  words : 
"We  keep  the  eighth  [that  is,  the  first]  day  with  joyfulness,  the  day 
also  on  which  Jesus  rose  again  from  the  dead."  In  one  of  the  epis- 
tles attributed  to  Ignatius,  which,  if  not  written  by  him,  was,  at  all 
events,  in  existence  at  an  early  date,  the  following  exhortation  is 
given  :  "  Let  every  friend  of  Christ  keep  the  Lord's  day  as  a  festival, 
the  resurrection  day,  the  queen  and  chief  of  all  the  days."  Justin 
Martyr,  in  his  first  Apology,  written  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  thus  writes:  "Sunday  is  the  day  on  which  we  all  hold  our 
common  assembly,  because  it  is  the  first  day  on  which  God,  having 
wrought  a  change  in  the  darkness  and  matter,  made  the  world ;  and 
Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  on  the  same  day  rose  from  the  dead." 
Irenseus,  as  we  learn  from  Eusebius,  wrote  a  letter  to  Victor,  Bishop 
of  Rome,  at  the  close  of  the  second  century,  in  the  name  of  the 
church  in  Gaul,  over  which  he  presided,  "  in  which  he  maintains  the 
duty  of  celebrating  the  mystery  of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  only 
on  the  day  of  the  Lord."  About  the  same  time,  also,  as  we  further 
learn  from  Eusebius,  there  were 'synods  and  convocations  respecting 
the  paschal  controversy,  and  these  "  all  unanimously  drew  up  an  ec(  k- 
siaslical  decree,  which  they  communicated  to  all  the  churches  in  all 
places,  that  the  mystery  of  our  Lord's  resurrection  should  be  cele- 
brated on  no  other  fhan  the  Lord's  day."  It  may  be  added,  that 
according  to  the  testimony  of  several  early  Christian  writers,  it  was 
the  common  custom  in  the  ancient  Church  to  pray  in  a  standing 
posture,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  in  honor  of  the  Saviour's  resur- 
rection, and  that  Christians  were  forbidden  to  fast  on  the  Lord's  day, 
inasmuch  as  fasting  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  joyous-  feelings 
which  should  be  associated  with  the  day  on  which  our  Lord  arose 
from  the  dead. 

It  thus  appears  from  the  New  Testament,  and  other  early  writings 
and  records,  that  it  was  the  common  practice  in  the  ancient  Church 
to  observe  the  first  day  of  the  week  with  special  reference  to  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ ;  that  from  the  time  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and 
during  the  early  centuries,  week  after  week,  year  after  year,  continu- 
ously, and  everywhere,  the  Christians  commemorated  the  fact  of  our 
Lord's  resurrection — commemorated  it  with  a  frequency  and,  it  may 
be  added,  with  a  solemnity  with  which  no  other  great  event  has  ever 
been  commemorated.  Are  we  not  warranted  to  infer  from  this  fact 
that  the  early  Christians  believed,  and  that  they  had  the  best  reasons 
for  believing,  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ?  And  as  the  Christian 
Sabbath  has  been  continuously  and  universally  observed  from  the 
early  centuries  till  the  present  day,  are  we  not  warranted  in  regarding 
it  as  a  standing  monumental  evidence  and  confirmation  of  the  great 
central  fact,  otherwise  so  abundantly  attested,  on  which  our  faith  and 
hope  depend  ? 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  557 

II.  Let  us  now  advert  in  the  second  place  t(5  the  observance  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath  as  a  means  of  sustaining  and  developing  Christian 
life.  Supposing  that  on  the  .ground  of  evidences  of  various  kinds, 
and  through  the  illumination  of  God's  Spirit,  a  man  has  accepted  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  well  fitted  Sabbath 
observance  is  to  strengthen  his  faith,  and  to  develop  in  him  all  the 
graces  of  the  Christian  character.  On  that  day  he  lays  aside  all 
worldly  employments,  withdraws  his  mind  from  worldly  anxieties,  and 
specially  .devotes  himself  to  the  contemplation  of  the  great  facts  and 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  as  well  as  to  the  exercises  of  prayer  and 
praise.  The  result  is  that  not  only  does  he  receive  spiritual  blessings 
in  direct  answer  to  prayer,  but  the  studies,  in  which  he  engages,  serve 
to  strengthen  his  faith.  The  strongest  evidences  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity  are  found  in  the  reasonableness  of  its  doctrines,  in  the 
purity  of  its  morals,  in  the  sublime  views  it  gives  of  the  character  of 
God,  and  in  the  adaptation  of  the  salvation  it  reveals  to  man's  felt 
wants  and  necessities.  The  more,  therefore,  the  Christian  meditates 
on  these  topics,  he  becomes  more  and  more  convinced  of  the  Divine 
origin  of  our  holy  religion.  He  feels  also  more  intensely  the  con- 
straining influence  on  his  heart  and  life  of  those  strongest  of  all  mo- 
tives to  holiness,  which  spring  from  God's  love  and  mercy  manifested 
in  Christ.  If  no  day  were  specially  set  apart  for  religious  exercises 
it  is  most  likely  that  the  mind  would  become,  to  a  large  extent,  ab- 
sorbed Avith  worldly  affairs.  As  it  is,  the  special  exercises  of  the 
weekly  Sabbath  serve  to  build  up  believers  in  "faith  and  love;  and 
it  may  be  affirmed  that,  as  a  general  rule,  in  proportion  to  the 
sanctity  with  which  the  Sabbath  is  observed,  will  all  the  graces  of 
the  Christian  character  be  developed  during  the  other  days  of  the 
week. 

As  in  relation  to  personal  piety,  so  also  in  relation  to  family  religion, 
the  Sabbath  secures  important  religious  advantages.  In  well-ordered 
Christian  families  the  worship  of  God  is  attended  to  in  the  morning 
and  evening  of  every  day — all  the  members  of  the  household  joining 
together  in  praise,  in  prayer,  and  in  the  reading  and  study  of  God's 
word.  Incalculable  are  the  benefits  which  result  from  such  daily  ex- 
ercises. But  amidst  the  pressure  of  worldly  employments,  it  is  difficult 
for  parents  to  devote  sufficient  time  on  every  da.y  to  the  religious 
training  of  their  children  and  domestics.  The  return  of  the  weekly 
Sabbath  affords  ampler  opportunities.  On  that  day,  when  worldly 
employments  are  laid  aside,  the  head  of  a  family  can  devqte  more 
time  and  attention  to  the  religious  training  of  the  members  of  his 
household,  who  are  thus  more  likely  to  become  intelligent,  active,  and 
consistent  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Here  it  may  be  ob- 
served, that  the  religious  training  of  children  in  families  on  the  I>ord's 
day  is  the  more  necessary,  at  the  present  time,  in  consequence  of  the 
fact  that  in  many  of  our  public  schools  the  attention  of  the  young  is 
almost  exclusively  devoted  to  such  kinds  of  learning  as  may  fit  them 
merely  for  worldly  employments.     It  is  thus  the  more  necessary  that 


558  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

on  one  day  in  seven-  they  should  be  specially  instructed  in  that 
knowledge  which  maketh  wise  unto  salvation. 

In  connection  with  the  training  of  the  young  in  families,  reference 
may  be  made  to  the  opportunities  which  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day 
affords  for  the  work  of  Sabbath-school  instruction,  which  has  been  pro- 
ductive of  so  much  benefit  to  the  Christian  Church  during  the  present 
century.  It  has  been  calculated  that  at  the  present  time  about  one  mil- 
lion and  a  quarter  of  Sabbath-school  teachers  are  engaged  in  impart- 
ing religious  instruction  to  about  twelve  millions  of  Sabbath-school 
scholars.  It  is  impossible  to  form  an  adequate  conception  of  all  the 
good  which  is  thus  effected,  not  only  to  the  scholars,  but  also  to  their 
teachers,  to  their  parents,  and  to  the  church  at  large.  It  is  to  be  re- 
membered, also,  that  in  connection  with  Sabbath-schools  there  have 
been  called  into  existence  numerous  tract,  missionary  and  temperance 
organizations,  which  have  contributed  largely  to  promote  the  interests 
of  religion.  It  is  further  to  be  remembered,  that  in  connection  with 
Sabbath-schools  there  have  been  called  into  existence  innumerable  re- 
ligious periodicals  and  other  religious  publications,  which  have 
been  of  incalculable  benefit  as  a  means  of  disseminating  Christian 
truth,  and  awakening  Christian  zeal  and  activity.  Now  we  may 
claim  for  the  Sabbath  that  to  its  observance  all  these  advantages 
are  due. 

In  still  further  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  Sabbath  observ- 
ance is  a  means  of  sustaining  and  developing  Christian  life,  we  may 
refer  to  the  ministrations  of  the  sanctuary,  and  especially  to  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  on  the  Lord's  day.  When  Christians  of  every 
rank  and  class  join  together  in  the  same  exercises,  in  the  house  of 
God,  on  every  returning  Sabbath,  they  are  reminded  of  their  common 
hopes  and  fears,  duties  and  privileges,  and  are  thus  taught  to  regard 
themselves  as  members  of  the  same  family.  They  are  thus  more  likely 
to  become  united  in  the  bonds  of  Christian  brotherhood,  and  to  be 
stimulated  to  united  efforts  in  the  service  of  their  common  Lord.  In 
answer  to  their  united  prayers,  showers  of  promised  blessings  descend 
upon  themselves  and  upon  the  whole  Church  of  God.  The  preaching 
of  the  word  is  a  specially  effective  means  both  of  converting  sinners 
and  edifying  believers.  When  "the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God, 
it  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save  them  that  be- 
lieve." As  regards  the  preaching  of  the  word,  it  is  very  evident  that 
its  efficacy  is  very  closely  connected  with  the  observance  of  one  day 
in  seven  for  special  religious  exercises.  But  for  the  Sabbath  it  is  not' 
likely  that  congregations  would  long  continue  to  meet  with  regularity 
to  hear  the  living  voice  of  the  ambassadors  of  Christ.  In  point  of 
fact,  in  those  countries  and  communities  in  which  the  Sabbath  is 
neglected  there  are  few  who  attend  upon  the  preaching  of  the  word. 
On  the  other  hand,  reverence  for  the  Sabbath  is  associated  with  at- 
tendance upon  the  sanctuary  and  the  hearing  of  the  word  ;  and  who 
can  estimate  the  amount  of  spiritual  good  that  is  done  by  the  preach- 
ing of  hundreds   of  thousands  of  sermons  to  millions  of  hearers  on' 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  559 

every  returning  Lord's  day?  The  sermons  of  one  single  Sabbath 
would  constitute  a  large  library  of  theology  and  exegesis,  of  instruc- 
tive and  devotional  Christian  literature  which,  as  coming  in  earnest 
tones  from  the  glowing  hearts  of  living  men,  is  fitted  to  tell  with  the 
greatest  and  most  beneficial  effect. 

Nor  does  this  literature  vanish  with  the  passing  Sabbath  day.  Some 
of  the  most  valuable  Christian  books  and  tracts  consist  of  sermons 
which,  in  printed  form,  are  addressed  to  vaster  multitudes  than  could 
assemble  within  any  edifice,  and  thus  continue  to  be  addressed  to 
successive  generations.  It  is  to  be  remembered  also  that,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  ministrations  of  the  pulpit,  a  demand  for  other  kinds  of 
Christian  literature  is  created  and  supplied.  Ministers  of  the  gospel 
feel  their  need  of  various  kinds  of  Christian  literature  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  their  sermons,  and  their  hearers  also  feel  their  need  of  similar 
help  in  their  study  of  what  they  hear,  and  also  in  tbeir  private  study 
of  divine  truth.  The  needed  help  has  been  provided  for  both,  in  the 
writings  of  learned,  gifted,  and  pious  men.  Apart  from  Sabbath 
preaching  and  Sabbath  congregations,  a  truly  valuable  Christian  lit- 
erature could  scarcely  exist  or  be  sustained.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
vast  extent  and  valuable  character  of  the  existing  Christian  literature 
are  very  largely  dependent  on  the  pulpit  ministrations  of  the  Sabbath. 
In  harmony  with  this  statement,  I  may  venture  to  assert  it  as  a  simple 
matter  of  flict  that,  in  those  countries  and  communities,  and  in  those 
times,  in  which  the  Sabbath  is  most  neglected,  the  so-called  Christian 
literature  consists  mainly  of  cold,  dry,  unedifying,  oftentimes  semi- 
infidel,  although  it  may  be  learned  disquisitions  "about  the  letter  of 
Scripture  and  the  externals  of  religion  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
where  the  Sabbath  is  most  faithfully  observed,  and  when  the  house  of 
God  is  thronged  with  attentive  worshippers,  the  ministers  of  religion 
are  stimulated  to  produce,  and  do  produce,  in  most  abundant  measure, 
that  best  kind  of  Christian  literature  which,  dealing  with  the  marrow 
of  divinity  and  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  not  merely  enlightens  the 
understanding,  but  most  powerfully  affects  the  heart  and  conscience 
and  the  whole  spiritual  nature. 

But  I  cannot  dwell  longer  on  the  religious  benefits  which  result 
from  Sabljath  observance.  I  trust,  however,  the  brief  illustrations 
which  have  been  given  may,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  tend  to  make  us 
more  thankful  for  the  divinely  appointed  day  of  sacred  rest,  to  awaken 
us  to  more  earnest  efforts  to  guard  it  against  every  kind  of  desecra- 
tion, and  to  deepen  our  conviction  that  it  is  at  once  our  duty  and  our 
privilege  to  sanctify  the  Sabbath  "  by  a  holy  resting  all  that  day,  even 
from  such  employments  and  recreations  as  are  lawful  on  other  days; 
and  spending  the  whole  time  in  the  public  and  private  exercises  of 
God's  worship,  except  so  much  as  is  to  be  taken  up  in  the  works  of 
necessity  and  mercy;"  in  accordance  with  the  declaration,  which  is 
just  as  true  in  the  present  dispensation  as  in  Old  Testament  times : 
"  If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleas- 
ure on  my  holy  day;  and  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of  the 


56o  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Lord  honourable;  and  shall  honour  him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways, 
nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words,  then 
shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord  ;  and  I  will  cause  thee  to  ride 
upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed  thee  with  the  heritage  of 
Jacob  thy  father;  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it." 

The  Rev.  Hervey  D.  Gaxse,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  also  read  the 
following  paper  on 
THE  SABBATH'S  CLAIM  ON  CHRISTL\N  CONSCIENCES. 

By  nothing  else  does  the  cause  of  Sabbath  observance  suffer  so  much 
as  by  the  denial  which  Christian  men  have  made  of  the  abiding  au- 
thority of  God's  Sabbath  law.  The  most  offensive  attacks  upon  the 
day  of  rest  of  course  proceed  from  the  haters  of  all  religion.  But  the 
boldness  of  such  men  is  greatly  encouraged  by  the  fact  that  religion 
itself,  in  the  person  of  many  of  its  most  influential  teachers,  has  loosed 
the  bonds  of  conscience,  and  left  the  Sabbath  with  no  rights. 

Multitudes  of  Christians  who  were  trained  to  revere  the  day  avail 
themselves  of  this  new-found  license  ;  and,  when  the  very  keepers  of 
the  sacred  enclosure  break  down  its  hedges,  no  wonder  that  the  "wild 
boar  out  of  the  wood  doth  waste  it,  and  the  beast  of  the  field  doth 
devour  it." 

It  is  not  rash  to  say  that  the  arguments,  whether  ethical  or  exegeti- 
cal,  which  have  tended  to  this  result,  are  as  false  as  they  are  specious, 
and  admit  of  reply  at  every  point.  But  what  then?  Reply  main- 
tains debate;  and  it' is  the  fact  of  Christian  debate  about  the  present 
authority  of  Sabbath  law  that  leaves  inclination  free  to  trample  the 
day. 

Is  there  no  way  of  arresting  this  bad  change?  Is  Sabbath  obliga- 
tion so  cloudy  a  thing  that  when  its  outline  is  once  confused  it  can 
never  be  restored?  So  far  from  that,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  any  good 
and  reasonable  man  can  look  at  the  Sabbath  institution  in  its  own 
proper  quality  and  relations  and  yet  doubt  its  abiding  divine  authority. 

There  are  three  obvious  facts,  unconfusable  by  any  sophistry,  which, 
when  laid  together  and  weighed  by  common  sense  and  candor,  estab- 
lish the  Sabbath's  enduring  claim  on  every  Christian  conscience. 

I.  The  first  fact  is  that  the  Sabbath  institution  exists.  Throughout  a 
very  great  part  of  the  civilized  world,  one  day  in  seven — call  it  Sab- 
bath, Lord's  day,  Sunday,  what  you  will — releases  the  bulk  of  the 
people  from  common  toil,  and  gives  them  scope  for  some  other  human 
occupation.  The  usage  is  not  limited  to  any  class  of  religionists. 
Unbelievers,  atheists,  and  even  Jews,  in  spite  of  their  special  tradi- 
tion, in  large  measure  observe  the  concerted  rest-day. 

Nor  is  the  usage  popular  only.  The  legislation  of  many  of  the 
wisest,  freest,  most  industrious  nations  on  earth  guards  that  seventh 
day  of  rest  with  laws  and  penalties.  If  \Ve  except  the  Family  and 
Civil  Government,  no  other  institution  is  so  conspicuously  distinc- 
tive of  Christian  civilization  as  the  weekly  rest-day. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  561 

II.  The  second  fact  is  this :  Tlie  existing  Sabbath  usage  has  some 
most  valuable  adaptations  in  it.  It  is  not  a  mere  yoke  fastened  on 
reluctant  necks  ;  nor  is  it  a  great  conventional  whim.  It  is  an  intel- 
ligent usage  by  which  men  agree  to  serve  themselves.  Indeed,  many 
of  those  who  deny  to  it  any  divine  origin,  are  foremost  in  asserting 
it^  usefulness.  They  trace  it  to  the  quarterings  of  the  moon;  and 
develop  it  from  among  the  superstitious  rites  of  remote  ages,  on  the 
Darwinian  principle  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  The  rites  have  not 
been  serviceable  to  the  advancing  generations  and  have  fallen  away. 
But  the  rest-day  has,  and  so  it  abides. 

For  the  present  we  will  not  quarrel  even  with  such  a  statement;  for 
our  argument  at  this  point  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  past.  We  are 
studying  the  institution  as  it  exists  among  us. 

What,  then,  does  this  surviving  fit  thing  fit?  More  than  I  can,  at 
this  time,  tell  of,  or  significantly  hint  at.  It  fits  a  tired  man's  natural 
longing  for  change  and  rest.  It  fits  the  imperative  needs  of  his 
body,  whose  tissues  waste  too  fast  under  any  form  of  unremitted 
labor.  It  fits  his  self-respect,  by  securing  to  him  a  frequent  whole 
day  of  cleanly  exemption  from  the  grime  of  toil.  It  serves  domestic 
order  by  allowing  the  homes  even  of  the  poorest  to  take  on  their  Sun- 
day aspect  of  quiet  and  tidiness.  It  meets  the  needs  of  domestic 
affection  by  permitting  the  father  to  gather  around  him,  by  daylight 
and  in  leisure,  the  whole  family,  which  for  the  rest  of  the  week  he 
sees  by  snatches,  or  not  at  all.  It  gives  scope  to  the  mind  by  releasing 
it  so  often  and  so  regularly  from  the  thoughts  of  mere  work,  and  suf- 
fering it  by  observation  of  nature,  by  reading,  hearing  and  meditation, 
to  acquaint  itself  with  a  world  of  truth,  from  which  the  perpetual 
laborer  is  shut  out. 

It  invites  to  religious  thought  and  duty,  which,  though  they  belong 
to  the  field  and  the  works^hop,  and  to  every  place  where  a  good  man 
cari  ever  be,  deserve  a  spliere  of  their  own,  as  safe  as  possible  from 
common  distractions. 

It  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  united  worship  by  a  whole  com- 
munity, and  of  all  those  advantages  which  such  worship  brings  to  per- 
sonal character  and  public  order.  By  making  use  of  the  Bible,  and 
of  preaching,  this  public  Sabbath  worship  has  long  been  and  is  the 
special  educator  of  Christian  communities  in  religion  and  morality, 
and  in  all  those  matters,  intellectual  or  cesthetic,  abstract  or  practical, 
which  stand  related  to  them. 

In  particular,  the  weekly  day  of  rest  supplies  a  most  necessary  op- 
portunity for  the  religious  education  of  the  young  in  the  family,  the 
Sunday-school,  and  the  churcli. 

By  the  fact  that  the  Bible  and  religious  duty  demand  for  their,  just 
exposition  so  many  kinds  of  learning,  the  preaching  Sabbath  has  set 
up  the  immense  majority  of  those  institutions  to  which  Christendom 
owes  both  its  liigher  learning  and  the  whole  spirit  of  popular  educa- 
tion. If  in  America,  in  particular,  the  Sabbath  could  be  abolished, 
the  present  munificent  stream  of  educational  endowments  wuuld 
36 


562  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

shrink  as  a  spring  torrent  does  in  summer.  The  facts  that  can  be 
(juotLd  against  this  statement  are  notorious  by  their  singularity. 

In  thus  nourishing  religion  and  intelligence,  the  Sabbath  is  a  chief 
nurse  both  of  liberty  and  of  the  morality  by  which  alone  liberty  is 
sife. 

And  it  is  the  chief  nurse  of  charity.  By  the  contact  which  it  ef- 
fects of  Christ's  gospel  with  the  hearts  of  intelligent  and  sympathetic 
assemblies,  it  maintains  a  widespread  power  of  benevolence  which  is 
like  a  force  of  nature.  It  is  like  the  sun  gathering  up  the  clouds  from 
the  face  of  a  continent. 

In  all  these  ways  the  Sabbath  fosters  the  widest  human  sympathy 
and  sense  of  brotherhood.  By  community  of  faith  and  worship  and 
active  benevolence,  it  integrates  neighborhoods  and  nations  and  the 
race.  "  The  blue  sky  bends  over  all."  The  spiritual  day  reaches  as 
far  as  the  natural  one  ;  and  faith  and  love,  being  keener  than  eye- 
sight, sweep  over  the  partitions  of  nature  and  the  worshipping  nation 
— ihe  worshipping  world  is  one. 

Such  an  alliance  and  conference  as  this  is  both  a  sign  and  a  means 
of  good  feeling  between  peoples  near  and  remote.  After  these  acts 
of  Christian  fellowship  we  would  be  sorry  to  see  our  sons  and  brothers 
fighting  ;  and  the  men  whom  such  a  conference  includes  and  repre- 
sents are  not  without  influence  in  their  several  nations.  But  without 
a  Sabbath  such  an  alliance  would  be  as  impossible  as  without  men. 
It  is  the  Sabbath  with  the  gospel  that  long  ago  made  the  union  which 
we  are  here  tardily  declaring  ;  and  it  is  the  Sabbath,  with  its  prayers 
for  all  the  saints,  that  shall  strengthen  the  bonds  that  bind  us  now. 

And  there  are  saints  for  whom  we  pray  no  longer.  They  have 
entered  into  rest :  Guthrie,  who  was  in  Scotland  ;  Tholuck,  who  was 
in  Germany  ;  Duff,  who  was  in  India  ;  Eushnell,  who  was  in  Africa  ; 
Adams,  who  was  in  America.  The  pilgrims  who  shall  visit  the  scenes  of 
their  several  labors  shall  need  to  travel  far.  But  the  Sabbath  dissolves 
ihe  veil  that  hides  the  invisible  glory,  and  they  all  are  near.  We  look 
up  toward  the  face  of  Christ,  ancl  the  great  array  of  these  heavenly 
worshippers  shines  down  upon  us.  One  heaven  for  our  Christian 
dead  makes  one  earth  for  the  living  ;  and  the  Sabbath  is  the  open 
door  between  the  two. 

All  this  is  a  scanty  recital  ;  but  the  things  which  it  recites  are  the 
best  and  dearest  that  are  known  to  men.  There  is  no  excellent  human 
interest  so  personal  and  private,  so  public  and  universal,  that  the 
Sabbath  wisely  kept  does  not  greatly  serve  it.  It  would  be  as  easy 
to  make  an  inventory  of  what  the  Sunday  daylight  does  in  the  world 
of  matter  and  life,  as  an  inventory  of  the  blessings  which  Sunday  rest, 
well  used,  brings  to  the  world  of  men. 

Add  to  all  this  the  direct  and  peculiar  bearing  of  Sabbath  duty  upon 
every  man's  personal  relations  to  God  in  Christ,  and  thus  upon  his 
preparation  for  the  life  immortal,  and  all  Christians  at  least  will  admit 
that  the  Sabbath  institution  as  we  have  it  is,  by  its  known  results,  of 
incalculable  value. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  563 

III.  The  third  fact  now  is  this :  that  thirty-four  centuries  ago 
Moses,  in  giving  laws  to  the  men  of  his  race,  made  recital  of  a  brief 
and  comprehensive  code,  said  to  have  been  proclaimed  in  the  hearing 
of  all  the  people  by  the  voice  of  God  himself.  Nine-tenths  of  this  code 
concerned  those  universal  duties  toward  God  and  man  which  lie  at 
the  foundation  of  religion  and  society. 

The  tenth  law,  announced  with  special  solemnity  in  the  midst  of 
the  others,  enjoined  the  keeping  of  a  weekly  day  of  rest  and  religion. 
It  will  not  be  questioned  that,  so  far  as  this  code  of  the  "Ten  Words," 
or  the  Decalogue,  has  been  known  among  men,  it  is,  save  only  in  the 
matter  of  the  Sabbath  law,  the  world-accepted  code  of  axiomatic 
morality. 

The  introduction  of  the  Sabbath  law  into  such  a  code  is  for  two 
reasons  very  remarkable. 

First,  there  is  no  proof  nor  probability  that  at  that  time  the  usage 
of  a  weekly  rest-day  had  in  any  practical  way  attested  the  immense 
value  that  was  in  it.  Though  we  insist,  as  many  of  us  will,  that  the 
Sabbath  was  ordained  from  the  very  beginning,  it  was  only  in  a  settled 
society  such  as  the  Israelites  were  yet  to  form  that  the  institution 
could  have  scope  for  its  most  beneficent  work.  It  was  for  such  an  un- 
developed usage,  .then,  that  a  place  was  made  in  the  midst  of  duties 
that  are  obvious  and  universal. 

A  second  fact  makes  this  selection  the  more  remarkable.  Moses 
was  a  voluminous  legislator  of  religious  rites  and  of  civil  and  social 
laws.  Sacrifices,  feasts,  purifications,  tithings,  marriage,  inherit- 
ance, avenging  of  injuries,  Sabbatical  years  and  jubilees — these  and 
such  like  things  are  elsewhere  set  forth  by  him  with  the  solemnity 
and  iteration  which  prove  their  sacred  importance  to  his  system.  But 
into  this  God-given  code  of  the  Decalogue  not  one  of  them  comes. 
Only  the  law  which  is  to  develop  the  undeveloped  Sabbath. 

Now,  of  the  actual  origin  of  that  code,  unbelief  will  take  one  view 
and  belief  another. 

An  unbeliever  will  deny  the  miracle  of  the  audible  voice  of  God, 
and  will  ascribe  the  code  to  Moses.  But  then  he  will  give  Moses 
credit  for  the  wisdom  and  foresight  which  his  code  evinces.  This  is 
what  P.  J.  Proudhon,  the  French  socialist,  does  in  his  remarkable 
essay,  "  La  Celebration  du  Dimanche."  With  analysis,  very  acute  as 
far  as  it  goes,  he  discusses  the  indispensable  social  advantages  of  the 
weekly  rest-day,  and  loads  with  praise  the  Hebrew  legislator  who 
knew  human  nature  so  well  and  planned  for  it  so  admirably.  It  never 
occurred  to  this  unbeliever  that,  because  the  particular  one-seventh 
part  of  time  now  used  for  a  rest-day  is  not  the  very  same  one-seventh 
which  Moses  prescribed,  the  credit  of  our  modern  usage  was  to  be 
denied  to  Moses.  He  would  have  thought  it  as  manly  to  evade  an 
inventor's  patent  for  a  clock,  by  keeping  the  patented  movement  and 
canting  the  dial-plate.  Make  Moses  the  inventor  of  the  Hebrew  Sab- 
bath, and  no  laborer  in  Christendom  ought  to  wake  to  his  Sunday 
rest  without  blessing  the  name  of  Moses. 


564  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

But  Christians  believe  that  it  was  the  wisdom  and  the  very  voice 
of  God  which  put  into  the  midst  of  the  moral  Decalogue,  not  the 
passover,  nor  circumcision,  nor  the  law  of  sacrifice,  nor  any  other 
thing  that  bore  a  national  or  local  flavor,  except  only  the  Sabbath. 

One  fact,  then,  is  plain  beyond  question,  that  God,  in  tliat  age  and 
for  the  Jews,  counted  the  weekly  rest-day  to  be  of  special  impor- 
tance. 

But  we  have  just  been  seeing  that  for  our  age  and  for  us  the  weekly 
rest-day  is  of  special  importance.  In  the  light  of  these  twin  facts, 
the  effort  of  any  teacher  or  school  to  sink  the  Sabbath  where  it  stands 
in  the  Decalogue  to  the  level  of  a  Jewish  ceremony,  deserves  no 
respect  at  the  hands  of  men  who  can  reason  without  prejudice. 

If  the  usage  of  the  weekly  rest-day  had  taken  no  more  root  in  the 
world  than  the  Day  of  Atonement,  or  the  Feast  of  Trumpets,  then, 
indeed,  we  would  have  been  shut  up  to  their  conclusion;  and'  could 
only  have  wondered  that  the  direct  act  of  God  had  put  the  clay 
among  the  diamonds,  and  had  given  the  perishable  Sabbath  its  central 
setting  amid  the  lustre  of  imperishable  duty. 

But  the  Sabbath  has  not  j)erished,  nor  lessened,  but  grown. 

It  grew,  though  slowly,  while  Judaism  lasted.  In  its  characteristic 
and  indispensable  human  serviceableness,  it  has  grovvii  immensely 
more  since  Judaism  was  abolished. 

When,  in  the  days  of  Nehemiah,  it  rallied  and  guarded  the  feeble 
national  life;  when  the  father  of  the  Maccabees  made  it  the  battle- 
cry  with  which  the  people  rose  in  trium]:)h  against  their  Syrian  tyrant; 
when,  in  the  time  of  Christ  and  after,  it  made  the  synagogue,  with 
its  Hebrew  Scriptures,  first  the  school  of  the  apostles,  and  then  the 
avenue  of  their  access  to  Jews  and  Gentiles ;  will  any  Christian  refuse 
to  believe  that  God  from  Sinai  foresaw  and  meant  that  the  Sabbath 
should  do  all  this? 

To-day  it  is  not  the  synagogue,  but  the  Church.  It  is  not  Jeru- 
salem, or  Antioch,  or  Corinth — it  is  Berlin,  and  London,  and  New 
York,  and  San  Francisco,  and  Melbourne.  It  is  the  frontier  village 
and  the  miner's  camp.  It  is  the  mission-station  among  the  heathen 
abroad,  and  the  mission-school  among  the  heathen  at  home.  And  the 
weekly  rest-day  gives  scope  for  all.  Did  not  God  from  Sinai  foresee 
this  too?  Had  he  eyesight  for  Palestine  and  fifteen  centuries,  and 
blindness  for  the  rest  ? 

Sometimes  a  painter,  while  yet  unknown  to  fame,  will  work  out  his 
rnasterpiecp,  and  write  his  name  upon  a  corner  of  the  canvas,  and 
wait.      By  and  by  men  find  his  work,  and  find  him  in  it. 

God  is  no  candidate  for  men's  applause.  Yet  he  often  curiously  works 
in  secret  the  "  substance,  being  yet  unperfect ;  "  which  he  afterwards 
brings  out  into  daylight.  And  there  is  daylight  now  on  that  strange 
and  rigid  law  set  like  a  keystone  in  the  arch  of  the  Decalogue.  Upon 
that  very  arch,  with  its  keystone  in  it,  the  Christian  ages  have  built 
\\\i  worship  and  piety,  civil  and  domestic  order,  wealth  and  knowl- 
edge, character  and  power.     It  is  Christianity's  Arch  of  Triumph — ■ 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  565 

the  visible  monument  of  Christ's  work  on  earth.  With  every  genera- 
tion it  rises  higher  and  higher,  dilating  like  a  fabric  in  the  sunset  sky. 
Overtopping  its  splendor  stands  the  cross,  and  through  the  arched 
portal  which  still  pierces  it,  believing  men — a  long  procession — walk 
into  heaven.  On  all  its  front  blazes  one  name — one  triune  name — 
Jehovah. 

We  quote  the  Bible  often  to  sustain  the  Sabbath.  I  summon  the 
Sabbath  to  prove  the  Bible.  If  any  one  doubts  the  being  of  a  God 
of  law  and  of  loving  foresight  for  men,  and  doubts  his  gift  of  a  reve- 
lation, let  him  compare  that  scene  before  Sinai,  when  the  rude  horde 
of  Egyptian  freedraen  received  anew  among  their  fundamental  laws 
the  law  of  the  weekly  rest-day,  with  the  outcome  of  that  special  law 
in  the  present  condition  of  our  race. 

A  just  deduction  of  the  Sabbath  of  Christendom  from  its  remote 
beginning  in  the  command  of  God  ought  to  convince  an  atheist. 

That  any  Christian  reasoner  should  so  obscure  the  essential  identity 
of  the  Sabbath  institution  through  all  these  ages  as  to  unmake  this 
natural  argument  from  the  divine  foresight,  is  both  a  blunder  and  a 
•crime. 

But  how  could  there  be  foreseen  identity  of  the  institution,  without 
an  equal  identity  of  law?  God  is  not  fickle.  God's  moral  law  is 
God's  moral  choice  of  what  men  shall  do  in  their  fixed  human  rela- 
tions. That  choice,  when  once  declared  in  regard  to  relations  which 
are  universal,  binds  men  in  those  relations  in  every  land  and  to  the 
end  of  time. 

If  the  Sabbath  had  been  made  by  God  for  certain  men  because  they 
were  Jews,  only  Jews  would  be  put  under  obligation  by  Sabbath  law. 
But  in  so  far  as  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  Jews  because  they  were 
men,  all  n^en  that  know  of  the  Sabbath  law  are  bound  by  it. 

Christ  gave  us  that  argument  when  he  said  "  the  Sabbath  was  made 
for  man  " — for  the  Jew  man,  if  any  one  dwarfs  his  meaning  to  that 
measure ;  but  even  then  for  the  humanness  that  was  in  the  Jew.  And 
since  we  are  as  human  as  he,  and  the  Sabbath  fits  us,  to  that  extent 
God  made  it  for  us. 

To  that  exact  extent,  therefore,  namely,  of  the  universal  human  fit- 
ness of  keeping  a  weekly  rest-day,  it  is  futile  to  say  that  the  apostles 
have  abrogated  Sabbath  law.  What  would  such  a  saying  mean  ?  That 
the  apostles  conceived  the  whole  Sabbath  usage  to  be  unwholesome 
and  effete,  and  so  wished.and  advised  that  men  would  have  done  with 
it?  Assume  such  an  apostolic  intent,  and  it  failed.  And  yet,  if  that 
really  was  the  apostles'  intent,  it  ought  not  to  fail,  for  we  all  believe 
in  their  inspired  authority.  Let  any  good  man,  then,  set  out  to  carry 
such  a  supposed  apostolic  intention  into  effect.  Here  is  the  holy  con- 
vocation in  Church  and  Sabbath-school — a  plain  inheritance  from  the 
Hebrew  Sabbath.  Let  us  abolish  that.  Here  is  the  Sabbath  silence 
on  the  humming  wheels  of  Birmingham  and  Lowell ;  upon  the  un- 
yoked ox  in  the  Sabbath  pasture ;  upon  the  laborer  and  his  book  in 
his  Sabbath  home.     Let  us  change  all  that.     Let  us  make  up  an  im- 


566  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

posing  committee  from  among  those  Sabbath-breaking  corporations 
which  have  the  true  apostolic  idea,  and  go  to  the  tender-hearted 
masters  who  perpetuate  the  Hebrew  superstition,  and  teach  them 
better.  We  can  say:  "  If  you  find  it  profitable  to  work  a  man  and 
his  children  seven  days  in  the  week,  and,  being  able  to  force  him  to  it, 
still  suffer  any  notion  about  a  Sabbath  to  restrain  you.  you  are  a 
traitor  to  Christian  principle  and  apostolic  law.  'J'hat  old  restriction 
is  done  away  with  by  the  death  of  Christ.  He  was  said,  indeed,' to 
proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to 
them  that  are  bound.'  But  this  Sabbath  law  of  obligatory  rest  for 
men-servants  and  maid-servants  is  one  of  those  ancient  prisons,  and 
we  masters  are  the  prisoners  who  have  been  bound  in  it.  Now  tliat 
we  have  our  gospel  freedom,  let  us  use  it,  and  bind  our  servants  tiglit. 
We  can  run  our  engines  when  we  will,  and  those  little  engines  of 
brain  and  nerves — we  can  run  them  too." 

Did  the  apostles  mean  that  ? 

The  human  right  of  weekly  rest  had  been  twice  given  by  God  him- 
self. First,  in  the  constitution  of  humanity,  bodily  and  spiritual ; 
second,  in  express  law.  And  those  men  of  God  no  more  took  it 
within  their  province  to  annul  that  right,  than  to  pronounce  adultery 
to  be  purity,  or  murder  love.  No  more  was  it  any  part  of  their 
province  or  official  function  to  teach,  according  to  the  imagination 
of  some,  that  while  a  certain  fitness  of  the  Sabbath  usage  may  still  en- 
dure, God's  law  for  the  usage  is  withdrawn.  God's  law,  I  repeat  it, 
is  God's  known  choice  of  acts  to  be  done.  God  never  can  choose 
that  wrong  be  done  ;  God  never  can  cease  to  choose  that  right  be 
done.  The  right  being  once  proclaimed  and  abiding,  it  would  be  no 
part  of  Godhead,  nor  even  of  true  manhood,  to  abandon  it  to  its  fate. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  less  clearly  the  immediate  subjects  of  his 
legislation  can  understand  their  duty,  the  more  stringently  may  God 
see  fit  to  enjoin  it.  The  Israelites  just  out  of  Egypt  might  need  to 
hJive  their  Sabbath  distinguished  by  special  formalities,  and  guarded 
with  fearful  and  imminent  penalties.  And  if  after  ages  of  their  ex- 
perience, the  working  of  the  weekly  rest-day  has  been  so  illustrated 
that  the  Christian  races  cannot  but  recognize  its  excellence,  that  clear 
discovery  may  make  less  necessary  the  striking  forms  and  the  impend- 
ing penalties.  But  it  does  not  unmake  God's  choice.  It  only  gives 
it  a  human  following.  The  greatest  absurdity  ever  taught  in  Christian 
morals  has,  I  think,  been  taught  on  this  subject  and  to  this  effect: 
That  men's  consent  that  a  rest-day  is  necessary  under  Christ's  law  of 
love  sets  aside  for  them  the  divine  prescription  under  which  the  rest- 
day  began  ;  so  that  in  proportion  as  men's  interest  in  what  God  has 
appointed  increases,  God's  own  interest  in  it  diminishes,  until  when 
men  learn  that  they  cannot  do  without  it,  God  ceases  to  care  whether 
they  keep  it  at  all ! 

Let  us  understand  that  God  has  set  up  law,  not  on  a  perch,  but  on 
a  throne.     The  bosom  of  God  is  her  seat. 

These,  then,  are  the  three  facts  which,  in  proof  of  Sabbath  obliga- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  567 

tion,  stand  forth  together  like  the  base,  the  shaft,  and  the  capital  of 
an  immovable  column.  The  Sabbath  institution  exists.  It  is  of  in- 
dispensable importance  to  men,  society  and  the  race.  The  unchange- 
able God  once  pronounced  for  it  in  intelligible  law: 

"  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days  shalt  thou 
labor  and  do  all  thy  work  ;  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Lord  thy  God  :  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son, 
nor  thy  daughter,  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maid-servant,  nor  thy 
cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates:  for  in  ^jx  days  the 
Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and 
rested  the  seventh  day:  wherefore  the  Lord  blessed  the  Sabbatli 
day  and  hallowed  it." 

It  is  as  easy  for  a  candid  man  to  distinguish  between  that  part  of  this 
whole  law  which  is  of  perpetual  authority,  and  that  which  is  local  and 
temporary,  as  to  distinguish  between  a  stream  and  its  banks.  The 
banks  are  local,  for  they  remain  behind  ;   the  stream  flows  on. 

Where  our  western  rivers  run  through  low,  wide  bottoms,  it  is  com- 
mon to  build  up  an  embankment  against  tlie  stream  to  hold  it  to  its 
course.  The  awful  ceremonial  sanctity  of  the  .seventh  day  was  the 
embankment  by  which  God  held  together  the  stream  of  Sabbath  duty, 
while  it  skirted  for  fifty  generations  the  broad  morass  of  ignorance 
and  paganism.  But  Christianity  is  a  table  land,  and  that  once 
reached,  the  stream  was  sure  to  have  banks  of  its  own.  But  by  that 
time  the  formalistic  Jews  were  persuaded  that  the  very  essence  of  the 
stream  lay  in  the  embankm.ent.  All  along  upon  top  of  it  they 
had  heaped  up  their  slavish  traditions  ;  and  in  that  shape  they  were 
bent  upon  carrying  it  up  and  down,  like  a  Chinese  wall,  all  over  the 
Christian  highlands.  It  was  this  that  tlie  apostles  by  God's  Spirit 
forbade,  and  the  two-storied  embankment  of  ceremony  that  once  was 
right,  and  superstition  that  never  was,  came  to  its  end.  But  the 
God-directed  stream  !  That  found  an  opening  through  the  hills — .1 
deserted  sepulchre  marked  the  place — and  it  still  flows  on,  not  now  ;i 
canal  betwixt  straight  and  rigid  walls,  but  a  river,  and  free — free  to 
flow;  not  free  to  stop.  Shame  on  the  Christian  mt-n  who  would  st(  p 
it !  With  God's  word  and  God's  Spirit  in  it,  it  is  the  nearest  earthU- 
symbol  of  the  river  of  the  water  of  life.  Its  fountain  is  in  the  throi'f 
of  God.  Its  waters,  compared  with  other  streams,  are  clear  as  crystal ; 
and  on  either  side  of  it  is  the  tree  of  life  whose  leaves  are  for  tie 
healing  of  the  nations. 

Yet  Christian  men  make  it  serve  their  uses  like  a  common  river. 
They  cover  it  with  barges  of  traffic  and  gayety.  They  crowd  it  with 
the  piers  of  their  thundering  bridges.  They  dam  it  with  causeways 
and  turn  it  into  sluices  to  drive  their  mills  and  water  their  pleasurt- 
gardens.  And  over  many  a  tired  laborer,  who  would  sit  down  on  i-s 
margin,  to  bathe  his  brow  and  drink,  they  lift  the  lash  of  capital, 
more  cruel  often  than  that  of  slavery,  and  force  him  away. 

Do  they  dream  that  there  shall  be  no  reckoning?  Shall  some  pal- 
tering arguments  about  ancient  ceremony  unmake   the  lasting  reality 


568  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  things?  Is  rest  a  ceremony?  Is  worship  a  ceremony?  Is  a  poor 
man's  day  with  his  family,  and  his  own  soul,  and  with  God,  a  cere- 
mony ?  If  the  cries  of  the  laborers,  whose  liire  is  kejjt  back  by  fraud, 
are  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  shall  he  be  deaf  to 
the  cry  of  that  inceasing  generation  of  men  who,  within  the  sound  of 
church  bells,  are,  for  the  sake  of  dividends,  degraded  below  tlie  pos- 
sibility of  piety,  by  endless  work? 

I  shall  be  told  that  this  argument  is  too  general.  Show  us,  they 
say,  chapter  and  verse  for  our  several  Sabbath  duties  to  ourselves,  our 
families,  our  servants,  our  clerks,  our  neighbors,  and  the  world,  and 
we  will  honor  the  law.  If  that  demand  be  valid,  selfishness  has  won 
the  day,  and  Christianity  is  dead. 

Duties  that  are  narrow  and  specific  can  be  mapped  out.  If  the 
question  be,  how  ought  a  good  man  to  treat  a  neighbor  wlio  has  fallen 
among  thieves,  our  Lord's  sweet  parable  will  furnish  a  detailed  reply; 
and  yet  in  no  such  detail  that  the  acts  of  the  Good  Samaritan  may 
not  re:d  to  be  greatly  varied. 

But  as  the  field  of  duty  grows  wider,  detail  in  the  law  becomes  im- 
possible, and  principle  takes  it  place.  Chapter  and  verse  cannot  be 
given  for  a  thousandth  part  of  a  mother's  particular  duties  toward  her 
child  ;  or  of  a  good  citizen's  duty  towards  his  towns-people  and  his 
country.  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity  that  it  displaces  the  schedule 
performances  of  other  systems  with  the  responsible  life  of  love — love 
working  not  above  law,  but  under  it ;  love  expanding  law  to  God's 
great  meaning,  and  after  the  spirit  of  Christ.  The  New  Testament 
thus  succeeds  upon  the  Old  as  the  perfumed  air  in  the  house  of  Simon, 
the  Pharisee,  succeeded  upon  the  alabaster  box  in  which  the  ointment 
of  spikenard  had  been  kept.  The  fragrance  did  not  say,  "Give  me 
fixed  wires  to  run  on,  and  I'll  fill  the  room."  That  is  not  the  way  of 
fragrance;  nor  is  it  the  way  of  love. 

The  Sabbath  is,  on  its  face,  appointed  of  God  in  the  interest  of 
rest  and  religion.  That  fixes  its  principle.  This  principle,  once  con- 
served in  rigid  law,  has,  under  Christ,  expanded  into  the  largest  com- 
pact of  piety  and  benevolence  known  on  earth.  While  the  day  dom- 
inated the  duty,  the  usage  was  Jewish  and  confined.  When  the  mere 
day,  by  the  direction  of  inspired  apostles,  fell  back  to  a  level  with 
other  days,  then  the  indispensable  duty  chose,  under  a  risen  Redeemer, 
its  own  day,  and  dominated  it ;  and  Sabbath  duty  and  privilege  be- 
came thenceforth  the  heritage  of  the  world — of  all  ages  and  occupa- 
tions— of  all  races  and  generations.  The  Sabbath,  under  Christ,  is  a 
universal  partnership  for  the  advancement  of  piety  toward  God,  and 
of  every  interest  of  men  that  can  flourish  in  the  light  of  God's  coun- 
tenance. 

Will  you  put  in  a  book  a  set  of  rules  for  serving  all  these  interests? 
No  book  would  contain  them.  And  if  it  did,  would  rules  make  a 
Sabbath  for  Christians?  Christians  must  mean  to  make  it.  They 
must  see  its  scope  and  do  their  best  with  it.  The  first  of  Christian 
duties  is  to  discover  duty.     And  thus  it   comes  to  pass   that  a  man's 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  569 

treatment  of  the  Sabbath's  claims  exactly  gauges  his  moral  intelli- 
gence and  character.  He  brings  the  Sabbath  to  his  bar,  and  chal- 
lenges its  right  to  be.  He  mistakes ;  it  is  the  Sabbath  that  is  sifting 
him.  He  stands  in  the  light  of  Sinai,  and  of  the  world's  history  and 
needs,  and  says:  "I  see  no  reason  why  I  should  limit  my  Sunday 
work  or  Sunday  pleasure,  or  the  work  that  others  do  for  me." 

He  has  graded  his  moral  intelligence.  Human  need  in  himself  and 
others  is  more  than  he  knows  of.  Christ's  living  scheme  of  pity  and 
grace  is  larger  than  he  can  see.  He  has  graded  his  benevolence.  He 
has  no  brotherly  compassion  for  the  men  that  are  low  down  and  are 
struggling  upward.  He  has  graded  his  conscience,  and  has  proved  it 
to  be  callous  to  the  plainest  appeals  of  experience  and  of  God. 

True  Sabbath-keeping  is  chiefly  a  delight ;  but  it  is  also  a  disci- 
pline. It  crosses  at  many  points  natural  inclination  and  convenience. 
And  herein  it  most  exalts  us.  It  was  from  heaven  that  the  Son  of 
God  responded  to  the  need  of  men  ;  and,  coming,  he  died  for  the 
world  in  its  remotest  generations.  The  most  Christlike,  common  thing 
on  earth  is  the  spirit  of  intelligent  and  self-denying  Sabbath-keeping, 
by  which  a  man,  not  in  the  interest  of  himself  only,  nor  of  his  chil- 
dren, nor  even  of  his  country,  but  with  large  apprehension  of  that 
leverage  of  long  ages  by  which  God  has  been  lifting  up  a  ruined 
world  toward  heaven,  and  so  with  tender  sympathy  for  strangers  of 
other  races,  and  for  generations  not  yet  born,  gives  to  God's  day  of 
holy  rest  the  most  that  one  man  can — the  whole  influence  of  his 
hearty  duty  and  his  pure  example. 

The  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York  city,  read  the 
following  on 

THE   CHURCH   AND    TEMPERANCE. 

It  is  now  about  a  half-century  since  the  first  active  and  united 
efforts  in  the  interest  of  temperance  commenced  in  this  country. 

Then  our  population  was  about  twelve  millions,  and  mostly  Ameri- 
can in  birtli  and  feeling. 

Then  the  use,  more  or  less,  of  various  kinds  of  intoxicating  drinks 
was  almost  the  universal  habit;  among  the  farmers  when  gathering 
their  crops,  and  at  the  table,  its  use  in  the  form  of  cider  and  spirits 
was  the  general  custom  ;  in  cities  and  towns  there  were  very  few 
families  that  did  not  have  it  in  some  form  on  their  tables  and  side- 
boards ;  it  was  offered  to  friends  on  almost  every  occasion,  as  a  token 
of  hospitality,  and  its  use  was  considered  a  necessity. 

The  manufacture  of  cider  and  spirits  of  various  kinds  was  on  a  verv 
1  ]rge  scale  for  the  number  of  inhabitants.  Intemperance  was  increas- 
ing to  an  alarming  extent. 

Public  attention  became  aroused,  and  some  of  the  best  men  in  the 
country  began  to  consider  the  duty  of  united  effort  to  stop  its 
progress. 


570  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Such  men  as  Justin  Edwards,  Nathaniel  Hewitt,  Lyman  Beecher, 
S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Chancellor  Walworth,  E.  C.  Dclavan,  Bishop  Hop- 
kins, of  Vermont,  and  many  others,  commenced  active  efforts. 

Sermons,  addresses,  tracts,  etc.,  were  published  and  widely  cir- 
culated ;  societies  were  organized  in  different  places  all  over  the  New 
England  and  Middle  States,  and  the  published  statistics  of  intem- 
perance aroused  and  alarmed  the  best  portion  of  our  citizens. 

Many  banished  the  decanters  from  their  tables  and  sideboards, 
while  farmers  and  artisans  largely  gave  up  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks  in  the  conduct  of  their  business. 

•There  have  been  special  periods  when  the  attention  of  the  whole 
country  was  arrested  and  fresh  interest  excited. 

Such  were  the  wonderful  movements  known  as  the  Washingtonian 
and  the  Father  Mathew  movements,  and  the  special  efforts  among 
Sabbath-schools  known  as  the  Cold-Water  Army  and  Bands  of  Hope. 

Avast  amount  of  statistical  information  has  been  obtained,  and  the 
best  pens  in  tliis  and  other  lands  have  been  enlisted  in  the  cause. 
The  (juantity  of  tem[)erance  literature  which  has  been  published  and 
distributed  all  over  the  land  is  very  large. 

In  the  smaller  towns  and  villages,  and  in  the  agricultural  districts, 
the  change  is  increasingly  apparent.  The  public  have  come  to  un- 
derstand the  subject  better,  and  the  principle  of  prohibition  is 
growing  more  and  more  into  public  favor. 

Wherever  it  has  been  tried,  as  far  as  it  has  been  faitlifully  enforced, 
it  has  proved  the  most  successful  of  any  attempt  to  stay  the  progress 
of  this  awful  evil. 

The  great  interest  continued  amid  the  labors  of  Gough,  Dow,  and 
many  others  up  to  the  commencement  of  the  war,  but  the  all-absorb- 
ing influence  of  that  event  for  the  time  turned  attention  from  the 
temperance  reformation,  and  it  has  hardly  regained  in  this  country 
the  position  it  had  secured  before  the  war. 

The  consumption  of  intoxicating  drinks  is,  perhaps,  as  extensive 
to-day  as  ever,  particularly  in  our  large  cities,  and  there  has  never 
been  greater  need  of  the  active,  self-denying  work  of  the  Church. 

Passing  through  our  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  and  noting  the  vast 
number  of  places  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and  the  increase 
of  crime  and  ruin  resulting,  we  cannot  wonder  at  the  oft-repeatetl 
question,  "  What,  after  all,  has  the  temperance  reformation  accom- 
plished?" We  answer  that  but  for  what  has  been  done,  the  ruin  and 
wretchedness  resulting  from  intoxicating  drinks  would  have  been  far 
greater. 

We  must  remember  that  the  population  of  our  country  has  increased 
from  about  twelve  millions,  when  this  effort  was  commenced,  to  forty- 
eight  millions,  and  that  this  vast  increase  has  been  largely  the  result 
of  the  importation  from  other  lands  of  those  who  have  brought  with 
them  the  customs  and  habits  of  their  own  countries. 

The  introduction  here  of  lager-beer,  as  the  result  of  the  large 
German  emigration,  has  done  more  than  all  else  to  increase  the  use 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  571 

of  intoxicants,  and  its  vast  consumption  is  not  now  confined  to  the 
foreign  population,  but  it  is  taken  by  large  numbers  of  native 
citizens. 

Its  use  has  been  greatly  augmented  by  tlie  oft-repeated  assurance 
that,  while  it  was  an  invigorating  and  pleasant  drink,  it  was  not 
intoxicating,  and  its  general  adoption  would  take  the  place  of  tiie 
other  injurious  alcoholic  drinks. 

The  real  fact  is  that  in  our  climate,  and  among  our  more  excitable 
temperaments,  it  is  also  found  to  be  the  most  frequent  introduction  to 
the  use  of  the  stronger  drinks,  and  itself  causing  intoxication  of  the 
worst  kind. 

The  immense  emigration  from  the  lower  classes  of  Ireland  has  been 
another  cause  of  the  increase  of  intemperance.  But  for  these  with 
their  love  for  whiskey,  and  the  Germans  with  their  lager,  the  cause  of 
temperance  would  long  since  have  attained  a  successful  position.  In 
the  city  of  New  York,  with  10,000  places  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
drinks,  full  seven-eighths  are  kept  by  foreigners. 

It  is  estimated  by  returns  from  the  Interior  Department  that  in  the 
United  States  there  are  5,652  distilleries,  2,830  breweries,  and  175,- 
266  places  where  intoxicating,  poisonous  liquors  are  sold,  involving  a 
direct  outlay  and  waste  of  not  less  than  $700,000,000,  and  an  indirect 
loss,  in  the  cost  to  the  country  of  crime  and  pauperism,  of  $700, 000,- 
000  more.  To  this  annual  financial  loss  add  the  destruction  of  not 
less  than  100,000  lives. 

The  following  I  take  from  a  daily  paper:  ''  The  10,000,000  barrels 
of  beer  sold  last  year  would  have  filled  a  canal  twenty-one  feet  wide 
and  five  feet  deep,  extending  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia,  and  it 
would  take  a  pump  throwing  thirty  gallons  a  minute  running  night 
and  day  over  twenty-one  years  to  pump  it  out.  It  was  all  swallowed, 
however. ' ' 

This  vast  business  and  terrible  loss  have  all  grown  up  under  the 
fostering  care  and  license  of  the  national  and  State  governments. 

While  we  admit  the  appalling  results  of  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  intoxicating  drinks,  we  have  heard  them  so  often  described  that 
we  have  come  to  consider  them  a  matter  of  course,  and  their  mention 
has  practically  ceased  to  have  any  effect. 

If  we  could  fairly  understand  the  nature  and  effects  of  this  fearfully 
destructive  malady ;  could  we  fully  realize  that  we  have  in  the  midst 
of  us  that  which  destroys  more  lives  and  causes  more  suffering  and 
misery  than  any  epidemic  -that  ever  visited  our  land,  and  that  it  is 
entirely  within  our  power  to  check  its  progress,  to  stop  its  devasta- 
tions, would  we  not  use  the  most  efficient  means  to  accomplish  an  end 
so  grand  and  beneficent?  Would  we  not  be  ready  and  willing  to  deal 
with  it  as  we  do  with  those  terrible  eiiidemics  which  at  times  desolate 
our  country? 

And  yet  we  are  doing  little  or  nothing,  and  hold  our  peace  while 
the  authorities  of  the  land  are  giving  license  and  securing  revenue  for 
the  sale  of  that  which  is  increasing  and  spreading  this  worst  of  dis- 
eases. 


572  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  past  lias  proved  beyond  dispute  that  the  remedy  of  total 
abstinence  and  proliibition  is  the  only  thing,  under  God,  which  can 
stay  the  pestilence. 

Wherever  it  has  been  faithfully  tried  it  has  been  successful,  and 
there  is  a  growing  feeling  that  the  law  should  prohibit  the  sale  in 
every  State  and  locality  where  the  majority  shall  decide  by  popular 
vote  that  no  license  shall  be  given.  Tliis  feeling  is  gaining  favor  in 
England  as  well  as  in  our  own  country,  and  wherever  it  has  been 
thoroughly  tested  the  result  has  been  at  once  a  decrease  in  crime  and 
increase  in  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

We  are  here  as  the  representatives  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  we 
profess  to  be  actuated  by  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 
"self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of  others."  Now,  after  fifty  years  of 
careful  study  of  this  subject,  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  in  the  power 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  so  to  affect  public 
sentiment  that  within  a  comparatively  few  years  the  laws  and  constitu- 
tions of  the  several  States  and  of  the  General  Government  shall  be  so 
amended  as  to  provide  for  the  exclusion  of  the  traffic,  by  popular 
vote,  from  all  our  States,  cities  and  towns;  and  public  opinion  shall 
come  to  consider  the  granting  of  license  at  all  as  a  license  to  evil, 
as  we  now  would  consider  the  licensing  of  gambling-houses,  the  sale 
of  lottery-tickets,  or  houses  of  ill-fame. 

It  is  a  fact,  so  commonly  known  that  we  lose  sight  of  its  truth  and 
force,  that  three-fourths  of  all  murders,  crime  and  pauperism  directly 
result  from  the  manufacture,  sale  and  use  of  intoxicants. 

We,  as  Christians,  have  in  our  hands  the  only  true  remedy — the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ — and,  therefore,  should  by  example  and  united 
action  so  mould  public  opinion  that  the  licensing'of  this  abominable 
traffic  should  be  impossible. 

There  are  to-day  thousands,  yes,  tens  of  thousands,  of  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  who  not  only  use  themselves  but  offer  to 
others  that  which  they  must  know  is  causing  ruin  and  misery  to  their 
fellow-beings.  They  think  lightly  of  their  influence,  or  content 
themselves  with  the  idea  that  they  are  not  their  brothers'  keepers, 
while  professing  to  be  governed  by  the  principles  of  Him  who  denied 
himself  even  unto  death  to  save  others. 

Tne  time  must  come  when  Christian  men  shall  so  consider  duty  in 
this  regard  that  it  will  be  understood  that  no  Christian  can  maintain 
his  standing  in  the  Church  who  will  manufacture,  sell  or  use  intoxicat- 
ing drinks,  or  who  will  vote  for  any  party  who  favors  the  idea  of 
income  from  the  license  to  sell  poison. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  money  expended  by  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  United  States  for  intoxicating  drinks  amounts 
every  year  to  more  than  all  the  receipts  of  our  Home  and  Foreign 
Missionary  Societies ;  and  the  total  amount  expended  for  drink  in 
the  United  States,  if  devoted  to  the  payment  of  our  national  debt, 
would  pay  it  in  four  years. 

The  day  is  coming  when  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  will  be 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  573 

classed  with  the  slave  trade  as  carried  on  by  many  professing  Chris- 
tians in  England  and  America  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Notwithstanding  .all  these  discouragements,  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance are  still  actively  at  work,  and  more  has  been  done  in  the  careful 
examination  of  the  subject  in  all  its  different  aspects  than  ever 
before. 

In  the  whole  history  of  the  temperance  reformation  there  has  never 
been  as  much  accomplished  as  in  the  past  ten  years  in  the  preparation 
and  publishing  of  books,  lectures  and  tracts  by  some  of  the  best 
authors  in  our  own  and  other  countries.      Among  these  arc: 

"Our  Wasted  Resources,"  by  Dr.  Wra.  Hargreaves. 

"The  Text-Book  of  Temperance,"  by  Dr.  F.  R.  Lees. 

"Talks  on  Temperance"  and  "  Temperance  and  Legislation,"  by 
Canon  Farrar,  D.  D. 

"Gospel  Temperance,"  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Van  Burcn. 

"On  Alcohol,"  by  Dr.  B.' W.  Richardson,  F.  R.  S.,  LL.  D. 

"Medical  Use  of  Alcohol,"  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  F.  R.  S., 
LL.  D. 

"  Moderate  Drinking,  For  and  Against,"  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Richard- 
son, F.  R.  S.,  LL.  D. 

"  Temperance  Lesson-Book  for  Schools,"  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson, 
F.  R.  S.,  LL.  D. 

"Alcohol  as  Food  and  Medicine,"  by  Ezra  M.  Hunt,  M.  D. 

"  Beer  as  a  Beverage,"  by  Rev.  G.  W.  Hughey. 

"Alcohol  and  the  Human  Brain,"  by  Rev.  Joseph  Cook. 

"  Temperance  and  Republican  Institutions,"  by  Rev.  Joseph 
Cook. 

"  Alcohol  and  the  State  "  and  "Alcohol  in  the  Church,"  by  Judge 
R.  C.  Pitman. 

These  and  hundreds  of  others,  with  lectures,  tracts,  etc.,  are  pub- 
lished by  the  National  Temperance  Society  and  Publishing  House, 
thus  furnishing  as  never  before  an  extensive  temperance  literature 
ready  at  hand  for  intelligent  work. 

Never  have  there  been  such  decided  efforts  as  now  by  the  friends 
of  temperance  in  England.  They  are  beginning  to  understand  that 
their  country  cannot  longer  endure  the  worse  than  waste  of  seven 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  annually  spent  for  drink,  and  a  sum  fully 
equal  to  sustain  the  resulting  pauperism  and  crime. 

The  recent  triumph  in  Parliament  of  the  measure  of  Sir  Wilfrid 
Lawson  has  been  hailed  as  a  signal  victory  by  the  friends  of  temper- 
ance all  over  the  world.  Sir  Wilfrid,  in  a  recent  letter,  says  of  it: 
"  Not  only  has  the  House  of  Commons  by  a  substantial  majority  de- 
clared that  localities  are  entitled  to  the  power  of  protecting  them- 
selves from  the  invasion  of  liquor  shops,  but  the  Prime  Minister  him- 
self, although  he  voted  for  the  motion  for  the  Speaker's  leaving  the 
chair,  and  not  for  my  amendment,  virtually  gave  a  very  cordial 
support  in  his  speech  to  the  principle  embodied  in  the  local-option 
resolution ;  and  if  they  deal  with  it  in  the  manner  indicated  by  Mr. 


574  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Gladstone,  we  shall  secure  legislation  of  the  kind  you  and  I  have  so 
long  advocated." 

This  princi|)Ie  of  the  suppression  of  the  traffic  by  the  popular  vote, 
either  through  constitutional  amendments,  State  and  national,  or  by 
local  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  is  the  question 
which  the  friends  of  tempefance  in  this  country  are  bound  to  press 
till  public  sentiment  shall  secure  the  result. 

Having  had  business  interests  for  many  years  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  I  learned  that  there  had  been  a  great 
change  in  one  county,  which,  when  I  first  knew  it,  was  noted  for  its 
intemperance,  and  wrote  to  Hon.  H.  W.  Williams,  one  of  the  Supreme 
Court  judges  of  the  State,  and  long  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  asking  for  particulars,  and  received  the  following  reply: 
"  The  county  of  Potter,  to  which  you  refer,  is  in  this  judicial  district. 
The  county  town  is  Coudersport.  The  history  of  the  traffic  in  intoxi- 
cating drinks  during  the  early  history  of  the  county  was  like  that  in 
the  counties  adjoining,  except  that  drunkenness  was,  if  possible,  more 
prevalent. 

"About  twenty  years  ago  attention  was  drawn  to  the  subject,  and 
the  people  elected  associate-judges  pledged  to  refuse  all  applications 
for  license.  These  officers  were  elected  for  five  years.  When  that 
time  had  elapsed  the  issue  was  again  made  upon  the  election  of  asso- 
ciate-judges, and  decided  as  before  by  the  election  of  the  anti-license 
ticket.  Before  this  second  term  expired  the  county  was  represented 
in  the  Legislature  by  the  late  Hon.  John  S.  Mann,  who  procured  the 
passage  of  a  law  prohibiting  the  granting  of  any  license  within  the 
county,  which  law  is  still  in  force.  For  twenty  years  there  has  not 
been  a  licensed  hotel  or  restaurant  within  the  confines  of  the  county. 
There  are  enough  of  both  at  all  suitable  places  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  public,  but  in  none  of  them  is  there  a  public  bar.  The  sale  is 
conducted,  therefore,  at  great  disadvantage  clandestinely,  and  is  very 
limited  in  amount.  As  to  results,  I  can  say  that,  while  the  county 
has  been  steadily  growing  in  population  and  business,  pauperism  and 
crime  have  steadily  decreased.  For  the  past  five  years  the  county 
jail  has  been  fully  one-half  the  time  without  any  other  inmate  than  the 
keeper  and  his  family.  Twice  within  the  past  ten  years  I  have,  at  the 
regular  terms  of  court,  discharged  the  jury  on  the  second  day  of  the 
term,  without  their  having  been  called  to  consider  a  single  case  of 
any  description.  The  effect  of  this  system  is  felt  in  many  ways:  taxes 
are  reduced,  the  business  of  the  criminal  courts  greatly  diminished, 
industry  and  sobriety  take  the  place  of  idleness  and  dissipation,  and 
intelligence  and  morality  are  advanced. 

"But  one  effort  has  been  made  to  repeal  this  local  law,  and  that 
failed  by  reason  of  the  decided  protest  of  a  majority  of  the  taxpayers 
of  the  county.  I  am  glad  that  you  are  going  to  try  and  stir  our 
church  on  this  subject.  Vice  of  any  sort  only  asks  of  the  churches  to 
be  let  alone ;  grant  to  it  toleration  and  it  will  take  care  of  itself. 
Virtue  must  be  aggressive  or  nothing." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  575 

This  experience  in  Potter  county  might  have  been  that  of  every 
county  in  the  State,  if  the  same  means  had  been  used. 

In  most  of  the  counties  in  the  State  of  Maine  the  same  result  has 
been  followed,  and  in  many  of  them  there  have  been  empty  jails. 
The  experiment  in  Maine  has  been  eminently  successful,  notwith- 
standing the  rum  interest  has  ridiculed  it  and  tried  to  prevent  its 
adoption  in  other  States. 

Though  the  illicit  sale  of  liquor  is  carried  on  to  some  extent  in  the 
large  cities,  owing  to  lack  of  efficiency  in  the  officers  of  the  law, 
yet  the  State,  as  a  whole,  is  a  temperance  State,  and  prohibition 
is  a  success,  and  not  a  failure.  Before  the  passage  of  the  Prohibi- 
tory Law  Maine  was  a  drunken  State.  There  was  one  drunkard  to 
every  fifty-five  of  her  population.  One  million  gallons  of  spirits 
were  distilled  annually,  and  her  liquor-bill  was  ten  million  dollars 
yearly. 

Now  there  is  not  a  distillery  or  brewery  in  the  State,  the  secret 
sale  is  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  former  quantity  sold,  and  the 
death-rate  from  drunkenness  has  been  reduced  from  one  in  every  fifty- 
five  to  one  in  three  hundred  of  her  population. 

All  this  is  the  result  of  years  of  hard,  persistent,  patient,  progres- 
sive work. 

The  name  of  that  noble  Christian  patriot,  Neal  Dow,  will  ever  be 
remembered  in  connection  with  this  work. 

In  Vineland,  N.  J-,  with  a  population  of  over  ten  thousand,  the 
inhabitants  of  all  shades  of  politics  have  united  in  banishing  all  intox- 
icating drinks.  There  has  not  been  a  criminal  case  within  twelve 
months.  With  a  quiet  and  prosperous  community,  they  have  become 
a  standing  reproof  to  those  villages  around  where  liquor  is  sold. 

St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  is  called  by  a  prominent  visitor  "a  working- 
man's  paradise."  "  Why,"  he  asks,  "  is  this  place  so  clean,  the  peo- 
ple so  well  dressed,  housed,  and  fed?  Why  are  the  little  folks  so  hale 
in  face,  so  smart  in  person,  and  so  neatly  dressed?  All  voices,  I  am 
bound  to*  say,  reply:  These  unusual  but  desirable  conditions  .in  a 
workman's  village  spring  from  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  law  pro- 
hibiting the  sale  of  any  species  of  intoxicating  drinks." 

A  village  with  all  the  aspect  of  a  garden  ;  a  village  in  which  many 
of  the  workmen  own  their  houses ;  a  village  of  five  thousand  inhab- 
itants, in  which  the  moral  order  is  even  more  conspicuous  than  the 
material  prosperity  ;  a  village  in  which  every  man  accounts  it  his 
highest  duty  and  personal  interest  to  observe  the  law.  No  authority 
is  visible  in  St.  Johnsbury;  no  police  walk  its  streets;  there  is  nothing 
for  a  policeman  to  do.  Six  constables  are  enrolled  for  duty,  but  the 
men  are  all  at  work  in  the  scale-manufactory,  and  only  don  their  uni- 
forms on  special  days  to  make  a  little  show. 

Over  and  over  again  it  has  been  the  same  in  every  place  where  it 
has  been  fairly  tried. 

In  this  connection  allow  me  to  quote  from  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Intemperance  to  the  Convocation  of  the  Province  of  Can- 
terbury, made  in  1S69: 


576  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

"Your  commitlec,  in  conclusion,  are  of  the  opinion  that,  as  the 
avowed  object  of  licensing  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  to  supply  a 
supposed  public  want  without  detriment  to  the  public  welfare,  a  legal 
power  of  restraining  licenses  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  in- 
habitants themselves,  who  are  entitled  to  protection  from  the  injurious 
consequences  of  the  system.  Such  power  would  secure  to  the  districts 
willing  to  exercise  it  the  advantages  now  enjoyed  by  the  Province  of 
Canterbury,  where,  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  land-owners,  no  sale 
of  intoxicating  liquor  is  licensed.  Few  are  cognizant  of  the  ftict  that 
at  this  time  there  are  within  the  Province  of  Canterbury  upwards  of 
one  thousand  parishes  in  which  tliere  is  neither  public-house  nor  beer- 
.shop,  and  in  consequence  the  intelligence,  morality,  and  comfort  of 
the  people  are  such  as  the  friends  of  temperance  would  have  antici- 
pated. 

*'  The  number  of  such  districts  is  actually  1,454,  with  a  population 
of  231,998. 

"  There  is  scarcely  ever  any  arrears  of  rent.  Infant  mortality  is 
very  low  as  compared  with  other  places.  The  tone  and  sense  of  self- 
respect  of  the  v.'orking-people  is  much  greater  than  of  hands  gen- 
erally. 

"Wages  are  not  high,  but  they  are  enabled  to  secure  more  of  the 
comforts  and  decencies  of  life  than  elsewhere,  owing  to  the  absence 
of  drinking-houses." 

Pardon  me  if  I  venture  to  add  extracts  from  a  few  out  of  many  re- 
ports to  the  Committee  from  the  rectors  of  the  parishes  : 

"  There  is  no  public-house  or  beer- shop,  I  am  happy  to  say,  in  this 
I)arish.  Of  this  the  advantage  is  great.  It  promotes,  almost  ensures, 
sobriety  and  temperance.  The  village  is  very  quiet  and  orderly. 
The  co^istable's  office  is  a  sinecure  ;  a  drunken  man  is  a  very  rare 
sight." 

Says  anotlier : 

"  The  absence  of  any  public-house  or  beer-shop  has  diminished 
temptation  to  evil.  As  one  of  my  parishioners  expressed  it,  It  has 
saved  many  a  shilling.  There  is  no  case  of  habitual  drunkenness 
within  the  parish,  either  man  or  woman." 

Another  : 

"  I  have  been  in  this  parish  since  1844,  and  have  never  seen  any 
one  tipsy.  We  have  no  public-house  or  beer-shop.  We  have  had  no 
case  for  the  police  since  I  came  here." 

Again  : 

"  I  have  been  in  this  parish  sixteen  years.  We  have  no  public- 
house  or  beer-shop.  The  inhabitants  are  all  very  sober.  I  have  not, 
during  my  stay,  seen  one  drunken  man  in  the  parish." 

Another : 

"  Out  of  the  twenty  parishes  in  this  district  where  there  are  no 
places  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drink,  there  is  seldom  a  case  of 
magisterial  interference,  and  laboring-classes  are  well  clad  and  live 
comfortably ;    but   in  districts  where   public-houses   and   beer-shops 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  577 

exist  there  is  plenty  of  work  for  the  police  and  magistrates,  the  cause 
of  which  is  drink." 

Mr.  J.  G.  Richardson,  of  Bessbrook,  Ireland,  one  of  the  largest 
linen  manufacturers  in  the  world,  employing  4,000  hands,  is  himself 
a  total  abstainer,  and  he  has  not  in  his  village  or  town  a  single  place 
where  intoxicating  drinks  are  sold.  The  consequence  is  most  satis- 
factory as  regards  morals  and  health.  There  are  no  police,  none 
being  required.  There  are  churches  and  schools  for  the  population, 
and  they  are  well  attended.  There  is  also  a  dispensary  and  savings- 
bank,  but  no  pawn-shop,  prison,  police-office,  or  poor-house.  So 
prosperous  is  the  place  that  it  is  an  object  of  ambition  throughout  the 
district  to  find  employment  and  a  home  at  Bessbrook. 

I  am  sure  you  will  excuse  these  long  quotations,  as  few  would  have 
believed  that  such  a  state  of  things  could  have  existed  in  any  part  of 
Great  Britain,  and  I  am  anxious  to  show  that  the  same  good  results 
have  followed  in  our*  own  country  wherever  local  option  is  permitted 
and  faithfully  carried  out. 

That  noble  man.  Dr.  Guthrie,  said  in  a  temperance  speech  : 

"  He  knows  little  of  the  power  of  evil  who  does  not  see  the  blessed 
effect  upon  the  manners  and  morals  of  the  people  that  would  follow 
an  entire  abolition  of  these  tippling-shops.  When  it  was  our  happi- 
ness to  labor  in  the  quiet  rural  parish  of  Arbilot,  we  found  it  and  left 
it  remarkable  for  its  sobriety.  In  a  population  of  a  thousand  souls, 
among  the  working-classes  we  cannot  recollect  more  than  one  or  two 
who  could  be  called  drunkards,  and  this  happy  state  of  affairs  we  at- 
tribute to  the  circumstance  that  there  was  but  one  public-house  in  the 
parish,  and  that  at  the  extreme  end  of  it,  so  that  the  temptation  was 
but  little  felt.  To  them  the  prayer  was  answered  :  '  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil.'  " 

From  that  remarkable  prize  essay  of  Rev.  James  Smith,  of  Scotland, 
entitled,  "  The  Temperance  Reformation  and  its  Claims  on  the  Chris- 
tian Church,"  I  quote  as  follows  :  "A  great  advance  will  be  made  in 
the  cause  of  temperance,  and  a  great  impulse  will  be  given  to  Chris- 
tian work,  when  the  Church  is  brought  to  see  that  she  has  been  occu- 
pying a  false  position,  weakening  her  own  hands,  and  hindering  her 
own  work.  If  Christians  gave  no  countenance  to  this  fellowship  with 
works  of  darkness,  if  Christian  ministers  uttered  a  clear  and  decided 
testimony  against  it,  the  Church  would  be  released  from  a  heavy  bur- 
den and  receive  a  large  accession  of  strength. 

"  As  Lot  compromised  his  own  position  by  first  pitching  his  tent 
toward  Sodom  and  finally  taking  up  his  abode  in  the  city ;  as  he 
continued  even  there  to  utter  a  feeble  and  powerless  protest  against 
the  prevailing  works  of  darkness,  but  continued  needlessly  and  sinfully 
to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  as  he  thereby  did  grievous  injury  to 
himself  and  family,  without  doing  good  to  others,  so  the  Church  and 
individual  Christians  compromise  their  Christian  character  by  having 
fellowship  with  the  fashions  of  the  world  in  regard  to  strong  drink. 
They  lose  to  a  large  extent  the  influence  which  they  would  otherwise 
37 


578  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

be  able  to  exercise  for  the  good  of  others.  The  virtue  of  temperance, 
as  inculcated  in  the  word  of  God,  requires  us  to  abstain  from  all  that 
is  injurious  to  body,  soul,  or  spirit.  The  principles  of  Christian  ethics 
require  us  to  seek  the  good  of  our  neighbor  as  well  as  our  own.  The 
law  of  love  requires  us  to  deny  ourselves  for  his  sake,  and  to  give 
his  welfare  the  precedence  over  our  gratification.  Even  if  strong 
drink  could  not  possibly  harm  ourselves,  we  find  that  it  does  great 
injury  to  many  of  our  neighbors  ;  and  though  we  may  feel  free  to 
conform  to  the  ordinary  usages,  yet  the  danger  to  which  others  are 
exposed  should  make  us  pause  and  ask  whether  such  conformity  be 
expedient. 

"The  Apostle  Paul,  speaking  in  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  declares  that 
it  would  be  better,  nobler,  more  Christ-like  to  abjure  any  specific 
kind  of  food,  however  harmless,  if  it  should  in  any  case  prove  an  oc- 
casion of  injury  to  others — an  argument  which  tells  with  overwhelm- 
ing force  against  our  drinking  customs  and  in  favor  of  total  ab- 
stinence." 

And  now  in  contrast  I  will  give  you  an  extract  from  the  New  York 
Tribune  of  the  loth  inst : 

"scenes  on  the  east  side. 

"  To  see  the  east  side  of  this  city  at  its  very  worst,  it  should  be  visited 
between  the  hours  of  ten  p.  m.  Saturday,  and  three  a.  m.  Sunday.  If 
a  sober  resident  is  encountered  at  any  time,  the  explorer  may  rest 
assured  that  he  will  not  be  sober  long.  All  the  rum-shops  are 
crowded  with  men  dressed  in  their  working-clothes,  their  appearance 
indicating  that  they  have  not  been  home  since  quitting  work.  Soon 
they  become  noisy  and  quarrelsome,  and  they  are  ejected  from  one 
place  to  take  refuge  in  another  only  a  short  distance  away,  where  they 
are  welcomed  and  allowed  to  stand  and  wrangle  so  long  as  their 
money  lasts.  Few  moments  intervene  between  drinks.  Fights  of  a 
more  or  less  ferocious  and  dangerous  character  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence, and  cries  of  'murder,'  'help,'  'police,'  are  often  heard,  but 
occasion  no  unusual  excitement.  They  only  make  the  neighborhood 
seem  more  like  home  to  the  people  living  there.  A  Tribufie  re- 
porter strolled  through  Houston  street  at  a  late  hour  Saturday  night, 
and  although  having  some  idea  of  the  neighborhood,  was  surprised  at 
the  riotous,  uproarious  scenes  that  were  presented  on  every  side. 
Picking  his  way  through  knots  of  intoxicated  men  and  boys,  he  finally 
arrived  at  Goerck  street.  Gathered  here  were  some  boys,  the  oldest  not 
exceeding  twenty  years  of  age.  The  stroller  stood  a  while,  listening 
to  their  conversation.  Somebody  had  evidently  offended  them,  for 
the  most  dire  and  blasphemous  threats  were  uttered  against  the 
unfortunate  person  who  had  aroused  their  enmity. 

"  On  the  opposite  corner  was  a  grocer's  wagon,  in  which  several 
men  were  sleeping,  their  dirty  bare  feet  hanging  over  the  edges. 
Several  wretched  children  were  lying  in  the  gutter.  A  tall,  well- 
built  nien,  hatless  and  coatless,  came  lounging  down  the  street,  and 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  579 

not  seeing  him  stagger,  the  reporter  supposed  he  was  sober.  Ap- 
proaching the  man,  he  asked  if  the  green  cars  had  stopped  running. 
The  fellow  stared  at  the  inquirer  for  a  moment  in  a  dazed,  bewildered 
manner,  and  then  said  : 

"  '  Sh-no-hic-guess  not.     Zer  cars  goes-hic-all  night.' 

"  'Are  you  sure?  ' 

"  '  Wha-zer  sink-hic-I'se  fool?  I'se  a  watchman  'round  zes-hic- 
corners  ;  guess  ought  'er  know.' 

"  Despairing  of  deriving  any  information  from  this  watchman,  and 
not  deeming  it  likely  from  appearances  that  a  sober  man  could 
be  found  in  the  neighborhood,  the  reporter  strolled  back  toward 
the  Bowery  through  Second  street.  It  was  a  little  quieter  there, 
but  still  everybody  the  reporter  met  was  intoxicated.  Nearly 
every  stationary  vehicle  and  every  stoop  and  cellar-door  was  occupied 
by  some  one  endeavoring'  to  sleep  off  a  debauch.  The  scarcity  of 
policemen  was  also  noticed.  The  reporter  saw  only  one  in  the  whole 
night." 

Now,  as  Christian  people,  if  we  believe  that  prohibition  is  prac- 
ticable, and  will  deliver  society  from  the  evils  resulting  from  the  li- 
censed traffic ;  that  whenever  tried  it  has  proved  successful ;  that  in' 
any  event  no  harm  can  result,  are  we  not  bound  to  use  our  utmost 
influence  to  so  change  public  opinion  that  such  amendments,  legisla- 
tive or  constitutional,  may  be  secured  as  will  enable  the  people  of 
our  several  States  and  of  different  localities,  by  popular  vote,  to  decree 
the  entire  suppression  of  the  injurious  traffic? 

It  is  not  claimed  that  prohibition  will  prevent  all  intemperance^ 
but  it  will  go  far  towards  it  by  removing  the  public  temptation  which 
is  now  the  great  cause  of  intemperance. 

The  license  system  is  the  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  friends  of 
temperance.  It  gives  a  kind  of  legal  respectability  to  the  traffic, 
making  an  open  temptation  which,  but  for  a  license,  would  generally 
be  hidden  out  of  sight  as  an  illegal  business. 

Licensing  the  sale  of  that  which  all  know  to  be  only  evil  in  its  re- 
sults, is  using  against  society  that  which  was  intended  for  its  safety 
and  preservation. 

As  Christians  and  citizens,  we  have  responsibilities  which  we  must 
so  discharge  as  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  society,  and  not  simply 
to  carry  out  party  plans,  which  in  almost  all  cases  are  so  arranged  as 
to  secure  the  influence  of  the  rum-seller  and  the  votes  of  his  cus- 
tomers. 

As  Christian  men,  we  should  feel  that  we  owe  our  first  allegiance 
to  God,  and  discharge  the  privilege  of  citizenship,  so  as  to  secure  the 
best  good  of  the  bodies  and  souls  of  our  fellow-men. 

In  our  great  cities  at  the  present  time,  the  traffickers  in  intoxicating- 
drinks  (among  which  I  include  beer)  hold  such  a  powerful  political 
influence,  and  are  able  to  control  such  numbers  of  votes,  always 
given  for  the  party  that  has  the  power  of  license,  that  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  secure  prohibition  ;  but  in  the  country  there  is  hardly  a  place 


58o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

where,  with  the  united  action  of  the  Christian  men,  it  might  not  be 
obtained,  and  their  example  would  in  time  extend  to  the  cities. 

How  long  will  the  Christian  Church  sit  supine  in  the  presence  of 
this  gigantic  evil,  that  is  producing  an  amount  of  misery  and  ruin  to 
body  and  soul  for  which  no  amount  of  Christian  work  in  other  direc- 
tions can  compensate? 

In  this  day  of  noble  Christian  and  philanthropic  work,  when  every 
class  of  our  suffering  fellows  are  being  carefully  provided  for,  and  we 
are  looking  after  even  the  brute  creation  to  see  that  no  wrong  is  done 
■to  them,  cannot  we  unite  in  the  attempt  to  remove  the  greatest  of 
.all  the  evils  which  afflict  our  fellow-men?  In  no  way  can  this  be 
.so  surely  and  efficiently  done  as  by  prohibiting  the  sale  of  intoxicat- 
ing drinks. 

In  a  recent  English  appeal  on  this  subject  occurs  this  passage : 

"How  long  will  the  Christian  Church  collectively  sit  quiet  in  the 
presence  of  a  traffic  that  makes  the  noblest  good  of  society  a  dream, 
and  is  ever  producing  a  mass  of  ruin  and  misery  with  which  no  amount 
of  Christian  labor  and  energy  can  cope?  The  strength  of  that  traffic 
is  the  law — the  law  which  annually  renews  the  license,  and  thereby 
allows  the  annual  outgrowth  of  a  lawlessness  and  wretchedness  that 
shame  our  Christian  land. 

"  Shall  this  state  of  law  continue?  If  it  does,  who  will  be  respon- 
sible but  the  Christian  citizenship  that  might  otherwise  determine  it  ? 
Shall  there  be  no  other  alternative  offered  to  the  districts  who  desire  to 
abolish  the  license  system  and  plant  a  prohibitory  hedge  around  their 
borders  ?  And  who  will  be  responsible  for  this  but  those  who,  by 
their  speech  and  actions,  might  have  provided  the  alternative? 

"  The  legalized  liquor-traffic  is  a  tower  strong  and  lofty,  crowded 
with  many  defiant  and  self-confident  spirits;  but  the  Christian 
Church,  animated,  as  was  Samson  of  old,  with  a  divine  emotion, 
•could  place  its  hands  on  the  legal  pillars  of  this  fabric  and  lay  it  level 
with  the  ground,  and  great  would  be  its  fall.  But  neither  would  the 
liquor-vendors  be  destroyed,  nor  would  the  church  perish  in  the  ef- 
fort ;  for  both  a  happier  future  would  be  reserved.  The  traffickers 
would  find  another  occupation,  and  the  church  would  be  enabled,  with 
replenished  vigor,  to  do  the  Master's  work  and  bring  multitudes  now 
possessed  with  the  '  demon  of  drink  '  to  sit  at  his  feet  clothed  and 
in  their  right  minds." 

If  the  Christians  of  this  country  could  realize  the  magnitude  of  this 
evil,  and  how  it  stands  in  the  way  of  all  our  efforts  to  save  men,  and 
could  be  induced  to  act  together,  forgetting  for  the  time  either  church 
or  party  differences,  there  would  be  little  doubt  of  securing  necessary- 
laws  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks. 

But  the  great  trouble  is,  we  have  so  long  witnessed  the  traffic  and 
seen  the  sad  results  that  we  have  come  to  feel  that  there  is  no  remedy, 
and,  passing  the  responsibility  over  to  others,  we  go  on  feeling  little 
sense  of  personal  obligation. 

Our  various  temperance  societies  are  doing  what  they  can,  but  these 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  581 

are  local  and  fail  to  unite  the  mass  of  the  friends  of  temperance. 
Many  of  our  clergy  sympathize  fully  in  these  efforts,  but  most  of  them 
are  content  to  preach  an  occasional  or  annual  sermon.  And  so  we 
have  been  going  on  for  years,  and  still  the  liquor-dealors  go  on,  and 
the  fearful  effects,  which  all  are  ready  to  acknowledge,  are  filling  the 
land  with  lamentation  and  woe. 

Congress  has  been  appealed  to  by  the  petitions  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands for  the  appointment  of  a  commission  on  the  subject  of  the  al- 
cohol liquor-traffic  ;  but  though  it  has  three  times  passed  the  Senate, 
and  been  most  ably  advocated  by  some  of  the  strong  members  in  the 
House,  it  has  failed  to  secure  a  vote. 

The  fact  is  that  the  power  of  the  liquor-dealers  in  our  country  to-day 
is  beyond  that  of  any  other  interest,  and  they  are  banded  together 
and  can  raise  any  required  amount  of  money  and  can  control  more 
votes  in  Congress  than  is  generally  supposed. 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Joyce,  of  Vermont,  in  advocating  the  appointment 
of  the  commission  before  the  House  in  April  last,  said  :  "  These  thou- 
sands have  made  their  prayer  before  Congress  in  good  faith,  believ- 
ing that  if  this  bill  becomes  a  law,  a  commission  such  as  is  provided 
for  will  in  their  report  present  such  an  aggregation  and  consolidation 
of  all  the  terrible  evils  growing  out  of  the  manufacture  and  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors  as  will  paint  a  picture  so  dark  and  fearful  that  men 
will  be  brought  to  see  and  realize  the  danger  and  take  measures  to 
overcome  it. 

"It  is  evidently  the  design  of  the  bill  that  the  commission  shall 
ascertain  and  report  the  amount  of  spirits,  wine,  and  beer  annually 
manufactured  and  consumed  by  the  people  of  this  country ;  the  num- 
ber of  deaths  from  alcohol ;  the  number  and  character  of  the  crimes 
caused  by  drink ;  the  diseases  produced  by  it,  mental  as  well  as  phys- 
ical ;  the  number  of  arrests  for  drunkenness ;  the  amount  of  pauper- 
ism produced  by  intemperance ;  the  cost  of  care  and  supporting  the 
criminals  and  paupers  made  by  drink ;  the  amount  of  money  invested 
in  the  liquor-traffic ;  the  amount  of  revenue  received  by  the  govern- 
ment from  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquors;  what  amount  of 
grain  is  annually  consumed  ;  the  number  of  men  employed;  its  influ- 
ence upon  health  and  morals ;  its  effect  on  the  social  and  intellectual 
well-being  of  the  people ;  and,  finally,  to  ascertain  as  near  as  possible 
what  it  costs  the  nation  in  industry,  health,  taxes,  life,  maintenance 
of  law,  penitentiaries,  poor-houses,  and  hospitals ;  how  it  saps  the 
foundations  of  the  Government,  undermines  the  morals  of  the  people, 
afid  to  recommend  what  legislation  on  the  part  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment, within  the  sphere  of  national  authority,  would  be  beneficial 
to  suppress  the  accursed  traffic." 

I  make  these  quotations  because  I  fear  very  few  have  known  the 
amount  of  time  and  money  that  has  been  expended  in  the  past  few 
years  in  procuring  these  thousands  of  petitions,  and  with  the  hope 
that  a  deeper  interest  may  be  excited  that  will  in  future  have  an  influ- 
ence to  help  secure  this  important  action  by  Congress. 


582  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  object  of  this  address  has  not  been  so  much  to  awaken  an  in- 
creased interest  in  the  general  cause  of  temperance,  or  in  the  efforts 
to  save  those  habitually  addicted  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  by 
getting  their  signature  to  tlie  pledge,  much  as  I  think  of  that ;  nor 
of  calling  your  attention  to  the  saving  of  more  than  five  hundred 
thousand  drunkards,  deeply  as  I  am  interested  in  that  important  move- 
ment ;  but  I  desire  to  secure  the  active  co-operation  of  our  church  to 
the  greater  work  of  prevention  by  closing  up  the  fountains  from  which 
all  this  misery  flows ;  to  the  work  of  awakening  public  attention  to 
the  sin  and  folly  of  granting  men  license  to  sell  the  poison,  and  then 
trying  to  rescue  those  who  are  being  destroyed  by  using  that  which 
■we  have  made  it  lawful,  and  hence  apparently  right,  to  sell  and  use. 

Let  us  try  rather  to  stop  the  flow  than  to  repair  the  ruins  which  the 
raging  torrent  ever  leaves  in  its  path,  knowing  that  "prevention  is 
better  than  cure." 

Having  watched  the  progress  of  the  temperance  reformation  from 
its  beginning,  and  the  several  crises  which  have  from  time  to  time 
secured  fresh  public  attention,  in  each  case  carrying  the  cause  for- 
ward, I  am  now  fully  convinced  that  the  next  great  battle  is  to  be  for 
prohibition. 

The  people  are  becoming  convinced  that  nothing  short  of  this  will 
save  our  country  from  the  dreadful  results  of  the  liquor-trafiic.  Al- 
though the  tremendous  power  of  the  rum  interest  in  this  land  is 
beyond  all  we  have  ever  conceived,  and  its  political  influence  is 
growing  in  all  our  great  centres  from  the  constant  influx  of  emigra- 
tion from  other  countries ;  though  the  struggle  will  be  a  long  and 
desperate  one,  yet  it  will  succeed  in  the  end. 

The  London  Times  in  a  recent  article  says: 

"The  real  difficulty  of  these  questions  of  temperance  legislation 
does  not  lie  in  themselves  so  much  as  in  the  temptations  they  offer  to 
party  managers  to  use  them  for  purposes  of  party.  The  publicans  are 
themselves  numerous,  and  they  have  a  more  numerous  host  of  custom- 
ers, which  they  can  bring  or  send  to  the  polling  booths ;  but  if  both 
sides  of  the  House  could  rise  to  the  virtue  of  agreeing  to  defy  this 
body,  the  chief  difficulty  would  be  over.  And  is  this  too  much  to  be 
hoped  for  ?  " 

If  this  is  true  in  England  is  it  less  so  here,  where  universal  suff'rage 
puts  it  in  the  power  of  our  dram-shops  to  marshal  all  their  customers 
to  the  polls  ? 

Says  Judge  Pitman,  of  the  Massachusetts  Superior  Court,  in  a 
recent  address : 

"The  grog-shop  is  terribly  concrete ;  the  beer-shop  is  the  dram- 
shop in  disguise,  and  more  dangerous  for  the  disguise.  These  tippling- 
shops  are  the  very  gateways  of  hell,  and  they  are  kept  open,  some- 
times with  the  sanction,  more  often  with  the  tolerance  and  indifference, 
of  Christian  men.  Think  not  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  put  down  the 
grog-shop  pure  and  simple.  Since  the  overthrow  of  slavery  it  is  the 
largest   moneyed   power  in   the   country.      It   is  a  unit ;    touch  one 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  583 

branch  and  you  touch  all.  It  has  extensive  commercial  alliances ;  it 
subsidizes  the  press,  muzzles  the  pulpit ;  it  governs  parties,  is  even 
respectable,  for  anything  that  has  political  power  is  made  so  in 
America;  it  makes  governors,  it  bargains  for  Congressmen.  Think- 
ing men  are  beginning  to  realize  how  controlling  the  liquor  interest 
is  everywhere,  not  only  in  impeding  the  execution,  but  in  preventing 
the  enactment  of  wholesome  laws.  But  strong  as  this  traffic  is,  there 
is  something  stronger.  The  Christian  Church  is  stronger,  and  when 
its  best  men  cease  to  scorn  the  field  of  politics  as  something  common 
and  unclean,  and  teach  that  voting  is  as  sacred  as  praying,  believing 
that  the  struggle  against  the  dram-shops  is  but  one  development  of 
the  war  between  heaven  and  hell,  and  press  into  that  war  with  an 
energy  that  will  not  suffer  men  or  parties  to  stand  in  the  way,  the 
traffic  then  will  be  doomed  ;  but  tvcak  goodness  never  did  and  never 
will  overcome  resolute  evil.  There  needs  the  united  strength  of  the 
Church  and  the  state  to  grapple  with  this  gigantic  evil." 

The  truth  is,  dear  Christian  friends,  we  have  no  realizing  sense  of 
the  magnitude  of  this  evil.  We  profess  to  believe  that  the  drunkard 
cannot  inherit  eternal  life,  but,  dying  as  such,  must  be  lost  eternally ; 
<lo  we  act  as  if  we  believed  that  drunkenness  was  carrying  one  hun- 
dred thousand  souls  annually  to  the  grave  and  to  eternal  ruin  ? 

Think  you  we  would  stand  by  and  see  one  hundred  thousand  die 
annually  of  yellow  fever  when  we  knew  we  had  the  power  to  prevent 
it  ?  How  long  would  a  law  remain  on  our  statute-books  which  per- 
mitted people  to  sell  the  germs  of  that  dread  disease? 

We  talk  of  one  hundred  thousand  drunkards  dying  annually,  but 
have  we  any  just  conception  of  what  that  means  ?  Did  you  ever  stand 
and  watch  the  passing  regiments  on  some  great  day  of  parade,  and 
did  you  not  tire  as  you  stood  seeing  the  apparently  never-ending 
ranks  of  the  military  as  they  marched  ?  yet  it  is  not  probable  that 
twenty  thousand  ever  passed  before  you.  Suppose  these  one  hundred 
thousand  poor  drunkards  should  pass  in  procession  before  you  on  their 
way  to  the  grave — what  a  strange,  sad  sight ! 

They  would  come  from  all  classes  of  society,  from  the  highest  and 
the  lowest.  See  those  poor,  degraded  women  among  them,  and  for 
the  entire  day  you  will  see  them  pass.  Then  remember  there  are  the 
same  number  preparing  to  fill  their  places  for  each  succeeding  year. 

Consider,  further,  the  half-million  more  of  wives  and  children  made 
miserable  by  the  ruin  of  husbands  and  fathers,  and  you  will  obtain 
some  idea  of  what  this  accursed  business  is  doing  to  destroy  body 
and  soul  and  to  fill  our  land  with  unutterable  misery,  saying  nothing 
of  the  worse  than  waste  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 

As  I  have  said  before,  so  let  me  repeat,  that  professing  Christians 
have  it  in  their  power  almost  entirely  to  remove  the  source  of  this 
fearful  destruction. 

Let  it  be  once  understood  by  the  men  who  manage  our  politics 
that  Christians  will  no  longer  support  men  for  office  who  will  license 
the  traffic  in  intoxicants,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the 
adoption  of  the  principle  of  prohibition. 


584  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

May  God  help  us  to  examine  carefully,  as  ministers  and  men,  our 
individual  responsibility,  and  to  resolve  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  oppose 
the  progress  of  the  evil  which  more  than  all  others  stands  in  the  way 
of  the  success  of  the  gospel  and  the  revival  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
throughout  our  land. 

And  now,  dear  friends,  in  conclusion,  let  me  ask  if  the  time  has 
not  come  for  a  more  determined,  active  stand  on  the  part  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States?  Has  not  the  temperance 
work  done  good  in  the  past  ?  and  has  not  the  whole  result  of  the 
drinking  customs  been  evil,  and  only  evil,  continually  ? 

I  feel  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  baneful  influence  exerted  on 
others  by  the  knowledge  that  a  minister  of  the  gospel  uses  wine  at 
home,  or  partakes  of  it  at  the  table  of  others,  is  doing  more  to  hinder 
the  temperance  reformation  than  the  opposition  or  example  of  many 
outside  the  church  ;  and  how  can  they  peril  the  souls  of  their  weak 
members  in  view  of  the  injunctions:  "Do  good  to  all  men  as  you 
have  opportunity;  "  and  "  Put  no  stumbling-block  or  occasion  to  fall 
in  your  l:)rother's  way  ;  "  "  Whether  you  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever 
you  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 

Are  they  not  encouraging  others  to  tread  the  path  of  danger? 

As  active  workers  in  the  temperance  cause,  we  do  ask  that,  if  you 
as  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  not  ready  to  work  with  us,  you  will,  at 
least,  withdraw  your  powerful  influence  and  example  from  the  other 
side. 

Can  you  refuse  to  do  this  without  feeling  that  your  action  is  not  in 
harmony  with  your  Christian  duty? 

To  all  our  devoted  Christian  ministers  and  elders  who  are  pledged 
to  the  cause  of  total  abstinence  let  me  appeal  for  greater  diligence, 
with  the  full  confidence  that  your  labor  will  not  be  in  vain  in  the 
Lord. 

The  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.  D.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  read 
the  following  paper  on 

POPULAR  AMUSEMENTS. 

The  law  of  the  Church  is  the  law  of  Christ.  The  chief  end  of  the 
Church  is  to  do  Christ's  will  and  to  advance  Christ's  kingdom.  We 
shall  discuss  the  much-contested  question  of  Popular  Amusements 
simply  in  their  relation  to  the  Church,  and  seek  to  ascertain  their 
bearings  upon  Christian  liberty  and  the  Christian  life.  A  Christian 
is  Christ's  freedman  ;  and  he  is  quite  too  free  to  have  any  demand  or 
desire  for  many  things  which  the  children  of  this  world  lust  after. 
He  who  has  sat  at  the  King's  table  need  not  stoop  to  the  husks. 
Conformity  to  Christ  means  ;w/z-conformity  to  the  world.  Let  this 
dying  world  "bury  its  dead;  "  our  orders  are  to  go  and  follow  the 
Master.  In  keeping  his  commandments  there  is  great  delight ;  at  his 
right  hand  are  pleasures  forevermore. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  585 

For  let  it  be  understood  at  the  outset,  that  the  law  of  Christianity 
is  not  an  iron-clad  asceticism.  God  never  made  man  to  be  a  monk, 
or  this  bright  world  to  be  a  monastery.  If  life  has  its  times  to  weep, 
so  hath  it  times  to  laugh.  Our  blessed  Lord  more  than  once  shed 
tears  :  but  may  he  not  have  sometimes  smiled,  or  even  indulged  in  the 
good  old  Christian  liberty  of  laughter?  Holiness  signifies  wholeness 
— wholth — health  ;  and  health  breeds  innocent  mirta.  If  mirth  may 
be  innocent,  recreation  is  not  only  innocent — it  is  indispensable. 
Martin  Luther  relieves  his  stern  studies  and  polemics  with  the  Pope 
by  cheerful  songs  at  the  fireside  and  by  decorating  Christmas-trees  for 
the  children.  Old  Lyman  Beecher  lets  off  the  steam,  after  an  even- 
ing's work  at  revival  preaching,  by  capering  to  the  music  of  his  own 
violin,  until  his  prudent  spouse  protests  against  his  saltatory  exercises, 
lest  he  wear  out  his  stockings;  Gladstone,  the  king  of  living  states- 
men, recreates  with  his  axe;  Spurgeon,  the  king  of  living  preachers, 
with  his  game  of  bowls ;  the  saintly  McCheyne,  with  his  gymnastic- 
poles  and  bars.  All  these  men  were  7tien — not  angels.  God  has 
ordained  that  man  should  play  as  well  as  work ;  the  friction  of  toil 
and  care  requires  this  lubrication.  Childhood  is  a  type  of  wholesome 
piety,  both  from  its  fund  of  faith  and  its  fund  of  innocent  playfulness. 
It  is  a  true  saying,  that  "  no  creature  lives  which  must  not  work  and 
may  not  play." 

What  is  recreation  ?  We  reply,  everything  that  re-creates  what  is 
lost  by  friction  or  fatigue — everything  that  reanimates  our  exhausted 
powers.  Whatever  makes  the  body  healthier,  the  mind  clearer  and 
happier,  and  the  immortal  powers  more  vigorous,  is  Christian  recrea- 
tion. To  deny  ourselves  such  wholesome  recreations  may  be  hazard- 
ous folly,  but  to  restrain  others  from  it  is  an  infringement  on  Christian 
liberty.  The  rights  of  Christian  conscience  are  sacred  here  as  else- 
where; but  conscience  requires  solid  principles  of  truth  for  its  guid- 
ance. 

We  lay  down,  then,  this  principle,  that  whatever  play  or  pleasure 
tends  to  improve  the  body,  mind,  or  spirit,  is  right;  whatever  endan- 
gers the  moral  health  and  inflames  the  evil  passions,  is  wrong.  The 
one  strengthens ;  the  other  only  stimulates  and  often  poisons.  The 
one  refreshes  ;  the  other  ruins. 

To  drink  pure  water  or  milk  satisfies  lawful  appetite  and  promotes 
health.  To  drink  an  alcoholic  beverage  inflames  a  morbid  appetite,, 
and  promotes  disease.  In  the  one  case  the  drinker  seeks  a  re-creation 
for  the  bodily  man  ;  in  the  other  case  the  drinker  seeks  fiery  stimula- 
tion, and  the  brain  is  poisoned,  and  the  "  whole  course  of  nature  is 
set  on  fire  of  hell."  The  Creator  wrote  the  demand  for  water  on 
every  human  frame ;  he  also  wrote  there  a  prohibitory  law  against 
every  beverage  which  inflames  the  passions  and  poisons  the  immortal 
spirit.     The  water  saves  ;  the  alcoholic  fire  destroys. 

Now  to  the  tribunal  of  this  simple  test,  we  bring  every  amusement, 
whether  of  a  personal  or  social  character  :  Does  the  amusement  recre- 
ate the  body  and  mind,  or  does  it  minister  to  the  evil  passions?     If 


586  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

it  recruits  my  physical  and  moral  nature,  it  is  right;  but  if  it  stimu- 
lates any  fleshly  lust,  if  it  weakens  conscience,  if  it  unfits  me  for  the 
pure  and  holy  service  of  my  God,  and  defaces  my  spiritual  nature, 
then  is  it  a  forbidden  amusement.  I  cannot  take  my  Lord  and  Master 
with  me  into  it,  or  ask  his  blessing  upon  it.  Wherever  a  Christian 
catinot  take  Christ  zvith  him,  he  has  no  right  to  go. 

Every  popular  amusement  which  invites  God's  people,  must  submit 
to  the  tests  which  a  Bible-conscience  imposes.  For  example,  the 
theatre  constantly  bids  for  the  suffrages  and  support  of  Christian  peo- 
ple— and  of  late  there  has  been  an  increasing  tendency  among  church- 
members  to  be  drawn  within  its  glittering  and,  too  often,  its  godless 
walls.  The  advocates  of  the  modern  stage  are  careful  to  choose  their 
own  ground — they  defend  an  ideal  theatre  ;  but  we  recognize  an  ideal 
stage  no  more  than  we  do  an  ideal  church  or  an  ideal  drinking-saloon. 
A  theatre  whose  plays  should  contain  no  line  in  violation  of  Christian 
morality,  whose  performers  should  be  men  and  women  of  unchallenged 
virtue,  Avhose  audieaces  should  be  composed  of  the  purest  people,  a 
theatre  which  should  ostracise  every  immodest  costume,  look,  or  ges- 
ture from  its  boards,  and  bar  its  doors  against  every  licentious  tempta- 
tion, would  certainly  be  entitled  to  respectful  treatment  from  the 
Christian  church ;  but  every  man  of  common  sense  knows  that  the 
average  American  theatre  is  no  more  like  this  ideal  play-house,  than 
the  average  politician  is  like  Abraham  Lincoln,  or  the  average  Pope  is 
like  St.  Peter.  And  if  our  average  theatre  should  attempt  to  conform 
itself  to  such  a  puritanic  ideal,  it  would  be  deserted  by  the  vast  major- 
ity of  play-goers  in  twenty-four  hours.  As  the  Church  came  in,  the 
thirsters  for  sensual  stimulations  would  go  out.  As  the  chaste  matron 
entered,  the  "strange  woman"  would  withdraw.  An  ideal  puritanic 
stage  would  go  into  bankruptcy  as  speedily  as  the  dram-shop  which 
should  furnish  nothing  but  pure,  cold  water.  And  for  the  very  suffi- 
cient reason  that  the  great  mass  of  theatre-supporters  visit  the  play- 
house for  strong  passional  excitements,  they  go  there  for  the  very  pur- 
poses which  make  it  dangerous  to  a  conscientious  servant  of  Jesus 
Christ.  They  go  there  to  stimulate  and  gratify  what  is  thoroughly 
*' carnal"  in  their  natures,  and  not  to  elevate  the  spiritual  nature  or 
fit  them  better  for  life's  grandest  end — to  glorify  God. 

Let  it  be  understood  distinctly  that  we  do  not  affirm  that  every 
popular  play  is  immoral,  or  that  every  actor  and  actress  is  impure,  and 
every  attendant  upon  a  play-house  is  "on  the  scent  "  for  sensualities. 
But  we  do  affirm  most  unreservedly,  that  the  whole  trend  of  the  popu- 
lar stage  is  hostile  to  holiness,  and  the  Christian  who  discards  holiness 
discards  Christ.  We  affirm  that  it  ignores  God,  and  too  often 
tramples  on  his  commandments.  We  affirm  that  if  the  theatre  be  a 
school  of  morals,  it  must  be  judged  by  its  pupils  and  graduates ;  and 
we  know  that  an  institution  which  iinsexes  womanhood  by  sometimes 
putting  her  in  male  attire,  and  often  "putting  her  to  open  shame,"  is 
an  anti-Christian  abomination  !  The  accomplished  Mrs.  Kemble,  in 
her  maturer  years,  condemned  the  stage. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  587 

One  of  the  most  eminent  living  actresses  declares  that  she  only 
enters  the  theatre  to  enact  her  part,  and  keeps  no  company  with  her 
profession.  A  converted  actor  said  to  me,  while  passing  a  theatre 
in  which  he  had  often  performed,  "behind  those  curtains  lies — • 
Sodom!" 

The  American  theatre,  be  it  observed,  is  a  great  concrete  institu- 
tion, to  be  judged  as  a  totality  ;  and  it  is  responsible  for  what  it  toler- 
ates and  shelters.  We  therefore  hold  it  responsible  for  whatever  of 
impurity,  whatever  of  sensual  temptation,  whatever  of  irreligion,  as 
well  as  whatever  of  occasional  and  "sporadic"  benefit  there  may  be 
bound  up  in  its  organic  life.  Instead  of  helping  Christ's  kingdom, 
it  hinders ;  instead  of  saving  souls,  it  corrupts,  and,  in  unnumbered 
cases,  destroys  !  We  pastors  know  too  well  that  when  our  church- 
members  are  enticed  within  its  walls,  they  do  not  find  there  re-crea- 
tion of  body  and  soul  for  a  more  vigorous  service  of  their  Lord. 
Their  spiritual  garment  is  not  always  brought  away  "  unspotted  by  the 
flesh."  They  have  given  their  public  and  pecuniary  support  to  an  in- 
stitution whose  doors  open  downward,  and  not  upward  towards  a 
Christian  Home  in  the  heavens.  Can  a  servant  of  Christ  take  coals 
of  fire  in  his  bosom  without  being  burned  ?  The  average  theatre  is 
gilded  nastiness.  Can  we  handle  pitch,  and  not  be  defiled  ?  And 
what  fellowship  hath  righteousness  with  unrighteousness — what  con- 
cord hath  Christ  with  Belial?  Wherefore  come  out  from  among 
them,  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  touch  not  the  unclean 
thing.  I  will  receive  you,  and  will  be  a  father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall 
be  my  sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty. 

We  have  briefly  reviewed  the  claims  of  the  average  American  stage 
to  the  countenance  and  support  of  conscientious  Christians.  Let  us 
also  apply  the  principles  already  laid  down  to  another  popular  amuse- 
ment— the  promiscuous  dance.  This  form  of  social  diversion — or 
rather  of  social  dissipation — is  increasingly  persistent  in  its  demands 
for  the  sanction  of  Christ's  Church.  Its  advocates  have  an  innocent 
ideal  of  domestic  dancing  which  they  always  push  to  the  front,  and 
against  which  people  of  common  sense  would  no  more  wage  warfare 
than  against  a  game  of  croquet  or  the  juvenile  romp  of  "blind  man's 
buff"."  We  shall  not  waste  any  ammunition  upon  this  form  of  domestic 
diversion  in  the  sacred  privacy  of  the  home.  We  are  dealing  now 
with  the  attitude  of  Christians  toward  popular  amusements  ;  and  we 
not  only  admit,  but  maintain,  the  inherent  rights  of  Christian  parents 
to  the  regulation  of  their  own  domestic  occupations  and  recreations. 
We  also  affirm,  that  if  the  only  dancing  that  is  known  were  simply  the 
chaste  and  decent  movements  of  a  household  or  its  intimate  guests  in 
a  private  parlor,  under  the  parental  eye,  then  the  whole  subject  of 
dancing  would  never  have  entered  into  the  domain  of  ethical  con- 
troversy. It  might  have  offended  no  Christian  conscience,  and  called 
forth  no  "  deliverances  "  from  any  Christian  Church.  With  no  inno- 
cent domestic  pastime  is  it  the  province  of  pulpit  or  Church  to  inter- 
meddle. 


588  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

But  there  is  a  popular  amusement  which  involves  the  promiscuous 
contacts  and  caressings  of  the  sexes  in  the  public  assembly  and  in  the 
ball-room,  and  which  is  fraught  with  terrible  peril  to  personal  purity 
and  to  Christian  character.  It  is  in  no  sense  a  wholesome  recreation 
to  body,  or  mind,  or  immortal  soul.  This  popular  and  promiscuous 
dance  has  in  it  all  the  elements  of  intense  and  absorbing  excitement, 
with  the  inevitable  stimulation  of  the  most  inflammable  passions.  It 
permits  undue  familiarities  between  the  sexes.  It  often  tolerates  un- 
chaste movements  and  contacts  to  which  the  daughters  of  Christ's 
household,  the  "handmaidens  of  the  Lord,"  should  never  be  exposed. 
It  kindles  salacious  thoughts  ;  it  is  associated  with  extravagance  in 
dress,  extravagance  of  late  hours,  with  temptations  to  pride,  self-dis- 
play, envy,  jealousy,  and  "  fleshly  lusts,  which  war  against  tlie  soul.'' 
Instead  of  being  a  recreation,  it  is  a  "  revelling,"  which  God's  word 
forbids.  That  divine  guide  teaches  the  young  women  to  be  sober ; 
but  how  shall  sobriety  be  cultivated  amid  the  passion-kindling  whirl 
of  the  ball-room  ?  And  what  a  tormenting  discordance  is  there  be- 
tween the  divine  description  of  woman's  true  "  adorning,  not  with 
gay  apparel,  but  with  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  and 
the  flashing  flaunt  of  the  assembly-room  !  Is  the  dancing-hall  a 
department  in  the  school  of  Christ  ?  Shall  our  Christian  daughters 
cease  to  emulate  the  examples  of  Ruth  and  Dorcas  and  Lydia,  and 
learn  to  enact  the  part  of  the  daughter  of  Herodias?  Surely  the 
household  of  faith  is  not  so  bankrupt  of  pure  and  innocent  recreations 
that  it  needs  to  steal  from  Satan  a  sensual  pleasure  which  even  heathen. 
Rome  in  the  best  days  of  the  Republic  would  not  permit. 

The  popish  archbishop  of  Quebec  has  prohibited  his  flock  from  en- 
gaging in  "  roimd  dances" — a  form  of  the  dance  which  is  said  to  be 
especially  "possessed  with  a  devil."  Shall  popish  morality  exceed 
Presbyterian  ?  If  promiscuous  dancing  shall,  like  the  theatre,  be  re- 
garded as  a  totality,  then  let  us  make  a  clean  sweep  of  the  whole 
business. 

We  have  now  subjected  two  of  the  most  popular  amusements  to  the 
test  between  Christian  recreation  and  unchristian  stimulations.  The 
principles  applied  to  them  should  be  applied  to  every  form  of  amuse- 
ment. Every  recreation  which  makes  the  body  stronger  and  the  mind 
more  alert  for  duty  is  positively  beneficial.  Against  such  there  is  no 
law.  A  healthy  conscience,  enlightened  from  above,  will  judge 
rightly  on  these  points.  It  may  also  be  affirmed  that  no  follower  of 
Christ  should  ever  engage  in  any  social  entertainment  or  public 
amusement  from  which  he  could  not  return  with  a  clean  conscience 
to  his  Bible  and  his  closet.  No  follower  of  Christ  should  ever  fre- 
quent any  pl^ce  which  the  Master  would  eschew  if  he  were  personally 
on  earth  ;  nor  should  a  Christian  be  ever  found  in  places  of  amuse- 
ment so  questionable  in  character  that  irreligious  people  would  be 
startled  to  find  him  there.  The  Master's  command  is  to  "abstain 
from  all  form  of  evil." 

The  word  of  God  draws  a  sharp,  clean  dividing-line  between  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  589 

pursuits  and  pleasures  of  the  world  and  the  pursuits  and  pleasures  of 
Christ's  flock.  Where  our  Lord  is  honored  is  the  right  side  ;  where 
he  is  dishonored,  or  even  ignored,  is  the  wrong  side.  Over  that 
•dividing-line  lies  the  tempting  path  to  self-indulgence,  which  is  to-day 
the  besetting  sin  and  peril  of  the  Church.  Over  that  line  lie  sen- 
sual allurements,  extravagance,  frivolity,  and  slavery  to  the  world. 
Over  that  line  Christian  character  is  sacrificed,  for  no  man  can  ''walk 
in  the  Spirit  "  and  at  the  same  time  '*  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  flesh." 
Over  that  line  Christ  is  wounded  in  the  house  of  his  friends.  Over 
that  line  into  perilous  amusements  the  follower  of  Jesus  has  no  moral 
Tight  to  go.  If  he  goes  to  participate,  he  offends  his  Master ;  if  he 
goes  to  protest,  he  offends  and  disgusts  the  votaries  of  sinful  pleasure. 

It  is  not  by  going  over  to  the  world  that  we  can  cave  its  votaries. 
If  the  Church  is  to  impress  the  world,  it  must  live  above  it  in  an  at- 
mosphere of  Christ's  making.  If  the  Church  would  save  dying  sin- 
ners, it  must,  like  its  Lord,  be  "separate  from  sinners."  When  Lot 
voluntarily  pitched  his  tent  in  the  cities  of  the  plain,  he  made  no  con- 
verts, and  was  burned  out  like  the  rest  of  his  neighbors.  And  if  the 
follower  of  Christ  essays  to  enter  the  doorway  to  sensual  amusements, 
he  must  meet  the  sentinel  of  conscience,  armed  with  the  bayonet  of 
this  injunction  :  "  Be  ye  not  conformed  to  the  world  ;  for  whosoever 
would  be  the  servant  of  this  world  is  the  enemy  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

This  whole  subject  of  Popular  Amusements  is  one  of  prodigious  prac- 
tical import.  The  spiritual  health  and  life  of  myriads  of  our  youth 
depends  largely  upon  the  character  of  the  recreations  which  they  seek 
and  the  social  pleasures  in  vfhich  they  indulge.  They  must  have,  and 
will  have,  recreations.  It  is  the  bounden  duty  of  conscientious  parents 
not  simply  to  denounce  sinful  amusements,  but  to  provide  innocent, 
healthful  recreations  for  their  families.  The  employer  who  wishes  to 
keep  his  clerk  or  employe  from  the  haunt  of  temptation  must  provide 
some  substitute  for  Satan's  advertisements.  No  wiser  service  can  be 
rendered  by  Christian  philanthropy  than  the  organization  and  opening 
to  the  masses  of  wholesome  resorts  for  recreation,  which  shall  be  the 
antidotes  of  the  beer-garden,  the  play-house,  the  gaming-room,  and 
the  drinking-saloon. 

To  every  true  Christian  the  law  of  Christ  is  the  law  of  his  pleasures. 
Whether  he  eats  or  drinks,  whether  he  toils  or  plays  he  must  do  all  to 
the  glory  of  God.  Walking  in  the  Spirit,  he  does  not  stoop  to  fulfil 
the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  Free  to  choose  his  pleasures,  he  is  too  free  to 
want  the  sinful  ones.  As  when  we  listen  to  a  well-trained  orchestra, 
the  music  of  the  horn  mingles  with  the  rich  swell  of  the  bugle  and 
the  finer  notes  of  the  delicate  viols,  so  a  true  Christian  life  should  be 
a  full  heaven-tuned  harmony,  in  which  pleasure  shall  blend  with  toil, 
in  which  work  shall  soften  into  play,  and  recreation  shall  rise  into 
that  strain  of  holy  or  heroic  activities  which  impart  to  life  both  its 
sweetness  and  its  sinew.  Existence  on  earth  is  too  short  to  be  wasted 
in  play ;  but  it  must  not  be  made  shorter  by  the  wear  of  unremitting  toil. 


590  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Let  me  give  you  in  one  line  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  : 
"  Whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  for  the  glory  of  God."  This  rule  permits 
liberty  and  prohibits  license.  This  rule  padlocks  the  door  to  every 
sinful  amusement,  but  it  swings  open  a  gateway  through  which  life 
may  become  a  procession  of  holy  enjoyments  until  it  swells  into  the 
raptures  of  heaven.  Blessed  Saviour,  let  thy  service  be  our  unending 
recreation,  thy  presence  our  everlasting  delight ! 

Dr.  Witherspoon  asked  and  obtained  leave  to  make  a  per- 
sonal explanation  to  the  effect  that  it  was  not  his  purpose  to 
represent  the  criticisms  of  Canon  Farrar,  to  which  he  referred  in 
his  paper  on  Tuesday,  as  those  of  Professor  Gildersleeve,  and 
thus  make  that  gentleman,  without  his  knowledge  or  consent,  a 
party  to  a  theological  controversy ;  but  only  to  refer  to  him  as 
authority  for  a  single  grammatical  construction,  that  of  pro  with 
the  genitive  ;  and  the  legitimacy  of  its  application  to  the  passages 
of  Scripture  in  dispute. 

The  Council  adjourned,  after  devotional  exercises,  until  to- 
morrow morning  at  9.30  o'clock,  in  Horticultural  Hall. 

A  large  overflow  meeting  was  held  this  evening  in  Horticul- 
tural Hall,  at  which  the  foregoing  papers  were  repeated.  There 
were  also  other  addresses.  Both  the  Academy  and  the  Hall 
were  crowded. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION. 

Thursday,  September  "X^oth,  1880. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  at  9.30  o'clock,  by  the  Rev. 
Robert  Watts,  D.  D.,  of  Belfast,  President. 

Alter  the  usual  devotional  exercises,  the  minutes  of  yesterday 
were  read  and  approved. 

Dr.  Schaff  reported  that,  in  connection  with  the  Alliance,  a 
public  meeting  bad  been  held  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  on  the  evening  of  September  28th,  and  that  the  fol- 
lowing persons  had  taken  part,  delivering  addresses  in  the  German 
language  :  Dr.  Schaff,  Chairman  ;  Rev.  Mr.  Richelson,  of  Phila- 
delphia ;  Rev.  Dr.  Porter,  of  New  York ;  Rev.  Dr.  Seibert,  of 
Bloomfield ;  Rev.  Dr.  Pfleiderer,  of  Karmthal ;  Rev.  Inspector 
Erdmann,  of  Elberfield ;  Rev.  Fritz  Fliedner,  of  Spain ;  and  that 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


59* 


extracts  had  been  read  from  the  papers  of  Dr.  Krafft,  of  Bonn, 
on  the  "  Culturkampf  of  the  German  Empire  and  the  Papacy," 
and  of  Rev.  H.  Krummacher,  of  Stettin,  on  "  the  Presbyteriari 
element  in  the  General  Synod  of  Prussia."  (An  account  of  this 
meeting,  and  a  translation  of  papers,  will  be  found  in  the  Appen- 
dix, p.  934.) 

It  was  also  reported  that  a  crowded  overflow  meeting  had 
been  held  last  night  in  the  Horticultural  Hall,  in  which  the  fol- 
lowing members  took  part :  Rev.  R.  F.  Burns,  D.  D.,  of  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  Chairman  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Allegheny  City, 
Pa. ;  Rev.  Dr.  Jenkins,  of  Montreal ;  Rev.  Dr.  Watts,  of  Belfast ; 
and   Rev.  Jonathan   Simpson,   of  Port   Rush,  Ireland. 

THE  CATHOLIC  PRESBYTERIAN. 

Dr.  Prime. — The  Business  Committee  report  for  the  adoptioa 
of  the  Council  the  following  resolution,  which  was  submitted 
by  Dr.  Brown  last  evening,  in  regard  to  Tlie  Catholic  Presby^ 
ieriaji. 

The  Alliance  of  the  Reformed  Churches  has  no  connection  with 
any  existing  journal  as  a  medium  for  communication  with  the  Chris- 
tian world;  but  inasmuch  as  the  publication  of  a  monthly  periodical 
entitled  "  The  Catholic  Presbyterian^'  was  undertaken  after  repeated 
conferences  during  the  Council  of  Edinburgh,  and  chiefly  with  a 
view  of  promoting  the  ends  for  which  the  said  Alliance  has  been 
organized,  and,  moreover,  is  under  the  editorial  management  of 
eminent  brethren  enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  whole  Church ;  there- 
fore, 

Resolved,  That  the  Council,  regarding  an  undertaking  of  this  kind 
with  much  favor  as  a  highly  important  means  of  securing  effectually 
the  great  purposes  intrusted  to  it,  does  hereby  most  cordially  recom- 
mend Tlie  Catholic  Presbyteriari  to  the  support  of  all  branches  of  the 
Presbyterian  faith  concerned  in  promoting  its  circulation. 

I  presume  that  the  resolution  will  require  no  discussion ;  but 
will  commend  itself  to  the  cordial  approbation  of  the  Council. 

The  Rev.  S.  J.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  of  Allegheny. — I  trust  that 
this  report  of  the  committee  will  not  be  passed  merely  as  a  for- 
mality, but  that  all  the  brethren  will  bear  in  mind  the  substance 
of  it.     The  Catholic  Presbyterian,  I  am  very  sure,  has  commended 


592  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

itself  to  the  confidence  of  every  one  who  has  read  it  from  its 
inauguration.  There  is  no  other  periodical  to  take  its  place. 
There  is  no  other  publication  that  covers  the  ground  that  it 
<ioes ;  and  besides  this  it  is  a  bond  of  the  Alliance  that  is  repre- 
sented by  this  Council.  I  am  surprised  that,  in  the  United 
States,  among  all  the  Presbyterian  churches  represented  in  this 
Council,  there  should  be  only  about  six  hundred  subscribers  to 
the  periodical.  There  ought  to  be  ten  thousand  copies  taken  by 
these  churches.  In  TJie  Catholic  Presbyterian  you  will  obtain  a 
summary  of  the  foreign  news  and  of  the  state  of  religion  in  the 
different  countries,  as  well  as  the  status  of  the  different  churches 
in  the  countries  represented  in  this  Alliance ;  information  in 
each  issue  which  is  worth  more  than  the  whole  cost  of  the  sub- 
scription. 

The  resolution  was  then  adopted. 

SOUTH  AFRICAN  MISSIONS. 

Dr.  Prime,  from   the  Business  Committee,  laid  before  the 

Council  the  following  paper: 

The  minutes  of  the  South  African  Mission  Committee,  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  Business  Committee  of  the  Council  by  James  Steven- 
son, Esq.,  of  Glasgow,  afford  satisfactory  evidence  of  brotherly  co- 
operation by  the  missionaries  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  the  Swiss  and  French  missionaries,  and 
those  of  the  Rhenish  Missionary  Society.  Certain  difficulties  are 
spoken  of  as  affecting  the  relations  of  the  said  mission-aries  with  those 
of  the  Berlin  Society,  but  the  hope  is  expressed  that  these  difficulties 
may  soon  disappear,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  unity  of 
action  which  the  First  General  Presbyterian  Council  expressed  its 
desire  to  see  exhibited  in  South  Africa,  is  being  gradually  attained. 
It  is  recommended  that  the  Council  express  its  satisfaction  with  the 
statement  submitted  in  regard  to  brotherly  co-operation  in  mission 
work  in  South  Africa,  and  that  it  convey  to  the  South  African  Mis- 
sion Committee  a  renewal  of  its  earnest  and  affectionate  desire  that 
the  brethren  in  that  important  and  interesting  field  of  missionary 
effort  may  more  and  more  abound  in  the  things  which  make  for  peace 
and  good-will,  and  that  they  may  continue  their  efforts  to  secure  the 
utmost  possible  harmony  and  unity  of  action. 

On  motion,  the  Council  adopted  the  suggestions  contained  in 
the  paper ;  and  directed  a  copy  to  be  sent  to  James  Stevenson, 
Esq.,  of  Glasgow,  for  publication  in  South  Africa. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  593 

The  Business  Committee,  through  Dr.  Prime,  also  recom- 
mended, and  the  recommendations  were  agreed  to,  that  the 
Committee  on  Creeds  be  now  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  two 
Ruling  Elders,  A.  T.  Niven,  Esq.,  and  Henry  Day,  Esq.,  of  New 
York ;  that  the  discussion  of  this  morning,  after  the  reading  of 
the  papers,  and  the  hearing  of  the  appointed  addresses,  be  con- 
fined to  the  subject  of  foreign  missions,  without,  however,  pre- 
cluding future  discussion  in  regard  to  papers  that  have  been 
previously  read  ;  that  owing  to  the  great  pressure  upon  the 
afternoon  session  to-day,  the  readers  of  the  Jast  three  papers 
upon  the  Programme  be  confined  to  twenty  minutes  each, 

George  Junkin,  Esq.,  offered  the  following  resolution,  which 
was  referred  to  the  Business  Committee : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Council  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  for  the  third  General  Council,  should  take  care  that 
ample  time  be  secured  for  the  consideration  of  the  various  papers  that 
may  be  presented,  and  for  allowing  the  delegates  some  opportunity 
for  social  intercourse  with  each  other  and  with  the  friends  by  whom 
they  may  be  entertained. 

REFORMED  PRESBYTERY  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

The  Rev.  Principal  McVicar. — I  desire  to  present  to  the 
Council  the  following  document  which  was  addressed  to  the 
clerks  of  this  Council,  Dr.  Blaikie  and  Dr.  Mathews: 

Philadelphia,  September  loth,  1880. 

To  the  Rev.  William  G.  Blaikie,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  Rev.   G.   D. 
Mathews,  D.  D.,  Clerks  of  the  Presbyterian  Alliance  of  the  Re- 
formed Churches  now  meeting  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Reformed  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  held  this 
day,  in  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  church.  Broad  street  below  Spruce, 
it  was  resolved, 

First.  That  this  Presbytery  do  hereby  make  application  to  become 
a  member  of  the  Alliance  of  the  Reformed  Churches  throughout  the 
world  now  sitting  in  Council  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

Second.  That  we  hereby  declare  and  assure  the  said  Alliance  that 
we  are  a  church  organized  on  Presbyterian  principles,  which  holds  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  in 
matters  of  faith  and  morals,  and  whose  creed  is  in  harmony  with  the 
consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confessions. 

Third.  That  in  case  this  Presbytery  is  admitted  as  a  member  of  the 
38 


594  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

said  Alliance  on  this  application,  we  do  hereby  commission  Theodorus 
W.  J.  Wylie,  D.  I).,  and  George  H.  Stuart,  Esq.,  as  delegates  to 
represent  us  in  the  Council  of  said  Alliance,  now  sitting  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia. 

A  true  copy. 
(Signed)  William  Sterrett,  Moderator. 

Principal  McVicar". — I  now  offer  the  following  resolution, 
which  the  Committee  on' Credentials  agreed  to  report  to  the 
Council,  and  move  its  adoption  : 

Whereas,  The* Reformed  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  has,  by  formal 
minute,  signified  in  the  fullest  manner  its  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  this  Alliance,  and  its  desire  to  be  received  in  connection  therewith, 
and  has  duly  appointed  delegates  to  this  Council, 

Resolved,  That  the  said  Reformed  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  be 
received  into  this  Alliance,  and  their  delegates  be  admitted  as  mem- 
bers of  this  Council. 

The  resolution  was  adopted. 

The  Committee  on  Farewell  Meeting  reported,  recommending 
as  follows: 

That  a  closing  meeting  of  the  Council  be  held  on  Saturday 
after  the  close  of  the  forenoon  exercises,  and  that  the  Rev.  Chas. 
A.  Dickey,  D.  D.,  be  appointed  to  deliver  a  parting  address. 

The  Committee  further  inform  the  Council  that  they  are 
arranging  for  a  number  of  meetings  to  be  held  on  Sabbath 
evening,  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  and  in  which  they  expect 
a  large  number  of  the  delegates  to  take  part. 

General  D.  W.  Houston,  of  Kansas. — I  desire  to  offer  the 
following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draw  up  rules  of  order 
and  procedure  for  the  proper  conducting  of  the  business  of  the  Coun- 
cil, and  to  report  to  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council. 

I  need  not  say  that  this  is  not  only  a  Pan-Presbyterian  Coun- 
cil, but  it  is  a  great  international  assembly,  representing  coun- 
tries with  very  diverse  parliamentary  usages  ;  and,  that  all  things 
may  be  done  decently  and  in  order,  according  to  the  scriptural 
injunction,  it  seems  imperatively  necessary  that  we  should  have 
some  rules  for  the  government  of  our  proceedings. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  595 

The  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Business  Committee. 

Rev.  James  O.  Brownson,  D.  D. — I  propose  to  offer  a  resolu- 
tiofl,  not  for  the  purpose  of  opening  now  the  discussion  which 
pertains  to  the  subject-rnatter  it  contains,  but  from  the  impor- 
tance which  is  attached  to  the  committee  whose  appointment  it 
will  authorize.  I  Hstened  with  pleasure,  last  night,  to  the 
admirable  papers  in  reference  to  Sabbath  observance,  but  it 
strikes  me  that  the  world  at  this  crisis  should  hear  some  con- 
centrated utterance  from  this  great  Council  upon  the  subject. 
The  resolution  to  which  I  refer  is  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  prepare  some  action 
on  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  to  go  forth  to  the  world  as  the 
united  voice  of  this  Council  upon  this  most  important  subject. 

I  have  nothing  to  say,  except  it  may  be  a  brief  sentence  or 
two,  in  referring  to  the  importance  of  some  united  action  of  this 
kind.  The  admirable  papers  on  this  subject,  which  have  been 
read  before  the  Council,  will  be  published ;  and  no  doubt  will 
be  read  outside  of  this  Council.  They  will  be  embodied,  as  I 
understand,  in  the  volume  containing  the  proceedings  ;  and  they 
will  be  convenient  for  the  reference  of  those  who  wish  to  study 
the  subject  more  fully.  But  at  this  crisis  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  and  the  world,  there  is  such  a  tendency  to  Sabbath 
desecration  on  a  large  scale,  that  I  have  thought  it  proper  to 
prepare  this  resolution,  and  now  offer  it  for  the  consideration  of 
the  Council. 

The  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Business  Committee. 

The  Clerk. — I  beg  to  move  a  suspension  of  the  standing 
order,  to  listen  to  a  few  parting  words  from  our  brother,  the 
Rev.  Nicholas  J.  Hofmeyr,  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  Cape 
Colony,  South  Africa,  who  is  about  to  leave  to  return  to  his 
home  in  that  far  off  country. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

Prof.  Hofmeyr. — Pardon  the  demand  I  dare  to  make  upon 
your  most  precious  time.  I  had  hoped  to  be  with  you  to  the 
very  end  of  this  Council,  but  this  morning  I  received  intelli- 
gence which  compels  me  to  leave  you  within  a  few  moments. 


596  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

My  co-delegate  and  myself  looked  forward  to  the  meeting  of 
this  Council  with  the  expectation  of  receiving  much  pleasure 
from  our  intercourse  with  you.  We  expected  that  fellow- 
ship with  you  might  tend  to  widen  our  views  and  to  warm 
our  hearts,  and  as  much  as  the  pressure  of  our  official  busi- 
ness has  admitted  of  this  brotherly  intercourse,  we  have  not 
been  disappointed  in  our  expectations.  Thanks  for  your  cour- 
tesy; thanks  for  your  kindness;  thanks  for  your  brotherly 
love.  At  our  hands  receive  the  greeting  of  our  Church. 
We  are  the  most  southern  outpost  of  Presbyterianism,  and  I 
will  take  back  to  our  Church  without  your  telling  me  to  do 
so,  because  I  can  see  it  in  your  faces,  your  greeting  in  return. 
The  Lord  bless  you  most  abundantly.  There  is  but  one  word 
which,  in  the  name  of  our  common  Master  and  Head  of  the 
Church,  in  all  humility  and  with  some  inward  fear  and  trembling, 
I  desire  to  lay  down  in  your  bosom.  Fathers  and  brethren,  let 
us  strive  for  one  attainment  above  all  other  attainments,  one 
blessing  above  all  other  blessings — that  we  ministers  and  elders 
of  the  Church  may  be  men  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Our  beautifully  organized  Council,  without  this  blessing,  will 
be  but  a  machine  with  mechanic  operations,  not  vitalized  by 
spiritual  power. 

Just  before  starting  from  England  I  received  a  postal  card 
from  a  much  respected  brother,  Theodore  Monod,  in  Paris,  and 
this  is  the  message  which  he  desired  through  me  to  give  to  this 
Council :  "  I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  the  Council.  Do  tell  the 
meeting  just  what  you  told  us  at  our  meeting  in  Paris.  Dwell  in 
Christ,  and  you  will  live  for  him.  God  teaches  us  this  lesson  more 
and  more.    It  is  worth  all  that  it  may  cost."  So  let  it  be.  Amen. 

The  President. — Professor  Hofmeyr,  if  you  have  not  been 
disappointed  in  your  expectation  of  the  Council,  the  Council  has 
not  been  disappointed  in  its  expectation  of  you.  We  rejoice  in 
the  fact  that  we  have  such  a  representative  of  the  truth,  as  we 
hold  it,  in  South  Africa;  and  we  pray  that  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,  who  has  sheltered  you  and  brought  you  in  safety  hither, 
may  watch  over  and  keep  you  until  you  reach  your  field  of 
labor,  and  honor  you  as  an  instrument  of  extending  his  kingdom 
in  Southern  Africa. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  597 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Missions  being 
called  for,  the  Rev.  J.  Murray  Mitchell,  LL.  D.,  of  Edin- 
burgh, presented  the  following  from  the  European  section: 

REPORT  ON  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Presbyterian  Council  held  at 
Edinburgh  in  July,  1877,  the  following  resolution  was  unanimously 
agreed  to : 

"That  the  Council,  having  regard  to  foreign  mission  work  as  an 
essential  and  urgent  duty  needing  to  be  much  more  earnestly  prosecuted 
by  all  Christian  Churches,  and  in  which  it  is  of  increasing  importance 
that  there  should  be  the  utmost  attainable  co-operation  among  the 
Churches  of  this  Alliance,  appoint  a  committee  to  collect  and  digest 
full  information  as  to  the  fields  at  present  occupied  by  them,  their 
plans  and  modes  of  operation ;  with  instructions  to  report  the  same 
10  next  General  Council,  together  with  any  suggestions  they  may 
judge  it  wise  to  submit  respecting  the  possibility  of  consolidating 
existing  agencies  or  preparing  the  way  for  co-operation  in  the 
future." 

The  committee  appointed  to  carry  the  resolution  into  effect  submit 
the  following  report. 

It  has  been  possible  to  embody  in  a  tabular  form  many  important 
particulars  regarding  the  missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches.  (See 
p-6ii.) 

Your  committee  proceed  to  refer  to  matters  regarding  which  it  is 
difficult  to  submit  information  in  a  tabular  form. 

I.  Home  Arrangements  for  the  Management  of  Missions. 

Churches  that  do  not  adopt  the  Presbyterian  polity  conduct  their 
missionary  operations  through  societies  which  are  not  under  direct 
ecclesiastical  control. 

In  like  manner  the  Presbyterians  of  France,  Holland,  Switzerland 
and  Hungary*  act  through  societies. 

But  the  Presbyterian  missions  of  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  the  United 
States  of  America,  Canada,  Australia  and  New  Zealand  are  conducted 
by  Churches,  the  supreme  court  of  each  Church  acting  through  a  com- 
mittee or  board,  which  it  annually  appoints,  and  from  which  it  re- 
quires an  annual  report  of  its  operations. f 

In  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  the  United  States  and  Canada  the  open- 
ings for  work  among  women  in  heathen  lands,  particularly  in  India, 
have  led  to  the  establishment  of  women's  societies  among  Presbyterian 
and  other  bodies.    In  some,  the  entire  directorate  consists  of  females; 

*  The  Protestants  of  Hungary  send  contributions  to  the  Basle  society, 
f  In  Europe  the  committee  is  usually  appointed  out  of  the  members  of  the  supreme 
court. 


598  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

in  others  not  so.  Some  of  these  societies  are  "superintended"  by 
the  General  Assembly;  some  are  said  to  be  "  in  connection  "  with  it ; 
but  in  all  cases — so  far  as  is  known — they  act  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  Church    and  are  most  valuable  auxiliaries  in  its  work. 

II.  Eunds  :  Modes  of  Raising  them. 

The  means  employed  to  raise  the  missionary  revenue  vary  con- 
siderably in  different  cases. 

The  supreme  courts  of  the  Established  and  Free  Churches  of  Scot- 
land have  repeatedly  recommended  that  a  missionary  association  be 
formed  in  every  congregation  of  the  Church.  In  many  cases  this  has 
accordingly  been  done.  Not  a  few  congregations  in  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Scotland  adopt  the  same  plan.  Every  missionary 
association  is  understood  to  have  a  sufficient  staff  of  collectors.  These 
gather  the  subscriptions  in  a  few  cases  every  month,  but  generally 
once  a  quarter.  Theoretically,  at  least,  each  missionary  association 
holds  an  annual  meeting  in  order  to  give  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  mis- 
sionary zeal  of  the  congregation.  When  a  missionary  association  does 
not  exist  in  the  congregation  the  money  is  raised  by  a  church  col- 
lection, which  is  generally  annual. 

As  a  rule  the  missionary  revenue,  when  raised  by  congregational 
associations,  is  nuu  h  larger  than  that  obtained  from  church  col- 
lections. 

Donations  and  legacies  are  an  important,  although  very  variable, 
source  of  income. 

Missionary  boxes  are  common  in  Sabbath-schools:  and  not  unfrc- 
quent  in  families. 

In  some  churches  there  is  an  annual  juvenile  offering;  that  is  to 
say,  some  important  missionary  object  is  brought  before  the  young 
people  of  the  church,  for  which  they  are  asked  to  contribute. 

On  the  whole,  it  must  be  sorrowfully  confessed  that  the  rate  of  con- 
tribution to  missions  in  Presbyterian  churches  is  very  low.  Not  only 
multitudes  of  worshippers,  but  probably  a  large  majority  even  of  the 
regular  members  of  congregations,  give  absolutely  nothing  for  the  ex- 
tension of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among  the  heathen  nations.  Surely 
these  things  ought  not  so  to  be.  The  rate  of  contribution  for  missions 
to  the  heathen,  in  British  Presbyterian  Churches,  is  under  a  shilling; 
a  year,  per  communicant. 

In  continental  Churches,  those  of  France,  , Switzerland,  Holland, 
etc.,  it  is  still  less.* 

III.  Means  Adopted  to  Awaken  Missionary  Zeal. 
The  great  societies  on  the  continent  find  annual  mission-festivals, 


*  The  Waldensian  and  Free  Christian  Churches  in  Italy  do  not  take,  even  through 
societies,  any  direct  share  in  foreign  mission  work.  Their  entire  energies  are  devoted 
to  the  extension  of  the  gospel  in  Italy. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  599 

which  generally  continue  for  several  days,  to  be  of  great  value,  both 
in  communicating  information  and  stimulating  zeal. 

The  leading  missionary  societies  in  England  trust  largely  to  their 
anniversaries  as  giving  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  cause. 

Presbyterian  Churches  which  do  not  act  through  societies  have  the 
subject  brought  before  them  as  a  part  of  the  business  that  comes  before 
the  supreme  court.  There  may,  however,  be  a  danger  lest  the  greaX 
cause  of  missions  be  crowded,  by  other  business  that  may  seem  more 
pressing,  out  of  that  very  prominent  place  which  rightfully  pertains 
to  it.* 

Returned  missionaries,  as  far  as  health  permits,  preach  or  give 
addresses  on  missions. 

Some  ministers  frequently  refer  to  the  subject  of  missions  in  their 
discourses. 

In  not  a  few  cases  missionary  intelligence  is  given  from  the  pulpit. 
This  seems  to  be  done  in  America  more  regularly  than  in  Europe. 

More  frequently,  however,  the  intelligence  is  communicated  once  a 
month,  at  the  congregational  prayer-meeting. 

Missionary  intelligence  is  often  given,  and  with  great  advantage,  in 
Sabbath-schools. 

It  is  also  given,  with  equal  advantage,  in  the  course  of  family  in- 
struction. 

Periodicals  giving  information  regarding  missions  are  admitted  to 
be  of  very  great  importance.  As  a  rule,  every  Church  has  its  recog- 
nized monthly  organ  ;  in  which  the  subject  of  missions  comes  in 
along  with  other  ecclesiastical  matters.  The  Presbyterian  Churches 
of  the  United  States  have  magazines  which  are  occupied  with  the  .sub- 
ject of  foreign  missions  exclusively,  like  the  organs  of  the  great  mis- 
,  sionary  societies. 

Children's  missionary  magazines,  which  are  perhaps  in  all  cases 
ornamented  with  illustrations,  are  very  largely  circulated  in  all  the 
churches. 

Women's  missionary  societies  have  also,  in  many  cases,  their  own 
recognized  organs. 

Important  papers  on  missions  appear  not  unfrequently  in  "  Catholic 
Presbyterian  "  and  other  periodicals. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  much  valuable  matter  on  the  subject  of  mis- 
sions is  printed  which  is  not  so  extensively  read  as  it  deserves  to  be. 
Some  ministers  adopt  a  means  of  diffusing  information  on  missions 
which  they  regard  as  at  once  simple  and  effective.  They  take 
occasion,  once  a  month,  to  draw  the  attention  of  their  flocks  to  the 
more  striking  facts  mentioned  in  the  Church's  missionary  organ,  and 
so  secure  a  more  extensive  and  careful  perusal  of  its  contents. 

*  To  secure  that  the  subject  shall  not  be  too  hurriedly  treated,  the  English  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  addition  to  what  is  done  in  the  Supreme  Court,  holds  an  anniversary 
meeting  in  Exeter  Hall, like  the  non-Presbyterian  missionary  societies.  The  United 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  holds,  during  the  sitting  of  its  supreme  court,  ■<\ 
"  Synodical  missionary  meeting,"  devoting  the  entire  evening  to  the  subject  of 
iiissions. 


6oo  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

IV.   Supply  and  Training  of  Missionaries. 

European  missionary  societies  generally  have  training  colleges  con- 
nected with  them,  which  are  intended  to  prepare  men  for  foreign 
work.  They  supply  such  a  general  and  theological  education  as  seems 
to  the  society  requisite  for  laborers  in  the  particular  field  which  is  in 
view. 

On  the  other  hand  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Britain,  Ireland, 
the  United  States,  and  Canada,  expect  that  their  regular  theological 
colleges  will  furnish  a  sufficient  number  of  men  for  the  foreign  as  well 
as  the  home  field  ;  so  that  the  Church,  without  any  additional  outlay, 
shall  have  a  supply  of  missionaries  who  have  had  the  same  academical 
and  theological  training  as  the  home  ministers.  The  expectation,  hap- 
pily, has  not  been  disappointed  ;  and  there  has  more  frequently  been 
a  lack  of  means  to  send,  than  of  men  qualified  and  willing  to  go. 

But  there  is  a  strong  conviction  on  the  part  of  many  friends  of 
missions,  that  the  ordinary  theological  course  requires  to  be  supple- 
mented, even  in  those  cases  in  which  evangelistic  theology  is  a  regular 
part  of  the  curriculum.  They  hold  that  a  course  of  special  instruc- 
tion is  desirable  for  missionaries — especially  for  those  designated  to 
the  more  civilized  heathen  lands — comprising  instruction  in  the  his- 
tory, language,  religion,  literature,  and  philosophy  of  the  people  to 
be  evangelized. 

Ladies  might,  in  many  cases,  avail  themselves  of  the  instruction 
given  in  a  missionary  institute  of  this  kind. 

Again,  there  are  many  men  possessed  of  evangelistic  zeal  and  fitted 
to  do  excellent  service  in  the  foreign  field,  who  have  had  no  opportu- 
nity of  obtaining  a  theological,  or  even  an  academical  education. 
The  curriculum  prescribed  by  Presbyterian  Churches  is  so  long  that 
many  of  these  men  are  compelled  either  to  abandon  the  hope  of  serv-" 
ing  Christ  in  the  foreign  field,  or  to  seek  employment  in  connection 
with  other  bodies,  and  so  are  lost  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Either 
result  is  much  to  be  deplored.  Three  modes  of  dealing  with  such 
cases  have  been  suggested.  First,  the  more  talented  men  might  be 
assisted  to  enter  college  and  go  through  the  regular  course  of  study. 
Secondly,  others,  after  receiving  instruction  in  a  missionary  institute, 
might  be  sent  forth  as  unordained  evangelists,  or  else  as  missionary 
artisans.  Thirdly,  in  very  exceptional  cases  men  might  be  ordained 
to  labor  in  the  foreign  field  without  having  passed  through  the  full 
curriculum. 

V.   Modes  of  Missionary  Operation. 

Presbyterian  Missions  have  been  planted  in  many  countries,  and 
among  races  exceedingly  diversified  in  point  of  civilization,  character, 
and  creed.  They  are  found  in  Japan,  China,  Siam,  India,  Persia,  the 
Turkish  Empire,  the  continent  of  Europe,  Africa,  South  America,  and 
Polynesia.  They  contend  with  almost  every  existing  form  of  Pagan- 
ism ;  with  Mohammedanism,  and  also  with  corrupt  Christianity  ;  while 
special  missions  have  been  established  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  60 1 

However  much  they  may  in  many  respects  differ  from  each  other, 
the  nations  all  labor  under  one  mortal  disease  ;  for  which  the  gospel  is 
the  cfivinely  appointed  remedy.  The  remedy  is  one ;  but  the  modes  of 
its  application  are  many ;  and  the  missions  seek  to  be  made  all  things 
to  all  men,  that  they  may  by  all  means  save  some. 

The  chief  modes  of  evangelization  may  be  thus  enumerated  : 

1.  Preaching  ;  or  the  oral  proclamation  of  the  gospel  message. 

2.  Circulation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  Christian  books  and 
tracts. 

3.  Education. 

4.  Medical  Missions. 

5.  Industrial  Missions. 

A  lengthened  paper  might  be  written  on  each  of  these  heads,  but 
your  committee  content  themselves  with  a  very  few  remarks. 

Preaching  is  had  recourse  to  in  all  missions.  The  gospel  is  pro- 
claimed,in  the  languages  of  the  people*, in  ckurches,  and  in  preach- 
ing rooms  specially  intended  for  the  heathen  ;  also  in  the  open  air 
wherever  audiences  can  best  be  collected,  whether  in  the  streets  of 
towns,  or  at  great  religious  gatherings  {yatras,  metas,  etc.)  at  sacred 
l)laces.  Preaching  tours,  to  make  known  the  gospel  in  "  the  regions 
beyond,"  or  to  press  again  the  message  on  those  who  have  heard  it 
before,  are  frequently  undertaken. 

Circulation  of  the  Scriptures  ami  tracts  is  had  recourse  to,  probably 
by  all  missions.  Colporteurs  are  employed  in  considerable  numbers. 
The  distribution  of  books  was  at  one  time  gratuitous  and  sometimes 
rather  indiscriminate;  but  of  late  years  books  have  been  generally 
sold.  The  translating  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  revision  of  transla- 
tions already  made,  form  an  important  part  of  missionary  labor.  So 
does  the  composition  of  religious  tracts  and  books. 

Education  is  everywhere  necessary  for  the  children  of  Christians ; 
and  is  also  very  useful  as  a  means  of  bringing  heathen  children  in 
contact  with  the  truth.  Day-schools,  boarding-schools,  Sunday- 
schools  ;  all  these  are  common.  The  famines  that  have  occurred  in 
many  places  have  led  to  the  setting  up  of  orphanages.  Schools  are 
not  everywhere  of  equal  value.  In  India  they  assume  a  place  of  spe- 
cial importance,  as  there  is  a  general  desire  for  education,  and  in  the 
large  cities  a  thirst  even  for  high  education  in  English.  It  is  felt  to 
be  of  supreme  importance  that  the  higher  education  should  be  made, 
as  far  as  possible,  truly  Christian  in  its  character.  Hence  some  mis- 
sions in  India  have  devoted  much  attention  to  higher  schools  and 
colleges.     (See  statistical  table.) 

Medical  Missions  exist  in  connection  with  most  Presbyterian 
Churches,  (although  the  great  missionary  societies  on  the  continent 
hardly  employ  this  kind  of  agency).  Among  Mohammedans  medical 
missions  receive  more  toleration  than  any  other  form  of  evangelistic 
agency. 

*  In  India,  where  English  is  much  studied,  missionaries  find  that  they  have  opp>or- 
tunuies  ui  .ulaieshing  large  numbers  through  that  language. 


6o2  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Industrial  Missions  have  been  useful,  especially  in  Africa.  The  in- 
stitution at  Lovedale  may  perhaps  be  singled  out  as  pre-eminent.  All 
the  missions  are  agreed  as  to  the  exceeding  desirableness  of  providing, 
as  soon  as  the  Lord  enables  them,  a  native  agency  for  the  dissemina- 
tion of  the  gospel.  It  seems  universally  admitted  that  some  of  the 
native  agents  require  to  be  thoroughly  educated  men — especially  in 
such  countries  as  India,  China,  and  Japan. 

Female  agency  is  more  and  more  largely  used.  European  and 
American  ladies  find  many  doors  of  usefulness  now  open  among  their 
heathen  sisters.  To  these  a  knowledge  of  medicine  is  found  highly 
useful.  Native  Christian  women  are  employed  as  teachers  of  female 
schools,  and  as  Bible  women,  whose  duty  is  to  read  and  explain  the 
Scriptures  in  native  families. 

All  the  missions  strive  for  the  raising  up  of  native  churches  which 
shall  become  self-supporting,  self-multiplying,  and  self-governing. 
Any  arrangements  whicji  may  seem  inconsistent  with  these  aims  are 
generally  admitted  to  be  only  provisional  and  temporary. 

VI.   Relation  of  Missions  to  the  Home  Churches. 

On  this  important  subject  there  is  a  great  diversity  of  opinion 
among  Presbyterian  Churches. 

The  formation  of  Presbyteries  in  the  foreign  field  is  not  universally 
approved.*  It  is  so,  however,  in  most  cases:  but  the  constitution  of 
the  Presbyteries  varies  very  greatly  in  different  missions. 

Generally  the  Mission  Presbytery — consisting  of  native  as  well  as 
European  or  American  members — is  an  integral  part  of  the  home 
Church,  and  is  ruled  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  Church  in  ques- 
tions both  of  doctrine  and  discipline.  Pengal  or  South  Africa  thus 
stands  in  the  same  relation  as  any  home  district  does,  to  the  General 
Assembly. 

But  the  difficulties  connected  with  this  arrangement  have  been  felt  to 
be  very  serious.  It  is  not  always  easy  for  the  foreign  Presbyteries  to 
send  representatives  to  the  Assembly.  But  apart  from  this,  the  exer- 
cise of  jurisdiction  is  clogged  with  sore  impediments.  Suppose,  for 
instance,  that  an  appeal  from  the  decision  of  a  Presbytery  in  Africa 
comes  to  Edinburgh,  New  York,  or  Philadelphia,  is  the  case  to  be  de- 
cided without  the  parties  appearing  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly?  or  if 
the  parties  do  appear,  is  it  not  perplexing  to  find  one  or  more  of  them 
as  ignorant  of  English  as  the  Assembly  itself  is  of  Kaffir  or  Sichuana? 
In  view  of  such  perplexities,  some  earnestly  contend  that,  while  the 
home  Church  shall  continue  to  be  resorted  to  as  a  Court  of  Appeal 
in  cases  of  doctrine,  yet  all  questions  of  discipline  must  be  decided  by 
church  courts  in  the  foreign  field. 

Others  deem  it  necessary  that  the  mission  churches  shall  enjoy  com- 
plete independence  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  maintain  that  the  for- 

*"  Catholic  Presbyterian,"  June,  1880,  p.  440. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  603 

eign  Presbyterians  must  not  be  in  any  way  controlled  in  their  action 
by  the  home  Church. 

While  this  independence  is  demanded  by  many  as  normal  and  right, 
even  when  only  one  Presbyterian  Church  is  working  in  any  particular 
mission-field,  it  becomes  still  more  desirable  when  several  Presbyterian 
Churches  have  occupied  the  same  district.  Probably  all  will  admit 
that  it  would  be  a  grievous  mistake  to  reproduce  and  perpetuate  abroad 
the  multiplied  divisions  which,  from  various  causes,  exist  among  Pres- 
byterian Churches  at  home.  Certainly,  no  true  Presbyterian  can 
contemplate,  without  pain,  such  a  result  as  this — that  there  should 
continue  to  be  four  native  churches  in  India  ruled  by  four  churches  in 
Scotland,  and  probably  as  many  more  ruled  by  separate  American 
churches;  not  to  speak  of  an  Indian-English  Presbyterian  Church,  an 
Indian-Welsh  Presbyterian  Church,  etc.  Or  take  the  case  of  the  New 
Hebrides.  At  present  the  small  mission  in  that  cluster  of  islands  is 
supported  by  five  Presbyterian  Churches;  is  the  native  church  to  con- 
tinue to  be  governed  from  five  centres,  geographically  so  far  apart 
from  each  other  as  Scotland,  Canada,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and 
Otago,  Southland  ? 

The  question  of  the  relation  of  foreign  Presbyteries  to  the  home 
Churches  is  all  the  more  important  because  there  is  confessedly  a  close 
connection  between  three  very  important  things  which  have  been  al- 
ready mentioned,  viz.  :  self-government,  self-support,  and  self-exten- 
sion. It  seems  vain  to  expect  to  see  a  self-supporting  and  self-extending 
Church  in  any  country  until  it  is  self-governed,  and  breathes  the  fresh, 
inspiring  air  of  freedom,  being  under  law  only  to  Christ. 

Yet,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that  the  young 
churches  in  heathendom  have  often  to  struggle  with  very  great 
perplexities  and  difficulties.  On  many  ecclesiastical  questions  in 
matters  both  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  they  may  still  long  require 
sympathy  and  counsel  from  the  mother  Churches.  Further,  they 
must  not  be  prematurely  thrown  on  their  own  pecuniary  resources. 
Regard  must  always  be  had  to  the  special  circumstances  of  each  case.* 
It  is  a  question  well  worth  consideration  whether  the  introduction  of 
a  Sustentation  Fund  among  the  mission  Churches,  such,  for  example, 
as  has  been  so  beneficial  in  the  poorer  districts  of  Scotland,  is  not 
desirable  and  practicable  as  a  means  of  aiding  feeble  congregations  in 
heathen  lands. 

Another  question  of  the  greatest  importance  bears  on  the  relation 

*  Independence  of  Churches. — On  this  subject  the  Missionary  Conference  (con- 
sisting of  120  missionaries,  and  representing  all  the  evangelical  missions  of  Southern 
India),  that' was  held  at  Bangalore  in  June,  1879,  passed  unanimously  the  following 
resolution. 

"This  conference,  while  convinced  of  the  great  importance  of  promoting  by  every 
judicious  means  the  self-support  and  self-government  of  the  native  Church,  desire 
to  place  on  record  their  conviction  that  the  native  Church  is,  in  no  part  of  it,  as  yet 
in  a  position  to  dispense  with  European  guidance  and  support ;  and  that  any  prema- 
ture step  in  that  direction  would  be  highly  injurious  to  its  healthy  development  and 
ultimate  stability." 


6o4  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

in  which  the  foreign  (/'.  e.,  European  or  American)  missionary  stands 
to  the  native  Church.  On  this  point  there  is  very  great  diversity  of 
opinion. 

When  the  Mission  Presbytery  is  an  integral  part  of  the  home 
Church,  the  European  or  American  missionary  naturally  is  a  member 
of  such  Presbytery,  and  is  bound  by  a  very  slight  tie,  or,  in  some 
cases,  by  no  tie,  to  any  Presbytery  at  home.  But  when  the  Mission 
Presbytery  is  separated  from  the  home  Church — as  has  already  taken 
place  in  several  instances — is  the  foreign  missionary  to  be  one  of  its 
regular  constituent  members?  In  some  cases  he  is  held  to  be  so,  and 
to  possess  the  full  privileges  of  membership.  In  others,  he  is  a  cor- 
responding member,  with  powers  that  do  not  seem  exactly  defined. 
In  still  other  cases,  he  is  received  as  an  assessor,  who  is  expected  to 
give  his  advice  as  may  seem  expedient,  but  without  power  to  vote. 

The  relation  of  the  foreign  missionary  to  the  native  Church  will, 
to  a  large  extent,  depend  on  the  views  taken  of  his  position  as  an 
evangelist.  In  not  a  few  quarters,  of  late  years,  a  strong  conviction 
has  been  expressed  that  the  modern  Church  has  not  sufficiently  recog- 
nized the  function  of  the  ordained  evangelist  as  distinct  from,  but  in 
no  respect  inferior  to,  that  of  the  pastor  and  teacher.  Those  who 
accept  this  view  contend  that  it  is  the  office  of  an  evangelist  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  heathen,  but  not  to  rule,  or  minister  to,  the  native 
Church  ;  and  they  hold  that  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  proceed- 
ings of  a  Church  court,  at  least  in  so  far  as  these  refer  to  rule  and 
ministrations  in  the  settled  congregations. 

In  view  of  the  importance  of  such  points  as  have  been  now  men- 
tioned, and  also  of  the  great  diversity  of  opinion  still  existing  in  regard 
to  them,  your  committee  think  they  have  done  enough  in  having  thus 
indicated  the  nature  and  bearing  of  the  question.  Some  light  may  be 
thrown  upon  the  matter  by  the  discussion  that  follows  the  reading  of 
this  report ;  but  they  do  not  think  that  any  final  deliverance  regarding 
it  should  be  given  at  this  meeting  of  the  Council.  Such  questions  are 
already  receiving,  in  various  quarters,  that  earnest  attention  which 
they  rightfully  claim  ;  and  it  may  be  hoped  that,  by  next  meeting  of 
Council,  more  light  may  be  shed  upon  them,  and  perhaps  a  consensus 
reached  which  shall  enable  the  Council  to  give  a  formal  expression 
of  its  views  respecting  such  important  points  in  mission  policy. 

VII.  Muhcal  Relations  of  Missions  Abroad. 
We  take  it  for  granted  that  the  conviction  prevails  universally  in 
Presbyterian  Churches  that  their  missionaries  ought  to  stand  in  the 
most  friendly  relations  to  the  missionaries  of  all  evangelical  Churches 
and  societies.  Happily,  among  Protestant  missions  generally,  there 
has  always  existed  very  great  friendliness  ;*  and,  if  in  a  few  cases  it  be 
absent,  your  committee  rejoice  to  believe  that  the  failure  can  very 
seldom  be  attributed  to  Presbyterians. 


*  The  aggressions  of  the  High-Church  Anglicans  on  other  missions,  especially 
in  South  Africa,  form  the  most  striking  exception  to  the  rule. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  605 

But  more  than  this  is  necessary  in  the  relation  between  one  Presby- 
terian mission  and  another  in  the  same  field.  If  not  actually  and 
formally  in  ecclesiastical  union,  the  two  missions  are  yet  bound  to  be 
virtually  one.  The  utmost  care  should  be  taken  to  see  that  on  all 
important  questions  bearing  on  the  progress  of  the  gospel,  the  mis- 
sions shall  move  on  the  same  or  parallel  lines.  Frequent  intercourse 
ought  to  be  maintained  between  the  missions,  and  co-operation  should 
earnestly  be  sought. 

This  is  a  point  "whereto  we  have  already  attained,"  or,  at  all 
events,  ought  to  have  attained.  But  the  earnest  contention  of  many 
is  that,  when  the  same  field  is  occupied  by  more  than  one  Presbyterian 
mission,  the  terminus  ad  quern  on  which  all  eyes  should  be  fixed  is 
not  merely  hearty  co-operation,  but  incorporation — that  is  to  say,  the 
formation,  sooner  or  later,  of  one  native  Church,  independent  of 
foreign  support  and  control. 

The  formation  of  mission  Presbyteries  would  naturally  be  followed 
by  the  creation  of  Synods,  and,  in  course  of  time,  of  a  General 
Assembly.  We  may  hope  that  such  General  Assemblies,  in  lands 
now  almost  entirely  heathen,  may,  ere  long,  be  sending  native  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Presbyterian  Council,  meeting — why  not  in 
Asia  or  Africa  as  well  as  Europe  or  America?  At  all  events,  a  very 
close  connection  ought  to  exist  from  the  outset  between  the  mission 
churches  and  the  older  Presbyterian  bodies ;  the  representatives  of 
east  and  west,  of  north  and  south,  should  frequently  commingle  in 
happy  brotherhood,  and  take  mutual  counsel  regarding  the  main- 
tenance and  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  throughout  the  world. 
This  high  aim  is  surely  not  only  warranted,  but  enjoined  by  Presby- 
terian catholicity. 

In  addition  to  this  comprehensive  federation,  frequent  intercourse 
could  be  maintained  between  church  courts  in  the  same  mission 
field,  or  even  in- different  fields. 

Your  committee  cannot  pass  from  these  important  questions  with- 
out requesting  the  attention  of  the  Conference  to  various  movements 
in  the  mission  field,  which  show  that  missionaries  have  very  strong 
convictions  on  the  matters  that  have  been  last  mentioned — that  is  to 
say,  the  relations  in  which  mi.ssions  should  stand  to  the  home  Church 
and  to  each  other. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  Protestant  missionaries  in  China, 
held  at  Shanghai  in  May,  1877,  one  of  the  questions  most  earnestly 
considered  was  the  following:  •'  Should  the  native  churches  be  united 
ecclesiastically  and  be  independent  of  foreign  churches  and  societies?" 
With  hardly  a  dissentient  voice,  the  conference  gave  an  affirmative 
answer  to  the  question.  Missionaries  of  high  standing  and  length- 
ened experience  spoke  in  strong  terms  on  the  inexpediency  of  allow- 
ing the  mission  churches  to  remain  connected  with  foreign  bodies. 
Dr.  Carstairs  Douglas  spoke  thus:  "What  keeps  the  native  churches 
in  China  apart?  Nothing  but  their  connection  with  the  churches  at 
hotne.'"     He  further  referred  to  the  connection  with  home  as  "most 


6o6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

dangerous,"  and  stated  that,  in  the  Roman  Catholic  missions,  appeals 
to  Rome  had  been  disastrous  in  their  effect,  inasmuch  as  they  had 
awakened  the  jealousy  of  the  Chinese  Government ;  and,  accordingly, 
he  deprecated  subjection  to  any  General  Assembly,  Archbishop, 
society,  or  conference,  in  Europe  or  America.*  Reference  was  made 
in  the  discussion  to  the  fact  that  the  Hangchow  Presbytery,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Southern  States  of  America, 
had  petitioned  the  General  Assembly  to  dissolve  it  and  remand  the 
missionaries  in  their  ecclesiastical  relations  to  their  respective  home 
Presbyteries ;  a  request  with  which  the  Assembly  had  complied, 
declaring  that  they  did  not  wish  to  establish  a  "  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church  "  in  China. 

But  the  missions  have  not  been  satisfied  with  mere  theoretical  state- 
ments ;  they  have  begun  to  carry  out  the  principle  contended  for  into 
practical  effect. 

At  Amoy  the  English  Presbyterian  Mission  and  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Mission  have  coalesced  into  one  Presbytery,  with  which  fully  sixteen 
congregations  are  connected. 

Still  more  remarkable  is  a  movement  toward  incorporation  in  Japan. 
At  Yokohama,  in  October,  1877,  ^  union  was  formed  between  three 
missions — those  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland,  the 
Northern  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church.  The  "  Union  Church  of  Christ  "  in  Japan  is  the 
name  chosen  for  the  one  body  thus  constituted. f 

In  India  also  the  necessity  of  union  among  Presbyterian  missions 
has  been  very  deeply  felt-l  The  subject  has  engaged  attention  in 
India  ever  since  the  year  1863.  After  much  consideration,  the 
"Presbyterian  Alliance  of  India"  was  formed  in  December,  1875. 
Its  objects  are  as  follows:  ist.  To  promote  mutual  sympathy  and  the 
sense  of  unity  among  the  Presbyterian  Churches  in  India.  2d.  To 
arrange  for  co-operation  and  mutual  help.  3d.  To' promote  the  sta- 
bility and  self-support  of  the  native  Churches,  and  to  encourage  them 
in  direct  labor  for  the  evangelization  of  India.  4th.  To  prepare  the 
way  for  an  organic  union  among  the  native  Presbyterian  Churches  of 
India.  Farther,  the  Alliance  regards  it  as  very  desirable  that  it 
should  receive  authority  from  the  home  Churches  to  settle  cases  of 
discipline  connected  with  native  ministers  and  members  of  the  Church 
in  India. 

An  interesting  form  of  missionary  co-operation  in  India  is  seen  in 
the  "Madras  Christian  College,"  which  was  established  by  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland,  but  is  now  supported  by  that  body  in  concert 
with  the  Church  Missionary  Society  and  the  Wesleyan  Missionary 
Society ;  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland  also  agreeing  to  take 
part,  if  the  state  of  its  funds  shall  permit.  The  co-operation  of  these 
various  bodies  can,  as  yet,  be  characterized  only  as  a  hopeful  experi- 

*  "  Records  of  Missionary  Conference  nt  Shanghai,  in  1877,"  p.  439. 

f  See  "  Foreign  Mission.iry  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  Jan.,  187S,  p.  246. 

\  See  "  Report  of  First  General  Presbyterian  Council,"  p.  367-370. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  607 

nicnt ;  but  should  it  prove  successful,  it  will  suggest  the  establishment, 
i:a  other  parts  of  the  mission  field,  of  Christian  colleges,  conducted  on 
the  broad  principles  of  evangelical  Protestantism.  These  will  not  be 
theological  colleges. 

But  the  establishment  of  theological  colleges,  to  be  conducted  in 
concert  by  several  Presbyterian  Missions,  is  a  matter  deserving  of 
earnest  attention;  in  connection  with  which  there  exists  no  serious 
difficulty,  unless  that  of  providing  the  necessary  funds.  The  "  Union 
Theological  Seminary"  at  Tokio,  Japan,  with  its  seventeen  pupils, 
already  exists  as  the  natural  result  of  the  union  of  the  three  Presbyte- 
rian Churches,  which  has  been  already  mentioned  ;  but  even  while 
missions  remain  apart,  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  possess 
a  common  theological  college. 

When  a  Presbyterian  theological  college  is  set  up,  there  is  no  neces- 
sity for  its  being  of  so  exclusive  a  character  that  students  from  non- 
Presbyterian  Missions  shall  find  any  difficulty  in  attending  its  classes. 
In  some  cases,  it  may  ])erhaps  be  desirable  to  establish  union  theo- 
logical colleges,  supported  by  various  evangelical  bodies  in  common  ; 
the  great  saving  of  expense  being  one  reason  for  such  co-operation.* 
The  endowment  of  the  colleges  is,  on  all  accounts,  exceedingly 
desirable. 

VIII.    Co-operation  at  Home  on  Behalf  of  Missions. 

Much  has  been  said,  and  often  well  said,  as  to  the  possibility  and 
desirableness  of  joint  action  among  the  home  churches  in  carrying  on 
their  missionary  work.  By  none  has  co-operation  been  more  earnestly 
advocated  than  by  the  missionaries  themselves.  The  late  venerated 
Dr.  Duff"  pleaded  for  a  great  common  mission  to  be  conducted  by  all 
the  churches  represented  in  this  Council.  Another  much  respected 
missionary,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newton,  of  Lahore,  looks  forward  to  the 
time  when  "  all  the  missionary  boards  and  committees  of  our  in- 
dividual churches  shall  be  dissolved,  and  one  central  propaganda,  at 
Edinburgh,  London,  or  other  convenient  locality,  shall  be  the  mis- 
sionary executive  committee  of  all  the  Reformed  Churches." 

Whatever  practical  difficulties  may  stand  in  the  way  of  such  com- 
prehensive proposals,  it  is  certain  that  at  present  and  henceforward 
there  may  and  ought  to  be  earnest  and  hearty  co-operation,  and  that 
of  various  kinds,  among  the  Churches.  The  following  is  offered  as  a 
suggestive,  but  by  no  means  exhaustive  list. 

I.  There  ought  to  be  frequent  communication  between  missionary 
boards,  by  regular  exchange  of  reports  and  important  minutes,  and, 
if  possible,  by  occasional  deputations  to  each  other.     This  would  tend 

*  Since  these  words  were  written,  there  has  appeared  an  earnest  appeal  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Williamson,  of  China,  for  the  establishment  of  a  Union  College  at  Pekinjf, 
for  the  training  of  native  preachers.  (.See  Catholic  Presbyterian,  Sept.,  1880.)  Dr. 
Williamson  maintains  that  the  waste  of  evangelistic  means  at  present  is  "immense." 
He  ably  advocates  united  action  among  evangelical  bodies  in  the  support  of  a 
training  college,  which,  he  says,  ought  to  be  endowed. 


6o8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  secure  mutual  sympathy  and  also  harmony  of  action  on  great  ques- 
tions of  missionary  policy. 

2.  As  the  various  churches  represented  in  the  Council  are  not  sim- 
ple repetitions  of  each  other,  but  differ  in  various  circumstantials,  it 
seems  needful  to  come  to  a  conclusion  on  this  question.  Is  each 
church  to  aim  at  a  transference  to  the  mission  field  of  its  entire  sys- 
tem, both  in  creed  and  polity?  Is  it  to  impose  all  the  details  of  its 
own  form  of  Presbyterianism  on  the  lands  which  are  being  evange- 
lized ?  It  is,  at  all  events,  plain  that  to  do  so  would  indefinitely  post- 
pone that  unity  of  the  native  church  which  is  generally  admitted  to 
be  most  desirable. 

3.  But  wholly  apart  from  the  danger  of  prolonging  disunion  in  the 
native  church,  it  is  held  to  be  a  great  and  grave  question  whether  the 
Creed  which  the  missions  communicate  ought  to  be  elaborate  and 
complex  like  the  Westminster  Confession,  or  a  much  briefer  and  sim- 
pler summary  of  divine  truth.  Doubtless,  the  Indian  Church  will  in 
time  determine  for  itself  the  question  of  its  Confession.  As  the  West- 
minster Confession  in  its  admirable  statements  often  has  its  eye  on 
Romish  corruptions  of  the  truth,  so  the  Creed  of  the  native  church 
will  naturally  have  a  special  reference  to  heathenism  with  its  gross 
errors  of  polytheism,  idolatry,  pantheism,  etc.  The  churches  at  home 
have  to  fix  on  some  formulary  which  shall  be  authoritative  in  the 
meanwhile. 

4.  A  point  closely  connected  with  the  one  just  mentioned  refers  to 
the  questions  put  at  their  ordination  to  native  ministers,  licentiates, 
and  elders.  The  questions  as  put  by  the  various  missions  should  be 
the  same,  or  very  nearly  so. 

5.  It  is  equally  necessary  that  the  form  of  church  discipline  em- 
ployed by  the  missions  should,  in  all  essential  respects,  be  similar. 

A  simple  manual  of  discipline  drawn  up  expressly  for  mission 
churches  would  be  of  great  value. 

6.  There  is  considerable  difference  of  procedure  among  the  various 
missions  in  regard  to  the  pastoral  superintendence  of  native  congre- 
gations. The  subject  deserves  very  earnest  consideration  and  mutual 
conference.  Such  questions  as  the  following  press  for  an  answer : 
Should  the  foreign  missionary  ever  be  the  pastor  of  a  native  congrega- 
tion ?  How  are  we  to  follow  out  in  our  missions  the  apostolic  prac- 
tice of  "ordaining  elders  in  every  city?"  The  latter  question,  im- 
portant in  itself,  has  a  close  connection  with  the  somewhat  difficult 
point  of  the  support  of  pastors. 

7.  A  common  understanding  among  the  missions  is  also  very  desir- 
able in  regard  to  various  matters  lying  beyond  the  sphere  of  doctrine 
and  discipline ;  as  for  example,  terms  of  engagement,  salaries,  retiring 
allowances,  etc. 

8.  In  the  establishment  of  a  new  mission  in  any  field  which  is 
already  partially  occupied,  there  ought  to  be  full  consultation  with 
churches  and  societies  carrying  on  work  in  that  field,  so  as  by  all 

*"  Catholic  Presbyterian,"  Nov.,  1879,  p.  382. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  609 

means  to  avoid  collision  with  other  evangelical  agencies,  the  overlap- 
ping of  missions,  and  the  waste  of  evangelistic  power. 

IX.    Glance  at  Fields  Still  Unoccupied. 

As  this  report  has  nearly  reached  its  due  limits,  your  committee  must 
content  themselves  with  the  following  brief  suggestions  on  this  head  : 

1.  Work  in  the  New  Hebrides,  and  Polynesia  generally,  should  be 
regarded  as  binding,  especially  on  the  churches  nearest  in  geograph- 
ical position  to  those  regions,  viz. :  those  of  Australia,  Tasmania,  and 
New  Zealand. 

2.  Work  among  the  American  Indians  (and  the  Romanists  of  South 
America)  is  binding,  especially  on  the  churches  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada. 

3.  Work  among  the  Romanists  of  the  European  Continent — as  in 
France,  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal,  etc. — is  of  such  vast  and  increasing 
importance  that  the  churches  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  in 
co-operation  with  those  of  Great  Britain,  are  called  upon  to  put  forth 
new  and  systematic  efforts  for  its  advancement. 

4.  The  state  of  the  whole  Mohammedan  world  calls  for  earnest  con- 
sideration. 

a.  Arabia,  and  vast  regions  of  Central  Asia  and  Northern  Africa 
are,  as  yet,  all  but  untouched  by  missionary  effort. 

b.  The  progress  which  Mohammedanism  is  making  in  Northern 
Africa  and  the  islands  of  Southeastern  Asia,  especially  those  which  are 
under  the  dominion  of  Holland,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  facts 
connected  with  the  missions  of  our  day.  Communication  in  regard 
to  the  Dutch  dominions  in  Southeastern  Asia  might  profitably  be 
opened  up  with  the  Dutch  missionary  societies  and  the  Christian  Re- 
formed Church  of  Holland. 

c.  Over  the  whole  Turkish  empire  the  state  of  feeling  is  such  that 
a  door  of  entrance,  great  and  effectual,  might  any  day  be  thrown 
open  for  the  evangelization  of  the  Moslem.  The  church  should  stand 
prepared  to  enter  in.  When  the  expected  opening  is  made,  the 
American  churches  that  have  labored  with  so  much  zeal  and  success 
among  the  Christians  of  the  Turkish  empire,  will  doubtless  require, 
and  receive,  and  welcome  the  hearty  sympathy  and  co-operation  of 
other  churches. 

Finally,  your  committee  are  deeply  impressed  by  the  truth  of  the 
statement  in  the  resolution  referred  by  the  Council,  that  "the  essen- 
tial and  urgent  duty  of  foreign  mission  work  needs  to  be  much  more 
earnestly  prosecuted  by  all  Christian  churches." 

Calls  to  proclaim  the  gospel  of  salvation  to  the  heathen  nations  are 
daily  becoming  louder  and  more  frequent.  The  whole  pagan  world 
may  now  be  said  to  be  a  field  white  unto  the  harvest.  Regions  lately 
inaccessible  are  now  thrown  open.  The  ends  of  the  earth  seem 
almost  to  touch  each  other.  Facilities  to  make  known  the  salvation 
which  is  in  Christ  are  multiplying  day  by  day.  We  have  entered  on 
what  ought  to  be  an  entirely  new  era  of  Christian  missions. 
39 


6io  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

And  the  Lord  has  been  encouraging  his  Church  to  enlarge  her 
efforts  by  the  rich  blessing  which  he  has  graciously  caused  to  rest  upon 
them.  While  some  are  telling  us  that  Christianity  is  effete  and  dying, 
we  find  it  over  the  wide  mission  field  as  potent  at  this  hour  in  raising 
the  spiritually  dead  as  it  was  in  primitive  times.  It  tells  with  power 
on  the  civilized  Hindu — turning  the  Brahman,  the  "god  on  earth," 
as  he  calls  himself,  into  a  preacher  of  righteousness — and  it  tells  with 
equal  power  on  the  brutish  and  cannibal  inhabitant  of  Fiji  and  Ero- 
mango.  Fully  two  millions  of  men  now  living  have  been  rescued 
from  paganism,  even  by  the  feeble  efforts  of  Protestant  missions  dur- 
ing the  last  seventy  or  eighty  years — a  number  four  times  as  large  as 
was  added  to  the  church  during  an  equal  period  in  the  earliest  age  of 
Christianity.  And  in  these  gracious  showers  of  blessings  our  Presby- 
terian missions  have  largely  shared. 

But  the  laborers  are  still  dejjlorably  few.  What  are  two  thousand, 
or,  at  most,  two  thousand  two  hundred,  ordained  missionaries  from 
Europe  and  America  to  one  thousand  millions  still  dwelling  in  the 
region  of  the  shades  of  death  ?  To  have  the  number  of  missionaries 
equal,  in  proportion,  to  the  number  of  ministers  at  home,  we  should 
require  to  multiply  them  five  hundred-fold.  And  who  shall  say  that 
the  idea  of  doing  this  is  Utopian  ?  When  the  heart  of  the  church  is 
stirred,  as  the  heart  of  the  Apostle  was  stirred  at  Athens,  the  needful 
money  will  be  furnished ;  aye,  and  the  men  and  the  women  will  be 
ready  too. 

The  notion  seems  generally  prevalent  that,  if  we  do  not  bestir  our- 
selves on  their  behalf,  the  pagan  races  will,  at  all  events,  only  remain 
as  they  now  are.  But  that  belief  is  entirely  erroneous.  In  many 
parts  of  the  world  the  position  of  things  is  already  most  critical. 
Unless  it  is  accompanied  with  the  preserving  salt  of  the  gospel,  western 
civilization  will  work,  among  simple  races,  unutterable  woe.  In  India 
the  whole  of  the  aborigines  feel  their  crude  demon-worship  slipping 
from  them  ;  and,  in  a  generation  or  so,  they  will  probably  all  be  either 
Christians  or  Hmdus.  An  awful  alternative  !  Meanwhile,  Moham- 
medanism, though  declining  in  Turkey,  is  extending  in  certain  re- 
gions;  and,  even  in  self-defence,  the  gospel  needs  to  preoccupy  the 
ground  on  which  Islam  is  ready  to  seize. 

Which  of  the  great  churches  of  Christendom  shall  claim  the  lofty 
honor  of  leading  the  missionary  host  ?  The  small  Moravian  Church 
—the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren— has  hitherto,  in  proportion  to 
its  numbers  and  means,  far  exceeded  others  in  evangelistic  zeal. 
Which  of  the  great  churches  shall  henceforth  emulate  the  high  exam- 
ple? We  might ;  we  ought.  We,  too,  are  a  Unitas  Eratrum—a.  band 
of  "united  brethren,"  gathered  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
With  her  scriptural  polity,  her  traditional  orthodoxy,  her  true  catho- 
licity, and  the  number  and  wealth  of  her  members,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  might  achieve  great  things  in  the  mission  field  ;  and  surely 
the  measure  of  her  power  is  the  measure  of  her  responsibility.  We 
heard  a  vindication  in  noble  and  thrilling  words,  in  the  opening  dis- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


6ii 


Churches  or  Societies. 


Established  Church  of  Scot- 
land   


Free  Church  of  Scotland. 


United  Presbyterian  Church. 


United  Original  Secession 
Church  (Scotland) 

Presbyterian  Church  of  Eng- 
land  


Presbyterian  Ch'ch  of  Wales. 

Presbyterian  Ch'h  of  Ireland. 

Dutch. 

Nederlandsch 

Zendeling 

Genootschap 


Java  Comite 

Eomelo's  Zendeling  Genoots- 
chap   

Christ.  Gereformeerde  Kerk., 
Nederl.  Zending  Vereeniging, 
Nederl.  Gereformeer  de  Zen- 
ding Vereeniging 

Utrechtsche  Zending  Vereen 
iging 

French. 

Societ6   des   Missions    Evan 
geliques , 

Suuis.':. 

L'Eglise  libre  du  Canton  de 

Vaud 


Mission  Fields. 


}  r. 


India 

Central  Africa. . .  . 

China 

India 

S.  Africa  (Kaffraria) 

Natal 

Central  Africa  . .  . . 
New  Hebrides. . . . 

Syria 

Jamaica 

Trinidad 

Old  Calabar      ..    . 
S.  Africa  (Kaffraria) 

Algeria 

India  (Ragputana) 

China  . 

Japan 

Spain 


India  (Central). . . 

f  China 

1  India  (Bengal) 

j  Brittany 

1  N.  India 

fW.  India 

[  China  ........ 


Minahassa. 

Java 

Amboina.. . 
Savre 

IJava 
Sumatra. 
Java 
Egypt... 

Java 

Java 


< Java 

( New  Guinea. .. 

i  Bali 

I  Halmaheira. .. 


f  S.Africa.... 

^Tahiti 

I  Senegal 


S.  Africa. 


Dutch  in  S.  A/rka. 
S.African  Missionary  Society. 

Australia. 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Vic- 
toria  


New  Zealand. 
Presbytery  of  New  Zealand.. 
"        of  Otago  and  South- 
land   


INew  Hebrides.  . . 
Wimonera      |     for 
Rahmayuck  f  abor. 
Ballarat,  for  Chin'e 


New  Hebrides 

^  New  Hebrides. . . 


Ordained 

Mission- 

aries. 

c 

> 

p. 

o 

Z 

W 

2,igo 
258 


6,954 
274 
98 

1,044 
300 


100 
81 
224 

15 
2,228 

13 

400 
198 

85,000 
church 
mem- 
bers.* 

200  ch. 
mems. 


4,252 
sev.hun.t 


60 
4,500 


Pupils. 


3,896 
140 

8,599 
2,548 

252 
70 

591 

4,749 

703 
791 

2,496 
90 

867 

170 

160 

2,558 
1,784 

11,418 


100 
3  schools. 


2  schools. 
8  schools. 


3,030 

300  ' 


*  Including  children 


n.  t  Not  including  those  in  21  congregations  under  native  pastors. 

J  Total  number  of  communicants  in  New  Hebrides,      •      872 
pupils  '•  ••  -   2,235 


6i2  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

course  at  this  Council,  of  her  position  as  a  witness-bearing  church  ;  is 
she  not  bound  to  bear  that  witness,  to  the  full  extent  of  her  power, 
before  all  kings  and  all  nations? 

Your  committee  would  respectfully  but  most  earnestly  suggest  that 
the  Council  should  take  some  means  to  secure,  if  possible,  that  the 
great  commission  given  by  the  ascending  Saviour  to  his  Church— that 
she  should  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture—may be  brought  home  to  the  mind,  and  heart,  and  conscience 
of  every  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  is  for  the  Council  to 
decide  whether  this  end  may  best  be  attained  by  a  faithful  solemn 
appeal  addressed  to  Presbyterians  throughout  the  world.  Your  com- 
mittee earnestly  hope  that  in  this,  or  some  other  more  effectual  way, 
a  deep  imyjression  may  be  made  alike  on  office-bearers  and  people,  sc 
that  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  all  her  branches,  may  soon  rejoic- 
ingly take  the  share  which  rightfully  belongs  to  her — in  view  of  her 
extent,  her  influence,  and  the  large  blessing  which  the  Lord  has 
graciously  bestowed  both  on  her  home  and  foreign  labors — in  the 
glorious  work  of  proclaiming  unto  every  creature  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ. 

And  now  one  closing  word.  The  first  name  emblazoned  on  these 
beautifully  decorated  walls  is  the  word  Culdees.  We  claim  to  be  their 
successors ;  and  if  we  are  so,  ours  truly  is  a  heritage  of  which  any 
Church  in  the  world  might  be  proud.  For  who  were  the  Culdees?  They 
were  the  most  devoted  missionaries  that  the  world  has  seen  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles.  History  tells  us  that  those  old  Scottish  or  Irish 
missionaries,  issuing  from  their  college  at  lona,  spread  over  Europe 
"like  an  inundation.  "Ah!  it  is  far  easier  now  to  hasten  to  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  than  it  was  in  those  days  to  cross  the 
stormy  Channel  or  scale  the  inhospitable  Alps.  Shall  not  we  then, 
modern  Presbyterians,  prove  that  we  are  the  true  apostolical  suc- 
cessors of  those  illustrious  men,  and  rest  not  till  we  have  sent  bands 
of  preachers  over  the  world,  even  as  they  sent  them  over  Europe,  to 
proclaim  the  tidings  of  salvation  through  a  crucified  Redeemer, 

"  Till,  like  a  sea  of  glory, 
It  spread  from  pole  to  pole !  " 

A  table  of  statistics  accompanied  the  report.  It  will  be  found 
on  page  (6ii.) 

The  Rev.  Dr.  W.  M.  Paxton  presented  the  following  from 
the  American  section : 

The  work  assigned  to  the  American  section  of  this  committee  was 
to  gather  information  and  report  upon  the  operations  of  all  the  foreign 
missionary  organizations  upon  this  continent. 

As  the  result  of  our  labor  we  present  to  this  Council  a  written  his- 
tory of  these  various  boards,  showing  the  date  of  their  organization, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  613 

the  fields  which  they  occupy,  and  in  a  measure  the  method  of  their 
operations,  and  the  success  which  has  attended  their  efforts.  These 
reports  are  from — 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  (United  States). 

The  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  (General  Synod). 

The  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  (South). 

The  Presbyterian  Church  (North). 
We  do  not  propose  to  read  these  papers  because  they  would  occupy 
much  more  time  than  is  assigned  for  the  subject ;  but  as  they  embody 
much  of  the  information  which  this  Council  desires  to  procure,  and 
as  they  are  important  missionary  documents  of  permanent  interest, 
we  lay  them  upon  your  table  and  recommend  that  they  be  printed 
either  with  these  reports  in  the  minutes  of  the  Council  or  in  an 
appendix  to  the  minutes. 

In  the  previous  Council  at  Edinburgh  eight  points  of  information 
upon  the  subject  of  missionary  work  were  suggested.  There  was  no 
order  of  the  Council  directing  us  to  report  upon  these  points,  but  as 
your  committee  regarded  them  as  important,  we  requested  the  different 
boards  as  far  as  practicable  to  give  us  the  information  indicated.  This 
lias  been  done  by  some  of  the  boards  in  a  full  detail  in  separate 
papers ;  and  by  others  a  number  of  the  points  have  been  treated  in 
the  history  of  their  work. 

These  papers  we  also  submit  with  a  recommendation  that  they  be 
printed,  because  these  answers,  although  partially  given  and  neces- 
.sarily  imperfect,  will  form  a  valuable  nucleus  around  which  to  gather 
more  complete  information  in  the  future. 

The  summary  of  the  statistics  furnished  by  these  different  reports 
is  as  follows : 

Statistics  of  the  board  of  foreign  missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  (North):  missionaries  now  in  the  field,  125;  native  mis- 
sionaries, 83;  native  licentiate  preachers,  147;  medical  missionaries 
and  teachers,  11;  American  women  connected  with  the  missions, 
209;  native  teachers  and  Bible  readers,  516;  total  number  of  com- 
municants, 12,607;  scholars  in  boarding  schools,  1,317;  scholars  in 
day  schools,  6,474. 

Statistics  of  the  foreign  mission  board  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch) 
Church  in  America:  missionaries  now  in  the  field,  16  ;  native  minis- 
ters, 11;  native  licentiate  preachers,  t^Z\  medical  missionaries  and 
teachers,  7 ;  American  women  connected  with  the  missions,  21  ; 
Native  teachers  and  Bible  readers,  95  ;  total  number  of  communicants 
in  the  missions,  2,341:  scholars  in  boarding  schools,  108;  day 
scholars,  1,719. 

Statistics  of  the  foreign  mission  board  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  :  whole  number  of  missionaries  sent  out  from  the  beginning 
in  1842,  91  ;  present  number  of  male  missionaries,  14;  present  num- 


6i4  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ber  of  native  ministers,  8  ;  present  number  of  native  licentiate 
preachers,  6;  present  number  of  foreign  teachers,  i8;  unmarried 
missionary  women,  14;  native  teachers,  164;  present  number  of 
communicants,  1,284;  girls  in  boarding  school,  46;  scholars  in  day 
schools,  3,644. 

Statistics  of  the  foreign  missionary  work  of  the  Southern  Presby- 
terian Church:  missionaries  now  in  the  field,  17;  native  ministers 
(ordained),  13  ;  native  licentiate  preachers,  5  ;  American  women  con- 
nected with  the  missions,  22  ;  native  laborers  and  teachers,  32  ;  total 
number  of  communicants  (about),  1,400;  scholars  in  boarding 
schools,  220  ;  scholars  in  day  schools,  275. 

Statistics  of  the  foreign  mission  board  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church  (General  Synod) :  missionaries  now  in  the  field,  8  ;  native 
teachers,  19;  number  of  communicants,  94;  Sabbath-schools,  5; 
Sabbath  scholars,  200;  week-day  scholars,  9  ;  scholars  under  instruc- 
tion, 476;  mission  stations,  7;  mission  buildings,  11;  estimated 
value  of  mission  property  ^35,000. 

Statistics  of  the  foreign  missionary  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Canada:  missionaries  now  in  the  field,  14;  native  missionaries,  i  ; 
native  licentiate  preachers,  2  ;  native  teachers  and  Bible  readers,  87  ; 
number  of  communicants,  645  ;  scholars  in  day  schools,  866. 

Putting  together  the  statistics  of  these  different  reports,  the  sum- 
mary is  as  follows :  missionaries  now  in  the  field,  194;  native  minis- 
ters, 135;  native  licentiate  preachers,  198;  medical  missionaries  and 
teachers,  18;  American  women  connected  with  the  missions,  266, 
native  teachers  and  Bible  readers,  894;  communicants,  18,371; 
scholars  in  boarding-schools,  1,691;  scholars  in  day-schools,  12,987. 

Statistics. 

Sum  totals  American  and  European  societies  on  some  points: 
Missionaries  in  the  field — American,  194;  European,   219;  total. 

Ordained  native  ministers — American,  135;  European,  26;  total, 
161. 

Medical  missionaries  and  teachers — American,  18;  European,  21; 
total,  39. 

Communicants  —  American,  18,371;  European,  20,069;  total, 
38,440. 

Scholars  in  day-schools — American,  12,987;  European,  44,952; 
total,  57,939. 

From  these  histories  and  statistics  one  fact  becomes  very  plain — 
that  the  work  of  foreign  missions  is  a  great  success.  We  are  well 
aware  that  in  certain  quarters  Christian  missions  have  been  pronounced 
a  failure,  just  as  Christianity  itself  has  been  said  to  have  lost  its  power. 
But  the  shout  of  derision  raised  by  our  enemies,  in  this  instance  as  in 
so  many  others,  has  been  premature.  It  has  been  rather  the  expres- 
sion of  the  wish  of  their  hearts  than  the  record  of  a  fact  of  history. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  615 

The  simple  truth  upon  this  subject  is,  that  the  cause  of  missions  at 
this  hour  presents  features  of  marked  and  encouraging  success.  As 
the  result  of  our  investigations  several  facts  become  evident. 

First,  that  the  cause  of  missions  has  a  deeper  and  more  intelligent 
hold  upon  the  churches  and  upon  the  hearts  of  individual  Christians 
than  at  any  former  period  of  our  history.  The  era  of  novelty  and 
romance  has  passed  away,  and  interest  in  the  cause  of  missions  has 
become  a  settled  principle ;  so  that  now  all  over  the  world  wherever 
a  section  of  our  great  family  of  Presbyterian  Churches  is  located, 
they  have  some  missionary  organization,  through  which  they  endeavor 
to  express  their  obedience  to  the  Master's  dying  command,  and  to 
make  their  influence  felt  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  The  last  few  years 
have  been  a  period  of  great  trial.  Many  industries  have  been  pros- 
trated, and  a  financial  pressure — almost  unparalleled — has  been  felt  all 
over  the  world.  Yet  during  all  this  period  our  mission  boards  have 
been  upheld,  and  the  vast  exjienditures  necessary  to  preserve  our  mis- 
sions have  been  maintained.  This  simple  fact  shows  that  the  cause 
of  missions  has  a  position  in  the  confidence,  and  a  hold  upon  the 
hearts  of  God's  people  that  no  moneyed  stringency  can  relax.  The 
cause  of  missions  would  be  a  failure  if  it  had  lost  its  hold  upon  the 
faith  and  affections  of  the  churches  by  whose  prayers  and  contribu- 
tions it  is  supported.  But  the  fact  that  this  hold  grows  deeper  and 
stronger,  is  at  once  an  element  and  proof  of  success. 

Another  fact  brought  to  our  fwtice  is,  that  the  supply  of  missionaries 
has  never  failed.  At  every  call  for  laborers,  the  response  has  been 
prompt  and  willing.  This  is  a  fact  fraught  with  meaning.  Just  as 
the  fields  are  opened  and  the  Church  is  prepared  to  enter  and  occupy, 
the  Spirit  of  God  has  baptized  our  young  men  with  the  spirit  of  mis- 
sions, and  made  them  willing  to  sunder  the  dearest  ties  from  love  to 
Christ  and  the  souls  of  men.  The  cause  of  missions  would  be  a  fail- 
ure if  the  supply  of  missionaries  had  failed,  but  the  fact  that  a  con- 
tinuous divine  influence  has  kept  that  supply  steady  and  increasing  is 
another  element  and  proof  of  success. 

A  third  fact  rvhich  the  experience  of  these  Boards  snakes  evident  is, 
that  the  results  of  direct  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  souls  in  heathen 
countries  are  of  the  most  encouraging  character.  Upon  this  subject 
the  public  mind  must  settle,  by  sober  thought,  what  are  the  legitimate 
results  which  are  to  be  expected  from  the  work  of  missions.  Many 
have  formed  extravagant  expectations  as  to  how  far  and  how  fast  the 
gospel  is  to  spread  itself  through  the  world.  Some  seem  to  imagine 
that  so  soon  as  a  missionary  sets  his  foot  in  a  heathen  country  he  will 
proceed  at  once  to  expel  idolatry  and  superstition,  and  all  forms  of 
.sin  from  the  land,  just  as  St.  Patrick  expelled  the  snakes  from  Ireland. 

If  you  allow  people  to  form  extravagant  expectations,  and  then 
make  these  the  measure  of  success,  there  is  nothing  in  this  world  that 
is  not  a  failure,  except  the  telegraph,  which  brings  us  knowledge  of 
events  in  Europe  several  hours  before  they  occur.  But  to  some  even 
the  telegraph  will  be  regarded  as  a  failure,  because  they  expected  it 


6i6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  carry  passengers,  and  cause  them  to  arrive  several  hours  before  they 
started. 

To  estimate  the  legitimate  effects  of  the  gospel,  we  must  put  away 
all  exaggerated  expectations,  and  then  look  upon  the  state  of  the 
heathen  world — upon  its  ignorance  of  God,  upon  its  many  idolatries, 
upon  its  entrenched  superstitions,  upon  its  debasing  lusts,  and  upon 
the  inveterate  opposition  of  their  hearts  to  the  gospel.  As  opposed 
to  all  this  we  have  but  one  single  instrument  for  its  overthrow,  and 
that  is  the  word  of  truth.  This  truth  must  be  patiently  taught,  and 
then  it  is  only  by  the  accompaniment  of  God's  Spirit  that  it  is  made 
effectual ;  and  the  blessed  influence  of  the  Spirit  is  only  given  in  pro- 
portion to  our  faith  and  prayer.  When  we  look  upon  all  this  it  is 
jilain  that  a  legitimate  expectation  of  results  must  extend  through  long 
years  of  patient  labor.  The  gospel  does  not  work  like  a  charm,  or 
reach  its  results  like  an  edict  or  a  decree  of  a  king.  Sin  cannot  be 
abolished,  like  slavery,  by  an  act  of  Congress  or  of  Parliament.  The 
gospel  is  an  educating  influence,  and  depends  for  its  results  upon  long 
continued  processes,  and  its  application  bv  the  blessing  of  God  to  in- 
dividuals. It  is  leaven  which  works  slowly  and  continuously  until  it 
assimilates  the  whole  lump.  It  is  a  seed  cast  into  the  ground,  and 
though  It  be  a  living  germ  it  may  take  a  long  time  to  perforate  the 
encrusted  soil,  and  spring  up  and  produce  its  fruit.  Bleak  putamn 
may  come  with  its  rough  winds,  and  winter  with  its  icy  fetters,  and 
men  may  look  on  and  cry  "failure."  But  the  spring  ?\'iO  comes  with 
its  fruitful  influences,  and  the  summer  follows  with  its  waving  harvests, 
and  then  he  who  cried  "  failure  "  looks  on  with  shame,  whilst  they  who 
waited  in  believing  expectation  see  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear,  and  can  join  the  song  of  the  gladsome  reaper. 

To  this  effect,  Froude  says,  "Since  Christianity  was  planted,  many 
a  winter  and  many  a  summer  have  rolled  over  it.  More  than  once  has 
it  shed  its  leaves,  and  seemed  to  be  dying,  when  the  buds  burst  again 
and  the  color  of  the  foliage  was  changed." 

To  the  same  effect  Dr.  Newman,  in  his  "Grammar  of  Assent," 
speaks  of  the  "  cogent  evidence  which  Christianity  gives  in  her  per- 
sistent vitality."  "  She  is  as  vigorous,"  he  affirms,  "now  in  her  age 
as  in  her  youth,  and  has  upon  her  prima  facie  signs  of  divinity." 

To  reach  an  estimate  of  what  the  results  of  missions  should  be  in 
the  heathen  world,  we  may  compare  this  work  with  our  direct  efforts 
for  the  conversion  of  souls  at  home  with  all  the  advantages  of  our 
Christian  civilization  around  us. 

By  an  estimate  made  of  the  results  of  missionary  work  in  some 
of  our  own  Boards,  it  is  found  that  in  a  period  of  three  years  the 
gains  in  communicants  added  to  the  Church  has  been  a  little  over 
sixty-four  per  cent.,  whilst  the  gains  in  the  home  churches  of  the  same 
period  is  only  about  eight  per  cent.  In  one  of  our  missions  in  Canton, 
in  China,  the  gain  in  a  period  of  ten  years  has  been  over  six  hundred 
per  cent.  The  estimates  of  the  American  Board  show  a  corresponding 
increase.     For  example,  the  gain  during  a  period  of  ten  years  in  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  617 

Ceylon  mission  was  forty-six  per  cent.  ;  in  the  Zulu  mission,  one  hun- 
dred per  cent.  ;  in  Westeri  and  Central  Turkey,  one  hundred  per 
cent.  ;  in  Eastern  Turkey,  three  hundred  and  forty  per  cent.  ;  and  in 
some  of  the  China  missions  it  has  reached  four  hundred  and  seventy 
per  cent. 

Such  results  as  these  certainly  enable  us  to  say  that  the  work  of 
Christian  missions  is  a  great  and  wonderful  success.  Sir  Bartle  Frere, 
the  distinguished  English  statesman,  so  well  known  as  the  Governor 
of  Bombay,  whose  character  and  advantages  of  knowledge  give  his 
testimony  great  weight,  says:  "Whatever  you  may  hear  to  the  con- 
trary, the  teaching  of  Christianity  among  the  millions  of  Hindoos 
raid  Mohammedans  is  effecting  changes,  moral,  social,  and  political, 
which,  for  extent  and  rapidity  of  effect,  are  far  more  extraordinary 
than  anything  you  or  your  fathers  have  witnessed  in  modern  Europe. " 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  submitted  these  facts,  growing 
directly  out  of  our  work  as  a  Committee,  because  it  seems  to  me  that 
this  is  precisely  the  point  to  which  the  mind  of  this  Council  should 
be  directed.  The  manifest  success  of  our  work  covers  with  shame  the 
men  who  have  cried  "failure,"  and  answers  all  the  objections  which 
our  enemies  have  been  so  ready  to  make. 

Let  us  take  our  stand  upon  these  facts  as  furnishing  us  with  the 
greatest  encouragement  for  the  future.  The  success  of  the  past  is  but 
the  token  and  promise  of  what  we  may  expect  in  time  to  come.  If, 
by  our  divided  efforts,  we  have  accomplished  thus  much,  how  much 
more  may  we  expect  if  we  can  join  hands  and  work  together  upon 
some  method  of  effective  co-operation.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  is 
the  central  subject  which  should  occupy  the  thought  of  this  Council. 
The  calise  of  missions  rises  above  every  other  interest,  and  before  we 
adjourn  the  whole  power  of  this  Council  should  be  focalized  to  stimu- 
late and  propel  this  work. 

Again,  these  facts  indicate  that  a  new  keynote  should  be  struck 
upon  the  whole  subject  of  missions.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that  much 
that  is  written  and  spoken  upon  this  subject  is  set  to  the  minor  key. 
From  my  childhood  missionary  addresses  have  sounded  to  me  very 
much  like  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah.  Our  success  warrants  a 
different  kind  of  utterance.  Let  us  now  rise  to  the  major  key. 
Let  us  utter  the  language  of  hope  and  encouragement,  and  missions 
will  awaken  a  new  interest,  and  start  upon  a  new  career  of  pros- 
perity. 

But  all  this  is  upon  the  human  side.  The  facts  which  we  have  pre- 
sented hold  up  to  us  no  less  powerfully  the  divine  side.  The  work  is 
the  Lord's.  Our  success  in  the  psfet  nas  not  been  "by  might  or  by 
power,  but  by  God's  Spirit."  If  there  is  any  one  fact  which  the  his- 
tory of  missions  demonstrates,  it  is  the  utter  powerlessness  of  educa- 
tion or  civilization  to  change  the  hearts  of  men.  Without  the  special 
presence  of  God's  Spirit  with  the  missionary  at  every  step  of  his  work, 
his  labor  is  in  vain.  This  is  the  fact  which  needs  to  be  impressed  now 
to  keep  us  from  vain  confidences.     At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the 


6i8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Church  has  our  external  equipment  for  work  been  so  complete  as  now. 
We  have  Societies,  and  Boards,  and  organizations  for  every  purpose. 
But  what  are  these  without  the  Spirit?  William  Arthur's  beautiful 
figure  represents  that  the  Church,  in  its  present  preparation  for  work, 
is  like  a  cannon  shotted  with  ball  and  powder  and  ready  for  action ; 
but  the  ball  is  powerless,  the  powder  is  powerless,  the  cannon  is 
powerless,  until  the  spark  of  fire  enters,  and  then  the  ball .  goes 
crashing  like  a  thunderbolt.  Just  so  the  preparation  of  the  Church  is 
powerless.      Oh,  for  the  baptism  of  fire  ! 


CO-OPERATION  IN  THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  WORK. 

The  Rev.  J.  Leighton  Wilson,  D.  D.,  presented  a  report  on 
this  subject,  introducing  it  as  follows : 

In  presenting  my  paper  to  the  Council  I  must  confess  that 
I  labor  under  some  degree  of  embarrassment.  I  find  that  the 
ground  over  which  I  pass  has  been  already  traversed  this  morn- 
ing by  Dr.  Murray  Mitchell ;  but  still  I  have  been  reassured  by 
the  closing  sentiments  of  the  brother  who  has  just  spoken. 
During  the  past  few  days  repeated  allusion  has  been  made  to 
the  desirability  of  co-operation  in  the  foreign  mission  work. 
My  object  this  morning  is  to  submit  a  plan  which  is  not  only 
desirable  but  practicable.  I  wish  to  say  that  all  of  the  branches 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  can  unite  and  co-operate  in  this 
great  work  without  a  violation  of  any  ecclesiastical  principles 
or  usages  ;  and,  if  I  shall  succeed  in  convincing  the  Council  of 
the  practicability  of  the  ideas  I  advance  in  this  paper,  then  1 
have  no  doubt  that  it  will  prove  one  of  the  strongest  bonds  to 
hold  the  Alliance  together,  and  give  to  it  a  permanent  char- 
acter in  the  future. 

The  paper  was  as  follows : 

The  time  has  arrived  in  the  prosecution  of  the  foreign  missionary 
work,  when  co-operation  among  the  various  branches  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  laboring  in  the  same  field  becomes  a  matter  of  great 
and  momentous  importance.  It  is  not  the  design  of  this  paper  to 
discuss  the  subject  of  a  closer  organic  union  between  the  different 
branches  of  the  Church  itself,  this  being  regarded  as  an  entirely  sep- 
arate and  independent  question  ;  nor  is  it  proposed  to  advocate  the 
incorporation  into  one  ecclesiastical  body  all  the  converts  of  the 
various  evangelical  bodies  laboring  in  the  same  field,  for  however 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  619 

ready  these  converts  themselves  might  be  for  such  a  union,  the  churches 
at  home  are  scarcely  prepared  for  it.  What  we  propose — and  all  that 
we  propose — is,  that  all  the  mission  churches  gathered  in  the  same 
field  by  the  representatives  of  the  different  branches  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  be  encouraged  to  form  one  ecclesiastical  body ;  and  that 
we  carefully  guard,  especially  in  the  earlier  periods  of  the  work, 
against  the  mistake  of  trying  to  introduce  into  India,  China,  Africa, 
Japan,  and  other  portions  of  the  world,  all  those  peculiarities  which 
characterize  the  different  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
home  field.  Most  of  these  peculiarities  have  had  their  origin  in  our 
local,  social,  or  civil  surroundings,  and  however  strongly  we  may  feel 
constrained  to  hold  on  to  them  in  existing  circumstances,  they  cannot, 
nevertheless,  be  regarded  as  essential  to  true  Presbyterianism,  which, 
in  its  simplest,  purest,  and  perhaps  most  vigorous  form,  has  existed 
without  them,  and  may  do  so  again.  To  engraft  these  peculiarities, 
therefore,  upon  our  foreign  churches  simply  because  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  them  ourselves,  or  because  they  were  forced  upon  us  by 
our  outward  surroundings,  is  to  impose  a  yoke  upon  the  churches 
which  they  will  find  to  be  very  irksome.  It  should  be  our  aim,  there- 
fore, while  we  endeavor  to  give  these  new  converts  all  the  essential 
elements  of  true  Presbyterianism,  both  as  to  doctrine  and  polity,  it 
should  be  done  in  the  briefest  and  simplest  formulas  possible.  Our 
Confessions  of  Faith,  as  well  as  our  elaborate  systems  of  discipline  and 
government,  are  the  growth  of  centuries,  and  are  entirely  too  cumber- 
some to  be  laid  tipon  men  just  emerging  from  the  depths  of  heathen- 
ism. It  is  certain  that  no  such  burthen  was  laid  upon  the  primitive 
Church.  The  Apostles'  Creed,  or  something  equivalent,  it  is  prob- 
able, was  the  only  confession  of  faith  that  was  known  to  the  early 
churches,  and  their  systems  of  government  and  discipline  were  no 
doubt  equally  brief  and  simple.  Our  more  elaborate  symbols  of  doc- 
trine and  polity,  it  is  true,  are  the  natural  and  legitimate  outgrowth 
of  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament,  but  it  required  a  long  time, 
as  well  as  a  vast  amount  of  varied  experience,  to  bring  them  to  their 
present  state  of  development ;  and  they  are,  perhaps,  needed  by  us 
just  as  they  are,  with  such  modifications,  of  course,  as  may  seem 
necessary  from  time  to  time. 

Our  foreign  converts,  while  they  will  derive  many  important  lessons 
from  our  experience  and  instructions,  will,  nevertheless,  have  to  work 
out  an  experience  of  their  own,  in  their  own  peculiar  circumstances. 
They  will  be  called,  by  the  providence  of  God,  to  encounter  forms  of 
opposition  and  persecution,  and  to  contend  with  errors  that  were 
entirely  unknown  to  our  spiritual  forefathers,  and  their  forms  of  faith 
and  polity  must  necessarily  be  tinged  by  the  peculiar  nature  of  these 
trials.  We  ought  to  be  careful,  therefore,  not  to  lay  upon  them  any 
unnecessary  burthens,  but  let  them,  with  the  Bible  in  their  hands  and 
under  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  work  out  their  own  experience  in 
their  own  peculiar  circumstances. 

In  the  further  discussion  of  the  subject  in  hand,  we  propose : 


620  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ist.  To  show  some  of  the  advantages  that  will  result  from  the  pro- 
posed co-operation. 

2d.  That  it  will  be  exceedingly  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  main- 
tain a  strictly  Presbyterian  union  between  churches  in  the  foreign  and 
home  fields. 

3d.  That  with  right  views  of  the  office  and  functions  of  the  evan- 
gelist (the  foreign  missionary),  there  are  no  serious  or  insurmountable 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  establishing  one  strong  Presbyterian  church  in 
each  of  the  great  sections  of  the  heathen  world  by  the  joint  labors  of 
all  the  different  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Europe  and 
in  America. 

In  the  first  place,  we  are  to  point  out  some  of  the  advantages  of 
co-operation,  and  this  we  propose  to  do  in  the  briefest  manner  possi- 
ble. In  the  first  place,  and  in  a  general  way,  there  will  be  secureti, 
on  the  one  hand,  all  the  advantages  which  usually  result  from  con- 
certed action,  and,  on  the  other,  will  be  avoided  all  the  evils  which 
necessarily  flow  from  distracted  counsels,  even  when  the  different  par- 
ties aim  to  accomplish  the  same  object.  An  invading  army,  no  mat- 
ter how  strong  or  well  equipped,  is  not  likely  to  achieve  any  great 
conquests,  without  concert  among  its  different  sections.  So  there  must 
be  concert  among  the  different  portions  of  that  great  spiritual  army 
that  is  to  bring  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  in  subjection  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

But  there  are  specific  objects,  in  the  prosecution  of  this  great  enter- 
prise, in  connection  with  which  concert  of  action  is  a  matter  of  great 
importance.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  institutions  of  learning  of  a  higher  grade,  especially 
such  as  are  necessary  to  train  young  men  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 
These  will  be  found  necessary,  even  in  the  earlier  periods  of  the  mis- 
sionary woik,  in  all  of  our  missions;  but  as  the  number  of  candidates 
will  probably  not  be  large  in  any  of  them  for  some  considerable  time, 
it  would  be  better  and  more  economical  for  neighboring  missions  to 
unite  in  sustaining  one  institution  of  the  kind. 

Another  object  of  not  less  importance,  is  to  provide  a  religious  lit- 
erature for  the  people,  which  can  be  done  more  'effectually  and  satis- 
factorily by  concerted  action.  We  include  in  this  the  translation  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures,  as  well  as  other  religious  books,  whether  trans- 
lations or  original  productions.  This  is  an  important  matter,  and  in- 
stead of  being  left  to  the  discretion  of  individuals,  there  ought  to  be  in 
every  mission  field  a  committee  to  have  the  supervision  of  this  im- 
portant department  of  labor.  Concert  of  action  here  would  not  only 
save  expense,  but  the  work  would  be  done  in  a  more  satisfactory  way, 
and  there  would  be  heartier  co-operation  in  giving  a  wider  circulation 
to  all  such  publications. 

Other  things  call  for  united  action,  which  we  can  do  little  more 
than  mention,  viz.,  the  course  of  study  that  should  be  prescribed 
for  young  men  pre]:)aring  for  the  work  of  the  ministry;  the  terms  of 
admission  to  church  membership;  how  certain  vices  are  to  be  treated 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  621 

in  connection  with  church  discipline  ;  what  salaries  should  be  allowed 
to  native  helpers,  and  various  other  questions  of  a  similar  character. 
The  want  of  understanding  among  missionaries  in  relation  to  such 
matters  has  often  led  to  the  most  serious  consequences. 

Now  all  of  these  questions,  as  well  as  others  equally  important, 
might  easily  be  settled  by  an  occasional  conference  among  brethren 
laboring  in  the  same  field,  such  as  were  held  a  few  years  ago  at  Ala- 
habad,  in  India,  and  in  Shanghai,  in  China.  They  might  be  held 
once  in  three  or  four  years.  It  is  not  proposed  that  such  conferences 
should  possess  or  exercise  any  ecclesiastical  functions,  or  interfere  in 
any  way  with  the  ecclesiastical  relations  existing  between  the  mission- 
aries and  their  Presbyteries,  or  between  the  missionary  and  the 
churches  he  may  have  established  in  the  foreign  field — the  powers  of 
the  conferences  being  purely  advisory  and  prudential. 

Our  second  proposition  is,  that  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  maintain,  on  strictly  Presbyterian  principles,  and  for  an  indefinite 
length  of  time,  a  thorough  ecclesiastical  connection  between  foreign 
and  home  churches.  A  temporary  arrangement  of  this  kind  might 
be  effected,  but  it  could  not  be  continued  indefinitely  without  serious 
embarrassment.  Moreover,  if  the  arrangement  could  be  made  prac- 
ticable, it  would  still  be  doubtful  whether  it  would  be  advantageous 
to  either  party.  Of  course,  there  will  always  be  the  kindliest  feeling 
between  the  two — much  of  the  paternal  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  filial 
on  the  other,  and  much  of  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  pervading  both — 
but  no  possible  organic  union,  as  we  think,  between  churches  occupy- 
ing the  opposite  sides  of  the  globe. 

The  difficulties  lying  in  the  way  of  a  close  organic  union,  even 
where  one  church  is  the  offspring  of  the  other,  are  varied  and  obvious. 
First,  there  is  the  difficulty  of  bringing  the  delegates  of  bodies  so  re- 
mote from  each  other  into  one  ecclesiastical  convocation,  which  must 
be  done  if  we  would  maintain  our  ideas  of  Presbyterian  polity.  If 
the  Presbyteries  in  India,  China,  and  Africa — the  number  of  which 
are  rapidly  multiplying — are  constituent  parts  of  the  home  church, 
then  they  will  have  to  send  their  commissioners  to  our  General 
Assemblies  in  Europe  and  America.  And  here  comes  to  view,  at 
once,  the  great  difficulties  connected  with  these  long  journeys,  the 
very  great  consequent  loss  of  time,  and  the  heavy  expense  attending 
them.  More  than  this.  These  foreign  delegates,  in  most  cases  at 
least,  would  have  to  bring  interpreters  along  with  them,  or  run  the 
risk  of  not  understanding  or  being  understood  when  they  appeared  in 
these  Assemblies.  Then,  again,  these  delegates  would  have  the  right 
to  expect  the  Assemblies  to  meet  occasionally,  at  least,  in  foreign 
lands,  and  we  would  thus  have  the  spectacle  of  five  hundred  or  six 
hundred  ministers  and  elders  sailing  more  than  half  around  the  globe 
to  hold  a  General  Assembly  in  Peking,  when  it  would  be  almost  cer- 
tain, beforehand,  that  very  few  persons,  except  the  voyagers  them- 
selves, would  be  able  to  comprehend  their  proceedings. 

But  there  would  be  other  difficulties.     In  every  promiscuous  assem- 


622  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

bly  of  the  kind,  there  would,  even  at  this  early  stage  of  the  mission- 
ary work,  be  fifteen  or  twenty  spoken  languages,  and  without  the 
apostolic  gift  of  tongues,  how  would  it  be  possible  to  transact  the  or- 
dinary.business  without  confusion?  Furthermore,  these  foreign  dele- 
gates having  just  emerged  from  all  the  darkness  of  heathenism,  and 
having  little  or  no  knowledge  of  our  modes  of  conducting  business, 
would  be  greatly  perplexed,  even  if  there  were  no  difficulties  on  the 
score  of  language,  to  understand  our  modes  of  procedure,  or  the 
results  to  which  our  discussions  would  lead.  We  are  so  much  in  the 
advance  of  them  in  all  our  church  matters  that  we  would  seldom 
have  occasion  to  consider  those  questions  in  which  they  are  most 
deeply  interested.  Nor  could  these  foreign  delegates  be  treated  sim- 
ply as  wards  or  pupils.  For  while  they  would  not  be  able  to  compre- 
hend those  higher  themes  which  we  would  feel  called  upon  to  discuss, 
they  will,  nevertheless,  have  questions  to  propound-that  we  might  find 
it  very  difficult  to  handle. 

There  are  many  things,  for  example,  connected  with  caste  in  India, 
2S\.A  foot-binding  in  China,  about  which  the  missionaries  on  the  ground 
are  greatly  divided  in  opinion,  as  to  whether  they  should  be  made 
the  subjects  of  church  discipline  or  not.  Now  if  intelligent  missionaries 
on  the  ground,  who  are  acquainted  with  the  practical  working  of  these 
things,  are  at  a  loss  how  to  decide,  how  would  it  be  with  a  convoca- 
tion of  men  who  knew  comparatively  little  about  such  matters?  In 
China  there  has  been  an  earnest  contest  among  missionaries  for  nearly 
fifty  years  as  to  the  proper  word  that  should  be  used  for  Deity.  Able  and 
learned  arguments,  such  as  thorough  Chinese  scholars  alone  can  write, 
have  been  brought  forward  on  both  sides  of  the  controversy,  but  with- 
out bringing  the  parties  any  nearer  to  each  other.  Now  suppose  this 
question  were  thrust  into  one  of  our  assemblies  for  solution,  how  could 
they  undertake  to  discuss  it  in  a  satisfactory  or  intelligible  manner? 
Necessity  would  be  laid  upon  us  to  remand  all  such  questions  back  to 
the  native  churches  and  the  missionaries,  who,  in  the  course  of  time 
and  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  will  no  doubt  arrive  at 
the  true  solution. 

But  apart  from  all  these  difficulties  is  it  really  best  for  these  foreign 
churches  to  be  kept,  for  any  considerable  length  of  time,  under  the 
tutelage  of  the  home  church?  Would  it  not  be  far  more  conducive  to 
their  spiritual  growth  to  be  thrown,  at  as  early  a  period  as  possible, 
upon  their  own  responsibilities?  Strength  and  self-reliance  can  be 
effectually  developed  only  by  the  exercise  of  their  own  gifts  and 
endowments.  They  may  make  mistakes  and  they  may  fall  into  serious 
errors,  but  these  under  the  overruling  providence  of  God  would  be 
made  subservient  to  their  ultimate  good. 

In  the  third  place,  we  wish  to  show  that  there  are  no  insuperable 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  bringing  all  the  native  churches  of  the  Presby- 
terian order  in  the  same  field  into  one  church  organization  ;  and  that 
this  would  be  far  more  promotive  of  their  usefulness  and  spirituality, 
than  for  them  to  be  ecclesiastically  connected  with  the  home  church 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  623 

either  in  Europe  or  America.  At  the  same  time  the  plan  we  propose, 
when  rightly  and  fully  understood,  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  satisfactory 
to  every  branch  of  the  Church  engaged  in  carrying  on  the  work.  The 
object  aimed  at,  as  has  already  been  shown,  is  not  for  each  branch 
of  the  Church  to  plant  a  vine  of  its  own  in  each  one  of  the  great 
sections  of  the  heathen  world,  to  be  permanently  connected  with 
itself;  but  for  all  the  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  unite  in 
planting  one  great  vineyard  in  these  different  fields  that  shall  over- 
spread and  be  a  blessing  to  the  whole  land.  Over  this  general 
vineyard  no  one  branch  of  the  Church  shall  have  any  special  con- 
trol, except  through  the  missionaries  on  the  ground,  who  will  give 
advice  as  long  as  it  shall  be  necessary.  If  this  idea,  dear  brethren, 
could  be  fully  realized,  it  would  not  only  bring  about  a  new  and 
important  era  in  the  progress  of  the  missionary  work,  but  would  con- 
stitute a  memorable  epoch  in  the  future  history  of  the  great  Presby- 
terian Church  itself. 

Right  views  in  relation  to  the  office  and  the  functions  of  the 
evangelist  will,  we  think,  go  far,  not  only  to  clear  away  the  difficulties 
that  have  gathered  around  the  subject,  but  to  establish  harmony  of 
views  among  all  those  who  love  this  great  cause.  We  assume  then, 
on  what  w^e  regard  as  scriptural  authority,  that  the  term  evangelist 
does  not  indicate  a  separate  office  in  the  Church,  but  a  special  func- 
tion of  the  ministerial  office.  An  evangelist  is  simply  a  minister  of 
the  gospel  set  apart  by  his  Presbytery  to  labor  in  destitute  and  foreign 
parts.  Because  he  is  to  labor  in  destitute  places,  and  in  foreign 
lands  he  is  clothed  with  a  larger  amount  of  ecclesiastical  power  than 
the  minister  in  the  settled  church.  His  powers  are  extraordinary, 
but  temporary;  and  they  vary  according  to  circumstances.  If  he 
labors  in  destitute  parts,  within  the  acknowledged  bounds  of  his  own 
Presbytery,  he  may  organize  churches,  administer  discipline,  ordain 
elders  and  deacons,  but  he  can  go  no  further.  When  he  enters  the 
foreign  field  he  is  clothed  with  all  the  powers  necessary  to  plant  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  that  field.  He  may  not  only  organize  churches 
and  ordain  elders  and  deacons,  but  he  may  ordain  pastors  and 
evangelists  and  assist  in  forming  Presbyteries,  when  the  native 
churches  are  prepared  for  such.  In  fact  the  evangelist,  when  he 
goes  to  foreign  lands,  carries  with  him  the  powers  of  the  Presbytery, 
so  that  he  may  do  whatever  a  Presbytery  might  do  in  establishing  the 
Church  where  it  has  not  before  existed.  But  as  soon  as  the  Preshv- 
tery  is  formed — or  as  some  suppose  as  soon  as  a  particular  church  is 
established — the  ecclesiastical  powers  of  the  evangelist,  so  far  as  those 
churches  and  that  Presbytery  are  concerned,  are  brought  to  an  end. 
He  may  give  advice  and  counsel  afterwards,  and  in  this  way  may  be 
very  serviceable  to  these  newly  formed  churches,  but  he  can  exercise 
no  further  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  over  them.  The  newly  formed 
Presbytery  takes  the  reins  of  government  into  its  hands,  and  the 
evangelist,  unless  he  is  engaged  in  teaching  or  translating,  must  go 
"into  the  regions  beyond,"  and  commence  the  evangelistic  work 
anew. 


624  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  evangelist  may  become  the  pastor  of  one  or  more  of  the 
churches  that  he  has  been  instrumental  in  founding,  but  in  that  case  he 
ceases  to  be  an  evangelist,  and  must  become  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
tery which  has  been  established  over  those  churches.  He  may  also  con- 
tinue to  receive  his  support  from  the  home  church,  but  he  cannot  con- 
sistently with  Presbyterian  principles  and  usages  be  a  member  of  two* 
Presbyteries  at  the  same  time.  This  idea  we  know  is  entertained  by 
many  excellent  brethren,  and  in  some  of  our  Presbyterian  missions  it 
has  been  carried  into  practical  effect.  But,  as  it  appears  to  us,  it 
must  ere  long  result  in  great  confusion,  for  it  undermines  and  would 
ere  long  overthrow  the  great  Presbyterian  doctrine  of  ministerial 
parity.  If  a  missionary  can  be  a  member  of  a  Presbytery  in  China 
and  of  another  in  America  at  the  same  time,  then  he  may  be  tried  and 
be  condemned  in  one,  and  be  acquitted  in  the  other,  a  right  which 
the  native  minister  cannot  claim,  unless  he  is  also  a  member  of  both. 
Will  this  inequality  and  irregularity,  in  the  course  of  time,  not  be 
felt  to  be  a  most  serious  grievance?  Nor  will  the  condition  of  the 
church  or  churches  over  which  this  pastor  presides  be  less  anomalous. 
Will  it  be  amenable  to,  or  have  the  right  of  appeal  to  either  Presby- 
tery that  it  may  elect? 

The  true  idea  in  carrying  on  this  great  work  is  for  the  evangelist  to 
remain  steadfast  in  the  calling  in  which  he  originally  went  out;  and 
if,  for  special  and  extraordinary  reasons,  he  becomes  the  pastor  of  a 
native  church,  then  let  him  cast  his  lot  fully  with  the  church.  It  is 
contended  by  many,  and  no  doubt  with  considerable  force,  that  the 
missionary  may  be  of  great  service  to  the  newly  formed  Presbytery  by 
being  a  regular  member  of  it ;  but  we  do  not  see  why  he  may  not  be 
equally  serviceable  in  sitting  as  a  corresponding  member,  and  giving 
such  advice  as  may  seem  necessary.  Tlie  great  danger  of  his  being  a 
full  member  is,  that  the  native  members  will  feel  too  much  disposed 
to  follow  his  advice,  instead  of  exercising  their  own  judgment. 

^\\Q  Mission,  as  it  is  technically  called,  must  be  considered,  in  order 
to  give  completeness  to  our  views.  It  is  composed,  as  a  general  thing, 
of  the  ordained  ministers  and  lay  assistant  missionaries  sent  out  by 
any  one  branch  of  the  Church  to  any  particular  section  of  the  heathen 
world.  It  is  organized  as  all  similar  bodies  are,  and  stands  equally 
related  to  the  general  missionary  work  and  the  home  board.  It  has 
no  ecclesiastical  powers  over  the  members  of  its  own  body,  or  over 
the  churches  that  may  be  gathered  around  it,  except  those  powers 
which  the  individual  evangelist  exercises.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  sub-com- 
mittee of  the  home  board.  It  is  through  its  agency  that  the  home 
board  carries  on  its  work.  But  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  can  ex- 
ercise any  judicial  powers,  but  simply  directs  the  general  work.  It  is 
at  the  recommendation  of  the  mission  that  schools  are  established, 
salaries  are  fixed,  native  laborers  are  employed,  new  stations  are 
formed,  and  the  work  of  each  member  of  the  mission  itself  is  deter- 
mined. The  evangelist  is  responsible  to  the  General  Assembly  so  far 
as  his  general  work  is  concerned,  but  to  thq  Presbytery  which  sent  him 
out  in  the  first  instance  for  his  ministerial  conduct. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  625 

It  is  through  the  Mission,  therefore,  that  the  Church  maintains  com- 
plete control  over  the  general  missionary  work.  Through  her  own 
board  she  determines  who  shall  be  sent  out  as  missionaries ;  to  what 
fields  they  shall  go;  in  what  departments  of  labor  they  shall  engage; 
what  native  laborers  shall  be  employed  ;  what  salaries  shall  be  given, 
and  all  other  matters  of  a  similar  character. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  merge  the  work  of  any  particular  branch  of  the 
Church  into  that  of  another.  Each  one  is  to  carry  on  its  own  work 
separately  and  independently.  All  that  any  one  church  concedes, 
according  to  this  plan,  is  that  the  frilits  of  all  their  varied  labors,  when 
they  have  crystalized  into  churches  and  presbyteries,  may  be  allowed 
to  unite  with  those  of  neighboring  missions  in  forming  one  strong, 
homogeneous,  compact  Presbyterian  Church,  that  shall  be  a  blessing  to 
that  whole  land.  The  different  churches,  while  working  in  their  own 
peculiar  way  and  through  their  own  chosen  organizations,  will  find 
themselves  very  much  in  the  same  condition  with  the  tribes  of  Israel 
in  rebuilding  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  each  having  its  own  section  to 
restore,  but  all  working  to  accomplish  the  same  great  object. 

There  is,  fathers  and  brethren,  something  grand  and  sublime  in  the 
idea  that  all  the  varied  branches  of  our  venerable  Presbyterian  Church 
should  be  found  earnestly  working,  not  to  extend  and  perpetuate  their 
own  peculiarities  of  worship  and  government,  but  to  rear  one  simple, 
pure,  scriptural  Presbyterian  Church  for  each  one  of  the  great  sections 
of  the  unevangelized  world.  In  what  other  way  could  be  more  surely 
realized  that  spiritual  unity,  so  earnestly  enjoined  by  the  Redeemer, 
and  so  heartily  desired  by  all  those  who  love  his  holy  name?  Such  a 
consummation  would  inaugurate  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  modern 
missions.  No  portion  of  the  Church  could  remain  idle  or  indifferent 
in  view  of  such  a  spectacle.  We  would  expect  to  see  all  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  even  the  smallest  of  them,  buckling  on  the  armor  for  the  con- 
flict. The  full  strength  of  the  whole  Church  would  be  called  into 
active  exercise,  and  with  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  attending  it, 
how  could  the  powers  of  darkness  withstand  its  combined  and  mighty 
assaults?  We  confidently  believe  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
the  plan  of  co-operation  which  we  have  so  feebly  advocated  will  be 
fully  realized,  and  when  that  is  the  case  the  time  will  also  be  near 
when  every  human  being  on  the  face  of  the  earth  will  have  heard  of 
the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie,  D.  D.,  of  New  York,  delivered  the 
following  address  : 

We  should  bless  God  for  the  degree  of  co-operation  that  now  exists. 
It  has  great  breadth  and  is  deep'iTi  the"  hearts  of  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  God's  people.  We  are  agreed  as  to  a  great  many 
things,  and,  in  fact,  I  may  say  as  to  most  things.  But  yet  the  ques- 
tion of  co-operation  implies  diversity.  There  are  some  diversities  at 
home  in  the  selection  and  appointment  of  missionaries ;  for  instance, 
40 


626  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

whether  by  formal  action  of  churches,  as  in  some  cases  among  us,  or 
whether  Ijy  accepting  volunteers,  as  in  other  cases,  or  whether  on 
some  middle  ground,  by  which  all  ends  may  be  secured.  There  is, 
moreover,  another  point  of  moment,  the  one  which  relates  to  the  col- 
lection and  supervision  of  funds.  I  need  not  dwell  upon  that  point. 
Then  there  is  a  third  point  of  great  interest  which  relates  to  the  work 
which  is  to  be  performed  by  our  Christian  women.  We  are  all  advo- 
cates of  their  work,  but  there  are  questions  as  to  the  manner  of  it, 
and  as  to  the  closeness  of  the  relations  between  their  organization  and 
the  missionary  boards  of  the  Church  at  large.  Having  a  general  idea 
of  the  work  of  different  churches,  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  in  the 
branch  of  the  Church  with  which  I  am  connected,  the  relation  be- 
tween the  ladies'  work  and  the  general  work  is  one  in  which  there  has 
been  a  satisfactory  gain.  The  women's  boards  are  the  auxiliaries  of 
the  general  board.  Certain  matters  are  reserved  to  that  board,  and 
their  operations  are  inside  of  the  estimates  which  come  from  the  mis- 
sions, and  yet  I  admit  that  there  are  t}uestions  concerning  their  work, 
of  great  interest,  about  which  we  cannot  altogether  as  yet  agree.  But 
all  these  home  questions  may  be  left  to  the  churches  at  home. 

When  we  go  abroad  on  various  missionary  fields  we  find  diversities 
of  opinion,  which  are  sometimes  seriou:^.  For  instance,  in  regard  to 
the  subject  of  Christian  education,  we  find  a  diversity  of  opinion 
existing,  and  especially  as  that  subject  relates  to  the  training  of 
native  ministers.  As  has  been  stated  by  Dr.  Murray  Mitchell,  there' 
is  a  project  pending  in  China  which  has  been  advocated  by  one  of  the 
leading  Scottish  missionaries,  as  well  as  by  one  of  the  American  mis- 
sionaries, for  a  general  Presbyterian  college  in  that  country,  and  the 
same  idea  has  been  suggested  by  some  of  our  brethren  in  India.  It 
is  believed  that  the  Government  system,  in  its  influence  and  practical 
workings,  tends  to  discourage  the  Christian  religion  and  hinder  the 
spread  of  the  gospel,  and  some  of  our  brethren  are  so  impressed  with 
this  evil  that  they  are  in  favor  of  a  general  Presbyterian  college  in 
India.  I  confess  that  I  feel  afraid  of  these  great  institutions.  Great 
colleges  and  theological  seminaries  seem  to  me  an  outgrowth  of  ad- 
vanced Christian  civilization,  with  certain  drawbacks  it  may  be,  but 
not  well  adapted  to  the  early  work  of  Christian  missions,  not  any 
more  now  in  most  heathen  countries  than  in  the  days  of  the  early 
Church.  I  think  the  true  theory  for  our  v/hole  work  abroad  is  the 
theory  of  the  grain  of  mustard  seed,  or  the  leaven  in  the  meal,  or 
"  the  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  observation." 

Now,  as  further  showing  the  diversity  of  views,  it  may  be  well  to 
consider  the  subject  of  the  training  of  native  ministers.  Our  breth- 
ren in  Japan  have  erected  an  American  theological  seminary,  and 
perhaps  it  was  wise,  although  I  nlust  say  that  I  cannot  speak  with  re- 
gard to  its  wisdom.  In  some  countries  they  have  a  theological  class, 
and  in  other  countries  the  training  of  ministers  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
native  pastor ;  but  lately  it  has  been  proposed  to  bring  these  native 
converts  from  their  own  country  to  America,   Scotland,  or  Ireland  to 


SECOXD   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  627 

be  there  educated,  and  then  be  sent  back  again.  It  seems  to  me  that 
by  this  course  a  great  risk  would  be  run  in  training  up  and  raising 
ministers  who  will  not  be,  when  they  return  to  their  native  country, 
the  same  as  when  they  left  it,  and  who  will  not  really  be  homogeneous 
with  their  own  people.  Their  minds  will  then  be  probably  full  of 
American,  or  Irish  or  Scottish  ideas.  They  will  go  back  with  differ- 
ent ideas  of  living,  and  as  to  what  is  necessary  to  their  comfort  in 
life,  which  will  make  it  impossible  for  the  native  churches  to  support 
them  as  their  pastors.  I  will  not,  however,  go  further  into  the  merits 
of  this  question. 

In  regard  to  the  subject  of  the  support  of  native  ministers,  shall  it  be 
by  the  foreign  missionary  board,  or  shall  it  be  by  the  native  churches 
in  their  poverty?  I  think  our  brethren  of  the  Ningpo  Presbytery  have 
hit  exactly  the  middle  ground.  They  will  not  ordain  a  native  until 
he  is  called  by  a  church,  and  then  they  recjuire  the  church  to  do  all  it 
can  for  his  support,  and  then  what  it  lacks  the  board  supplies,  and  he 
is  an  itinerant  missionary  for  the  time  paid  for  by  the  mission.  This 
combines  the  two  plans  of  self-support  and  of  itinerant  labor.  In 
connection  with  this  reference  to  the  native  churches,  we  cannot  well 
forbear  to  allude  to  the  able  paper  which  we  have  just  heard  with  so 
much  pleasure.  It  is  a  signal  example  of  diversity  of  views.  Our 
respected  brother  has  given  us  one  side  of  a  great  subject — the  rela- 
tions of  the  mission  churches  to  the  home  Church.  And  he  has  em- 
phasized the  office,  or,  at  any  rate,  the  work  of  an  evangelist.  Many 
of  our  friends  hold  the  same  views.  They  would  have  the  native 
churches  to  be  purely  independent  of  the  mother  Church.  They  look 
upon  the  missionaries,  so  far  as  church  order  and  polity  are  concerned, 
as  counsellors  who  should  stand  outside  and  give  advice.  This  is  all 
they  can  do,  and  that  not  very  legitimately,  on  the  theory  of  inde- 
pendency. Our  friends  seek  to  supply  the  radical  defects  of  this  the- 
ory, by  making  the  missionaries  evangelists,  and  so  they  tcy  to  make 
the  theory  accord  with  our  church  system.  But  it  gives  the  evangelist 
power  that  cannot  well  be  harmonized  with  our  system ;  indeed, 
power  virtually  irresponsible.' 

If  I  held  that  theory  I  should  be  tempted  to  go  into  the  Episcopal 
Church,  where  the  prelatic  phase  of  the  matter  is  regulated  by  canons 
and  rules  of  the  Church  at  large  rather  than  by  an  individual  interpre- 
t  ition  of  the  foreign  missionary.  A  single  minister  of  the  gospel  apart 
Irom  his  Presbytery  should  not  with  us  have  the  power  of  ordaining 
missionary  ministers.  I  heard  of  a  case  of  a  single  missionary  ordain- 
ing one  of  his  countrymen  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  although  there 
were  two  other  Presbyterian  ministers  at  the  same  station,  and  two 
others  connected  with  his  own  board  within  two  or  three  days'  travel 
of  the  locality.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  office  of  the  evangelist  is  a 
permanent  office  in  the  Church.  I  class  it  with  the  apostles  and  the 
prophets  ;  and  if  so,  the  office  of  the  evangelist  is  temporary  or  special. 
All  that  is  valuable  in  the  idea  of  the  evangelist  is  centred,  as  our 
brother  has  told  us,  in  the  functions  of  the  ministry,  but  not  in  those 


628  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

functions  separated  from  the  action  of  tlie  Presbytery.  In  our  system 
the  Presbytery  controls  all.  It  is  the  prelatic  power  among  us — a 
legitimate  power,  but  amenable  to  the  Church  in  its  regular  course — 
and  I  think  we  have  in  our  common  Presbyterian  system  all  the  safe- 
guards we  need  for  the  protection  and  government  of  the  native 
churches. 

We  are  told  of  the  embarrassment  which  would  arise  from  connect- 
ing distant  Presbyteries  with  a  General  Assembly  in  this  country  or  in 
Europe.  Of  course,  the  difficulties  are  considerable,  but  they  need 
not  be  insuperable.  Presbyterianism  is  so  catholic  and  so  flexible 
that  it  can  provide  for  all  those  cases.  Let  all  ministers  within  cer- 
tain geographical  bounds  and  a  ruling  elder  of  each  church  be  the 
members  of  the  Presbytery,  and  thereby  bring  together  the  foreign 
and  the  native  element  in  the  best  conceivable  manner.  We  all  well 
know  the  difficulty  about  appeals  and  about  representation  in  a  dis- 
tant General  Assembly  such  as  might  be  held  in  China  or  India. 
Of  course  our  General  Assemblies  cannot  be  held  in  such  countries; 
the  idea  is  absurd.  But  many  of  us  maintain  that  this  matter  of 
representation  can  be  provided  for  incurring  this  result,  and  also  with- 
out making  the  ministers  members  of  two  Presbyteries,  one  abroad 
and  the  other  at  home.  We  maintain  that  it  can  be  provided  for  by 
certain  modifications  of  our  administrative  system,  not  involving  any 
change  of  our  principles. 

There  are  other  matters  in  which  diversity  exists,  but  I  will  refer 
in  a  few  words  to  only  one  of  them — the  recent  practice  of  some  of 
the  Bible  societies  in  undertaking  the  work  of  translating  the  sacred 
Scriptures.  I  should  like  to  see  this  work  relegated  to  the  missionary 
boards.  It  is  work  to  be  done  by  the  missionaries,  and  they  had 
better  remain  on  the  same  footing  with  their  brethren  in  connection 
with  their  own  boards.  At  any  rate,  whether  this  be  so  or  not,  I 
should  not  like  to  see  any  Bible  society  claiming  proprietary  rights 
in  any  translation  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  abroad.  I  think  that  they 
ought  to  be  the  common  property  of  the  Christian  Church  and  of  all 
its  institutions. 

But  while  diversities  of  opinion  and  of  practice  do  prevail  to  some 
extent,  yet  by  friendly  conference,  by  respecting  each  other's  con- 
scientious convictions,  by  agreeing  to  walk  together  in  so  far  as  we 
have  attained,  much  good  will  be  achieved.  This  Council  will  hardly 
deem  it  wise  to  utter  any  formal  judgment  at  present  as  to  some  of 
these  things.  I  would  respectfully  suggest  that  the  programme  for 
the  next  meeting  might  well  include  some  of  these  leading  missionary 
subjects  for  separate  consideration,  instead  of  grouping  them  in  a 
single  topic.  The  fraternal  discussion  of  such  questions  can  result 
only  to  the  advantage  of  the  cause  of  missions.  We  need  not  be  dis- 
couraged by  any  want  of  agreement  now ;  in  the  end  we  shall  think 
alike,  feel  alike,  and  act  alike.  -  In  the  face  of  the  vast  unevangelized 
multitudes  of  our  fellow-men,  we  must  unite  our  forces,  and  not  lose 
power  by  needless  diversities.     I  conclude  these  remarks  by  referring 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL,  629 

in  a  few  words  to  the  grounds  of  hope  and  encouragement.  First  of 
all,  we  all  stand  on  the  last  commandment ;  there  we  find  our  basis 
of  action  and  our  warrant  for  proceeding ;  secondly,  we  all  recognize 
as  the  great  motive  the  constraining  love  and  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  will  carry  us  and  our  sons  and  daughters  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth  ;  thirdly,  we  recognize  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a 
teacher,  who  will  enable  us  to  understand  and  to  see  clearly  all  the 
things  which  pertain  to  the  perplexing  matters  which  have  occupied 
our  attention  this  morning;  and  then,  fourthly,  we  shall  pray  and 
hope  to  be  under  the  guidance  of  Divine  Providence,  opening  the  way 
before  us,  and  our  brethren,  sujjporting  them  and  removing  all  difficul- 
ties, and  then  we  may  go  forward  without  misgivings,  and  be  assured 
that  our  blessed  Lord  is  with  us.  We  may  then  feel  assured  that  we 
shall  be  kept  faithful  even  unto  death,  and  blessed  is  the  reward  that 
shall  await  us  in  heaven.  There  is  nothing  on  earth  I  glory  in  more 
than  this  union  of  the  broad  Presbyterian  family  in  the  work  of  for- 
eign missions.  I  am  old  enough  to  remember  when  no  Presbyterian 
organization  was  on  foot,  and  when  hardly  anything  was  done  by  some 
of  the  denominations  which  are  now  among  the  foremost.  I  see  this 
wonderful  change,  but  greater  progress  is  yet  to  be  made.  The  world 
is  before  us  to  be  redeemed  for  our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  by  means 
of  our  feeble  efforts. 

The  Rev.  George  Robson,  of  Inverness,  Scotland,  addressed 
the  Council  as  follows : 

I  wish  to  say  in  regard  to  the  communication  that  is  on  the 
Programme  from  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland, 
that  it  had  its  origin  in  the  fact  that  the  committee  of  the  Synod  has 
for  several  years  past  been  engaged  in  a  somewhat  difficult  work 
— the  work  of  framing  a  formula  for  the  ordination  of  ministers, 
and  also  the  work  of  determining  the  relation  in  which  mission 
Presbyteries  should  stand  to  the  church  at  home.  It  seemed  to 
the  committee  that  any  paper  which  entered  into  the  question 
would  require  great  circumspection  and  prudence  in  dealing  with 
it.  It,  perhaps,  may  be  as  well  to  say  on  this  point  that  the 
subject  which  the  communication  Will  present  has  been  touched 
upon,  and  perhaps  very  fully  brought  out,  in  the  various  papers 
which  have  been  read  this  morning  before  the  Council ;  and 
therefore  it  seems  unnecessary  to  say  more  regarding  it  than 
just  this  one  thing:  that  in  speaking  of  the  relation  of  mission 
Presbyteries  to  the  church  at  home,  more  stress  has  been  laid 
upon  the  manner  in  which  their  work  might  be  harmonized  with 
the  administration  of  the  home  church,  than  upon  the  important 


630  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

point  of  the  manner  in  which  mission  Presbyteries  may  be  so 
organized  as  to  establish  and  develop  as  speedily  as  possible 
native  churches  in  those  mission  fields  in  which  mission  Presby- 
teries exist. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Stout,  from  Japan,  then  addressed  the 
Council  on  the  subject  of  co-operation,  as  follows : 

I  believe  I  am  one  of  the  two  connected  with  this  Council 
who  are  able  to  speak  from  personal  observation  concerning  co- 
operation on  mission  grounds.  About  eight  years  ago,  when  the 
old  laws  against  Christianity  began  to  relax  in  Japan,  and  mis- 
sionaries from  different  societies  in  this  country  and  in  Europe 
began  to  come  in  large  numbers  to  that  counfry,  some  of  us  who 
had  been  there  for  years  already  began  to  consider  whether  it 
would  not  be  desirable  to  take  such  measures  as  to  consolidate 
the  efforts  of  the  representatives  of  mission  boards  ;  and  there- 
fore a  general  call  was  made  for  missionaries  who  were  on  the 
ground  to  assemble  in  convention  in  September  in  that  year  in 
Yokohama.  A  large  number  of  the  representatives  of  the  dif- 
ferent boards  came  together,  and  sat  in  council  for  several  days. 
Perhaps  we  attempted  to  do  too  much,  for  an  endeavor  was 
made  to  organize  such  work  as  should  look  to  the  establishment 
of  but  one  great  Christian  Church  in  Japan.  We  overreached  the 
mark,  and  failed  as  far  as  that  was  concerned.  But  another  end 
which  was  aimed  at  was  accomplished,  and  that  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  committee  for  Bible  translation,  which  has  done 
noble  work.  This  convention  was  the  first  practical  outlook 
towards  co  operation. 

The  failure  which  we  experienced  caused  us  to  wait  until  three 
years  ago,  when  another  attempt  was  made  of  a  practical  turn, 
whereby  the  missionaries  representing  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  this  country,  as  well  as  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  to- 
gether with  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  met  together  again  in 
Yokohama,  and  the  native  Church  of  Japan  was  established. 
We  did  not  attempt  in  any  way  to  interfere  Avith  the  ecclesias- 
tical relations  of  the  missionaries  of  the  different  churches.  W^e 
all  stand  in  relation  to  our  various  Presbyteries  in  the  position 
of  being  amenable  to  them,  and  to  them  alone.     We  have  a 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  631 

voice  in  the  Assembly  of  the  native  church,  and  so  far  we  have 
always  had  a  voice ;  but  the  native  church  will  correct  that 
which  we  did  not  properly  establish  in  the  beginning. 

The  practical  and  desirable  things  which  we  have  reached  by 
means  of  this  organization  I  cannot  enter  into  in  detail ;  but  I 
should  like  to  point  you  to  certain  features  of  our  work  which  I 
believe  have  been  a  grand  success. 

We  have  been  able  to  establish  one  common  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Japan  instead  of  three,  and  there  is  a  native  constitu- 
tion of  that  church — an  English  translation  of  which  has  been 
made.  It  will  not  be  necessary,  and  certainly  not  desirable,  for 
me  to  attempt  to  read  any  portion  of  it  to  you.  It  is  sound,  and 
the  church  is  thoroughly  and  heartily  as  orthodox  as  are  its 
triple  representative  foster  parents  in  this  country  and  in 
Scotland. 

By  means  of  this  organization,  we  have  been  able  to  establish 
a  common  theological  school.  To  illustrate  the  power  and  in- 
fluence of  this  school,  allow  me  to  refer  you  to  an  experience  which 
dates  back  to  the  time  when  it  was  not  yet  established.  It  was 
my  privilege  to  train  a  young  man  for  the  ministry,  and  so  one- 
sided was  that  training,  that  he  made  his  gestures  and  cleared 
his  throat  in  preaching  just  like  his  teacher.  But  that  has  been 
corrected,  and  we  do  not  see  that  one-sided  training  now  which 
was  the  characteristic  of  the  pupils  before. 

Then  by  means  of  this  common  church  we  are  enabled  to 
present  a  formidable  front  to  heathenism,  and  they  respect  us, 
I  do  not  claim  that  the  grand  results  of  our  church  have  grown 
out  of  the  small  matter  of  union;  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  while  the 
re  .resentatives  of  these  three  churches  do  not  number  more 
than  one-fourth  of  the  missionaries  on  the  ground,  the  results 
of  our  work  are  more  than  half  of  all  that  has  been  accomplished. 

The  Rev.  M.  H.  Houston,  of  Kentucky. — I  had  the  honor  of 
being  for  about  seven  years  a  missionary  of  the  Southern  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  mighty  empire  of  China.  It  was  my 
pleasure  in  that  district  of  which  our  worthy  brother,  Dr.  Lowrie, 
has  just  spoken,  to  labor  side  by  side  with  the  honored  mission- 
aries of  his  church.     I  have  travelled  with  those  missionaries  on 


632  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  same  native  boats ;  I  have  gone  with  them  into  the  streets 
and  alleys  of  the  crowded  cities  of  that  empire;  I  have  joined 
with  them  in  preaching  the  glories  of  our  blessed  Lord;  and  at 
night  I  have  bowed  with  them  and  invoked  the  blessing  of  our 
common  Master  upon  our  common  work.  And  after  all  our 
labors,  we  found  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  through  its 
General  Assembly,  sending  out  instructions  to  its  missionaries 
in  that  field  to  organize  a  Presbytery  composed  of  foreign  mis- 
sionaries and  of  native  churches.  Suppose  that  we  had  com- 
plied with  that  instruction  from  our  honored  General  Assembly, 
what  would  have  been  the  result  ?  When  I  had  gone  out  with 
my  Northern  brethren,  and  we  had  worked  together,  then  the 
converts  who,  through  the  grace  of  God,  were  made  by  my 
work,  would  have  been  put  in  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Pres- 
bytery; and  the  converts  made  by  their  work  on  the  same  ground 
would  have  been  put  into  the  Northern  Presbyterian  Presbytery. 
So  what  did  we  do  ?  We  overtured  the  General  Assembly  to  re- 
scind its  action,  and  allow  us  to  dissolve  that  Presbytery  which 
we  were  enjoined  to  organize  ;  and  our  Assembly  was  impressed 
with  the  views  which  were  thus  advanced,  and  gave  us  the  au- 
thority to  dissolve.  So  I  thank  God  that  never  in  the  empire 
of  China  will  the  unhappy  division  which  has  existed  between 
the  Northern  and  Southern  Presbyterian  churches  in  this  land 
be  propagated. 

Are  the  natives  in  China  fit  to  conduct  a  Presbytery  for  them- 
selves ? — is  a  question  that  has  often  been  asked.  I  tell  you  the 
natives  of  China  are  natural  born  Presbyterians.  They  have 
their  elders  all  through  the  empire ;  and  when  they  are  organ- 
ized into  a  Presbytery,  they  as  naturally  take  to  Presbyterian 
action  as  fish  take  to  water.  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  sitting 
in  a  Presbytery  out  there  composed  of  those  native  Chinese,  and 
have  seen  one  of  them  act  as  moderator ;  and  the  members  con- 
duct themselves  on  the  floor  with  as  much  grace  and  dignity  as 
any  moderator  I  have  seen  occupy  the  chair  in  this  Council,  and 
with  as  much  ease  and  fluency  as  have  characterized  the  utter- 
ances of  any  member  whom  I  have  heard  speak  upon  this  floor. 
I  have  seen  them  conduct  their  native   Presbytery;  and  you 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  633 

might  as  well  tell  me  that  the  Presbytery  to  which  I  have  the 
honor  to  belong,  in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  is  not  fit  to  conduct 
its  business,  as  to  tell  me  that  these  native  Chinese  Presbyterians 
are  not  fit  to  conduct  their  own  affairs. 

Just  put  them  in  their  own  boat,  and  they  will  be  self-propa- 
gating, self-governing  and  self-sustaining  Presbyterian  churches. 

As  to  the  function  of  the  evangelist  which  seems  to  be  the 
fundamental  point  of  this  matter :  Richard  Baxter  has  told  us 
that  he  learned  much  from  the  hints  to  be  gathered  from  the 
Bible.  What  are  the  hints  to  be  gathered  from  the  Bible  on  this 
point?  Titus  was  sent  by  the  apostle  Paul  to  preach,  and  Titus, 
a  single  man,  was  to  ordain  elders,  so  that  if  Titus  could  ordain 
elders  without  any  supernatural  gift  or  supernatural  power,  I  do 
not  see  why  the  missionaries  of  China  or  the  missionaries  to  the 
wilds  of  Africa  may  not  ordain  ministers  there,  even  though 
they  may  be  but  as  a  single  man  in  those  vast  regions  of  dark- 
ness. If  that  power  has  not  come  down  to  the  missionary  now, 
I  do  not  see  how  a  native  church  ever  can  be  organized  where 
there  is  only  one  missionary.    • 

The  Rev.  Henry  Calderwood,  LL.  D.,  read  the  following : 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church, 
At  Edinburgh  and  within  the  Synod  Hall, 

Castle  Terrace,  May  ^fh,  1880. 
The  Synod  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  met  and  was  con- 
stituted with  prayer  by  the 'moderator.  I?i/cr  alia,  the  Synod  agreed 
to  instruct  the  deputies  whom  the  Synod  is  sending  this  year  to  the 
Pan-Presbyterian  Council  in  America,  to  seek  an  opportunity  of  con- 
ferring with  the  representatives  of  other  Presbyterian  churches  with 
the  view  of  devising  measures  by  which  the  demand  for  qualified  pro- 
bationers in  other  lands,  and  especially  in  our  own  colonies,  may  be 
more  systematically  provided  for  ;  and  to  open  direct  communications 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  England,  and  with  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  in  the  colonies  on  the  same  subject.    Concluded  with  prayer. 

Same  Place,  May  ^jf/i,  1880. 
The  Synod  met  and  was  constituted  with  prayer  by  the  moderator. 
Inter  alia,  the  Synod  unanimously  agreed  to  instruct  the  delegates 
to  the  General  Presbyterian  Council  that  they  bring  before  that  Coun- 
cil, in  connection  with  the  consideration  of  missionary  questions,  the 
question  as  to  the  mode  in  which  the  missionaries  of  different  churches, 


634  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

laboring  in  the  same  or  contiguous  fields,  may  be  associated  with  each 
other  so  as  most  efificiently  to  secure,  in  harmonious  co-operation,  the 
ends  contemplated  in  missionary  work.      Concluded  wiUi  prayer. 
Extracted  from  the  records  of  Synod,  and  certified  by 

Thomas  Kennedy,  D.  D.,  Synod  Clerk. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  first  object  the  Synod  has  in  view  in 
asking  tliis  General  Council  to  look  at  this  whole  matter,  is  to 
secure,  as  far  as  possible,  united  effort  in  the  missionary  field,  so 
that  the  work  may  not  be  distracted  by  the  consideration  of  our 
separate  denominational  existence  in  the  Presbyterian  churches, 
and  that  we  may  all  be  grouped  under  one  Presbyterian  stand- 
ard. The  further  object  is  to  secure,  by  the  aid  of  this  Coun- 
cil, greater  exertion  in  the  missionary  field. 

The  action  proposed  to  be  taken  is  the  adoption  of  a  plan 
whereby  all  missionaries,  whether  from  America  or  from  Scot- 
land, who  are  teaching  the  same  principles,  can  be  drawn 
together  on  the  same  fields,  if  they  are  at  all  contiguous,  and 
form  a  united  Presbytery.  The  result  of  such  a  plan,  it  is  be- 
lieved, will  be  manifested  not  only  in  a  more  active  co-operation 
among  the  missionaries,  but  it  will  be  a  means  of  encouragement 
for  the  native  churches.  I  am  simply  expressing  what  I  believe 
is  the  common  conviction  throughout  Scotland,  that,  if  instead 
of  separate  action,  we  could  thus  far  have  joint  action  by  the 
formation  of  Presbyteries  which  shall  include  equally  American 
and  Scotch  Presbyterians,  we  should  'see  a  much  more  rapid 
advancement  in  missionary  work,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a 
decided  and  wiser  co-operation. 

My  friend.  Dr.  Hutton,  has  prepared  a  motion  which  he  will 
submit  to  the  Council,  and  I  am  glad  to  give  way  to  him  for 
this  purpose,  believing  that  if  there  be  one  direction  in  which 
this  Council  can  afford  to  take  practical  action,  it  is  the  direction 
now  pointed  out,  and  that,  i»f  there  be  any  matter  upon  which 
we  should  claim  a  final  and  definite  resolution,  this  is  the  sub- 
ject upon  which  we  should  be  prepared  to  expect  such  action. 

The  Rev.  George  C.  Hutton,  D.  D.,  of  Scotland. — I  am  not 
solely  responsible  for  the  motion  I  have  prepared  to  submit  to 
the  Council ;  but  I  find  that  it  meets  the  concurrence  of  many 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  635 

of  the  brethren  who  have  taken  a  deep  interest  in  this  matter  of 
a  closer  union  on  the  missionary  field  of  the  Presbyterian 
laborers.  The  great  aim  the  motion  seeks  to  attain  is  that  this 
Council  shall  give  a  clear  and  strong  expression  to  its  desire  in 
this  matter;  and  that  this  expression  should  go  down  to  the 
several  churches,  and  there  bear  the  fruit  we  expect  from  its 
adoption. 

The  resolution  is  preceded  by  the  preamble : 

I.  That  the  Council  is  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
closer  union  in  the  practical  work  of  the  mission  field  among  Presby- 
terians, and  would  regard  it  as  most  desirable  and  timely  were  the 
churches  represented  in  the  Council  to  adopt  such  measures,  as  in 
their  wisdom  might  seem  meet,  for  maturely  considering  the  question 
of  the  best  means  of  further  organizing  and  unifying  Presbyterian 
efforts  in  the  several  mission  fields  in  which  a  plurality  of  Presbyterian 
missions  are  contiguously  established,  in  harmony  with  the  interests 
and  claims  of  the  parent  churches. 

II.  That  the  Council,  assuming  no  right  to  offer  suggestions  or 
initiate  movements  in  the  Churches  represented  in  it,  respectfully 
approaches  the  several  churches  by  the  communication  of  these  reso- 
lutions, with  the  expression  of  its  fraternal.  Christian  regards,  and  its 
prayer  that  the  great  ends  of  the  common  Presbyterian  ism  may  be 
increasingly  advanced  by  the  work  of  the  several  churches  both  at 
home  and  in  the  mission  field. 

From  the  reading  of  the  petition  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
object  to  be  gained  is  a  closer  union  in  the  practical  work- 
ings of  the  mission  field.  There  is  no  desire  or  intention  to 
compromise  any  of  the  churches  to  plans  of  organic  union  or 
incorporation  at  home  and  in  the  mission  field ;  but,  apart 
from  any  consideration  like  that,  there  is  a  wide  margin  in 
which  it  would  be  most  just  to  the  interests  of  our  common 
Christianity  that  Presbyterian  laborers  should  come  closer 
together  in  conference,  for  instance,  in  the  manner  referred  to, 
and  in  Presbyterial  organization  if  it  be  practicable.  What  the 
friends  of  the  resolution  most  desire  is  that  this  matter  should 
go  to  the  churches  with  the  weight  of  the  opinion  of  this  Coun- 
cil. The  churches  themselves  consider  it  an  important  matter, 
and  a  decisive  action  on  the  part  of  this  Council  will  most 
assuredly  stimulate  and  encourage  them  to  consider  this  im- 


6^6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

portant  and  practical  question,  particularly  if  the  voice  of  this 
Council  shall  go  down  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  show  that  the 
Council  is  impressed  with  the  practical  value  of  the  suggestion. 

The  resolution  itself,  I  think,  is  important,  because  we  muse 
not  awaken  the  just  jealousies  of  the  churches;  and  in  approach- 
ing the  churches  by  communicating  the  resolution  to  them  I 
think  it  is  proper  and  necessary  that  we  should  distinctly  say, 
at  this  time,  that  we  assume  no  right  whatever,  because  we  are 
a  Council,  to  offer  these  suggestions  or  initiate  movements,  but 
that  while  we  do  not  claim  any  right  to  do  this,  we  can  offer 
this  resolution  in  a  spirit  of  Christian  fraternity  and  in  the  hope 
that  the  important  ends  of  Presbyterianism  may  be  advanced 
by  it. 

I  will  just  add  that  I  was  very  glad  to  hear  at  last  that  the 
key-note  had  been  struck  on  the  subject  of  missions.  While  I 
enjoyed  as  much  as  any  one  could  all  that  I  heard  upon  apolo- 
getics, I  was  a  little  wearied  with  that.  I  think  it  is  a  healthy 
thing  now  for  us  to  give  forth  something  more  clear  from  this 
conference,  than  that  which  arises  from  an  apologetic  strain. 
We  are  here  in  a  spirit  of  Christian  aggression  ;  we  are  here  in 
a  spirit  of  confidence  and  courage,  assured  of  the  great  issue. 
We  are  not  trembling  here  for  the  ark  of  God.  We  know  the 
words  of  Him  in  whom  we  trust,  and  his  words  are  full  of  con- 
scious power:  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me."  Why  should  we  be  troubled  about  the  future 
of  Christianity  ?  Let  us  thank  God  for  the  past ;  let  us  take 
courage.  Let  us  set  up  our  standard  here  as  a  united  Council, 
so  that  all  the  churches  may  say,  "  Hitherto  God  has  helped 
us."  This  was  the  key-note  struck  by  Dr.  Paxton;  and  so  let 
us,  keeping  it  up  in  the  same  strain,  go  forward  in  this  work 
with  all  our  churches,  with  an  increasing  confidence  in  the  issue; 
and  with  an  assurance  that  our  labor  shall  not  be  in  vain  in  the 
Lord. 

I  will  now  read  the  resolution,  which  I  think  will  com- 
mend itself  to  the  approbation  of  the  Council : 

The  Council,  cherishing  devout  gratitude  to  God  for  the  success 
which,  by  his  blessing,  has  attended  the  foreign  mission  work  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  637 

Church,  and  thankfully  recognizing  an  increasing  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  churches  composing  this  Alliance  to  co-operate  in  the  work  as 
far  as  practicable,  reappoints  the  committee  with  instructions  to 
collect  such  further  information  and  frame  such  suggestions  upon 
matters  connected  with  the  conduct  of  foreign  mission  work  as  may 
seem  to  them  advisable,  and  more  particularly  the  relation  of  mission 
Presbyteries  to  the  home  churches,  with  a  view  especially  to  the 
establishment  and  development  of  native  churches,  and  the  best 
methods  of  promoting  co-operation  both  at  home  and  abroad  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  missionary  enterprise. 

The  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Business  Committee. 
The  Council  then  adjourned  with  the  usual  devotional  exer- 
cises. 

Thursday,  September  2,0th,  1880.     2.30  p.  m. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  in  the  Academy  of  Music  at 
2.30  P.  M.,  by  John  Hanson,  Esq.,  of  Antrim,  Ireland,  President. 

After  devotional  services,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Boggs,  of  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  said :  Will  you  receive  the  following  resolution  for 
reference  to  the  Business  Committee  : 

Resolved,  That  this  Council  respectfully  recommend  to  the  com- 
mittee having  charge  of  the  programme  for  the  next  Council,  that 
they"carefully  consider  the  expediency  of  giving  a  still  larger  share  of 
the  time  of  that  Council  to  a  fuller  handling  of  the  great  cause  of 
foreign  missions. 

I  move  that  this  be  referred  to  the  Business  Committee,  and 
the  reason  for  it  is  this :  It  seems  as  if  the  lines  of  God's  provi- 
dence were  directing  us  to  the  great  problem  of  Foreign  Missions 
as  probably  the  first  practical  cause  that  this  Council  will  be 
able  to  handle  to  any  direct  issue.  I  feel  in  behalf  of  the  Pres- 
byterian family,  that  after  this  Council  shall  have  met  several 
times,  and  many  hundreds  of  men  have  travelled  thousands  of 
miles,  and  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  to  attend  it,  the  question 
will  arise.  What  practical  ends  are  you  subserving  ?  I  trust  a 
great  many  practical  ends  will  be  subserved  in  the  providence 
of  God ;  but  it  seems  to  me  very  desirable  for  the  future  success 
of  the  scheme  that  is  before  us,  that  we  should  find,  as  soon  as 
possible,  a  thread  of  divine  direction  that  leads  toward  some- 


63S  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

thing  that  can  be  done,  and  that  people  can  see.  For  that  reason 
I  beg  to  send  that  resolution  to  the  committee. 

The  resolution  was  so  referred. 

The  Rev.  Professor  Herrick  Johnson,  D.  D.,  of  Chicago, 
111.,  read  the  following  paper  on 

THE  PROPER  CARE,  SUPPORT  AND  TRAINING  OF  CAN- 
DIDATES FOR  THE  MINISTRY. 

We  have  hardly  realized  the  proper  care,  support  and  training  yet. 
For  proof,  see  the  ministry  itself.  Some  are  in  the  ministry  that 
ought  to  be  out.  Some  are  in  with  inadequate  mental  equipment  and 
discipline.  We  have  ministers  who  are  able  to  work  but  not  willing, 
and  ministers  who  are  willing  to  work  but  not  fit.  Let  us  be  entirely 
candid.     There  is  a  flaw  somewhere  in  our  education  machinery. 

Beyond  a  doubt,  this  evil  has  been  grossly  exaggerated.  The  com- 
mon, flippant  and  shameful  talk  about  "ordained  dunces"  and  min- 
isterial "dead-weights"  has  had  only  the  most  meagre  occasion,  and 
not  the  least  justification.  On  the  other  hand,  while  men  are  men, 
infallibility  will  not  be  reached  in  this  care  and  training  of  candidates. 
Occasionally,  unfitness  will  slip  through.  The  best  plan  possible  will 
not  give  us  absolute  perfection  in  results. 

Nevertheless,  something  possible  of  remedy  is  the  matter  with  our 
machinery.  We  may  find,  moreover,  that  tlie  trouble  is  deeper  than 
this — that  something  is  wrong  in  our  inner  spirit  and  posture. 

In  the  judgment  of  many  of  the  best  minds  of  the  Church  on  both 
continents,  there  is  a  decline  in  the  attraction  of  the  ministry  for 
young  men  of  promise  and  power;  and  a  deficiency  in  the  number  of 
such  who  are  entering  the  ministerial  ranks.  ■  Steadily  on  this  conti- 
nent the  roll  of  candidates  has  been  lessening  for  the  last  decade. 
Some  branches  of  the  Church  are  scarcely  filling  the  vacancies  made 
by  death.  While  a  distinguished  clergyman  in  public  place  has 
recently  declared  that  "  there  are  to-day  hundreds  of  ministers  in  our 
country  wlio  ought  to  be  at  tent-making  earning  their  bread  ;  but  who 
are  wandering,  up  and  down  the  church,  beseeching  support ;  thus 
degrading  themselves  in  their  own  eyes,  and  degrading  the  ministry 
in  the  eyes  of  all." 

Abate  the  force  of  these  statements  what  we  will,  on  the  score  of 
pessimism  or  rhetorical  extravagance,  they  leave  us  face  to  face  with 
unmistakable  signs  and  tokens  of  evil.  They  should  compel  us  to 
weigh  well  the  recent  warning  words  of  England's  chief  Christian 
statesman.  "  No  Church  can  stand,"  says  Gladstone,  "  whose  priests 
or  ministers  do  not  possess  the  highest  respect  of  the  people.  I  would 
be  glad  to  see  the  best  men  in  England  taking  orders.  If  there  is 
any  sign  of  dissolution  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  it  is,  perhaps,  the 
inferiority  of  her  priesthood.  Usually  they  are  men  of  very  moderate 
ability.     Better  incti  than  these  are  needed  to  build  in  our  time.^'' 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  639 

Confronted  with  these  things,  the  need  of  better  workmen  than 
builders  of  the  mediocre  sort,  the  lessened  attraction  of  the  ministry 
to  men  of  promise  and  power,  and  the  steadily  diminishing  number 
of  candidates,  what  is  the  Church  of  God  going  to  do  about  it?  In 
considering  what  the  Church  ought  to  do  about  it,  we  are  sure  to  be 
only  at  the  surface  of  the  subject  by  merely  determining  rules  of  over- 
sight, amount  of  support,  and  a  curriculum  of  study.  If  we  will  but 
go  deep  enough  we  shall  find  some  things  related  to,  and  compre- 
hended in,  any  proper  care  and  training  far  more  vital  and  funda- 
mental than  machinery,  and,  if  ignored,  making  the  best  care  and 
training  impossible. 

I.  First  of  all,  the  Church  must  be  more  pervasively  and  profound Iv 
spiritual. 

In  another  than  the  scriptural  sense,  "  as  with  the  people  so  with 
the  priest."  This  may  express  not  only  relation  of  likeness,  but  of 
cause  and  effect.  And  while  a  godly  ministry  will  make  a  godly 
Church,  it  is  equally  true  that  a  godly  Church  will  produce  a  godly 
ministry.  The  trouble  with  our  candidates  is  a  half-consecrated 
Church.  A  worldly  Church,  ])ractically  preferring  the  enjoyments 
of  this  world,  withholding  her  best  activities  from  spiritual  service, 
and  giving  to  the  Lord  only  the  merest  inconsiderable  fragments  of 
her  time  and  talent  and  stibstance,  will  never  give  the  choicest  of 
her  sons  to  the  ministry.  The  brilliant  and  gifted  offspring  will  have 
other  plans  and  investments  made  for  them  by  ambitious  parents — 
plans  and  investments  promising  better  returns  of  worldly  wealth  and 
honor  and  social  distinction.  When  the  Church  shall  walk  close 
with  God,  and  be  filled  with  the  divine  fulness,  so  as  to  count  nothing 
her  own,  and  so  as  to  hold  service  for  Christ  the  peerless  honor,  then 
she  will  be  willing  to  take  the  brightest  and  best  jewels  from  her  house- 
hold caskets,  and  yield  them  in  joyful  and  absolute  dedication, 
saying,  "Anywhere,  Lord  ;  even  in  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

With  the  best  sons  of  the  Church  thus  given  to  tlie  ministry  in 
proud  and  grateful  joy,  we  may  be  sure  those  sons,  as  they  should 
grow  toward  manhood,  would  come  to  count  it  an  undying  honor  to 
go  and  preach  Christ's  gospel.  Although  their  senses  might  be  swept 
by  vast  material  gains  and  proud  political  preferments,  and  the  subtle 
attractions  of  science  and  art  and  journalism,  these  would  be  nothing 
in  their  esteem  to  the  glories  of  Christian  ambassadorsliip  ;  and  the 
lessened  attraction  of  the  ministry  to  men  of  promise  and  power  would 
be  a  thing  of  the  past. 

II.  Next  to  a  deeper  spirituality  we  place  the  need  of  a  prevalent  and 
profound  conviction  that  the  call  to  the  ministry  is  directly  and  distinc- 
tively of  God ;  i.  e.,  that  it  is  the  inward  moving  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
immediate,  personal  and  effectual,  having  in  it  a  kind  of  imperious  and 
compelling  violence,  and  widely  differencing  the  call  to  the  ministry 
from  calls  to  occupations  solely  of  man  and  pertaining  to  time.  God 
by  his  Spirit  calls  to  a  spiritual  office  ;  God  by  his  providence  calls  to 
an  ordinary  occupation.      Paul  was  not  called  to  tent-making  as  he 


640  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

was  called  to  preach.  It  was  not  his  fitness,  or  taste,  or  circumstances, 
or  any  considerations  of  greater  usefulness  that  based  his  "Woe  is 
unto  me  ;  "  it  was  God s  call :  "  I  must  preach." 

Surrounding  and  favoring  circumstances,  sense  of  adaptation,  con- 
siderations of  usefulness,  any  and  all  providential  indications — these 
may  be  incidents  and  attendants  instrumental,  as  used  by  the  Spirit. 
But  these  are  not  the  call,  nor  are  they  the  direct  and  efficient  cause 
of  the  conviction  in  any  true  case  that  one  ought  to  preach.  That  is 
born  of  Him  to  whom  we  are  commanded  to  pray  that  he  will  thrust 
or  hurl  forth  (ix^dx'/j)  laborers  into  his  harvest. 

That  this  has  been  the  view  of  the  Church  in  all  her  best  ages  and 
branches,  history  shows.  History  as  clearly  shows  that  just  as  this 
idea  has  been  lost  sight  of,  have  worldliness  and  corruption  crept  in, 
carrying  either  to  the  extreme  of  sacerdotalism,  ministers  made  to 
order  and  regardless  of  character,  by  a  certain  sacred  something 
dripped  through  infallible  human  fingers;  or  to  the  opposite  extreme 
of  license  and  the  purest  naturalism,  ministers  at  will,  by  self-consti- 
tution, like  shoemakers  and  carpenters.  Hence  the  charge  of  Chrys- 
ostom,  that  men  "were  selected  to  the  priestly  dignity  for  causes 
which  ought  to  have  prevented  them  from  passing  over  the  pavements 
of  the  church."  And  hence,  farther  on  in  the  centuries,  the  lament 
of  Leigh  Richmond,  "the  national  Church  groans  and  bleeds  from 
the  crown  of  its  head  to  the  sole  of  its  feet  from  the  daily  intrusion 
of  unworthy  men  into  the  ministry." 

Let  the  Church,  therefore,  re-state  and  emphasize  and  stamp  upon 
her  consciousness  and  compel  all  her  softs  to  the  conviction,  that  it 
is  Christ's  exclusive  prerogative  to  call  and  send  by  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
that  no  one  is  to  enter  the  sacred  office  who  can  stay  out  of  it,  since 
whom  God  calls  to  preach  will  be  gotten  to  preach,  though  he  be  first 
landed  in  some  belly  of  hell,  like  Jonah,  until  he  repent  and  give  the 
call  heed  ;  that  any  candidate  stepping  toward  the  ministry  to  declare 
himself  an  ambassador  of  the  Most  High,  so  that  it  shall  be  as  if  God 
spake  by  him  and  he  were  in  his  King's  stead,  must  hold  a  commission 
consciously  from  his  divine  sovereign,  or  be  guilty  of  blasphemous 
assumption.  Luther's  words  are  not  one  whit  too  strong,  as  the  voice 
of  the  Church  to  all  her  sons:  "Await  God's  call.  Meantime 
be  satisfied.  Yea,  though  thou  wert  wiser  than  Solomon  and  Daniel, 
yet,  unless  thou  art  called,  avoid  preaching  as  thou  wouldst  hell 
itself" 

The  bearing  of  all  this  on  the  quality  and  quantity  of  candidates 
is  apparent.  What  patience,  courage,  constancy,  and  mighty  effective- 
ness must  be  born  of  the  conviction  of  being  called  of  God !  And 
what  fitness,  adaptation,  and  superb  possibilities  of  ministerial  char- 
acter must  be  in  the  men  so  called  I     God  makes  no  mistakes. 

IIL  But  there  is  still  a  third  necessity  lying  back  of  any  question 
of  mere  machinery — the  necessity  on  the  part  of  the  Church  of  a  deep 
and  wide-spread  persuasion  that  if  she  would  have  candidates  of  the 
right  sort,  she  must  pray  for  them,  a  God-called  ministry  being  a  gift  of 
God  to  the  Church  solely  in  answer  to  prayer. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  641 

It  must  be  confessed  that  supply  for  the  ministry  has  l)een  left  too 
much  to  ecclesiastical  machinery  and  market  law.  But  by  all  Scrip- 
ture it  is  decidedly  not  a  matter  of  ecclesiastical  machinery.  It  is  not 
to  be  regulated  by  a  market  law. 

The  prevalent  talk  about  our  having  too  many  ministers  is  prepos- 
terous and  suicidal.  It  has  its  base  in  a  mischievous  error.  If  allowed 
to  continue  without  arrest  or  rebuke,  it  will  play  havoc  with  our 
evangelistic  effectiveness.  The  mis-chievous  error  is  that  the  number 
of  churches  should  be  regulative  of  the  number  of  tninisfers,  on  the 
tlieory  that  the  churches  make  the  demand,  and  should,  therefore,  de- 
termine the  supply.  Now,  as  there  are  sometimes  many  ministers 
seeking  a  vacant  church,  and  as  there  are  some  ministers  without  em- 
ployment, it  is  held  that  the  supply  is  greater  than  the  demand. 
Hence  the  cry,  "  too  many  ministers!  "  Hence  labored  and  elaborate 
articles  in  the  effort  to  break  the  force  of  this  cry  by  marshaling  statisr 
tics  and  arraying  figures  and  footing  up  columns  to  show  that  we  have 
a  few  more  churches  than  we  have  ministers  !  As  if  this  were  a  matter 
of  arithmetic  instead  of  conscience!  As  if  our  action  were  to  be 
determined  by  a  commercial  law  rather  than  by  Christ's  command- 
ment ! 

First  and  last  and  midst  and  always  while  any  great  harvest  stands 
in  this  world,  the  Church  is  faced  with  this  explicit  order  from  Christ, 
made  doubly  emphatic  by  its  repetition  :  "  Pray  ye  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest,  that  he  will  send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest."  What  busi- 
ness have  vacant  churches  with  us  here?  With  hundreds  of  millions 
still  without  the  gos[)el,  with  every  continent  crowded  with  the  un- 
saved, instead  of  talking  about  too  many  ministers,  the  Church  of 
God  should  be  on  her  knees  praying  for  more.  She  cannot  stop  that 
prayer  and  ol>ey  her  Lord. 

Demand  ?  Yes.  If  we  put  the  demand  where  Christ  put  it.  Did 
he  say,  "  Behold,  the  number  of  vacant  churches  is  great,  and  the 
laborers  to  supply  them  are  few?"  Did  that  cry  from  Macedonia,  to 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  gave  a  voice,  come  from  companies  of  organ- 
ized believers  with  unoccupied  cushioned  pulpits  and  salaries  and  par- 
sonages? Or  was  it  from  a  church-less,  pulpit-less,  shepherd-less  field, 
dumb  as  to  its  woful  need,  because  unconscious  of  it?  Is  there  no 
such  dumb,  unconscious  cry  to  be  heard  to-day,  that  Ave  stand  figuring 
up  our  columns  of  ministers  and  churches,  and  striking  the  balance 
between  them,  to  see  whether  we  shall  not  call  a  temporary  halt  to 
this  business  of  ministerial  supply?  If  we  already  have  ministers  who 
are  not  at  work — who  would  rather  be  idle  than  preach  self-denyingly, 
i">r  who  would  better  be  idle  than  preach  at  all — the  fact  is  sad  enough 
and  bad  enough.  But  it  is  no  argument  for  less  ministers.  It  should 
send  us  to  God  for  another  kind.  We  may  be  sure  these  were  not  the 
gift  of  God  in  answer  to  prayer.  May  they  not  have  been  born  of 
just  this  low  theory  of  supply  and  demand,  having  entered  the  minis- 
try with  the  undisturbed  convirtion  that  vacancies  in  well-appointed 
pulpits  were  the  only  demand  they  were  expected  to  meet  ? 
4» 


642  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

We  have  thus  far  spoken  of  what  seems  to  us  as  deeper  and  more 
vital  than  any  mere  improvement  of  ministerial  education  machinery. 
Nevertheless,  we  believe  most  heartily  in  perfecting  our  machinery. 
We  therefore  pass  on  to  say, 

IV,  Fourthly,  the  Church  must  make  far  fnore  of  her  direct  watch 
and  care. 

It  must  be  confessed  she  has  made  almost  nothing  of  it  with  respect 
to  many  of  her  candidates.  And  even  when  they  have  been  formally 
taken  under  the  care  of  a  Presbytery,  the  act  has  often  been  such  a 
mere  meaningless  form,  so  like  a  solemn  farce,  as  to  make  it  doubtful 
whether  it  were  not  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observ- 
ance. The  candidate  is  perhaps  received  by  Presbytery  while  in  his 
academic  course,  and  he  may  never  hear  of  the  Presbytery  again,  and 
the  Presbytery  never  hear  of  him,  until  application  is  made  years 
afterwards  for  licensure.  Through  all  his  progress  up  to  that  very 
gateway  into  the  ministry,  he  has  been  to  the  Presbytery  little  else 
than  "as  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican." 

We  believe  the  following  provisions  would  greatly  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  oversight  and  discipline,  and  tend  to  arrest  incompetency 
and  stimulate  fidelity  : 

1.  Let  it  be  a  law  of  the  Church  that  every  one  of  her  sons,  with- 
out exception,  just  as  soon  as  he  is  known  to  have  the  ministry  in 
view,  and  whether  needing  aid  or  not,  shall  be  placed  under  the  care 
of  Presbytery  as  a  ministerial  candidate. 

2.  Let  each  Presbytery's  committee  on  education  be  charged  with 
the  direct  and  special  oversight  of  all  candidates  under  that  Presby- 
tery's care. 

3.  Let  it  be  the  imperative  duty  of  that  committee  to  secure  each 
year,  directly  from  the  proper  officer  or  teacher  in  academy,  college, 
or  seminary,  a  report  of  the  scholarship  and  general  standing  and 
character  of  the  candidates,  and  submit  the  same  to  the  Presbytery. 

4.  If  the  candidate  be  a  beneficiary  of  the  board  of  education,  let 
the  committee  secure  from  that  board  also  annual  report  of  general 
scholarship  for  submission  to  Presbytery. 

5.  Let  each  candidate  be  required  to  appear  before  Presbytery, 
either  in  person  or  by  letter,  once  a  year,  and  himself  give  account 
of  his  progress  and  experience. 

With  care  thus  exercised  three  things  would  be  secured  : 

First,  on  the  part  of  the  Presbytery,  a  pretty  accurate  knowledge 
of  the  candidate's  fidelity  and  efficiency.  And  the  best  of  opportu- 
nity for  any  needed  admonition  or  encouragement,  or  for  entire  arrest 
of  study  in  view  of  manifest  unfitness. 

Secondly,  on  the  part  of  the  Presbytery,  a  personal  interest  in  and 
sympathy  with  the  candidates,  as  they  should  step  toward  the  ministry. 

Thirdly,  on  the  part  of  the  candidates,  a  sense  of  responsibility, 
and  a  constant  reminder  that  they  were  already  in  special  trust  and 
relation,  as  called  of  God  to  special  service. 

V.  The  next  and  fifth  point  that  suggests  itself  for  consideration  is 


SECOND  GENBiRAL   COUNCIL.  643 

the  support  of  our  ministerial  candidates.     What  shall  it  be  ?     To  this 
there  are  four  possible  answers  : 

1.  Let  the  candidates  have  no  support  at  all.  The  struggle  it  costs 
to  work  one's  way  through  is  a  good  test  and  sifter;  will  toughen 
fibre,  give  us  better  candidates,  lead  to  self-reliance,  and  ability  to 
endure  hardness. 

The  sufficient  answer  to  this  is  that  no  father,  however  stoutly  he 
might  avow  such  view,  would  ever  apply  the  logic  to  his  own  son.  If 
he  had  means  to  help  him  into  the  ministry,  he  would  fling  his  theory 
to  the  winds,  and  risk  all  damage  to  his  boy. 

2.  Let  the  candidates  all  have  support,  whether  needed  or  not. 

The  only  argument  for  this  position  is,  that  "  it  is  most  desirable 
to  get  rid  of  the  discrimination  of  candidates — between  those  who 
are  on  the  board  of  education  and  those  who  are  not.  .  .  .  The  dan- 
ger is  great  of  the  high-toned  among  our  young  men  being  chilled 
and  driven  off." 

To  this  there  are  two  fatal  objections.  First,  it  would  furnish  the 
strange  anomaly  of  taking  from  the  scanty  incomes  and  hard  earnings 
of  the  godly  poor  of  our  churches,  contributed  to  this  cause  in  pinching 
self-denial,  and  giving  to  a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  who  confess- 
edly has  no  need  whatever,  and  doing  this  on  the  sole  plea  that  "  he 
had  better  receive  an  appropriation,  and  use  it  himself  for  the  Lord." 

Secondly,  it  would  be  fostering  a  spirit  in  our  candidates  that  ought 
the  rather  to  be  utterly  cast  out.  The  sort  of  "high-toned"  men 
that  would  abandon  all  thought  of  the  ministry  sooner  than  suffer  the 
discrimination  coming  from  an  honorable  poverty,  by  taking  aid 
which  the  Church  is  only  glad  to  furnish,  are  the  sort  of  "high- 
toned"  men  that  are  not  wanted  in  the  ministry.  The  sooner  they 
are  "chilled  and  driven  off,"  the  better. 

It  is  true  the  brow  of  the  Church  has  had  occasion  once  or  twice  to 
redden  with  the  memory  of  unfulfilled  obligations  to  her  candidates; 
but  it  is  also  true  that  she  has  been  mainly  considerate  of  her  trust  to 
them,  and  that  she  holds  them  in  loving  and  loyal  esteem,  as  among 
her  choicest  sons,  to  help  whom  she  counts  an  honor  and  an  obliga- 
tion. This  being  so,  the  pride  that  kicks  at  the  discrimination  in- 
volved in  the  beneficiary  system  is  a  weakness  to  be  condemned,  not 
a  feeling  to  be  indulged  and  nursed. 

3.  Let  the  support  be  according  to  scholarship,  ascertained  by  compet- 
itive examinations,  only  candidates  attaining  to  a  certain  standard  re- 
ceiving aid. 

The  great,  and,  in  our  view,  fatal  objection  to  this  is,  that  it  is  lift- 
ing scholarly  attainment  to  supreme  place,  as  the  test  of  fitness  for  the 
ministry.  It  leaves  out  of  view  qualities  of  character,  natural  and 
spiritual,  which  are  often  more  determinative  of  fitness  than  any  mere 
intellectual  gifts.  Brain  is  not  all  that  God  honors  in  Christian  am- 
bassadorship. The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  built  chiefly  by  it,  any 
more  than  it  is  built  chiefly  in  it.  Heart,  as  well  as  brain,  God  wants 
— will-power,  tact,  gifts  of  administration,  and  a  glowing  and  grow- 


644  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ing  spirituality.  And  the  test  of  these  is  not  a  competitive  examina- 
tion.   , 

4.  Let  the  support  be  accorditjo  to  the  need  of  the  candidate,  the  max- 
imum appropriation  being  far  within  the  limits  that  would  encourage 
anything  like  luxury  or  loose  expenditure. 

Such  a  support  commends  itself  to  common  sense,  is  indicated  by 
experience,  has  given  to  some  branches  of  our  Church  the  half  of 
their  effective  ministerial  force,  and  is  open  to  objections  only  as  they 
lie  not  against  the  basis  of  appropriation,  but  against  the  method  of 
it.  Free  the  method  from  everything  needlessly  trying  to  the  most 
delicate  sensitiveness  not  born  of  pride  and  the  devil,  and  then  ap- 
propriation according  to  need  clearly  stands  as  "  the  proper  "  support 
of  our  candidates  for  the  ministry. 

VI.  We  reach  now  the  proper  training  of  candidates — the  last 
point  demanding  our  consideration. 

In  this  matter  our  unquestionable  and  conspicuous  aim  should  be  to 
work  with  the  best  possible  material,  and  to  secure  the  best  possible 
results.  Whatever  God  may  do  in  his  sovereignty  with  weak  things, 
we  have  no  right  to  chose  them  or  to  count  on  them,  but  out  of  their 
weakness  either  to  prove  their  unfitness  or  to  bring  forth  strength. 

There  are  five  things  we  believe  the  Church  should  do  : 

1 .  Sec  to  it  that  the  colleges,  with  which  we  have  controlling  connec- 
tion, are  the  able  and  harmonious  adjuncts  of  our  faith  and  the  embodi- 
ment of  our  best  thought  on  this  matter  of  higher  education.  They 
should  be  supplied  with  the  widest  facilities  for  scientific,  philosophic, 
and  literary  research,  and  with  that  varied  and  profound  scholarship 
in  their  chairs  of  instruction  which  alone  can  make  Christian  colleges 
greatly  serviceable  either  to  Christianity  or  culture.  And  then  all  our 
candidates  should  be  put  at  these  institutions. 

2.  Stop  short  cuts  to  the  ministry.  Short  cuts  lead  to  short  stops; 
i.  e.,  to  "stated  supplies."  And  commonly  because  supplies  are 
short.  It  is  surprising  the  number  of  young  men  without  a  college 
education,  somewhat  advanced  in  years,  up  well  into  the  twenties  and 
sometimes  even  thirties,  often  married  and  with  child  or  children, 
who  get  possessed  with  the  idea  that  they  ought  to  study  for  the  min- 
istry. Two  things  we  think  should  be  done  with  these  applicants  for 
short  cuts. 

First,  dissuade  them,  if  possible.  In  ninety,  if  not  ninety-nine,  cases 
out  of  a  hundred  they  would  better  keep  to  trade  or  plow  or  handi- 
craft. If  they  are  stirred  with  unwonted  zeal  for  God,  they  can  show 
it  there.  The  probabilities  are  that  if  God  had  wanted  to  make 
preachers  of  them,  he  would  have  started  them  en  route  before  their 
minds  were  measurably  formed,  and  their  habits  fixed,  and  their 
households  established,  and  their  thorough  intellectual  training  and 
equipment  made  almost  impossible.  Their  failure  to  get  on  in  secular 
affairs,  often  taken  as  God's  way  of  hedging  up  their  path,  and  a 
reason  why  they  should  enter  the  ministry,  is  more  often  a  reason  why 
they  should  stay  out  of  it. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  645 

Secondly,  in  any  event,  let  a  committee  be  constituted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  or  the  highest  body  known  to  each  branch  of  the 
Church,  that  committee  to  consist  of  one  professor  from  each  seminary 
and  an  equal  number  of  ministers ;  and  let  it  be  the  duty  of  that  com- 
mittee to  prepare  an  annual  examination  paper  to  be  submitted  to 
every  candidate  making  application  for  admission  to  any  seminary, 
who  cannot  show  a  college  diploma;  success  in  passing  a  written 
examination  on  that  paper  to  be  the  condition  of  entrance,  the  com- 
mittee to  be  the  judges  determining  the  standard  of  success. 

3.  When  incompetency  sits  in  any  chair  in  our  theological  training 
schools,  compel  a  vacancy. 

4.  Change  the  present  standard,  three  years  seminary  course,  to 
four  years  of  seven  months  study  each.  Then  let  the  three  interven- 
ing vacations  of  five  months  each  be  devoted  to  practical  work  under 
Presbyterial  and  pastoral  supervision,  this  being  made  a  law  of  the 
Church,  and  just  as  much  a  part  of  the  training  for  every  candidate 
without  exception,  as  the  curriculum  of  study.  Let  it  be  understood 
that  the  candidate  in  this  whole  matter  shall  be  subject  to  the  direction 
of  his  Presbytery,  which  shall  put  him  into  active  service  of  visitation, 
exhortation,  and  general  evangelism  every  vacation,  unless  there  be 
imperative  reason  to  the  contrary. 

This  practical  training  is  either  wholly  wanting  now,  or  it  is  had  in 
such  loose,  independent  and  irresponsible  way  as  to  be  little  worth. 
It  would  be  of  inestimable  value  in  fitting  our  young  men  for  the  first 
and  trying  responsibilities  of  the  pastorate,  and  would  take  away  every 
possible  justification  for  the  statement  recently  made  in  high  place, 
that  **  the  ordinary  minister  comes  out  of  the  seminary  an  imbecile 
— utterly  dazed  by  the  great  realities  about  him." 

5.  Provide  higher  education  for  those  who  shoja  special  aptitude  for 
scholarly  work.  The  Church  wants  men  of  special  training  and  special 
gifts  over  and  above  her  great  preachers,  to  occupy  her  chairs  of  in- 
struction in  college  and  seminary — men  who  shall  have  leisure  and 
learning  to  make  profound  and  protracted  investigations  in  their 
respective  departments,  and  who  shall  prove  the  able  and  scholarly 
defenders  of  the  faith,  challenging  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
world  of  scholars  for  their  splendid  endowments  and  acquisitions. 

To  this  end  let  there  be  four  fellowships  established  in  each  semi- 
nary, each  yielding  sufficient  income  for  two  years  of  additional  study 
on  either  continent,  two  fellowships  to  be  given  each  year  to  the  two 
best  scholars  of  each  class. 

In  closing  this  paper  we  would  express  our  persuasion  of  the  vast 
importance  of  the  topic  under  discussion.  It  has  to  do  with  the 
inmost  life  of  the  Church  of  God.  What  she  does  with  her  candidates 
for  the  ministry,  they  will  do  with  her  future.  We  reaffirm  our  con- 
viction that  the  root  of  any  difficulty  or  defect  in  their  care,  support 
and  training  is  in  the  spirit  and  posture  of  the  Church.  We  believe 
that  the  way  to  the  choicest  candidates  and  to  their  best  care  and 
training  is  through  a  consecrated  church,  believing  in  a  God-called 


646  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ministry,  willing  that  her  choicest  sons  should  be  called,  and  praying 
daily,  while  the  great  harvest  stands  waiting  for  laborers,  that  the 
Lord  would  call,  heedless  utterly  of  the  proportion  or  disproportion 
between  her  vacant  pulpits  and  her  commissioned  ministers. 

And  yet  we  are  confident  the  hour  has  fully  come  when  we  must 
have  a  plan  of  training,  through  and  through  which  shall  be  convinc- 
ing sign  and  proof  that  we  mean  to  glorify  conseci-ated  scholarship  and 
disgrace  goodish  illiteracy. 

The  Rev.  J.  Marshall  Lang,  D,  D.,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
read  the  following  paper  on 

CHURCH   ORDER   AND   CHURCH   LIFE. 

The  famous  sentence  of  Irenaeus,  '^'■Ubi  Ecclesia,  ibi  et  spiritus 
Dei,''^  cannot  unreservedly  be  accepted.  It  must  not  be  taken  as  a 
definition.  Before  we  attach  to  it  the  force  even  of  a  maxim,  we 
must  be  careful  as  to  the  meaning  attached  to  the  Ecclesia.  If  we 
regard  that  simply  as  the  communion  of  believers  who  acknowledge 
the  supreme  authority  of  Jesus  Christ  and  keep  his  sacraments,  the 
saying  is  only  the  condensed  testimony  of  the  Lord  himself.  But  its 
author  meant  more  than  this.  He  is  the  first  exponent  of  the  hier- 
archical system  ;  and,  although  he  adds  "  Ubi  spiritus  Dei  illic  Eccle- 
sia,''^ he  maintains  that  relation  to  this  hierarchical  system  is  necessary 
to  participation  in  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "  It  is  only  at  the 
breast  of  the  Church,"  he  argues,  ''that  man  can  be  nursed  to  life. 
He  cannot  partake  of  the  Holy  Spirit  who  takes  not  refuge  in  the 
Church.  He  who  separates  himself  from  the  Church  renounces  the 
fellowship  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

The  dictum  of  the  Latin  father,  however,  contains  a  truth  which  is 
valuable  as  a  protest  against  what  may  be  called  the  hyper-spiritual 
conception  of  the  Church.  Wisely  have  the  Reformed  Confessions 
distinguished  between  the  ideal  or  invisible  and  the  actual  or  visible 
Church.  But  in  all  periods,  and  certainly  not  least  in  our  own,  there 
has  been  manifest  a  tendency  to  separate  between  order  and  life — to 
view  the  one  as  in  some  measure  the  repression  of  the  other,  as  a  hin- 
drance to  the  spontaneous  development  of  the  Christian  consciousness. 
Sometimes,  as  in  countries  in  which  the  Papacy  has  been  paramount, 
this  tendency  marks  the  reaction  against  an  oppressive  authority. 
But  it  is  found,  more  or  less,  in  all  Protestant  communities :  one  of 
its  most  striking  expressions  being  that  Plymouthism,  with  which,  on 
both  sides  of  the  ocean,  we  are  familiar.  Now,  the  contention  to 
which  the  maxim  I  have  quoted  invites  us  is,  that  an  external  organi- 
zation, "fitly  joined  together  and  compacted,"  is  essential  to  the 
manifold  diversity  and  the  full  power  of  the  spiritual  life  in  the  souls 
of  men.     "  Order  is  truth."     Life  cannot  live  apart  from  truth. 

*"  Irenaeus,"  adv.  Hser.  L.  iii.  cap,  xxiv. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  647 

This  we  are  taught  by  the  analogy  of  nature.  Life  must  have  its  form. 
It  produces  forms.  Difficult  to  define,  we  can  only  explain  life  to  be 
force  organized.  More  than  this,  every  species  of  existence  has  its  fore- 
ordained type  or  constitution.  Every  seed  has  its  own  body.  Tree 
and  herb,  plant  and  flower,  have  each  their  definite  form.  The  human 
frame  is  provided  for  the  grotuth  of  the  human  being.  It  is  the  law 
of  creation  that  fruit  is  brought  forth  after  its  kind.  God  is  one  in  all 
his  works.  If  the  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  a  new  creation,  we 
may  expect  that  a  polity  or  order  has  been  provided  within  which,  or 
according  to  which,  the  life  received  through  the  Holy  Ghost  makes 
increase  to  the  edifying  of  the  Church  in  love. 

Let  us  maintain — I  desire,  indeed,  at  the  outset  to  emphasize — that 
spiritual  life  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  dependent  on,  or  wholly  subor- 
dinate to,  ecclesiastical  order.  The  symbol  is  not  necessary  to  the 
grace.  In  the  work  of  the  blessed  Spirit,  there  is  that  which  always 
reminds  us  of  the  sovereignty  of  God.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it 
listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof:  but  canst  not  tell  whence 
it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.  So  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the 
Spirit."  During  the  ministry  of  our  Lord,  the  disciples  interdicted 
one  who  was  casting  out  devils,  but  was  not  a  follower  of  Christ. 
"Forbid  him  not,"  said  the  Master.  For,  indeed,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  was  before  the  Church ;  and  Christ  is  wider  than  the  Church. 
"That  was  the  true  light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world."  But,  although  the  outward  ordinance  is  not  the  life — is 
not  even  indispensable  to  the  life — it  is  necessary  to  its  full  and  sus- 
tained action.  The  soul  is  more  than  the  body,  but  the  body,  with 
its  organs,  is  required  for  the  operations  of  the  soul  in  this  earthly 
state:  a  body,  with  some  organs,  is  required  for  its  operations  in  any 
state.  And  such  is  the  relation  of  the  Church,  as  an  ecclesiastical 
constitution,  to  the  life  of  God  in  man.  The  spiritual  is  not  subor- 
dinate to  the  ecclesiastical :  the  ecclesiastical  is  subservient  to  the  spir- 
itual;  and,  as  has  well  been  shown,  '■^  that  is  the  best  and  soundest 
condition  of  a  church  on  earth  when  an  external  organization,  liealthy 
and  complete  in  all  its  parts,  most  freely  and  fully  displays  the  work- 
ing of  a  divine  life  within — neither,  by  an  excess  of  laws  and  cere- 
monies, causing  the  true  spirit  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  adherence  to  the 
form  ;  nor,  by  an  opposite  defect  and  want  of  forms,  preventing  the 
spirit,  from  its  very  spirituality,  from  being  apprehended  by  ordinary 
men  ;  nor,  by  unauthorized,  unsound,  or  questionable  observances  and 
rules,  giving  erroneous  views  of  Christian  doctrine,  hindering  the 
healthy  action  of  Christian  feeling,  unduly  fettering  Christian  liberty, 
or  distorting  the  fair  proportions  of  Christian  truth,  which  it  is  the 
office  of  the  Church  to  cherish  and  make  known."  * 

The  stand-point  assumed  in  this  paper  having  thus  been  given,  our 
first  topic  naturally  is,  the  order  or  polity  which  the  Lord  has  provided 
for  his  Church.     And  with  reference  to  this  matter,  our  authority — 


*  Dr.  Jacob's  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity  of  the  New  Testament,"  p.  19. 


648  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  our  sole  authority— is  the  New  Testament.  I  repeat,  our  sole 
authority.  The  advocates  of  the  hierarchical  principle,  for  one  look 
to  the  New  Testament,  give  three  looks  to  the  Nicene  period — to  the 
third  and  fourth  centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  Nor  is  this  to  be 
wondered  at ;  for  it  is  there  that  the  hierarchy  meets  our  view  with 
something  of  the  consistency  of  a  system.  We  must  cast  our  eye 
back  to  the  time  of  the  apostles,  and  limit  our  inquiry  to  the  rule  im- 
posed by  them,  or  to  the  practises  which  grew  under  their  supervision, 
if  they  did  not  formally  receive  their  sanction.  They  were  the 
founders  of  the  Church.  They  were,  to  use  a  phrase  of  Dr.  Stough- 
ton,  '^'^  super-ecclesiastical,  directors  ab  extra,  rather  than  ministers  ab 
intra.^'*  Their  office  was  unique:  their  illumination  was  sufficient 
for  their  office.  They  had  received  the  word  and  the  sacraments  j 
the  commission,  the  power,  and  the  purposes  of  the  society  had  been 
declared.  From  the  lips  of  their  Lord,  in  his  solemn  conference  with 
his  Father  before  he  sulfered,  had  been  heard  the  ideal  oi  the  society, 
and  the  oneness  of  the  faith,  the  unity  of  its  life.  For  all  that  belonged 
to  the  ordering  of  the  house,  the  promise  was,  "  the  Spirit  whom  I 
will  send  will  guide  you  into  all  truth."  Hence  the  authority  which 
in  them  Christians  are  summoned  to  recognize.  They  sit  on  thrones, 
judging  the  tribes  of  God's  Israel. 

Yet  it  is  right  that  we  should  observe  the  limits  of  their  authority. 
It  may  be  overstated.  It  has  sometimes  been  overstated  by  Protes- 
tants. When  the  Puritans  (<?.  g.)  contended  that  "  the  word  of  God 
containeth  the  direction  of  all  things  pertaining  to  the  Church,"  f 
they  assumed  a  ground  which  cannot  be  maintained.  Many  things 
are  not  directed.  As  to  many  things,  we  may  surely  conclude  that 
the  Lord's  will  is,  that  we  follow  the  teaching  of  his  Spirit  enlighten- 
ing our  reason  as  to  what  is  wise  and  right  in  the  circumstances  special 
to  each  period,  country,  or  church.  More  judicious  is  the  saying  of 
Hooker,  that  "  the  principles  Scripture  setteth  down  are  not  few  and 
the  examples  many  which  it  proposeth  for  all  church  government,  even 
in  particularities,  to  follow."  |  Examples  do  not  enjoin — they  sug- 
gest applications  of  principles ;  and  in  this  way  the  New  Testament 
is  a  light  to  our  path  in  all  things.  But  we  must  not  niake  the  apos- 
tles' rule  more  strict  and  exact  than  they  themselves  invite  us  to  do. 
^ye  must  distinguish  between  what  is  obligatory  and  what  is  discretion- 
ary ;  we  must  recognize  the  latitude  which  their  example  recom- 
mends ;  and  allow  for  what  Archbishop  Whately  has  distinguished  as 
"  the  omissions  in  the  New  Testament." 

Well,  then,  what  strikes  the  candid  student  of  the  apostolic  polity, 
as  sketched  in  the  books  of  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles,  is  the  simple 
and  general  character  of  both  the  ritual  and  the  government  indicated. 
We  are  not  introduced  to  a  system  or  determinate  form ;  we  are  intro- 
duced to  an  outline  merely,  the  details  of  which  are  left  to  the  judg- 

*"Ecclesia,"  p.  11.  f  Cartwright's  "Reply,"  p.  14. 

J"  Ecclesiastical  Polity,"  Book  III.,  cap.  4.     Keble's  ed. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  649 

ment  of  Christians.  Enough,  and  only  enough,  we  might  say,  tu 
fulfil  the  ends  of  the  Christian  society.  The  synagogue,  it  is  often 
urged,  is  the  model  of  the  Church  of  the  first  century ;  and,  un- 
doubtedly, the  correspondence  between  the  Christian  order  and  the 
officers  and  regulations  of  the  synagogue  amply  warrants  the  assertion  ;* 
but,  if  it  is  so,  this  is  because  the  constitution  of  the  synagogue  was 
the  natural  expression  of  the  aims  and  idea  of  such  a  communion  as 
the  Christian. f  A  moment's  attention  to  the  position  of  the  Church, 
immediately  after  Pentecost,  will  show  that  the  order  subsequently 
established  was  the  nece.ssary  fruit  and  effect  of  the  life.  "  They  con- 
tinued steadfastly,"  it  is  stated,  "  in  the  apostles'  doctrine  and  fellow- 
ship and  in  breaking  of  bread  and  in  prayers. "|  "Doctrine"  or 
teaching  implies  teachers;  "  fellowship"  implies  rule  and  discipline  ; 
"  breaking  of  bread  and  prayers  "  imply  the  conduct  of  worship  and 
administration  of  ordinances.  Thus,  the  offices  required  for  each 
assembly  of  Christians  were  mainly  two  :  teachers  who  should  commu- 
nicate the  doctrine  of  the  apostles,  interpret  in  worship  the  conscious 
ness  of  believers,  overseeing  r.nd  admonishing  that  they  "might 
present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus;  "  and  administrators  who 
should  take  charge  of  the  common -wealth  and  the  charities,  along 
with  the  more  secular  affairs,  of  the  community.  Behold  the  two 
great  spheres  of  the  stated  Christian  ministry.  It  is  admitted  by  the 
most  competent  scholars,  whatever  their  ecclesiastical  views,  that  in 
the  New  Testament  there  is  no  distinction  of  grade  between  the  Epis- 
copus  and  the  Presbyter,  the  one  term  marking  the  office  and  the 
other  the  status  of  the  same  person,  "  Idem  est  ergo  Presbyter  qui 
Episcopus,"  says  Jerome. §  It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  trace 
the  growth  of  prelacy ;  sufficient  for  my  purpose  to  insist  that,  in  the 
first  century  when  the  impress  of  the  apostles'  mind  was  directly  felt, 
the  two  categories  or  orders  of  church  government  were  the  presbyter 
and  the  deacon.  I  prefer  to  speak  of  these  as  categories,  because 
there  was  often  a  college  of  presbyters  at  the  head  of  a  local  society, 
and  of  this  college  there  were  some  who  labored  more  especially  in 
word  and  doctrine  and  some  who  ruled  rather  than  taught ;  whilst, 
under  the  one  term  deacon,  were  included  both  deacons  and  deacon- 

*  Vitringa  "  On  the  Synagogue."  See  also  a  most  interesting  statement  of  Light- 
foot :    Heb.  and  Talmud,  heirest.  in  Matt.  iv.  23. 

-j-  Bishop  Lightfool,  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  p.  190, 
says,  "  Christian  congregations  in  Palestine  long  cpntinued  to  he  designated  by  th:s 
name  of  synagogue.  With  the  synagogue  itself  they  would  naturally,  if  not  neces- 
sarily, adopt  the  normal  government  of  a  synagogue;  and  a  body  of  elders  or  pres- 
byters would  be  chosen  to  direct  the  religious  worship,  and  partly  also  to  watch 
over  the  temporal  well-being  of  the  society." 

X  Acts  ii.  42. 

\  Comm.  in  Titus.  Very  interesting  the  words  which  follow  :  "Antequam  diaboli 
instinctu  stadia  in  religione  fierent,  et  diceretur  in  populis,  ego  sum  Pauli,  ego 
Apollo,  ego  autem  Cepha;,  conmiuni  presbyterorum  ancilio  ecclesite  gubeniabantur. 
Postquam  vero  unus  (juisque  eos,  quos  baptizavcrat,  suos  jiutabat  esse  non  Christi,  in 
toto  orbe  decretum  est  ut  unus  de  presbyteris  electus  superponeretus  ceteris  ad  quern 
tvrnnis  ecclesia;  cura  penmuit." 


650  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

esses.  It  does  not  appear  that  there  was  an  absolute  uniformity  in 
churches ;  in  those  which  looked  to  Jerusalem,  so  lofig  presided  over 
by  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  there  may  have  been  one  practice;  in 
those  organized  by  St.  Paul,  another;  probably,  in  the  Eastern 
churches  under  the  direction  of  St.  John  there  was,  first,  the  recogni- 
tion of  one  of  the  presbyters  as  the  Angel  of  the  congregation.  But 
in  all  there  was  a  unity  of  type,  and  in  all,  the  main  arteries  of  min- 
istry were  those  already  indicated. 

That  no  hard  and  inelastic  rule  was  imposed  on  the  assemblies  of 
Christians  in  the  period  under  review  is  evident  from  the  description 
in  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul  of  that  ministry  of  gifts  which  developed, 
not  in  opposition  to  but  in  harmony  with  the  ministry  of  order. 
There  were,  it  would  appear,  extraordifiary  functions,  represented  only 
in  a  few  persons  who,  like  the  apostles,  occupied  a  special  position. 
Such  were  the  prophets  and  evangelists  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians.  But  in  the  western  churches,  the  manifestations  of  the 
Spirit  were  marked  by  a  fulness  and  diversity  of  charism  sketched  in 
the  memorable  words:  "To  one  is  given  by  the  Spirit  the  word  of 
wisdom;  to  another,  the  word  of  knowledge  by  the  same  Spirit ;  to 
another,  faith  by  the  same  Spirit ;  to  another,  the  gifts  of  healing  by 
the  same  Spirit ;  to  another,  the  working  of  miracles  by  the  same 
Spirit;  to  another,  prophecy;  to  another,  discerning  of  spirits;  to 
another,  divers  kinds  of  tongues ;  to  another,  the  interpretation  of 
tongues;  all  working  that  one  and  the  self-same  Spirit,  dividing  to 
every  man  severally  as  he  will."*  These  delegations  of  spiritual 
power  were,  in  many  cases,  associated  with  the  imposition  of  the 
apostles'  hands.  But  this  imposition  was  not  invariably  the  symbol 
of  the  conveyance.  What  we  are  led  to  infer  is  that,  in  the  bright 
morning-time  of  Christianity,  the  expression  of  the  spiritual  conscious- 
ness was  more  various  and  striking  than  in  any  subsequent  era.  It 
may  be  that  we  see  not  the  same  signs,  because  the  temperature  of  the 
church  in  faith  and  love  is  colder.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  position 
with  which  I  am  concerned  is,  that,  far  from  any  interdict  being  laid 
on  this  expression,  far  from  its  being  regarded  as  incompatible  with 
the  order  of  Christ's  house,  every  Christian  was  reminded  that  what- 
ever gift  he  possessed  was  to  be  used  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of 
Christ ;  and  the  care  of  the  apostles  was  only  that  there  might  be  no 
worship  of  mere  display,  no  coveting  of  endowments  which  were 
remarkable  rather  than  useful,  and  that  all  faculties  of  speech  or  work 
should  be  exercised  in  a  seemly  manner,  in  subordination  to  the 
recognized  authority — this,  the  general  principle,  "Let  all  things 
be  done  decently  and  in  order." 

In  the  course  of  years,  this  ministry  of  gifts  gradually  fades  from 
sight.  Probably,  it  was  abused  ;  and  the  action  of  the  regular  church 
ministries  became  the  source  of  real  spiritual  instruction.  It  is  the 
dream  of  some — no  more  than  a  dream — that  such  a  ministry  might 


*  I  Corinthians  xii.  8-1 1. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  651 

be,  should  be,  the  only  Christian  ministry.  Those  in  whom  this  fond 
imagination  is  powerful  reject  the  teaching  of  history  subsequent  to 
the  New  Testament  epoch  :  wiser  and  soberer  minds  will  lay  that 
teaching  to  heart,  will  remember  that  what  is  spontaneous  in  one 
epoch  will  not  always  bear  to  be  a  rule  for  future  years,  and  realize 
that  a  duly  ordered  ministry  is  needful  to  the  regulation  of  spiritual 
force  and  to  the  tempering  of  the  spiritual  body  together. 

Time  will  not  admit  of  more  than  a  passing  reference  to  the  conse- 
quences to  the  Christian  Church  of  the  downfall  of  Jerusalem,  and, 
with  that,  the  destruction  of  the  temple  and  the  temple  system.  On 
the  one  hand,  this  event  tended  to  the  establishment  of  that  catho- 
licity which  St.  Paul,  as  against  those,  headed  perhaps  by  St.  Peter, 
to  whom  the  temple  was  still  the  house  of  God,  claimed  for  the  Chris- 
tian faith  and  discipline.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  increased 
the  risk  from  which  Christianity  had  never  been  free,  of  introducing 
the  .lestheticism,  the  sacerdotalism,  the  elaborate  government  of  the 
temple  into  the  assembly  of  believers.  The  temptation  to  revert  to 
the  "pattern  shown  in  the  mount"  had,  from  the  first  day  of  the 
church,  been  recognized  as  part  of  the  fight  of  faith  for  Jewish  Chris- 
tians •  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in  addition  to  those  of  St.  Paul, 
is  a  monument  of  the  earnest  contention  on  this  subject  of  the  more 
liberal  Christian  mind.  When  the  temple  disappeared,  an  additional 
impetus  was  given  to  the  effort  to  reproduce  in  Christianity  its  vener- 
able and  imposing  associations.  Another  influence — that  of  the 
paganism  with  which  the  church  was  brought  into  conflict — also  con- 
tributed to  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  church's  ministration.  It 
is  difficult  to  decide  which  of  these  two  influences  was  the  stronger,* 
But  the  leaven  of  Judaism  was  rendered  all  the  more  insidious  when 
it  ceased  to  be  an  organized  system.  And  so  it  was  that,  by  the 
third  century,  the  Christian  ministry  had  come  to  be  represented  as  a 
priesthood,  an  order  standing  between  God  and  the  faithful,  offering 
sacrifices  and  pronouncing  absolutions.  The  hierarchy,  with  all  which 
gathers  around  it,  is  manifest  as  having  root  and  spreading  its  branches 
in  the  generations  whose  prominent  persons  are  Tertullian  and  Cyprian. 

The  change  had  been  gradually  neared  ;  St.  Paul  foresaw  it.  It 
became  more  rapid  as  the  impress  of  the  apostolic  mind  was  weakened 
by  counteracting  forces.  What  I  am  concerned  at  present  to  main- 
tain is,  that  a  rigidly  fixed  sacerdotalism  was  an  element  wholly  for- 
eign to  the  first  days  of  the  Church  ;  that  it  was  not  a  legitimate 
development  of  the  polity  of  these  days,  but  marked  what  the  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  described  as  "an  entanglement  with  the  yoke  of 
bondage" — a  corruption  of  "  the  simplicity  of  Christ." 

For,  to  sum  up  the  argument  which  I  have  imperfectly  because 
hastily  expressed,  the  positions  which  a  candid  survey  of  the   first 

*  Bishop  Lightfoot,  in  his  "  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippinns,"  asserts 
that  the  origin  of  the  priestly  idea  in  the  Christian  Church  i^i  to  he  traced  exclu- 
sively to  the  influence  of  paganism  at  the  end  of  the  second  century ;  hut  he  admits 
that  the  form  which  the  idea  assumed  was  borrowed  from  the  I.evilical  law. 


652  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

century  of  the  Church — that  in  which  its  foundation  as  an  ecclesias- 
tical edifice  was  laid  by  the  apostles — would  seem  to  establish  are: 

1.  That  the  apostolic  polity  is  one  rather  of  broad  outlines  than  of 
fixed  determinate  forms. 

2.  That  these  outlines,  whilst  in  general  correspondent  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Jewish  synagogue,  were  appropriate  to  the  nature  and 
necessities  of  a  society  whose  objects  are  worship,  fellowship,  instruc- 
tion in  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  the  discipling  of  all  nations, 
according  to  Christ's  commandment. 

3.  That  the  Church  visible  is  recognized,  in  the  phraseology  of 
Hooker,  as  "the  true  original  subject  of  all  power."* 

4.  That,  within  the  outlines  indicated  in  the  apostolic  era,  and 
authoritative,  not  so  much  because  they  received  the  sanction  of  the 
apostles  as  because  they  are  adapted  to  the  Christian  society  of  all 
times,  and,  therefore,  received  the  sanction  of  the  apostles,  it  is 
competent  to  appoint  such  orders  of  ministry,  or  assign  to  particular 
persons  such  functions  as  may  be  judged  most  conducive  to  the  fur- 
therance of  the  ends  of  the  Christian  society. 

5.  That,  therefore,  it  may  be  assumed  that  there  is  in  a  Church  a 
discretionary  power — this  power  forming  part  of  its  responsibility — 
to  authorize  such  divisions  and  supplements  of  ministry  as  may  be 
called  for,  by  the  peculiar  needs  and  conditions  of  its  time  or  work, 
with  a  view  to  "  the  perfecting  of  saints,"  or  the  extension  of  the 
cause  of  Christ  on  the  earth. 

6.  In  brief,  that  whilst  certain  principles  of  order  are  fixed,  the 
machinery  of  government  is  left  free  to  be  altered  by  existing  circum- 
stances, so  that  order  may  "  control  with  growing  sway  the  growing 
life  of  men." 

These  positions  laid  down  ;  keeping  in  view  that  there  is  no  "Chi- 
nese exactness"  in  the  apostolic  polity  which  Presbyterian  Churches 
recognize  as  authoritative,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  these  churches, 
in  loyalty  to  the  Spirit  who  inspired  the  apostles  and  is  with  the 
Church  always,  so  to  regulate  and  adapt  their  organization  as  to  meet, 
in  the  fullest  possible  manner,  the  wants  and  needs  of  their  time ;  I 
propose,  in  the  sequel  of  this  paper,  to  consider  what  divisions  and 
supplements  of  the  ministry  of  the  Church  would  seem  to  be  recom- 
mended as  expedient  in  this  nineteenth  century  of  our  Lord. 

The  subject  is  so  vast  that  I  must  limit  myself  to  only  one  portion 
of  it — the  functions  connected  with  word  and  doctrine. 

*  Eccles.  Pulitv,  7-14.  The  passnge  in  which  this  phrase  occurs  is  significant, 
as  proceeding  from  the  great  advocate  of  prelacy:  "  Whereas,  some  do  infer  that 
no  ordination  can  stand  but  only  such  as  is  made  by  bishops,  which  have  had  their 
ordination  likewise  by  other  bishops  before  them,  till  we  come  to  the  very  apostles 
of  Christ  themselves;  to  this  we  answer,  that  there  may  be  sometimes  very  just  and 
sufficient  reason  to  allow  ordination  made  without  a  bishop.  The  whole  Church 
visible  being  the  true  original  subject  of  all  power,  it  hath  not  allowed  ordinarily  any 
other  than  bishops  alone  to  ordain  ;  howbeit,  as  the  ordinary  course  is  ordinarily  in 
all  things  to  be  showed,  so  it  may  be  in  some  cases  not  unnecessary  that  we  decline 
from  the  ordinary  ways." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  653 

Practically,  in  our  churches,  the  offices  of  pastor  and  teacher  are 
combined,  the  exception  being  the  case  of  those  appointed  to  teach 
the  future  pastors  of  the  Church  ;  and  the  conjunction  is  a  necessary 
one.  The  pastor  shepherds  the  flock  by  teaching,  by  not  only  the 
public  instruction  in  the  truth  of  God,  but  the  application  of  that 
truth  to  the  individual  members  of  his  flock.  Again,  for  the  ordinary 
and  regular  exposition  of  the  word,  the  most  helpful  teacher  is  the 
faithful  pastor.  Next  to  the  word  of  God,  the  best  book  which  the 
pastor  can  read  is  the  book  of  human  nature.  The  man  who  is  not  a 
constant  reader  of  that  book  may  possess  many  qualifications,  but  he 
will  be,  more  or  less,  a  mere  doctrinaire.  His  preaching  will  want  in 
grip,  application,  point ;  it  will  be  seldom  "  quick  and  powerful,  and 
sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword."  My  brethren  in  the  pastorate 
will  confirm  what  I  say:  that  the  sermons  most  blessed,  which  they 
give  with  most  freedom  and  which  tell  most  on  the  hearts  of  their  con- 
gregations, are  very  often  those  suggested  by  some  visit,  some  circum- 
stance or  incident,  some  personal  dealing  with  the  souls  of  men.  To 
separate  the  offices  of  pastor  and  teacher  would  be  a  loss  to  both — 
would  be  impossible. 

But  it  may  well  be  asked  whether,  with  reference  to  the  functions 
under  review,  there  might  not  be  a  beneficial  application  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  division  of  labor?  For  one  thing,  our  pastors  are  fre- 
quently so  burdened  with  multifarious  service,  so  distracted  by  "an 
aggregate  of  little  things,"  so  bound  to  be  here,  there  and  everywhere, 
that  they  have  no  leisure  so  much  as  to  eat ;  to  feed  their  own  minds, 
intellects,  hearts,  so  that  they  may  bring  forth  things  new  and  old. 
They  are  expected  to  be  always  eloquent,  always  interesting,  always 
ready  with  what  are  called /<?/// /<7;- discourses  on  Sunday,  and  visits  on 
week-days  ;  whilst  at  the  same  time  they  are  asked  to  lecture,  speech- 
ify, attend  committees,  take  their  place  at  all  sorts  of  boards,  etc. 
They  are  complained  of  if  they  do  not  visit,  then  they  are  said  to  be 
mere  preachers;  they  are  complained  of  if  they  do,  then  they  are  not 
preachers,  mere  pastors.  If  in  an  important  parish  or  charge,  they 
must  write  as  many  letters  as  a  lawyer,  make  as  many  calls  as  a  phy- 
sician, have  their  forenoons  and  evenings  constantly  interrupted,  so 
that  they  cannot  give  attendance  to  reading,  exhortation  and  doc- 
trine ;  they  cannot  realize  those  spaces  for  quiet,  earnest  thought,  for 
that  mental  and  spiritual  prejjaration  which  is  requisite  for  both 
pastors'  and  teachers'  work.  What  wonder  that  there  are  changes  so 
many  in  the  spheres  of  duty  !  that  people,  asking  what  they  have  no 
right  in  reason  to  ask,  should  not  seldom  wish  such  changes;  and  that 
ministers,  conscious  of  the  decline  of  originality  of  mind,  of  intel- 
lectual as  well  as  spiritual  force,  and  wearied  and  fretted  in  many 
ways,  should  welcome  the  relief  which  is  brought  by  a  change  of 
sphere  !  But  a  state  of  matters  such  as  this  acts  hurtfully  on  the  life 
and  strength  of  the  ministry,  and  the  life  and  temperament  of  the 
Church  at  large.  Some  lightening  of  the  load  which  now  rests  on 
one  pair  of  shoulders,  by  taking  much  of  it  and  distributing  it  over 


654  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  shoulders  of  others :  by  dividing  further  than  at  present  the 
•'service  of  tables"  from  the  ministry  of  the  word  and  prayer,  is 
imperatively  called  for,  if  the  pastorate  of  the  Church  is  to  be  realized 
as  it  ought  to  be. 

Extending  our  view :  let  us  consider  the  position  of  the  Christian 
Church  as  the  custodian  of  "  the  victory  which  overcomes  the  world," 
even  our  faith,  as  called  both  to  conserve  and  strengthen  the  life 
which  is  in  her  membership,  and  go  forth,  as  an  aggressive  power,  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.  In  these  respects,  her  atti- 
tude and  work  may  be  traced,  first,  with  reference  to  the  culture  so  fully 
and  largely  developed  in  our  day  ;  and  secondly,  with  reference  to  her 
more  special  province — the  awakenment  and  education  of  the  conscience. 
As  thus  contemplated,  there  appears  to  me  room  for  important  adap- 
tations or  divisions  of  the  ministry  of  word  and  doctrine. 

1.  The  diffusion  and  heightening  of  the  standard  of  education  in 
Protestant  countries  render  a  cultured  ministry  more  than  ever  neces- 
sary. The  first  of  requisites,  undoubtedly,  for  the  pastor  is  a  sincere 
and  ardent  piety  ;  but  the  second  is  such  learning,  such  literary  and 
scientific  knowledge  and  taste,as  shall  enable  him  to  present  the  truth 
in  forms  which  shall  win  both  the  intellect  and  the  heart— of  his  peo- 
ple. All  our  churches  are,  more  or  less,  alive  to  the  evil,  the  danger 
to  the  cause  of  religion,  of  being  infested  by  ignorant,  partially  edu- 
cated, vulgar  men  who  have  received  the  imprimatur  of  their  gov- 
erning bodies,  as  teachers.  In  a  great  house  there  are,  indeed,  vessels 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  vessels  also  of  wood  and  stone;  but  the  pity 
is  when  the  wood  is  unsound  and  the  stone  is  full  of  flaws.  But  on 
the  general  question  of  the  training  of  the  ministry,  I  am  not  called 
to  dwell.  What  I  wish  to  ask  is,  is  there  not  an  urgent  need  lor  some 
sp&cial  provision  in  the  ministry  for  the  higher  culture,  or  rather  the 
cultured  mind,  with  which  we  have  to  deal? 

One  feature  to  be  taken  into  account,  e.  g.,  is  the  ever-shifting,  I  will 
not  say  ever-new,  form  which  anti-Christian,  anti-theistic  error  assumes. 
And  the  inculcation  of  such  error,  let  it  be  remembered,  is  not  lim- 
ited to  the  few.  It  is  circulated  in  review  and  journal;  it  is  popular- 
ized in  treatises  which  are  read  by  multitudes  who  have  not  cast  off 
the  Christian  profession.  By  how  many  thousands,  e.g.,  has  such  a 
book  as  "The  Supernatural"  been  read  in  Great  Britain?  The  Ag- 
nosticism exposed  by  my  learned  friend.  Dr.  Flint,  how  insidiously  is 
it  filtrated  through  all  classes  of  our  communities?  It  is  impossible 
for  the  ordinary  teacher  to  be  ever  combating  the  Proteus-like  scepti- 
cism which  is  playing  on  so  many  intellects,  and  in  so  many  instances 
undermining  the  foundation  of  faith.  It  is  very  seldom  desirable  to 
introduce  the  apologetic  into  the  regular  Sunday  services.  Here, 
then,  is  presented  a  field  for  the  Christian  specialist.  It  is,  so  far, 
reached  by  our  professors  of  theology  ;  and  the  Church  has  a  right  to 
look  to  them  as  set  "  for  the  defence  and  confirmation  of  the  gospel." 
The  Church  of  England  has,  for  many  years,  enjoyed  a  great  oppor- 
tunity in  this  direction,  of  which  she  has  made  use  for  the  good  of  the 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  655 

whole  Church.  Her  Boyle,  Hulsean,  and  Bampton  lectures  have, 
from  year  to  year,  furnished  a  sort  of  index  to  the  predominant  huer. 
of  rationalistic  thought,  and  indicated  the  attitude  towards  them  of 
scholarly  orthodoxy.  And,  in  recent  years,  the  Presbyterian  Churches 
have  been  following  suit.  In  Scotland  we  have  our  Baird  and  Cun- 
ningham and  Croall  lectureships,  and  good  fruit  has  already  been 
borne  by  them.  In  America,  I  believe  that  the  lectureships  are 
numerous.  These  are  steps  in  the  right  direction.  Possibly,  some 
provision  still  more  definite  might  be  made  for  the  study  and  pro- 
mulgation of  a  sound  Christian  apologetic,  which  should  comprehend 
the  great  field  of  Biblical  criticism.  The  setting  apart  of  some  men 
specially  adapted  to  this  work,  giving  them  the  leisure  required  for 
the  systematic  and  continuous  prosecution  of  their  specialty,  might 
be  a  great  gain  to  the  Church — an  adaptation  of  order  to  the  wants  of 
life.* 

Let  me  be  excused  for  still  farther  prosecuting  this  part  of  my  sub- 
ject. In  considering  the  great  question  of  home  missions,  I  often 
ieel  that  one  element  is  not  sufficiently  taken  into  account.  We  are 
apt  to  be  engrossed  by  the  spectacle  of  the  thousands  of  poor  and 
ignorant  who  have  lapsed  from  the  standing,  and  have  cast  aside  alike 
the  privileges  and  responsibilities,  of  the  baptized.  A  sad  spectacle 
indeed,  and  one  which  calls  for  the  fullest  energies  of  our  churches. 
By  and  by,  I  shall  refer  to  it.  But  is  there  no  mission  to  the  wealthier 
and  the  educated  ?  Reflect,  what  a  mass  of  our  cultured  professional 
men,  lawyers,  physicians,  etc. — what  a  proportion  of  our  shrewd  men 
of  business — what  a  number  of  clever,  keen-witted  young  men— are 
outside  our  church  communion,  not  to  be  found  in  our  church  attend- 
ances !  Reflect,  again,  how  many  who  do  formally,  at  least  now  and 
again,  attend  our  ministrations  are — not  hostile,  perhaps,  but  certainly 
apathetic,  saying  nothing  about  their  doubts,  but  doubting;  needing,  at 
all  events,  to  have  their  attention  awakened  and  their  souls  stirred. 
These  will  not  be  reached  by  evangelistic  meetings  and  addresses ; 
they  are  repelled  by  that  style  of  mission.  True,  the  repulsion  may 
be  on  accouht  of  high  thoughts  needing  to  be  cast  down  ;  but  there 
are  more  ways  of  casting  down  such  high  thoughts  than  one ;  and  the 
number  of  persons  is  not  inconsiderable  the  most  effectual  mode  of 
reaching  whom  is  through  intellectual  conviction — through  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  Christian  appeal  in  a  form  commanding  the  reason, 

*  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  qu(jte  the  weighty  words  of  Professor  Flint,  in  a  speech 
at  the  Edinburgh  meeting  of  the  Council :  "  The  churches  ought  to  take  into  their 
serious  consideration  whether  they  are  doing  enough  to  train  up  a  band  of  Christian 
scholars  capable  of  repelling,  on  equal  terms,  the  attack  of  unbelieving  scholars 'of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  ...  It  is  a  wrong  state  of  things,  that  when  theories  which 
which  would  overturn  the  very  foundation  of  the  Christian  faith  are  imported  into 
a  country,  there  should  be  among  the  natural  defenders  of  the  faith  in  that  country 
a  marked  lack  of  the  kind  of  scholarship  required.  This  wrong  state  of  things  ex- 
ists, I  believe,  in  most,  if  not  all,  of  our  Presbyterian  Churches,  and  they  cannot 
ti)o  seriously  consider  how  it  is  to  be  righted." — "  Proceedings  of  First  General 
Presbyterian  Council,"  pp.  210,  2U. 


656  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

inciting  the  imagination,  and  so  preparing  for  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
on  the  conscience.  Add  to  all  this,  that  the  power  of  custom,  the 
recognition  of  authority,  is  now  greatly  weakened.  Men  are  more 
and  more  coming  to  our  places  of  worship  as  they  please — not  see- 
ing it  to  be  a  duty  apart  from  all  likings  of  their  own.  We  niav  rf- 
gret  this  ;  but  so  it  is.  Does  not  this  indicate  that  our  churches 
should  bestir  themselves  so  as  to  seek,  even  by  a  holy  guile,  to  win 
this  influential  and  increasing  class  of  minds?  In  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury the  Church  of  Rome  instituted  the  great  preaching  order  of  St . 
Dominic  and  Francis  of  Assisi,  to  counteract  the  spread  of  erroneous 
opinions  and  to  secure  a  higher  and  fuller  preaching  power.  Would 
it  not  be  well,  if,  avoiding  the  monastic  exaggeration,  we  laid  our- 
selves out  to  encourage  a  more  fully  sustained  and  loftier  oratory  ? 
Oratory,  Cicero  reminds  us,  requires  a  constant  diligence ;  the  most 
effective  pulpit  oratory  of  the  character  to  which  I  have  alluded  de- 
mands an  application,  a  study,  a. perfecting  in  art,  no  less  than  a  re- 
plenishment with  knowledge,  which  it  is  impossible  for  our  pastors  to 
realize.  All  pastors  are  not  qualified  to  be  great  preachers.  Some  who 
are  are  so  distracted  by  other  calls,  their  time  is  so  frittered,  their 
faculties  of  mental  concentration  so  impaired,  that  they  cannot  give 
the  fulness  of  their  ability  to  the  service  of  the  pulpit.  My  convic- 
tion is  that  such  endowments  as  would  enable  men,  with  the  peculiar 
gifts  requisite  to  the  orator  whom  intellectual  or  keen-witted  persons 
will  hear  with  respect  and  deference,  to  cultivate  their  talents  to  the 
fullest,  would  be  a  great  advantage  in  our  time.  The  Church  of 
England,  in  her  cathedral  prizes,  deaneries,  canonries,  and  preben- 
daries, has,  in  connection  with  this,  a  faculty  of  influence  which  she 
might  utilize  far  more  than  she  does.  Is  there  any  reason  why  our 
Presbyterian  Churches,  keeping  to  their  own  lines,  should  not  have  their 
order  of  special  preachers  ?  Let  any  one  think  of  the  crowds  which 
hang  on  the  lips  of  Canon  Liddon  in  England,  and  listen  to  his  elo- 
quent, closely  reasoned  expositions  of  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  his 
Church ;  let  any  one  think  of  the  conferences  which  used  to  be  held 
in  Notre  Dame,  by  Lacordaire  and  others ;  the  conferences  of  Hya- 
cinthe,  Bersier,  Reveillaud  among  non-Romanist  orators;  let  any  one 
think  of  the  attraction  of  a  great  preacher  in  our  churches ;  he  will 
be  satisfied  that  the  result  of  the  establishment  of  the  special  order 
for  which  I  have  pleaded  is  not  doubtful — that  by  God's  blessing  it  will 
widen  the  area  and  increase  the  volume  of  the  action  of  our  churches 
in  the  life  of  our  people. 

2.  In  considering  the  work  of  the  ministry  on  the  civisciences  of 
men,  I  do  not  enlarge  on  the  duties  of  the  regular  pastorate.  What 
r  have  particularly  before  me  is  the  need,  which  the  most  earnest  pas- 
tors are  the  foremost  in  acknowledging,  of  times  of  awakenment,  of 
intenser  action,  of  refreshing  from  the  Lord's  presence.  A  great  risk 
in  connection  with  our  congregational  life  is,  the  sliding  into  a  merely 
cornfortable  routine.  Men  speak  of  sober  piety — certainly,  true  piety 
is  always  sober ;  but  what  is  called  soberness  may  sometimes  be  peril- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  657 

ously  allied  to  spiritual  torpor.  The  ways  of  the  soberly  pious  minis- 
ter and  congregation  may  be  ruts  so  deeply  worn  that  real  progress  is 
hindered.  Surely  the  cry  of  all  who  have  a  real  passion  for  souls  will 
be,  "  Lord,  wilt  thou  not  revive  us  again  ?  "  The  idea  of  a  revival 
will  not  be  one  foreign  to  such  ;  rather  will  it  represent  an  earnest  and 
continuous  longing.  Epochs  of  quickened  enthusiasm  are  epochs  of 
growth.  I  believe  that  of  late  there  has  been,  in  many  quarters,  an 
attention  previously  lacking  to  what  I  may  call  the  phenomena  of  re- 
vivals. Revivals  -have  been  much  more  frequent — much  more  features 
on  which  persons  could  reckon — in  America  than  in  the  more  con- 
servative countries  of  Europe  ;  but  in  Scotland,  at  least,  some  to  whom 
all  that  savors  of  the  camp-meeting,  of  rant  and  violence,  is  repulsive, 
have  been  led  to  inquire  whether,  discounting  what  is  extraneous, 
there  is  not  much  in  the  revival  to  be  noted  and  desired  ;  whether  it 
is  not  suggestive  of  methods  adapted  to  the  quickening  of  conscience 
and  the  enlivenment  of  faith,  which  are  sorely  wanted  in  our  congre- 
gatiot»s.  From  my  study  of  past  revivals,  two  things  seem  to  me 
to  be  established  :  the  one,  that  the  acconipamments  which  have  some- 
times presented  themselves  and  which  cannot,  I  think,  be  regarded  as 
healthy  symptoms,  such  as  hysterical  prostrations,  induced  by  pro- 
tracted meetings,, unduly  heated  appeals  to  the  emotions,  shattering^ 
of  the  nervous  system,  and  the  infection  of  excited  crowds,  are  re- 
duced in  the  measure  in  which  wise  as  well  as  earnest  men  head  and 
guide  the  movement.  There  was  a  marked  absence  of  all  such  symp- 
toms in  the  work  of  Mr.  Moody,  in  Scotland,  three  years  ago.  And 
the  other,  that  the  results  are  most  exhibitive  of  a  genuine  Christian 
life,  and  have  most  permanence  and  stability,  when  the  revival  is  com- 
prehended by  the  order  of  the  Church — when  the  Christian  ministry 
oversees  and  seeks  to  consolidate  the  impressions  produced.  The 
conviction,  therefore,  which  I  have  been  led  to  cherish  is,  that  the 
Church,  speaking  of  it  as  an  ecclesiastical  body,  should  endeavor,  by 
sympathetic  and  deliberate  action,  to  realize  the  benefits,  whilst  min- 
imizing the  evils  or  dangers,  of  a  period  of  spiritual  movement.  In- 
citement  rather  than  ^.vcitement  should  be  the  aim. 

There  are  men  in  our  pastorates  whose  gifts  and  aptitudes  are  rather 
in  the  direction  of  mission-preachers  or  evangelists  than  in  that  of 
pastors.  By  setting  them  free  to  the  cultivation  of  their  special  apti- 
tude, an  increased  power  of  service  would  be  secured.  And  there  are 
others,  not  in  our  pastorates,  who  might  well  be  associated  with  them. 
In  the  English  Church — but  connected  with  the  High  Churcli  ])arty — 
there  is  an  order  of  missioners  under  rule  and  discipline.  Apart  fron'k 
this  order,  however,  there  are  men  such  as  Mr.  Haslam,  Mr.  Hay 
Aitken,  and  others,  who  have  resigned  their  pastorates,  and,  with  great 
gain  to  the  Church  in  general,  have  devoted  themselves  entirely  to 
special  evangelistic  work.  They  are  at  the  service  of  clergy  and  par- 
ishes, conducting  missions  under  the  supervision  of  the  incumbenfs 
of  the  parish,  and  seeking,  by  various  agencies  and  modes,  to  reach 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  in  the  parish.  And  it  is  not  too  much 
42 


658  TfJR   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  say  that  their  plan  of  operation  and  the  nature  of  their  work  mark 
a  great  improvement  on  the  kind  of  evangelistic  meetings  with  which, 
in  the  British  Isles,  we  are  familiar.  Among  the  advantages  secured 
are,  continuity  of  spiritual  instruction  ;  variety,  with  harmony,  of 
effort;  the  absence  of  the  sort  of  dissipation  often  caused  by  a  multi- 
tude of  speakers  and  addresses  ;  with  the  he'lp  to  souls  realized  through 
closer  and  closer  intimacy  with  one  mind  full  of  God's  love  and  seek- 
ing, in  the  pastor's  fellowship,  tlie  good  of  individuals.  I  have 
heard  from  many  clergymen  of  the  happy  reapingttimes  realized  in 
mission  work.  And,  to  what  has  been  said,  I  may  add  a  subsidiary 
gain — that  the  place  of  the  missioners  or  evangelists  being  more  fully 
recognized  would  insure  a  relief  to  the  ministers  of  congregationi-. 
They  are  called  to  much  evangelistic  work,  a  kind  of  labor  for  which 
they  are  not  always  eminently  fitted  ;  and  supposing  an  eminent  fit- 
ness, extensive  engagement  in  which  rather  hinders  than  promotes 
their  usefulness  as  pastors.  The  pastor's  duty  is  to  shepherd  the  sheep, 
to  confirm  and  consolidate  the  society;  the  evangelist's  part  is  tOflbring 
in,  to  prepare  for  the  pastor's  function.  •  True,  there  can  be  no  clearly 
cut  division  between  the  pastor  and  the  evangelist :  the  one  must  be, 
in  so  far,  the  other  also ;  but  such  an  apportionment  of  spheres  as  I 
have  indicated  would,  I  believe,  be  for  the  spiritual  enlivenment  and 
enrichment  of  the  Church. 

The  Free  Church  of  Scotland  has  already,  in  at  least  one  instance 
of  which  I  know,  called  a  man  whose  influence  had  been  greatly 
blessed  to  the  office  of  evangelist.  He  was  so  nominated,  if  I  mistake 
not,  by  a  vote  of  the  General  Assembly.  Would  it  not  be  well  for 
our  Presbyterian  chiirches  to  consider  whether  such  a  function,  under 
proper  conditions,  might  not  be  included  in  their  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization ? 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  expedient  to  refer  to  si(ppleme7itary 
ministries  already,  in  some  measure,  existing,  but  without  the  impri- 
matur of  constituted  church  authority.  On  a  Sunday  evening,  this 
summer,  I  spent  two  hours  in  quiet  observation  of  the  scene  in  the 
great  East  End  Park  of  Glasgow.  A  superintendent  of  police  whom 
I  consulted  estimated  the  number  of  persons  forming  the  rings  around 
the  green  preachers  as  nearly  20,000.  In  the  evangelistic  tent  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood,  not  fewer  than  2,000  persons  were 
present.  Many  of  these  had  the  aspect  of  well-to-do  artisans  ;  many 
of  them  I  recognized  as  church-going  people  ;  but  a  great  proportion 
were  men  and  women  unconnected  with  churches,  some  who  Were  in 
the  habit  of  attending  these  rings  or  the  tent  as  regularly  as  those  who 
occupy  pews  in  places  of  worship;  others  attracted  by  curiosity  ;  and 
the  aspects  of  not  a  few  spoke  of  extreme  poverty  and  want.  Of  this 
mass  of  people,  it  may  be  said  that  the  ordinary  church  service  is 
unattractive  to  them  ;  they  crave  addresses  more  free,  plain,  story- 
telling, sharp  and  pointed  than  sermons  from  the  pulpit;  a  style  of 
things,  in  short,  more  adapted  to  the  level  of  their  life  and  more 
directly  reaching  their  hearts.      Few  of  our  clergy  have  the  knack  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  659 

getting  to  tlierh  ;  even  the  best  of  clerical  evangelists  are  so  separated 
from  their  surroundings  that  they  cannot  hit  the  nail  with  the  direct- 
ness and  force  with  which  the  best  of  lay  evangelists  hit  it.  I  am  very 
far  from  approving  of  much  that  is  said  and  done  by  green  and  street 
preachers ;  but  there  are  men  whose  force  it  is  impossible  to  deny, 
and  it  has  often  occurred  to  me  that  a  lay  evangelist's  license  wouM 
tend  to  supply  a  link  between  the  regular  ministry  of  the  Church  and 
the  multitudes  that,  at  present,  are  outside  the  sphere  of  Church  order. 
Whatever,  without  interfering  with  the  liberty  and  spontaneity  of  the 
agency  referred  to,  will  bring  the  Christian  Church  in  its  corporate 
capacity  nearer  the  people,  is  a  gain  to  the  Church,  whilst  it  contributes 
a  gentle  check  on  extravagances  which  are  apt  to  develop.  I  am  ac- 
quainted with  earnest  and  useful  missionaries  who  long  for  such  a 
license  as  that  which  I  have  indicated — not  so  much  because  of  any 
authority  which  it  might  confer,  as  because  of  the  place  which  it  gives 
in  the  Church  body,  and  the  sympathy  which  it  pledges  on  the  part 
of  those  set  to  rule  in  the  house  of  God. 

There  is  another  element  of  our  artisan  class,  whose  attitude  towards 
not  the  Christian  Church  only,  but  the  Christian  life  also,  claims  most 
serious  attention.  How  many  of  the  skilled  artisans  in  our  larger 
cities  are  indifferent,  if  not  antagonistic,  to  Christianity  !  It  is  to  be 
feared  that  the  action  of  some  of  the  unions  and  clubs,  which  enlist 
the  energies  of  more  active  spirits,  and  the  tone  of  not  a  few  of  the 
most  prominent  of  the  often  self-constituted  leaders  of  the  working- 
class,  are  distinctly  hostile  to  the  Church.  Nor  can  the  ministers  of 
the  Church  be  wholly  exonerated.  They  are  not  always  just  towards 
the  demands  of  labor ;  not  always  generous  in  the  part  which  they  take 
as  between  the  conflicting  interests  of  capital  and  labor.  Their  voice 
is  sometimes  wanting  both  in  the  right  kind  of  firmness  and  the  rightly 
appreciative  spirit  of  brotherhood.  Into  causes,  however,  of  prevalent 
tempers  and  attitudes,  it  is  not  my  province  to  inquire.  It  is  enough 
to  say  that  the  modes  of  bridging  the  chasm,  becoming  perilously 
wide, between  a  great  fraction  of  our  working  people  and  the  life  and 
worship  of  Protestapt  communities,  represent  a  problem  which  our 
churches  cannot  too  soon  and  too  earnestly  face.  What  a  field  for  the 
exertion  of  wise  and  gifted  men  is  thus  opened  up  ! 

There  are  other  adaptations  and  supplements  of  the  ministry  of  word 
and  doctrine  on  which  I  cannot  enlarge.  A  hint  concerning  one  of 
the  adaptations  not  yet  noticed  is  suggested  to  me  by  the  case  of  a 
venerable  man  whom  I  had  hoped  to  welcome  as  a  delegate  from  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland.  He  was  for  very  many  years  minister  of 
one  of  the  largest  congregations  belonging  to  that  body  in  the  city  of 
Glasgow.  At  an  age  when  most  men  contemplate  retirement  from 
toil,  and  few  can  set  themselves  to  new  effort,  Dr.  Somerville  accepted 
the  invitation  of  the  United  Evangelistic  Committee  to  be  the  expo- 
nent of  the  more  catholic  aspect  of  their  work.  He  was  released  from 
the  duties  of  the  pastorate,  and  within  the  last  six  years  he  has  visited 
India,  Aiiistralia,  and  America,  cheering  the  hearts  of  his  brethren  in 


66o  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  ministry,  originating  activities,  preaching  the  word,  confirming 
the  churches.  Lately  he  has  visited  France  and  Italy,  countries 
whose  language  he  scarcely  understood,  but  to  thousands  of  whose 
people  he  has  spoken  through  interpreters — thousands  on  thousands, 
the  greater  number  Roman  Catholics,  assembling  to  see  and  hear  the 
"old  man  eloquent."  Such  a  man,  engaged  in  such  labor,  realizes 
the  idea — in  another  form,  produces  the  truth — oi  the  apostle,  the  one 
sent  forth  not  to  lord  it  over,  but  to  be  a  voice  in  the  midst  of  churches 
both  to  Christian  and  non-Christian  people.  The  best  kind  of  corre- 
spondence between  different  communions  of  the  Reformation  is,  a  man 
in  his  spirit  and  fulfilling  his  part.  He  himself  has  often  Expressed 
the  hope  that  he  might  be  d. pioneer  of  future  apostles — of  a  new  type 
of  Christian  enterprise — that  what  he  has  been  enabled  to  do  might 
be  accepted  as  a  breaking  of  ground  for  others,  an  indication  that 
there  is  a  blessing  prepared  for  those  whom  churches  might  send  forth 
as  their  messengers  to  Christendom.  And  when  one  thinks  of  the  mis- 
sionaries scattered  through  heathendom,  needing  tokens  of  sympathy 
too  often  withheld,  the  anointings  of  Christian  love  supplied  through 
Barnabas— like  brethren,  needing  to  have  their  courage  strengthened 
and  their  hands  held  up  amid  manifold  discouragement  and  trial ; 
when  one  thinks  of  the  number  of  small  Christian  colonies  in  the 
midst  of  heathendom  requiring  all  the  help  and  confirmation  which 
the  more  consolidated  churches  can  give  ;  one  feels  that  there  is  a  call 
for  the  separation  from  local  trammels  of  those  in  whose  genius,  tem- 
perament, and  power  may  be  read  the  evidence  that  the  God  of  peace 
has  given  them  to  his  dear  Son  as  apostles  of  the  Church  which  is  his 
body. 

A  supplement  of  ministry,  whose  importance  it  is  scarcely  possible 
to  overrate,  is  found  in  our  Sabbath-schools.  The  questions  bearing 
on  their  condition  and  efficiency  it  is  not  for  me  to  discuss.  Only 
one  point  I  instance.  The  voluntary  character  of  the  agency  is  both 
Its  strength  and  its  weakness.  May  we  not  learn  a  lesson  from  the 
great  volunteer  force ? — the  reserve  army  which,  year  after  year,  is 
increasing  in  usefulness  in  my  native  land.  The  regiments,  both 
officers  and  privates,  are  composed  of  volunteers,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions.  These  exceptions  tend  to  maintain  the  spontaneity  of 
the  movement,  because  they  secure  a  thoroughness  of  drill  and  appoint- 
ment. Every  regiment  has  its  adjutant  and  quarter-master,  trained 
soldiers,  belonging  to  the  regular  army,  acquainted  with  the  theory  and 
art  of  military  service.  When  our  Sunday-school  system  is  becoming; 
every  year,  more  important,  would  it  not  be  possible  to  have,  attached 
to  our  unions  or  our  church-staffs,  men  of  competent  knowledge  and 
experience,  who  had  studied  the  art  of  teaching  in  schools  and  normal 
colleges,  whose  function  Avould  be  to  oversee  the  organizations  of 
schools,  the  grading  of  pupils,  the  methods  of  instruction,  and  aid 
superintendents  in  all  that  is  necessary  to  a  fully  equipped  and  suc- 
cessful agency?  Such  men  might  have  the  authority  of  a  license  from 
church  courts;  and  might  be  of  eminent. use.. not  merely  to  teachers, 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  661 

but  to  pastors  in  the  revival  of  a  department  of  pastoral  duty  which 
used  to  be  one  of  the  features  of  Scottish  parochial  life,  but  has  now 
almost  wholly  disappeared,  the  catechizing  of  those  of  tender  years. 
They  might  fill  the  place,  but  in  a  way  suited  to  a  new  time,  of  the 
old  order  of  catechist. 

But  it  is  time  to  draw  this  paper  to  a  close.  It  will  be  manifest,  I 
hope,  that  no  change  in  respect  of  any  essential  feature  of  our  common 
Presbyterian  ism  has  been  proposed.  We  accept  the  system  according 
to  which  the  Churches  in  this  Alliance  are  organized  as  "  founded  on 
the  word  of  God  and  agreeable  thereto."  Nothing  can  be  more 
remote  from  my  purpose  than  any  attempt  to  take  from  the  sacred 
character,  or  to  diminish  what,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  I  may  call 
the  prestige  of  the  ministry  of  the  Lord  established  among  us.  I 
magnify  the  office  to  which,  with  honored  fathers  and  brethren,  I 
have  been  set  apart  by  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery.  My  contention 
amounts  only  to  this  :  I  have  proceeded  on  the  principle  that,  with- 
in the  lines  which  we  believe  to  be  harmonious  with  those  of  the 
apostolic  polity,  there  is  an  elasticity  in  our  system  which  allows  the 
sway  of  "  beauteous  order"  to  grow  correspondently  with  the  growth 
of  life  in  successive  ages ;  and  I  have  advocated  such  extensions  or 
adaptations  of  the  licensing  power  which  our  courts  possess  as  seem 
to  be  called  for  by  the  wants  of  our  time,  or  the  variety  of  that 
"  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  which  is  given  to  every  man  to  profit 
withal." 

It  is  from  the  stand-point  of  a  true  conservatism  that  I  offer  my 
suggestions.  It  were  an  evil  day  for  Christianity  if  the  more  vigorous 
and  earnest  thought  and  feeling  should  be  found  outside,  if  not 
alienated  from,  constituted  ecclesiastical  authority.  There  can  be 
no  greater  disaster  to  the  Church  than  a  conflict,  or  even  an  apparent 
conflict,  between  life  and  order.  Such  a  conflict  has  not  been  un- 
known in  the  history  of  churches.  We  trace  it  in  the  Scottish  Church 
in  the  time  of  the  Haldanes  and  Whitefield,  when  the  fervor  of  the 
evangelical  revival  in  England  was  communicated  to  the  northern 
kingdom.  We  trace  it  in  the  history  of  the  American  Church,  in  the 
agitation  of  the  New  Brunswick  Presbytery  and  the  split  from  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  schism  of  the  Cumberland  Presbytery 
which  for  a  time  rent  the  Church  in  Kentucky.*  Doubly  disastrous 
a  conflict  of  this  sort  is  :  disastrous  to  the  life  of  the  Church,  tempt- 
ing to  excesses  and  irregularities  which,  in  the  end,  nullify  the 
blessing  of  the  earlier  time  of  spiritual  work  ;"|'  and  disastrous  to  the 
order  of  the  Church,  inducing  a  hardness  of  temper,  sometimes  a 
harshness  of  action,  which  cannot  but  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

*  See  Willet's  "  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,"  vol.  2,  cap.  29. 

f  WiUet,  2,  p.  196  :  "  The  deadness  and  lethargy  of  religion  were  broken  up  ;  but 
Honeites,  Shal<ers  and  the  Cumberland  schism  sprang  u])  out  of  the  chaos.  The 
bewildered  were  drifted  on  with  the  current  that  swept  them  into  fanatical  excess; 
while  the  sanguine  were  plunged  by  excitement  into  error  and  folly,"  etc. 


662  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

A  stiff,  unsympathetic  attitude  on  the  part  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment plays  into  the  hands  of  fanaticism,  and  is  the  surest  way  of  in- 
creasing and  intensifying  the  power  of  sect.  It  appears  to  me,  there- 
fure,  that  a  wise  statesmanship  bids  our  church  courts  consider  how, 
scrupulously  observant  of  the  stated  and  regular  government  of  the 
Church,  they  may  best  make  room  for  the  diversity  of  operations,  so 
realize  the  flexibility  of  order  as  that  it  shall  comprehend  and  bless 
the  manifestations  of  life.  "A  flourishing  church,"  it  has  been  said, 
"  requires  a  vast  and  complicated  organization  which  should  afford  a 
place  for  every  one  who  is  ready  to  work  in  the  service  of  humanity. 
The  enthusiasm  should  not  be  allowed  to  die  out  in  any  one  for  want 
of  the  occupation  best  calculated  to  keep  it  alive."*  Wise  and  well- 
considered  words  !  The  more  fully  we  evoke,  in  an  orderly  manner, 
the  capacities,  the  aptitudes,  the  gifts  of  Christ's  people,  the  more  we 
insure  the  casting  of  all  crowns,  be  they  those  of  intellect  or  of  action, 
before  the  throne  of  Him  who  liveth  forever  and  ever. 

The  spirit  of  our  age  is  critical.  It  is  impatient  of  all  that  seems 
to  be  but  is  not.  It  tears  aside  the  padding  and  demands  to  see  what 
is  beneath.  There  is  a  conservatism  in  it,  because  there  is  wisdom  in 
it ;  and  wisdom  is  always  conservative  of  whatever  is  good,  or  meet 
for  use.  But  it  will  prove  all  things.  It  is — perhaps  excessively  so — 
utilitarian;  and  yet,  sometimes  almost  excessively  so,  it  is  generous. 
Let  fitness  be  shown  or  felt,  and  the  support  will  be  abundant  and 
ungrudging.  Our  churches  should  recognize  this.  They  need  not 
fear;  if  only,  in  the  first  place,  they  are  true  to  the  Lord,  and,  in  the 
next  place,  earnestly  seek  to  realize  the  utmost  possible  use  of  ministry 
and  ordinance.  Many  are  they  who  tremble  for  the  ark  of  God.  The 
alarm  is  not  so  much  lest  the  ark  be  carried  into  some  Dagon  temple 
of  Fhilistia ;  it  is  that  it  remain  in  God's  Israel,  without  the  covenant 
and  the  law,  a  creed-form,  but  without  a  creed  which  holds  the 
living  faith  of  living  men.  Many  are  they  whose  forebodings  as  to 
things  coming  in  the  earth  are  gloomy  ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  powers 
of  heaven,  Chufches,  ecclesiastical  organizations,  shall  be  shaken. 
Our  duty  is  in  the  present ;  doing  our  duty,  the  future  we  may  trust 
to  our  Lord,  and  our  duty  is,  observant  of  the  day  and  the  hour,  to 
realize  to  the  fullest,  the  efficiency  of  the  weapons  of  spiritual  warfare, 
to  consider  what  refurbishings  and  recastings  may,  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  make  them  more  mighty  towards  the  casting  down  of  all  that 
is  opposed  to  Christ.  "They  may  as  well  tell  me,"  says  Lord  Bacon, 
"  that  churches  and  chapels  need  no  reparations,  though  castles  and 
houses  do,  whereas,  commonly,  to  speak  truth,  dilapidations  of  the 
inward  and  spiritual  edifications  of  the  Church  of  God  are,  in  all 
times,  as  great  as  the  outward  and  material.  ...  A  good  husband  is 
ever  pruning  in  his  vineyard,  or  his  field,  not  unseasonably  and  un- 
skilfully, but  lightly,  he  findeth  ever  somewhat  to  do." 

With  such  "seasonable  and  skilful  pruning,"  let  us  rest  assured 

*  "  Ecce  Homo,"  p.  212. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL,  663 

that  a  great  future  extends  before  our  common  Presbyterianism.  Con- 
servative, yet  liberal ;  orderly,  yet  free  ;  tending  ever  towards  logical 
consistency  in  doctrine  whilst  yet  allowing  scope  for  the  religion  of 
the  heart ;  unfettered  by  any  theory  which  unchurches  others,  although 
protected  by  principles  which  preserve  the  continuity  of  the  Church  ; 
honoring  the  word  of  God  as  the  supreme  standard  whilst  yet  it  exalts 
the  living  Word,  the  personal  Christ,  as  overall  and  in  all ;  simple  in 
worship,  yet  at  liberty  to  aim  at  what  is  comely  and  devout  and  beau- 
tiful ;  resting  on  a  definite  constitution,  yet,  for  all  strength,  looking 
only  to  the  Spirit  of  God  and  seeking  wholly  that  Christ  be  magnified; 
surely,  we  may  cherish  the  hope  that,  in  the  fire  of  judgment,  it  shall 
be  purified  but  not  destroyed  ;  that  the  generations  to  come,  even  more 
than  those  who  have  gone,  shall,  in  its  ordinances  and  ministries,  dis- 
cern the  signs  of  a  city  of  God  whose' "foundation  is  in  the  holy  moun- 
tains." 

DEMAND  FOR  MINISTERS. 

The  President. — Next  in  order  is  a  communication  from  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland,  on  the  world's  demand 
for  ministers. 

Prof.  Calderwood  was  called  upon. 

Prof,  Calderwood. — You  will  recognize,  in  turning  to  this 
programme,  that  there  was  set  down  at  the  beginning  of  our 
arrangement,  a  communication  from  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland,  on  the  world's  demand  for  ministers.  That 
communication  did  not  take  shape  actually  as  a  communication 
to  the  Council,  but  rather  as  an  instruction  to  the  delegates  from 
the  Church.  Accordingly  the  Business  Committee  determined 
that  this  was  not  a  communication  to  be  formally  submitted  to 
the  Council.  In  that  decision  the  delegates  perfectly  acquiesced. 
I  suppose,  therefore,  I  am  called  upon  just  now  simply  that 
there  may  be  an  opportunity  given  to  those  delegates  for  saying 
anything  that  may  be  needful  on  the  subject.  As  the  moderator 
of  the  Synod,  I  have  on  this  occasion  responded  to  the  call 
simply  that  I  may  communicate  to  the  Council  very  briefly  what 
the  circumstances  are. 

You  will  at  once  recogmze  what  is  implied  if  you  emphasize 
the  "  world's  demand  for  ministers."  The  question  before  our 
Church  has  been  this :  How  are  we  to  secure  that  the  supply 
appearing  in  our  several  theological  schools  shall  prove  to  be  a 


664  THE  PRESBYTHRIAN  ALLIANCE. 

supply  adequate,  not  simply  for  the  wants  of  the  denominations 
to  which  these  students  belonij,  but  ultimately  a  joint  supply 
from  all  churches  adequate  to  the  world's  demand  ?  You  have 
heard,  from  the  statement  already  made  this  afternoon,  that  there 
are  not  a  few  of  the  churches  who  find  difficulty  in  bringing  the 
supply  up  to  their  own  demand.  I  am  here  to-day  to  say  that 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  is  in  the  opposite 
position — finding  the  supply  of  its  students  far  beyond  its  own 
demand.  The  question  which  came  before  our  supreme  court 
was  this,  How  to  secure  that  the  spirit  of  consecration  to  the 
work  of  Christ,  which  was  becoming  apparent  amongst  our 
young  men,  should  not  be  checked,  but  should  be  encouraged 
— how  that  should  be  stimulated,  and  thereby  opportunity  given 
for  direct  work  to  men  who  were  willing  to  consecrate  them- 
selves to  the  great  cause  of  Jesus  Christ  in  preaching  the  gospel. 
Now  I  must,  not  speaking  as  representing  our  supreme  court, 
but  for  myself  on  the  present  occasion,  urge  fathers  and  brethren 
that  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  does  regulate  the  supply  of 
students.  Say  and  do  what  you  please,  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand  does  regulate  it ;  and  say  what  you  please,  or  do  what 
you  please,  we  all  recognize  it.  Let  me  ask  you  to  look  at  it 
for  a  moment  only  in  this  light :  Do  you  not  see,  in  the  history 
of  every  denomination,  a  period  when  the  supply  for  the  minis- 
try exceeds  the  demand,  and  that  three  years  thereafter  you  will 
see  the  beginning  of  a  diminution,  and  six  years  afterwards  you 
will  see  that  diminution  down  to  a  very  low  point?  Why? 
Simply  because  if  you  have  three  times  the  number  of  students 
and  preachers  that  you  have  spheres  for  them,  the  men  must  go 
elsewhere,  whether  they  be  fitted  for  the  work  or  no.  Accord- 
ingly the  question  which  has  occurred  to  our  Church,  and  which 
it  has  hesitated  to  submit  to  the  Council  for  very  obvious 
reasons,  is  this  :  whether  the  Council  may  not,  from  time  to  time, 
consider  what  is  the  great  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  world — whether  it  may  not  be  possible  to  put  before  the 
minds  of  our  students  in  our  several  theological  seminaries,  the 
demand  of  the  world  upon  their  efforts — whether  we  may  not, 
by  means  of  this  Council,  stimulate  the  missionary  spirit  and 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  665 

effort  of  all  the  churches.  You  recognize  that,  if  you  discuss 
the  question  how  to  support  students,  and  how  to  guide  them 
up  to  a  completed  course  of  training  for  the  ministry,  you  are 
doing  a  needless  work  unless  you  have  spheres  in  which  to 
place  them  ;  for  if  it  be  a  hard  thing  for  a  student  to  study,  when 
sustained  and  helped  in  that  study,  it  is  a  far  harder  thing  for  a 
man  to  hold  on  through  his  course,  and  know  that  only  one- 
third  of  the  men  at  present  studying  can,  according  to  all  present 
demands  for  the  home  field  and  for  the  foreign  together,  find 
occupation. 

Now  I  think  it  does  devolve  upon  us,  as  a  great  Presbyterian 
Church,  to  look  at  this  general  and  far-reaching  question.  Our 
Church  hesitated  to  send  a  communication  directly,  simply  be- 
cause it  might  seem  as  if  the  Church  were  asking  the  Council  to 
look  at  their  special  difficulty,  and  with  the  modesty  which  is 
becoming  to  Scotchmen,  they  did  not  like  to  do  that.  With 
that  peculiar  modesty  which  belongs  to  our  cause,  and  our  re- 
serve, and  which  does  not  make  us  all  so  hopeful,  \\7e  hesitated 
to  submit  to  you  a  question  which  seems  to  require  that  you 
might  attend  to  our  particular  difficulties.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  let  me  urge  that  where  we  are  as  brethren  met  together, 
we  encounter  one  of  the  most  interesting  phases  possible  for  us, 
when  we  find  such  a  supply  as  this  rising  up  in  Scotland,  and 
rising  somewhat  on  account  of  the  religious  revival  wc  have  had 
there,  and  the  aid  we  have  had  from  America,  making  us  feel 
that  all  nations  of  the  earth  are  becoming  one  in  the  pulsations 
of  Christian  life,  and  feeling  the  energy  which  comes  from 
Christian  zeal  in  whatsoever  sphere  it  works. 

In  Scotland  we  have  no  such  thing  as  supporting  our  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry — we  have  no  such  thing  as  taking  a  cer- 
tain number  of  them  and  providing  for  them  quarters,  and  board, 
and  support;  and  yet  we  have  many  students  forthcoming,  and 
we  think  more  than  we  can  supply  with  spheres  of  labor  whether 
at  home  or  abroad.  F'urthcr,  we  believe  very  much  in  the  man 
who  says  he  is  anxious  to  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  is 
willing  to  encounter  hard  work  to  prepare  himself  for  it.  More 
than  that,  we  have  men  whose  fathers  have  been  able  enough 


666  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  help  them  to  prepare  for  the  ministry,  and  who  have  said  to 
their  fathers  that  they  did  not  ask  their  help,  but  they  would 
set  about  the  work  that  would  keep  them  going  until  they 
reached  the  goal  which  they  had  set  before  them.  Those  arc 
men  who  have  done  hard  work,  and  whom  we  have  learned  to 
honor  and  value  in  the  ministry. 

But  having  this  consideration  in  view,  what  we  ask  is  that  we 
shall  have  men  who  may  have  their  views  extended  in  reference 
to  the  great  work.  If  you  ask  concerning  the  supply,  I  think 
we  must  answer  there  is  one  key  to  the  supply  of  students  to 
the  ministry,  and  that  is  the  ministry  itself  If  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel  are  consecrated  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  if  they 
rejoice  in  their  work,  if  they  show  day  by  day  that  they  account 
it  the  noblest  task  to  which  a  man  can  consecrate  his  activities 
and  his  energies,  there  is  young  life  all  around  which  will  catch 
the  infection  of  that  spirit ;  there  are  those  growing  up  under 
that  pulpit  teaching,  who  will  lift  their  eyes  to  the  pulpit  and 
feel  their  he'arts  moved,  and  say  that,  if  God  help  me,  this  is  the 
work  I  should  like  to  take  part  in ;  and  wheresoever  you  have 
such  preaching  you  will  have  an  ample  supply,  if  only  the  Church 
of  Christ  will  show  that  it  is  keen  enough  in  perception,  resolute 
enough  in  purpose,  and  prayerful  enough  in  spirit,  to  look  out 
upon  the  vast  world  and  say,  By  the  Master's  help,  we  shall 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature. 

Dr.  Matthews. — I  am  sure  we  are  all  very  gratified  in  having 
heard  Dr.  Calderwood ;  but  on  the  Programme  we  read,  "A 
communication  from  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scot- 
land." Any  cursory  remarks  would  be  quite  out  of  order, 
interrupting  our  usual  proceedings.  It  was  under  a  misappre- 
hension that  the  interruption  which  has  taken  place  was  allowed 
to  go  on.  Our  Programme  is  fixed  and  we  are  required  to  go 
through  with  it. 

Dr.  Ormiston. — It  was  a  blessed  blunder. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — Whether  it  was  a  blessed  blunder,  as  my 
friend,  Dr.  Ormiston,  thinks,  or  not,  if  it  was  a  blunder,  I  am 
here  to  acknowledge  it.  I  hold  it  to  be  the  first  obligation  rest- 
ing upon  me  in  every  council  or  court,  to  submit  to  its   order; 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  667 

but  what  I  understood — I  must  have  been  mistaken — was  this, 
that  that  communication  had  been  withdrawn  from  the  pro- 
gramme, and  any  call  upon  me  now  was  a  call  to  speak  and  not 
to  read.  I  have  a  communication  here.  I  could  read  it,  but  by 
the  decision  of  the  Business  Committee,  we  are  not  to  read  the 
communication,  and  I  have  dropped  into  the  blunder. 

The  Rev.  Hiram  C.  Haydn,  D.  D.,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  then 
read  the  following  paper  on 

SYSTEMATIC  BENEFICENCE. 

It  is  a  statement  of  Max  Miiller's,  worth  repetition  and  thought, 
that  "only  missionary  churches  hold  their  ground  in  the  march  of 
progress."  It  is  safe  to  go  on  and  say,  that  only  by  such  churches 
will  a  topic  like  this  be  welcomed.  The  Presbyterian  Church  through- 
out the  world,  in  common  with  many  another,  is  a  missionary  Church, 
and,  therefore,  the  financial  aspect  of  her  enterprises  can  be  remanded 
to  no  secondary  place.  This  is  so,  not  only  because  money  is  a  fac- 
tor in  the  work,  but  because  the  workers  themselves — the  whole  mil- 
itant Church — are  not  in  the  right  moral  attitude  to  work  for  the 
Master  till  they  have  learned  what  stewardship  means^^that  they 
themselves  are  not  their  own  ;  that  they  handle  the  Lord's  money. 

This  is  a  matter  of  such  consequence  that  it  occupies  a  large  space 
in  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  discourses  of  Christ,  and  the 
letters  of  St.  Paul.  It  having  been  ordained  that  the  gospel  shall  be 
preached  to  every  creature,  and  that  they  who  preach  the  gospel  shall 
live  of  the  gospel,  the  financial  basis  of  evangelization,  never  wholly 
overlooketl,  has  come  to  the  front  more  and  more,  as  the  Church  has 
awaked  to  her  great  commission,  and  widened  her  endeavors  to  reach 
the  world's  perishing  millions.  These  two  things  go  together  every- 
where— a  widened  field  of  operations  and  better  woik;  more  money. 

In  this  missionary  period  of  the  Church,  therefore,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  beneficence  of  the  Church  and  the  methods  of  it 
should  receive  a  quickened  attention  and  a  searching  scrutiny.  The 
law  of  demand  and  supply  is  here  in  full  sway;  the  demand  constant, 
urgent,  ever-increasing — the  supply  needing  to  be  commensurate  in 
every  particular  of  mental,  moral  and  material  resources ;  that  is,  con- 
stant, ample,  and  in  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 

The  demand  for  the  gospel  in  this  our  time  is  overpowering  in  its 
dimensions  and  pressure.  A  vast  continent  stretches  oiit  its  hands 
unto  God  ;  a  continent,  till  just  now  little  known,  suddenly  throw- 
ing open  all  its  gates  and  welcoming  the  commerce  and  civilization 
of  the  world  by  the  channels  of  its  great  rivers  and  inland  lakes; 
Asia,  as  well  as  Africa,  with  her  multitudinous  millions,  with  open 
doors  welcome  the  heralds  of  the  cross;  Europe  and  America  are  full 
of  clamorous  needs,  in  city  and  country,  in  newer  and  older  regions. 
We  can  only  hint  at  it.     We  cannot  comprehend  it. 


668  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Great  as  is  the  demand,  the  supply  is  equal  to  it.  God  makes  no 
mistakes.  The  Christian  population  of  the  globe  holding  in  its  hand 
the  steam  and  the  lightning,  the  press,  and  the  Bible  in  200  tongues; 
being  at  home  on  all  seas  and  in  all  lands,  with  wealth  uncounted,  and 
sons  and  daughters  numbered  by  tens  of  thousands,  is  equal  to  it. 
We  can  only  hint  at  this.     We  cannot  comprehend  it. 

The  question  is :  How  to  get  the  supply  to  meet  the  demand,  and 
drown  this  deafening  clamor  with  a  bounty  all  divine?  How  to 
loosen  the  grip  of  parental  love  till  fathers  and  mothers  say :  Go,  my 
son,  my  daughter;  the  Lord  calleth  thee?  How  to  loosen  the  grip 
of  sons  and  daughters  upon  home  and  country  till  they  say,  in  a  grand 
uprising :  Here  are  we ;  send  us  to  the  regions  beyond  ?  How  to 
loosen  the  grip,  often  a  little  harder,  tighter  set  than  the  other,  upon 
the  money  of  the  Church,  till  Christ's  redeemed  people  say :  Go, 
money,  go ;  make  you  friends  for  Christ  and  us,  through  printed 
Bibles  and  living  speech  of  men  whom  the  Holy  Ghost  has  made 
alive,  and  Christian  schools  and  printed  books;  go,  get  you  out  of 
rusting  coffers  and  barred  and  bolted  hoards,  and  great  channels,  wide 
and  deep,  coursing  towards  luxury  and  display,  and  make  the  desert 
bloom,  make  the  wilderness  glad,  break  the  thrall  of  ignorance  and 
superstition,  give  the  bread  of  life  to  the  famishing;  lift  up  Christ  ? 

How  to  get  the  Church  of  God  to  say,  and  mean  it :  "  For  me  to 
live  is  Christ;  "  and  not  to  hear  any  man  call  aught  that  he  has  his 
own,  but  himself  and  all  things  Christ's? 

We  are  not  about  to  overlook  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  nor 
to  put  any  human  device  before  or  above  it ;  but  rather  to  ask  :  Has 
the  Holy  Ghost  made  any  intimation  in  regard  to  the  method  of 
meeting  this  demand  of  a  perishing  world  ?  That  he  has  put  his  seal 
upon  preaching,  nobody  will  deny.  Has  he,  in  like  manner,  upon 
the  giving  of  money  and  the  methods  of  giving?  We  hold  that  he 
has;  and  that  it  will  be  found  that  a  vicious  method  will  have  a  bad 
influence  upon  the  givers,  and  contract  the  gifts.  A  divine  method 
will  never  miss  the  mark.  It  will  uniformly  sweeten  and  enrich  the 
givers,  and  swell  the  gifts. 

If  this  be  true,  then  method  in  beneficence  is  an  important  factor 
in  the  work  of  the  world's  evangelization,  and  worthy  of  our  most 
serious  heed  ;  and  to  this  one  aspect  I  desire  to  hold  the  attention  of 
this  Council  for  a  few  moments.  We  are  not  now  to  discuss  the  duty 
o.f  giving,  the  proper  motives  to  giving,  the  spiritual  profit  in  general, 
or  the  holy  examples  of  giving.  Something  must  be  taken  for  granted 
in  a  half-hour's  talk ;  e.  g.,  that  Christians  read  their  Bibles  and  kiww 
that,  if  one  ethical  aspect  of  life  is  touched  more  than  another  therein, 
it  is  the  use  and  abuse  of  money  ;  that  the  commands  and  warnings 
touching  this  matter  are  sharp  and  clear,  the  promises  to  fidelity  grand 
and  glorious;  that  every  purely  Christian  impulse  and  actual  step 
towards  giving  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  every  demand  of  a  per- 
ishing world,  every  hope  of  a  consummated  kingdom  of  God  upon 
earth  is  linked  with  the  proper  use  of  money.     "That   it  is  more 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  669 

blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,"  they  well  know  to  be  scriptural 
truth,  however  they  may  have  found  it  in  experience  ;  and  that  the 
"well  done  "  of  the  Master  is  for  him  that  is  faithful  to  such  trusts 
as  he  has.  They  know  all  this,  and  more,  who  read  their  Bibles  as 
the  rule  of  life. 

But  somehow  these  great  matters  do  not  have  the  constraint  that 
they  ought  to  have,  else  the  sup])ly  would  hasten  to  meet  the  demand 
and  turn  it  into  a  hymn  of  thanksgiving. 

Method  in  beneficence  will  not  do  everything,  but  it  will  do  vastly 
more  than  hap-hazard,  or  mere  impulse  in  giving,  or  a  great  sermon 
once  or  twice  a  year,  or  Presbyterial  enjoinders.  It  will  cultivate  the 
spirit  of  beneficence;  it  will  restrain  from  waste  and  extravagance 
and  luxurious  living,  at  the  expense  of  the  Lord's  money;  it  will  help 
to  quicken  and  keep  alive  the  conscience,  and  so  withstand  the  spirit 
of  covetousness  ;  and  it  will  swell  the  streams  that  flow  towards  mis- 
sionary treasuries  till  they  laugh  out  of  their  fulness. 

The  way  the  Church  has  endeavored  to  meet  this  urgent  demand  is 
instructive.  In  this  country,  for  many  years,  our  great  causes  of 
beneficence  depended  largely  upon  the  collecting  agent.  Pastors  and 
officers  of  the  churches  could  do  something,  but  they  could  not  be 
trusted  to  train  and  inform  the  Church  as  to  her  great  work  abroad,  in 
this  and  in  other  lands.  We  outgrew  this  to  the  great  advantage  of 
churches  and  missionary  boards.  Collecting  agents  are  now,  for  the 
most  ])art,  sent  about  other  matters.  There  are  yet  some  who  are 
famed  for  drawing  money  out  of  tight  purses.  Doubtful  methods  often 
make  it  a  sorry  business,  with  none  of  the  savor  of  the  widow's  mite, 
or  of  Mary's  ointment,  upon  it.  But  yet  we  depend  largely  upon  the 
annual  collection,  and  in  the  greater  churches  and  places  we  try  to 
see  to  it  that  where  the  carcass  is,  there  the  eagles  of  the  great  socie 
ties  gather. 

In  this  country  our  faith  in  the  annual  collection  is  here  and  there 
especially  encouraged  when  the  secretaries  of  missionary  societies  can 
be  heard  with  maps  and  eloquent  statistics,  idols,  relics,  and  holy 
water  from  far-off  lands.  What  this  cannot  do  we  now  and  then  sup- 
plement with  a  centenary,  a  jubilee,  or  some  other  fund,  and  get  in 
one  year  subscriptions  that  it  often  takes  five  or  ten  years  to  pay  off, 
and  which,  not  seldom,  obstruct  the  regular  and  constant  flow  into 
missionary  treasuries.  Then  we  have  a  way  of  supplementing  all  this 
with  fairs,  bazaars,  theatricals,  grab-bags,  ring-cakes,  baby-shows,  and 
charity-balls — an  endless  string  of  worldly  and  offensive  devices  which 
tend  to  confiise  and  confound  worldly  and  sacred' things,  and  to  elim- 
inate from  Christian  charity  every  element  of  self-denial  and  self-sac- 
rifice. It  has  been  truly  said,  "these  methods  are  suicidal.  They 
lessen  the  volume  of  that  stream  of  genuine  and  spontaneous  Chris- 
tian benevolence  which  carries  the  machinery  of  true  Christianity, 
because  they  dry  up  its  fountains  in  the  millions  of  Christian  hearts." 
That  the  outcome  of  annual  collections,  and  these  other  varied 
devices  is  a  sum  total  of  great  figures  and  great  usefulness  in  the  ag- 


670  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

gregate,  is  of  course  conceded.  How  can  it  be  otherwise?  But  not 
so  great  as  to  prevent  the  almost  omnipresent  debt  of  missionary  so- 
cieties— the  slow  march  of  the  conquest  of  the  world — the  withhold- 
ing of  men  and  women  for  lack  of  funds — the  disastrous  retreat  here 
and  there— the  deep-cutting  retrenchment;  not  so  great  but  that 
only  the  opportune  translation  of  some  of  the  dear  saints  of  God 
leaving  large  legacies  behind  them,  has  over  and  again  been  relied 
upon  to  lift  our  foremost  and  best  loved  societies  out  of  critical  straits. 
The  only  true  way  to  get  the  glamour  out  of  these  great  aggregates 
is  to  apply  to  them  the  simple  methods  of  arithmetic,  and  average 
them  among  the  givers.  Looked  at  from  this  point  ot  view,  the 
showing  is  less  exhilarating,  by  far.  I  shall  be  pardoned,  I  am  sure, 
if  I  confine  my  statistics  to  churches  on  this  side  the  sea, 

TABULAR    STATEMENT   OF   BENEFICENCE   OF  THE 
CHURCHES. 

1.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  U.  S.  A.  (North),  1879-80:— members, 
578,681;  benevolence,  ;g2,262,878 ;  average,  i?3.9l  ;  average  per  week,  .075 ;  be- 
nevolence and  church  support,  ^8,361,028;  average,  $14.49;  average  per  week, 
.27S;  average  per  day,  .04. 

2.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  U.  S.  (South),  1879-80:— members,  120,028;  be- 
nevolence, $192,777;  average,  $1.61;  average  per  week,  .03;  benevolence  and 
church  sujiport,  $1,062,338;  average,  $8.85;  average  per  week,  .17;  average  per 
day,  .02;^. 

3.  The  Reformed  Church  (Dutch),  1878-79: — members,  80,228;  benevolence, 
$175,424;  average,  $2.19;  average  per  week,  .042;  benevolence  and  church  sup- 
port, $920,926;  average,  $11.48;  average  per  week,  .22;  average  per  day,  .03. 

4.  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada,  1879-80; — members,  107,715  ;  benevo- 
lence, $1 15,155  ;  average,  $1.06;  average  per  week,  .02 ;  benevolence  and  church 
support,  $1,030,386;  average,  $9,585  ;  average  per  week,  $1.84;  average  per  day, 
.026. 

5.  The  Congregalionalists,  1879  '- — members,  382,920;  benevolence,  $1,098,691 ; 
average,  $2.90;  average  per  week,  .054;  benevolence  and  church  support,  $3,692,- 
919;  average,  $9.64  ;   average  per  week,  $1.85  ;   average  ]5er  day,  .026. 

6.  The  Episcopal  Church,  1879: — members,  322,713;  in  1877  benevolence  aver- 
aged $2.17;  average  per  week,  .04^  ;  lienevolence  and  church  support,  $6,068,372; 
average,  $18.80;   average  per  week,  $3.61  ;  average  per  day,  .051. 

7.  The  Baptist  Church,  1879-80: — members,  2,133,044  ;  benevolence,  $4,439,740; 
average,  $2.08 ;  average  per  week,  $1.04;  not  clear  that  this  is  for  benevolence 
alone. 

8.  The  M.  E.  Church,  1879-80: — members,  1,544,118;  benevolence,  $899,896; 
average,  .58;  average  per  week,  .01  ;  how  much  for  all  purposes  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained. 

9.  The  United  Presbyterian  Church,  1879-80: — members,  82,119;  benevolerce, 
$200,875  ;  average,  $2.45  ;  average  per  week,  .05  ;  benevolence  and  church  support, 

3,794:  average,  $10.43;  iiverage  per  week,  .20;  average  per  day,  .03. 


Suppose  we  turn  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  (North)  of  the  U.  S. 
A.,  whose  statistics  are  as  reliable  as  any,  and  whose  benevolence  is, 
perhaps,  surpassed  by  none  of  the  bodies  constituting  this  Alliance, 
for  a  fair  average  of  what  is  being  done  by  the  churches  at  large. 

We  find  that  a  Church  of  578,671  members  gives  for  all  purposes — 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  671 

:harity,  church-building,  pew-rents,  missions,  etc.,  including  legacies 
— the  sum  of  $8,361,028,  an  average  of  $14.49.  Twenty-three  of 
these  churches,  in  nine  cities  and  one  large  town,  of  17,688  members, 
gave  of  this  sum  an  average  of  $39-64i'g  per  member,  almost  three 
times  the  average  of  the  whole  Church.  One  of  these  twenty-three, 
numerically  one-half  as  large  as  the  average  membership  of  them  all, 
gives  $286,661^  per  member,  about  one  dollar  in  seventy-three  of  all  the 
moneys  raised  by  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church  (North)  in  the  United 
States.  Leaving  out  these  twenty-three  churches,  the  giving  of  this 
branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church — the  largest,  strongest,  richest  in 
America — for  the  boards  of  the  Church,  is  found  to  be  $177,  or  2^ 
cents  per  week  ;  include  miscellaneous  charities,  and  it  is  6)4  cents 
per  week — less  than  a  cent  a  day  !  And  for  all  the  Lord's  work  it  is 
26  cents  per  week,  or  less  than  4  cents  a  day.  But  to  make  it  thus 
much,  we  have  embraced  the  giving  of  congregations  for  the  support 
of  the  ministry,  missions  and  local  charities,  and  the  giving  of  more 
than  a  half  million  Sunday-school  scholars,  many  of  whom  are  splen- 
did givers,  in  all  a  large  sum,  which  cannot  be  eliminated  so  as  to  get 
at  the  giving  of  church-members  only.  If  we  restrict  our  examination 
to  what  is  given  for  the  schemes  of  the  Church  alone,  we  shall  have  as 
good  a  test  as  we  can  command  of  the  benevolence  of  the  Church  ex- 
clusively. The  sum  total  is  $1,265,891 — a  great  sum  of  money — but 
it  averages  only  $2.19  per  member — .042  per  M-eek,  three-fifths  of  a 
cent  a  day.  To  evangelize  this  great  land  and  keep  pace  with  emi- 
gration, we  gave  last  year  .74  a  member  ;  and  to  publish  the  gospel  in 
the  regions  beyond  .72  a  member.  One  cent  a  day  from  the  1,200,000 
in  Church  and  Sunday-schools  would  more  than  treble  the  amount  re- 
ceived by  all  the  boards  of  the  Church  ! 

Li  calling  attention  to  these  averages,  which  distribute  these  great 
sums  among  the  host  of  givers  and  all  the  days  of  the  year,  we  are  not 
disparaging  the  glorious  self-denial  of  multitudes  who  can  give  but 
little,  nor  forgetting  the  sj)lendid  munificence  of  many  men  of  wealth. 
We  are  not  trying  to  belittle  the  work  accomplished.  We  are  not 
croaking.  We  are  not,  in  spirit,  in  the  minor  key,  but  are  full  of  ex- 
ultant hopefulness.  We  are  only  looking  at  the  situation  as  it  is. 
And  if,  with  all  this  self-denial  on  the  one  hand  and  this  generosity  on 
the  other,  we  only  reach  the  average  of  three-fifths  of  a  cent  a  day, 
what  must  be  the  essential  meanness  and  selfishness  of  a  great  multi- 
tude whom  we  are  obliged  in  courtesy  to  count  when  numbering  the 
visible  Church  of  God?  Surely  it  becomes  us  to  confess  that  there  is 
something  wrong  with  our  hearts,  or  our  methods,  or  both.  I  say  that 
this  showing  does  justice  neither  to  our  piety  nor  our  ability.  The 
Church  is  both  able  and  willing  to  do  more;  but  our  methods  are  in 
fault. 

In  this  country,  and  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  (North)  of  the  United 
States  especially,  what  is  known  as  ".systematic  beneficence"  has 
been  somewhat  actively  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  people  during 
the  last  ten  years.     It  began  with  a  Committee  of  Benevolence  and 


672  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Finance,  composed  of  some  of  the  foremost  business  men  and  ministers 
of  our  Church,  whose  grand  aim  was  thus  set  forth  :  "Eirst,  to  use  all 
proper  means  to  promote  throughout  the  Church  the  regular  and  system- 
atic consecration  of  i)roperty  to  the  Lord  ;  and  second,  to  superintend 
the  collection  of  funds  for  the  whole  benevolent  work  of  the  Church." 
This  second  clause  provoked  a  prevailing  antagonism ;  but  the  commit- 
tee, in  its  brief  day,  set  a-going  an  agitation  which  has  continued  to 
spread,  till  the  weekly  Sabbath  offering  as  an  act  of  worship  is  talked 
of  in  Presbyteries,  Synods,  and  Missionary  Conventions,  and  knocks 
annually  at  the  door  of  the  General  Assembly  for  courteous  admission. 
Meanwhile  the  literature  of  the  subject  grows  apace. 

We  are  behind  our  British  brethren  in  the  agitation  of  this  subject, 
and  with  noticeable  variations.  They,  justly,  have  emphasized  pro- 
portionate as  well  as  systematic  giving.  We  have  laid  our  stress  upon 
the  weekly  offering  as  an  act  and  a  part  of  public  worship.  In  the 
mother  country,  support  of  home  churches,  and  missions,  domestic 
and  foreign,  are  treated  as  in  the  same  sense  beneficence;  that  is,  a 
man  tithing  his  income,  makes  a  fund  out  of  which  he  aids  ministerial 
support,  the  poor  fund,  and  missions.  With  us  it  has  commonly  been 
held  that  to  pay  the  minister's  salary  and  to  support  church  ordi- 
nances at  home  is  no  more  benevolence  than  to  pay  for  other  neces- 
saries of  life  ;  while  benevolence  has  been  largely  restricted  to  work 
done  where  no  immediate  benefit  accrues  to  the  giver,  except  such  as 
always  follows  upon  well-doing.  Practically,  the  weekly  offering  has 
been  adopted  by  very  many  of  the  churches;  but  here,  again,  let  it 
be  said,  as  often  to  meet  current  expenses  as  to  give  the  gospel  to  the 
destitute  or  educate  young  men  for  the  ministry.  The  people  are  not 
yet  generally  willing  once  a  week  to  let  their  money  and  their  prayers 
go  off  on  errands  of  good-will  outside  their  own  parish.  Then,  again, 
failure  to  emphasize  proportionate  giving  has  often  made  the  weekly 
offering  a  w-e-a-kly  thing — a  mere  sedative  to  the  conscience.  So 
that,  as  yet,  by  any  and  every  method,  exjcept  in  here  and  there  an 
individual  case,  and  in  isolated  occasions  and  localities,  the  conh;ecrated 
funds  of  the  Christian  Church  have  fallen  far  below  the  tithing  of  the 
Jewish  Church,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fifth  or  the  third  to  which  it  is 
conceded  that  all  their  gifts  amounted. 

It  is  a  sad,  reproachful  fact  that  as  yet  the  giving  of  the  Christian 
Church  is  largely  a  matter  of  impulse,  of  circumstance,  of  mood ; 
often  out  of  depleted  resources  which  have  first  satisfied  the  individual 
whim,  taste,  or  ambition,  often  leaving  little  or  nothing  for  charitable 
uses.  Multitudes  of  so-cailed  Christians  spend  on  a  single  season  of 
opera,  on  a  single  entertainment  of  their  friends,  for  the  luxury  of 
tobacco,  far  more  than  can  be  got  out  of  them  annually  for  home  and 
foreign  missions.  Many  have  no  system  in  their  giving.  They  give 
as  it  happens  and  they  happen  to  feel,  out  of  no  definite  proportion 
of  their  income.  They  often  imagine  themselves  benevolent,  and 
think  they  give  much  more  than  they  do.  They  make  no  figures,  they 
hold  themselves  to  no  fixed  amount.     The  disparity  between  items  of 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  673 

self-indulgence  and  items  of  benevolence,  in  the  light  of  New  Testa- 
ment truth,  is  appalling. 

Are  we  then  under  law  in  the  use  of  money  as  truly  as  in  regard  to 
lying,  stealing,  and  idolatry?  Does  the  New  Testament  hold  the 
Church  to  any  fixed  principle  in  a  matter  so  vital  to  the  spread  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  individual  piety  no  less?  It  were  surprising  that  a  duty 
so  drilled  into  the  conscience  of  a  Jew  under  divine  direction,  should 
be  left  to  hap-hazard  under  the  gospel  where  the  purposes  of  grace 
outrun  all  national  boundaries,  and  the  great  commission  reads  "  dis- 
ciple all  nations,"  and  the  motives  to  it  are  drawn  from  the  cross 
where  Christ  gave  himself  for  the  life  of  the  world,  and  not  specific 
statute,  but  the  love  of  Christ,  constrains. 

Upon  the  binding  force  of  the  tithe  in  our  day  we  will  not  enter, 
more  than  to  say  that  the  argument  for  its  continuance  is  very  much 
like  that  by  which  we  insist  that  one  seventh  part  of  time  exempt  from 
secular  care  and  toil  from  the  beginning  is  not  a  Jewish  institution, 
but  for  substance  continues  the  heritage  of  the  world,  without  a  formal 
announcement  in  .the  New  Testament.  The  failure  to  bring  in  the 
tithes  is  the  burden  of  the  last  of  the  prophets.  He  calls  it  by  a 
strong  word  with  a  bad  look — robbery;  which  had  brought  spiritual 
desolation  upon  the  people.  Between  Abraham  and  Malachi  God's 
property-right  to  the  world  and  to  man  stands  out  in  all  the  history. 
First-fruits  of  all  increase,  and  tithes  and  offerings,  are  the  recogni- 
tion of  that  right.  Many  are  they  who  hold  that  the  tithe  is  still  in 
force,  and  that  gifts  and  free-will  offerings  come  after  the  tithe  is  paid. 
Their  names  command  respect  both  as  to  scholarship  and  piety. 
Were  it  otherwise,  who  can  think  the  grace  of  giving,  the  consecra- 
tion of  property  to  the  Lord's  use,  were  to  be  less  under  the  new  dis- 
pensation than  under  the  old  ?  That  the  temptation  to  covetousness, 
extravagance,  and  worldliness  need  less  restraint  under  the  wonder- 
ful expansion  of  modern  civilization,  discovery,  and  commerce?  That 
the  holy  impulse  to  love  and  good  works  can  spare  any  stimulus  in 
this  day  when  the  world  is  to  be  won  to  Christ  ?  Who  will  for  a 
moment  intimate  that  a  Christian  has  upon  him  obligations  to  the 
consecration  of  wealth  less  than  those  which  rested  upon  the  Jew  ? 
Surely  the  minimum  of  giving  named  in  the  Old  Testament  cannot 
be  objected  to  as  too  high  a  starting-point  for  a  New  Testament  saint ; 
while  the  occasions  of  making  it  a  larger,  sweeter,  more  winsome 
thing  are  omnipresent  in  the  love  of  Christ. 

But  we  are  manifestly  far  behind  this  first  Jewish  requisition  in  this 
matter.  All  our  artificial  and  annual  collection  contrivances,  with 
the  varied  stimulus  we  bring  to  them,  are  not  a  match  for  the  wisdom 
of  a  single  general  direction  of  St.  Paul  to  the  churches  of  Galatia 
and  Corinth,  viz.  :  "  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  let  every  one  of 
you  lay  by  him  in  store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him,  that  there  be  no 
gatherings  when  I  come."  Paul  does  not  propose  to  distinguish  him- 
self by  drawing  out  an  unheard-of  collection  by  a  remarkable  sermon. 
Let  them  make  it  a  matter  of  love  and  conscience  at  their  homes  on 
43 


674  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  first  day  of  the  week.  I  speak  advisedly  when  I  say  that  the  apos- 
tolic method  of  finance,  universally  carried  out  for  a  single  year,  with 
the  distinct  understanding  that,  at  the  very  least,  the  tithe  belongs  to 
God,  would  pour  such  treasures  at  the  feet  of  Christ  as  to  remind  the 
beholder  of  the  Jewish  offerings  for  the  building  of  tabernacle  and 
temple,  or  of  the  early  days  of  the  Church  when,  in  the  fervor  of  their 
love,  the  disciples  had  all  things  common.  I  challenge  for  this  state- 
ment the  attention  of  those  who  feel  the  constant  pressure  of  carrying 
on  the  Lord's  work  upon  an  uncertain  financial  basis;  and  that  means 
the  official  management  of  every  miisionary  society  in  Christendom. 
And  I  would  fain  thrust  it  home  upon  the  conscience  of  every  disci- 
ple of  Christ  who  knows  that  his  giving  falls  short  of  one-tenth  his 
net  income. 

Here  is  a  call  to  the  individual — every  one  of  you;  the  poor  widow 
with  her  mites  as  well  as  the  rich  one  with  her  thousands,  the  child 
and  the  man,  the  wife  as  well  as  the  husband — evety  one  of  you. 

Here  is  a  time  when;  "Lay  by  in  store  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week,"  a  consecrated  hoard.  Then  the  gift  is  to  be  made;  the  dis- 
tribution of  it  may  come  at  any  time.  The  gift  is  associated  with  the 
day  of  the  resurrection  and  worship,  with  the  immortal  hopes  of  the 
believer,  and  his  most  sacred  things ;  as  opportunity  offers,  to  be  sent 
off  to  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem,  or  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  make 
saints  of  heathen.  Then  let  the  opportunity  come  with  every  Sab- 
bath's worship,  and  the  greatest  number  of  givers  will  be  reached 
the  greatest  number  of  available  times. 

Here  is  the  measure  of  obligation  ;  "As  God  hath  prospered  him." 
In  this  sentence  lies  the  success  of  any  method  of  beneficence.  Each 
one's  several  ability  is  the  reach  of  obligation,  and  that  to  be  faced 
before  a  shilling  of  income  is  touched  for  other  uses.  The  tithe  is 
made  at  the  outset,  and  beyond  this,  whatever  free-will  offering  the 
loving  and  grateful  soul  will  lay  at  the  feet  of  Christ  the  Lord. 
There  it  is,  a  sacred  hoard  ;  the  glad,  hearty  recognition  of  him  as  the 
Great  Proprietor,  and  of  the  man  himself  as  the  steward  of  God. 
More  money,  more  for  the  Lord's  work ;  if  less,  less  possibly — that 
depends  upon  which  he  prefers  to  cut  into :  money  for  his  own  use, 
or  money  for  the  Lord's  work. 

If  the  Lord's  {)eople  weaken  at  this  point,  to  give  out  of  the  residue 
of  expenses,  we  may  have  method  in  giving ;  we  may  have  willing 
givers  of  little  sums,  but  there  will  be  more  mites  than  widows  all 
told;  great,  strong,  bulky-pursed  men  giving  their  mites,  as  they  say  : 
"  I  hate  robbery  for  burnt-offering,^"  saith  the  Lord. 

To  start  with  the  tithe  for  the  day-laborer  and  the  poor  man  may 
startle  some,  but  not  now  for  the  first  time.  We  have  no  need  to 
argue  the  matter.  The  Lord  has  settled  that  in  his  commendation  of 
the  offerings  of  the  poor,  even  to  all  the  living.  Does  any  man  sup- 
pose that,  if  we  had  the  history  of  the  poor  widow  of  the  gospels,  it 
would  not  be  found  that,  as  in  the  older  Scriptures,  the  woman  giving 
the  last  of  her  meal  and  oil  to  the  prophet  of  the  Lord  found  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  675 

cruse  and  the  barrel  fail  not ;  so  was  it  with  her  ?  Who  can  doubt 
it  ?  We  need  faith  in  God  at  this  point.  Let  the  poor  man  and 
woman ;  yea,  all  others,  walk  out  by  faith  on  the  hand  of  the  Lord  of 
harvests  and  the  wealth  of  flock  and  herd.  And  do  not  forget  that 
many  of  the  poor  tax  themselves  far  beyond  this  to  gratify  hurtful 
tastes  and  appetites.  Of  course,  if  this  is  right,  then  a  tenth  is  not 
the  measure  of  men  of  large  resource,  if  giving  is  to  be  proportionate. 
Of  two  men,  their  farriilies  numbering  the  same — the  income  of  one 
being  ^500,  that  of  the  other  ^5,000 — we  can  hardly  think  that  the 
Lord  asking  of  the  first  ^50,  leaving  him  1^450  to  live  upon,  will  ask 
of  the  other  but  $500,  leaving  him  $4,500  to  live  upon.  Proportion- 
ate giving  would  require  of  this  last  perhaps  a  fifth  or  a  third.  It 
would  not  reduce  all  incomes  to  a  level,  for  it  is  ordained  that  a  man 
shall  eat  of  the  fruit  of  his  own  labor ;  and  the  Lord  is  not  like  a 
Turkish  official,  who  takes  everything  but  a  bare  subsistence.  He 
encourages  men  to  reach  out  after  the  skilled  industries  and  the  best 
paying  service  in  their  several  callings,  assuring  them,  in  principle, 
that  while  they  have  more  for  him,  they  will  also  have  more  for 
themselves. 

With  a  fund  of  this  sort  set  apart  to  the  Lord  by  the  ministry  and 
the  laity  of  the  Church,  we  might  well  enough  say  :  Pay  out  of  it  for 
the  Jerusalem  work  of  the  Lord,  and  then  for  the  regions  beyond  ; 
only  let  there  be  conscience  about  it,  and  the  same  economy  in  the 
home  expenditure  that  we  are  so  willing  to  insist  upon  in  the  work 
abroad  :  not  spend  at  home  to  feed  a  worldly  pride,  and  by  so  much 
foolishly  and  wickedly  shrink  the  other;  but  honestly  and  prayerfully 
administer  the  trust,  as  pleasing  the  Lord — not  self,  nor  fellow-men. 
When  that  day  comes,  most  likely  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
United  States  of  America  will  not  spend  $6,098,150  for  congrega- 
tional uses,  and  only  $2,262,878  for  missions  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  all  other  objects  put  together.  How  to  get  this  conscience,  this 
heart  void  of  covetousness  and  loyal  to  Christ,  is,  we  grant,  the  great 
matter.  Selfishness  hindered  of  old,  and  it  hinders  now.  It  brought 
leanness  then,  and  it  does  it  now.  In  this  regard,  there  needs  to  be 
an  education  different  from  that  which  has  generally  been  insisted 
upon.  Let  it  begin  with  the  expounders  of  the  word  ;  let  not  the 
ministry  weary  of  these  practical  matters  in  the'ir  zeal  in  other  direc- 
tions ;  and  then  be  taken  up  in  the  household  circle. 

Were  there  in  every  home  in  Christendom  a  little  box,  plain  or 
ornamental,  in  charge  of  parents  for  safe-keeping,  but  ever  within 
sight  and  reach,  known  as  the  Lord's  treasury,  into  which,  in  the 
presence  of  the  family  on  every  Sabbath  morning,  out  of  the  income 
of  the  week,  should  go  what  each  one  has  to  offer,  consecrated  at  the 
household  altar ;  this  alone,  as  an  education,  would  do  wonders  in  a 
little  time.  The  very  rich  as  well  as  the  poor  could  well  afford,  for 
Christ's  sake,  for  the  children's  sake,  for  everybody's  sake  indeed, 
what  some  are  ready  ungraciously  to  call  ''the  bother  of  the  thing," 
to  adopt  a  method  which  has  apostolic  sanction,    and  could  not  do 


676  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

less  than  sweeten  the  whole  business  of  giving,  putting  a  principle 
into  it  which  would  grow  into  the  very  life  of  childhood  and  youth 
never  to  be  eradicated.  Of  all  men  in  the  world,  business  men,  who 
owe  everything  to  method,  should  be  the  last  to  discourage  the 
endeavor  to  put  method  into  the  Lord's  work.  And  of  all  business 
men,  let  not  Presbyterians,boastingoforderly  methods ''handed down 
from  the  days  of  Moses,"  object.  Then,  as  a  further  matter  of  educa- 
tion, let  it  be  frowned  upon,  always  and  everywhere,  that  in  the 
Christian  dispensation,  we  are  no  longer  under  law.  If  love  and  the 
liberty  of  love  are  insisted  upon,  let  us  also  insist  that  love  and  liberty 
in  Christ  find  or  put  themselves  in  most  willing  bonds,  lest  selfishness 
get  the  better  of  them.  Love  delights  to  tie  itself  up  in  strongest 
bonds  of  defense  against  any  invasion  of  the  Lord's  right  from  self  or 
the  world.  It  is  an  unscriptural,  antinomian  abomination  which  is 
often  insisted  upon  as  to  the  liberty  we  have  in  Christ,  in  this  matter 
of  giving  as  well  as  duty  elsewhere.  Love  puts  a  man  in  bonds  to 
Christ,  willing,  indeed,  but  strong  as  steel.  It  need  never  be  once 
thought  that  the  giving  of  the  Church,  the  use  of  wealth,  the  domain 
where  men  are  weakest  and  most  likely  to  fall  into  the  snare  of  the 
devil,  is  left  to  every  man's  impulse,  or  to  the  whim  of  the  moment, 
with  no  test  or  guide  in  holy  writ  in  a  matter  so  momentous.  It  is 
not  so.  Push  the  obligation  to  the  front — the  Lord  first,  first-fruits 
for  him — a  fixed  proportion  of  income,  advancing  with  the  increase 
of  riches;  associate  the  distribution  of  this  consecrated  wealth  with 
the  Sabbath  worship  as  the  most  convenient,  unostentatious  way  of 
gathering  the  funds  of  the  Church  for  the  work  of  the  Church ;  sweeten 
it  with  every  help  of  prayer  and  praise,  and  make  it  intelligent  with 
every  appliance  of  speech,  and  pen,  and  press,  and  we  shall  see  the 
dawn  of  a  new  era  of  Christian  giving. 

There  are  people  who  do  not  like  to  see  the  contribution-box 
passed  every  Sunday.  That  is  because  they  have  not  learned  to  see 
the  face  of  Christ  in  it.  They  have  not  got  rid  of  the  idea  of  begging 
and  dunning  in  connection  with  the  Lord's  work.  Those  are  ugly 
words,  which  ought  to  be  abolished.  We  can  all  get  to  welcome  the 
weekly  offering  as  the  near  approach  of  Christ  saying  to  us  out  of  the 
contribution-box:  "  Lovest  thou  me?  then  feed  my  perishing  ones. 
Do  it  to  them,  ye  do  it  to  me." 

There  would'  follow,  doubt  it  not,  a  steady  and  adequate  stream  of 
supply  into  missionary  treasuries,  the  ministry  would  be  decently  and 
promptly  paid,  the  churches  would  rid  themselves  of  the  incubus  of 
debt,  the  spirit  of  giving  would  be  elevated  and  sustained,  the  motive 
would  be  more  truly  Christian,  the  number  of  givers  would  be  greatly 
increased,  and  the  blessing  promised  upon  the  bringing  in  of  all  the 
tithes  into  God's  storehouse  would  descend  upon  the  churches  of 
Christendom,  and  distant  lands  would  be  lighted  up  by  the  flaming 
torches  of  gospel  truth  borne  everywhere  in  the  zeal  of  a  consecrated 
host. 

There  is  no  reasonable  ground  of  hope  that  the  world  will   be 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  677 

speedily  evangelized  on  the  present  plan  of  operations,  and  no  great 
enlargement  of  the  plan  is  to  be  looked  for  until  the  resources  of  the 
Church  are  more  entirely  consecrated  to  Christ.  It  is  not  enough  that 
here  and  there  the  rich  men  and  women  and  the  strong  churches  are 
doing  great  things.  We  need  the  power  that  comes  from  consecrated 
littles,  thick  as  autumn  leaves,  from  the  prayerful  hearts  of  the  greater 
many  who  have  but  little,  but  who  need  to  give  out  of  that  little,  the  ' 
aggregate  of  which  will  be  like  the  coming  together  of  a  thousand  rills 
from  the  mountain  side. 

We  need  the  education  that  encourages  such  while  it  lays  upon  the 
better-conditioned  the  obligation  to  give  largely  of  their  abundance 
lest  their  riches  become  their  snare  and  their  ruin ;  and  to  have  this 
done  willingly,  alone  with  God,  as  a  matter  of  conscience  and  privi- 
lege, and  not  under  pressure  from  without,  nor  left  at  the  peril  of  an 
unfortunate  mood  or  occasion.  The  Church  of  Christ  cannot  afford 
to  hinge  its  great  benevolent  work  on  annual  collections,  which  the 
elements  may  make  sport  of,  or  one  unfortunate  week  in  fifty-two 
close  the  hand  against  a  cause  for  a  year. 

We  need  to  see  that  getting  out  of  people  the  greatest  possible 
amount  of  money  is  an  odious  business;  but  to  educate  a  people  in 
Bible  principles  of  giving  so  as  to  make  it  a  willing,  hearty  service  to 
the  full  measure  of  ability,  is  worthy  the  attention  of  the  best  minds 
in  the  Church,  the  hearty  co-operation  of  every  minister  of  the  gospel 
in  Christian  and  in  heathen  lands,  of  every  secretary  and  board  of 
missions,  of  every  man  who  prays,  "Thy  kingdom  come." 

There  rises  before  the  mind  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  thirty  mil- 
lions of  people  calling  themselves  Presbyterians,  baptized  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  consecrating  the  first-fruits  of  all  their  increase  unto  the  Lord, 
accepting  in  very  truth  the  great  commission — Preach  my  gospel  to 
every  creature;  and  moving  out  from  all  parts  of  the  habitable  globe 
upon  what  is  left  of  unevangelized  heathendom  or  perverted  faith, 
speedily  to  wipe  out  the  reproach  of  centuries  and  fill  the  world  with 
the  knowledge  of  Christ:  a  spectacle  of  the  imagination,  it  may  be; 
but  who  of  us,  coming  up  to  this  august  assembly  from  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  earth,  will  not  say,  it  ought  to  be  actualized?  Who  of  us 
will  not  say  that  by  the  grace  of  God,  what  ought  to  be,  shall  be  ? 
As  much  as  lieth  in  me,  I  am  willing.     Here  am  I. 

The  Rev.  VV.  VV.  Barr,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  read  the  fol- 
lowing on 

CHRISTIAN  BENEFICENCE. 

Definition — Beneficence  is  doing  good.  It  is  benevolence  in  action. 
The  motive  which  prompts  it  is,  in  its  lowest  or  primary  conception, 
human  sympathy,  or  love  of  fellow-men.  The  beneficence  that 
springs  from  this  motive  is  exercised,  in  greater  or  less  measure,  by 
the  race  of  men.  It  is  seen  in  the  good  that  is  done  by  unrenewed 
men,  and  by  mere  worldly  associations.     In    this  sense  beneficence 


678  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

cares  only  for  the  body  and  the  temporal.  Its  highest  manifestation 
ceases  when  temporal  and  bodily  ills  have  been  relieved.  But  where 
the  religion  of  Jesus  is  influential,  beneficence  has  a  much  deeper  and 
holier  motive,  and  aims  at  much  higher  ends.  Love  for  Christ, 
awakened  and  constrained  by  a  sense  of  his  love  for  us,  and  desire  for 
the  glory  of  God,  now  become  the  anmiating  principle,  and  under 
its  influence  not  only  are  the  bodies  of  men  cared  for,  but  good  is 
specially  done  for  their  immortal  souls.  Beneficence  is  now  a  Chris- 
tian grace.'  It  is  manifested  in  devotion  to  Christ.  It  sees  Christ 
himself  in  every  needy  soul,  and  its  exercise,  prompted  by  gratitude 
for  divine  mercies,  becomes  an  act  of  holy  worship.  This  is  Chris- 
tian beneficence,  and  it  is  this  beneficence  that  we  now  consider. 

The  definition  of  the  subject  that  we  have  thus  given  would  require 
us  to  discuss  beneficence  in  its  widest  sense — in  its  doing  good  m  every 
way  to  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men.  Custom,  however,  limits  the 
application  of  the  terms  Christian  beneficence,  and  confines  their  use 
almost  exclusively  to  doing  good  by  contributions  of  property  for 
benevolent  purposes.  It  is  in  this  limited  sense  of  doing  good  with 
property,  or  in  plainer  terms,  with  money,  that  we  now  discuss  this 
subject. 

What  was  Beneficence  to  accomplish  ?  Taking  the  Scriptures  for 
our  guide,  we  must  reply  that  the  grand  aim  of  beneficence,  of  giving 
of  our  substance,  was  to  be  the  glory  of  God.  Connected  with  this 
man's  dependence  on  God  was  to  be  shown,  his  pride  humbled,  and 
the  natural  covetousness  of  his  heart  counteracted.  The  wants  of 
the  poor  were  to  be  supplied  ;  food  and  raiment  given  to  the  widow 
and  orphan,  and  even  the  enemy,  when  hungry,  was  to  be  fed.  The 
gospel  was  to  be  preached  in  all  the  world  for  a  witness,  and  all  ends 
of  the  earth  were  to  see  the  salvation  of  God.  Those  commissioned 
to  preach  the  gospel,  and  to  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  were  to 
have  their  temporal  wants  supplied,  and  everything  necessary  to  make 
the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  known  to  every  soul  on  the  globe  was  to 
be  contributed.  The  marching  orders  of  the  Captain  of  our  salvation, 
given  to  the  church — to  the  more  than  five  hundred  brethren — on  the 
mountain  in  Galilee  was,  "  Go,  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  teaching 
them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you."  By 
beneficence  effect  was  to  be  given  to  those  marching  orders.  For  this 
great  end,  giving  of  their  property  was  to  be  the  manifestation  of  a 
grace  on  the  part  of  Christians.  This  grace  they  were  to  cultivate  by 
active  exercise,  as  they  cultivated  knowledge,  faith,  love,  or  patience. 
They  were  to  "abound"  in  this,  as  they  abounded  in  the  others. 
This  grace  exercised  was  to  drive  out  covetousness  from  the  hearts  of 
God's  people.  It  was  to  lay  in  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  Sabbath  by 
Sabbath,  whatever  his  cause  from  time  to  time  demanded.  Money 
was  not  to  be  drawn  out  of  the  pockets  of  Christians  by  stirring  ap- 
])eals,  affecting  or  witty  anecdotes,  by  fairs  and  festivals,  by  fun  and 
frolic.  It  was  to  be  voluntarily  laid  in  the  treasury,  and  "  no  gather- 
ings "  were  to  be  made  when  the  time  came  that  it  was  to  be  paid  out 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  679 

for  the  Lord's  work.  In  a  word,  beneficence  was  to  be  exercised 
whenever  and  to  whatever  extent  its  great  ends  required,  and  until 
God's  own  children  would  feel  that  it  was  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive — until  they  became  conformed  as  givers  to  Him  who  is  the 
Great  Giver  of  the  universe,  who  fills  heaven  and  earth  with  his  gifts, 
and  who  has  crowned  all  by  the  gift  of  his  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of 
the  world  lost  in  sin. 

Wliat  has  Beneficence  done  ?  Not  all,  or  nearly  all  that  it  was  de- 
signed to  accomplish,  and  yet  we  can  thank  God  that  it  has  done  much. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  specially,  there  has  been 
a  wonderful  awakening.  At  this  time  there  is  a  measure  of  obedience 
to  the  Saviour's  command  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  nations  that  has 
not  been  approached  since  the  days  oi  the  apostles.  We  can  thank 
God,  in  this  Council,  that  Presbyterians  have  participated  in  this 
awakening,  and  have  been  among  the  foremost  to  preach  Christ  to  the 
nations.  We  can  join  with  our  Christian  brethren  throughout  the  world 
in  rejoicing  that  the  heralds  of  the  cross  are  to-day  in  almost  every 
land  under  heaven.  Before  these  the  systems  of  heathenism,  Moham- 
medanism, and  corrupt  Christianity  are  weakening,  and  in  many  places 
are  tottering  to  their  fall.  The  pope  can  see  from  his  window  in  the 
Vatican  the  Bible  sold  freely  in  the  streets  of  Rome.  Christian  in- 
stitutions for  relieving  the  needy,  and  spreading  the  truth,  are  dotting 
the  map  of  the  world.  Millions  of  dollars  are  laid  in  the  Lord's 
treasury  annually  for  the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom.  The  claims 
of  the  Lord  upon  the  property  of  Christians  are  acknowledged  as  they 
never  have  been  before.  Covetousness  is,  in  many  cases,  giving  place 
to  a  noble  generosity;  and  instances  of  self-sacrificing  giving  for  the 
cause  of  Christ  are  multiplying  on  every  hand.  When  we  think  of 
what  the  Christian  world  was  at  the  beginning  of  our  century,  and  of 
what  it  is  to-day,  we  cannot  but  exclaim.  What  hath  Christian  benefi- 
cence wrought ! 

Whal  has  Beneficence  failed  to  accomplish  ?  There  is  another  side  to 
the  pleasant  picture  which  has  just  been  drawn.  It  seems  a  pity  to 
turn  it  to  our  view  on  this  platform  ;  but  fidelity  requires  us  to  look 
upon  it.  We  must  ask  what  has  Christian  beneficence  done  compared 
with  what  it  should  have  accomplished? — compared  with  what  was 
given  it  to  do?  It  must  be  confessed  that  but  a  small  revenue  of  glory 
has  come  to  God  from  this  source.  Few,  comparatively,  even  among 
professing  Christians,  have  recognized  the  sovereign  right  of  God  to 
all  property,  and  have  acted  in  full  view  of  this  solemn  truth.  Cov- 
etousness still  largely  controls  the  hearts,  and  is  manifest  in  the  lives 
of  many  professors  of  religion.  The  line  between  them  and  the 
world,  in  this  respect,  is  scarcely  visible.^  So  close  are  some  profess- 
ing Christians,  that  it  is  scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  they  would 
"  occupy  the  pews  farthest  from  the  pulpit,  to  save  the  interest  on 
their  money  while  the  deacons  are  passing  the  plates  for  the  contribu- 
tions." It  is  told  of  a  well-known  member  of  the  Established  Kirk, 
in  a  small  Scotch  village  (and  the  story  may  be  true),  that  he  lately 


68o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

put  a  shilling  into  the  plate,  and  coolly  helped  himself  to  eleven 
pence  half-penny,  remarking  to  the  attending  elder,  "I  forgot  to  get 
change  ye'streen,  Maister  Broon  ;  sae  I'll  just  put  in  a  shillin,  and 
tak'  oot  the  eleven  pence  ha'  penny.  Ye'll  be  gayen  glod  to  get  rid 
o'  the  coppers,  nae  doot ! "  Some  others  give  more  liberally,  but 
they  give  to  be  seen  of  men.  So  evident  is  the  ostentation  that  some 
observant  one  has  said  with  fine  sarcasm,  "  There  is  no  use  in 
chucking  a  copper  cent  into  the  contribution  box  loud  enough  to 
make  the  folks  on  the  back  seat  think  the  communion  service  has 
fallen  off  the  table!" 

More  seriously,  notwithstanding  all  that  beneficence  has  done,  it  is 
still  true  that  the  poor  are  crying  for  bread  in  the  very  midst  of  Chris- 
tian communities,  and  the  widow  and  orphan  are  without  the  neces- 
saries of  life.  Soon  after  the  days  of  the  apostles,  the  Master's 
command  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  the  world  was  not  heard,  or,  if 
heard,  was  not  heeded.  For  ten  or  more  weary  centuries  it  appears 
to  have  been  almost  forgotten  by  the  Christian  world.  The  Refor- 
mation of  the  sixteenth  century  brought  the  Church  out  of  darkness  ; 
but  it  gave  the  true  light  only  to  the  nations  that  already  had  the  gos- 
pel in  grossly  corrupted  form.  It  was  almost  three  centuries  from  the 
Reformation  before  the  Church  remembered  that  the  outlying  nations 
were  in  heathen  darkness.  When  one  of  her  young  members,  here 
and  there,  began  to  remember  these,  and  to  feel  the  power  of  the 
Saviour's  ascending  command,  her  voice  was,  "  Young  man,  sit  down  : 
when  God  pleases  to  convert  the  heathen,  he  will  do  it  without  your 
aid  or  mine." 

When,  sixteen  years  less  than  a  century  ago,  the  proposition  was 
made  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  venerable  Church  of  Scotland, 
to  establish  a  foreign  mission,  it  "was  treated,"  we  are  told,  "not 
only  as  an  unnatural,  but  a  revolutionary  design."  That  era,  we  are 
happy  to  know,  is  past,  and  during  this  century  the  gospel  has  been 
preached  to  a  great  part  of  the  world.  Yet  it  must  be  candidly  con- 
fessed that  but  little  has  been  done  compared  with  the  wants  of  the 
heathen,  the  obligation,  opportunities  and  ability  of  the  Church. 
What  truth,  and  rebuke,  were  in  those  words  of  the  great  apostle  to 
India,  the  lamented  Dr.  Duff,  who  passed  to  his  reward  since  the  last 
Council  of  the  Alliance,  '■'■We  are  playing  with  rnissions  /"  He 
meant,  I  presume,  that  with  all  that  had  been  done,  the  great  mass 
of  the  members  of  the  Church  were  not  seriously  in  earnest  in  giving 
the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  And  when  we  contemplate  the  wealth  that 
God  has  given  to  the  Christian  world  ;  when  we  know  that  Christians 
spend  more  for  luxury,  for  things  not  needed,  or  even  absolutely 
hurtful  ;  when  we  see,  in  wealthy  congregations,  men  giving  ten  dol- 
lars for  mere  self-indulgence  and  show,  where  they  give  one  directly 
for  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  women  "wearing  diamonds  whose  cost 
would  support  a  school,  or  a  missionary  for  a  year;"  when  we  see 
multitudes  of  Christian  men  and  women  giving  what  they  do  without 
feeling  that  it  is  any  sacrifice, .while  the  cause  of  Christ  "stands  out 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  68 1 

in  the  cold,  hat  in  hand,"  receiving  the  miserable  pittance  that  is 
left,  the  meaning  of  the  strong,  almost  bitter  utterance  of  the  vener- 
able missionary  becomes  manifest — We  are  playing  with  missions  ! 

We  are  almost  ready  to  boast  of  this  as  an  age  of  missions  and  great 
benevolence.  We  forget  that  never  in  the  history  of  the  world  had 
the  Church  such  ability  to  give,  such  opportunity  of  doing  good,  and 
such  claims  made  upon  her  beneficence.  Having  a  large  measure  of 
complacency  in  her  present  liberality  she  forgets  that  she  is  giving, 
probably  not  one-half  the  amount  per  member  for  Christ's  cause  now, 
that  was  given  by  God's  ancient  people,  the  Jews,  centuries  before 
Christ  came.  The  Church's  rising  pride  should  be  repressed  when 
she  listens  to  such  sentences  as  these  from  the  pen  of  one  who  is  no 
pessimist,  and  who  was  himself  long  a  missionary  among  the  depraved 
millions  of  China.  Dr.  William  Speer  writes:  "When  we  take  a 
comprehensive  survey  of  the  1,300,000,000  of  mankind  in  the  habit- 
able parts  of  the  globe,  and  allow  the  utmost  probable  estimate  of  the 
very  small  number,  amidst  all  its  races  and  nations,  who  possess, 
spiritually  understand  and  obey  the  word  of  God,  we  must  confess 
that  now,  eighteen  centuries  after  the  agony  of'Gethsemane,  and  the 
blood  of  Calvary,  sin  still  reigns,  moral  death  reigns,  the  powers  of 
hell  reign  in  all  the  earth." — "  God's  Rule  for  Christian  Giving,"  pp. 

78,  79- 

Again  Dr.  Speer,  referring  to  the  conduct  of  Christian  nations 
towards  the  heathen,  says:  "They  have  contributed  a  few  pennies  to 
give  the  gospel,  millions  of  pounds  to  carry  on  war.  They  have 
scattered  individuals,  preaching,  teaching  the  youth,  and  healing  the 
sick  ;  but  grand  fleets,  armaments  and  armies  to  spread  rapine  and 
death,  or  to  compel  the  admission  of  opium,  rum,  or  corruption  in 
even  worse  forms,  and  to  make  the  name  of  Christ  abhorred  by  the 
Gentiles."  In  view  of  these  things  we,  as  Presbyterians,  must  take 
our  share  of  the  responsibility  and  the  blame.  With  the  soundest 
doctrine,  the  best  form  of  government,  the  greatest  adaptation  to  the 
world  and  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  with  a  fair  proportion  of  earth's 
wealth,  we  have  done  but  little,  if  anything,  more  than  other  branches 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  to  spread  abroad  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
With  all  our  advantages,  and  in  full  view  of  the  world's  wants  and 
the  Saviour's  claims,  we  are  giving  less  than  one  dollar  per  member, 
annually,  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  ! 

It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  Christian  beneficence  has,  in 
large  measure,  failed  to  accomplish  its  object  in  an  age  when  the  wants 
of  the  world  are  understood  as  they  never  were  before.  The  cry  that 
comes  up  from  the  nations  lying  in  sin  is  louder  than  even  in  the 
apostles'  days.  Moreover,  facilities  for  exercising  beneficence  were 
never  so  good  as  now.  The  world  h  open  to  the  gospel.  The  mis- 
sionary can  fly  with  almost  the  speed  of  the  wind  over  oceans  and 
continents.  Messages  of  salvation  may  be  flashed  around  the  globe 
with  the  rapidity  of  lightning.  The  Bible,  and  the  religious  tract, 
may  be  scattered  among  the  nations  like  leaves  from  the  forest.    That 


682  THE  PRESBYTER  IAN  ALLIANCE. 

beneficence,  in  an  age  like  this,  when  the  weaUh  of  the  world  is  in 
the  hands  of  Protestant  Christian  nations,  has  not  accomplished  more 
of  its  heaven-designed  mission,  argues  something  wrong.  It  is  evi- 
dent to  every  reflecting  mind  that  more  money  is  the  great  want. 
The  money  is  in  the  possession  of  Christians,  but  it  is  not  given. 
"  The  angel  having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  is  bound  with 
fetters  of  gold  within  the  Church." 

Why  has  CJirisiian  betieficence  failed  to  accomplish  its  object  ? 

1.  There  has  been  a  failure  on  the  part  of  Christians  generally  to 
recognize  the  fact  that  all  property  belongs  to  God.  "The  silver  is 
mine,  and  the  gold  is  mine,"  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  "Every 
beast  of  the  field  is  mine,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills."  "All 
the  earth  is  mine."  "All  souls  are  mine."  When  Jesus  called  men 
to  leave  their  property  and  follow  him,  he  did  not  ask  this  as  a  favor ; 
he  claimed  it  as  a  right.  The  Bible  teaches  that  no  man  can  say,  as 
to  original,  or  absolute  right,  that  aught  of  the  things  which  he  pos- 
sesses is  his  own.     In  theory,  Christians  admit  all  this;  in  practice 

.  they  deny  it.     Correlated  with  this  is 

2.  The  failure  of  Christians  generally  to  recognize  themselves  as 
God's  stewards.  The  declaration  that  "property  is  a  crime,"  is  a 
heresy  of  the  modern  socialist.  Yet,  as  the  author  of  "  Gold  and  the 
Gospel  "  truly  remarks,  "  False  and  ruinous  as  such  a  maxim  is  in  the 
mouths  of  those  who  proclaim  war  against  property  for  the  sake  of 
plunder,  and  seek  to  overturn  the  powers  that  be  in  order  to  erect 
themselves  into  a  tyranny,  there  is  yet  a  point  of  view  in  which  it  is 
indisputable  by  the  believer.  Man  has  a  right  of  property  towards 
his  fellow-man  ;  he  has  none  towards  his  God.  yiewed  in  this  latter 
light,  no  man  can  say  that  what  he  possesses  is  his  own.  For  here 
comes  in  the  prior,  the  inalienable  claim  of  the  great  Maker  and 
Owner  of  all  things ;  and  in  regard  of  him  the  wealthiest  and  the 
most  powerful  descend  at  once  from  the  rank  of  proprietors  to  that 
of  stewards  of  another's  rights."  All  property  belongs  to  Christ. 
He  commits  a  greater  or  less  portion  of  it  to  each  of  his  servants 
during  his  absence  in  the  heavens,  and  charges  each  to  use  it  aright 
until  he  shall  return.  No  servant  may  let  it  lie  idle,  or  use  it  for  his 
own  ends  merely.  Each  servant  is  to  use  it  with  reference  to  his 
Master's  will,  and  the  account  which  he  must  render  in  relation  to  it 
when  the  Master  comes.  "  Ye  are  stewards  of  my  manifold  gifts,  and 
among  these,  of  my  property,"  is  the  word  of  the  Master  to  every 
Christian.  The  mass  of  Christians  have  not  obeyed  that  word. 
Practically  they  have  acted  as  though  everything  they  possessed  were 
their  own,  and  they  could  use  it  at  their  pleasure. 

3.  There  has  been  a  ivant  of  personal  consecration  on  the  part  of 
Christians,  tinder  the  itifluence  of  Christ's  love.  "  For  the  love  of 
Christ  constraineth  us,"  said  the  apostle.  Not  our  love  for  Christ, 
but  the  knowledge  and  conviction  of  his  love  for  us.  This  was  the 
animating  principle  of  Paul's  life  of  devotion  and  sacrifice.  "  Ye  are 
not  your  own,  ye  are  bought  with  a  price."     The  price  was  the  blood 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  683 

of  Christ.  How  influential  is  the  conclusion  drawn  from  these 
premises — therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body  and  your  spirit  which 
are  his.  Ye  are  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace — animated  by  a 
new  principle  or  motive  of  obedience.  The  motive  is  not  fear,  but 
love.  Paul  says  of  the  Macedonian  Christians  that  they  "first  gave 
their  ownselves  to  the  Lord,"  and  then  their  wealth  to  be  used  as  he 
should  direct.  They  laid  their  hearts  on  the  altar  of  God,  and  kept 
them  continually  burning  there.  The  contributions  of  their  property 
followed  necessarily  by  a  holy  constraint.  The  consecration  of  the 
Christian,  with  Christ's  love  in  view,  carries  with  it  the  consecration 
of  all  that  he  is  and  has.  Property  goes  along  with  the  rest,  and 
Christ  has,  therefore,  from  it  whatever  his  cause  demands.  "You 
know,"  said  the  Rev.  John  Milne,  of  Scotland,  "that  I  do  not  beg 
you  to  give.  I  only  ask  you  to  let  Christ  have  the  purse-strings." 
If  property  is  consecrated  to  him,  the  purse-strings  are  his.  "  Ye 
know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  was  Paul's  appeal  to  the 
Corinthian  Christians.  The  Christian  consecrated  recognizes  the 
force  of  this  argument,  and  no  offering  is  sufficient  to  express  the 
gratitude  which  his  heart  feels.  The  want  of  this  consecration  by 
Christians. generally  is  a  potent  reason  of  the  failure  of  the  Church  to 
fill  the  Lord's  treasury. 

4.  Failure  on  the  part  of  Christians  to  know  and  believe  that  their 
own  souV s  good  requires  liberal  giving.  "  See  that  ye  abound  in  this 
grace  also,""  said  Paul  to  the  Cormthians.  How  few  Christians  abound 
in  it !  In  the  most  its  exercise  is  so  spasmodic  as  to  render  it  doubt- 
ful whether  the  grace  indeed  exists.  The  mass  of  professors  do  not 
seem  to  be  concerned  about  the  matter.  It  rarely  occurs  to  them  to 
think  that  they  might  discover  whether  they  are  Christians  at  all  or 
not  by  putting  their  hand  in  their  pocket.  They  forget  that  in  the 
great  day  of  judgment  the  evidence  that  any  man  was  a  Christian  will 
be  that  he  exercised  benevolence  when  here  on  earth.  "Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me."  A  man  who  is  not  beneficent  is  not  a  Christian. 
He  Avho  does  not  abound  in  this  grace  is  not  a  Christian  in  good 
health.  He  lacks  one  of  the  elements  of  greatest  usefulness,  and 
one  of  the  sweetest  sources  of  joy.  "  It  is,"  says  another,  "  a  law  of 
our  being  as  fixed  as  the  ordinances  of  heaven,  that  we  drink  the 
richest  draughts  when  holding  the  cup  of  enjoyment  to  another's 
lips."  Nothing  more  dwarfs  the  soul  than  covetousness  and  greed 
of  gain.  Nothing  more  expands  it  than  large-hearted  beneficence. 
It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  highest  spiritual  attainments  in 
any  respect  are  possible  without  the  free  exercise  of  this  grace. 
Christians  generally  do  not  know  and  believe  this.  They  think  they 
can  be  healthy  without  being  beneficent.  Hence  they  are  strangers  to 
many  of  the  sweetest  joys  of  religion.  They  realize  but  little  of  the 
promises — "  He  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  also  himself."  "  The 
liberal  soul  shall  be  made  fat."  Our  Lord  Jesus  said  out  of  the 
deepest  experience,   "It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 


684  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

How  few  of  his  followers  are  like  their  Lord   in  this  blessed  expe> 
rience  ! 

5.  Failure  on  the  part  of  Christians  generally  to  recognize  God s  law 
as  to  the  amount  of  their  gifts.  It  is  not  undertaken  in  this  brief  essay  1 
to  prove  that  the  law  requires  the  one-tenth  of  the  Christian's  income.) 
It  is  only  suggested  :  (i.)  That  as  God  has  legislated  in  relation  to 
time,  it  is  reasonable  to  anticipate  that  he  would  legislate  in  relation 
to  property.  To  teach  man  that  all  time  is  his,  he  has  given  him  six 
days  of  the  week,  and  reserved  one  for  himself.  Has  he  not  in  like 
manner  legislated  with  respect  to  [)roperty?  (2.)  There  is  conclusive 
evidence  that  in  all  dispensations  prior  to  this,  God  accepted  or 
required  the  one-tenth  of  his  people's  property  as  his  own.  (3.)  The 
reasons  for  the  law  of  the  tithe  remain  in  at  least  as  great  force  in  this 
as  in  any  former  dispensation.  Is  it  not  a  maxim,  Ratio  legis  est  lex ? 
If  the  reasons  for  the  law  remain,  the  law  continues.  (4.)  The  law 
of  the  tithe,  once  established,  has  not  been  repealed.  Paul's  argument 
addressed  to  the  Corinthians  for  the  support  of  the  ministry  is  not 
valid  if  this  law  was  not  in  force  when  he  made  it.  (5.)  The  objection 
that  Paul's  direction  to  the  Corinthians,  to  lay  by  them  in  store  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week  as  the  Lord  had  prospered  them,  is  against 
the  law  of  the  tithe,  and  is  another  law,  is  not  well  taken.  He  was 
not  then  considering  the  law  of  the  tithe,  but  was  pleading  for 
Christian  liberality,  and  was  indicating  the  appropriate  time  for  giv- 
ing. It  is  not  liberality  in  me  to  give  the  one-tenth  of  my  increase. 
That  never  belonged  to  me.  It  is  liberality  to  give  out  of  the  nine- 
tenths  which  God  has  allowed  me  for  my  own  use.  (6.)  The  objection 
that  the  law  of  the  tithe  is  unequal,  that  it  oppresses  the  poor,  while 
the  rich  do  not  feel  its  weight,  cuts  too  deep.  It  was  a  law  in  Israel, 
and  if  it  be  said  it  was  unjust  the  objector  must  go  to  the  fountain 
head.  We  never  heard  the  objection  made  when  the  lawgiver  was 
duly  considered.  God  is  pleased  to  do  many  things  which  may  not 
seem  to  men  to  be  equal.  (7.)  Those,  in  general,  who  give  at  least 
one-tenth  of  their  income  to  the  Lord,  have  had  no  difficulty  in  find- 
ing the  law  of  the  tithe  to  be  still  existing  and  binding.  This  fact  is 
suggestive.  (8.)  Finally,  the  no-law  plan  of  this  dispensation,  the 
every-body-do-as-you-[)lease-law,  has  been  a  failure.  At  the  time 
when  God  is  displaying  to  men  most  fully  his  love;  when  the  motive 
for  giving  is  much  stronger  than  in  any  former  dispensation,  and  the 
demands  upon  beneficence  are  unspeakably  greater,  not  one-twentieth 
of  their  increase  has  been  given  by  Christians  generally.  Two  or 
three-tenths  were  given  by  the  Jews :  not  one-twentieth  is  given  by 
Christians.  Christ  had  not  actually  come  to  them.  He  has  come  to 
us.  Theirs  was  not  a  missionary  Church.  Ours  is  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  all  nations.  This  is  the  result  without  law  as  to  giving.  Is 
it  not  time  that  the  Church  should  re-examine  this  matter?  She  will 
make  the  discovery  that  in  no  dispensation  has  God  regained  less  than 
the  one-tenth.  She  will  find  that  he  requires  this  of  all  now,  and 
beyond  this  as  the  Lord  has  prospered  every  man. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  685 

6.  Finally,  there  has  been  a  failure  in  beneficence  because  Christians 
have  not  generally  regarded  giving  as  a  part  of  divine  worship.  It  has 
been  regarded  as  a  duty  simply,  whereas  it  is  properly  one  of  the  class 
of  duties  which  we  call  worship.  It  has  all  the  essential  elements  of 
worship.  There  is  the  inward  principle,or  grace,  exercised,  and  there 
is  the  appropriate  outward  act.  It  is  plain  from  the  word  that  all  the 
costly  offerings  under  the  old  dispensation  were  gifts  of  property  pre- 
sented to  God  in  worship.  The  command  is  given — "  Honor  (wor- 
ship) the  Lord  with  thy  substance,  and  with  the  first-fruits  of  all  thine 
increase."  Prayers  and  alms  are  linked  in  the  bonds  of  worship — 
"  thy  prayers  and  thine  alms  are  come  up  for  a  memorial  before  me." 
The  Sabbath  is  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  God  ;  but  every  Chris- 
tian is  commanded  to  place  a  portion  of  his  substance  in  the  treasury 
of  the  Lord  on  that  day.  If  doing  this  be  not  worship,  it  is  breaking 
the  law  of  the  Sabbath.  We  are  exhorted  "  to  do  good  and  commu- 
nicate," and  are  assured  that  "with  such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased  " 
— such  worship  pleases  him.  The  Saviour  gives  instructions  in  rela- 
tion to  doing  alms  identical  with  those  relating  to  prayer  and  fasting. 
Did  he  not  mean  to  teach  that  the  one  is  worship  as  well  as  the 
others? 

Yet,  in  view  of  these  and  many  such  instructions,  few  Christians 
have  recognized  the  fact  that  in  giving  their  property  for  the  Lord's 
cause,  they  were  performing  a  solemn  act  of  worship.  They  have 
made  their  contributions  in  much  the  same  spirit  as  that  in  which  they 
have  paid  their  house-rent  or  their  tax. 

Beneficence  is  worship.  Let  it  be  so  regarded,  and  now  let  us  see 
how  many  questions  relating  to  it  are  at  once  settled  :  (i.)  The  duty 
of  giving  is  placed  on  a  firm  foundation.  There  can  be  no  question 
as  to  the  obligation  to  worship  God.  (•>.)  The  spirit  is  indicated — it 
is  to  be  that  of  devotion.  This  would  at  once  remove  all  objection- 
able methods  of  raising  money  for  religious  purposes ;  fairs,  festivals, 
raffles,  etc.,  would  no  more  appear.  (3.)  "^Y^xq persons  who  are  to  give. 
All,  of  every  age  and  condition,  are  to  take  part  in  worship.  (4.)  The 
time  for  giving.  The  first  day  of  the  week  is  specially  devoted  to  acts 
of  worship.  (5.)  The  amount  to  be  given.  True  worship  will  be  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  God.  The  amount  of  time  to  be  given  is  one 
day  in  seven.  The  rightly-exercised  Christian  will  give  as  much  time 
beyond  that  as  gratitude  prompts,  as  the  cause  demands,  and  as  he  can 
afford.  The  amount  of  money  to  be  given  is  the  one-tenth.  The 
devoted  Christian  will  give  that,  and  as  much  more  as  gratitude 
prompts,  the  cause  demands,  and  he  can  afford.  (6.)  The  direction 
which  gifts  of  property  are  to  take.  Worship  is  in  the  Church,  and 
its  blessings  go  to  the  Church,  and  through  this  channel  to  the  world. 
(7.)  The /^r/d?^/ through  which  contributions  are  to  be  made.  Life  is 
the  time  for  worship.  Men  do  not  abstain  from  praying  and  singing 
praise  and  leave  a  large  amount  of  prayers  and  praises  to  their  execu- 
tors to  be  used  after  death.  They  pray  and  sing  praise  through  life, 
and  they  pray  that  good  may  be  done  by  their  prayers  which  thev  havt; 


686  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

left  with  the  Church.  So  are  men  to  give  through  life,  and  if,  at  its 
end,  they  have  still  something  left,  they  may  bequeath  it  to  do  good 
when  they  are  gone.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  a  Christian  regarding 
beneficence  as  worship,  and  yet  dying  a  millionaire.  (8.)  The  fre- 
quency of  giving.  Christians  pray  when  they  need  to  pray,  and  when 
the  cause  of  Christ  demands  prayer.  Specially  do  they  devote  each 
returning  Sabbath  to  this  end.  So  should  it  be  with  giving.  (9.)  It 
settles  the  matter  of  system  in  giving.  It  is  to  be  the  same  as  in  the 
other  parts  of  worship.  This  is  well  understood  and  arranged.  No 
formal  service  of  worship  is  complete  with  prayer  or  praise  omitted. 
No  formal  service  of  worship,  especially  on  the  Sabbath,  should  be 
closed  until  the  worshippers  have,  with  their  other  acts  of  devotion, 
presented  their  offerings  of  property.  Let  all  Christians  from  this 
time  forth  believe  that  giving  of  their  substance  is  worship,  and  act 
accordingly,  and  there  will  be  at  least  no  longer  any  necessity  for 
essays  on  systematic  beneficence. 

May  the  Lord,  the  great  Giver,  add  his  blessing,  and  may  his  peo- 
ple speedily  become  like  him  in  beneficence  ! 

The  Rev.  Benjamin  L.  Agnew,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  read 
the  following  paper  on 

MINISTERIAL  SUPPORT. 

In  order  to  have  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  subject  of  Ministerial 
Support,  let  us  enter  upon  an  examination  of  what  we  find  recorded 
in  the  word  of  God  and  upon  the  annals  of  history,  as  far  as  our  lim- 
ited time  permits,  and  arrive  at  such  conclusions  as  the  records  war- 
rant upon  this  most  interesting  and  vital  subject.  It  may  prove  profit- 
able to  us  to  examine  the  subject  chronologically,  as  it  is  presented  to 
our  minds  in  the  various  historic  periods  of  the  Church  of  God.  Let 
us  look  at  the  theme  before  us, 

I.   During  the  Patriarchal  Age. 

This  age  covers  the  history  of  the  Church  for  a  period  of  2,500 
years.  During  this  age  we  have  some  clearly  defined  theologic  strata 
cropping  out,  which  indicate  the  character  of  this  ecclesiastical  period, 
giving  foundation-stones  of  truth  upon  which  we  can  rest  our  judg- 
ment. 

1.  They  had  their  stated  times  for  public  worship.  Gen.  ii.  3, 
"God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified  it."  We  read  of  the 
"seventh  day"  and  the  "week"  in  the  times  of  Noah,  Job,  Laban, 
and  Joseph.  Cain  and  Abel  met  for  worship,  and  in  the  days  of  Job, 
when  the  "  sons  of  God  came  to  present  themselves  before  the  Lord," 
Satan  came  too  (just  as  he  does  now).  In  the  sixteenth  chapter  of 
F^xodus,  before  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Mount  Sinai,  when  God  gave 
his  people  manna,  the  Israelites  were  reminded  that  the  seventh  day 
was  "  the  rest  of  the  holy  Sabbath  unto  the  Lord  "  (verses  22-26). 

2.  They  had  the  ordinances  of  the  Church  and  the  means  of  grace. 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  687 

Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  are  found  erecting  altars  to  the 
living  God,  and  offering  thereon  their  burnt-offerings.  The  friends 
of  Job  are  commanded  to  offer  seven  bullocks  and  seven  rams  in  sac- 
rifice to  God  :  and  doubtless  all  these  offerings  were  intended  to  teach 
the  vicarious  death  of  the  woman's  promised  seed. 

3.  They  had  their  ministers  of  religion,  their  officiating  priests. 
The  father  of  a  family,  or  his  first-born  son,  was  priest  of  the  house- 
hold (Num.  iii.  12,  13).  Noah  was  a  preacher  of  righteousness  and 
offered  sacrifices  (Gen.  viii.  20)  ;  Shem,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
are  seen  officiating  at  the  altar  of  God  (Gen.  xii.  7,  8;  xiii.  18; 
xxii.  13). 

4.  These  things  point  to  a  regular  service  of  religion,  and  it  is  plain 
that  they  contributed  most  generously  to  the  support  of  their  public 
worship  in  divinely  stipulated  tithes. 

When  Abraham  returned  from  the  slaughter  of  the  men  who  had 
captured  Lot,  Melchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  and  priest  of  the  most 
high  God  (Gen.  xiv.  18,  Psalms  Ixxvi.  2),  met  and  saluted  him;  and 
Abraham,  who  was  the  head  of  the  family  from  which,  in  after  years, 
sprang  God's  clergymen,  the  Levites,  gave  tithes  of  the  spoils  to  Mel- 
chizedek ;  and  for  what  purpose,  if  it  were  not  to  support  their  reli- 
gious ordinances,  rites,  and  observances?  And,  mark  you,  this  was 
four  hundred  years  before  the  Mosaic  ritual  and  Levitical  service. 

This  tithing  must  have  been  a  divine  institution,  for  we  read  in 
Hebrews  vii.  6,  that  Melchizedek  "received  tithes  of  Abraham." 
The  Greek  has  it,  SsSfxurwxf  tov  'AjSpaa/t,  (dedekatoke  ton  Abraam). 
He  decimated,  or  /////^d' Abraham. 

The  ninth  verse  reads,  "  Levi  also,  who  receiveth  tithes,  paid  tithes 
in  Abraham,"  but  the'Greek  presents  it  more  forcibly,  5ta  'A/3paa/i  xai 
h.tvl  o  ^fzaraj  xau|8avuv  5j5fxarwrat,  and  Levi,  also,  the  receiver  of 
tithes,  was  tithed  in  Abraham. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  authority  of  Melchizedek  as  High  Priest 
of  God  exercised  over  Abraham,  and  his  superiority  to  the  priesthood 
of  Levi  clearly  shown  in  tithing  Levi  in  Abraham,  and  we  conclude 
that  Abraham  was  obeying  a  divine  law  in  paying  tithes  to  Melchize- 
dek. Thus,  we  have  the  administrator  of  a  law,  a  distinguished 
subject  of  the  law,  and  God's  approbation  upon  the  authority  exer- 
cised, and  the  subjection  rendered  ;  and,  therefore,  we  conclude  that 
tithing  must  have  been  a  divine  institution  in  the  earliest  age  of  the 
Church  of  God.  As  the  years  roll  on  we  see  Jacob  conforming  to 
the  established  law  and  custom,  and  vowing  to  consecrate  during  his 
life  one-tenth  of  his  income  to  the  Lord,  for  he  solemnly  declares  that 
"of  all  that  thou  shalt  give  me  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth  unto  thee." 

So  far  as  we  know  they  had  no  ornate  and  costly  tabernacles  or 
temples  during  the  Patriarchal  Age,  and  no  costly  choirs,  or  ceremo- 
nial observances,  such  as  we  see  in  later  periods  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory, and  yet  they  gave  a  tenth  of  their  income  to  the  Lord  in  those 
early  times  for  religious  purposes. 

Here,  then,  we  see  the  most  ample  and  generous  provision  made 


688  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

for  the  support  of  Church  ordinances,  and  the  officiating  ministers 
who  labored  for  the -advancement  of  the  revealed  truth  of  God,  as 
imparted  to  his  chosen  servants  of  the  Patriarchal  Age, 

There  is  very  strong  presumptive  proof  that  this  law  of  tithes  was 
given  to  man  before  the  dispersion  of  the  nations  at  Babel,  in  the  fact 
of  the  universality  of  the  custom  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  of 
giving  one-tenth  of  their  income  to  their  various  gods,  as  witnessed 
in  the  centre  of  civilization  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  in  the 
west  among  the  Gauls,  on  the  north  among  the  Scandinavians,  in  the 
south  among  the  Carthagenians  and  Egyptians,  and  in  the  east  among 
the  Asiatics  of  the  early  centuries. 

II.  Let  us  examine  this  subject  in  the  Levitical  Age. 
A  new  nation  is  born  at  the  Exodus,  unlike  any  predecessor  or  suc- 
cessor— a  Theocracy,  and  the  worship  of  the  Great  King  is  to  assume 
a  new  form  in  and  around  a  gorgeous  tabernacle  with  an  ostentatious 
ritual.  Are  the  expenses  of  supporting  the  worship  of  the  Great 
Governor  of  the  universe,  and  of  setting  the  spiritual  table  for  the 
nourishment  of  his  children,  to  be  diminished  in  their  new  national 
relations? 

Who  are  now  to  be  the  ministers  of  religion?  The  Lord  will  make 
his  own  selection,  and  instead  of  the  "  first-born,"  he  now  selects  the 
tribe  of  Levi  to  be  his  servants,  and  the  sons  of  Aaron  to  be  his 
priests,  and  besides  all  these,  a  multitude  of  Nethenim,  or  Stationary 
Men,  who  were  divided  into  twenty-four  classes  to  serve  at  the  daily 
sacrifice.  80,000  were  hewers  of  wood,  and  70,000  bearers  of  burdens. 
(Josh.  ix.  21-27  5  Ezra  viii.  20;  2  Chron.  ii.  17,  18  ;  i  Kings  v.  16.) 
The  Levites  were  very  numerous,  as  compared  with  the  number  of 
people  whom  they  served.  When  the  census  'was  taken  the  second 
year  after  the  exodus,  they  numbered  23,000  males,  of  whom  12,000 
were  grown  up.  (Num.  iii.  20,  etc.)  The  people  numbered  600,000; 
that  is,  12,000  men,  or  one  to  every  fifty  people,  to  be  supported  as 
ministers  of  religion,  besides  the  vast  army  of  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water — and  all  these  for  little  Palestine  ! 

In  David's  time  they  numbered  38,000  for  service  in  that  small  ter- 
ritory !  24,000  to  assist  the  priests  at  the  sanctuary,  6,000  to  act  as 
scribes  and  lawyers,  4,000  to  furnish  music  for  the  house  of  God,  and 
4,000  gate-keepers,  who  were  required  to  be  vigilant  on  duty,  for  if 
found  asleep  their  clothes  were  set  on  fire.  It  was  intended  that  all 
should  be  actively  employed  during  the  time  of  actual  service. 

The  Levites  usually  entered  upon  their  public  duties  at  thirty  years 
of  age,  and  continued  in  service  until  they  arrived  at  the  age  of  fifty 
(Num.  iv.  2-47),  although  they  sometimes  appear  to  have  entered 
upon  tjie  discharge  of  some  official  duties  as  early  as  twenty-five 
(Num.  viii.  24,  25),  and  even  as  early  as  twenty  (i  Chron.  xxiii.  37  ; 
2  Chron.  xxxi.  17:  Ezra  iii.  8).  They  were  not  allowed  to  enter 
upon  the  full  work  of  their  ministerial  office  in  the  verdancy  of  their 
youth,  nor  to  continue  in  their  labors  in  the  decline  of  their  old 
days. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  689 

Now,  the  question  most  affecting  our  subject  arises,  How  was  this 
vast  army  of  clergymen  supported  by  so  small  a  constituency,  or  so 
few  parishioners?  Not  by  pew-rents,  nor  by  yearly  subscriptions. 
Nor  were  they  supported  meagrely,  miserly,  meanly,  on  slim,  stinted, 
starving  salaries. 

1.  They  had  good  parsofiages  or  manses  provided  for  them,  for 
forty-eight  cities  were  set  apart  to  the  use  of  the  priests  and  Levites. 
(Josh.  xxi.  19.) 

2.  Besides  these  parsonages  they  had  also  beautiful  and  fertile  sub- 
urban glebes,  sufficient  for  pasture-fields  for  their  cattle,  which  ex- 
tended 1,000  cubits  from  the  wall  of  each  city  round  about, 

3.  In  addition  to  home  and  glebe,  they  had  also  a  most  generous 
yearly  income  from  all  the  other  tribes,  in  the  shape  oi  tithes. 

The  one-tenth  of  all  the  incomes  of  the  people  was  to  be  given  to 
the  Lord  (notice  the  language  :  to  be  given  to  the  Lord^,  for  the  use 
of  the  Levites,  and  it  was  regarded  as  deliberate  robbery  of  God  not 
to  pay  the  tithes  he  commanded  ! 

This  one-tenth  was  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  ministry ;  and  in 
addition  they  gave  another  tenth  for  sacrifices;  and  in  addition  to  all 
this,  large  offerings  to  the  poor,  and  innumerable  free-will  offerings 
besides  ! 

They  had,  too,  their  schools  of  the  prophets  for  tlie  education  of 
pious  young  men  for  special  ministerial  services ;  and  all  their  church 
buildings,  whether  tabernacle,  temple,  or  synagogue,  were  erected  by 
the  voluntary  contributions  of  God's  chosen  people;  making  their 
yearly  offerings  to  religious  beneficence  nearly  one-third  of  their 
entire  income  ! 

The  Lord  himself  ordained  the  Levitical  law,  and  under  this  law 
all  ministers  were  educated  for  their  work  at  the  expense  of  the 
Church  ;  and  while  engaged  in  active  work  from  thirty  to  fifty  years 
of  age,  they  were  kept  free  from  all  worldly  cares  and  avocations,  and 
their  families  lived  as  well  as  the  best  of  their  parishioners ;  when  they 
retired  from  active  service  they  and  their  families  were  magnificently 
cared  for  in  their  retiracy,  and  in  the  glory  of  iheir  old  days;  and 
their  families,  after  their  decease,  were  never  thrown  upon  the  cold 
charities  of  a  heartless  world. 

Thus  God  taught  the  people  that  his  chosen  priests  were  not  to  be 
regarded  as  respectable  paupers,  as  many  regard  ministers  nowadays, 
to  whom  it  is  a  very  kind  piece  of  philanthropy  to  pay  a  paltry  pit- 
tance of  pew-rent,  or  the  smallest  conceivable  salary  for  which  their 
sjiiritual  ministrations  can  be  secured;  and  he  has  laid  upon  his 
Church  members  an  irrepealable  obligation  to  provide  for  his  servants 
in  these  solemn  words :  '■'■  Foisakc  not  the  Levite  as  long  as  thou  livest^^ 
(Deut.  xii.  19). 

Some  people  seem  to  have  an  idea  that  when  a  man  enters  the  min- 
istry he,  somehow  or  other,  lives  in  paradisiacal  places  where  he  pays 
no  rent ;  that  his  clothes,  like  those  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness,  never 
wax  old  ;  that  Providence  provides  his  family  with  a  barrel  of  inex- 
44 


690  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

haustible  meal  and  a  cruse  of  perpetually  flowing  oil,  to  supply  their 
wants;  or  feeds  them,  Elijah-like,  through  the  ministry  of  ravens ;  or 
else  on  angels'  food,  and  the  elixir  of  life,  and  heavenly  ambrosia ;  or 
suspends  the  animation  of  the  digestive  apparatus  ;  or  makes  them  live 
on  promises  !  never  once  supposing  that  a  minister  and  his  family 
should  need  such  vulgar  things  as  mutton-chops,  or  cuts  of  beef,  or 
loaves  of  bread,  and  they  are  rather  proud  of  the  parson's  long,  lean 
face,  which  they  regard  as  a  distinguishing  mark  of  personal  piety, 
when  it  is  only  the  result  of  the  poverty  of  provisions  ! 

But,  fellow-men,  aside  from  all  pleasantry  or  sarcasm,  in  the  Levi  tic 
age  there  were  no  students  pinched  with  poverty — groaning  under 
grievous,  galling,  grinding  debt,  incurred  at  the  gateway  to  tlie  gos- 
pel ministry;  no  ministers  with  aching  hearts  and  burning  brains,  or 
spirits  crushed  with  a  burden  of  anxiety  about  their  bread,  were  ever 
driven,  like  galley-slaves,  to  their  daily  toil ;  no  desponding  hours  on 
the  dying  bed  of  priest  about  provision  for  the  loved  ones  he  must 
leave  behind  ;  no  widows  and  orphans  of  God's  servants  were  left 
without  a  living ;  no  aged  and  infirm  prophets  of  the  Lord  left  house- 
less and  homeless  as  they  were  nearing  their  eternal  rest,  to  be  starved 
into  the  gates  of  glory  ! 

II L  Let  us  now  examine  this  subject  of  Ministerial  Support  under  the 
Apostolic  Age. 

Sometimes  we  hear  the  cry  that  ministers  are  "mercenary  hire- 
lings," because  they  ask  to  be  supported  by  the  people  for  whom  they 
labor  !  In  the  name  of  an  honorable  and  hard-working  body  of  men, 
I  repel  the  charge  in  sovereign  disdain  !  And  I  ask  all  who  have 
such  ideas  to  examine  the  fundamental  principles  of  ministerial  sup- 
port as  laid  down  in  i  Cor.,  chapter  9,  by  as  honorable  and  large- 
hearted  a  man  as  ever  walked  God's  green  earth — the  venerated 
Apostle  Paul. 

1.  Paul  argues  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  support  her 
ministry  on  the  general  principle  that  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire 
(7  v).  "  Who  goeth  a  warfare  at  any  time  at  his  own  charges?  Who 
planteth  a  vineyard,  and  eateth  not  of  the  fruit  thereof?  or  who 
feedeth  a  flock,  and  eateth  not  of  the  milk  of  the  flock?" 

Paul  insists  that  it  is  according  to  the  general  law  of  God,  nature, 
and  humanity,  that  it  should  be  so,  and  not  a  mere  clever  piece  of 
human  device  of  church  officers  to  extort  money  from  an  unwilling 
people  (v.  8-10).  "Say  I  these  things  as  a  man?  or  saith  not  the 
law  the  same  also  ?  For  it  is  written  in  the  law  of  Moses  :  Thou 
shalt  not  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn. 
Doth  God  take  care  for  oxen  ?  or  saith  he  it  altogether  for  our  sakes? 
For  our  sakes,  no  doubt,  this  is  written  :  that  he  that  ploweth  should 
plow  in  hope ;  and  that  he  that  thresheth  in  hope  should  be  partaker 
of  his  hope."  (Deut.  xxv.  24;   i  Tim.  v.  18). 

2.  Paul  argues  further  that  the  demand  for  a  comfortable  support 
is  not  unreasoTiable,  because  those  who  are  ministered  unto  in  spiritual 
realities  are  more  than  repaid  for  all  the  temporal  tithes  they  bring  to 


SECOND  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  691 

God  for  the  supply  of  his  servants  (11  v.)  "If  we  have  sown  unto 
you  spiritual  things,  is  it  a  great  thing  if  we  shall  reap  your  carnal 
things?  "  See  Gal.  vi.  6.  "  Let  him  that  is  taught  in  the  word  com- 
municate unto  him  that  teacheth  in  all  good  things." 

3.  Paul  reminds  the  Corinthians  of  the  recognized  principle  under 
the  Levitical  law,  which  he  asserts  is  of  perpetual  application ;  namely : 
"  That  they  which  minister  about  holy  things  live  of  the  things  of 
the  temple?  and  they  which  wait  at  the  altar  are  partakers  with  the 
altar?"  and  we  have  seen  how  magnificently  they  did  live  under  the 
ceremonial  dispensation  ! 

4.  To  place  the  matter  beyond  all  question,  and  to  crown  his  argu- 
ment with  the  highest  authority,  Paul  asserts  that  it  was  the  solemn 
ordination  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  that  the  Church  should 
support  her  ministry  (v.  14).  "  Even  so  hath  the  Lord  ordained  that 
they  which  preach  the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel."  Christ  him- 
self said  :  "  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire"  (Luke  x.  7),  and  "  The 
workman  is  worthy  of  his  meat  "  (Matt.  x.  10). 

But,  says  the  objector,  "Did  not  Paul  earn  his  living  by  making 
tents  of  goats'  hair?"  Yes,  Paul  was,  in  a  good  sense,  a  shrewd 
politician,  and  when  he  went  into  a  new  missionary  field  he  went 
without  charge  to  the  people  among  whom  he  labored  in  the  gospel, 
and  he  said  (i  Cor.  ix.  12)  of  his  fellow-apostles,  that  they  suffered 
all  things  lest  they  "should  hinder  the  gospel  of  Christ."  The  peo- 
ple of  a  new  field  had  no  sentiment,  no  sympathy,  educated  in  favor 
of  Christianity,  and  consequently  would  not  pay  to  listen  to  a  travel- 
ling preacher  discourse  on  subjects  against  which  the  human  soul  has 
a  most  bitter  and  diabolical  prejudice. 

But,  mark  you,  when  that  same  Paul  addressed  himself  to  churches 
already  established,  he  fearlessly  and  emphatically  lays  down  to  them 
the  law  of  the  great  King  and  Head  of  the  Church,  and  presses  upon 
them  their  solemn  duty  to  God,  their  fellow-men,  and  their  own  im- 
mortal souls,  as  men  who  already  knew  something  of  the  incomparable 
value  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

You  see,  too,  how  the  early  Christians  understood  this  matter,  and 
how  they  appreciated  their  exalted  privileges,  for  when  an  emergency 
arose  they  sold  their  possessions  and  brought  the  money  and  laid  it  at 
the  apostles'  feet,  "and  distribution  was  made  unto  every  man  ac- 
cording as  he  had  need  "  (Acts  ii.  44,  45  ;  iv.  33-35). 

5.  And  Paul  argued  that  they  should  give  generously  to  the  great 
work  of  spreading  the  gospel,  because  in  giving  they  were  but  exer- 
cising  a  gift  of  God — the  charism  of  liberality,  the  exercise  of  which 
would  be  an  unspeakable  blessing  to  their  own  souls,  as  well  as  to 
others.  I  firmly  believe  that  this  grace  of  giving  is  what  Paul  denom- 
inates the  "unspeakable  gift,"  and  it  is  but  honoring  the  third  person 
of  the  adorable  Trinity  to  make  this  declaration.  I  know  this  expres- 
sion is  generally  supposed  to  refer  to  the  adorable  Saviour ;  but  when 
you  read  the  eighth  and  ninth  chapters  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  the  most  natural  construction  of  Paul's  thanksgiving  is 


692  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  make  it  refer  to  the  grace  of  liberality,  produced  in  the  soul  by  the 
direct  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  He  calls  it  '■'■the  grace  of  God 
bestowed  on  the  churches  of  Macedonia"  (2  Cor.  viii.  i) — ;a  great 
flivor  conferred  by  God  in  iijiparting  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the 
mediation  of  Christ,  to  create  and  develop  the  spirit  of  liberality; 
and,  therefore,  a  profoundly  proper  subject  for  thanksgiving.  Look 
closely  at  his  argument.  He  exhorts  the  Corinthians  to  "■  aboziud  in 
this  grace,^'  which  God  had  bestowed  (viii.  6,  7),  because  it  would 
demonstrate  the  sincerity  of  their  love  (8  v. ) ;  because  it  is  Christ-like 
in  its  nature  (9  v.)  5  because  he  would  be  greatly  disappointed  if  they 
did  not  call  it  into  active  exercise ;  because  it  was  only  a  matter  of 
equality  for  them  to  bear  their  just  proportion  of  the  burden  of  Chris- 
tian work  (vs.  13,  14);  because  their  gifts  vv^ould  be  administered  to 
the  glory  of  God  (v.  19  ;  because  it  would  be  a  proof  that  Paul's 
boasting  of  their  liberality  to  provoke  others  to  good  works  was  not 
in  vain  (ix.  1-5);  because  their  reward  would  be  proportionate  to 
their  liberality  (vs.  6-10)  ;  and  because  it  would  greatly  commend  the 
Christian  religion  for  them  as  Gentile  Christians  to  contribute  to  the 
relief  of  Jewish  Christians,  between  whom  there  was  at  that  time  great 
alienation  of  feeling  produced  by  Judaizing  teachers  (v.  13). 

And  then,  in  view  of  all  these  most  weighty  and  significant  con- 
siderations, Paul  calls  this  grace  of  liberality  "  the  exceeding  grace  of 
God  in  you''' — i'7tfp;3a'xxoi)o;ar,  the  outstripping,  surpassing  "grace  of 
God  in  you,"  "which  caiiseth  through  n?,  thanksgiving  to  God,''  and 
"  the  administration  of  this  service,"  he  says,  "  not  only  supplieth  the 
want  of  the  saints,  but  is  abundant  also  by  jnany  thanksgivings  unto 
God;"  and  he  concludes  with  that  burst  of  praise  for  this  soul- 
expanding  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost:  "Thanks  be  unto  God  for  his 
unspeakable  gift !"  "Unspeakable/'  avExStj^yj^ru,  extraordinary,  in- 
calculable, indescribable  "  gift  !  "  and  the  word  is  not  too  strong. 
See  how  the  apostle  Peter  speaks  of  other  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  joy  of  the  believer,  for  example,  he  characterizes  as  "joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory  ;  "  and.tliis  charism  of  liberality  is  most 
assuredly  an  "unspeakable  gift."  "  Unspeakable,"  because  it  is  the 
mjsterious  unction  of  the  infinite  Spirit  of  God;  "unspeakable," 
because  of  its  marvellous  triumph  over  the  idolatrous  covetousness  of 
our  selfish  natures;  "unspeakable,"  because  of  the  immeasurable 
blessings  it  confers  upon  our  revolted  race;  and  "unspeakable," 
because  of  the  revenue  of  glory  it  brings  to  the  grace  of  God,  as  under 
this  heaven-born  power  the  apostles  were  enabled  to  go  everywhere, 
preaching  the  word,  making  the  conquests  of  the  Church  like  the  tri- 
umphal march  of  invincible  legions  flushed  with  ever  new  and  increas- 
ing victories  !  Well  might  the  enraptured  apostle  say  :  "Thanks  be 
unto  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift" — the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
this  priceless  charism  of  liberality  !  Therefore,  for  their  own  souls' 
sake,  as  well  as  for  other  reasons,  Paul  w„uld  have  them  generously 
exercise  this  "unspeakable"  grace. 

If  an   exact   exegesis  can    make  this   burst   of  thanksfjivins:  refer 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  693 

directly  to  the  second  person  of  the  adorable  Trinity,  then  I  would 
say,  in  view  of  this  unspeakable  gift,  and  all  the  unspeakable  blessings 
flowing  from  and  through  this  gift,  all  Christians  should  give  gener- 
ously, sufficiently,  magnanimously,  warm-heartedly  to  the  relief  of  the 
poor,  the  support  of  the  ministry,  and  the  universal  extension  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom. 

IV.  Glance  for  a  mometif  at  what  ive  shall  denominate,  for  the  sake 
of  distinction,  tJie  Involuntary  or  Compulsory  Age. 

Succeeding  the  days  of  the  apostles  on  down  to  the  opening  of  the 
fourth  century,  all  Christian  contributions  were  purely  voluntary  ;  but 
upon  the  accession  to  the  imperial  throne  of  Constantine,  property- 
holders  were  compelled  to  pay  a  tax  for  the  support  of  the  Church, 
and  here  began  what  we  have  denominated  the  Involuntary  or  Com- 
pulsory Age. 

In  the  eighth  century,  when  Charlemagne  was  crowned  with  impe- 
rial honors  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a 
universal  Christian  monarchy,  and  he  bestowed  upon  the  pope  large 
temporal  possessions ;  and  also  ordered  one-tenth  of  all  incomes  to 
be  paid  to  the  Church  under  severe  penalties  for  failure,  or  refusal  to 
pay,  and  the  hierarchical  system  was  for  centuries  afterwards  im- 
pregnably  intrenched  behind  these  monied  munitions,  and  through 
personal,  political,  and  prelatical  corruptions  unutterable  evils  crept 
into  the  Church  of  God. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  there  were  two  classes  of  the  clergy:  the 
secular  order,  the  cloistered  and  corrupt  Benedictines,  which  had 
office  and  salary ;  and  the  mendicant  order,  which  had  neither  settle- 
ment nor  salary,  and  which  were  Prsedatores  instead  of  Praedicatores, 
depending  upon  mendicity  and  mendacity  for  a  miserable  living,  as 
they  travelled  up  and  down  the  earth,  seeking  whom  they  might 
devour. 

V.  Let  us  briefly  consider  the  Age  of  the  Reformation. 

At  the  time  of  the  reformation  Professor  Pond  says:  "In  Germany 
it  was  computed  that  the  ecclesiastics  held  more  than  half  of  the 
national  property." 

Luther,  Calvin,  Zuingle,  Melancthon,  and  other  Reformers  opposed 
all  union  of  Church  and  State,  and  as  a  consequence  nearly  every- 
where that  the  Reformation  prevailed  the  churches  were  disestablished  ; 
but  many  good  men,  however,  in  different  lands  favored  the  union; 
and  the  Episcopal  Church  became  established  in  England,  under 
Henry  VIII.,  in  1534;  and  under  the  influence  of  Knox  the  Presby- 
terian Church  was  established  in  Scotland  in  1578;  the  Lutheran 
Church  prevailed  in  Germany  and  became  established  there ;  the  Re- 
formed Church  was  supported  by  Napoleon  in  France ;  after  the 
French  revolution 'of  1780,  some  States  recognized  the  Catholic, 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches ;  and  thus,  in  these  and  other 
countries,  we  have  presented  to  us  almost  every  variety  of  national 
ministerial  support. 

Soon,  however,  perplexing  troubles  arise.     Non-Conformists,  Dis- 


694  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

senters,  and  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  difficulties  of  manipu- 
lating the  best-ordered  schemes  through  imperfect  political,  self- 
interested  executors  of  law,  increase  in  numbers,  and  organize  their 
churches  on  the  voluntary  plan  ;  and  then  we  see  again  churches 
disestablished  starting  on  a  new  career;  and  churches  established  side 
by  side ;  each  earnest  in  its  own  way  trying  to  accomplish  the  work 
of  the  Master. 

This  brings  us  down  to  consider — 

VI.    The  present  Complex,  Experimental  Age. 

On  this  broad  Presbyterian  platform  we  have  delegates  from  other 
lands  representing  establishments,  able  and  godly  men  who,  perhaps, 
believe  them  to  be  ordained  of  God,  and  wise,  politic,  practicable, 
expedient ;  whilst  this  General  Council  is  being  held  in  a  land  where 
the  constitution  of  the  government  declares  "  Congress  shall  make  no 
law  respecting  an  established  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof."  We,  in  America,  are  shut  up  to  the  voluntary  plan  of  minis- 
terial support,  and  we  are  trying  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  this  plan,  where  tlie  people  are  made  generous  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  we  have  been  largely  successful  in  our  great  experi- 
ment, as  certain  results  demonstrate. 

A  century  ago  we  had  in  the  United  States  only  one  in  every  fifteen 
of  the  population  connected  with  our  Protestant  Churches,  and  now  we 
have  one  in  every  five  ;  and  whilst  our  population  is  increasing  with 
amazing  rapidity,  our  church  communicants  are  increasing  much  more 
rapidly  ;  and  it  has  been  estimated  that  "  the  increase  of  the  church- 
membership  has  been  two  and  a  half  times  greater  than  that  of  the 
population." 

Take,  if  you  please,  some  specimens  of  our  work,  e.  g.,  we  com- 
menced our  general  Sabbath-school  work  just  sixty-six  years  ago,  and 
we  have  to-day  886,328  Sabbath-school  teachers  in  the  United  States, 
and  6,623,124  scholars.  These  are  more  than  there  are  in  all  the 
world  besides ! 

MISSIONS. 

And  we  have  not  been  confining  our  labors  to  our  own  land.  In 
1810,  when  the  A.  B.  of  C.  for  Foreign  Missions  was  organized,  all 
the  churches  in  the  United  States  only  contributed  ;^i,6oo  a  year 
to  foreign  missions,  whilst  now  these  churches  give  annually  about 
;^6,ooo,ooo. 

Of  course  this  is  nothing  comparatively  to  what  we  should  con- 
tribute for  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  Dr.  Godwin  shows  tliat 
Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Congregationalists  only  give 
annually  to  home  missions  $965,000,  and  significantly  adds,  "Since 
it  costs,  according  to  Wendell  Phillips,  ;gi,ooo,ooo  to  kill  an  Indian, 
all  the  evangelical  churches  of  our  land  contribute  as  much  to  evan- 
gelize five  or  six  millions  of  people  as  the  government  pays  to  shoot  a 
single  savage  !  "  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  churches  are  making 
progress  in  the  development  of  the  grace  of  giving. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  695 

AID    TO    CANDIDATES    FOR    THE    MINISTRY. 

We  realize  more  and  more,  as  the  years  roll  on,  the  urgent  neces- 
sity of  an  educated  ministry,  and  under  our  voluntary  system  all  our 
churches  are  doing  something  in  the  way  of  aiding  worthy  young  men 
to  enter  the  holy  office,  and  by  so  doing  we  add  to  their  time  of 
active  work  in  the  pastorate  between  four  and  five  years,  at  an  aver- 
age cost  to  the  churches  of  a  little  over  ;^ioo  a  year  for  this  added 
time.  Reports  from  the  Baptist,  Methodist,  United  Presbyterian, 
Reformed  (Dutch)  Church,  Reformed  Presbyterian  (Synod),  Reformed 
Presbyterian  (General  Synod),  Lutheran,  Congregational,  Episcopalian, 
and  Presbyterian  Churches,  show  that  aid  is  furnished  students  in 
amounts  varying  from  $75  to  ^35°  P^i"  year.  Whilst  most  of  these 
denominations  report  no  falling  off  in  the  number  of  candidates  for 
the  ministry,  there  has  been  a  large  diminution  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  owing  mainly  to  the  false  cry  of  "too  many  ministers" 
which  we  have  recently  heard  so  frequently ;  and  partly  to  the  dimin- 
ished aid  granted  to  our  students  of  late  years.  Many  of  our  students 
need  more  aid  than  they  are  receiving.  The  average  age  at  which 
our  students  in  America  are  ordained  is  twenty-seven,  showing  a  pro- 
tracted struggle  with  many  of  them  to  reach  the  sacred  office. 

MINISTERS   AT   WORK. 

When  a  minister  enters  upon  his  public  work  he  consecrates  to  the 
Church  his  talents,  educated  at  a  cost  to  himself  of  from  ^3,000  to 
g5,ooo;  he  consecrates  to  the  Church  his  labors  and  his  time  ;  and 
he  shuts  himself  out  of  fields  of  pecuniary  profit.  Now,  does  the 
Church  accept  him  and  his?  And  if  so,  are  not  the  people  of  God 
under  the  most  sacred  obligations  to  see  that  he  is  supported,  when 
he  obeys  Paul's  injunction  to  Timothy,  and  gives  himself  wholly  to 
their  service — to  the  promotion  of  their  present  and  eternal  happiness? 
Churches  oblige  themselves  to  keep  their  pastors  free  from  worldly 
cares  and  avocations,  and  many  of  them  keep  inviolate  their  sacred 
obligations,  and  even  do  far  more  than  they  promise,  but  how  clearly, 
sharply,  definitely,  conscientiously,  generously,  do  many  others  of 
them  keep  their  solemn,  binding  moral  and  civil  contracts  in  this 
particular  !     Alas  !  the  facts  are  painful  reading. 

The  average  salaries  of  settled  pastors  in  the  United  States  are  far 
too  low.  In  the  Methodist,  Baptist  and  Lutheran  Churches,  about 
$500 ;  in  the  Presbyterian,  about  $600,  but  under  our  sustentation 
scheme,  we  try  to  make  the  minimum  ;^  1,000  ;  in  the  Congregational, 
about  $700 ;  in  the  United  Presbyterian,  $896  ;  in  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  (Synod),  ;g92o  ;  in  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  (General 
Synod),  nearly  $1,000  ;  whilst  over  the  sea  in  the  Irish  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  minimum  is  $500  ;  in  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  the 
minimum  is  $1,000;  in  the  English  Presbyterian  Church,  the  mini- 
mum is  $1,000. 

In  our  various  denominations  in  the  United  States,  our  Home  Mis- 


696  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sionaries  are  aided  in  amounts  varying  from  ^300  to  $1,200,  and  our 
Foreign  Missionaries  sent  out  from  the  United  States,  in  amounts 
varying  from  $500  to  $2,000. 

The  salaries  of  pastors  in  the  United  States  are  raised  by  pew-rents, 
subscriptions,  or  weekly  offerings  in  envelopes,  and  the  various  plans 
have  their  advocates  and  opponents.  Those  which  have  lately  been 
trying  the  plan  of  "  weekly  offerings"  are  meeting  with  great  success, 
and  it  begins  to  look  as  if  Paul's  plan  of  raising  money  "upon  the 
first  day  of  the  week"  for  Christian  work  was  the  inspired  and  most 
effectual  way  of  developing  the  benevolence  and  beneficence  of  God's 
people. 

DISABLED    MINISTERS. 

When  our  ministers  become  disabled  our  churches  nearly  all  make 
some  scanty  provision  for  them,  so  that,  at  least,  they  are  not  speedily 
starved  ! 

About  one-half  of  our  disabled  or  superannuated  ministers  live  com- 
fortably on  their  own  private  resources.  One-tenth  of  the  ministers 
or  their  families  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States,  re- 
ceive aid  from  the  Board  of  Relief,  and  it  has  given  aid,  since  its 
organization  in  1849,  ^^  upwards  of  4,000  families,  in  sums  of  from 
$50  to  $500,  amounting  in  all  to  more  than  $1,000,000. 

The  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  has  an  Endowment  Fund  for  the 
relief  of  the  disabled,  which  is  supplemented  by  collections.  The 
Lutheran  and  Moravian  Churches  have  endowment  funds,  and  other 
denominations,  without  any  general  systematic  plans,  still,  through 
local  organizations,  manage  to  afford  some  relief  to  the  needy  ;  but 
there  is,  nevertheless,  wide-spread  and  heart-crushing  distress  among 
our  venerable  and  venerated  servants  of  God  and  their  dependent 
families. 

PRACTICAL   WORK. 

What  are  the  practical  things  to  be  aimed  at  by  our  Churches  in  the 
matter  of  ministerial  support  ? 

I.  Every  congregation  should  endeavor  to  supply  a  suitable  manse 
or  home  for  its  pastor.  About  one-third  of  the  Congregational 
Churches  in  New  England,  and  one-half  of  the  Moravian,  and  three- 
fourths  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Churches  of  the  United  States  are 
supplied  with  manses. 

During  the  first  hundred  years  of  the  history  of  Christian  Churches 
in  America,  a  manse,  with  a  glebe  of  from  twenty  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  ground,  was  almost  invariably  provided  by  each  congre- 
gation, so  that,  in  1800,  the  churches  and  manses  were  nearly  equal. 
Now,  howevei",  the  churches  twelve  times  outnumber  the  manses  in 
the  Presbyterian  and  United  Presbyterian  Churches  of  the  United 
States,  as  shown  by  valuable  statistics  gathered  within  a  few  years  by 
Mr.  Joseph  M.  Wilson,  of  Washington  City. 

One-half  of  the  money  paid  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  in  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  697 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  to  its  army  of  missionaries 
goes  to  pay  house-rent  ;  and  ministers  in  the  United  States  pay  more 
money  for  house-rent  than  all  their  churches  contribute  to  Home  Mis- 
sions, Foreign  Missions,  and  Education  combined  ! 

When  congregations  had  their  parsonages  in  early  times,  pastors 
were  more  comfortable,  more  free  from  care,  labored  to  better  advan- 
tage, and  continued  in  their  pastoral  charges  much  longer  than  they 
do  at  present.  A  parsonage  is  a  permanent  investment,  which  brings 
a  rental  revenue  or  saves  a  rental  outlay  to  pastor  and  people  for  all 
time,  and  both  are  permanently  benefited. 

2.  A  plan  of  Life  and  Health  Insurance,  which  would  in  no  way 
interfere  with  present  operations,  is  an  entirely  feasible  project.  The 
Episcopal  Church  has  taken  a  step  forward,  and  has  organized  a 
Clergyman's  Insurance  League,  through  which  congregations  can  aid 
their  ministers,  but  other  churches  have  not  followed  their  example. 
Various  popular  benevolent  institutions,  and  numerous  societies  for 
mutual  aid  have  already  solved  the  problem  of  relieving  the  sick  and 
disabled  ;  and  life  insurance  companies  are  doing  their  work  and 
growing  rich  with  their  success,  demonstrating  once  again  that  "  the 
children  of  this  world  are  in  their  generation  wiser  than  the  children 
of  light." 

In  this  connection  consider  that  the  average  rental  paid  by  Presby- 
terian ministers  of  the  different  denominations  in  the  United  States 
for  parsonages  is  $130  per  annum.  If  each  church  had  a  parsonage, 
this  amount  paid  for  insurance  would  make  a  very  comfortable  provi- 
sion for  many  ministers  and  their  families;  for,  remember,  our  minis- 
ters are  ordained  on  the  average  at  twenty-seven,  and  die  at  fifty- 
four,  thereby  averaging  twenty-seven  years  from  ordination  until  the 
period  of  death.  Then,  as  the  agents  of  a  reliable  company  inform 
me,  $130  a  year  for  twenty-seven  years  would  secure  $8,000  for  the 
family  at  the  decease  of  the  minister  ;  or  it  could  be  invested  so  as  to 
secure  him  weekly  dues  while  sick  or  disabled,  and  have  something 
handsome  left  for  his  family  at  his  decease  ;  or  it  could  be  paid  on  an 
endowment  j^lan,  and  secure  the  payment  at  the  end  of  thirty  years  of 
;J5,ooo  to  the  insured  minister,  or  the  same  amount  to  his  family  in 
case  of  his  decease  prior  to  that  time. 

3.  Salaries  should  be  increased.  Henry  says,  "A  scandalous  main- 
tenance makes  a  scandalous  ministry."  A  Sustentation  Scheme,  effi- 
ciently operated,  seems  to  be  the  golden  key  to  open  the  door  to 
brighter  days.  A  Parish  Endowment  Fund  in  the  Established  Church 
of  Scotland  of  $15,000,  yielding  an  annual  income  of  $600,  has 
proven  successful  in  raising  the  salaries  of  poorly  paid  ministers  under 
the  Establishment,  where  they  have  about  as  many  poorly  paid 
preachers  as  the  churches  operating  under  the  Voluntary  System. 
This  idea  of  aa  Endowment  Fund  can  easily  be  engrafted  on  Susten- 
tation. Whilst  the  Sustentation  Scheme  has  not  proven  a  success  in 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  Ireland,  because  the  people  had 
not  been  trained  to  give  to  church  support  prior  to  disestablishment, 


698  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

it  has  been  a  very  decided  success  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ire- 
land, where,  in  addition  to  the  Regiufti  Dotium  received  from  the 
Government,  the  people  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  pew-renls.  At 
the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1869,  the 
ministers  commuted  their  annuities  and  created  a  permanent  endow- 
ment. In  addition  to  this,  a  Sustentation  Fund  has  been  raised  by  a 
system  of  monthly  collections  through  envelopes,  which  adds  £^()<:)  a 
year  to  each  minister's  support,  so  that  the  minimum  salary  there  of  a 
minister  is  $500,  and  generally  the  salary  approaches  or  exceeds 
$1,000. 

Dr.  Chalmers  successfully  worked  up  the  Sustentation  Scheme  in 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  until  the  minimum  salary  there  is  $1,000. 

The  Sustentation  Scheme  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United 
States  was  bright  with  promise  for  a  time,  but  our  large  new  territory 
operated  by  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  presents  great  and  peculiar 
difficulties  where  churches  are  weak  and  scattered,  and  it  will  require 
time  and  experience  to  bring  it  into  successful  operation  in  this  coun- 
try. But  it  so  greatly  stimulated  our  new  organizations  to  contribute 
to  the  general  benevolent  operations  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  to  self- 
support,  that  we  cherish  the  hope  that  its  most  excellent  features  may 
be  soon  so  improved  as  to  be  made  applicable  to  new  as  well  as  old 
mission  fields,  and  successfully  operated  under  our  Board  of  Home 
Missions,  which  now  has  charge  of  both  departments  of  Home  Mis- 
sion work  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 

4.  Our  churches  all  need  a  Supply  Fund. 

We  do  not  possess  the  appointing  power  in  our  Presbyterian 
churches  which  our  Methodist  and  Protestant  Episcopal  and  Moravian 
brethren  possess,  or,  rather,  we  do  not  generally  exercise  such  power, 
so  as  to  keep  our  ministers  continually  employed,  simply  because  we 
have  no  adequate  provision  for  the  payment  of  appointees ;  and  we 
should,  by  all  means,  raise  a  fund  in  all  our  Presbyteries  which  they 
could  devote  to  the  payment  of  temporary  supplies,  and  thereby  bring 
unemployed  ministers  in  contact  with  vacant  churches  ;  and  our  strong 
congregations  should  contribute  generously  to  this  Supply  Fund  to 
ennble  the  weaker  Presbyteries  to  accomplish  their  God-given  work. 

Few  of  our  churches  have  any  provision  made  for  the  regular  pay- 
ment of  supplies  where  ministers  without  charge  preach  for  vacant 
congregations.  A  few  of  our  denominations,  however,  have  a  Supply 
Fund  regularly  provided.  The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  (Synod) 
and  the  Home  Mission  Board  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 
(General  Synod)  send  supplies  to  vacant  churches,  and  see  to  it  that 
each  sujjply  is  paid  at  the  rate  of  $15  for  each  week's  service. 

The  Moravian  Church  have  what  they  call  the  Provincial  Elders' 
Conference,  consisting  of  five  ministers,  elected  at  each  Synod,  and 
this  board  makes  ministerial  changes;  has  been  in  the  habit  of  paying 
the  expenses  of  the  removal  of  ministers  from  one  charge  to  another ; 
and  pays  supplies  sent  to  fill  the  pulpits  of  vacant  churches;  and  here 
we  have  some  practical  hints  for  our  other  denominations,  which  may 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  699 

solve,  to  some  degree,  the  problem  of  how  to  secure  employment  for 
our  W.  C.'s  who  are  able  and  willing  to  work. 

With  some  such  provisions  our  Presbyterian  Churches,  whose  com- 
municants outnumber  any  other  Protestant  denomination  in  the  world, 
would  all  be  more  efficient  in  disseminating  the  gospel ;  and  when  all 
the  Presbyterian  Churches  throughout  the  world  are  more  bountifully 
baptized  with  the  grace  of  liberality,  and  are  able  to  see  eye  to  eye, 
and  combine  their  forces  in  some  harmonious  plan  of  consecrated 
effort  as  one  mighty  sacramental  host,  as  the  United,  Re-formed,  Pres- 
byterian Christian  Church,  what  a  tremendous  power  she  will  be  in 
the  hands  of  the  God  of  Sabbaoth  ! 

In  the  light  of  the  substantial  agreement  of  the  Churches  forming 
this  Alliance  in  the  "Consensus  of  the  Reformed  Confessions,"  it 
does  not  seem  to  be  a  Eutopian  dream  to  expect  a  combination  of  our 
ecclesiastical  forces  on  a  general  basis  of  union,  such  as  we  see  illus- 
trated in  the  union  of  the  Commonwealths  of  the  United  States,  each 
sovereign  in  its  sphere,  regulating  its  own  affairs,  and  yet  all  united 
under  one  general  constitution,  binding  upon  all,  forming  a  sovereign, 
free,  and  independent  government.  AVith  such  a  union  for  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  world  ;  our  rivalries  on  new  territory  discontinued  ; 
with  an  adequately  supported  ministry  in  the  home  and  foreign  fields, 
free  from  all  worldly  cares  and  avocations,  and  their  numbers  vastly 
increased  ;  and  with  the  mighty  energizing  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
moving  each  ambassador  of  Christ  to  grand  endeavors  on  behalf  of 
our  lost  humanity,  we  shall  present  to  the  world  one  of  the  sublimest 
spectacles,  and  one  of  the  most  irresistible,  on-sweeping  powers  the 
nations  of  the  earth  have  ever  beheld. 

But  how  are  our  congregations  to  be  influenced  to  exercise  the 
grace  of  liberality  and  make  a  generous  provision  for  the  support  of 
their  toiling  ministers?  Intelligent  elders  and  laymen,  whom  God 
has  made  generous,  and  we  have  many  of  them  throughout  our 
churches,  must  exert  their  influence,  and  our  Church  courts  must  take 
more  efficient  action  concerning  systematic  beneficence,  whilst  minis- 
ters niust  themselves  lay  aside  their  modesty  and  preach  the  whole 
truth  of  God  just  as  Paul  preached  it  to  the  Corinthians.  Many  of 
our  congregations  do  not  sufficiently  realize  the  actual  and  urgent  ne- 
cessities of  settled  pastors  of  churches,  and,  therefore,  do  not  support 
them  as  well  as  they  are  able.  Pastors  ought  to  have  suitable  homes 
— homes  on  a  par  with  those  of  their  cultivated  parishioners ;  they 
should  have  sufficient  provision  for  household  expenses  and  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children,  many  of  whom  enter  the  ministry,  for,  as  it  is, 
one  minister  comes  from  each  minister's  family  on  a  general  average. 
They  should  have  enough  to  eat,  for  a  good  physical  basis  is  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  problem  of  success  in  solid  mental  labor,  and 
poor  preaching  is  often  the  result  of  poor  provender  !  They  need 
money  for  books,  in  order  that  they  may  keep  abreast  of  the  times, 
and  not  become  intellectual  fossils  of  their  early  school  days,  when  in- 
fidels are  flooding  the  world  with  heresies  and  false  statements  in  many 


yoo  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

otherwise  captivating  works  on  biology,  physiology,  ethnology,  chro- 
nology, historiology,  psychology,  and  every  department  of  science. 

Ministers  should  be  kept  free  from  worldly  care.  Oh  !  if  many  of 
our  men  of  means  only  realized  how  the  inadequate  support  of  most 
of  our  ministers  is  producing  all  over  the  land  burning  brains,  and 
aching  hearts,  and  broken  spirits,  and  crushed  energies,  and  prostrated 
powers,  and  physical  wrecks,  and  disqualifying  men  for  the  taxing, 
burden-bearing  life  of  their  pastors,  they  would  more  cheerfully  lay 
their  money  on  the  altar  of  the  Lord  for  the  use  of  his  Levites  ! 
How  few  look  upon  pew-rents  as  a  eucharistical  offering  unto  the  Lord  I 
as  a  service  of  thanksgiving  rendered  to  God  with  great  joy,  as  the 
Israelites  of  old  looked  upon  the  payment  of  their  tithes  to  the  Lord 
for  the  Levites  ! 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  take  a  gloomy  view  of  the  ministerial  office, 
for  the  servants  of  the  Son  of  God  are  engaged  in  a  joyous,  blessed, 
grand,  and  glorious  work,  and  they  have  for  their  reward  the  sweetest 
stores  of  bliss  a  man  can  possibly  enjoy  on  earth — the  luxury  of  doing 
good,  the  pleasure  of  an  approving  conscience,  the  joy  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  the  hope  of  unending  glory  ;  at  the  same  time,  it  is  lament- 
ably true  that  their  toilsome  service  is  not  fully  appreciated,  and  they 
are  not  generally  made  as  comfortable  in  their  great  life-work  as 
the  people  of  God,  for  whom  they  toil,  can  well  afford  to  make 
them. 

Let  the  world  but  more  earnestly  consider  the  7vorth  of  ministers 
for  their  worlz  s  sake,  with  all  their  failings  and  shortcomings.  Let 
the  people  be  shown  more  clearly  the  inestimable  value  of  our  churches 
and  Christianity,  so  that  nothing  shall  be  regarded  as  too  m^ch  done 
for  God  and  immortal  souls.  Let  men  consider  more  closely  the 
comprehensive  work  of  ministers,  and  then  estimate  their  worth. 
They  are  educators  of  the  intellectual  man,  for  they  present  before 
the  minds  of  men  the  most  stupendous  themes  of  Revelation — eternity, 
infinity,  immensity  !  They  implant  the  great  principles  of  substantial 
success  in  life  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  young  men  ;  they  are  bene- 
factors of  the  nation  where  they  labor,  by  the  moral  restraints  of  their 
preaching  upon  society,  and  the  consequent  reduction  of  taxation 
rendered  necessary  by  the  lawlessness  of  the  disorderly  ;  they  incul- 
cate the  principles  of  the  best  hygienic  laws  and  regulations  of  phys- 
ical life  ;  they  are  cementers  of  the  social  compact  of  government ; 
they  are  promoters  of  every  form  of  benevolent  institutions ;  they  are 
filling  the  world  with  a  good  class  of  literature ;  they  are  advocates 
of  the  best  ways  of  living ;  and  they  teach  the  immortal  man  the 
only  way  that  leads  him  back  to  God  and  glory  ! 

Ah  !  the  ministers  of  Christ  Jesus  are  engaged  in  a  grand  and  en- 
nobling work,  and  are  worthy  of  a  generous  support ;  but  whether 
they  are  paid  for  their  services  or  not,  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  will 
be  preached,  and  the  work  of  God  will  be  accomplished,  and  every 
faithful  minister  of  the  word  shall  receive  as  his  reward  a  diadem  un- 
speakably more  dear  than  Isthmean  crown,  and  as  incorruptible  and 
imperishable  as  the  glory  of  the  Lord  Almighty. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  701 

The  Council  adjourned,  with  devotional  services,  until  the 
evening. 

September  2,0th,  1880.     7.30  p.  m. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order,  at  the  Academy  of  Music, 
by  the  Rev.  William  Wood,  of  Campsie,  Scotland,  President. 

The  usual  devotional  services  were  held. 

The  President. — This  evening  is  to  be  a  missionary  evening, 
and  the  Council  and  the  audience  are  to  be  addressed  by  a  large 
number  of  missionaries  from  foreign  lands. 

Address  of  Rev.  Henry  Stout,  of  Japan. 

Twenty-six  years  ago  the  empire  of  Japan  was  opened  to  intercourse 
with  the  outside  world.  Not  very  long  after  that  time  an  American 
man-of-war  was  in  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki,  and  on  board  of  that  vessel 
was  a  chaplain.  Two  Christian  gentlemen  from  China,  one  who  had 
already  been  many  years  a  missionary  in  that  country,  and  the  other 
a  chaplain  to  the  foreign  residents  in  Shanghai,  met  at  the  same  time 
in  that  city.  These  gentlemen  were  invited  by  the  officers  of  the  man- 
of-war  to  accompany  them  upon  a  visit  to  tlie  governor  of  the  city. 
In  the  course  of  conversation  with  the  governor,  which  was,  of  course, 
carried  on  by  means  of  an  interpreter,  they  heard  the  governor  say, 
that  now  Japan  was  open  to  intercourse  with  the  outside  world,  and 
the  Japanese  would  be  pleased  to  receive  anything  that  the  foreigners 
had  to  bring  them,  save  two  things,  viz.,  opium  and  Christianity. 
Of  these  they  wanted  neither.  They  had  long  seen  the  evil  effects  of 
opium  upon  the  Chinese  race  ;  and,  therefore,  they  did  not  wish  to 
have  opium  introduced  into  their  country.  They  had  also  had  a  very 
bitter  experience  with  the  Christianity  which  had  been  introduced  by 
tlie  Jesuits  and  other  representatives  of  the  Church  of  Rome ;  and, 
therefore,  the  governor  said  he  did  not  wish  to  have  Christianity  in- 
troduced into  the  empire.  But  when  these  three  Christian  men 
returned  to  the  man-of-war  they  talked  over  the  matter  fully,  and 
said  to  each  other  something  like  this:  "  These  Japanese  do  not  un- 
tlerstand  what  this  Christianity  is  which  they  profess  to  dislike  so 
much  ;  they  only  know  of  the  corrupt  form  of  it.  Let  us  see  if  we 
cannot  give  them  true  Christianity." 

They  then  and  there  agreed  to  write  three  letters  to  different  boards 
of  foreign  missions  in  this  country,  urging  the  sending  of  missionaries 
to  Japan.  Those  letters  were  written  and  answers  were  sent.  In  the 
course  of  a  brief  time  five  missionaries  from  this  country  found  their 
way  into  that  empire.  Not  very  long  ago  I  received  a  communication 
from  one  of  those  gentlemen  which  contained  something  to  this  effect : 
"  When  we  first  came  into  the  empire  we  had  great  difficulty  in  having 
intercourse  with  the  Japanese,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  secret  spy 
system  we  found  prevailing  there  to  such  an  extent ;  and,  for  several 


702  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

years  after  our  arrival,  when  the  subject  of  religion  was  mooted  in  the 
presence  of  a  native,  his  hand  would  almost  involuntarily  be  applied 
edge-wise  to  his  throat  to  indicate  the  extreme  perilousness  of  such  a 
discussion." 

Those  missionaries,  however,  went  to  work,  and  gradually  they 
have  been  enabled  to  exercise  such  an  influence  that  if,  to-day,  one 
of  our  brethren  were  to  go  to  Japan,  and  could  take  a  bird's  view  of 
the  condition  of  things,  he  would  find  in  that  empire  something  far 
different  from  the  condition  in  which  it  was  only  twenty-one  years 
ago.  Instead  of  a  few  men  trying  in  secret  to  propagate  the  gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  would  find  more  than  fifty  churches 
organized  and  in  which  are  gathered  the  elect  of  God.  He  would  find 
that,  instead  of  a  little  handful  of  representatives  of  foreign  churches, 
there  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  one  hundred  and  sixty  missionaries, 
a  large  number  of  whom  have  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  language, 
and  are  thereby  enabled  to  do  with  great  ease  and  facility  the  work 
which  they  have  been  sent  to  accomplish.  He  would  find  that  three 
of  these  men,  the  most  educated,  cultivated  and  best  trained  in  the 
language  of  that  country,  have  been  engaged  for  years  upon  a  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures ;  and  that  the  New  Testament 
has  been  translated  and  published  complete  in  the  language  of  that 
country;  and  that  a  jubilee  has  been  held  in  the  capital  of  the  old 
Tycoon  of  Japan  over  the  successful  completion  of  this  translation. 
He  would  find  still  further  that  already  thousands  of  copies  of  the 
Gospels  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Epistles,  have  been  scattered 
far  and  wide  5  that  a  Christian  library  has  already  been  established  ; 
and,  what  is  more  marvellous  than  all,  a  Christian  newspaper  is  being 
published  there  week  by  week,,  which  is  carried  by  the  mails  of  that 
government,  which  so  long  held  out  in  strenuous  and  determined  oppo- 
sition to  Christian  truths,  and  that  being  thus  carried  by  the  government 
mails  is  being  scattered  far  and  wide  among  the  people.  He  would 
find  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  Japanese,  by  means  of  the  influ- 
ence that  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  have  lost  their  faith  in 
the  old  religion  in  which  they  so  long  trusted. 

After  Paul  had  been  preaching  for  about  two  years  in  Ephesus,  it 
was  said  that  all  the  people  in  Asia  had  heard  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
both  Jews  and  Greeks.  This  cannot  be  said  of  all  the  Japanese  by 
any  means.  No ;  there  are  thirty-five  millions  of  that  people  ;  but 
some  hundreds  of  thousands  have  heard  the  word  of  God  from  these 
missionaries  and  are  now  rejoicing  in  Christ  as  their  Saviour. 

From  the  statistics  and  reports  which  have  come  to  this  country, 
you  may  learn  that  fifty  or  sixty  churches  have  been  organized,  and 
that  there  are  two  thousand  seven  hundred  members  who  have  a  right 
to  sit  down  at  the  table  of  the  Lord.  When  this  is  considered  in 
connection  with  the  fact  that  only  ten  years  ago  the  heathen  govern- 
ment of  Japan  stretched  out  its  hand  to  crush  the  little  remnant  of 
Christianity  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nagasaki,  certainly  we  must  con- 
sider that  we  live  in  a  day  of  marvellous  things. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  703 

Beyond  this  marvellous  fact,  and  in  connection  with  it,  I  wish  to 
refer  for  only  a  moment,  because  I  know  my  time  is  short,  to  one  fact 
more  before  I  leave  this  country.  Some  eleven  and  a  half  years  ago 
I  frequently  attended  Christian  meetings.  One  of  the  earliest  recol- 
lections I  have  of  attending  the  prayer-meeting  is  of  a  petition  that 
God  would  throw  down  the  barriers ;  that  he  would  open  wide  the 
doors  for  the  introduction  of  the  gospel  among  the  heathen.  And 
now  I  have  been  back  in  America  for  more  than  a  year,  and  I  have 
been  in  many  places  where  prayer  has  been  heard,  in  the  sanctuary, 
in  the  prayer-meeting,  and  at  the  family  altar;  and  yet  it  is  a  fact  that 
I  have  never  heard  that  petition  once.  God  has  heard  and  answered 
that  prayer  more  quickly,  and  in  a  larger  measure  perhaps,  than  the 
petitioners  ever  dreamed  that  it  would  be  answered. 

Do  you  realize  that  in  all  the  East  there  is  but  one  small  country, 
Corea,  where  the  western  Church  cannot  send  her  missionaries  ?  and 
yet  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan  has  organized  a  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  for  the  purpose  of  sending  the  gospel  into  Corea.  What 
a  spectacle  !  A  native  Japanese  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when 
it  was  only  six  years  old,  organizing  a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
for  the  purpose  of  sending  the  gospel  into  the  very  last  stronghold 
of  Satan  in  all  Asia ! 

Address  of  Rev.  H.  L.  MacKenzie,  of  China. 

I  would  ask  you  to  go  with  me  a  little  way  beyond  Japan,  to  the 
vast  empire  of  China.  You  there  find  the  most  ancient  nation  and 
the  most  populous  land  now  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
While  in  Japan  there  are  some  thirty  or  forty  millions  of  people,  in 
China  there  are  between  360  and  400  millions  of  people,  the  vast  pro- 
portion of  whom  to  this  day  are  still  heathen,  still  sunk  in  the  darkness 
of  idolatry.  We  who  daily  pray,  "Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven, 
hallowed  be  thy  name,"  ought  to  pause  and  think  that  one-third  part 
of  the  whole  human  race  is  to  this  day  ignorant  of  the  name  of  our 
Father  in  heaven,  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  came  to  make  the  Father 
known  to  the  children  of  men. 

Scarcely  a  generation  has  passed  since  Protestant  missionaries  from 
this  country  and  Europe  entered  China,  What  results  have  been 
attained?  Thirty  years  ago  there  were  not  more  than  twenty  or 
thirty  converts  in  China,  and  those  were  scattered  in  the  five  open 
ports  along  the  coast  of  that  land.  What  is  the  state  of  Christianity 
in  that  empire  now?  You  find  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  thousand 
members  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  men  and  women,  who  but  a  few 
years  ago  were  utterly  ignorant  of  the  name  of  Jesus.  These  men 
and  women  are  now  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  meeting  day 
by  day,  celebrating  his  love  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and  praising  the 
glorious  name  of  Him  w  hose  gospel  has  come  to  them  and  given  them 
peace. 

Not  only  is  this  so,  but  where  some  thirty  years  ago  there  were  only 
five  places  of  worship  in  China  occupied  by  missionaries  from  the 


704  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Protestant  churches  of  Christendom,  there  are  now  between  ninety 
and  one  hundred  centres  occupied  with  missionaries  from  foreign 
lands,  scattered  throughout  the  eighteen  provinces  of  that  empire  ;  and 
in  connection  with  those  ninety  or  one  hundred  centres  there  are  600 
out-stations,  and  from  those  ninety  or  one  hundred  centres  the  mis- 
sionaries go  out,  and  do  the  work,  around  about  them,  and  the  regions 
beyond  them.  So  that  now,  taking  into  account  both  the  centres 
of  operation  and  the  out-stations,  there  are  somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  700  places  in  which  the  gospel  is  preached  week  after  week, 
and  wliere  men  and  women  meet  to  worship  God  ;  whereas,  a  few 
years  ago  those  places  were  sunk  in  utter  darkness,  now  light  has 
dawned  upon  them,  and  from  those  little  centres,  the  light  is  spread- 
ing through  that  land. 

In  connection  with  the  converts  gathered  in  at  the  various  stations, 
there  are  no  less  than  318  organized  churches;  between  600  and  700 
boys'  boarding  schools;  about  forty  girls'  boarding  schools ;  between 
200  and  300  day  schools ;  and  twenty-one  theological  seminaries,  in 
which  between  200  and  300  students  are  preparing  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry  among  their  own  countrymen. 

I  think  that  all  these  facts,  in  connection  with  the  missionary  work 
in  China,  show  that  during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  God  has 
been  blessing  the  work  of  those  whom  you  have  sent  forth  to  aid  in 
spreading  the  gospel ;  therefore,  there  is  no  cause  for  lamentation. 
We  do  not  come  to  you  to-day  in  that  spirit  which  was  referred  to  by 
a  member  of  the  Council  when  he  said  that  years  ago  the  reports  of 
the  work  of  the  missionaries  had  been  so  discouraging,  that  whenever 
they  came  up  for  discussion  he  was  reminded  of  the  Lamentations  of 
Jeremiah.  There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  come  to  you  with 
lamentations.  We  would  rather  come  thanking  God  for  what  he  has 
accomplished  in  the  past,  and  with  renewed  courage  for  the  future. 
If  we  have  anything  to  lament  over,  it  is  that  the  churches  which  have 
sent  us  forth  cannot  send  greater  numbers  of  missionaries  to  China. 
In  the  language  of  Dr.  Murray  Mitchell,  it  will  require  almost  an  in- 
undation of  missionaries  to  occupy  that  vast  heathen  land,  and  to 
carry  on  successfully  this  great  battle  of  Christianity. 

I  think  that  God  in  his  providence  has  more  especially  called 
America  to  perform  an  important  work  in  the  missionary  field  of 
China.  If  there  is  any  one  thing  at  which  I  rejoice  more  than  an- 
other, it  is  that  during  the  past  twenty  years  I  have  met  many  Ameri- 
can missionaries  travelling  up  and  down  the  coast  of  China,  in  whose 
company  I  have  spent  many  pleasant  days.  Though  a  large  number 
of  missionaries  have  been  sent  from  this  country  to  China,  the  number 
is  sadly  in  need  of  reinforcement.  The  cry  comes  continually  from 
China,  "  Send  us  more  men  !  "  As  you  have  heard  from  Mr.  Stout, 
who  has  spoken  of  the  missionary  work  in  Japan,  the  whole  East  is 
open  now  to  intercourse  with  foreign  nations.  It  will  not  do  for  the 
Christian  people  to  cease  their  missionary  efforts  in  China  until  its 
eighteen  provinces  are  covered  by  these  missionaries,  and  by  a  people 
who  bless  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  receive  liini  as  tlieir  Saviour. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  705 

Had  there  been  time  I  should  like  to  have  referred  more  especially 
to  the  field  in  which  I  have  been  engaged  during  the  last  thirty  years 
— the  field  occupied  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  England  in  south- 
ern China.  I  may  here  say  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  England, 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
have  been  engaged  for  thirty  years  in  this  great  work.  Two  of  their 
missions  have  done  practically  a  great  deal  of  good  by  means  of  that 
which  has  been  referred  to  in  this  Council  as  co-operation.  The  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  and  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  England  have  united  to  form  one  native  Church.  What  they  have 
aimed  to  accomplish  has  been  a  self-propagating,  self-protecting,  and 
self-sustaining  Church ;  and  now,  in  Amoy,  there  is  a  native  Presby- 
tery, having  no  ecclesiastical  connection  whatever  with  the  Churches 
which  have  sent  out  those  missionaries.  In  my  visits  to  that  Presby- 
tery, I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  the  native  pastors  and  the 
native  elders  taking  part  with  the  foreign  missionaries  in  the  work  of 
the  Presbytery ;  and  those  native  ministers  and  elders  have  shown  a  live 
and  intelligent  interest  in  the  welfare  of  their  congregation,  and  in  the 
spread  of  the  gospel  among  their  countrymen.  The  great  aim  of  the 
foreign  missionaries  has  not  been  to  build  up  one  church  connected 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  England,  another  connected  with  the 
Reformed  Church  of  America,  and  others  connected  with  various 
other  churches,  but  to  be  the  means,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  of 
planting  a  native  Church  which  shall  have  its  own  office-bearers  and 
its  own  rulers,  and  provide  for  the  expenses  of  its  own  work.  This 
is  the  plan  which  the  missionaries  have  adopted  in  Amoy  for  the  last 
sixteen  years ;  and  if  it  were  adopted  by  the  other  Presbyterian 
Churches  in  China,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  would  be  found  to 
work  as  equally  a  great  blessing. 

If  time  permitted,  I  should  like  to  give  you  further  details  of  our 
work  in  Amoy ;  but  before  I  conclude  I  will  briefly  refer  to  what  has 
been  done  in  Swatow  and  Formosa.  There  are  three  great  centres  of 
missionary  work  in  China,  Amoy,  Swatow,  and  Formosa,  from  which 
radiate  in  all  directions  between  seventy  and  eighty  out-stations,  con- 
taining a  like  number  of  native  preachers.  Many  of  the  churches  at 
the  out-stations  have  their  own  elders  and  deacons,  and  from  the 
earnestness  they  manifest  in  the  success  of  their  churches  and  the 
spread  of  the  gospel,  we  cannot  doubt  that  this  good  work  will  be  so 
blessed  that  it  will  ere  long  penetrate  the  whole  land  with  the  light  of 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus ;  so  that,  in  course  of  time,  the  entire 
people  of  that  mighty  empire  may  be  spoken  of  as  a  part  of  Christen- 
dom, rather  than  as  a  part  of  heathenism.  Would  that  I  could  bring 
before  your  eyes  some  idea  of  the  vast  difference  between  heathenism 
and  Christendom  !  Heathenism  could  be  compared  to  a  pestilential 
jungle,  while  Christendom  is  spoken  of  as  a  fruitful,  well-watered 
garden.  All  things  foul  and  hateful  are  to  be  found  in  heathenism ; 
whereas,  in  this  blessed  land  we  now  visit,  there  is  everything  which 
cheers  and  comforts  the  hearts  of  those  of  us  who  have  lived   so 

45 


7o6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

long  amidst  the  haunts  of  idolatry.  It  is  a  perfect  delight  for  us 
to  travel  from  city  to  city  and  from  village  to  village,  for  here  we 
meet  Christian  men  and  women,  and  everywhere  we  meet  with 
beloved  brethren  in  the  Lord.  Oh  !  may  the  time  soon  come  when 
we  may  see  such  scenes  and  experience  such  Christian  fellowship 
throughout  all  the  cities  and  villages  of  the  vast  and  ancient  land  of 
China ! 

Address  of  Rev.  Thomas  Neilson,  of  New  Hebrides. 

It  will  be  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  those  who  attended  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Presbyterian  Council  in  Edinburgh,  that  upon  that 
occasion  Dr.  Duff,  from  his  death-bed,  addressed  a  letter  requesting  the 
members  to  signalize  their  first  meeting  as  a  Pan -Presbyterian  Council 
by  engaging  in  a  co-operative  mission  in  the  New  Hebrides.  That 
dying  desire  of  Dr.  Duff  was  not  complied  with. 

A  native  of  the  Old  Hebrides,  it  is  now  almost  fifteen  years  since  I 
was  ordained  and  went  out  as  a  missionary  to  the  New  Hebrides,  the 
most  degraded  spot  in  the  Pacific.  Our  mission  is  a  co-operative  mis- 
sion ;  and  I  wish,  during  the  few  minutes  I  have  to  speak,  to  direct 
my  remarks  mainly  to  the  fact  of  its  being  a  co-operative  mission.  It 
received  its  initiation  in  the  city  of  Glasgow,  in  the  year  in  which  I 
was  born,  1838,  when  the  celebrated  John  Williams,  then  visiting  Scot- 
land, addressed  some  congregations  there  of  what  was  then  the  Se- 
cession Church.  They  gave  him  large  subscriptions  in  money,  and 
he,  at  their  instigation,  resolved  that  he  would  go  out  and  found  a 
Presbyterian  mission  in  Western  Polynesia.  He  went  there  in  the  year 
1839,  and  upon  his  first  landing  he  and  the  men  who  accompanied 
him  were  killed  and  eaten.  He  was  followed  by  Turner  and  Nesbitt, 
who  made  a  lodgment  upon  the  island  in  which  I  have  lived  for  many 
years.  After  living  and  working  there  for  eight  months,  they  were 
obliged  to  flee  for  their  lives,  and  go  to  a  place  where  the  mission  had 
long  been  established. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago,  a  Presbyterian  minister  settled  over  a 
congregation  in  Prince  Edward's  Island,  Nova  Scotia,  had  the  idea 
strongly  impressed  upon  his  mind  that  he  ought  to  go  out  as  a  mission- 
ary to  Western  Polynesia,  and  endeavor  to  establish  Christianity  there. 
He  sailed  from  Newburyport,  in  America,  and  had  to  go  around  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn.  He  joined  himself  to  the  missionaries  of  your 
Society  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  by  them  received  a  pass  on  a 
whaling  ship,  and  then  by  the  London  Missionary  Society  he  was 
passed  on  in  another  missionary  ship  to  the  New  Hebrides,  where  he 
founded  a  Presbyterian  mission. 

That  was  co-operation.  The  missionaries  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society  put  their  vessel  at  the  service  of  a  Presbyterian  minister,  for 
the  purpose  of  founding  a  Presbyterian  mission  ! 

The  next  co-operation  was  when  the  second  Presbyterian  missionary 
joined  our  mission.  He  was  brought  down  from  New  Zealand  free 
of  charge,  and  was  landed  in  the  New  Hebrides.     There  was  an  in- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  707 

stance  of  co-operation  in  founding  a  Presbyterian  mission  in  Western 
Polynesia. 

In  a  few  words  I  would  now  like  to  give  you  my  own  experience. 
When  I  went  out  there  fourteen  years  ago  there  were  four  mission 
stations  opened  ;  and  the  missionaries  were  united  in  what  they  called 
an  annual  meeting.  When  I  left  the  New  Hebrides  last  year  we  had 
eleven  mission  stations  opened,  and  this  year  we  have  twelve.  Until 
five  years  ago  we  called  ourselves  an  annual  meeting,  and  then  we 
commenced  to  call  ourselves  an  annual  Synod.  I  had  the  honor  of 
proposing  the  change ;  I  was  the  only  one  who  remarked  to  them 
that  the  word  Synod  is  the  Greek  for  meeting.  When  I  returned 
home  the  first  thing  I  was  told  was,  "  You  are  not  a  Synod  ;  you  can- 
not call  yourselves  a  Synod."  I  said  that  the  word  Synod  was  simply 
the  Greek  for  meeting,  and  that  we  might  as  well  call  ourselves  a 
Synod  as  to  call  ourselves  an  annual  meeting. 

There  has  been  considerable  discussion  in  the  Council  upon  the 
subject  of  co-operation  in  missions,  and  that  has  been  the  main  point 
of  discussion  to-day.  We  are  a  co-operative  mission  in  the  New 
Hebrides.  We  have  found  no  difficulty  in  co-operating.  The  way 
to  begin  a  co-operative  mission,  and  the  way  to  go  on  with  a  co-opera- 
tive mission,  is  not  by  asking  how  you  will  co-operate,  but  simply  by 
commencing  to  co-operate. 

We  meet  every  year.  When  a  new  missionary  comes  out,  the  first 
thing  he  does  is  to  present  his  credentials  of  the  church  from  which 
he  received  them.  We  extend  to  him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship; 
and  then  we  take  him  around  in  a  mission  vessel,  or  ask  him  whether 
there  is  any  special  field  upon  which  he  desires  to  settle ;  and  usually 
we  settle  him  upon  the  field  of  his  own  choice.  If,  however,  we 
think  there  is  another  field  more  needful  of  the  services  of  a  mis- 
sionary, we  place  its  necessities  before  him  and  overrule  his  own 
choice ;  so  that  in  fact  we  use  the  power  of  a  Presbytery  in  settling 
missionaries. 

At  our  annual  meeting  every  missionary  brings  a  report  with  him, 
and,  after  he  has  presented  it,  he  is  questioned  upon  it ;  and  in  that 
way  we  again  use  all  the  powers  of  a  Presbytery. 

The  main  reason  of  our  success  as  a  mission  certainly  lies  in  the 
fact  that  we  have  a  mission  vessel  at  our  command.  This  mission 
vessel  is  supported  by  the  funds  raised  by  Sabbath-school  children. 
No  church  in  the  world  is  bound  to  give  it  any  support,  so  far  as  my 
knowledge  extends.  We  draw  the  most  of  our  support  for  the  mis- 
sion vessel  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Australia  and  New 
Zealand. 

Our  co-operative  mission  in  the  New  Hebrides  was  originally  begun 
by  the  two  smallest  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  world. 
The  first  Presbyterian  missionary  connected  with  it  belonged  to  the 
original  branch  of  the  Secession  Church.  The  second  missionary 
who  joined  it  belonged  to  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scot- 
land.    The  next  missionaries  who  joined  it  were  brought  up  in  con- 


7o8  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

nection  with  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  And  the  last  missionaries 
were  brought  up  in  connection  with  the  Established  Church  of  Scot- 
land ;  while  a  year  before  I  came  away  a  young  missionary,  who  had 
been  brought  up  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Norway,  joined  the  mission  and  receives  his  support  from  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  New  Zealand.  All  our  machinery  works  harmoni- 
ously together. 

I  have  been  laboring,  as  I  have  said,  among  the  most  degraded 
savages  in  the  world — men  who  run  naked,  who  are  cannibals,  who 
are  lost  to  all  sense  of  decency  and  to  a  very  large  extent,  in  some 
cases,  to  all  sense  of  humanity.  Of  the  twelve  missionaries,  six  of 
them,  laboring  upon  four  different  fields,  have  Christian  congrega- 
tions, with  elders  and  deacons.  The  members  of  their  congregations 
have  become  an  intelligent  people,  who  can  read  and  write,  who  know 
a  good  deal  about  geography,  who  can  do  sums  in  arithmetic,  and 
many  of  whom  can  preach  very  excellent  sermons.  We  have  one 
hundred  native  preachers,  all  of  whom  receive  a  salary  of  ^6  a  year ; 
and  many  of  them  can  preach  a  far  better  sermon  to  their  native 
brethren  than  I  can.  A  large  number  have  become  printers,  because 
we  have  three  printing  presses  in  the  group  of  islands  ;  while  there 
are  a  great  many  who  are  able  to  assist  the  missionaries  in  their  work. 
But  we  have  succeeded  in  extending  our  work  over  only  one-third  of 
the  group ;  and  there  is  yet  time  to  fulfil  the  wish  of  Dr.  Duff  sent 
from  his  dying  bedside  to  the  Edinburgh  Council. 

Rev.  Allen  Wright,  from  the  Choctaw  Nation. 

We  meet  here  to-night  for  tlie  purpose  of  telling  the  people  of  the 
great  things  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  has  done  for  the  world.  I  do 
not  propose  to  speak  of  what  others  have  done  and  may  do.  but  I  am 
here  simply  to  say  that  "  I  am  what  I  am  by  the  grace  of  God."  I 
was  born  in  the  time  of  darkness  when  there  was  scarcely  a  gleam  of 
light  throughout  the  whole  Choctaw  country.  I  knew  nothing  of  the 
gospel  in  my  childhood,  and  heard  of  no  belief  except  the  belief  which 
was  prevailing  among  the  Choctaws — of  the  existence  of  men  who 
could  be  transformed  into  witches,  who  could  fly  in  the  air  and  shoot 
at  people  through  thick  walls  as  well  as  in  the  open  air.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  these  witches  tempted  the  Choctaws  to  all  kinds  of  vice, 
sin  and  iniquity,  which  are  common  among  the  heathen  people.  But 
thanks  be  to  God,  in  my  early  days  the  gospel  was  sent  to  our  nation 
through  the  faithful  missionaries  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  went  to 
■a  mission  school.  It  was  there  I  was  taught,  in  the  Choctaw  language, 
the  truths  as  I  found  them  in  the  Bible ;  for  I  did  not  know  at  that 
time  any  other  language  than  the  Choctaw.  In  the  course  of  time 
Tiowever  I  learned  a  great  deal  at  the  mission  school,  and  after  a  while 
1,  fortunately,  was  sent  to  a  mission  boarding  school.  From  that 
time  I  was  gradually  prepared  for  college,  and  in  that  college  the 
same  faithful  missionaries  exerted  their  influence.  It  was  in  that 
college  I  first  experienced  the  love  of  Christ  in  my  heart,  and,  finally, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  709 

I  gave  my  heart  to  Jesus,  and  united  with  th«  Church,  when  I  was 
only  twenty  years  of  age. 

Were  it  not  for  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  where  would  I  be  to- 
night? Do  you  suppose  I  would  be  able  to  meet  you  here  to-night, 
and  speak  of  the  great  things  which  the  Lord  has  done  for  me  and 
the  world?  No;  probably,  long  ago,  I  might  have  been  killed  or 
scalped;  but  fortunately  war  time  has  ceased,  for  the  gospel  is  the 
messenger  of  peace. 

Under  the  influences  to  which  I  have  referred  I  gave  my  heart  to 
Jesus,  and  I  rejoice  for  the  blessings  he  has  conferred  upon  me.  It 
was  my  intention  to  study  law,  but  I  found  that  that  did  not  exactly 
suit  my  tastes.  After  completing  a  course  of  study  in  the  mission 
boarding  school,  I  concluded  that  I  would  study  medicine ;  but  I 
became  uneasy  and  found  in  the  end  that  my  only  course  was  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  so  loved  me  and  gave  himself 
for  me. 

The  first  missionaries  who  came  to  the  Choctaw  nation  were  Pres- 
byterians. I  may  here  say  that  the  Choctaw  Indians  are  natural  Pres- 
byterians;  they  are  great  believers  in  predestination.  They  believe 
that  whatever  a  man  was  to  do  he  will  do,  and  that  if  he  is  to  be 
killed  he  will  be  killed.  I  can  remember  many  a  time  when  Indians 
have  gone  to  war,  that  they  have  said,  "  if  I  am  to  be  hung,  I  will 
not  be  killed  in  the  war." 

We  received  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  it  is  contained  in  the 
Bible.  In  the  days  of  my  childhood  our  people  were  hunters.  They 
had  mostly  given  up  warfare  and  had  engaged  in  hunting.  All  the 
people,  with  the  exception  of  the  children,  who  were  left  at  home, 
together  with  the  women,  who  attended  to  the  cultivation  of  their 
patches  of  ground,  went  off  in  hunting  expeditions,  and  in  that  way 
we  were  permitted  to  live  happily,  though  we  were  deprived  of  all 
means  of  education. 

Our  nation  formerly  lived  in  the  State  of  Mississippi,  but  many 
years  ago  we  crossed  the  Mississippi  river  to  our  present  location.  We 
have  been  told  that  we  shall  remain  there  so  long  as  the  sun  shines 
and  the  water  runs  and  the  grass  grows.  But  I  know  not  whether  we 
shall  be  permitted  to  remain  in  that  country  so  long.  I  do  hope, 
though,  that  Christianity  will  continue  to  progress  among  us. 

The  removal  of  our  people  in  one  respect,  at  least,  was  a  great  ben- 
efit to  them.  It  was  the  means  of  breaking  up  many  former  pernicious 
habits  and  customs,  and  they  were  brought  into  a  new  state  of  things. 
There  were  many  among  our  nation  who,  having  peculiar  customs  of 
their  own,  would  not  mingle  with  the  rest ;  but  when  we  reached  the 
new  country  we  all  mixed  up  together  and  formed  new  acc^aintances, 
and  those  having  old  habits  forsook  them  and  adopted  better  ones. 
So  that  now,  to-day,  the  people  are  in  a  better  condition  in  regard  to 
worldly  affairs  than  ever  they  were  before. 

In  our  nation  there  are  over  eleven  hundred  communicants  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  ;  and  our  twenty-six  churches  have  started  a  new 


7IO  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

mission  among  the  wild  tribes  who  are  settled  upon  our  western  bor- 
ders. At  first  they  did  not  care  about  hearing  the  gospel,  for  they 
spoke  of  it  as  the  white  man's  religion,  and  said  that  they  had  a  re- 
ligion of  their  own  which  was  good  enough  for  them.  They  said 
that  the  religion  which  we  preach  might  be  suitable  for  their  children, 
who  were  being  educated  in  the  Government  schools,  if  they  chose  to 
accept  it ;  but  as  for  them  they  were  too  old  to  learn  the  new,  and 
preferred  to  be  the  adherents  of  their  false  religion. 

The  Rev.  A.  Mabille,  of  Basuto  Land,  South  Africa. 

As  a  delegate  of  the  Basuto  Land  mission,  I  rejoice  to  have  this 
opportunity  of  laying  before  fathers  and  brethren  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  a  short  resuim  of  the  work  our  mission  has  done  in  that  part 
of  South  Africa. 

This  mission  was  begun  in  1833,  by  the  advice  and  entreaty  of  the 
father  of  Protestant  missions  in  South  Africa,  the  late  revered  Dr. 
Philip. 

It  began  its  work  when  the  Basuto  tribe  was  a  very  small  one,  and 
has  developed  and  extended,  keeping  pace  with  the  development  of 
the  tribe  itself.  As  remnant  after  remnant  of  scattered  and  half- 
destroyed  tribes  from  the  interior  came  to  claim  the  protection  of  the 
far-famed  chief  Moshesh,  so  also  was  station  added  to  station,  until 
seventeen  stations  were  made  as  many  centres  of  light  and  life. 
About  1862,  when  the  first  band  of  missionaries  had,  as  it  were,  com- 
pleted their  work  of  clearing  and  planting,  having  been  the  only 
workers,  it  seemed  to  be  time  for  Christian  natives  to  share  in  the 
work.  From  that  time  until  the  present  moment,  the  native  catechists 
or  evangelists  have  been  found  more  able  and  fit  to  break  new  ground 
among  their  heathen  countrymen,  whilst  European  missionaries  have 
continued  to  occupy  the  old  stations,  and  become  the  instructors  and 
superintendents  of  their  native  helpers.  There  are  now  in  Basuto 
Land  sixty-nine  outstations,  worked  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
catechists  and  school  teachers.  A  great  advantage  for  the  gradual  de- 
velopment of  the  work  has  been  that  the  French  mission  was,  until 
very  recently,  the  only  body  at  work  in  Basuto  Land,  and  has  thus 
been  able  to  follow  a  systematic  plan  of  working,  which,  on  the  whole, 
has  proved  to  be  successful. 

The  excellency  of  the  natives  as  pioneers  has  been  further  shown 
by  two  of  them  having  been  able,  with  God's  blessing,  to  begin  a  new 
mission  hundreds  of  miles  farther  north,  near  the  northern  limit  of 
the  Transvaal,  among  Maquamba  and  Batsuethla,  where  there  are  now 
two  flourishing  stations  and  several  outstations,  worked  by  the  Free 
Church  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  in  Switzerland.  But  the  churches  of 
Basuto  Land,  in  this  further  development  of  the  work,  soon  felt  that 
it  was  not  sufficient  to  have  their  sixty-nine  outstations,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  which  they  themselves  provide  all  the  needful  expenses, 
amounting  to  about  ;,ri,5oo  a  year.  But  wishing  to  have  a  share  with 
other  churches  and  missionary  bodies  in  the  evangelization  of  the  in- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  711 

terior  of  Africa,  they  decided,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Home 
Paris  Committee,  to  send  first  two  natives  as  explorers  to  tribes  resid- 
ing north  of  the  Limpopo.  When  these  returned,  bringing  a  favor- 
able report,  the  churches  sent  first  a  missionary  and  some  native  cat- 
echists,  who,  after  having  been  incarcerated  by  the  government  of  the 
Transvaal,  were  peremptorily  ordered  to  return  to  Basuto  Land.  At 
last  a  third  party  made  its  way  as  far  as  the  Zambezi,  where  it  found 
a  large  tribe  speaking  the  Jesuto  language,  and  having  nearly  the 
same  customs  as  the  subjects  of  Moshesh.  We  hope  to  have  this  new 
mission  planted  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Zambezi  in  the  course  of 
next  year ;  if  so,  the  Lord,  the  Head  of  all  missions,  will  grant  us  this 
exceedingly  great  privilege,  for  the  realization  of  which  four  of  our 
native  catechists  have  already  laid  down  their  lives  at  his  feet.  My 
fellow-laborer,  the  Rev.  F.  Corillard,  who  is  to  lead  this  new  venture, 
is  now  holding  conferences  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  will  shortly 
go  the  round  of  the  Protestant  churches  in  France,  to  ask  their  authori- 
zation and  help  in  favor  of  this  new  undertaking.  The  difficulties  are 
many ;  the  climate  is  not  very  good,  but,  as  we  believe  that  the  Lord 
has  himself  opened  the  door  before  us,  and  there  are  men,  both  in 
France  and  in  Basuto  Land,  offering  themselves  for  the  work,  we  dare 
not  stand  back  and  be  afraid.  I  ought  to  add  that  one  of  the  motives 
which  has  brought  me  to  America,  is  the  hope  to  find  means  to  enable 
my  friend  to  start  for  the  Zambezi  early  next  year.  For  the  laying 
out  of  the  new  missions,  as  we  wish  to  occupy  the  Barotse  Land  in 
force  from  the  outset,  I  ought  to  be  able  to  collect  from  friends  of 
mission  work  in  this  country  about  $10,000,  to  complete  a  similar 
sum  which  we  hope  to  receive  from  the  churches  in  France  and  Basuto 
Land.  There  is  a  numerous  Roman  Catholic  mission  trying  to  push 
its  way  on  to  the  Zambezi,  by  fair  or  unfair  means,  and  unless  we  get 
the  supplies  I  mention,  we  shall  have  to  delay  our  start  till  1882,  and 
may  then  find  the  place  already  occupied  by  our  adversaries. 

Another  stage  of  development  in  our  mission  dates  from  1869.  We 
had,  for  many  years,  wished  to  have  a  normal  school,  to  prepare 
teachers  for  our  day  schools,  and  also  to  give  our  catechists  some  in- 
struction. For,  when  we  began  our  outstations,  we  were  obliged  to 
take  our  most  experienced  Christians,  such  as  had  given  sufficient 
proof  of  their  faith  by  their  perseverance  and  Christian  life.  They 
did  well  for  a  few  years  ;  but  as  the  tribe  was  then  making  a  strong 
advance  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  English  government  which 
had  saved  it  from  entire  destruction  in  1868,  we  opened  our  normal 
school,  where  about  no  young  men  are  being  instructed  and  educated. 
In  this  school  we  have  a  preparatory  or  lower  department,  the  training 
school,  properly  speaking,  and  also  a  Bible  class,  where  young  men 
belonging  to  several  distant  tribes  receive  Bible  teaching,  which  may 
enable  them  to  evangelize  their  countrymen.  To  this  Bible  class,  we 
are  now  anxious  to  add  a  theological  class,  in  order  to  prepare  native 
pastors.  Of  all  missionary  bodies  laboring  in  South  Africa,  we  are 
probably  the  last  who  have  taken  up  the  question  of  a  native  ministry. 


712  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

But  we  believe  that  we  have  followed  the  regular  development  of  our 
work  by  not  being  too  hasty  in  giving  ordination  to  natives,  as  our 
intention  is  to  make  them,  if  possible,  equal  to  us  in  knowledge, 
while  not  taking  them  too  much  away  from  their  own  simple  way  of 
living.  This,  too,  will  make  a  mission  in  the  interior  of  Africa  less 
costly  than  it  would  be,  were  they  reared  in  the  same  way  as  we  have 
been.  We  have  also  a  training  school  for  girls  and  an  industrial 
school. 

Another  outcome  of  our  gradual  progress  has  been  to  give  our 
churches  a  full  Presbyterian  organization.  Before  1882,  missionaries 
were,  as  it  were,  absolute  in  everything.  Since  then,  we  have  had 
elders  at  first ;  after  a  few  years,  we  felt  the  need  of  having  regular 
Presbyteries,  and  consistories,  and  a  Synod.  This  one  meets  once 
every  two  years,  and  we  have  cause  to  believe  that  this  organization 
has  been  of  great  advantage  to  the  consolidation  and  growth  of  the 
Churches. 

As  all  missionary  churches  ought  to  have,  we  have  established  in 
ours  a  very  strict  discipline,  which  missionaries  exercise  not  only  in 
the  churches,  but  also  in  their  own  homes.  It  has  served  many  pur- 
poses. Although  the  Basutos  are  addicted,  as  a  tribe,  to  much  drunk- 
enness, to  polygamy,  circumcision,  and  to  many  unnatural  sins,  we 
have  been  able  to  maintain  a  rather  pure  life  among  Christian  profes- 
sors. Cases  of  discipline,  among  members  and  candidates  to  bap- 
tism, amounting  to  above  6,000  adults,  only  reaching,  for  all  cases, 
the  number  of  ninety-eight.  Among  other  good  purposes  which  this 
strict  discipline  has  served,  is  that,  although  a  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sion has  now  been  in  existence  for  more  than  seventeen  years,  and  an 
Anglican  one  of  a  high  ritualist  type  for  about  six  years,  neither  of 
them  has  done  us  much  harm,  the  heathen  themselves  saying  that  they 
could  believe  in  a  Christianity  which  requires  a  holy  life  from  its  ad- 
herents and  punishes  the  guilty  ones  ;  but  not  in  a  Christianity  which, 
as  it  is,  is  not  much  higher  in  many  of  its  customs  than  their  own 
heathenism. 

The  present  situation  of  our  mission  in  Basuto  Land  is  very  serious 
and  painful.  Politically  speaking,  even  before  Moshesh  sought  for 
protection  in  England  against  his  foes,  he  and  his  people  had  been 
the  faithful  allies  of  the  English  government.  Since  their  annexation 
to  the  British  empire,  they  have  fought  for  it  several  times  against 
other  native  tribes.  Last  year,  the  Cape  government,  which  is  more 
or  less  independent  from  the  Home  government,  have  resolved  upon 
disarming  the  Basutos,  giving  no  reason  whatever  for  this  unnecessary 
and  aggrieving  policy.  After  having  tried  all  legitimate  means  to  get 
redress,  a  part  of  the  tribe  has  rebelled  against  the  Colonial  govern- 
ment, blood  has  been  shed,  and  I  am  much  afraid  that  the  rebellion 
may  become  general.  Our  work  is  now  at  a  standstill,  and  we  much 
require  the  prayers  of  all  friends  of  missions,  to  ask  the  Lord  to  inter- 
fere and  not  to  allow  his  work  to  be  destroyed  or  even  stopped.  I 
trust  that  this  passing  allusion  to  a  very  painful  subject  will  not  pass 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  71J. 

unnoticed,  and  that,  even  during  this  conference,  fervent  supplication 
may  be  made  to  our  Lord  who  is  both  able  and  willing  to  hear  his 
children  in  all  their  distresses. 

The  general  influence  of  our  mission  upon  the  tribe  has  been  good. 
The  tribe  generally  observes  the  Lord's  day.  Circumcision,  cattle 
marriages,  even  polygamy  have  been  much  assaulted,  and  their  hold 
upon  the  tribe  has  been  weakened,  though  not  as  much  as  we  could 
wish.  At  the  time  of  the  annexation  of  Basuto  Land  to  the  British 
empire,  circumcision  might  have  been  abolished ;  the  chiefs  and  the 
whole  tribe  asked  for  its  abolition,  but  the  English  governor  was  afraid 
to  take  that  step.  The  education  of  the  tribe  is  advancing,  there 
being  above  3,000  children  in  the  day  schools,  for  which  the  govern- 
ment, out  of  the  revenue  of  the  country,  makes  us  grants  amounting 
to  above  ^^4,000.  Nearly  one-third  of  these  3,000  children  belong 
to  heathen  parents.  Civilization  is  also  progressing,  and  the  Basutos, 
in  most  respects,  can  favorably  compare  with  other  native  tribes  of 
South  Africa. 

A  means  of  extending  our  influence,  even  much  beyond  our  border, 
has  been  the  books  we  have  printed  at  our  mission  press,  several  of 
which  have  been  reprinted  in  Europe.  Our  fourth  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  of  15,000  copies  is  nearly  exhausted.  A  pocket  edition  of 
the  same,  with  references,  is  now  in  the  press.  The  second  edition 
of  the  whole  Bible  is  also  in  the  press  (of  10,000  copies).  We  are 
now  selling  the  second  edition  of  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress."  We  have 
lately  put  in  the  hands  of  the  Basutos  a  book  on  Church  history,  one 
on  Bible  history.  We  have  also  historical  and  doctrinal  catechisms, 
school-books,  tracts,  etc.  Our  hymn-book,  the  fifth  edition,  is  now 
being  printed  in  London,  with  the  second  edition  of  the  tunes  in  the 
"Tonic  Sol  fa  Notation."  I  may  also  mention  a  monthly  paper 
which  has  800  paying  subscribers.  We  have  also  two  colporteurs  at 
work,  who  are  mainly  maintained  by  the  Sunday-school  of  the  Dutch 
Church  of  Bloemfrutein,  the  capital  of  the  Orange  Free  State. 

Thus  the  Lord  has  blessed  the  work  of  his  servants  and  has  given 
us  abundant  cause  to  bless  his  name,  as  he  has  made  manifest  to  the 
Basutos  his  great  love  and  his  great  mercy  by  giving  them  the  gospel. 
Many  already  are  those  that  have  gone  to  their  everlasting  rest,  after 
having  fought  the  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith.  Many  are  those  that 
still  love  a  consistent  Christian  life.  We  have  raised  many  Eben- 
Hezer  in  our  mission,  and  we  trust  to  raise  many  more  still  in  times 
to  come.     To  Him  be  all  the  praise  and  glory. 

This  is  a  plain  and  unvarnished  description  of  the  Basuto  Land  Pro- 
testant mission,  and  I  beg  from  all  the  brethren  who  may  be  interested 
in  it,  to  remember  it  before  the  Lord ;  for  to  me  it  is  plain  that 
advance  and  success  in  the  mission  work  can  only  be  got  by  the  fer- 
vent and  persevering  intercession  of  the  united  evangelical  churches. 
Nothing  else,  with  faith  in  that  work,  will  cause  able  and  enthusiastic 
men  to  rush  into  the  mission  field  in  sufficient  numbers  and  procure 
the  necessary  means ;  for  until  now,  through  want  of  this  united  action. 


714  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

we  have  still  to  say,  with  sad  hearts,  The  laborers  are  few,  O  Lord, 
and  the  means  arfe  insufficient.  May  the  Lord  teach  his  Church  what 
she  has  to  do,  and  to  do  it  quickly.     For  he  is  coming. 

I  cannot  sit  down  without  expressing  how  happy  our  mission  is  to 
have  some  relations  of  Christian  fellowship  and  interchange  of  opinion 
with  the  mission  of  the  Presbyterian  board  of  America  in  Natal. 
In  the  year  1866,  and  again  in  1870,  whilst  our  work  was  undergoing 
a  severe  trial,  they  helped  us  not  only  with  words  of  sympathy,  but 
also  with  deeds  of  kindness.  We  have  heard,  with  much  pleasure,  of 
its  proposed  advance  in  the  country  of  Mozila.  May  our  common 
Lord  and  Master  guide  them  and  us  also,  so  that  we  may  always  work 
side  by  side  with  brotherly  feelings  and  mutual  help. 

Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie. — I  desire  to  say  to  the  audience,  that 
the  new  mission  referred  to  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mabille  as 
about  to  be  established  under  the  auspices  of  the  native  mis- 
sionaries in  Basuto  Land,  is  in  one  of  the  districts  through  which 
Dr.  Livingstone  passed  in  his  great  journey  through  South 
Africa ;  and  few  things  would  have  cheered  the  heart  of  that 
great  missionary  more  than  the  intelligence  that  such  a  mission 
is  about  to  be  established  in  the  heart  of  that  country. 

Rev.  S.  C.  Ewing,  of  Alexandria,  Egypt. 

I  suppose  I  need  not  say  anything  about  Egypt  as  a  country.  It  is 
known  to  all  readers  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  all  who  have  studied 
geography,  and  those  who  read  the  newspaper,  for  the  neighboring  city 
of  New  York  has  lately  begged  an  ornament  from  Egypt.  This  looks 
to  me  like  the  basest  act  of  vandalism  that  has  been  perpetrated  in 
modern  times.  I  can  look  at  it  in  no  other  light  than  that  New 
York  city  has  actually  robbed  Egypt  of  Cleopatra's  Needle.  We 
have  still  Pompey's  Pillar  there;  we  have  still  the  great  Pyramids; 
and  we  have  still  there  the  temples  which  were  built  three  thousand 
years  ago.  They  are  built  on  firm  foundations,  and  rest  on  strong 
pedestals,  and  you  will  never  bring  them  here.  Thanks  be  to  God, 
he  has  also  built  pillars  in  Egypt  that  neither  the  rapacity  of  London 
nor  of  New  York  can  ever  remove.  They  are  the  pillars  of  Presby- 
terianism,  pure  and  unadulterated  ! 

In  referring  to  the  missionary  work  in  Egypt,  I  may  preface  my 
remarks  by  saying  that  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North 
America  has  a  mission  there,  and  has  had  it  there  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ;  and  all  over  Egypt  the  natives  receive  their  instruction  from 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  true  blue  stamp.  We  have  organized 
congregations,  with  native  pastors  and  native  elders ;  and  before  God 
and  this  great  assemblage,  I  can  testify  to  God's  goodness  manifested, 
and  to  the  power  of  his  grace,  not  only  through  the  efforts  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  715 

missionaries,  but  more  specially  through  the  efforts  of  native  pastors 
and  native  elders,  by  means  of  whom  he  has  raised  up  our  people  to 
the  position  wherein  they  can  receive  all  the  benefits  of  the  Christian 
faith.  These  native  pastors  preside  over  congregations,  and  every- 
thing in  those  congregations  is  conducted  on  Presbyterian  principles ; 
and  they  work  well. 

God  seems  to  have  blessed  the  church  that  I  have  the  honor  to  rep- 
resent, even  before  there  were  native  pastors ;  but  I  think,  perhaps, 
that  it  is  better  to  speak  of  the  Presbyterian  view  of  the  case.  Before 
I  went  there,  twenty  years  ago,  a  Presbytery,  by  an  order  of  Assembly, 
was  organized,  and  the  first  act  performed  of  any  consequence  was  to 
ordain  a  missionary.  A  missionary  was  brought  up  and  educated, 
partly  by  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland ;  and  he  has 
made  a  very  good  missionary. 

I  may  say  here,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  that  there  have  lately  oc- 
curred two  cases  of  the  best  union  in  Presbyterian  circles  I  have  ever 
heard.  That  good  brother  united  with  us  and  joined  our  church,  and 
there  has  been  beautiful  harmony  ever  since,  and  there  is  no  danger 
of  anything  else.  Our  good  brethren  from  the  South — the  Associated 
Reformed  Church  of  the  South — wished  to  be  represented  in  our  good 
work,  and  they  sent  out  a  very  estimable  young  lady.  We  happened 
to  have  a  very  estimable  young  man  there  at  the  time,  and  there  was 
a  most  beautiful  Presbyterian  union  formed  between  them ;  and  it  has 
worked  beautifully  ever  since. 

I  may  mention  that  the  Presbytery  was  formed  when  I  went  out 
there,  and  that  it  was  in  operation.  I  took  my  certificate  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Allegheny,  one  of  the  most  orthodox  Presbyterian 
churches  in  the  country.  I  presented  it  to  that  Presbytery,  and  I  have 
rejoiced  and  boasted,  I  believe,  in  being  a  member  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Egypt. 

Some  time  later  in  the  history  of  our  work,  young  men  commenced 
to  be  prepared  for  the  ministry,  and  they  were  ordained  as  soon  as  we 
could  ordain  them.  Our  custom  is,  that  as  soon  as  we  ordain  them 
we  enter  their  names  upon  the  roll,  and  call  upon  them  to  pronounce 
the  benediction ;  and  from  that  time  there  is  not  a  particle  of  differ- 
ence between  a  brother  so  ordained  and  myself  or  any  other  member 
of  the  mission.  The  rule  has  worked  perfectly.  There  is  no  more 
harmonious  Presbytery  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  I  will  say,  than 
ours. 

We  have  our  theological  seminary  and  we  have  our  college ;  and, 
although  few  in  numbers,  the  Lord  is  working  among  us.  We  have 
there  a  very  respectable  people  to  work  with  and  to  work  among. 
They  are  people  just  as  devotedly  attached  to  their  religion  as  Dr. 
Cairns  or  myself  are  to  our  religion.  They  come  to  the  services,  and 
do  not  talk  about  a  Church  two  or  three  hundred  years  old.  No ; 
they  say,  "St.  Mark  preached  the  gospel  to  us,  and  perhaps  Peter 
did  ;  and  are  you  come  here  now  to  upset  all  our  faith  and  belief?  " 
It  takes  some  time  for  men  of  that  description  to  become  persuaded 


7i6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

that  their  church  is  in  error,  and  even  after  they  are  persuaded  it  takes 
a  good  deal  of  time  to  convince  them  that  they  ought  to  leave  the  old 
Church  and  join  the  new.  Thanks  be  to  God,  we  have  a  Presbytery 
there,  and  nearly  half  of  the  members  are  natives,  while  the  number 
is  increasing  rapidly  every  year. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  have  time  to  extend  my  remarks  in  this 
direction  as  far  as  I  would  like,  but  there  is  one  thing  I  would  like  to 
say  before  I  conclude,  and  I  hope  I  shall  be  permitted  to  do  so.  I 
have  heard  the  remark  made  in  this  Council  that  what  was  most  needed 
in  the  missionary  fields  was  an  inundation  of  missionaries.  I  say^ 
may  the  Lord  save  us  from  that  inundation  in  Egypt !  We  need  more 
missionaries  than  we  have,  and  I  suppose  every  mission  in  the  world 
needs  an  increase  of  the  number  of  its  missionaries,  but  we  do  not  re- 
quire an  inundation  of  them  ;  no,  not  by  any  means.  Christ  had  only 
twelve  apostles,  and  by  means  of  twelve  apostles  he  established  his 
Church.  His  Church  was  established  not  by  a  great  number  of  mis- 
sionaries, but  by  a  sufficient  number  of  them.  If  the  missionary  fields 
were  filled  with  missionaries,  there  would  be  very  little  encourage- 
ment and  very  little  inducement  to  raise  up  native  ministers.  What 
is  necessary  in  every  missionary  field  is  to  raise  up,  as  speedily  as  pos- 
sible, native  pastors ;  and  the  fewer  missionaries  there  are  the  sooner 
will  the  object  of  missions  be  accomplished.  There  are  not  enough 
missionaries  in  Egypt,  to  be  sure,  and  the  same  remark  may  apply  to 
other  mission  fields ;  but  the  mission  field  does  not  exist  that  requires 
an  inundation  of  missionaries.  We  need  a  sufficient  number  of  mis- 
sionaries, but  no  more ;  and  that  mission  work  will  be  done  the  best 
when  the  congregations  which  have  been  established  by  missionary 
efforts  are  presided  over  by  native  pastors.  Mission  work  is  accom- 
plished when  the  Church  undertakes  to  perform  the  work  which  is  ne- 
cessary to  be  done  within  a  certain  boundary. 

While  a  little  good  has  been  accomplished  in  Egypt,  we  regard  what 
has  been  done  merely  as  the  opening  of  the  door  to  the  great  terri- 
tories in  Central  Africa  lying  between  Alexandria  and  the  equator. 
In  that  region  there  is  no  mission  yet  established,  but  attention  is 
being  turned  now  to  it.  The  late  Viceroy  of  Egypt  was  a  very  good 
man  in  some  ways,  and  a  very  bad  man  in  others.  He  extended  the 
territory  of  Egypt  almost  to  the  equator,  and  wherever  this  extension 
of  territory  went,  there  telegraphic  communication  was  established, 
and  the  gospel  was  circulated  in  the  Arabic  language,  in  which  the 
Scriptures  have  been  beautifully  translated.  The  work  would  have 
progressed  towards  the  centre  of  Africa,  if  the  Egyptian  government 
had  only  held  on  to  their  territory  there.  I  find,  however,  that  my 
time  is  exhausted,  and  I  must  hastily  close  these  remarks  without 
referring  to  this  feature  of  the  missionary  work  in  Egypt. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Blyden  was  to  have  spoken  on  the  next  sub- 
ject ;  but,  in  his  unavoidable  absence,  a  graduate  of  Lincoln 
University,  Pennsylvania, 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  717 

The  Rev.  Solomon  P.  Hood,  of  Liberia,  spoke  on  "  Presby- 
terianism  for  Africa,"  as  follows  : 

It  will  not  be  expected  that  I  should  do  justice  to  a  subject  assigned 
to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Blyden,  President  of  the  College  of  Liberia;  but 
that  the  sons  of  Africa,  numbering  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
souls,  might  not  go  unrepresented,  I  have  been  asked  to  present 
something  in  their  behalf  If  you  hear  but  a  feeble  cry  from  these 
millions,  it  is  because  there  is  wanting  a  proper  medium  between  them 
and  this  assembly. 

Africa  alone  of  the  continents  has  remained  a  dark  spot  in  the 
geography  of  the  world.  Has  she  been  overshadowed  by  the  frown 
of  God  ?  Have  her  people  loved  darkness  more  than  others  ?  Or  has 
Africa  not  yet  heard,  through  the  Church,  the  call  of  Christ  to  re- 
pentance and  faith  and  salvation  ? 

For  twelve  centuries  a  broad  and  impassable  barrier  of  Mohamme- 
danism, reaching  from  Arabia  to  Gibraltar,  separated  the  native 
peoples  of  Africa  from  the  Christian  Church.  Her  sons  were  sought 
out,  not  to  be  instructed  in  the  gospel,  but  as  her  ivory  and  gold,  to 
gratify  the  avarice  of  other  nations.  Africa  was  long  left  in  midnight 
gloom,  scarcely  yet  broken  into  dawn,  to  feel  after  the  unknown  God. 
The  wrongs  of  the  African  race  should  be  written  in  tears  instead  of 
ink,  and  on  sackcloth  instead  of  parchment.  Africa,  long  secluded 
from  the  observation  of  the  world,  is  now  beginning  to  come  into 
view.  And  God  is  asking  the  Christian  nations  to  fulfil  his  commis- 
sion, and  carry  the  gospel  to  that  continent. 

The  Republic  of  Liberia,  small  when  compared  with  other  nations, 
is  yet  destined  to  do  much  good,  though  it  shines  with  a  feeble  light 
in  the  midst  of  so  great  darkness.  It  is  said  to  have  a  population  of 
one  million  five  hundred  thousand  souls,  including  the  newly  annexed 
kingdom  of  Medina.  The  territory  of  Liberia  comprises  the  most 
beautiful,  fertile  and  salubrious  of  the  West  African  country;  and 
contains  some  important  tribes,  among  which  are  the  Veys,  who  have 
invented  an  alphabet  and  reduced  their  language  to  writing.  The 
Republic  has  resisted  the  influence  of  heathenism.  She  has  stood  firm 
against  the  encroachments  of  superstition.  She  has  completely 
annihilated  the  slave  trade  from  seven  hundred  miles  of  her  coast. 
She  is  known  and  respected  far  in  the  interior ;  and  she  is  in  pleasant 
relations  with  the  leading  powers  of  the  world.  Liberia  is  the  door  to 
the  whole  valley  of  the  Niger,  dense  with  a  population  everywhere 
friendly  and  hospitable.  The  coffee  cultivation  is  extensively  pur- 
sued. The  college  of  Liberia,  over  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  W. 
Blyden  is  president,  is  in  efficient  operation,  and  the  trustees  have 
lately  resolved  to  remove  it  into  the  interior,  where  many  of  the  chiefs 
are  seeking  education  for  their  sons.  We  know  not  yet  what  the 
destiny  of  Liberia  will  be,  but  she  may  be  the  wedge  by  which  the 
power  of  God  will  force  open  the  continent. 

More  than  all  other  countries  America  is  indebted  to  Africa.     The 


7i8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

two  continents  have  been  linked  together  by  the  providence  of  God 
in  an  inseparable  union.  As  has  been  said,  Livingstone  and  Stanley 
did  not  uncommissioned  make  their  perilous  journey  through  the 
jungles  of  Africa.  Emancipation  and  enfranchisement  in  this  country 
have  not  yet  unfolded  half  their  meaning.  Who  shall  say  what  con- 
nection is  yet  to  be  developed  between  the  explorers  on  the  old  world 
and  the  armies  of  the  new  ?  This  bringing  into  prominence  of  the 
mother  country  just  at  the  time  of  the -uplifting  of  her  exiled  children 
is  a  coincidence  in  the  unfolding  purposes  of  God.  He  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  counsel  of  his  will  for  his  own  glory,  hath  foreordained 
whatsoever  comes  to  pass,  did  not  permit  five  millions  of  human 
beings  to  be  for  two  centuries  enslaved  in  a  land  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion without  a  special  design.  The  American  slave  has  given  a  signal 
example  of  a  Christian  spirit  in  bondage ;  and  the  freedmen  have 
given  unmistakable  evidence  of  improvement  since  their  liberation.  If 
this  bruised  branch  rudely  torn  from  the  mother  vine  has  flourished  thus 
in  a  foreign  soil  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances,  what  may  we 
not  hope  that  Christianity  will  do  for  the  crude  unimpaired  African  on 
his  native  soil?  Mighty  capabilities  lie  hidden  beneath  the  heathenism 
of  that  unexplored  land.  The  diamond  in  its  crude  state,  or  imperfectly 
polished,  is  distinguished  by  its  action  in  the  light  which  falls  upon  it. 
Throw  the  reflection  of  your  Christian  light  upon  Africa,  if  you  would 
know  what  she  is.  Some  think  that  Africa  is  to  be  evangelized  by 
the  colonization  of  the  Anglo-African.  Others  have  thought  that 
colored  men  completely  educated,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel,  should  go  back  to  fheir  mother  land  as  missionaries 
of  the  cross.  Others  have  proposed  to  bring  the  native  African  to 
Christian  lands  and  educate  and  Christianize  him,  and  send  him  back- 
to  Christianize  his  countrymen. 

Where  so  many  ways  are  possible  there  can  be  no  excuse  for  failure. 
The  general  indications  of  providence  are  unmistakable.  Here  is  a 
people  who  have  lost  the  traditions  and  institutiqns  of  their  own 
fathers,  while  they  have  kept  their  physiological  and  mental  charac- 
teristics, and  who  have  come  into  possession  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  lan- 
guage, of  Anglo-Saxon  institutions,  and  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Bible. 
These  possessions  mark  them  as  the  men  to  carry  the  truths  which 
are  embodied  in  this  language,  to  transport  these  Bible  institutions  to 
the  land  of  their  forefathers.  And  if  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  an 
interest  in  this  result,  let  her  bear  a  part  in  giving  to  chosen  colored 
men  unstinted  educational  qualifications  to  act  as  her  representatives 
wherever  Africans  are  found. 

But  the  duty  lies  not  alone  with  the  American  people.  All  nations 
have  united  in  despoiling  Africa ;  let  all  nations  unite  in  upbuilding 
her.  She  does  not  ask  back  her  gold,  nor  her  human  flesh,  but  that 
which  is  richer  than  gold  and  sweeter  than  life — the  immortal  princi- 
ples of  Christian  truth.  The  cry  comes  to-day  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions,  groping  their  way  downward  in  the  gloom  of  heathenism, 
with  the  camp-fires  of  civilization  blazing  in  a  circle  of  light  all 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  719 

around  them.  We  know  that  something  has  been  done ;  but  what 
compared  with  the  vastness  of  the  work  ?  Why  might  there  not  be  a 
mighty  uprising  of  the  Christians  of  the  world  in  a  crusade  to  wrest 
the  continent  of  Africa  from  tlie  hands  of  Satan ;  a  crusade  not  car- 
rying the  sign  of  the  cross,  but  the  power  of  the  cross — not  to  recover 
the  land  of  the  cross,  but  to  plant  the  cross  in  a  land  that  knows  not 
the  crucified  One.  To-day  the  propagandists  of  Islam  travel  from 
village  to  village,  without  commission,  without  salary,  or  any  kind  of 
compensation,  reading  the  Koran,  and  giving  instruction  to  wonder- 
ing natives  who  never  before  knew  anything  better  than  a  fetish  made 
of  serpents'  fangs,  or  leopards'  claws,  or  of  the  skulls  of  slain  enemies. 
If  Mohammedanism  has  power  to  win  the  African,  shall  not  Christianity 
win  him  more  effectually?  The  Presbyterian  Church  is  peculiarly 
fitted  to  conduct  the  work  in  Africa.  She  exalts  the  essentials  of 
Christianity,  and  keeps  the  non-essentials  in  subordination,  and,, 
therefore,  lifts  up  those  whom  she  trains  to  the  high  places  of  religion. 
She  does  not  train  in  the  small,  the  little,  the  ritual,  the  formal ;  and, 
therefore,  does  not  make  fanatics  nor  foster  superstition.  The  peoples 
who  are  Presbyterians  have  not  made  Presbyterianism  what  it  is ;  but 
Presbyterianism  has  made  the  peoples  that  embraced  it  what  they  are. 
What  it  has  done  for  Scotland  and  for  Holland  it  will  do  for  Africa. 
It  is  no  weaker  now  than  when  Knox  prayed,  or  when  the  Puritans 
landed  on  Plymouth  rock. 

We  plead  for  Africa,  because  she  has  been  longest  neglected  and 
suffered  most.  And  we  present  her  to  this  Alliance  of  the  Presbyte- 
rians of  the  world — a  continent  which  God  hath  lifted  up  in  suffering, 
that  all  men  might  be  drawn  to  her  in  sympathy. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Beattie,  D.  D.,  of  Syria, 

I  feel  that  it  is  good  to  be  here.  We  have  had  testimony  from  dif- 
ferent missionary  fields,  from  the  east  and  from  the  west.  I  feel  it  to 
be  a  privilege  to  hear  the  sound  of  my  feeble  voice  in  this  great  as- 
semblage upon  this  important  subject.  No  doubt  all  missionary  opera- 
tions carried  on  in  different  countries  possess  the  same  features.  But 
in  Turkey  missionary  operations  are  carried  on  under  circumstances 
different  from  all  other  countries.  It  is  the  empire  of  nationalities, 
speaking  different  languages,  made  up  of  a  multitude  of  peoples ;  and 
these  different  peoples  and  nationalities  have  become  the  subject  of 
different  missionary  operations.  In  Syria  we  find  one  of  the  missions 
of  the  class  to  which  reference  was  made  here  to-day,  carrying  on  co- 
operative work  as  successfully  as  it  has  been  carried  on  in  other  parts 
of  the  world. 

These  different  peoples  and  nationalities  speak  different  languages, 
and  it  is  impossible  in  most  cases  for  missions  in  one  part  of  the  field 
to  co-operate  directly  with  the  others.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the 
missionaries  themselves  can  have  intercourse  with  each  other,  by 
means  of  representatives  from  one  mission  to  another,  and  there  can 


720  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 

(be  a  sympathy  and  fraternal  feeling  extended  to  all.  But  direct  co- 
operation among  the  natives,  I  suppose,  is  in  many  cases  absolutely 
impossible.  This  fact  is  very  apparent  in  Syria  and  the  different 
provinces  of  Turkey.  We  have  there  Jews  and  different  Christian 
sects,  besides  the  various  tribes  in  Northern  Syria.  These  different 
people  have  been  made  the  subject  of  missionary  effort  by  different 
missions  sent  out  from  this  country  and  from  Europe.  In  the  Holy 
Land,  or  Palestine  so  called,  the  church  mission  has  carried  on  its 
work  with  great  success,  making  Jerusalem  its  base  of  operations,  for 
the  purpose  of  operating  among  the  Jews  and  the  different  sects 
throughout  the  so  called  Holy  Land.  To  the  northward  is  the  Pres- 
byterian mission.  It  originated  and  started  under  the  auspices  of  the 
American  Board ;  but  on  the  union  of  the  two  great  bodies  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country,  it  fell  under  the  sway  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  accordance  with  the  provision  that  was  ar- 
ranged between  the  American  Board  and  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
that  all  missions  manned  by  Presbyterian  missionaries  should  come 
under  the  sway  of  the  Presbyterian  Board.  It  was  found  that  with 
the  exception  of  one  or  two  men  in  that  field,  all  the  missionaries  were 
taken  from  the  Presbyterian  ranks ;  and  hence  from  that  time  to  the 
present  that  field  has  been  operated  by  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
Farther  to  the  eastward,  and  beyond  Lebanon,  is  a  union  mission  es- 
tablished in  Damascus,  which  was  originally  under  the  auspices  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland. 
This  mission  was  carried  on  successfully,  and  when  it  was  found  that 
the  work  of  Egypt  was  growing  so  important  as  to  require  all  the 
force  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  to  be  operated  in  that  field, 
that  church  abandoned  her  work  in  Syria,  and  it  was  taken  up  by  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland.  That  work  is  now  being  conducted 
mider  the  auspices  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  alone.  In  ad- 
dition to  these  missions,  there  are  other  small  missions  in  operation  in 
the  vicinity  of  Mount  Lebanon. 

In  1856  the  Reformed  Presbyterian,  or  Covenanter,  Church  sent 
out  a  mission  to  be  located  in  Syria.  The  instructions  given  to  the 
missionaries  were  that  they  should  locate  in  Syria,  and  seek  counsel 
from  missionaries  on  the  ground,  so  as  not  to  occupy  territory  which 
had  hitherto  been  occupied  by  those  who  had  preceded  them.  That 
field  was  examined,  and  it  was  found  that  the  only  part  of  Syria  that 
could  be  successfully  occupied  by  a  new  mission,  without  interfering 
geographically  with  the  missions  which  had  been  already  established, 
was  Northern  Syria — a  territory  inhabited  by  tribes  that  were  probably 
the  most  debased  of  all  the  different  nationalities  and  peoples  that  go 
to  make  up  the  multitudinous  population  of  the  great  Mohammedan 
empire. 

I  may  here  say  that  there  was  as  degraded  a  people  in  Syria  as  there 
was  at  any  time  in  the  New  Hebrides,  or  in  the  dark  continent  of 
Africa.  They  were  a  people  who  were  socially,  morally  and  politi- 
cally debased.     They  were  worshippers  of  the  heavenly  bodies.    They 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  721 

have  their  high  places,  which  are  their  altars  and  their  gods.  Their 
places  of  worship  are  located  in  connection  with  groves,  or  on  large 
trees,  or  high  mountain-tops.  The  tribes  are  not  only  very  supersti- 
tious, but  their  religion  is  a  mystery.  Some  of  the  mystery  attending 
their  religion  has  been  spoken  of  by  a  writer  who  operated  among 
them  for  a  time.  I  refer  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Leidy,  who  wrote  a 
work  in  reference  to  their  religion  called  **  The  Asian  Mystery,"  He 
made  some  discoveries  in  regard  to  the  mysteries  of  their  faith,  but 
failed  to  reach  the  real  mj'stery  of  their  religion.  It  has,  however, 
been  partially  divulged,  and  from  what  has  been  learned,  we  find  that 
it  is  a  secret  order.  Those  who  are  introduced  into  that  religion 
become  members  by  a  regular  process  of  initiation.  It  is  a  religion 
open  only  to  the  males,  the  females  taking  no  part  in  their  unholy 
rites.  Their  mode  of  introducing  a  member  is  accomplished  by 
taking  a  boy  in  early  youth,  of  about  eight  or  ten  years  of  age,  to  one 
of  the  religious  chiefs,  who  schools  him  for  a  while  in  some  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  faith.  He  is  then  sent  back  to  his  friends  for  a  period 
of  probation,  and  if  he  shows  fidelity  and  ability  to  retain  the  mys- 
teries so  far  committed  to  him,  after  a  time  he  is  again  returned  to 
the  religious  chief,  and  advanced  a  little  further  into  a  knowledge  of 
the  mysteries  which  surround  their  religion.  He  is  then  again  sent 
back  to  his  friends,  and  by  gradual  process  his  knowledge  becomes 
more  extended,  until  at  last  he  has  gained  sufficient  information  to 
make  him  eligible  to  become  a  member  of  their  religion,  but  only 
after  he  has  shown  himself  capable  of  retaining  all  the  secrets  com 
mitted  to  him  ;  and  then,  upon  a  day  appointed,  in  the  presence  of 
the  assembled  chiefs,  he  is  duly  initialed  into  this  unholy  brotherhood. 
From  that  time  he  is  bound  by  an  oath  that  he  will  never  divulge  the 
secrets  intrusted  to  his  care.  From  that  moment  the  individual  who 
enters  as  a  member  into  this  dark  brotherhood,  never  comes  back 
again  to  the  light.  He  is  sealed  up  forever,  and  if  he  ever  attempts 
to  come  forth  to  the  light,  or  to  disclose  the  mysteries  which  he  has 
learned,  he  does  it  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  This  is  no  myth.  An 
instance  is  known  in  which  one  of  the  brotherhood  once  disclosed 
some  of  the  mysteries  of  this  dark  religion,  and  his  life  paid  the 
penalty. 

It  was  amid  such  surroundings  that  the  missionaries  of  Syria  entered 
upon  their  work  of  converting  these  heathen  ;  and  it  was  a  dark  period 
in  the  history  of  our  work.  I  have  alluded  in  the  course  of  these 
remarks  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Leidy,  who  first  began  this  work  in  Syria. 
I  may  here  say  that  I  regard  him  as  one  of  the  most  noble  and  heroic 
men  that  has  ever  occupied  the  missionary  field.  Single-handed  and 
alone,  at  his  own  expense,  he  entered  the  mountains  of  those  be- 
nighted tribes,  purchased  land,  erected  buildings,  employed  teachers, 
and  entered  upon  the  work  of  evangelization.  But  the  power  of  those 
heathen  was  so  herculean  that  he  was  unable  to  withstand  the  strain 
to  which  his  mind  was  subjected.  His  brain  was  turned  by  the  severe 
labor  he  performed,  and  he  returned  to  England  an  insane  man. 
46 


72  2  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

You  may  perhaps  wonder  at  this  mishap  which  befell  this  honored 
man,  but  upon  reflection  I  think  that  you  will  find  that  there  is 
no  occasion  to  wonder.  I  can  imagine  no  place  in  the  missionary 
field  where  the  mind  of  the  missionary  could  be  subjected  to  such 
constant  strain  as  in  the  field  in  which  Dr.  Leidy  once,  operated,  and 
in  which  others  have  succeeded  him.  Cut  off  from  home  and  friends, 
and  from  all  sympathy  with  those  around  him,  the  missionary  leads 
the  life  of  Robinson  Crusoe;  for,  although  he  lives,  and  moves,  and 
has  his  being  among  those  who  are  men,  yet  it  is  only  one  with  the 
strongest  frame  that  can  bear  up  and  withstand  the  troubles  and  dif- 
ficulties which  crowd  upon  him. 

The  Rev.  George  C.  Constantine,  of  Athens,  Greece. 

While  listening  to  the  different  reports,  I  almost  forgot  that  I  had 
been  requested  to  make  an  address  to-night.  My  heart  is  so  full  of 
the  riches  of  the  love  of  God  that  I  almost  imagined  I  was  permitted 
to  see  a  Pentecostal  blessing  repeated.  We  have  had  addresses 
testifying  to  the  good  work  done  in  the  missionary  field  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  We  have  heard  of  men  so  degraded  that  they 
had  lost  almost  all  that  was  human  in  their  nature,  but  the  soul  and 
the  grace  of  God  had  made  them  Christian  men,  civilized  men, 
and  men  with  hearts  to  accept  the  teachings  of  the  gospel.  I,  there- 
fore, say  that  I  had  almost  forgotten  that  I  was  to  speak;  and  if  I  had 
nothing  more  to  say,  I  feel  that  I  could  stand  before  you  to  illustrate 
the  great  work  which  has  been  done  by  our  missionary  brethren,  and 
the  wonderful  power  that  is  in  the  gospel.  It  has  been  said  that 
stories  are  always  best  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  when 
they  are  illustrated  with  cuts,  and  I  may  stand  before  you  here  to- 
night as  a  cut  to  illustrate  all  that  has  been  said. 

I  am  not  only  a  missionary  in  Greece,  but  I  am  a  Greek ;  and  I  am 
what  I  am  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  gospel  sent  to  Greece  by  our 
missionary  friends.  Greece  cannot  bring  as  flattering  reports  as  you 
have  heard  from  others.  Oh  !  I  would  have  hung  my  head  and  pre- 
ferred to  call  upon  you  to  have  a  prayer-meeting  during  the  ten  min- 
utes given  to  me;  but  I  was  afraid  to  ask  the  privilege,  for  I  have 
learned  during  the  it^  days  that  I  have  been  with  you  that  there  are 
rules  of  this  Council  which  cannot  be  changed. 

(ireece  does  not  contain  as  many  millions  as  some  of  the  nations 
spoken  of  to-night ;  it  has  only  a  population  of  from  five  to  six  mil- 
lions. There  are  not  many  churches  there,  and  not  many  members; 
but  I  do  feel  that  Greece  holds  a  very  tender  spot  in  every  Christian 
heart.  We  have  felt  that  we  had  your  hearts  in  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity in  our  midst,  and  every  word  I  address  you  shall  be  in  behalf 
of  poor  Greece,  whicn  so  much  needs  the  help  of  your  missionary 
workers. 

After  four  hundred  years  of  slavery,  Greece  became  an  independent 
nation  in   1827.     It  had  its  first  king  in  1833,  when  eight  hundred 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  723 

thousand  people  were  liberated.  When  the  people  of  Greece  became 
a  free  nation,  they  had  no  schools  and  no  learning.  They  had  no 
papers;  and,  I  would  almost  say,  they  had  no  means  for  any  improve- 
ment save  a  true  heart.  But,  from  1833  up  to  the  present  time,  there 
has  existed  in  Greece  such  a  system  of  education  that  it  can  now  be 
said,  that  the  ratio  of  men  and  women  who  cannot  read  and  write  is 
less  than  in  the  United  States.  Up  to  1862  we  had  a  Constitution 
which  would  not  permit  a  gathering  of  the  people  without  the  permis- 
sion of  the  police,  and  which  would  not  give  freedom  to  the  press  ; 
but  in  1862,  with  the  advent  of  the  new  king,  new  principles  were 
introduced,  and  to-day  Greece  has  a  Constitution  which  has  but  two 
limits  to  freedom,  viz.  :  no  man  has  a  right  to  speak  against  the  per- 
son of  the  king,  and  no  man  has  a  right  to  speak  against  the  Christian 
religion. 

Up  to  1862  the  opposition  to  the  missionary  work  had  been  not 
only  from  a  portion  of  the  people,  but  from  almost  the  entire  popula- 
tion ;  but  to-day  such  has  been  the  change  which  has  been  wrought  in 
Greece,  that  we  can  have  all  the  freedom  we  desire.  We  can  now 
gather  in  any  place  we  please ;  and  it  was  but  lately  that  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  standing  on  Mars  Hill  in  the  presence  of  three  hundred 
people,  under  the  beautiful  sky  of  Athens,  in  the  very  presence  of  the 
objects  which  Paul  saw  when  he  preached  the  gospel  to  the  people  in 
olden  times.  We  can  now  publish  anything  we  please,  and  write  any- 
thing we  please,  under  the  provisions  of  the  two  restrictions  which  I 
have  named.  In  Athens  there  is  a  Presbyterian  Church.  Three  papers 
are  published.  From  five  thousand  to  six  thousand  copies  of  the 
Scriptures  have  been  distributed  in  Greece;  so  that,  Avith  all  the 
opposition  and  with  all  the  difficulty  which  has  surrounded  us,  we 
are  able  to  bring  even  this  little  report  of  the  condition  of  our  mis- 
sionary work,  and  lay  it  before  this  great  Council.  There  is  an  influ- 
ence yet  to  be  exerted  and  felt  in  Greece,  and  there  is  a  preparation 
for  still  further  missionary  work,  which  is  yet  to  come  from  the  united 
efforts  of  the  Christian  men  and  women  of  the  world. 

It  affords  me  pleasure  to  speak  of  a  missionary  work  which  was  begun 
by  women.  What  men  could  not  do  for  sixty  years,  three  women 
have  accomplished  in  Smyrna.  They  have  been  the  means  of  bring- 
ing the  people  together  and  of  convincing  them  of  the  power  of  the 
gospel.  One  of  these  women,  an  American,  belonged  to  the  Congre- 
gational denomination  ;  another,  a  young  lady,  to  the  English  Church  ; 
and  the  third  was  a  Scottish  Presbyterian,  perhaps  the  best  of  them 
all.  I  think  the  work  which  has  been  performed  by  these  three  wo- 
men affords  good  evidence  of  the  results  of  co-operation  in  missionary 
.work.  Their  work  was  commenced  in  an  humble  way,  and  one  of 
the  first  steps  which  they  took  in  the  inception  of  their  efforts  was  the 
opening  of  a  coffee-shop.  It  was  the  establishment  of  this  coffee-shop 
which  occasioned  one  of  my  visits  to  Smyrna.  I  went  there  and  found 
these  women  in  the  midst  of  the  coffee-shop.  It  was  a  beautifiil  room, 
painted  perfectly  white,  with  tasteful  decorations,  and  above  all,  upon 


724  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  different  tables  was  the  Bible  printed  in  eighteen  different  lan- 
guages. The  manager  of  the  coffee-shop  is  a  Christian  man,  and 
during  the  day,  when  the  shop  is  filled  with  its  various  crowds  of 
people,  the  English  and  the  Scotch  ladies  are  present,  watching  all 
the  movements  of  those  who  come  to  patronize  the  establishment. 
People  are  constantly  entering,  drinking  a  cup  of  coffee,  reading 
something  which  may  interest  them,  and  then  quietly  taking  their 
departure. 

The  work  which  this  Scottish  woman,  to  whom  I  have  referred,  has 
individually  accomplished  has  been  so  wonderful  that  I  almost  feel 
that  the  Lord  understands  the  Scottish  language  better  than  any 
other. 

I  find  that  my  time  is  exhausted,  but  before  I  leave  this  platform  I 
wish  you  would  remember  that  there  are  120,000  Greek-speaking  peo- 
ple in  Smyrna.  There  are  250,000  souls  in  that  city  begging  for  the 
bread  of  life  ;  and  hundreds  and  hundreds  who  never  could  have  been 
reached,  except  by  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries,  are  to-day  under 
the  influence  of  the  preaching  of  the  word  of  God.  Such  is  the  press- 
ing demand  for  missionary  work  in  Smyrna  that  I  have  decided  to  go 
away  from  the  beautiful  field  I  have  occupied  for  the  last  eighteen 
years,  and  commence  my  work  in  that  city.  I  would  ask  you,  in  con- 
clusion, to  let  us  have  your  prayers  and  your  sympathy ;  and  may  the 
Lord  bless  you  for  all  I  have  enjoyed  in  company  with  you  during  my 
visit  to  your  pleasant  city. 

Rev.  Narayan  Sheshadri,  of  India, 

I  wish  you  would  look  upon  me  as  a  cosmopolite  delegate  to  the 
Council ;  and  I  hope  that  I  will  be  regarded  as  such  throughout  the 
States  where  I  mean  to  go.  Thirty-seven  years  ago  I  belonged  to  the 
class  of  Brahmins ;  I  was  a  Brahmin  of  the  Brahmins.  My  features 
will  doubtless  remind  you  of  the  great  orients  who  lived  more  than 
3,000  years  ago.  They  were  your  first-cousins.  Thirty-seven  years 
ago,  when  I  was  a  Brahmin  of  the  Brahmins,  in  my  pharisaical  pride, 
I  did  not  wish  to  listen  to  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  because  I  thought 
it  would  make  me  very  uncomfortable ;  for  we  considered  that  a 
Brahmin  was  a  god  upon  earth  ;  a  living,  acting  god.  There  is  at 
least  one  friend  I  have  in  this  world  who  remembers  me  in  all  my 
heathenism,  and  when  I  was  filled  with  all  the  bigotry  and  supersti- 
tion that  ignorance  could  produce.  But  God  emptied  me  of  Hindoo- 
ism.  He  emptied  me  of  all  the  fallacy  which  pertains  to  Hindooism, 
as  well  as  of  all  the  philosophy  which  pertains  to  that  religion  ;  for 
you  must  remember  that  there  is  considerable  philosophy  in  Hin- 
dooism. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  tell  you  the  means  which  God 
adopted  to  convert  my  soul,  or  the  manner  in  which  I  was  emptied 
of  all  those  Hindoo  doctrines.  It  will  suffice  for  all  purposes  to  say, 
in  one  word,  that  I  was  a  changed  man  among  the  people  in  India, 
and  that  from  that  time  forth  I  devoted  my  heart  to  God.     I  may  say. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  725 

however,  that,  even  in  the  midst  of  all  my  ignorance,  when  I  lived 
believing  in  a  false  religion,  my  heart  experienced  a  craving  for 
another  religion.  My  heart  warmed  after  a  religion  which  could 
satisfy  the  cravings  of  my  soul ;  and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  that  reli- 
gion I  found  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  the  truths  of  the  gospel 
that  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  mind,  and  the  principal  of 
these  truths  which  so  impressed  me  was  the  atonement  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  on  Calvary.  In  reading  the  Scriptural  truths  I  became 
convinced  that  God  could  be  just  to  the  sinner,  and  would  be  the 
justifier  of  him  who  believed  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  became 
convinced  that  while  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  calculated  to  fill  people 
with  awe,  the  overflowing  mercy  of  God  would  remove  that  awe,  and 
beget  in  all  people  confidence  in  the  belief  that  we  are  God's  children 
for  whom  he  freely  gave  up  his  Son. 

After  studying  for  the  ministry  for  about  eight  years,  I  was  ordained 
a  missionary  to  my  countrymen.  I  labored  long  in  the  city  of  Bom- 
bay, which  has  a  population  of  800,000  ;  and  is  just  about  the  size  of 
Philadelphia.  Some  years  afterwards  an  opportunity  was  given  me 
to  go  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  my  dear  friend,  Dr.  Mur- 
ray Mitchell,  assisted  me  in  my  efforts.  He  had  previously  spoken 
to  me  of  a  couple  of  Christians  in  Bombay  ;  and  he  asked  me  if  I 
would  not  go  there  and  visit  them.  I  was  glad  to  go  ;  and  I  made  a 
report  to  him  upon  the  subject  of  the  state  of  Christianity  in  the 
hearts  of  these  two  Christians.  I  found  them  sound  in  the  faith  ;  and 
not  only  sound  in  the  faith,  but  they  had  imparted  the  knowledge  that 
they  had  received  to  their  relatives  and  friends. 

In  the  year  1864,  when  I  paid  my  first  visit  to  Jalna,  I  found 
there  two  Christians,  neither  of  whom  could  read,  and  two  catechists. 
In  1880  those  two  Christians  have  multiplied  into  600  Christians,  and 
the  two  catechists  have  multiplied  into  twenty  catechists,  and  sixteen 
Bible-women  and  six  or  seven  school-masters.  In  the  year  1864  there 
were  only  two  communicants,  and  now  we  have  more  than  300  com- 
municants in  the  Christian  Church  in  Jalna.  In  1864  none  of  the 
converts  could  read  or  write  ;  and  now  there  are  more  than  400  young 
men  who  read  the  word  of  God  in  their  own  tongue.  In  the  year 
1864  there  was  not  a  single  Bible-woman,  but  since  that  time  a  nor- 
mal class  has  been  formed  ;  and  although  we  cannot  call  it  a  theo- 
logical seminary,  yet  it  has  grown  to  be  a  school  of  quite  extensive 
proportion,  and  the  young  women  who  are  being  taught  in  that  nor- 
mal school  aspire  to  become  our  Bible-women. 

Through  the  kindness  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  I  have  been 
allowed  to  carry  on  my  mission  work  unrestricted.  That  Church  has 
given  me  ample  scope  to  carry  on  my  mission  work.  Recognizing 
the  fact  that  our  native  converts  might  be  subject  to  trouble  and 
annoyance  from  persecutions,  I  conceived  the  idea  to  have  a  place  of 
our  own  in  which  we  might  be  located,  so  as  to  be  removed  from  the 
difficulties  which  were  likely  to  arise  about  us.  I  therefore  applied  to 
the  Nizam's  government.     You  probably  know  that  the  Nizam  is  a 


726  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

governor,  and  has  been  knighted  for  the  great  assistance  he  gave  to  the 
English  government  in  1857.  He  looked  upon  my  application  with 
a  favorable  eye,  and  granted  me  about  800  acres  of  waste  land  ;  and 
upon  300  acres  of  this  land  our  new  settlement  has  been  located. 
The  name  of  this  new  settlement  is  Bethel.  In  the  starting  of  the 
settlement  500  acres  were  put  aside  to  be  placed  under  cultivation, 
and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  they  have  been  cultivated  to  a  profitable 
extent.  The  remaining  300  acres  granted  to  us  have  been  utilized  in 
various  ways.  Bethel  stands  upon  a  rising  slope  of  ground,  and  the 
highest  spot  upon  that  ground  has  been  selected  for  the  worship  of 
God.  We  have  built  there  a  substantial  church,  of  brick  and  mortar, 
and  it  has  a  capacity  to  hold  about  500  persons.  A  nice  platform  has 
been  erected  in  the  church  upon  which  stands  the  preacher  of  the 
gospel.  We  have  services  in  that  church  every  morning,  and  the 
people  come  there  with  their  Bibles  and  hymn-books,  and  there  we 
read  the  songs  of  David  once  a  month,  and  every  day  we  read  five 
psalms,  so  that  we  get  through  the  whole  book  of  Psalms  in  a  month. 
We  have  good  })salmody  there,  too. 

In  forming  this  settlement,  it  was  our  object  to  bring  together  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  that  it  was  possible  for  us  to  obtain  ;  but  the 
number  has  been  too  large  for  us  to  accommodate  them.  In  our  im- 
mediate vicinity  there  are  thirteen  or  fourteen  villages  where  many 
Christians  reside.  The  catechists  are  sent  from  one  village  to  another. 
They  leave  home  early  in  the  morning,  entering  a  certain  village, 
preaching  there  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  then  return 
home.  In  this  way  Bethel  has  developed  itself  by  means  of  her  cate- 
chists. The  country  around  this  settlement  of  Bethel  is  a  fruitful 
one;  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  mango-trees  line  the  little 
streets.  The  mango  is  a  fruit  from  which  quite  a  source  of  revenue  is 
obtained. 

Several  missionaries  have  spoken  of  China,  and  of  the  desire  to 
have  a  grand  college  for  the  Chinese,  who  are  anxious  to  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  the  English  language.  I  can  only  say,  in  concluding 
this  brief  address,  that  I  can  indorse  all  the  information  which  has 
been  given  to  yon  as  coming  from  that  great  empire;  and  hope  that 
those  360,000,000  of  people  will  soon  be  brought  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  a  grand  effort  upon  the  part  of  those  who  are  most  deeply 
interested  in  their  welfare. 

The  Rev.  C.  Chiniouv,  of  Kankakee,  Illinois. 

With  breathless  attention  and  unspeakable  joy  I  have  heard  the 
great  things  which  the  Lord  has  done  among  the  heathen.  During 
all  the  time  I  have  been  listening  to  the  thrilling  addresses,  the 
thought  has  been  forcibly  impressed  upon  my  mind  that  one  great 
work  has  been  forgotten.  It  is  a  grand  idea  to  send  missionaries  to 
distant  lands,  to  destroy  idolatry,  and  to  give  light  to  the  poor  idol- 
aters;    but,  Protestant  brethren,  you  forget  that  you  have  at  your 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  727 

doors  that  which  you  consider  a  branch  of  Christianity,  when  it  is 
nothing  but  old  paganism  coming  back  under  a  Christian  name. 
Protestants,  you  are  greatly  deceived  !  When  you  speak  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  you  believe  that  it  is  a  Christian  Church;  but  in  the  pres- 
ence of  my  God,  with  seventy-two  years  of  my  life  passed  away,  with 
the  grave  before  my  eyes  into  which  I  must  go  in  a  iiiw  short  days,  I 
tell  you  that  Romanism  is  nothing  else  but  baptized  paganism  ! 

VVhat  are  you  doing  to  give  light  to  those  poor  idolaters  wlio  have 
embraced  that  religion?  In  the  Church  of  Rome  it  is  true  that 
they  worship  a  Christ ;  they  worship  a  God  whom  they  call  their 
Saviour,  and  whom  they  call  Jesus  Christ.  I  know  that  this  is  so  ; 
but  the  Jesus  Christ  they  worship,  and  the  God  they  adore,  is  not  the 
same  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  we  worship.  They  believe  that  they 
can  make  that  Christ  with  a  wafer,  and  make  that  God  with  their  own 
hands  ;  and  they  have  no  other  God  but  that  one.  Hear  the  voices 
coming  from  Knox,  Calvin,  and  Lutherl  Hear  the  voices  of  all  the 
reformers  of  the  past ;  and  they  tell  you  unanimously  that  Romanism 
is  idolatry  !  The  day  has  come  when  you  must  wage  the  same  fight 
against  that  system  of  idolatry  that  you  have  done  in  the  missionary 
fields  of  China,  Japan,  and  Africa! 

It  will  be  said  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  missionary  to  reach  the 
Roman  Catholics ;  but  in  the  presence  of  God  I  am  happy  to  say  that 
there  is  a  simple  way  to  reach  the  ears  and  the  hearts  of  the  people 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  If  you  go  to  them  they  will  laugh  at  you, 
and  they  will  not  pay  any  attention  to  what  you  say  ;  but  send  into  the 
midst  of  them  a  priest  who  is  well  known  to  be  a  good  man,  and  im- 
mediately you  will  see  that  the  large  halls  in  which  he  will  speak  will 
be  too  small  for  the  Roman  Catholics  who  shall  come  to  hear  him. 
By  means  of  a  converted  Catholic  priest,  the  Roman  Catholics  can  be 
saved.     Save  their  priests,  and  you  can  save  the  people. 

It  will  doubtless  be  asked  how  can  the  priest  be  converted?  Most 
of  the  priests  are  not  absolutely  infidels,  but  they  well  know  that  their 
religion  cannot  be  the  religion  of  Christ,  for  nine-tenths  of  them 
know  that  they  cannot  make  God  with  a  wafer.  They  know  that 
Purgatory  is  a  fable,  and  that  auricular  confession  is  an  abomination  ; 
and  while  they  tremble,  they  do  not  know  what  is  the  truth.  They 
know  that  they  do  not  belong  to  the  true  religion,  and  that  they  are 
just  like  Paul  when  he  went  to  Damascus.  They  know  that  they  are 
the  enemies  of  the  gospel  to  which  the  Protestants  cling  so  firmly. 
They  are  the  enemies  of  your  religion  ;  they  preach  against  it,  and 
they  would  like  to  destroy  your  churches,  your  government,  your  re- 
public, and  your  God.  They  are  just  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  full  of  rage 
against  you. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  Saul  was  on  his  way  to  Damascus, 
he  heard  the  voice  of  Christ  saying  to  him,  "Why  persecutest  thou 
me?"  Saul  heard  the  voice  of  Christ,  but  did  not  know  him,  and 
he  said,  "  Who  art  thou?  "  Christ  answered,  "  I  am  Jesus  Christ." 
And  then  Saul  was  blind  spiritually  and  corporeally,  and  he  said, 


728  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

"What  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  The  priests  of  Rome  hear  that 
voice.  Christ  speaks  to  them  and  says  to  them,  "Why  do  you  per- 
secute me  ?  "  The  priests  answer  Christ  by  saying,  "  What  can  we  do  ? 
Where  is  the  religion?  Where  is  the  truth?"  Christ  had  prepare<i 
in  advance  the  answer  which  he  gave  to  Saul.  He  had  prepared  a 
home  or  a  refuge  for  Saul ;  and  Christ  said  to  him  to  go  to  such 
a  place,  and  then  he  would  hear  what  he  would  have  to  do.  Saul, 
blind  spiritually  and  corporeally,  was  taken  by  the  hand,  and  he  went 
to  that  place,  wherein  he  wept  and  cried.  God  then  sent  Ananias  to 
him,  and  when  Ananias  spoke  to  him,  the  scales  fell  from  his  eyes  and 
he  saw  the  light,  and  he  became  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  The 
priests  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  asking  Christ  to-day  what  they  must 
do.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Protestants  to  prepare  for  those  priests  a 
home  and  a  refuge.  They  cannot  flee  from  their  Church  without  some 
home  and  refuge,  for  if  they  desert  their  Church  they  will  be  followed 
by  the  cursing  and  maledictions  of  200,000,000  of  men  ;  but  if  a  home 
and  a  refuge  is  prepared  where  these  priests  will  be  welcome.  Protes- 
tantism will  be  blessed,  and  the  truths  of  our  religion  will  be  spread 
among  a  people  who  are  to-day  seeking  for  the  truth  as  we  have 
found  it. 

Before  I  close  these  remarks,  I  would  like  to  ask  you  who  were  the 
men  of  the  great  Reformation  ?  Were  they  not  converted  priests  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith  ?  Luther  was  a  priest,  and  we  all  know  that  after 
he  had  passed  a  year  in  the  monastery,  he  began  to  feel  the  presence  of 
God,  and  read  the  Scriptures  with  a  deeper  interest  than  he  had  ever 
done  before;  and  then,  after  he  had  been  there  a  year  praying  alone, 
he  went  out  as  a  giant  and  attacked  the  walls  of  Rome,  and  the  walls 
of  that  great,  proud  Babylon  fell  down  in  Europe.  From  whence 
came  the  great  power  of  Knox?  Was  it  not  after  he  had  been  in 
Switzerland,  and  passed  two  or  three  years  in  solitude,  and  in  a  refuge 
prepared  for  him  ?  I  have  seen  the  house  where  he  lived  during  those 
lonely  hours,  and  have  examined  it  with  interest.  Is  it  not  the  fact, 
that  from  his  solitude  he  went  back  to  Scotland  and  fought  such 
a  gigantic  fight  that  the  walls  of  Rome  fell  to  the  ground  before  him? 

I  have  endeavored  to  convince  you  that  if  a  home  and  a  refuge  is 
prepared  for  the  priests  of  the  Catholic  Church,  who  are  now  anxiously 
awaiting  the  hour  when  they  shall  sever  their  connection  with  it, 
hundreds  and  thousands  will  join  the  ranks  of  Protestantism  ;  and 
now  in  conclusion  I  have  one  favor  to  ask  of  this  great  Council,  and 
that  is,  that  you  shall  allow  me  to  go  to  your  congregations  and 
beseech  their  interest  in  the  establishment  of  this  home  and  refuge  for 
priests  of  the  Catholic  Church  who  are  anxious  to  become  con- 
verted to  Protestantism.  Then  before  long  you  will  be  able  to  do  a 
great  missionary  work  in  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
the  world. 

The  Council  then  adjourned,  after  the  customary  devotional 
exercises,  until  to-morrow  morning. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  729 

EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION. 

Friday,  October  ist,  1880. 
The  Council  was  called  to  order  in  Horticultural  Hall  at  9.30 
o'clock,  Dr.  Prime  in  the  chair,  in  the  absence  of  the   Rev. 
Abraham  R.  Van  Gieson,  who  had  been  appointed  President. 

After  devotional  exercise  the  minutes  of  yesterday  were  read 
and  approved. 

Prof.  Calderwood,  from  the  Business  Committee,  reported 
the  following  arrangements  for  the  day : 

That  twenty  minutes  tirne  be  allowed  for  making  reports  of  com- 
mittees ;  twenty  minutes  to  the  paper  on  our  relations  to  the  Churches 
of  the  European  Continents;  to  the  several  reports  fifteen  minutes 
each;  and  fifteen  minutes  to  Rev.  Antonio  Arrighi,  from  the  Free 
Church  of  Italy.  It  is  further  recommended  that  the  discussion 
thereafter  shall  be,  first,  upon  home  missions  and  evangelization 
work ;  and,  second,  upon  the  training  of  candidates  for  the  ministry. 
As  to  the  evening  it  is  suggested  that,  as  we  have  fewer  representa- 
tives to  hear  than  last  night,  the  time  to  each  be  extended  to  fifteen 
minutes.  It  is  further  announced  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Reveillaud  has 
arrived  from  France,  and  it  is  recommended  tliat  twenty  minutes 
be  allowed  him  to  address  the  Council  through  his  interpreter,  the 
Rev.  G.  Theophilus  Dodds.  It  is  further  recommended  that  there 
be  no  discussion,  and  that  the  whole  evening  be  given  up  to  the 
addresses  arranged  for. 

The  report  was  agreed  to. 

Prof.  Calderwood. — The  Business  Committee  have  received 
a  paper  from  Prof  Halsey,  of  the  Northwestern  Theological 
Seminary,  of  Chicago,  who  is  kept  from  the  Council  by  sick- 
ness ;  and  they  recommend  that  it  be  printed  in  the  volume  of 
reports. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to,  and  the  paper  will  be 
found  in  the  Appendix,  p.  921. 

Prof.  Calderwood. — The  committee  have  further  to  express 
regret  that  the  length  of  the  programme  makes  it  impossible 
to  arrange  for  the  reading  of  several  papers  which  have  been 
volunteered,  but  had  not  been  previously  arranged  for. 

HELPING  THE  EUROPEAN  CHURCHES. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  the  modes  of  helping  the 
Churches  of  the  European  continent  was  called  for: 


730  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie. — I  regret  that  neither  of  the  two  gentle- 
men, who  were  appointed  conveners  of  this  committee,  has  been 
able  to  be  present  at  this  meeting  of  the  Council.  The  report 
of  the  committee  has  therefore  been  intrusted  to  me.  It  is  very 
short,  and  I  can  briefly  state  the  substance  of  it. 

It  begins  by  adverting  to  the  two  purposes  for  which  the 
committee  was  appointed  :  in  the  first  place,  to  give  any  such 
guidance  or  help  as  might  be  in  their  power  to  any  churches 
who  desire  to  be  so  helped ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  to  aid  in 
making  provision  for  the  religious  wants  of  English-speaking 
people  on  the  continent,  whether  travellers  or  residents.  The 
report  goes  on  to  say  that  the  committee  has  met  several  times, 
but  has  been  greatly  hampered  in  its  proceedings  by  there 
being  no  convener  of  the  American  committee.  The  first  recom- 
mendation which  it  makes  is  that  the  Council  shall  appoint  an 
American  committee,  a  committee  on  this  side  of  the  water, 
with  a  convener  and  secretary  of  its  own,  that  should  co-operate 
with  the  corresponding  committee  on  the  European  side.  Then 
the  report  goes  on  to  mention  that  considerable  progress  has 
been  made  in  carrying  out  a  scheme  for  aiding  the  Waldensian 
pastors. 

The  expectation  was  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robertson,  of  Edin- 
burgh, who  originated  that  scheme,  would  be  here  for  the  pur- 
pose of  explaining  it.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he  has  not 
been  able  to  come.  Dr.  Marshall  Lang  has  a  letter  from  him 
which  he  will  submit  to  the  Council  after  I  have  concluded. 
I  may  state,  however,  in  connection  with  the  Waldensian  scheme, 
the  nature  of  the  communication  received  from  them. 

It  is  not  identical  with  the  Waldensian  mission  scheme.  It 
is  very  important  that  the  Council  should  keep  that  distinction 
clearly  in  view.  The  "Waldensian  mission  fund"  is  a  fund  for 
aiding  the  Waldensian  Church  in  their  mission  work  in  the 
peninsula  of  Italy ;  but  this  Waldensian  pastors'  aid  fund  is  a 
fund  for  helping  to  enlarge  the  very  inadequate  salaries  of  the 
pastors  and  professors  in  the  valley  church-the  pastors  of  the 
old  original  parishes  connected  with  the  Waldensian  Church. 
We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  a  Waldensian  mission  fund, 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  731 

at  least  many  of  the  Churches  have ;  and  when  Prof.  Comba,  or 
any  other  Waldensian,  comes  to  any  of  our  countries  to  ask 
help,  it  is  most  creditable  to  them  that  they  ask  it  not  for 
their  pastors,  but  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  mission  work  in 
Italy. 

Now  it  occurred  to  Dr.  Robertson  and  other  friends  that  the 
time  had  come  when  something  ought  to  be  done  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  pastors  of  the  ancient  parishes.  It  has  been 
ascertained  that  the  incomes  of  those  pastors  are  very  inadequate. 
The  sum  that  is  allowed  them  would  be  barely  sufficient  for  a 
priest,  and  the  salaries  are  generally  graded  in  Italy  on  the  idea 
that  the  pastor  is  a  single  person.  They  are  utterly  inadequate 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  family.  It  is  ascertained  that  sixty 
pounds  a  year,  or  three  hundred  dollars,  is  the  sum  which  these 
Waldensian  pastors  have  for  the  maintenance  of  themselves  and 
their  families.  A  scheme  was  organized  to  increase  their  sala- 
ries to  one  hundred  pounds,  or  five  hundred  dollars.  Part  of 
this  should  be  done  in  the  valleys  themselves  by  the  people,  and 
another  part  of  it  should  be  undertaken  by  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  connected  with  this  Alliance.  This  proposition  was 
submitted  to  the  committee,  whose  report  is  on  your  table.  It 
was  very  favorably  entertained,  and  the  committee  thought  that 
the  best  way  to  accomplish  this  would  be  to  raise  at  once  a 
capital  sum,  the  interest  of  which  would  be  sufficient  to  give  the 
proposed  addition  to  the  salary  of  each  pastor.  The  total  sum 
required  for  this  purpose  is  ten  or  twelve  thousand  pounds,  or 
fifty  thousand,  or  perhaps,  at  the  outside,  sixty  thousand  dollars. 

The  committee  proceeded  to  consider  how  they  would  en- 
deavor to  raise  such  a  sum.  We  thought  that  in  Scotland, 
small  though  that  country  is,  we  could  manage  without  difficulty 
to  raise  the  half  of  it.  We  thought  that  England,  Ireland  and 
the  British  colonies  might  raise  about  two  thousand  pounds,  or 
ten  thousand  dollars ;  and  we  hoped  that,  if  the  proposition 
were  favorably  entertained  in  the  United  States,  the  balance  of 
the  whole  sum  might  easily  be  obtained  here.  Then  we  deter- 
mined we  would  not  go  beyond  our  own  country  until  we  heard 
something  from  it.     Our  anxiety  was  that,  before  the  Council 


732  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

came  to  Philadelphia,  Scotland  should  have  done  its  part.  I  am 
happy  to  inform  the  Council  that  the  contributions  which  have 
been  made  to  this  fund  in  Scotland  amount  now  to  not  much 
less  than  five  thousand  pounds;  and  when  the  proceeds  of  a 
bazaar  of  ladies'  work,  which  is  to  be  held  very  soon,  are  re- 
ceived, we  fully  believe  that  the  Scottish  contribution  will  be 
six  thousand  pounds,  or  half  the  sum  needed. 

I  am  happy  to  add  that  something  has  been  done  in  England, 
in  Ireland  and  in  Canada.  I  spent  the  month  of  August  in 
visiting  various  parts  of  Canada.  I  did  not  receive  there  much 
in  the  shape  of  money,  as  you  might  expect  at  that  season  of  the 
year;  but  I  am  happy  to  say  that  wherever  the  matter  has  been 
broached,  it  has  met  with  a  very  cordial  response.  I  am  glad 
to  think  that  it  only  requires  to  be  stated  in  order  to  bring  about 
the  response  that  is  desired. 

Now,  that  is  the  scheme  which  the  committee  desire  to  explain 
to  the  Presbyterian  Council ;  and,  if  you  shall  accept  their  desire 
that  a  committee  for  this  side  be  appointed,  it  would  fall  to  that 
committee  to  consider  whether  they  can  take  up  the  subject  and 
make  any  further  contributions  to  the  fund  which  has  been  so 
agreeably  and  so  successfully  initiated.  I  do  not  presume  to  say 
anything  more  on  the  subject.  I  am  only  sorry  that  neither  of 
the  conveners  nor  Dr.  Robertson  is  here,  because  they  could 
have  stated  the  case  in  a  way  very  different  from  that  which  I 
am  able  to  do. 

I  do  not  think  that  it  is  the  design  of  this  Alliance  to  lay  itself 
out,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  for  the  raising  of  money  on 
behalf  of  the  churches;  but  there  are  peculiar  circumstances 
which  may  occasionally  justify  a  deviation  from  that  rule.  I  think 
the  best  thing  is,  that  every  church  should  be  led  to  consider  what 
is  its  duty  in  reference  to  these  churches  that  are  struggling  with 
want  and  with  poverty ;  and  I  hope  that  we  shall  feel  that  we 
do  not  discharge  all  our  duty  to  them  when  we  merely  say  to 
them,  "  Be  ye  warmed  and  filled." 

Before  I  sit  down  I  would  respectfully  submit  to  the  Council, 
for  the  consideration  of  its  committee,  whether  it  might  not  be 
the  right  thing  next  year  to  do  something  in  the  way  of  showing 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  733 

sympathy  and  interest  on  behalf  of  the  Bohemian  Church.  Next 
year  is  the  centenary  of  the  Edict  of  Toleration  which  suffers 
the  Bohemian  Protestant  Church  to  exist,  although  we  know 
that  Edict  of  Toleration  has  been  a  most  imperfect  one ;  and 
no  longer  ago  than  the  time  when  the  Evangelical  Alliance  met, 
the  restrictions  on  the  liberty  of  the  Bohemian  Church  were  so 
scandalous  that  the  Evangelical  Alliance  sent  a  deputation  to 
the  Emperor  of  Austria  to  remonstrate  with  him  on  the  subject. 
I  do  not  presume  to  say  in  what  form  we  ought  to  show  our 
sympathy  with  the  Bohemian  Church  in  connection  with  that 
interesting  centenary;  but  I  feel  sure  the  Council  will  likely  be 
of  the  opinion  that  in  some  way  it  is  desirable  that  we  should  do 
so.  I  do  not  wish,  in  speaking  of  these  churches,  to  overlook 
the  claims  of  other  continental  churches  that  we  desire  to  cherish 
and  greatly  love ;  but  I  cannot  but  feel  when  I  look  around  this 
wall,  and  when  I  see  in  one  compartment  the  story  of  the  Wal- 
densian  Church,  and  in  the  opposite  compartment  the  story  of 
the  Bohemian  Church,  it  is  not  unsuitable  that  on  an  occasion 
like  this  special  reference  should  be  made  to  both  of  these. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Lang,  Glasgow. — The  regret  which  I  feel  on 
account  of  the  absence  of  my  dear  friend,  Dr.  Robertson,  is  very 
much  modified  by  the  assurance  that  in  Dr.  Blaikie's  appeal  a 
chord  has  been  touched  in  your  hearts  that  cannot  fail  to  vibrate. 
But  reference  having  been  made  to  Dr.  Robertson,  it  is  only 
right  that,  with  the  leave  of  the  Council,  I  should  read,  at  least, 
a  part  of  the  letter  which  he  has  sent,  and  which  he  desired  me 
to  read.  Some  of  my  American  brethren  may  ask.  Who  is  Dr. 
Robertson  ?  Well,  I  think  almost  all  Americans  know  a  place 
called  Edinburgh.  You  call  it  "  Edin*^/^^^,"  and  we  in  Scot- 
land call  it  "  Edin(5^?;'(?."  Those  who  have  been  in  Edinburgh, 
of  our  American  friends,  certainly  have  found  their  way  to  the 
Greyfriars'  churchyard.  The  most  sacred  spot  to  you  in  all 
Scotland,  perhaps,  is  the  tomb  of  the  old  Scottish  martyrs.  I 
have  seen  a  great  deal  of  weeping  in  our  Assembly  about  that 
tomb. 

I  recollect  when  my  friend  Dr.  Shaw  (of  Rochester),  whose 
eye  I  catch,  did  us  the  honor  of  coming  to  us,  there  was  quite 


734  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

a  little  weeping  scene  at  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland.  First  of  all  the  old  Moderator  who  was  in  the 
chair:  I  saw  his  face  working  and  nose  twitching,  and  his  eyes 
beginning  to  get  dim;  and  when  the  allusion  was  made  to  the 
old  martyrs'  tomb,  he  fairly  gave  way.  Then  Dr.  Shaw,  in  his 
turn,  gave  way  when  he  was  addressed  by  the  Moderator  in 
reference  to  the  same  tomb. 

Well  now,  Dr.  Robertson's  church  is  in  the  Grayfriars' 
churchyard.  But  the  chief  claim  that  he  has  upon  your  atten- 
tion to-day  is,  that  he  is  the  survivor  of  two  or  three  men  to 
whom  the  VValdensian  Church  was  very  dear — Thomas  Guthrie 
and  Dr.  Gillies,  of  Durham,  and  others.  The  mantle  of  the  others 
has  fallen  upon  Dr.  Blaikie.  But  my  friend  can  speak  to  you 
with  something  like  authority,  from  the  fact  that  he  is  the 
oldest  friend  in  Scotland  of  the  Church  of  the  Valleys;  and,  if  it 
will  not  be  a  trespass  upon  your  time,  I  shall  read  a  part  of  the 
letter  he  has  sent.  He  begins  by  expressing  his  regret  at  not 
being  with  us.  I  had  taken  his  berth  in  Glasgow,  and  fully  ex- 
pected he  would  be  here,  but  the  infirmities  of  age  have  pre- 
vented him ;  and  so  he  sends  you  this  greeting.     He  says  : 

To  the  General  Presbyterian  Council  at  Philadelphia: 

Brethren  beloved  in  the  Lord : — It  is  with  very  deep  regret  that  at 
the  eleventh  hour,  and  having  made  all  necessary  arrangements  for 
my  voyage  to  America,  I  find  myself  obliged  to  decline  the  honorable 
appointment  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  as 
one  of  iier  delegates  to  the  General  Presbyterian  Council,  summoned 
to  meet  in  Philadelphia.  At  the  first  memorable  meeting  of  the 
Council  in  Edinburgh,  owing  to  temporary  illness,  I  was  rarely  able 
to  attend,  and  then  only  as  a  deeply  interested  spectator  of  your  pro- 
ceedings. And  now  after  having  so  long  indulged  the  sanguine  hope 
of  being  permitted  to  engage  in  loving  conference  with  so  many  hon- 
ored brethren  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  I  find  myself  again  debarred 
from  this  privilege  by  no  temporary  ailment,  but  by  infirmities  which 
must  go  on  increasing  with  increasing  years.  I  regret  this  not  from 
any  hopes  that  my  presence  could. have  added  anything  to  the  wisdom 
of  your  councils  (though  I  might  argue  with  an  ancient  sage,  "Sane 
non  solum  ver,  sed  autumnus  solet  bona  adferre"),  but  perhaps 
chiefly  because  I  shall  thus  be  prevented  from  pleading  in  your  As- 
sembly a  cause  which  for  half  my  lifetime  has  been  very  precious  to 
my  own  heart — the  cause  of  the  beloved  pastors  of  the  ancient  Wal- 
densian  Church,  from  which  I  trust  you  will  have  certain  delegates 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  735 

with  you.  I  know  that  my  valued  friend,  Professor  Blaikie,  will  bring 
before  you  their  claims  on  the  sympathy  and  assistance  of  their  Pres- 
byterian brethren  with  an  eloquence  which  will  need  no  words  of 
mine  to  enforce.  But  claiming  as  I  do  to  be  the  oldest  friend  of  "  this 
ancient  stock  of  religion  "  (to  use  the  words  of  the  great  Milton)  now 
living  in  our  Scottish  churches,  and  who  for  nearly  forty  years  has 
taken  a  lively  personal  interest  in  their  preservation  and  prosperity,  I 
cannot  but  feel  it  specially  incumbent  on  me  to  ask  to  be  permitted, 
with  much  anxiety  and  earnestness,  to  solicit  the  attention  of  the 
Council  to  the  "  appeal  to  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Great  Britain, 
Ireland  and  America  on  behalf  of  the  pastors  of  the  Waldensian 
Church  of  Italy,"  which  has  been  issued  by  your  Continental  Com- 
mittee. It  was  after  a  visit  which  I  paid  to  the  valleys  for  the  express 
purpose  of  ascertaining  the  circumstances  of  the  pastors  that  I  sub- 
mitted the  matter  to  the  consideration  of  the  Scottish  branch  of  your 
Continental  Committee.  They  took  it  up  with  a  warmth  and  zeal 
which  charmed  me,  and  it  was  under  their  direction  that  I  prepared 
"the  Appeal,"  embodying  the  result  of  my  inquiries.  The  American 
members  were  at  once  consulted,  and  it  was  by  the  authority  of  the 
whole  Continental  Committee  that  the  "  Appeal"  has  been  circulated. 
Our  object  as  there  stated  is  to  augment  the  miserable  salaries  of  the 
pastors,  so  as  to  place  them  and  their  families  on  the  riglit  side  of  the 
starvation  line,  ^do  per  annum  is  the  amount  of  each  of  their 
salaries  at  the  present  moment,  and  this  I  fear  subject  to  serious  de- 
duction, owing  to  the  heavy  taxation  under  which  Italy  at  present 
groans.  I  need  not  observe  how  inadequate  this  sum  is  to  afford  even 
the  necessaries  of  life  to  a  family,  and  far  more  to  afford  a  suitable 
training  to  the  sons  of  the  Vaudois  Manse,  in  order  to  fit  them  for 
filling  their  fathers'  place  in  the  ministry  of  the  word.  All  we  ask  of 
the  Presbyterian  churches  in  Great  Britain,  Ireland  and  America  is  to 
raise  the  small  sum  of  ;,^i  2,000,  which  will  add  ;^2o  to  the  salary  of 
each  of  the  ])astors  and  professors.  This,  I  doubt  not,  would  have 
been  effected  long  ago  but  for  the  depressed  financial  condition  of  both 
countries  ;  and  now  with  happier  prospects  before  us,  I  cannot  believe 
that  the  slightest  difficulty  will  be  experienced.  A  large  proportion 
of  the  required  amount  has  been  already  subscribed  in  Scotland,  which 
every  effort  is  being  made  to  increase.-  It  is  most  gratifying  also  to 
know  that  our  efforts  on  behalf  of  their  pastors  has  stimulated  the 
Vaudois  themselves  to  make  no  inconsiderable  sacrifices  for  the  same 
purpose.  The  last  time  I  had  the  honor  of  addressing  their  annual 
Synod  at  La  Tour,  while  explaining  what  we  proposed  for  their 
benefit,  I  earnestly  urged  on  the  people  the  obvious  obligation  of 
themselves  doing  their  utmost  to  place  their  pastors  in  a  more  com- 
fortable position.  This  appeal  has  been  heartly  responded  to.  The 
Vaudois,  with  few  exceptions,  are  perfectly  unable  to  contribute  much, 
even  for  a  purpose  so  essential  not  only  to  the  honor,  but  even  to  the 
existence  of  their  church  ;  but  they  are  proving  themselves  willing  '^  to 
their  power;  yea,  and  beyond  their  power,"  while  the  few  who  have 


736  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  means  have  manifested  a  spirit  of  liberality  worthy  of  all  praise. 
We  have  also  good  reason  to  hope  that  the  evangelical  section  of  the 
Church  of  England  will  not  be  behind  their  Presbyterian  brethren  in 
concern  for  what  regards  so  intimately  the  honor  of  our  Protestant 
Christianity ;  and  I  have  received  assurances  that  before  the  close  of 
the  present  year  there  will  be  inaugurated  in  London  a  movement  in 
aid  of  the  Vaudois  pastors  from  an  entirely  English  and  Episcopal 
point  de  depart.  All  this  entitles  us  to  cherish  the  hope  that  by  our 
united  efforts  the  honored  and  beloved  pastors  of  the  brave  old  church 
of  the  Waldenses  will  soon  be  in  circumstances,  however  humble,  yet 
of  comparative  comfort  and  independence. 

Had  Providence  granted  me  the  privilege  of  addressing  the  Council 
personally  on  this  subject,  I  am  conscious  I  should  have  done  so  with 
much  warmth,  for  it  is  a  cause  in  which  I  feel  a  deep  personal  in- 
terest ;  for,  as  I  have  already  stated,  I  have  been  long  and  intimately 
acquainted  with  them.  I  visited  them  years  previous  to  the  era  of 
their  civil  and  religious  emancipation  (1848),  and  while  they  were  yet 
under  the  iron  heel  of  Rome,  suffering  an  amount  of  cruel  oppression 
and  bitterly  painful  and  humiliating  disqualifications,  and  exposed 
to  insults  and  injuries,  the  very  possibility  of  which  in  the  nineteenth 
century  was  absolutely  astonishing.  Since  that  period  I  have  been 
frequently  among  them,  and  assisted  at  their  annual  Synods ;  and  it  is 
with  pride  and  thankfulness  that  I  have  watched  the  noble  use  they 
have  made  of  their  lately  acquired  liberties.  They  have  already 
overspread  Italy  with  a  network  of  active  and  successful  missions,  and 
have  planted  the  standard  of  the  gospel  on  the  islands  of  Sicily  and 
Elba. 

All  this  is  well  known  to  the  members  of  the  Council,  and  not  a  few 
are  persuaded  that  on  the  success  of  these  missions  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy  depends.  And  who 
among  us,  dear  brethren,  will  venture  to  set  limits  to  the  importance 
of  their  successful  result  to  one  common  Christianity?  It  is  with 
great  thankfulness  that  I  am  able  to  say  that  our  Scottish  churches 
have  nobly  supported  this  evangelizing  work  ;  and  not  less  so  that  with 
equal  zeal,  though  it  may  be  with  diminished  power,  owing  to  the 
commercial  depression  under  which  this  country  still  labors,  they  have 
frankly  adopted  the  cause  of  the  pastors  of  the  native  Church,  the 
fountain-head  of  these  important  missions.  Of  the  general  Christian 
worth  and  devotedness  of  these  men  of  God,  I  have  no  need  to  write 
unto  you.  Many  of  the  brethren  are  personally  acquainted  with 
them,  and  all  who  have  visited  their  romantic  valleys  will  bear  honor- 
able testimony  in  their  favor.  As  an  example  of  this,  aid  in  con- 
cluding this — I  hope,  not  obtrusive — letter,  I  may  be  permitted  to 
quote  the  letter  of  a  lady  who  has  lived  among  them,  and  iias  even 
had  her  children  educated  in  their  schools:  "I  do  not  tliink,"  she 
says,  "  I  ever  saw  so  many  good  people  congregated  on  one  small  spot 
of  earth,  so  noble-minded  and  unselfish,  so  brave  and  cheerful,  and  so 
willing  to  serve  God  for  nothing.     It  was,  or  ought  to  have  been,  an 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  737 

education,  to  make  acquaintance  with   the  professors  and  their  fam- 
ilies." 

Brethren,  to  you,  under  God,  I  humbly  commend  this  holy  cause. 
Your  Continental  Committee  has  generously  adopted  it,  and,  I  doubt 
not,  the  Council  will  approve  what  they  have  done,  and  then  complete 
success  may  be  considered  as  already  achieved. 

Brethren,  beloved  in  the  Lord,  may  the  Lord  himself,  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church,  preside  in  your  convocation,  direct  your  delib- 
ations,  and  overrule  for  his  own  glory  your  councils! 

May  the  noble  city  in  which  you  assemble  acquife  from  the  charac- 
ter of  your  proceedings  a  new  title  to  its  illustrious  name,  "the  city 
of  Brotherly  Love;  "  and  I  pray  you  to  forgive  the  egoism  of  my 
closing  syllables,  humbly  echoing  the  language  of  the  great  apostle : 
"  Though  absent  from  you  in  the  flesh,  yet  shall  I  be  with  you  in  the 
spirit,  joying  and  beholding  your  order  and  the  steadfastness  of  your 
faith  in  Christ."     Amen. 

Yours,  in  the  Lord  Jesus, 

Wm.  Robertson,  D.  D  , 

Edinburgh,  August  28,  1880.  Minister  of  New  Greyfriars. 

That  is  the  letter,  and  I  earnestly  trust  that  you  will  enable 
me  to  gladden  the  old  man's  heart  by  saying  that  that  little  pile 
of  ^30,000  has  been  in  part,  at  least,  subscribed  already  by 
America.  You  will  never  miss  it.  ;^30,ooo  distributed  over 
your  five  thousand  congregations,  is  only  $6  a  congregation ; 
and,  considering  the  good  you  will  do,  it  wi'l  come  back  in  pos- 
itive blessings  to  your  churches. 

Both  as  an  Englishman  and  as  a  Scotchman,  I  have  some  in- 
terest in  speaking  on  this  matter.  In  the  time  of  Oliver  Crom- 
well, there  was  a  great  deal  done  for  this  old  church.  He  thun- 
dered at  the  gates  of  the  house  of  Savoy;  he  wrote  letters;  he 
declared  that  the  whole  power  of  England  would  be  brought  to 
bear  unless  these  persecutions  which  they  were  subjected  to  at 
the  time  ceased.  He  offered — and  I  do  not  know  but  it  would 
have  been  a  great  blessing  if  his  offer  had  been  accepted — to 
take  the  Vaudois  from  their  valleys  and  place  them  in  Ireland  ; 
but  what  was  more  still,  he  raised  the  sum  of,  I  think,  ^^"34.000 
(I  am  not  exactly  sure  as  to  the  amount),  for  the  benefit  of  the 
VValdensian  Church.  I  am  obliged  to  testify  that  only  a  portion 
of  that  money  reached  the  Vaudois;  the  rest  of  the  money  was 
— well,  I  suppose  I  had  better  just  say  it — pocketed  by  King 

Charles  II.     He  was  a  sweet  and  amiable  youth,  Charles  II.,  and 
47 


738  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

that  was  one  of  the  dehghtful  works  that  crowned  his  career. 
Not  that  you  may  think  that  only  kings  do  these  things.  I  sus- 
pect there  are  jobs  in  the  pohtical  world,  even  in  America, 
that  may  stand  over  against  that;  but  that  was  his  Httle  job. 
All  we  ask  you  to  do  now,  is  to  help  us  to  send  an  equal  sum 
of  money  to  that  which  would  have  been  sent  if  this  sum  had 
not  been  pocketed. 

I  am  sure,  brethren  of  America,  that  there  will  be  only  one 
feeling  in  your  hearts,  and  that  feeling  will  be  to  rise  up  at  once 
to  send  this  sum  to  our  poor,  yet  loving-hearted  and  glorious, 
brethren  in  the  ancient  Church  of  the  Vaudois.  Do  it  quickly  ! 
He  does  twice  who  does  quickly!  And  it  will  be  something 
that  will  mark  the  proceedings  of  this  Council  if,  at  the  end  of 
it,  the  ancient  Church  is  gratified  by  the  assurance  that  you  have 
borne  them  in  your  hearts  and  sympathies,  and  remembered 
them  in  your  kindly  benefactions. 

The  following  is  the  Report,  referred  to  by  Dr.  Blaikie,  at 
length.     It  was  referred  to  the  Business  Committee: 

Edinburgh,  July,  1880, 
The  first  General  Council,  at  its  meeting. here  in  1S77,  appointed  a 
committee  on  "the  continent  of  Europe"  in  the  following  terms: 
"  The  Council  rejoices  that  its  membership  includes  so  many  repre- 
sentatives of  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  continent  of  Euro])e  ;  and 
considering  that  the  difficulties  which  several,  if  not  all,  of  these 
churches  encounter  from  the  aggressions  of  Ultramontanism  and  infi- 
delity, as  well  as  from  other  causes,  entitle  them  to  the  special  interest 
and  sympathy  of  the  Council ;  and  considering,  also,  that  it  will  be 
impossible  for  the  Council,  at  its  ordinary  meetings,  to  receive  from 
the  delegates  and  associates  that  detailed  information  regarding  their 
respective  churches  which  the  delegates  may  wish  to  give,  the  Council 
instructs  the  Business  Committee  to  nominate  a  special  committee  of 
the  Council,  for  the  purpose  of  conferring,  on  behalf  of  the  Council, 
with  the  Continental  delegates  and  associates,  receiving  such  informa- 
tion as  they  may  have  to  offer;  and  for  the  further  purpose  of  con- 
sidering the  interest  of  Continental  churches,  and  also  the  provision 
made  over  the  Continent,  for  the  English-speaking  residents,  American 
and  British."  The  primary  idea  in  naming  such  a  committee  was  the 
affording  of  our  brethren  from  the  Continent  an  opportunity  of  sub- 
mitting, and  a  channel  through  which  to  submit,  any  questions  affect- 
ing their  progress  and  well-being,  in  regard  to  which  they  might  de- 
sire to  confer. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  739 

Tlie  committee,  however,  was  also,  as  the  resolution  above  quoted 
explains,  to  consider  the  interests  of  Continental  churches  and  the 
provision  made  on  the  Continent  for  English-speaking  residents, 
American  and  British. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  committee  has  not  been  in  circumstances 
to  give  more  full  effect  to  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  appointed. 
This  has,  to  a  large  extent,  arisen  from  there  being  no  American  con- 
vener or  secretary,  with  whom  communications  could  be  kept  up  and 
joint  action  secured. 

The  British  members  of  the  committee  have  occasionally  met,  and 
it  is,  in  some  degree,  satisfactory  that  steps  taken  to  secure  larger  in- 
comes for  the  ministers  in  the  valleys  of  the  Waldensian  Church  have 
already  achieved  a  certain  measure  of  success.  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  although  neither  of  the  conveners  is  to  be  at  Philadelphia,  Dr. 
Robertson  and  Dr.  Blaikie,  who  have  taken  a  specially  active  part  in 
this  movement,  are  to  be  present  at  the  second  General  Council  of 
our  Alliance,  it  is  not  necessary  to  write  fully  as  to  this  Waldensian 
matter,  in  regard  to  which  they  will  convey  the  most  recent  and  com- 
plete intelligence. 

With  regard  to  the  wider  question  of  carrying  out  in  the  future,  with 
larger  effect,  the  matters  referred  to  this  committee,  it  would"  seem  to 
us  very  desirable  that  separate  American  and  British  committees 
should  be  formed,  with  conveners  and  secretaries  of  each,  through 
whom  communications  may  pass  as  to  the  practical  working  out  of 
schemes  likely  to  benefit  the  continent  of  Europe,  in  relation  to  the 
interests  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  there. 

The  different  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Britain  have 
Continental  committees,  and,  in  a  larger  or  lesser  degree  respectively, 
assist  the  native  churches,  and  seek  to  make  provision  for  English- 
speaking  residents  abroad.  It  seems  to  us  very  clear,  however,  that  a 
very  much  larger  amount  of  work  in  these  directions  might  be  ac- 
complished, if  the  American  and  British  Churches  were  in  communi- 
cation with  each  other  as  to  a  division  of  the  field,  and  other  matters 
of  detail. 

The  joint  conveners  of  the  committee  beg  to  assure  the  Council 
of  their  readiness  to  afford  any  help  in  this  country  which  may  be  in 
their  power ;  and  of  their  hearty  desire  to  co-operate  with  the  con- 
veners of  an  American  committee,  if  the  suggestion  as  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  separate  committees,  acting  in  concert  wnth  each  other,  shall 
be  found  to  commend  itself  to  the  Council. 

In  name  and  by  appointment  of  the  committee. 

Jas.  Alex.  Campbell, 
D.  Maclagan, 

Joint  Conveners. 

Dr.  Prime. — The  suggestion  of  Dr.  Lang,  that  each  of  the 
five  thousand  churches  shall  give  six  dollars  a  piece,  will-be  re- 
ferred to  the  churches  for  their  cmsideration. 


740  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Dr.  Prime  subsequently  said:  I  will  inform  the  Council  that 
to  carry  out  Dr.  Lang's  suggestion,  that  the  American  Churches 
should  give  six  dollars  a  piece  to  the  Waldensian  Fund,  I  have 
received  one  hundred  dollars  from  the  city  of  New  York,  as  tin- 
beginning  of  this  subscription.  I  have  only  received  the  sub- 
scription, but  as  I  turn  over  the  card,  I  find  the  name  of  our 
friend,  the  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  on  the  back  of  it,  and  there- 
fore it  is  good. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — It  has  been  agreed  that  a  sub-committee 
should  be  appointed  to  bring  in  minutes  expressing  the  views 
of  this  Council  on  the  question  of  co-operation  of  the  various 
churches  o-n  the  respective  mission-fields  ;  and  the  committee  is 
as  follows  :  Dr.  Paxton,  of  New  York  ;  Dr.  Brown,  of  Virginia  ; 
Dr.  McLeod,  of  Birkenhead;  Dr.  Knox,  of  Belfast;  and  Henry 
Day,  Esq.,  of  New  York. 

The  Rev.  J.  S.  MacIntosh,  of  Belfast,  read  a  paper,  as  follows 
on 

OUR  RELATIONS  TO  THE  CHURCHES  OF  THE 
EUROPEAN  CONTINENT. 

A  hopeful  spot,  this  Council  of  Philadelphia,  to  lift  up  and  urge 
afresh  the  old  command,  Bear  ye .  one  another's  burdens.  To  the 
Presbyterian  brotherhood  met  in  this  Friend-founded  city  of  Brotherly 
Love,  the  cry  of  the  hard-pressed  brethren  of  the  Continent  will  not" 
come  in  vain  for  help.  If  there  be  any  Church  that  is  the  Church  of 
brotherhood,  it  is  our  Presbyterian  ecclcsia,  wherein  only  one  is  Mas- 
ter and  all  are  brethren.  Not  difficult  then  to  plead  here  for  those 
dear  for  their  fathers'  sakes  and  their  own.  Nor  difficult  either  in 
this  land  of  the  free  which  has  sheltered  the  homeless  thousands,  and 
like  Britain  has  gained  rich  reward  through  the  Huguenots  of  France 
and  the  many  Presbyterian  fugitives  from  bitter  Continental  persecu- 
tions, to  plead  for  the  children  of  the  freemen  who  taught  and  fought 
for  holiest  liberty  in  the  dark  despot  home  of  the  past. 

Remembering  what  America  owes  to  the  north  of  Ireland  and 
Scotland,  what  Ireland  and  Scotland  owe  to  Geneva  and  Germany, 
and  they  to  the  Hussites  of  Prague,  and  the  Vaudois  of  the  Alps,  I 
pray  for  due  recognition  of  these  blessed  offices,  and  fitting  embodi- 
ment of  our  gratitude, in  seasonable  helpfulness,  to  the  faithful  Presby- 
terian Churches  of  the  continent. 

I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  the  fitness  of  things  is  to-day 
slightly  illustrated  in  myself.  I  deal  with  the  Internationalism  of 
Presbyterianism,  and  I  do  it  as  a  true  Internationalist — partly  Ameri- 
can, partly  Scotch,  partly  Irish,  and  largely  continental.  As  an  In- 
ternational  Presbyterian,   then,  I  speak  before  the  representation  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  741 

the  two  most  international  people  of  the  world — the  composite  men  of 
insular  Britain  and  continental  America,  regarding  our  friends  in 
Europe. 

And  for  this  great  Council,  that  gives  at  once  visibility  to  the  uni- 
versality of  Presbyterianism,  and  voice  to  our  common  brotherhood, 
what  question  more  proper  and  pressing  than  the  relation  of  the  hap- 
pier, stronger,  richer,  more  unembarrassed  churches  of  America,  of 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  to  the  old  churches  of  Hussite  and  Walden- 
ses,  of  Huguenot  and  Bohemian,  and  to  the  many  brethren  who,  from 
Sweden  to  Sicily,  from  the  vineyards  of  France  to  the  wheat-fields  of 
Hungary,  are  really  one  with  us  in  doctrine,  organization,  and  aims. 

I.  We  should  stand  to  them  in  a  steadfast  relation  of  thoughtful 
sympathy. 

Sympathy,  true,  hearty,  unmeasured  sympathy ;  sympathy,  I  repeat 
and  emphasize,  not  patronage ;  for  patronage,  yes,  its  merest  semblance, 
would  sorely  wound  the  delicate  sensibilities  of  keenly-feeling  friends, 
and  injuriously  hamper  them.  But  sympathy  soft  as  light  and  genial 
as  sunshine,  will  open  their  hearts  to  us,  prove  impulsive  to  them  in 
best  directions,  and  refreshing  to  ourselves.  With  it  will  come  the 
truer  unity  of  the  faith.  What  claims  to  our  sympathy  they  have ! 
Claims  all  the  needy  have.  But  there  are  varieties  in  claims.  The  be- 
nighted heathen  have  the  claim  of  brotherhood,  but  before  this  Coun- 
cil the  Continental  Presbyterians  stand  with  the  claim  of  priesthood. 
Who  does  not  sympathize  with  a  noble  anxiety?  I  know  how  the  best 
hearts  of  this  young  nation  thrill  towards  the  homelands.  Are  these 
children  of  the  witnesses  not  dear  for  their  fathers'  sakes,  who  were 
likewise  ours? 

Now  sympathy  may  either  be  general  and  vague,  or  special,  defi- 
nite, and  thoughtful.  Much  of  the  general  and  the  vague  exists  ;  we 
must  lift  this  into  the  higher  and  the  better — the  special,  definite, 
thoughtful.  I  know  the  readiness  to  respond  to  the  witching  old 
words,  Waldo  and  Huss,  Wittenburg  and  Geneva,  the  gentle  Coligny, 
and  the  Silent  William  ;  I  know  the  wistful  looks  and  the  fast-flowing 
stream  of  complimentary  words  as  deputies  appear  before  me  from 
Belgium  and  Spain,  and  from  Elberfeld  and  Lisbon  ;  but  we  want 
concentrated  sympathy.  That  will  prove  the  expulsive  and  impulsive 
force  of  a  true  affection.  Such  sympathy  alone  will  move  ourselves, 
and  prove  to  our  friends  a  pearl  of  price. 

That  sympathy  cannot  exist  without  knowledge;  it  must  be  born 
of  and  nurtured  by  knowledge  ;  comprehensive  yet  exact,  fresh  and: 
ever-deepening.  To  know  these  old,  long-persecuted,  still  preserved, 
hard-working  seniors  of  Bohemia  and  Piedmont  and  France,  these 
hopeful  and  sturdy  juniors  of  Spain  and  Russia,  is  to  have  fellow-feei- 
ing;  to  deepen  that  knowledge  is  to  glow  with  sympathy.  Those 
knowing  them  best  and  longest  are  their  kindest  friends. 

There  is  pressing  need  of  this  love-binding  knowledge.  To  me  it 
has  been  often  a  cause  of  great  surprise  that  the  present  conflicts  and 
present  conditions  of  Continental  Presbyterianism  are  so  little  under- 


742  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

stood.  They  read  the  history  of  the  Reformation,  and  with  moved 
hearts  peruse  the  tearful  tales  of  the  victims  of  Montfort,  Guise,  and 
Alva,  and  Philip  the  Bigot  ;  but  they  forget  to  follow  the  chequered 
j)athways  by  which  the  martyr's  children  have  come  to  reach  this 
Council  chamber.  Howftw  have  studied  the  unbroken  succession  of 
the  faith  in  Bohemia  and  Hungary — the  revival  of  life  and  missionary 
•<eal  in  the  peak-girdled  valleys — the  changeful  experiences  of  Holland, 
-ind  France  and  Spain. 

What  shall  be  done  to  bring  the  broader  day  of  clearer  light  for 
this  now  most  valuable  help  to  our  continental  brethren  ?  Let  us  util- 
ize the  pulpit,  the  platform,  the  press,  the  congregational,  the  Church 
Assemblies  and  Synods,  to  spread  information.  Curiosity  is  the 
guide  to  the  student's  haunts ;  and  frequent  though  passing  pulpit 
references  will  awaken  curiosity  which  will  betake  itself  for  satisfac- 
tion to  the  missionary  reports,  the  Presbyterian  papers,  and  the 
Congregational  library.  The  formal  declaration  of  our  essential  one- 
ness in  confession  and  experience,  so  admirably  wrought  out  by  Dr. 
Schaff  and  others,  will  reveal  our  common  brotherhood,  deepen  the 
churches'  sense  of  it,  and  quicken  our  expression  of  it.  What  a  field 
is  here  for  the  popular  lecturer !  what  names  to  conjure  by — the  Vau- 
dois  and  the  Vatican,  Hussite  and  Huguenot  !  what  scenes  to  paint, 
Antwerp,  St.  Bartholomew,  and  the  Spanish  Inquisition  !  what  men 
to' portray,  Waldo  and  Huss,  Luther  and  Calvin,  Ccjligny,  and  Wil- 
liam the  Silent !  To  our  church  meetings  delegates  from  the  varied 
continental  folds  should  be  invited  ;  to  their  Synods  we  shouUl  yo  in 
turn.  In  these  days  of  constant  travel,  the  American  and  British 
Presbyterian  tourist  could  find  at  once  health,  pleasure,  and  profit  by 
visiting  our  co-religionists  in  their  historic  and  attractive  homes.  If 
the  botanist  finds  essential  the  study  of  his  plants  in  their  native  spots, 
shall  it  be  thought  strange  that  I  counsel  examination  of  our  friends' 
labors  in  their  work-fields?  for  only  when  we  see  their  unfriendly  en- 
vironments, can  we  realize  the  truth  and  toughness  of  their  grow 
ing  life.  Frequent  tourist-groups  are  led  across  the  Mer  de  Glace  to 
visit  the  Jardin,  and  wonder  at  the  fresh  vegetation  and  defiant  efflor- 
escence amid  that  death  waste  of  shingle  and  ice.  Is  no  charm  to  be 
found  in  the  little  fresh  gardens  blooming  amid  the  glacial  fields  of 
scepticism  and  the  dreary  wastes  of  superstition? 

The  knowledge  gained  in  these  varied  ways  would  prove  the  sub- 
stantial oneness  of  the  widespread  Presbyterian  communion  in  creeds 
and  confessions,  a  vitally  important  fact — evidence  of  a  grand  Church 
unity  and  most  weighty  admonition,  not  to  be  startled  by,  nor  exag- 
gerate,the  peculiarities  and  varieties  found  in  our  brethren's  modes  of 
expansion  and  forms  of  worship. 

Thus  we  should  come  to  understand  the  varying  problems,  to 
warmly  sympathize  with  and  prudently  lead  and  help  in  the  varied 
struggles  of  the  orthodox  for  purity  of  faith  and  fuller  Presbyte- 
rianism,  in  the  Prussian  and  Bohemian  Churches ;  the  scholastic 
struggles  of  Hungary  and  Belgium,  the  perplexing  difficulties  of  our 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  743 

Swiss  and  Dutch  friends,  contending  against  and  with  every  scep- 
ticism, and  the  injurious  influences  of  rationalizing  professors  in 
the  Italian  missionary  work  ;  in  the  present  embarrassments  of  our 
French  friends,  troubled  within  by  false  brethren,  and  oppressed 
without  by  the  multiplying  demands  made  upon  them  ;  in  the  efforts 
of  the  young  Norse  Churchmen  to  overtake  the  spiritual  destitution 
of  their  country,  to  encourage  and  develop  their  colportage  system, 
and  to  stir  up  their  Church  to  a  new  life,  at  once  healthy  and  culti- 
vated, scriptural,  and  aggressive. 

This  knowledge  and  sympathy  will  make  us  keen-eyed  to  each  pass- 
iiig  struggle,  and  sharpened  to  each  sudden  cry  for  help.  It  will 
qualify  for  speaking  the  seasonable  word  to  the  weary  ;  it  will  justify 
and  strengthen  for  speaking,  the  warning  truth,  in  love;  it  will  repress 
all  foolish  flattery,  and  free  from  all  sentimentalism  and  weakness;  it. 
permits  and  sustains  the  bold  frankness  of  brotherly  faithfulness,  so 
that  if  we  have  to  advise,  admonish,  and  remonstrate,  we  shall  do  it 
with  that  grace  of  sympathy  that  shall  be  our  best  apology,  and  with 
that  gentleness  of  sympathy  so  resistless  and  persuasive. 

II.  There  should  be,  secondly,  the  relation  of  trust  and  confi- 
dence. 

Such  knowledge  and  sympathy  will  lead  to  a  well-grounded  trust 
and  hearty  confidence  in  our  continental  brethren,  at  once  restful  to 
ourselves  and  helpful  to  them.  Occasionally  persons  are  met  who 
ask.  Is  any  real  good  being  done  upon  the  Continent?  Are  these  con- 
tinental churches  really  alive?  Have  they  not  many  strange  usages 
in  worship?  Are  they  fit  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  of  the  situa- 
tion ?  Is  the  gospel  really  preached  in  Germany,  Holland,  and  Swit- 
zerland ? 

These  questions  betray  wide-spread  doubt  as  to  the  competency  of 
the  continental  Presbyterians  to  understand  and  manage  their  own 
affairs,  and  a  half-formed  notion  that  we  ourselves  should  step  in  and 
take  the  work  into  our  own  hands.  I  plead  this  day  for  fullest  trust 
and  deepening  confidence.  Within  the  bounds  of  nearly  all  these 
churches  I  have  sojourned  longer  or  shorter  time;  and  wliether  wor- 
shipping in  the  old  cathedral  at  Trondhjem  or  the  Dom  at  Berlin, 
with  the  Swiss  at  Basle  or  the  Italian  in  Naples,  with  the  Paris  bankers 
or  the  Madrid  cigar-makers,  in  the  new  temple  at  Rome  or  the  old 
church  at  Prague,  I  have  heard  the  gospel,  seen  the  essentials  of  truth, 
and  looked  honest  brethren  in  the  face.  This  Council,  by  its  greet- 
ing and  its  esteem,  says,  We  believe  these  continental  brethren  ;  we 
are  satisfied  that  you  largely  understand  your  individual  work  and 
special  problem  ;  we  leave  you  free,  and  encourage  you  to  work  out 
your  own  task  in  your  own  way,  not  seriously  imitating  us,  but  moving 
in  independent  patlnvavs  congenial  to  your  separate  national  spirit 
and  character.  Individuality  belongs  to  separate  masses.  As  to  sin- 
gle men,  individuality  exists  in  families,  in  cities,  in  masses,  and 
churches.  Now,  against  that  individuality,  summoning  it  forth  to  dis- 
tinct and  appropriate  activity,  and  so  educating  it,  is  placed  by  the 


744  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Master  a  specialty  of  work.  On  individuality  and  work,  as  heaven- 
lent  talents,  alike  are  seen  the  image  and  tlie  superscription  of  the 
King,  who  gives  to  each  his  own  work. 

Now,  in  my  opinion,  we  do  largely  help  these  friends — help  them 
among  our  own  people  at  home,  help  them  in  their  own  communities 
and  in  the  very  doing  of  their  work — by  making  it  plainly  felt  that 
fully  we  trust  them  to  understand  and  address  themselves,  and  under 
God  accomplish  their  own  distinct  problem. 

Fair  and  wise  and  brotherly  enough  is  it,  to  satisfy  ourselves  that  in 
each  case  the  unique  task  is  seen  and  understood  and  able  to  be  under- 
taken. At  times  the  outsider,  calm,  critical,  unflurried  because  dis- 
passionate and  irresponsible,  makes  keener,  more  exhaustive  observa- 
tions than  the  hard-pressed  and  overtaxed  insider  ;  and  the  watch  and 
hurry  help  materially  the  toiler.  Such  aid  I  would  give,  and  such,  aid 
I  know  they  would  welcome  most  gladly.  We  may  help  our  Italian 
brethren  to  the  outworking  of  their  problem,  by  pointing  out  tlie  ur- 
gent necessity  of  union  and  co-operation  ;  of  the  presentation  to  the 
countrymen  accustomed  to  church  order,  regular  clergy,  stately  ser- 
vice, and  solemn  sacraments,  a  church  as  orderly,  a  clergy  well  learned 
and  duly  ordained,  chaste  service,  and  attractive  churches,  together 
with  what  Italy  has  only  lately  known,  a  full  gospel  and  free  people. 
We  may  ask  our  French  countries  how  they  propose  to  meet  their  in- 
ternal difficulties  and  treat  with  their  keen,  analytic,  patriotic  country- 
men now  in  revolt  against  Rome,  so  as  to  prove  that  the  Reformed 
faith  can  best  answer  the  questions  of  the  thinkers,  dwell  in  the  con- 
sciences of  the  earnest,  make  inviolate  the  purity  of  the  home,  and 
bestow  a  safely-guarded  liberty  on  the  land.  We  may  say  frankly  to 
our  Belgian  friends,  rare  opportunities  are  just  now  yours.  You  can 
show  your  brethren  a  church  that  leaves  the  state  free  on  its  own  do- 
main, and  yet  does  not  neglect  the  souls  of  the  children  nor  the 
wants  of  the  poor;  and  to  our  Dutch  and  German  co-religionists, 
give  good  heed  to  the  safe  guarding  of  the  orthodox  faith  and  the 
perfecting  of  your  Presbyterian  freedom  and  order. 

These  things  and  many  more  we  may  say,  comparing  our  keen, 
quick  sweeps  with  and  correcting  them  by  their  deeper  and  more 
patient  searches,  and  largely  help  them.  But  then,  lest  we  hinder  and 
injure,  let  us  in  trust  and  confidence  stand  aside,  that  they  may  in 
their  own  way  do  their  work.  The  alteration  of  their  national  spirit 
and  character  would  be  a  serious  loss  to  us  all,  and  a  more  serious  ob- 
stacle to  them.  Let  there  be  the  sternest  abstinence  on  our  part  from 
all  attempts  to  run  them  into  our  moulds — yes,  watciifulness  against 
it,  for  unconsciously  we  may  tend  that  way.  Let  them,  remembering 
the  attraction  of  the  greater  bodies  and  their  own  fondness  for  us, 
avoid  unwise  imitation;  let  them  appropriate  all  that  is  wholesome 
in  America,  Britain,  Australia,  but  let  them  fully  assimilate  it,  and  let 
it  appear  only  in  their  own  shape  and  hue.  Encouragements  to  this 
independency  are,  from  my  own  observation,  needful,  and  they  are 
really  helpful  to  the  v/isest  workers  in  the  continental  churches.     We 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  745 

want  unity  of  life  with  variety  of  form,  which  is  the  manifestation  of 
individuality  and  the  charm  of  society.  Churches  should  be  like  the 
gospels — the  same  in  their  divineness,  distinct  in  their  humanness. 
Surely,  there  must  be  variety  of  outgrowth  in  Norway  and  in  Naples, 
in  the  German  and  the  Spaniard.  Let  us  guard  this  variety  ;  it  makes 
the  real  unity  more  striking,  and  it  is  charming  over  against  the  dead 
uniformity  of  Rome.  As  in  garden  roseries  all  are  roses,  yet  shade 
and  petal,  shape  and  size  and  sweetness,  are  distinct,  so  in  the  Lord's 
rosery  of  Presbyterianism  we  want  the  deep  rose  of  Italy  and  the  fair 
rose  of  England,  the  old  rose  of  Bohemia  with  the  new  growth  of 
Spain,  the  healthy  perjjetual  of  Lrance  with  the  sweet  and  hardy 
briars  of  Scotland, 

Trusting  and  confiding  in  our  brethren,  I  would  most  strongly 
deprecate  comi)etition  or  rivalry.  1  would  not  transplant  our  churches 
to  their  shores,  or  begin  institutions  rivalling  in  any  way  the  native 
communions.  Where  native  churches  are  doing  God's  work  in  their 
own  best  way,  seeking  to  solve  honestly,  though  slowly  and  often  per- 
plexingly,  their  own  questions,  I  would,  brethren,  God-speed  and 
help  them  by  leaving  them  a  full  trust,  amplest  room,  and  fullest  free- 
dom of  action. 

Co-related  with  this  trust,  but  important  enough  to  be  made  stand 
out  distinct  in  the  recognition  of  their  past  services  to  our  common 
cause,  therefore  I  say,    ' 

IIL  There  must  be  the  relation  of  honest  brotherly  esteem.  To 
own  and  honor  fbr  their  work  is  to  help.  On  our  part,  it  is  only 
honesty;  for  them  it  is  strengthening  consolation,  sweetest  encourage- 
ment, and  mighty  impulse.  Who  has  talked  with  these  continental 
brethren  by  their  own  firesides,  or  heard  them  in  their  billowy  Ital- 
ian or  breezy  French  narrate  their  receptions  in  our  Synods  and  As- 
semblies, and  does  not  know  what  happy  thrill  of  heart  and  gladsome 
flush  of  face  are  theirs  beneath  our  brotherly  "  well  done  !  " 

Nobly  they  deserve  the  recognition.  Their  hard,  oft-desperate  work 
has  been  well  done,  with  a  perseverance  in  which  patience  has  had 
her  perfect  work,  and  a  prayerfulness  that  would  not  be  refused.  How 
nobly  they  have  struggled  amid  circumstances  almost  destructive  ; 
been  reduced  by  pet-secution  from  over  2,000  churches  to  less  than 
500,  robbed  by  prosecution,  and  tyrannously  denied  their  synodical 
rights  ;  and  then  defrauded  of  churches,  schools  and  colleges,  and 
forbidden  to  meet  in  open  congregation  ;  been  hampered  in  their 
growth  l)y  state  jealousies  and  mean  factions ;  and  then  burdened 
with  poverty  and  almost  exhausted  through  emigration  !  Yet  all  has 
been  conquered  for  Christ. 

What  splendid  results  they  show  for  the  toil  of  the  year  just  passed  ! 
The  thought  stirs  one's  blood.  In  France  and  Switzerland  they  have 
won  the  respect  of  the  best  and  noblest  men  ;  have  largely  told  upon 
society  and  the  political  world  ;  have  furnished  potent  men  like  Vinet, 
D'Aubigne  and  Pressense  to  the  literary  ranks  of  Presbyterianism  ;  re- 
organized scores  of  fallen  churches,  restarted  a  winning  fight  for  ortho- 


746  THE    PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

doxy,  spread  by  means  of  the  Central,  Evangelical  and  Genevan  Socie- 
ties a  network  of  mission  churches,  elders  and  agents  over  the  land  from 
Cherbourg  to  Maggiore.  In  Italy  they  have  poured,  out  of  Alpine 
valleys  and  hidden  city  conventicles,  little  but  dauntless  bands  that 
have  stretched  the  chain  of  Presbyterian  fortresses  from  the  snows  of 
Mt.  Blanc  to  the  gardens  of  Sicily.  In  Holland  they  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  in  congregation  and  college,  against  a  withering  rational- 
ism, and  have  formed  a  national  Sunday-school  union,  with  temper- 
ance. Christian  and  missionary  associations.  In  Norway  a  young 
party  has  risen  in  the  Church  that  toils  bravely  for  a  purified  faith,  a  re- 
vived life,  an  aggressive  colportage  work,  and  national  solidity.  In 
Hungary  earnest  congregations  and  devoted  ministers  are  striving 
against  heavy  odds  to  maintain  the  fine  old  confessional  schools,  that 
the  children  of  the  land  may  be  still  taught  the  faith  of  their  martyred 
sires.  In  the  Bohemian  borders  the  breath  of  spring  is  at  last  stirring 
to  the  joy  of  many  hearts,  and  Spain  is  opening  a  hundred  doors  from 
Santander  to  Cadiz  for  the  wise  preacher  and  prudent  colporteur. 
Not  forgetting  what  the  Spirit's  might  has  wrought  among  the  heathen 
by  means  of  our  American  and  English,  our  Scotch,  Irish  and  Ger- 
man missionaries,  I  ask  does  the  romance  of  missions  contain  one 
chapter  more  thrilling  than  the  past  two  decades  of  Continental  Pres- 
byterianism?  Whether  you  take  your  stand  on  gray  Gibraltar's  rock, 
looking  up  over  Spain,  or  run  up  the  long  Norwegian  Fiords  heark- 
ening to  an  earnest  young  Norseman,  or  tlirough  the  charming  Rhine 
valleys  talking  to  some  pious  peasant,  or  wait  with  Rochedino  or 
Anet  to  understand  the  Belgian  muse,  or  hurry  from  point  to  point 
of  marvellous  France  with  Fische  and  Lorriaux,  or  climb  with  the  Swiss 
colporteur  up  to  the  mountain  chalet,  or  drop  into  a  prayer  meeting 
in  Prague,  or  listen  to  the  gospel  hymn  floating  past  you  at  the  win- 
dows, you  are  startled  by  the  prophetic  changes;  and  these  are  the 
men  honored  of  God  to  introduce  them. 

Wliile  it  is  joyous  and  honorable  for  us  to  own  their  good  works, 
for  them  it  is  largely  helpful :  helpful  indirectly  among  their  country- 
men, helpful  directly  to  themselves;  for  the  appreciative  narration  of 
their  aims  and  their  success  in  our  periodicals  and  papers  is  a  contin- 
uous stimulus.  The  circle  of  living  witnesses  cheers  them  forward  in 
their  up-hill  path,  and  teaches  them  that  aid  shall  be  theirs  when  they 
need  it.  This  recognition  is  incitement  to  ourselves,  a  summons  to 
new  and  more  liberal  modes  of  help ;  the  reasons  for,  and  provocative 
unto,  enlarged  generosity  on  the  part  of  our  congregations. 

IV.  Generous  giving  there  should  be  ;  for  there  must  be  the  relation 
of  ready  and  generous  helpfulness. 

This  hour  is  the  time  for  quick  and  generous  aid.  Sympathy  and 
esteem  must  crystalize  into  solid  gifts;  brotherliness  prove  itself  in 
giving  those  things  that  are  needful.  Remembering  the  general  pov- 
erty of  these  Continental  churches — another  marked  liberality — re- 
membering that  all  ordinary  home  work  is  maintained  out  of  their 
own  resources,  and  that  aid  is  asked  only  for  their  aggressive  mission 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  747 

work,  I  say  that  we  should  be  to  them  the  sons  of  consolation,  giving 
generously  to  them. 

For  Christ's  sake  we  would  not,  for  our  own  sakes  we  dare  not, 
neglect  the  evangelization  of  the  Continent.  The  interests  at  stake 
are  too  serious.  The  Reformed  faith  must  be  preserved  ;  the  pestilent 
infidelity  of  Europe  must  be  attacked;  insolent  and  aggressive  Ultra- 
montanism  assailed.  This  triple  task  can  be  done — best,  easiest, 
cheapest — through  these  churches.  As  Christlieb,  Naville,  Pressense, 
Reveillaud,  Comba  and  Gavazzi  prove,  they  understand  tlie  fight  for 
the  faith.  Through  them  we  can  best  assail  Rome.  She  attacks  us 
in  our  strong  places  of  German  unity,  English  society,  American 
schools,  and  we  must  imitate  her  tactics,  pressing  her  hardest  within 
her  enlistments;  and  tiiis  can  be  done  without  weakening  one  point 
of  our  lines  by  these  trained  bands  of  Continental  Presbyterians — men 
of  war,  all  of  them,  from  their  youth  up.  Let  us  see  they  be  not 
crippled,  through  being  scantily  supplied. 

Two  kinds  of  gifts  there  must  be:  gifts  of  regularity  and  gifts  of 
emergency.  There  must  be  gifts  bestowed  regularly,  counting  on 
which  our  brethren  may  plan  and  measure  regular  work  ;  periodic 
donations  for  mission,  colportage,  Bible  wagon,  and  i)ress  work. 
These  regular  grants  should  be  multiplied  and  increased  in  amount. 
Our  past  offerings  have  been  sadly  inadequate  to  the  necessities,  and 
the  number  of  contributing  churches  too  small.  Each  progressive 
society,  and  all  Presbyterian  communions,  have  been,  and  still  con- 
tinue to  be,  indebted  to  the  Continent.  Why  should  not  each  aid  the 
churches  toiling  to  send  pious  Frenchmen  to  Canada,  pious  Germans, 
Dutch  and  Norsemen  to  the  west,  Italians  and  Spaniards  to  the  sunny 
south? 

In  this  department  of  regular  help,  there  might  well  be  division  of 
labor — special  chi:rches  looking  up  special  fields,  or  special  churches 
and  activities  in  certain  wide  fields.  We  should  thus  secure  the  work- 
ing of  each  continental  district,  and  by  concentrating  intensify  our 
sympathy  and  expand  our  liberality. 

In  the  great  popish  strongholds,  as  Belgium,  Italy,  and  Spain,  regu- 
lar aid  should  be  given  to  schools,  orphanages,  hospitals,  and  theol- 
ogical halls.  The  last  is  urgently  and  supremely  needed  in  Spain. 
Help  to  schools  and  colleges  produces,  perhaps,  quickest  and  broadest 
returns.  Build  and  equip  them,  and  you  recruit  and  multiply  rapidly 
the  ranks  of  the  efficient  teachers  and  missionaries. 

Very  important  results  flow  from  the  education  of  continental  stu- 
dents at  our  theological  halls.  The  presence  at  Glasgow,  Edinburgh, 
Belfast,  and  other  seats  of  learning  of  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  Hun- 
garian, and  Norwegian  youth,  has  yielded  a  manifold  return. 

But  there  should  be  also  gifts  of  emergency.  Startling  emergencies, 
sudden  and  unexpected  possibilities  for  good,  come  upon  our  conti- 
nental friends,  demanding  instantaneous  effort.  A  change  of  minis- 
try, an  elective  revolution,  the  removal  of  some  active  enemy,  the 
passing  whim  of  a  district,  offer  sudden  opportunity  to  evangelistic 


748  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

adventures.  But  these  quick  efforts  need  money.  We  should  be 
ready  to  aid  them  in  seizing  the  flying  moment. 

In  many  of  the  chief  cities  and  towns  of  Europe,  Presbyterianism 
needs  greater  visibility  in  appropriate  churches.  Couhl  a  wealthy 
congregation  or  some  generous  Christian  find  a  worthier  monument 
than  a  fitting  churcii  built  from  love  to  Jesus,  and  in  grateful  memory 
of  martyrs  and  confessors? 

And  giving,  pray,  and  praying  give — yes,  more  abundant  than  gifts, 
more  kindly  than  esteem,  more  intense  than  sym[)athy,  give  them 
prayer — prayer  for  wisdom,  for  tact,  for  glowing  zeal,  deathless  perse- 
verance, the  sacred  passion  for  souls,  the  growing  realization  of  Christ's 
constraining  love.  Continue  instant  in  prayer  for  them,  for  they  are 
worthy.  As  I  look  at  them  and  think  of  what  they  have  borne  and 
dared  since  the  days  of  the  Kuttenberg  silver  mines,  of  the  corpse- 
strewn  Alpine  snows,  the  blood-dyed  streets  of  Paris,  the  dragonnades 
of  Alva,  and  the  inquisition  of  Seville,  onward  to  these  present  hours, 
I  seem  afresh  to  hear  apocalyptic  voices :  These  are  they  who  have 
come  out  of  great  tribulations ;  and  they  have  overcome  by  the  blood 
of  the  I.amb  and  the  word  of  their  testimony.  Let  us  pray  for  them 
abidingly,  believingly,  lovingly. 

Sooner  then,  perchance,  than  we  yet  dare  dream  may  come  the  reward 
of  the  martyr's  work — the  fulfilment  of  Buchanan's  dying  desire,  the 
continent  for  Christ.  What  gain  for  the  world's  Lord  that  the  pro- 
found German,  the  resolute  Hungarian,  the  subtle  Italian,  the  inge- 
nious Frenchman,  the  hardy  Norseman,  the  industrious  Belgian,  the 
shrewd  Hollander,  the  clever  Swiss,  the  stately  and  devout  Spaniard, 
all  mastered  by  Christ,  all  busy  for  him  ! 

Happy  hour:  yet  shall  it  be!  To  me  this  Council  is  its  augury. 
Centuries  ago  was  the  Unitas  Fratrum  :  here,  at  the  feet  of  the  Elder 
Brother,  have  we  re-made  the  unity  of  the  Presbyterian  brotherhood. 
To-day  we  strengthen  it ;  and  shall  we  not  go  forth  cleaving  closer 
than  the  holy  band  of  Thebes  ;  and  like  the  old  Roman  guard,  making 
common  cause,  wielding  common  weapons,  facing  common  foes,  barl- 
ing and  serving — living  for  and  dying  to — one  common  Lord  ? 

The  Rev.  Adolph  Monod,  of  Carcassonne,  Aude,  read  the 
following  report  on 

THE  STATE  OF  RELIGION  IN  FRANCE. 

I.  A  superficial  observer  might  be  induced  to  consider  as  almost 
hopeless  the  religious  state  of  France  at  the  present  time.  To  explain 
the  causes  of  this,  we  must  trace  the  late  history  of  Church  and  state, 
which  in  France,  as  in  all  Roman  Catholic  countries,  are  unfortunately 
mingled  together. 

Thirty  years  ago,  under  the  second  republic,  French  democracy,  far 
from  waging  war,  offered  peace  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which, 
being  dissatisfied  with  the  late  government  of  Louis  Philippe,  seemed 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  749 

at  first  to  accept  wliat  she  could  not  prevent.  These  were  the  times 
when  the  priests  used  to  bless  everywhere  the  "liberty  trees."  But 
under  the  banner  of  liberty  they  soon  took  the  lead  of  the  reaction 
that  prepared  and  followed  the  election  of  Prince  Bonaparte  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic.  The  prince  acknowledged  their  co-operation 
by  giving  back  Rqme  to  the  Pope  in  1849.  Through  the  law  of 
1850,  the  clerical  party  obtained  the  illimited  liberty  of  secondary  in- 
struction, and  the  enormous  privilege,  granted  to  the  members  of  re- 
ligious congregations,  to  be  exempted  from  the  examinations  required 
of  lay  school-masters.  Lastly,  Roman  Catholic  bishops  ratified  by 
their  proclamations  and  their  te  Dciims,  the  coup  if  ctat  of  1851,  which 
•put  an  end  to  the  too  unsuspicious  Republic.  They  hailed  in  the 
president  who  had  just  perjured  himself,  "the  new  Cyrus  sent  by  the 
Almighty,  and  the  restorer  of  religion  "...  which  no  one  threat- 
ened. Such  high  services  were  duly  recognized  by  the  emperor,  but 
finally  dearly  paid  for  by  the  country.  In  1870  a  declaration  of  war, 
in  which  religious  fanaticism  and  dynastic  interests  were  combined, 
cost  Napoleon  his  throne,  and  brought  France  to  the  verge  of  ruin. 

Therefore,  when  the  Republic  was  restored  and  welcomed  by  the 
French  nation,  no  one  could  possibly  entertain  any  further  illusions 
about  the  good-will  and  tender  mercies  of  the  Roman  Catliolic 
Church  towards  democracy.  Unfortunately  for  our  people,  the  great 
mass  of  Frenchmen,  both  the  religious  and  irreligious,  identify  Ro- 
manism with  Christianity  and  religion  itself.  So  on  the  part  of  de- 
mocracy, there  was  a  deep  and  but  too  well  justified  distrust,  which  its 
most  popular  orator  has  uttered  in  these  henceforth  historical  words, 
'^  le  clericalisme  voila  T ennemi.'^  On  the  part  of  the  church,  there 
was  a  sullen  and  constant  hostility  which  proved  blind  enough  to 
overthrow  one  after  the  other,  under  the  united  flags  of  the  monarchic 
parties,  Thiers  and  J^.i/cs  Simon,  the  two  men  in  France  who,  by  their 
consummate  skill  and  superior  modi-ration,  were  able  to  make  the  best 
of  bad  circumstances  for  the  Catholics,  and  to  establish,  as  they  said, 
a  conservative  Republic. 

Such  was  of  late,  such  is  still  the  state  of  things.  Rome  has  her  /nm 
possumns  and  her  syllabus.  Democratic  and  secular  France  answers, 
"  We  will  not  have  this  to  reign  over  us,  and  we  will  know  this  time 
how  to  defend  ourselves."  In  the  meanwhile,  irreligion  and  infidelity 
seem  to  gain  ground  among  all  classes  in  France.  This  is  a  general 
fact  in  Europe,  and  it  is  also  a  fact  peculiar  to  our  country,  which,  as 
has  been  said,  labors  under  that  evil  that  most  Frenchmen,  from  the 
masters  of  public  opinion  down  to  the  common  people,  make  ro 
difference  between  authentical  Christianity  and  Romanism.  Only 
one  million  of  Protestants  at  the  utmost,  which  belong  for  the  greater 
part  to  the  Presbyterian  Reformed  Church,  are  free  from  this  fatal  pre- 
judice, and  contribute  more  or  less  to  prove  it  false  ;  but  who  are  they 
for  such  a  heavy  task  and  such  a  large  people  ? 

II.  The  glorious  past  of  the  French  Reformed  Church  is  well 
known.     She  had  for  her  educator,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  Calvin  ; 


750  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

for  her  persecutors — a  single  prince  excepted  ;  I  mean  Henry  the 
Fourth — the  kings  of  France,  elder  sons  of  the  Romish  Church  ;  for 
her  restorers  she  had  Antoine  Count  and  the  equitable  laws  of  the  first 
Republic  ;  for  her  spiritual  renovators,  the  men  of  the  revival  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century.  The  first  Napoleon,  faithful  in  that  respect 
to  the  spirit  of  the  revolution,  recognized  in  1802  the  legal  existence 
of  the  French  Reformed  Church,  and  gave  to  this  acknowledgment 
a  formal  consecration  by  inscribing  the  Protestant  pastors,  together 
with  the  Romish  priests,  on  the  budget  of  the  state.  After  cefitiiries 
of  atrocious  persecutions,  the  sons  of  the  Huguenots  asked  then  for  no 
other  rights  than  the  right  of  existence.  Napoleon  was  not  friend 
enough  of  any  liberty  to  grant  to  the  Reformed  Church  its  self-gov- 
ernment. The  decree  of  1802  kept  silent  about  the  General  Synod; 
it  only  acknowledged  the  consistories  and  the  provincial  Synods, 
the  latter  of  which,  however,  were  never  assembled.  The  Bourbon 
kings  of  both  lines  did  not  show  themselves  more  generous  than  the 
emperor,  though  Louis  Philippe,  especially  in  the  first  years  of  its 
reign,  sincerely  endeavored  to  maintain  liberty  of  conscience  and 
worship.  The  short-lived  Republic  of  1848  alone  suffered  the  General 
Synod  to  meet  once  without  an  official  convocation.  But  in  tliat  as- 
sembly there  prevailed  still  the  party  opposed  to  the  confession  of 
faith,  which  Avas  not  yet  the  anti -synodal  party,  so  that  the  standard 
of  the  Reformed  Church  was  not  unfurled. 

Twenty-three  years  later,  in  1871,  the  government  of  the  third 
republic  called  officially  together  the  XXXth  General  Synod  of  the 
Reformed  Church  of  France,  which  met  in  Paris  in  the  following  year. 
Since  1848,  the  confessional,  evangelical  or  synodal  party,  as  one 
may  call  it,  had,  notwithstandmg  the  constitution  of  a  free  Church, 
gained  a  strong  majority  (62  against  46)  which  carried  against  the 
anti-confessional,  unitarian  or  "liberal"  party:  ist.  That  the  Synod 
had  a  competency  about  matters  of  faitli ;  2d.  That  the  Reformed 
Church  had  a  positive  Christian  faith  which  the  Synod  embodied  in 
a  short  declaration;  3d.  That  pastors,  in  their  ordination,  and  lay- 
men, to  become  electors  of  the  Church  councils,  should  henceforward, 
though  to  a  different  extent,  adhere  to  the  common  creed.  The  fol- 
lowing year,  the  dissenting  minority  having  proved  powerless,  either 
to  make  the  law  in  the  Synod,  or  to  divest  it  of  its  essential  and  con- 
stant rights,  made  their  secession  and  refused  to  resume  their  seats  in 
tlie  assembly.  The  government  acknowledged  the  entire  legality  of 
the  General  Synod,  registered  its  declaration  of  faith,  and  published 
the  religious  regulations  for  electorship  (whicli  latter  concession  has 
been  recently,  in  fact  if  not  in  right,  recalled  by  the  new  council  of 
state),  but  refused  to  call  again  together  the  official  Synod  until  both 
parties  in  the  Church  had  come  to  a  jireliminary  agreement. 

Six  years  were  spent  in  vain  exertions  either  to  obtain  a  change  of 
policy  on  the  part  of  government,  or  to  reconcile  the  minority  backed 
by  government.  At  last  the  synodal  majority,  which  now  embraces 
about  two-thirds  of  the  Reformed  Church,  realized  this:   "We  must 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  751 

give  up,  at  least  for  the  present,  the  hope  of  getting  together  the 
official  Synod  where  the  majority  makes  the  law  for  the  minority, 
which  would  be  strictly  lawful. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  if  there  is  no  Synod  whatever,  which  has  been 
the  case  for  the  last  six  years,  we  have  the  minority  oppressing  the 
majority,  which  is  utterly  unjust.  There  still  remains  a  third  policy, 
which  consists  in  assembling,  without  asking  the  consent  of  the  state, 
2,  free  or  non  official  Synod  where  the  delegates  of  all  synodal  churches 
will  freely  meet  together.  In  that  way  the  majority  shall,  in  fact, 
give  up  their  claim  to  govern  the  minority,  but,  at  least,  they  will 
avail  themselves  of  their  undeniable  right  to  self-government.  The 
state  would  not,  of  course,  officially  acknowledge  such  free  meetings 
(defenceless,  as  such,  against  the  encroachments  of  civil  power),  but 
the  Church,  so  long  bereft  of  order  and  unity,  both  for  its  internal 
discipline  and  outward  work,  would  spontaneously  and  gladly  accept 
their  moral  authority.  In  that  way,  too,  a  great  and  single  objection 
to  the  official  Synod  would  fall  to  the  ground  :  nobody  could  any 
longer  say  that  it  appeals  to  the  state  to  enforce  its  decisions." 

This  view  of  the  matter  forced  itself  upon  the  synodal  party,  and 
the  former  leaders  of  the  majority  in  the  official  Synod  became  those 
of  the  free  movement.  The  provincial  Synods  were  held  in  nearly 
all  the  circumscriptions,  and  appointed  delegates  to  the  general  free 
Synod  which  assembled  in  Paris  in  November,  1S79.  T'''^  most  im- 
portant resolution  of  this  assembly  was  a  solenni  declaration  that  they 
renounced  to  claim  from  the  state,  if  not  the  convocation  of  the 
official  Synod,  at  least  the  legal  enforcement  of  those  of  its  resolutions 
that  had  not  yet  been  published  by  the  government.  So  was  the  door 
opened  to  conciliation  :  the  majority  made  use  of  their  liberty,  but 
left  untouched  that  of  the  minority.  Those  proposals  were  not  answered 
to  by  the  dissenting  party.  The  provincial  Synods  have  met  again 
this  year  (1880) ;  a  new  free  Synod  is  to  meet  in  1S81  at  Marseilles, 
and  the  free  synodal  system  will  work  henceforth  regularly,  if  God 
permits,  under  the  protection  of  public  liberties. 

This  was,  at  all  events,  a  great  fact  in  the  history  of  the  French 
Reformed  Church  which,  after  she  had  been  so  long  deprived  by  per- 
secution and  despotism  of  its  traditional  government,  took  for  the  first 
time  possession  of  itself  and  of  its  rights.  While  the  Synodal  Reformed 
Church  is  emerging,  as  has  been  said,  out  of  that  confused  mass  which 
is  called  the  official  church,  the  anti-confessional  minority  appears 
isolated  and  powerless.  Without  any  spiritual  common  ties,  it  seems 
bound  to  decay  more  and  more  through  the  difficulty  of  recruiting 
new  pastors,  and  through  the  exodus  of  several  of  the  elder  ones  who 
exchange  tlie  ministry  for  secular  callings.  Have  you  not  witnessed 
in  the  United  States  the  decline  of  the  Unitarian  and  Universalist  con- 
gregations in  spite  of  all  the  genius  of  a  Channing  and  a  Parktr? 

It  is  the  permanent  committee  of  the  general  free  Synod  which  has 
sent  us,  as  the  delegate  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  France,  to  this 
CEcumenical  Council  of  the  Presbyterian  and  synodal  churches. 


752  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

III.  After  having  summed  up  as  briefly  as  possible*  the  external  and 
ecclesiastical  situation  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  France,  we  shall 
speak  of  its  religious  activity. 

None  of  those  present  will  ever  forget  the  pastoral  convention  that 
met  at  Nimes  in  1871,  when  France  was  still  bleeding  from  all  the 
wounds  made  by  war.  We  were,  so  to  speak,  standing  by  the  lifeless 
body  of  our  country,  and  we  deeply  felt  that  the  gospel  alone  could 
revive  her.  Then  and  there  was  founded  the  "  Home  Evangelical 
Mission,"  which  has  been  represented  in  this  country  by  a  special 
delegate  at  the  meetings  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  1873.  The 
object  of  its  founders  was  both  to  awake  the  churches  and  to  stir  them 
up  to  evangelize  France,  by  forming,  in  the  middle  of  every  congrega- 
tion, a  special  "group"  of  Christians,  something  like  a  little  church 
in  the  large  one.  The  home  mission  was  soon  led  to  appoint  special 
agents  to  visit  the  congregations  in  various  districts.  Lastly,  taking 
advantage  of  the  progress  of  religious  liberty,  and  of  our  people's  eager- 
ness to  hear  what  is  quite  new  to  them,  it  has,  under  the  special  care 
of  a  branch  committee  formed  in  Paris,  lectures  given  for  Roman 
Catholic  people.  Through  the  several  circles  of  its  activity,  the  home 
mission  has  remained,  under  the  same  direction,  faithful  to  the  same 
spirit,  both  Christian  and  patriotic.  The  pecuniary  means  are  but 
too  scanty,  but  the  help  and  sympathy  of  French  Christians  steadily 
kept  it  up. 

An  Englishman,  Rev.  Mr.  MacAll,  and  his  wife,  have  opened  in 
Paris  several  meetings,  where  the  gospel  is  preached  in  its  strength 
and  purity  without  any  direct  controversy  against  Romanism,  or  allu- 
sion to  daily  political  topics.  Success  was  thought  impossible;  it  far 
exceeded  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  our  English  brethren.  Mr. 
MacAll  has,  up  to  this  day  (ist  October,  1880)  twenty- four  places 
of  meeting  in  Paris.  From  Paris  the  movement  has  spread  with  the 
same  success  in  Marseilles,  Lyons,  Bordeaux,  La  Rochelle,  Nimes  and 
other  cities.  In  Marseilles  especially,  which  I  know  well,  there  are 
six  stations  with  1,969  seats  and  about  3,000  attendants  every  week 
during  the  winter  season.  Marseilles  is  a  most  important  strategic 
place  for  evangelization  at  home  and  abroad. 

These  are  the  new  works.  For  about  fifty  years,  the  Central  ■xri^ 
Evangelical  societies  have  been  at  work  in  France,  the  one  more  pe- 
culiarly among  scattered  Protestant,  and  the  other  among  Catholic 
people.  The  former  one  had,  since  its  foundation,  forty-three  new 
reformed  congregations  recognized,  and  their  pastors  supported  by 
government. 

It  is  not  only  with  popular  classes  that  Protestantism  finds  favor. 
Among  the  most  eminent  French  thinkers,  Renouvier,  a  moral  philoso- 
pher, has  shown  in  his  review,  "The  Philosophical  Criticism,"  the 

*Thi3  must  be  our  apology  for  the  many  deficiencies  of  the  above  and  of  the  fol- 
lowing. We  direct  the  reader  to  the  extensive  and  valuable  paper  that  has  been 
read  last  year  (1879),  o"  ^'^'^  same  subject,  by  pastor  Babut,  at  the  meetings  of 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  Basle. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  753 

necessity  for  good  citizens  to  get  free  from  Romanism,  and  to  have 
themselves  and  their  families  inscribed  as  Protestants.  He  holds  that 
this  "  change  of  religious  inscription  and  education  is  the  only  effica- 
cious means  for  France  and  the  Republic  to  avoid  the  dangers  that  sur- 
round them.  The  mere  negations  of  so-called  free  thinkers  are  power- 
less against  superstition,  because  they  have  nothing  to  put  in  the  place 
of  what  they  vainly  try  to  pull  down.  France  wants  a  true  and  better 
religion  instead  of  worn-out  Romanism.  Romanism  teaches,  after 
all,  a  merely  conventional  faith  ;  but  the  human  soul,  if  it  has  nothing 
else,  will  still  retain  those  stones  for  want  of  bread."  Those  truths 
have  been  very  forcibly  explained  by  Mr.  Renouvier  in  several  most 
suggestive  dialogues.  But  they  ought  to  step  out  from  the  narrow 
circle  of  learned  or  enlightened  men,  and  make  their  way  into  the 
masses  of  the  people.  Two  men  which  are  both,  like  Renouvier,  come 
out  of  Romanism,  have  especially  undertaken  this  task :  Mr.  Bou- 
chard, by  writing  short,  pungent  and  popular  tracts  ;  Mr.  Reveillaud, 
by  lectures,  which  have  been  held  with  success  in  several  places,  and 
by  issuing  a  weekly  paper.  The  Signal. 

Never,  perhaps,  were  the  circumstances  more  favorable.  France, 
in  spite  of  a  religion  that  is  fallen  far  below  the  average  culture  of  the 
people,  seems  to  take  more  and  more  possessi>on  of  itself.  It  has,  in 
the  last  ten  years,  founded  and  perseveringly  fostered  a  lay  and  liberal 
government  which  would  not  consider  any  more  Romanism  as  the 
state  religion,  but  rather  as  ane  religion  among  others,  all  having  equal 
rights.  The  high  Catholic  clergy  vainly  exert  themselves  against  the 
manifest  tendencies  of  the  nation. 

On  the  contrary,  there  is  a  kind  of  pre-established  harmony  between 
the  actual  institutions  of  France  and  the  Synodical  Presbyterian  institu- 
tions of  the  Reformed  Church,  so  that  never  before  were  Protestants 
so  prominent  in  all  the  high  situations  of  the  state,  and  that  it  might 
be  said  of  them:  "  Nofi  numerantur  sed  ponderaniur.''  They  are 
chosen,  of  course,  not  as  Protestants,  but  as  most  devoted  to  republi- 
can institutions,  and  as  most  capable  of  understanding  and  fostering 
them.  This  goes  so  far  that,  when  the  Presidency  of  the  French 
Senate  recently  became  vacant,  there  were  three  candidates  brought 
forward  by  the  Republican  majority  of  that  assembly,  and  all  of  them 
Protestant.  Facilities  unknown  as  long  as  clericalism  has  ruled  over 
the  country  are  offered  for  spreading  everywhere  truth  as  well  as  error, 
and,  to  use  the  words  of  the  Lord,  the  fields  are  white  already  for 
harvest.  Let  us  pray,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  will 
send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest ;  let  us  pray  him  above  all  that, 
after  they  will  have  faithfully  planted  and  watered,  he  will  graciously 
give  the  increase  ! 
48 


754  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Rev.  A.  F.  Buscarlet,  of  Lausanne,  read  the  following : 

REPORT  ON  THE  RELIGIOUS    CONDITION  OF   SWITZER- 
LAND, ESPECIALLY  OF  FREE  CHURCHES. 

It  may  be  thought  an  easy  task  to  give  an  account  of  the  reh'gious 
condition  of  a  country  that  numbers  only  twice  the  inhabitants  of 
New  York,  2,800,000,  and  of  which  the  Protestant  population  is  only 
1,866,000.  You  have  rightly,  however,  allotted  as  much  time  to 
Switzerland  and  its  Protestant  churches  as  to  far  larger  countries ;  for 
the  great  question  of  the  day — the  relation  of  Church  and  State — is 
being  worked  out  in  Switzerland  most  thoroughly ;  and  few  countries 
offer  such  marvellous  variety  and  such  extraordinary  contrasts.  These 
arise  from  the  history  and  the  general  character  of  the  people,  and  of 
their  government. 

Switzerland  is,  as  you  know,  divided  into  twenty-two  cantons,  each 
of  which  has  its  own  government.  Seven  are  Roman  Catholic,  twelve 
Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant,  and  three  are  Protestant.  The  so- 
called  national  churches  should  really  be  called  cantonal  churches ; 
for  each  canton  *has  its  own  separate  church  organization,  its  own 
synod,  its  own  theological  school ;  and  where  there  are  regularly  or- 
ganized Free  churches,  as  in  Neuchatel,  Vaud  and  Geneva,  the  same 
cantonal  divisions  exist,  so  that  you  find  there  at  least  six  distinct 
churches  and  six  theological  halls — two  at  Neuchatel,  two  at  Lausanne, 
and  two  at  Geneva. 

Dean  Giider,  of  Berne,  whose  admirable  paper  read  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  at  Berne  takes  up  the  very  subject  allotted  to 
me,  and  forces  me  to  seek  simply,  if  possible,  to  complete  and  illustrate  it 
by  facts,  declares  that  it  would  require  fifteen  short  reports  on  the  differ- 
ent cantons  in  which  evangelical  work  is  going  on,  to  give  any  idea 
of  the  religious  condition  of  Switzerland,  and  that  even  then  it  would 
probably  be  a  very  imperfect  one.  These  differences,  no  doubt,  as- 
tonish those  who  are  accustomed  to  more  centralization  in  the  govern- 
ment both  of  Church  and  State,  but  are  the  natural  effects,  not  only  of  the 
different  circumstances  in  which  the  several  cantons  were  formed,  and 
the  manner  in  which  the  reform  was  established  amongst  them,  but 
also  of  the  love  of  independence,  and  of  the  very  marked  difference 
of  character  which  distinguish  the  populations  of  these  different  can- 
tons. Their  laws  were  lately  printed  in  five  different  languages — in 
German,  French,  Italian,  and  the  two  dialects  of  Romansch.  Three- 
quarters  of  the  population  speak  German,  only  one  canton,  Ticino, 
and  a  few  towns  of  the  Grisons,  Italian,  and  three  French — Geneva, 
Vaud  and  Neuchatel. 

The  commune  is  a  reality  in  Switzerland,  and  if  the  communes  are 
often  jealous  of  each  other,  and  zealous  not  to  be  outstripped  in  works 
of  public  utility,  such  as  good  roads,  education,  etc.,  a  fortiori,  AQt% 
this  rivalry  exist  between  the  cantons.  This  cantonal  feeling  has 
something  to  do  with  the  separation  of  churches  one  from  another. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


755 


At  the  same  time  there  are  everywhere  two  deep  undercurrents,  one 
ever  flowing  outward  to  the  unknown  depths  of  darkness,  unbelief  and 
materialism ;  another  current  carrying  upward  all  those  who  believe 
in  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  in  his  atonement,  in  his  resurrection,  in  his 
sovereignty.  Where  Christ  as  the  head  of  his  church  is  firmly  ac- 
knowledged, there  the  different  members  can  harmoniously  work 
together,  and  soon  sympathize  most  truly  with  each  other. 

Every  year  the  deputies  of  the  several  free  churches  interchange 
fraternal  greetings,  through  their  delegates,  at  their  different  synods, 
which  are  held  alternately  in  the  principal  towns  of  the  cantons;  and 
there  is  a  growing  interest  felt  by  these  Free  Churches  in  those 
"national  evangelical  unions,"  which  are  springing  up  in  most  of  the 
cantons.  These  evangelical  unions,  whilst  striving  to  keep  evangel- 
ical Christians  in  the  national  churches,  and  to  prevent  their  joining 
churches  independent  of  the  state,  are  practically  free  churches 
within  the  national  or  cantonal  church  ;  a  gathering  together  of  those 
who  are  determined  to  use  the  measure  of  freedom  still  left  them 
within  these  most  democratic,  and  yet  most  Erastian,  establishments, 
so  as  to  counteract  their  rationalizing  tendencies  by  preaching  the 
gospel,  and  by  offering  religious  teaching  to  the  catechumens  who 
do  not  wish  to  receive  their  "instruction  religieuse  "  from  men  who 
deny  Christ's  divinity,  his  atonement,  his  miracles,  his  resurrection, 
the  supernatural. 

I  must  seek  to  lay  before  you  a  short  account  of  the  religious  con- 
dition of  the  several  Protestant  churches  of  Switzerland.  The  subject 
might  be  divided  into  three  branches.  We  have  the  German,  the 
Romansch,  and  the  French-speaking  churches.  Amongst  the  latter, 
in  the  three  cantons  of  Geneva,  Vaud  and  Neuchatel,  we  have  both 
national  and  fully  organized  Free  churches.  All  the  so-called  na- 
tional churches  are  under  the  "surveillance"  of  their  cantonal  gov- 
ernments. The  churches  of  German  Switzerland  are  as  a  rule  ration- 
alistic or  Reformist,  with  the  exception  of  Basle,  and  Schaffouse. 
Berne  is  only  partly  evangelical ;  Eastern  Switzerland,  German  and 
Romansch  ;  Zurich  and  St.  Gall,  etc.,  is  rationalistic,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Zurich  school  of  theology.  A  few  of  the  older  men  amongst 
their  pastors  are  orthodox ;  the  younger  men  are  not.  The  seed 
already  sown  by  these  men  is  bearing  its  bitter  fruits,  and  they  are 
themselves  beginning  to  tremble  at  the  sight  of  the  harvest  of  total  un- 
belief in  the  supernatural,  which  is  ripening  fast  amongst  the  school- 
masters and  amongst  some  of  the  people,  thanks  to  their  influence. 
Trained  in  the  government  normal  schools,  these  masters  are  very 
often  atheists.  They  oppose  the  pastor.  He  is  no  longer  allowed  to 
inspect  their  school.  They  give  so-called  religious  instruction  to  the 
children.  A  manual  published  at  Berne  by  a  pastor,  the  director  of 
the  normal  school  there,  eliminates  the  miracles  from  the  life  of 
Christ.  One  of  these  men  actually  bade  the  children  stand  up  to 
pray.  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  repeat  two  and  two  make  four.  That  will 
do;  sit  down."  Another,  vexed  by  some  disturbance,  implored 
them  in  the  name  of  their  God  to  be  still. 


756  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  evil  is  so  great  that  some  hope  it  has  attained  its  fullest  devel- 
opment, and  that  a  reaction  will  set  in.  At  Zurich,  however,  public 
lectures,  especially  intended  for  artisans,  are  delivered  during  the 
hours  of  divine  service ;  and  they  are  expected  to  attend  them.  The 
"Grand  Conseil  "  declared  that  no  ecclesiastical  Council  or  Synod 
has  a  right  to  decide  as  to  the  conditions  of  church  membership,  and 
that  the  Church  has  no  officially  recognized  body  of  doctrine.  Thur- 
govie  is  so  thoroughly  the  prey  of  rationalistic  teachers,  that  when  a 
wish  was  expressed  that  the  use  of  the  Apostles'  creed,  which  forms  a 
part  of  the  Protestant  liturgical  services  on  the  continent,  should  be 
discontinued,  a  compromise  was  made,  and  the  pastor  is  no  longer 
obliged  to  use  it,  unless  the  congregation  particularly  desires  it.  The 
Churches  of  the  Cantons  of  Argovie,  Claris,  St.  Gall,  and  the  Gris- 
sons  are  in  much  the  same  condition.  Their  pastors  are  trained  at 
Zurich,  at  the  Synod  of  the  Church  of  the  Canton  of  Apenzell.  In 
1879  it  was  proposed  that  the  pastors  should  be  obliged  to  take  their 
text  from  the  Bible,  and  not  from  Goethe  or  elsewhere,  and  that 
they  should  baptize  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  proposal  was  rejected  by  a  large  majority, 
on  the  plea  that  there  was  no  longer  any  law  which  required  these 
usages.  You  may  be  a  member  of  the  National  Church,  and  a  Nihil- 
ist, an  Atheist,  a  Deist,  or  disciple  of  Strauss  or  Renan ;  and  every 
pastor  is  free  to  preach  whatever  he  chooses,  so  long  as  his  hearers  are 
satisfied.  He  is  a  functionary  of  the  State,  and  has  to  please  the  cit- 
izens who  pay  the  taxes. 

The  Radical  party  have  now  the  upper  hand  in  politics,  and  it  is 
seeking  to  fashion  the  State  Churches  in  its  own  image.  It  is  so 
democratic  that  there  is  no  other  requisite  for  voting  in  ecclesiastical 
questions  than  that  of  being  a  Protestant  citizen.  The  pastor  may 
be  named  by  a  majority  in  reality  godless,  that  sets  its  foot  in  church 
only  to  vote  or  attend  service,  and  the  communion  on  Christmas, 
Good  Friday,  or  Easter  Sunday.  One  poor  young  rationalistic  pas- 
tor was  so  discouraged  by  the  smallness  of  his  congregation,  that  he 
asked  from  the  pulpit  where  the  majority  had  gone  that  had  named 
him. 

In  all  the  Cantons,  with  but  one  exception,  pastors  are  re-elected 
every  three,  five,  six,  or  eight  years.  In  the  Grissons,  pastor  and 
people  can  separate  at  six  months'  notice.  Pastors  and  school-masters 
are  named  by  the  communes  ;  professors  of  theology  by  the  Council 
of  State.  The  Reformist  or  Rationalistic  party  is  thoroughly  organ- 
ized. 

In  German  Switzerland,  in  1859,  an  association  of  pastors  was 
formed.  They  declared  their  wish  to  hold  aloft  the  banner  of  free 
thought  in  religious  questions.  The  association  was  organized  on  the 
model  of  our  evangelical  societies.  They  publish  periodicals  of  doc- 
trine, distribute  tracts,  and  give  public  lectures.  One  of  these  Re- 
formists stated  that  the  difference  between  themselves  and  the  ortho- 
dox is,  that  the  orthodox  believe  in  the  "Mansarde"  (the  Garret) 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  757 

meaning  a  better  world.  Their  strength  lies  in  their  popularity. 
The  political  papers  support  them.  They  know  their  strength,  and, 
occasionally,  when  the  secession  of  any  is  rumored,  they  give  way  a 
little,  and  name  an  evangelical  pastor. 

The  Rg.dical  party  has  learned  to  dread  disruptions.  They  do  not 
wish  an  Evangelical  to  leave  the  establishment  to  form  powerful  free 
churches,  but  tolerate  them  because  they  still  lead  them.  Their 
presence  at  their  Synods  gives  them  very  valuable  support.  As  a 
well-known  writer  in  Switzerland  says:  "  Without  a  certain  number 
of  orthodox  pastors,  the  State  Churches  could  no  longer  pretend  to 
be  the  National  Reformed  Churches  of  the  country.  They  would  be 
seen  by  all  in  their  nakedness  and  ugliness,  and  every  one  would  be- 
hold in  them  recent  creations  of  an  anti-Christian  spirit.  The  people 
would  then  forsake  them,  and  those  in  power  would  feel  their  thrones 
shaking  beneath  them.  By  forcing  a  complacent,  timid,  and  docile 
faith  to  live  alongside  of  powerful  unbelief,  faith  will  be  weakened 
and  recognize  a  loss,  leaving  over  an  anti-Christian  building  a  flag 
which  will  float  over  contraband  goods. 

There  is  no  doubt,  too,  that  wherever  free  churches  have  bee^i 
formed,  they  have  been  obliged  to  be  more  careful  in  the  nomination 
of  pastors.  Against  such  a  current  of  unbelief  the  Christians  of  Zu- 
rich and  all  that  part  of  Switzerland,  using  the  liberty  still  granted 
them,  have  formed  private  and  free  associations  unconnected  with  the 
State.  They  still  hope  to  reform  their  cantonal  Churches  from  with- 
in, without  separating  from  them. 

Thus,  there  are  several  sections  of  the  "  National  Evangelical 
Union"  in  German  Switzerland.  Very  interesting  annual  meetings, 
in  connection  with  these,  are  held  at  Baden,  in  Argovie.  Two  free 
evangelical  seminaries  have  been  founded  at  Zurich  and  Berne,  and 
with  excellent  results.  The  school-masters  thus  formed  are  much  ap- 
preciated by  the  country  people,  and  are  often  preferred  to  those  ed- 
ucated in  the  State  Normal  School.  There  are  also  one  or  two  large 
private  schools  founded  on  evangelical  principles,  such  as  the  institute 
Lerber,  at  Berne,  from  which  a  lad  can  pass  straight  up  to  the  uni- 
versity. I  need  not  say  that  evangelical  students  do  not  abound. 
Rationalism,  and  such  a  position  as  that  presented  by  these  State 
Churches,  offer  few  inducements.  Zurich  counts  some  eight  ot-  ten 
theological  students. 

As  a  rule  the  press  unanimously  admit  that  public  morals  are  at  a 
low  ebb.  Respect  for  law  and  the  authorities  has  diminished.  Mur- 
ders are  so  numerous  and  accompanied  with  such  cruel  circumstances, 
that  the  people  have  often  asked  for  the  re-establishment  of  capital 
punishment.  Thanks  to  the  law  facilitating  divorce,  cases  have  fearr 
fully  increased.  Generally,  nearly  half  the  marriages  dispense  with 
any  religious  service,  and  in  the  towns  not  half  the  children  are  bap- 
tized. Besides  the  noble  efforts  made  by  national  evangelical  Chris- 
tians to  stem  such  a  tide,  a  small  numbef  of  Wesleyans,  belonging  to 
the  Albrechts  Briider  branch,  and  a  still  smaller  number  of  Baptists  are 


758  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

seeking  to  uphold  the  banner  of  the  cross  in  the  Cantons  of  Zurich, 
Thurgovie,  and  Berne. 

Though  sadly,  and  not  without  hope  for  the  future,  we  pass  from 
Eastern  Switzerland  and  Zurich  to  Shaffouse,  Basle,  and  Berne. 
The  small  Canton  of  Shaffouse  is  still  evangelical,  and  can  rejoice  in 
not  having  a  single  rationalistic  pastor.  They  seek  their  pastors  from 
Basle.  The  Church  of  Basle,  on  the  other  hand,  so  long  famous  for 
being  thoroughly  evangelical,  is,  to  the  dismay  of  Christians  there 
who  abhor  all  ideas  of  dissent,  being  undermined  and  invaded  by 
rationalism,  thanks  to  the  introduction  of  universal  suffrage  into  the 
Church.  Five  rationalistic  pastors  have  already  been  named  by  the 
votes  of  men  who  came  from  other  Cantons  and  settled  in  Basle,  and 
who  have  joined  their  forces  with  those  of  the  careless  and  godless 
already  there.  Only  one-fifth,  however,  of  the  children  are.  placed 
under  their  teaching. 

Evangelical  professors  still  fill  the  chairs  of  theology  at  the  univer- 
sity, and  to  it  therefore  resort  all  those  who  will  not  accept  the 
negative  teaching  of  Zurich  or  Berne,  where  not  one  of  the  professors 
named  by  the  State  is  evangelical.  Professor  Vetli,  of  Berne,  who  is 
thoroughly  so,  is  supported  by  a  free  evangelical  society.  The  Balois 
neologists  are  much  irritated  with  the  evangelical  pastors,  because 
they  will  not  join  them  in  administering  the  Lord's  Supper.  They 
publish  a  paper  of  their  own  in  which  they  state  that,  as  it  is  above 
all  a  feast  of  love,  it  would  be  an  excellent  thing  if  the  evangelical 
pastors  would  lay  aside  all  questions  of  dogma,  and  would  share  with 
their  colleagues  in  its  administration.  But  here,  too,  we  may  well 
hope  that  the  noble  work  of  one  of  the  oldest,  most  successful,  and 
most  practical  of  missionary  societies,  will  continue  to  act  as  it  has 
hitherto  done  in  the  midst  of  our  evangelical  brethren  at  Basle.  _ 

All  have  heard  of  the  Basle  missions,  which  JDr.  Christlieb,  in  his 
most  admirable  work  on  the  foreign  missions  of  Christianity,  has  some- 
what too  closely  annexed  to  those  of  Germany,  for  it  is  neither 
Lutheran  nor  Calvinistic.  Founded  sixty-four  years  ago,  in  1816, 
it  has  trained  one  thousand  and  seventy-five  young  men,  either  Swiss 
or  Southern  Germans,  as  missionaries  in  its  maisoti  des  missons.  Of 
these,  eighty  have  been  employed  at  a  remarkably  small  ex- 
pense in  its  own  mission  on  the  gold  coast,  in  India,  the  Dec- 
can,  Abyssinia,  Malabar  and  China.  One  hundred  and  fifty  have 
entered  the  service  of  other  missionary  societies.  Two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  have  become  pastors  of  German  congregations  in 
Russia,  Turkey,  North  America,  Brazil,  Australia,  etc.  They 
spend  nine  hundred  thousand  francs  a  year  for  their  school 
of  evangelists  at  Crischona,  which  prepares  and  sends  out  artisans 
as  missionaries.  Their  famous  half-penny  collecting  cards  have 
produced  a  third  of  their  income,  from  1855  to  1879,  5,780,728 
francs.  Their  annual  missionary  meeting  is  a  high  festival  for  Chris- 
tians, and  is  a  centre  of  reunion  for  all  that  love  Christ  and  his  cross, 
not  only  in  German    Switzerland  and  Southern  Germany,   but  for 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  759 

Geneva,  Neuchatel  and  Vaud,  whence  funds  are  liberally  sent  to  them. 
The  evangelical  primary  normal  school,  founded  on  Pestalozzi's  system 
fifty  years  ago,  has  educated  five  hundred  and  ninety-three  Christians. 
I  need  not  speak  of  the  Christian  hospitality  displayed  at  Basle  on 
the  occasion  of  the  last  great  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  and 
which  proved  the  practical  zeal  and  love  of  Balois  Christians. 

We  must  now  pass  on  to  Berne.  There  in  the  midst  of  much 
immorality  and  drunkenness,  the  vice  of  Switzerland,  notwithstanding 
a  national  church  with  no  confession  of  faith,  its  pulpit  thrown  open 
by  the  state  to  every  wind  of  doctrine,  we  find  a  few  most  earnest 
and  faithful  pastors,  who  manfully  avail  themselves  of  the  liberty  they 
have  to  preach  Christ  and  his  gospel,  an  evangelical  society  virtually 
independent,  holding  its  one  hundred  and  sixty  separate  evangelistic 
meetings  throughout  the  Canton, [and  thousands  gather  at  its  annual 
fete,]and  a  branch  of  a  very  useful  society  that  works  amongst  the 
Protestants  scattered  in  Romish  parts  of  Switzerland,  and  has  also  a 
very  important  post  at  Vienna  in  Austria. 

The  great  International  Congress,  for  the  better  observance  of  the 
Lord's  day,  was  held  at  Berne,  after  the  meetings  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  at  Basle,  and  great  hospitality  was  shown  to  its  members. 
There  is  also  a  most  living  free  church  at  Berne.  A  member  of  this 
little  church,  a  man  of  high  position,  and  of  one  of  the  oldest  families 
as  well,  and  his  wife,  have  been  compelled  by  the  love  of  Christ  and 
of  souls,  to  devote  themselves  to  evangelistic  work  at  Lyons  in  France. 
Practical  Christianity  is  showing  itself  at  Berne  by  the  opening  of  a 
large  temperance  coffee  house  and  workman's  home.  Berne  itself 
has  no  rationalistic  pastors,  but  it  is  far  otherwise  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts. 

Working  our  way  south  we  now  get  to  Neuchatel,  the  home  and 
scene  of  the  many  labors  of  that  most  remarkable  of  modern  theolo- 
gians, the  simple,  unassuming,  and  yet  most  learned,  cordial  and 
courteous  Professor  Godet.  His  influence  extends  wherever  his  com- 
mentaries are  read,  and  the  very  valuable  edition  of  the  annotated 
Bible  of  which  he  is  the  editor  and  to  which  he  is  one  of  the  principal 
contributors.  Undoubtedly  this  part  of  Switzerland,  Neuchatel  and 
Vaud  is  more  evangelical  in  its  national  churches.  Calvin's,  Farel's 
and  Vinet's  influence  is  still  felt.  There  is  less  readiness  to  submit  to 
the  pretensions  of  the  state  to  rule  over  the  Church,  than  in  those 
cantons  where  Zwingli's  influence  was  greatest. 

We  may  say  that  all  the  pastors  of  the  Canton  of  Neuchatel  are 
evangelical,  thanks  greatly  to  the  disruption  of  1873,  which  was  forced 
upon  the  consistent  defenders  of  Christ's  prerogatives,  as  head  of  his 
Church,  by  a  state  determined  to  nationalize  and  rationalize  the  Church 
if  possible.  For  this,  anti-Biblical  lectures  were  given  by  men  brought 
from  Holland  and  France.  These  have  been  discontinued  since  the 
formation  of  the  Church  independent  of  the  state.  For  this  new 
ecclesiastical  laws  were  made.  Universal  suffrage  was  introduced  into 
the  Church.    Pastors  were  to  be  re-elected  for  six  years ;  and  recently 


76o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

a  legacy  willed  to  the  Independent  Church  (so  called  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  Little  Living  and  Free  Church,  which  was  the  first  founded 
in  Switzerland,  and  is  more  congregational  perhaps  in  its  government 
and  discipline)  was  annulled  by  the  government.  In  the  name  of  the 
people  the  authorities  demand  to  have  their  representative  put  upon 
the  governing  bodies  of  philanthropic  institutions  founded  by  Chris- 
tians. The  condition  of  the  Canton  of  Neuchatel  is,  however,  very 
encouraging.  The  two  churches  support  a  mission  work  in  common 
on  the  gold  coast  and  in  Ashantee,  Thanks  to  the  radical  move- 
ment intended  to  rationalize  the  Church,  and  which  declared  the 
churches  to  be  public  property,  the  members  of  the  Independent 
Church  often  use  their  right  as  citizens  to  hold  their  services  in  the 
national  temples.  The  services  of  the  two  bodies  succeed  each  other, 
and  the  opening  sermon  of  the  Synod  at  Locle  was  preached  in  the 
national  church,  after  which  the  Synod  met  to  transact  its  own  busi- 
ness in  their  own  building. 

Undoubtedly  faithful  resistance  to  state  pretensions  in  the  Canton 
of  Neuchatel  has  done  incalculable  good  to  the  cantonal  Church. 
The  authorities  liad  been  misled  as  to  the  number  of  those  who  sym- 
pathized with  this  opposing  movement.  They  have  had  to  name 
evangelical  pastors  so  as  to  maintain  their  popularity.  This  is  what 
our  brethren  of  the  Independent  Church  declared  at  the  time  of  their 
disruption  :  "  The  law  of  May  21st  destroys  the  Presbyterian  consti- 
tution of  our  Church,  and  precludes  its  having  a  confession  of  faith. 
This  Church  which  the  state  would  destroy,  we  maintain.  We  oppose 
the  ancient  liberties  of  the  Church  of  Neuchatel,  and  eternal  truth,  to 
a  state  that  would  give  to  the  negations  of  so-called  liberal  Christianity 
authority  over  divine  revelation,  and  would  fashion  the  Church  of 
Christ  as  it  pleases.  We  are  the  representatives  of  the  old  Reforma- 
tion Church  of  Neuchatel,  of  the  Church  of  our  fathers,  which  had 
the  honor  of  being  nearly  the  only  Church  that  was  free  from  all  state 
control.  We  uphold  and  maintain  its  Presbyterian  constitution  ;  its 
confession  of  faith  ;  its  liturgy  ;  its  theological  hall  which  the  law 
suppressed  and  seized  upon.  To  the  accusation  of  schism  we  answer  : 
we  do  not  go  out ;  but  we  refuse  to  go  into  the  new  and  death-dealing 
building  which  the  state  has  chosen  to  erect.  A  brave  soldier  fears 
not  to  face  his  foes  ;  but  dreads  to  have  them  standing  by  his  side. 
We  fear  not  free  thinkers,  but  we  dread  them  as  colleagues,  because 
the  conscience  of  our  people  is  thus  warped  and  the  way  is  prepared 
for  the  reception  of  error.  It  is  high  time  to  tear  the  Church  of 
Christ  out  of  the  brutal  hands  of  a  political  majority.  An  old  Hugue- 
not says,  "  Our  Reformed  Church  of  France  suffered  martyrdom  ; 
yours,  if  it  accepted  this  new  law,  would  be  dishonored." 

Though  not  increasing  fast  in  numbers,  the  vitality  of  this  Free 
Church  is  most  striking.  Very  large  sums  have  been  contributed  for 
the  erection  of  new  churches,  manses,  etc.  Like  all  Free  Churches, 
it  attracts  many  to  its  theological  hall,  and  develops  self-denial  and 
love  for  the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom  abroad.     They  have  an 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  761 

admirable  normal  school,  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  their  students, 
as  well  as  of  those  of  the  Free  Church  of  Lausanne,  wish  to  become 
missionaries.  No  funds  are  raised  in  any  other  way  than  by  church- 
door  collections,  and  from  only  twenty-two  parishes,  with  4,000  mem- 
bers, in  1879,  they  collected  108,600  francs  (p^4,3'5o)  for  their 
twenty-seven  pastors,  eight  professors,  and  other  expenses  connected 
with  their  churches  and  theological  hall,  and  ;£,\'&o  for  evangelistic 
work.  Let  me  here  remind  you  that  all  the  members  of  the  Free 
Churches  of  Switzerland  pay  their  share  of  those  taxes  out  of  which 
the  cantonal  established  churches  are  supported. 

The  proposal  of  union  between  the  missionary  societies  of  Neucha- 
tel,  Vaud  and  Geneva  is  on  foot.  The  question  as  to  the  mode  of 
admitting  to  the  Lord's  table  and  to  the  membership  of  the  church 
are  the  questions  that  most  deeply  interest  them  just  now.  This  surely 
shows  their  true  religious  life  and  their  intelligence  of  the  questions 
that  are  most  important  in  view  of  its  development. 

We  must  now  hasten  on  to  Lausanne,  the  capital  of  the  Canton  de 
Vaud,  beautifully  situated  on  Lake  Leman,  and  with  which  the  names  of 
that  most  loving  spirit,  Viret,  the  reformer,  and  of  the  Chalmers  of  Swit- 
zerland, Vinet,  are  connected,  a  centre  still  of  education  and  literary  pur- 
suits. What  a  contrast  Lausanne  and  Vaud  offer  in  their  mental,  moral 
and  religious  activity,  to  Evian  and  Savoy  !  The  race  is  the  same,  but 
a  huge  Jesuit  college  is  the  most  important  building  seen  across  the 
water.  No  doubt  there  is  much  to  deplore  in  the  Canton  de  Vaud. 
There  is,  as  in  all  Switzerland  and  the  continent,  a  perfect  rage  for 
pleasure-seeking,  which  shows  itself  especially  in  the  growing  desecra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  day  by  endless  fetes,  federal,  cantonal,  local  fetes 
of  gymnastics,  boat-races,  rifle-shooting,  singing  societies — lasting 
sometimes  eight  days,  beginning  on  the  Lord's  day  morning,  and 
ending  with  the  following  Sunday  night.  At  these  gatherings  and 
banquetings,  "  Fatherland  !  "  is  the  cry;  but  at  a  so-called  divine  ser- 
vice held  on  the  Lord's  day  for  about  an  hour,  in  the  brief  recess 
and  intermission  of  gymnastic  exercises,  the  Olympic  games  were  the 
pastor's  theme.  Patrie  is  more  and  more  the  god  that  is  worshipped, 
and  its  prosperity  and  defence,  alas,  seem  quite  possible  to  the  minds 
of  the  speakers,  without  reference  to  God  and  to  his  will. 

As  an  agricultural  Canton,  the  people  are  very  conservative,  and 
do  not  care  as  yet  for  those  changes  which  their  radical  rulers  seem 
anxious  of  late  to  make  in  the  government  of  their  national  church. 
Its  Synod  is  not  named  directly  by  the  people  or  by  universal  suffrage, 
as  is  the  case  in  the  Canton  of  Neuchatel ;  but  by  the  conseil  d'arron- 
dissement,  which  is  composed  of  the  pastors  and  lay  delegates  from  the 
Conseil  de  Parbisse.  The  Synod's  decision,  however,  depends  on 
the  will  of  the  Grand  Conseil.  At  Neuchatel,  the  Synod  has  more 
authority  whilst  it  is  more  directly  named  by  the  people.  A  part  of 
the  National  Church  organization  in  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  peculiar 
to  itself,  is  the  commission  of  ordination  named  by  the  Synod,  and 
composed  of  laymen  and  pastors.     The  candidate  for  the  ministry 


7U2  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

makes  a  public  profession  of  his  faith,  preaches  a  discourse,  and  cate- 
chises a  class  before  he  is  received.  But  it  is  very  much  of  a  form, 
and  allows  some  far  from  orthodox  to  step  through,  whilst  it  still 
declares  that  it  rejects  full  liberty  of  doctrinal  teaching.  When  the 
state  can  name  delegates  to  the  Synod  and  this  commission,  and  when 
the  Grand  Council  has  the  legal  right  to  alter  the  ecclesiastic  laws, 
what  guarantees  has  a  church  in  such  a  position? 

Of  all  the  National  churches  in  Switzerland,  that  of  Vaud  has  still 
most  rights,  and  depends  on  the  will  of  the  masses  less  directly  than' 
those  of  other  cantons ;  but  the  political  rulers  see  this  and  have 
already  proposed  modifications  which  show  their  animus.  They  pro- 
pose to  abolish  the'  Conseil  d'Arrondissement — that  the  Synod  be 
named  by  universal  suffrage — that  the  commission  de  consecradion  be 
abolished.  They  talk  of  freeing  the  people  from  clerical  influences, 
and  of  freeing  the  pastors  from  all  spiritual  bondage,  so  as  to  reduce 
the  church  more  than  ever  to  the  position  of  a  servant  of  the  state  and 
of  a  tool  in  their  own  hands,  to  admit  indiscriminately  every  kind  of 
auti-Christian  teaching  into  their  pulpits,  as  is  done  in  Germany, 
Switzerland  and  Geneva,  and  might  some  day  be  done  at  Neuchatel. 

It  is  because  there  is  more  life  at  present  in  this  National  Church  that 
she  is  being  attacked  in  her  very  foundations  by  the  radical  and  unbe- 
lieving party.  Let  this  life  go  on  increasing,  and  the  enemy  will  not 
rest  until  he  has  taken  from  her  the  last  remnants  of  the  liberty  Christ 
gives  to  his  Church,  which  is  his  creation,  his  spouse,  not  that  of  the 
state.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  separation  of  Church  and  state  will 
ever  be  satisfactorily  brought  about  by  democrats.  It  is  too  valuable 
a  power  for  them  to  throw  it  aside.  The  Church  of  the  Canton  De 
Vaud  has  but  very  few  non-evangelical  pastors,  but  they  do  and  can 
exist.  One  of  them  thanked  God  in  my  hearing  that  the  Confession 
of  Faith  had  been  abolished,  and  rejoiced  in  not  being  a  worshipper 
of  three  Gods,  as  he  called  me. 

On  the  whole,  I  believe  there  is  progress  in  religious  life,  in  inten- 
sity, if  not  in  extent.  Very  interesting  meetings  for  evangelization 
or  treating  special  subjects  are  held  unitedly  with  members  of  the  Free 
Church.  Several  of  the  arrondissements  have  published  admirable 
appeals  for  the  better  observance  of  the  Lord's  day.  The  religious 
organ  of  the  Church  is  boldly  and  unhesitatingly  evangelical.  The 
amount  of  good  Christian  literature,  published  chiefly  at  Lausanne, 
and  by  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Free  Church,  is  very  remark- 
able. This  is  not  peculiar,  as  far  as  religious  periodicals  are  con- 
cerned, to  Vaud,  for  thirty-nine  religious  papers  are  now  published  in 
Protestant  Switzerland,  and  besides  these  Lausanne  sends  forth  num- 
bers of  books  of  a  religious  character,  an  excellent  and  able  periodi- 
cal, The  Bibliotheqiie  Uriiverselle,  a  well-known  monthly.  The  Chretien 
Evangelique,  and  The  Ecuille  Religieuse  da  Canton  de  Vaud.  It  is 
largely  read  with  ihtfamille  in  France.  There  is  an  admirable  tract 
society  in  Lausanne,  which  vies  with  that  of  Toulouse  and  of  Paris, 
two  Bible  societies,  a  Spanish  committee  (which  has  an  evangelist  at 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  763 

Barcelona,  and  he  is  doing  admirable  work  with  little  means),  a 
branch  society  for  the  better  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  a  very 
large  number  of  philanthropic  institutions,  besides  committees  in  aid 
of  the  fallen,  and  of  domestic  servants,  temperance  coffee-house,  etc. 
We  have  also  at  St.  Loup  an  admirable  deaconess'  institution,  one  of 
the  four  in  Switzerland,  the  others  being  those  of  Reichen,  Berne, 
and  Zurich.  There  is  also  a  class  for  training  nurses  at  Lausanne, 
itself  founded  by  Madame  D'Gasparin. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  Dr.  Christlieb's  statement  that  the  great  Na- 
tional churches  are  considerably  outstripped  by  the  smaller  Free 
churches,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  members  of  the  Free  Church 
of  the  Canton  De  Vaud  stand  foremost,  although,  or  rather  because, 
they  are  self-supporting.  Christians  have  to  be  taught  to  give,  and 
here,  as  at  Neuchatel  and  Geneva,  they  are  learning  the  lesson 
nobly. 

The  Free  Church  of  the  Canton  De  Vaud  is  a  remarkable  church 
in  many  respects.  Its  pastors  are  most  intelligent  and  devoted 
men,  passing  rich  on  eighty  pounds  a  year.  With  only  thirty-nine 
churches,  their  annual  budget  amounts  to  214,000  francs,  out  of 
which  the  pastors,  and  five  professors  of  theology,  and  five  professors 
in  the  preparatory  class,  and  evangelists  who  labor  at  Fribourg,  Evian, 
Thouron,  and  Rommany,  in  France,  are  supported.  It  is  also  a  mis- 
sionary church,  and  has  sent  two  most  devoted  men  to  work  amongst 
the  Maqewambas,  north  of  Transvaal.  One  of  their  evangelists  there 
is  supported  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Spanish  converts  at  Barcelona. 
Whilst  they  liave  a  Confession  of  Faith,  a  striking  characteristic  of 
this  Free  Church  is  the  freedom  enjoyed  in  it.  They  leave  open,  as 
do  the  Free  Churches  of  France,  such  a  question  as  that  of  infant 
baptism,  and  thus  divisions  caused  by  this  controversy  are  avoided. 
There  is  full  freedom  left  as  to  the  use  of  the  liturgies  drawn  up  with 
the  sanction  of  their  General  Assembly. 

The  Churches  may  be  said  to  have  two  classes  of  members :  those 
who  do  not  wish  to  attach  themselves  ecclesiastically  to  the  Church, 
but  are  willing  to  do  so  as  to  a  living  branch  of  the  one  Church  of 
Christ,  and  those  who  feel  the  duty,  beside  this,  of  sharing  the  re- 
sponsibilities as  well  as  the  privileges  offered  them  in  it.  It  is  in  this 
Canton  that  a  branch  of  the  English  Wesleyans  are  in  the  field  of 
labor,  with  a  church,  and  an  institution  for  the  training  of  theological 
students.  The  Plymouth  brethren  are  more  numerous  than  else- 
where in  Switzerland,  a  proof  of  spiritual  life  in  the  Canton,  for 
they  love  most  certainly  to  fish  in  fish-ponds  that  have  already  been 
stocked. 

I  now  come  to  Geneva,  that  city,  the  very  name  of  which  recalls 
the  conflicts  of  the  past  for  truth  and  liberty,  and  is  associated  with 
the  memories  of  men  never  to  be  forgotten  in  the  domain  of  science, 
art,  and  theology.  Had  you  entered  St.  Pierre  last  July  whilst  one 
of  the  National  Church  pastors  was  preaching,  and  had  heard  him  ex- 
claim in  the  midst  of  a  most  excited  popular  harangue,  "Geneva  is 


764  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

saved  !  Geneva  is  saved  !  "  you  might  have  asked  what  fearful  calam- 
ity had  been  averted,  and  you  would  have  smiled  to  hear  that  all  this 
ado  was  apropos  of  the  rejection  by  popular  vote  of  a  proposal  brought 
forward  by  the  government  to  abolish  pecuniary  grants  to  any  religious 
denomination,  to  guarantee  religious  liberty — a  step,  no  doubt,  toward 
the  separation  of  Church  and  state.  More  than  two  years  ago,  an- 
other rationalistic  pastor  of  the  Church  of  Geneva  declared  that 
democracy  alone  could  save  the  Church.  And  what  is  this  Church  ? 
"The  National  Church  of  Geneva  continues  to  exist,"  says  a  Swiss 
writer,  "with  this  title  because  she  offers  to  free  thinkers,  rationalists, 
etc.,  an  institution  supported  by  public  funds  in  which  anything  may 
be  preached — the  gospel,  Rousseau's  deism,  or  the  denial  of  the 
supernatural. ' ' 

Oh  !  for  an  hour  of  Calvin's  presence,  or  that  of  our  exiled  fore- 
fathers, or  of  our  sturdy,  uncompromising  Genevese  believers,  that 
they  might  repudiate  this  shameless  use  of  their  names,  and  declare 
that  they  never  sunk  the  idea  of  Christ's  Church  so  low  as  to  identify 
it  with  those  who  deny  Christ,  Christ's  divinity,  his  atonement,  his 
resurrection  !  Let  all  our  Presbyterian  churches  study  the  history  of 
this  controversy  at  Geneva,  and  they  will  see  what  fatal  fruits  are  pro- 
duced by  this  alliance  with  unbelief  that  a  civil  marriage  has  con- 
secrated, under  the  plea  of  giving  and  protecting  liberty  of  con- 
science. 

"  Caesarism  is  laying  its  hands  on  the  Church,  under  cover  of  pre- 
serving the  i#nity  of  the  Church,"  says  a  National  pastor  of  the  Can- 
ton De  Vaud.  They  would  give  her  ministers  freedom  to  preach  any- 
thing. This  liberty,  when  given,  soon  proves  that  it  is  impossible  to 
have  unity  of  action  where  there  is  r.o  unity  of  principle,  and  brings 
to  light  contradictions  in  teaching  which  cannot  be  reconciled.  In 
that  same  pulpit  of  St.  Pierre  a  pastor,  at  the  distribution  of  prizes 
for  religious  instruction,  openly  repudiated  all  belief  in  the  super- 
natural, and  the  following  Sunday  Christ  and  his  resurrection  were,  no 
doubt,  proclaimed.  What  can  the  people  think?  What  are  they  to 
believe  ?     May  this  not  lead  to  agnosticism  ? 

The  condition  of  the  National  Church  of  Geneva  is  deplorable,  and 
second,  perhaps,  only  to  that  of  Zurich,  Naturally,  there  is  an  evan- 
gelical union  at  Geneva,  composed  of  those  faithful  pastors  who  do 
Avish  the  gospel  to  be  preached  in  the  State  Church.  Alongside  of 
this  cantonal  Church,  we  find  a  small  Church  numbering  some  hun- 
dred and  eighty  decided  and  uncompromising  men,  ready,  indeed,  to 
work  for  Christ  with  the  Christian  men  of  the  establishment,  but  de- 
termined unitedly  to  confess  Christ  before  men ;  and  in  connection 
with  it,  though,  as  far  as  the  majority  of  its  members  goes,  not  as 
part  of  it,  we  find  the  evangelical  society  of  Geneva.  In  this  society 
we  have  some  excellent  men  of  the  National  Church,  one  of  whom  is 
professor  in  the  theological  hall  supported  by  it.  This  hall,  which 
is  connected  with  the  honored  names  of  Gaussen,  Merle  D'Aubigne, 
De  la  Harpe,  has  done,  and  is  still  doing,  untold  good.     A  striking 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  765 

and  characteristic  fact  is,  that  it  has  at  present  thirty-two  students,  of 
whom  six  are  Genevese,  whereas  not  a  single  Genevese,  I  beheve, 
figures  on  the  roll  of  the  so-called  National  School  of  Theology.  This 
theological  hall  has  already  furnished  more  than  three  hundred  pastors 
or  missionaries  to  Holland,  Spain,  and  Italy,  and  especially  to  France 
and  Switzerland ;  in  fact,  many  of  the  most  earnest  men  in  the 
National  Church  of  Vaud,  Geneva,  and  Neuchatel  studied  at  the 
Free  Church  colleges.  The  society  employs  sixty-eight  colporteurs, 
eleven  pastors  and  evangelists,  four  teachers  and  aids,  and  ten  pastors 
who  supply  six  summer  stations  in  the  mountains  of  Switzerland. 

The  little  band  of  Geneva  Christians  is  doing  noble  work  for 
Christ.  They  often  originate  new  and  most  important  movements, 
e.  g.,  the  International  Society,  for  the  better  observance  of  the  Lord's 
day,  of  which  its  indefatigable  founder,  Mons.  Alexandre  Lombard,  is 
the  soul;  the  Refuge  or  Home  for  the  fallen,  to  which  pastor  Borel 
has  given  all  his  manly  and  tender  care ;  and  temperance  society 
meetings  on  the  model  of  Mr.  McAll's. 

To  conclude,  the  mere  handful  of  evangelical  Christians  in  Switzer- 
land can  easily  show  by  their  works  that  their  faith  is  the  true  faith, 
a  faith  which  proclaims  that  we  are  created  anew  in  Christ  unto  good 
works,  prepared  of  God  that  we  should  walk  in  them  ;  and,  as  the 
lovely,  sweet-scented  narcissus  of  our  Alps  centres  in  a  golden  crown, 
so  Christ  and  his  sovereignty  is  seen  to  be  a  central  truth  around  which 
the  most  living  churches  of  Switzerland  rally,  as  the  white  petals  of 
that  beautiful  flower. 

A  paper  by  the  Rev.  Ferdinand  Cizar,  pastor  at  Klobouk, 
near  Briinn,  Moravia,  was,  in  his  absence,  read  by  James  Mac- 
DONALD,  Esq.,  of  Edinburgh,  on 

THE  STATE  OF  REFORMED  RELIGION  IN  MORAVIA. 

The  paper  is  introduced  by  the  statement  that  it  is  signed  and 
approved  by  John  Benes,  Superintendent  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  Moravia,  his  seal  being  attached  to  the  certificate. 
It  is  as  follows : 

L.  B.  S. 

Cum  pro  tristi  conditione  familise  suae  noster  delegatus  pastor  F. 
Cisar  secundi  concilii  presbyteriani  non  ipse  particeps  esse  possit, 
proposuimus  ei  in  novissima  pastorali  consultatione  Kloboukii  habita, 
ut  omnia,  quse  concilio  referre  a  comite  ei  propositum  est,  per  litteras 
secretario  concilii  transmittat  et  in  sua  nuntiatione  inprimis  pro  nos- 
trae  dioecesis  fundatione  intercedat.  Perlecta  nuntiatione  in  lingua 
Bohemica  concepta  probamus  subsequens  angelice  compositum  exem- 
plar simul  omnibus  precibus  et  a  Deo  et  a  venerandis  patribus  fratri- 
busque  petentes,  ut  fraterna  communicatio  in  articulum  pertractantem 


766  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

internum  statum  nostrse  car^  ecclesise  reformatae  et  nostrse  dioecesis 
fundationem  adtentionem  conversura  et  curam  nostri  similiter  actura 
sit,  ac  nostrse  ex  longo  tempore  doloris  socire,  ecclesise  Valdensis. 

Cum  nunc  pro  inopia  alium  delegatum  ad  vos  mittere  non  possumus, 
per  has  litteras  effermius  preces  intimas,  ut  Dominus  omni  benedic- 
tione  sua  in  medio  concilii  et  extra  concilium  vobiscum  sit  atque 
omnia  vestra  opera  et  deliberationes  prosperet,  universque  mundo 
christiano  saluti  faciat. 

Gratia  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  et  charitas,  Dei  et  communicatio 
spiritus  sancti  sit  cum  omnibus  vobis. 

Nomine  verbi  divini  ministrorum  ecclesis  reformatae  in  Moravia, 

Vanovice,  l.  d.  XIX.  Cal.,  September,  1880. 

T.  Benes,  Superintendens. 

INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS. 
"And  I  saw  under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the  word  of  God, 
and  for  the  testimony  which  they  held  :  and  they  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying, 
How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on 
them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  ?  And  white  robes  were  given  unto  every  one  of 
them ;  and  it  was  said  unto  them,  that  they  should  re«t  yet  for  a  little  season."  .  .  . 
— Rev.  vi.  9-1 1. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Moravia  is  not  to  be  mistaken  for  the 
Moravian  Church,  to  be  found  in  Germany,  Great  Britain  and  Amer- 
ica. The  origin  of  both  churches,  of  course,  is  the  same,  namely,  the 
old  Church  of  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brethren  ;  the  ''  Uuitas  fra- 
trum,''^  which  in  the  days  of  yore  was  emphatically  called  '■'■  Coelestis 
hierarchia  interris'''' — the  heavenly  kingdom  on  the  earth.  Some  of 
the  numerous  emigrants  that  left  Moravia  during  the  times  of  Popish 
persecution  settled  in  Saxony,  where  Count  Zinzendorf  helped  them 
in  forming  a  new  Protestant  association,  of  which  the  British  and 
American  Moravians  are  now  the  representatives-  In  Moravia,  how- 
ever, this  denomination  has  no  adherents,  and  the  only  Protestants 
that  can  be  spoken  of  are  those  belonging  either  to  the  Lutheran  or  to 
our  Church — the  Reformed  Church  of  Moravia. 

Again,  though  it  were  rather  a  mistake  to  identify  us  with  the 
Moravians,  it  were  a  greater  mistake  still  to  make  any  essential  dis- 
tinction between  the  Reformed  Churches  of  Moravia  and  Bohemia. 
Both  countries  do  not  differ  even  as  much  as  Scotland  and  England, 
and  form,  together  with  Silesia,  the  ''United  Kingdom  of  Bohemia," 
included  in  the  Empire  of  Austria,  Our  two  Reformed  Churches  are 
mentally  closely  allied.  Our  present  laws,  however,  not  very  friendly 
to  any  real  national  and  ecclesiastical  unity  of  Bohemian  and  Mora- 
vian Protestants,  divided  us  in  spite  of  our  common  history,  common 
language,  and  common  confession  of  faith.  We,  however,  feel  our- 
selves as  one  body,  one  both  nationally  and  denominationally ;  and 
we  thank  God  that  we  have  the  opportunity  to  declare  this  unity  to 
our  fellow-believers  abroad,  especially  to  the  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Council,  expressing  at  the  same  time  the  hope  that  the  Presby- 
terian Alliance  may,  in  some  way,  help  us  in  the  times  to  come,  to 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  767 

form  anew  the  old  "Untlas  fratnim,''  which  was  a  perfect  imitation 
of  the  early  apostolic  Church  and  an  ideal  of  Presbyterianism. 

We  hope  all  our  sister  churches  are  acquainted  with  our  history ; 
but  not  so,  perhaps,  with  our  present  condition.  So  very,  very  few 
in  the  Presbyterian  Alliance  take  interest  in  Bohemia,  and  nearly  none 
in  Moravia.  And  still,  do  not  we  speak  the  language  oi  John  Huss  ? 
Are  we  not  living  in  the  ''  lands  of  the  Cup  and  of  the  Book .?  "  The  em- 
blem of  the  Cup  and  of  the  Book,  is  it  not  to  be  seen  over  the  entrances 
of  our  places  of  worship,  over  the  pulpit,  upon  the  Lord's  table,  upon 
our  hymn-books,  coffins  and  tombstones?  Well,  what  does  this  em- 
blem of  the  Cup  tell  us?  It  tells  not  only  the  old,  old  story  of  Christ 
and  of  his  love,  but  also  the  sad,  sad  story  of  our  fathers  and  their 
sufferings.  In  our  eyes  the  Cup  appears  as  filled  not  only  with  that 
precious  blood  which  Jesus  shed  because  he  loved  our  fathers,  but  the 
Cup  appears  also  to  us  as  filled  with  the  blood  our  fathers  shed  because 
they  could  not  help  loving  Jesus  ! 

'■^The  lands  of  the  Cup  and  of  the  Book  .'' "  If  one  hears  of  Bohe- 
mia and  Moravia,  and  if  he  loves  the  word  of  God,  he  should  not 
forget  the  fate  of  the  Bible  in  our  lands.  He  should  think  of  many  a 
thousand  of  Bibles  burnt  in  our  country  by  the  Jesuits ;  of  many  a 
hundred  Bibles  hidden  and  secretly  read  at  the  risk  of  life  for  so  long 
a  time  as  from  1620  to  1781  ;  of  many  Bibles  saved  from  the  claws  of 
the  Popish  ravens  only  by  emigrating  and  leaving  behind  all,  except- 
ing the  Book  !  The  Book,  where  the  register  of  the  names  of  the  pos- 
sessors is  not  only  nearly  wiped  away  by  tears,  but  often  stained  with 
the  blood  of  those  who  losing  their  lives  for  Christ  found  the  true  life 
in  Him ! 

"  The  land  of  the  Cup  and  of  the  Book  !  "  You  know  it  all,  rev- 
erend fathers  and  brethren  !  Merle  D'Aubigne  and  others — what 
famous  things  they  have  narrated  to  the  civilized  world  of  the  '^^ Cradle 
of  the  Reformation  .^ "  Alas  !  this  cradle  has  become  nearly  the  coffin 
of  the  Reformation.  When  three  years  ago  at  the  first  Council  one 
of  the  American  deputies  asserted,  that  he  could  not  pluck  a  flower 
from  the  Scottish  soil  without  seeing  it  sprinkled  by  the  bloody  dew, 
reminding  him  of  martyrs — well,  did  he  then  remember  also  the  blood 
of  the  Bohemian  missionary,  Paul  Craw,  brought  to  the  stake  at  St. 
Andrews?  Do  the  brethren  from  Germany  remember  that  their 
Reformation  has  been  saved  at  the  cost  of  Protestantism  in  the  king- 
dom of  Bohemia?  Are  the  brethren  from  Holland  aware  that  the 
ashes  cf  our  great  Amos  Comenius  are  buried  at  Naarden?  Do  the 
brethren  from  England  understand  that  it  was  their  Wycliffe's  doc- 
trine John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  sealed  with  their  lives  at 
Constance  ? 

Verily,  every  true  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ  has  its  martyrs. 
The  Covenanters  suffered  much  ;  the  Huguenots  not  less ;  the  Valden- 
sians  more  ;  the  "  cradle  of  the  Reformation,''^  however,  overflowed  with 
blood  shed  for  the  Cup  and  the  Book  !  With  us  not  a  church  merely,  the 
whole  nation  has  become  a  martyr,  and  has  been  turned  into  a  cloud  of 


768  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

witnesses.  '■^Rather  a  desert,  than  a  kingdom  peopled  by  heretics,^''  was 
the  favorite  maxim  of  Ferdinand  II.  ;  and  so  he  reduced  by  fire  and 
sword  four  millions  of  heretics  to  800,000  wretched  but  Roman 
Catholic  souls. 

Everywhere  the  children  are  loved  for  the  sake  of  their  excellent 
and  worthy  parents.  The  Waldensian  Church  is,  and  deserves  to  be, 
the  darling  daughter  in  the  Pan-Presbyterian  family.  Well,  God 
knows  it,  and  men  dare  not  deny  it.  Just  such  a  loved  daughter 
should  the  Reformed  Church  of  Moravia  and  Bohemia  also  be.  She 
is  the  feeble  child  in  the  '■Cradle  of  the  Reformation  /  " 

STATISTICS   OF    1 8  79. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Moravia  counts  twenty-two  parochial  and 
four  under-parochial  congregations  or  parishes,  with  40,869  adherents 
(against  39,000  in  1876),  who  are  widely  scattered  over  an  area  of  598 
English  square  miles  in  488  different  towns,  hamlets  and  villages. 
The  whole  territory  of  the  church  is  divided  in  two  seniorate  districts. 
The  eastern  district,  with  14,695  ;  the  western,  with  26, 174  adherents. 
The  spiritual  charge  of  the  congregations  is  intrusted  to  twenty-three 
pastors,  the  most  of  whom  have  been  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  Lord 
for  many  years. 

There  are  only  seven  purely  denominational  schools  in  our  church. 
Before  the  new  school  laws  we  had  thirty-four. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Moravia  has  no  foreign  missions.  The 
reason  is  obvious.  The  church  is  very  poor,  the  adherents  being 
generally  small  landholders,  or  working  people  without  any  property. 
And  as  the  latter  are  scattered  mostly  in  villages,  in  quarters  without 
any  industry,  they  are  restricted  to  farming  work,  earning  wages  of 
twenty-five  to  forty  kreutzers — about  six  to  ten  pence  English  money — 
daily.  After  providing  for  their  own  church,  the  Reformed  peo- 
ple in  Moravia  have  hardly  anything  left  for  other  ways  of  spread- 
ing the  gospel.  Beside  that,  the  work  calling  upon  us  more  loudly 
than  2i  foreign  mission  does,  is  undeniably  the  evangelization  of  Mo- 
ravia, viz.  :  a  mission  to  the  population,  which  is  almost  entirely  Ro- 
man Catholic.  The  first  step  is  taken,  already.  The  gospel  will  be 
brought  nearer  to  the  Catholics  in  the  diaspora  of  the  Reformed  parish 
of  Klobouk.  The  only,  and  yet  not  sufficient,  help  has  come  to  us  for 
this  undertaking  from  the  Student  Missionary  Society  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Theological  Hall  at  Edinburgh.  Something  will  be 
done  by  the  congregation  at  Klobouk  also ;  how  much,  however,  can 
be  judged  from  the  following  illustration  of  our  poverty : 

The  members  of  the  Klobouk  congregation,  if  they  should  sell  their 
cottage,  their  only  property,  would  raise  ;^3o  to  ;^5o.  As  to 
the  land-holders,  who  are  but  few,  the  largest  farm  represents  hardly 
^800.  And  now  how  many  are  beside  that  who  do  not  possess  anything 
at  all,  and  require  help  from  others?  To  expect  from  this  class  of  our 
members  anything  for  our  congregational  purposes,  would  be  unreason- 
able or  even  hard.  And  as  it  is  at  Klobouk,  so  it  is  everywhere  in 
Moravia — in  many  places  worse. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  769 

In  consequence  of  this,  naturally  the  stipends  of  our  pastors  are  very- 
small,  and  in  not  due  proportion  to  their  education,  wants  and  the  cost 
of  living  in  this  country.  The  salary  of  a  pastor  is  upon  an  average 
jP^do  a  year.  Many  a  congregation,  being  a  wide  diaspora,  must  col- 
lect yearly  a  sum  amounting  to  the  same  as  the  pastor's  salary,  for 
travelling  expenses  within  the  bounds  of  the  parish — so  scattered  are 
the  single  members. 

In  spite  of  the  great  poverty  of  the  members,  and  in  spite  of  the 
heavy  burden  of  self-sustentation,  the  Reformed  Church  of  Moravia 
collects  yearly  about  ^^150  for  several  benevolent  objects,  which  is  a 
large  sum  in  this  country.  The  greatest  part  of  these  benevolent  col- 
lections is  destined  to  the  Gustav-Udolf  Society,  and  to  the  minister 
and  school-master  widow  funds. 

THE    RELATION   OF   THE   REFORMED    CHURCH   TO   THE   STATE. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Moravia  is  a  self-supporting,  but,  alas,  not 
a  self-governing  church.  All  the  yearly  pecuniary  regular  help  given 
from  the  state  to  the  church  is  ^160  for  the  superintendent  (moder- 
ator); ;^5o  for  his  assistant,  and  ^40  for  each  of  the  two  seniors. 
Here  and  there,  where  the  salary  of  the  pastor  is  under  jT^do,  and  his 
congregation  unable  to  better  the  stipend  by  its  own  exertions,  the 
state  grants  (but  not  always)  a  small  sum  to  make  up  the  usual  ^60  for 
the  pastor.  In  short,  what  the  state  is  giving  to  our  church  cannot 
be  looked  upon  except  as  alms,  without  which  our  church  would  do 
better  perhaps  than  with  it. 

The  question  now  is,  Why  is  the  scanty  help  of  the  state  not  refused, 
and  the  freedom,  the  right  of  self-government  reclaimed? 

Because  the  political  government  of  Austria  is  not  willing  in  the 
least  to  give  us  our  freedom,  and  holds  us  in  its  grasp  without  any 
regard  to  our  own  desires.  Before  1861  the  Protestant  churches 
in  Austria  got  nothing  from  the  state,  and  had  at  the  same  time 
less  autonomy  than  even  now.  Now  we  do  have  an  autonomy,  ac- 
cording to  the  letter  of  the  laws  at  least ;  "of  course  our  hands  and 
limbs  are. bound  in  many  a  respect."  Still  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
regarding  our  self-government,  we  are  gaining  ground  more  and  more. 
Our  sessions,  conventions  and  synods,  generally  protest  against  the  in- 
trusion of  the  state  in  our  church  matters,  and  the  day,  God  willing,  will 
come  when  our  pseudo-establishment,  which  is  keeping  us  down  under 
the  pretext  of  protecting  without  sustaining  us,  will  cease.  Of  course  the 
scanty  sums  granted  by  the  state  must  be  refused  in  the  first  instance, 
and  there  are  already  among  our  leading  men  here  and  in  Bohemia, 
who  show  plainly  what  the  protection  of  the  state  and  its  "  ins  circa 
sacra"  really  means;  and  that  the  last  word  in  deciding  the  vital 
matters  of  the  church  belongs  to  Christ,  and  not  to  a  king  of  this 
world. 

"  Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes  !  "     This  saying  is  surely  not  out 
of  place,  if  used  by  our  church  against  the  state.     The  state  pays  our 
superintendent  and  seniors,  and  what  does  it  claim  for  that? 
49 


.770  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  last,  the  deciding  word  in  every  important  matter.  The  con- 
gregations, for  instance,  have  the  right  of  electing  their  pastors ;  the 
elected  candidate,  however,  must  be  acknowledged  by  the  government. 
It  is  the  same  with  the  seniors,  and  the  superintendent  must  be  ap- 
proved directly  by  the  emperor  himself.  "The  gospel  may  be 
preached  without  any  restriction;"  every  pastor,  however,  must 
preach  only  in  "  the  bounds  of  his  parish,  and  the  hearers  must  at 
least  partly  be  Protestants.  The  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  a  purely 
Roman  Catholic  audience  would  be  termed  making  proselytes,"  which 
is  prohibited  very  sternly,  and  would  be  punished  accordingly. 

The  state  gives  us,  according  to  our  constitution,  the  unrestricted 
right  of  establishing  our  own  denominational  schools,  as  many  as  we 
may  and  can.  On  the  other  part,  however,  the  state  crushed  our 
whole  school  system,  so  that  we  can  only  keep  seven  schools  out  of 
the  thirty-four  we  had  not  many  years  ago.  Establishing  denomina- 
tional schools  was  the  chief  design  and  best  hope  of  our  as  well  as  of 
the  Bohemian  Reformed  Church.  In  that  we  are  thrown  back  now, 
and  must  look  for  the  new  (for  us)  and  very  difficult  (in  our  scattered 
condition)  institution  of  Sunday-schools.  How  unjustly  the  govern- 
ment has  been  proceeding  in  depriving  us  of  regular  means  for  train- 
ing our  children  early  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  !  Denomina- 
tional schools  are  an  institution  which  can  be  perhaps  dispensed  with 
in  Britain  or  in  America,  where  the  Scriptures  are  held  forth,  not  by 
a  small  fraction  of  the  population,  but  where  the  Bible  has  become  a 
household  book  throughout  the  whole  nation.  It  is  not  so  with  us. 
In  our  country,  generally  speaking,  the  Bible  is  a  book  sealed  with 
seven  seals.  In  our  case  even  the  Sunday-schools  will  be  hardly  a 
sufificient  compensation  for  our  lost  denominational  schools. 

The  Austrian  school-laws  of  1868  are  decidedly  against  Protestants ;; 
not  theoretically,  but  practically ;  and  if  their  influence  and  conse- 
quences be  not  paralyzed  in  some  way,  they  will  prove  themselves,- 
though  not  a  death-blow  to  our  Church  as  such,  yet  a  formidable 
obstacle  to  our  further  spreading  the  gospel. 

The  school-laws,  we  said,  are  not  literally  against  us.  They  declare 
the  public  schools  to  be  interconfessional  and  accessible  to  all  the 
denominations.  It  is  only  a  scoffing  irony,  however,  a  stroke  in  our 
face ;  for  the  fact  is,  that  the  public  schools,  with  perhaps  ten  excep- 
tions in  all  Moravia,  are  Popish  through  and  through.  They  teach 
our  children  to  say  prayers  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  keep  them  away 
from  the  gospel  by  ignoring  or  scorning  the  pure  word  of  God.  It 
is  really  an  irony  to  call  such  schools  interconfessional,  where  pictures 
of  saints  and  crucifixes  are  displayed,  and  where  the  "heretics"  are 
cursed  or  pitied  every  day.  And  still  the  Protestants  must  pay  taxes 
for  sustaining  those  public  schools,  though  just  to  save  themselves  they 
are  compelled  to  look  for  travelling  catechizers  and  other  expensive 
inethods  to  counteract  the  bad  influence  of  the  so-called  interconfes- 
sional schools.  It  is,  therefore,  an  embarrassing  question  for  us,  how 
to  ward  off"  the  blow  the  Romish  party  is  aiming  at  us  by  these  school- 
laws. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  771 

Well,  we  rely  upon  our  Lord  and  upon  the  aid  of  our  sister  churches 
in  the  West.  That  such  aid  can  do  much  for  us  has  been  proved 
anew  this  year  by  the  intervention  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  the 
case  of  the  prosecuted  Protestants  in  Bohemia. 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  MORAVIA  TO  OTHER 

CHURCHES. 

There  are  only  three  denominations  known  in  Moravia — the  Ro- 
man Catholics,  the  Jews  and  the  Protestants.  The  Protestants  are 
represented  by  the  Reformed  and  the  Lutheran.  The  friendly  inter- 
course between  the  two  Protestant  churches  has  been  impaired  of  late 
by  several  controversies.  It  is  to  be  complained,  that  the  orthodox 
Lutheran  ministers  are  generally  too  rigidly  confessionalists  and  very 
intolerant  to  the  Reformed.  One  might  say,  that  they  seem  to  think, 
that  loving  Luther  means  hating  Calvin.  A  great  part  of  the  other 
Lutheran  pastors  again  cannot  be  welcome  to  us,  for  the  reason  that 
they  are  servile  shield-bearers  of  the  government,  yearning  for  a 
thorough  establishment  of  the  Protestant  churches,  and  being,  there- 
fore, a  great  impediment  in  our  exertions  for  regaining  the  freedom 
and  the  right  of  unimpaired  self-government  for  our  Church.  These 
differences,  however,  did  not  lead  as  yet  to  an  irreparable  division, 
and,  in  some  cases,  as  for  instance  in  the  Gustav-Udolf-Society,  both 
Protestant  churches  are  co-operating. 

To  the  Jews  we  stand  in  no  relation  at  all,  and  as  to  the  Romish 
Church,  she  is  the  same  to  us  as  she  was  and  ever  shall  be.  Our  past, 
present  and  future  chief  enemy  is  Rome  !  Rome  brought  to  the  stake 
our  great  reformer ;  Rome  has  deprived  us  of  our  religious  and  politi- 
cal liberties,  and  has  kept  us  down  and  trodden  us  unmercifully  into 
dust  for  nearly  two  centuries.  Our  heart  is  sad  and  full  of  bitterness 
against  Popery  even  now,  for  before  a  hundred  years  have  passed, 
before  we  could  forget  the  outrages  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  Rome  strives  again  to  suppress  every  effort  we  make  for  pro- 
moting the  gospel.  Now,  under  the  prime-minister  of  the  state 
(Taaffe),  the  old  Hydra  is  holding  all  the  hundred  heads  up  again. 
The  bishops  of  Tyrol  are  protesting  against  the  very  existence  of  Prot- 
estant congregations,  and  the  government  promised  to  the  clericals 
to  grant  them  still  more  influence  upon  the  schools.  In  the  very 
time,  when  France  stands  up  against  the  Jesuits  and  Belgium  against 
the  Pope  !  Austria  remains  what  she  was,  "  the  most  faithful  daughter 
of  the  Holy  See  !  "  Every  movement  of  ours  is  watched,  and  first  of 
all  the  school-laws  of  1868  are  turned  against  us.     Yet 

"Our  hope  is  sure  in  Jesus'  might-. 
Against  themselves  the  godless  fight, 

Themselves,  not  us,  distressing ; 
Shame  and  contempt  their  lot  shall  be; 
God  is  with  us,  with  him  are  we ; 

To  us  belongs  his  blessing  !" 


.772  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

THE    INWARD    CONDITION    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

As  to  the  inward  condition  of  our  Church,  both  light  and  shadow 
are  to  be  seen  everywhere.  Our  ranks  are  not  so  closed  afid  not  kept 
in  order  so  minutely  as  it  seems  to  be  done  in  the  great  Protestant 
bodies  in  the  West.  No  wonder  !  Our  congregations  are  scattered, 
.and  in  our  special  case  from  the  chief  army  nearly  abandoned  out- 
posts of  Presbyterian  Christianity,  standing  like  lonely  rocks,  afar 
from  the  continent,  in  the  wide,  wide  Popish  sea.  The  commanders 
of  the  chief  army  should,  from  time  to  time,  inspect  those  outposts 
and  recommend  to  them  more  watchfulness,  more  discipline  and  cour- 
age by  strengthening  their  reliance  upon  the  great  army  behind,  and 
the  Commander-in-chief  above  ! 

Verily,  we  are  left  to' ourselves  thoroughly,  God  knows  it;  and  our 
stronger  sister  churches  may  judge  by  themselves,  if  it  is  right,  and  if 
just  this,  our  forlornness,  has  not  been  the  origin  of  many  a  shadow 
to  be  seen  around  the  candlestick  of  the  gospel,  planted  in  the  midst 
of  us  by  the  Lord. 

Let  us  speak  of  our  bright  aspect.  The  tabernacles  of  the  Lord  are 
amiable  to  our  people.  Our  pews  are  too  few,  our  places  of  vvorship 
too  small  for  our  congregations  and  audiences.  To  our  services  on 
Sundays,  a  third  of  all  the  adherents  (/.  e.,  of  all  the  souls,  the  chil- 
dren included)  turn  out,  the  greatest  part  of  the  hearers  having  to  walk 
from  one  to  five  hours  to  the  house  of  God.  The  afternoon  services 
of  course  are  less  crowded,  because  only  the  nearest  can  take  part. 
In  many  villages,  however,  where  the  minister  is  not  residing,  our 
people  have  afternoon  services  by  themselves,  conducted  by  the  dis- 
trict elder.  Beside  the  Sabbath  services,  the  gospel  is  preached  regu- 
larly on  the  occasion  of  burials  in  the  village  or  town  of  the  deceased. 
Such  funeral  services  are  conducted  in  a  like  way  as  the  worship  in 
the  church,  for  on  such  occasions  the  Roman  Catholics  are  in  the 
habit  of  coming,  and  give  opportunity  to  the  pastor  to  proclaim  to 
them  the  unknown  God.  In  some  congregations  are  prayer-meetings 
with  expositions  of  the  Bible,  as,  for  instance,  at  Klobouk,  Nosislava, 
Herspic,  etc.,  from  the  ist  of  December  till  the  seed-time  in  the 
spring  every  day  early  in  the  morning.  Such  meetings  are  elsewhere 
usually  held  in  Lent  once  or  twice  a  week.  Travelling  catechizations 
(excurrendo  catechizationes)  are  attended  by  gray-headed  people  as 
well  as  by  the  young. 

To  be  sure  our  pastors  are  overwhelmed  with  work,  and  in  spite  of 
that  they  do  not  meet  the  wants  of  our  people.  .  From  the  statements 
made  already,  it  is  evident  that  the  members  of  single  congregations 
are  over  numerous,  and  at  the  same  time  very  thinly  scattered  over  a 
great  many  places.  So  it  is  in  Bohemia  as  well  as  in  Moravia.  As 
an  example,  the  congregation  of  Senior  Szalatnay  (the  delegate  to  this 
second  Council)  may  be  mentioned.  Mr.  Szalatnay  is  to  take  care 
of  2,800  souls  living  in  about  thirty-eight  scattered  villages.  The 
present  writer  has  over  3,000  souls  in  twenty  places  under  his  care. 
Such  is  the  condition  of  nearly  all  the  Reformed  congregations,  and 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  773 

the  consequence  is,  that  the  Refunued  jjastors  have  to  s^jcnd  the  half 
of  all  the  days  in  the  year  either  in  driving  or  walking  about  among 
our  people  in  order  to  provide  them  with  the  one  thing  needful.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  our  being  constantly  on  our  feet,  our  people  suffer  spiritual 
hunger  in  a  lamentable  degree.  Any  minister  present  in  the  Council 
may  fancy  easily,  that  it  would  become  impossible  even  for  the  most 
active  pastor  to  take  sufficient  spiritual  care  of  2,000  or  3,000  souls, 
even  if  they  all  were  living  in  one  place.  Well,  then,  if  anywhere, 
here  may  be  used  the  words :  "  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the 
laborers  are  few. ' ' 

Alas  !  spiritual  hunger  in  our  Church  in  spite  of  the  regular  and 
funeral  services,  all  kinds  of  religious  instruction,  prayer-meetings^ 
confirmations,  etc.  !  No  wonder,  however.  The  present  writer,  for 
instance,  holds  morning  prayer-meetings  every  day  for  a  quarter  of  a 
year.  But  what  is  it  ?  The  people  from  Klobouk  only  can  come — 
the  others  in  the  remaining  nineteen  villages  must  stay  at  home.  To 
the  Sabbath  services  1,000  hearers  come  to  Klobouk  quite  regularly; 
in  case  of  a  storm  or  rain,  however,  about  300  only. 

Cannot  this  critical  condition  be  helped  ?  Surely  it  can,  and  the 
help  is  obvious,  but  it  is  not  in  our  own  power. 

The  obvious  help  is  :  Our  numerous  congregations  or  parishes  should 
be  divided.  Out  of  the  twenty-six  Reformed  congregations  in  Mora- 
via there  should  be  made  fifty  ;  that  would  still  give  upon  an  average 
817  souls  to  every  congregation.  Instead  of  our  twenty-three  Re- 
formed pastors,  we  should  have  sixty  at  least ;  every  one  of  them 
would  be  nevertheless  overbusy.  Sixty  pastors  for  our  Church,  that 
would  change  the  matters  considerably.  The  gospel  would  not  only 
be  brought  nearer  to  our  distant  members,  but  the  gospel  would  be 
brought  into  districts  where  the  Popish  darkness  is  so  thick,  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  crosses  himself  if  only  hearing  to  name  a  "  Protes- 
tant "  or  "  heretic."  If  our  Church  be  left  in  the  present  forlorn  con- 
dition, if  the  numbers  of  congregations  and  pastors  be  not  augmented, 
the  outposts  not  moved  forward,  then  our  own  Church,  of  course,  with 
God's  help,  will  continue  to  exist  with  difficulty,  and  increase  very, 
very  slowly  ;  but  then  also  there  will  come  a  time  where,  for  instance, 
the  name  of  our  dear  Pastor  Fliedner  will  be  more  widely  known  in 
Spain,  than  the  name  of  Christ  our  Lord  in  Moravia. 

Yet,  is  it  not  the  duty  of  our  own  Church  to  care  for  the  multiplying 
of  our  congregations?  Certainly,  it  is;  and  it  is  not  neglected.  In 
the  last  ten  years  we  have  formed  three  new  congregations  and  have 
another  two  "in  petto."  But  what  is  it?  Where  are  the  fifty,  the 
hundred?  There,  reverend  fathers  and  brethren,  whereto  our  power, 
or  rather  our  material  poverty,  does  not  reach  !  We  cannot  raise  the 
means  for  sustaining  so  many  pastors,  though  the  average  salary  is  in- 
deed so  scanty.  Our  "  Superi  tendential  Conventus  "  of  1876  has 
founded  the  "Diocese  Sustentation  Fund,"  out  of  which  new 
congregations,  in  the  diaspora,  should  be  established,  and  their  pas- 
tors partly  sustained.      We  liave  collected  among  ourselves  something 


774  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

already,  but  after  four  years  of  collecting  and  exerting  our  own 
strength,  we  see  it  plainly  now — we  shall  never  reach  our  aid  by  our- 
selves, being  too  poor  for  that ! 

Reverend  fathers  and  brethren,  the  Waldensian  Church  has  done 
very  much  for  the  promotion  of  the  gospel  in  Italy ;  the  Reformed 
Church  of  France  works  blissfully  at  home ;  the  youngest  Church  in 
our  family  does  much  in  Spain  ;  but  then,  again,  Great  Britain  and 
America  do  very  much  for  the  Churches  that  are  diffusing  the  light 
of  the  truth  in  Italy  and  France  and  Spain. 

We,  on  the  contrary,  have  struggled  till  now  for  our  own  existence, 
and  that  not  in  vain.  For  diffusing  the  mental  light  out  of  the  pale 
of  our  own  Church,  we  have  done  very,  very  little ;  but  the  great 
Presbyterian  family  in  the  West — the  rich  fountain  of  strength  for 
the  missions  in  Spain,  France,  and  Italy — has  done  for  the  multiply- 
ing our  forces  in  Moravia — nothing  at  all. 

Even  Bohemia,  our  sister  and  fellow-sufferer,  has  been  happier  than 
Moravia.  Bohemia  has  been  visited  by  many  leading  ministers  from 
England  and  Scotland  (lately,  also,  by  Dr.  Philip  Schaff,  from  Amer- 
ica), and  her  condition  excited  sympathies.  Many  of  those  visitors 
have  been  travelling  further  to  Hungary,  through  the  very  cetitre  of 
Moravia,  but  they  had  no  time  to  spare  for  us,  did  not  stop  to  see 
one  minister,  one  congregation  of  ours  !  Who  would  not  think  of 
Luke  X.  30-37  ? 

Bohemia  has  got  some  help  already,  though  insufficient,  too.  Many 
Bohemian  divinity-students  have  been  trained  by  the  Free  Church  at 
Edinburgh,  and  several  grants  have  been  made  for  the  evangelization 
of  Bohemia  by  all  the  three  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Scotland ;  also 
an  "Association  for  the  promotion  of  the  gospel  in  Bohemia"  exists 
at  Edinburgh,  for  several  years  already. 

Our  Reformed  Church  in  Moravia,  however,  has  stretched  her  hand 
out  in  vain.  Only  the  United  Presbyterian  Student  Missionary  So- 
ciety, at  Edinburgh,  has  heard  her  voice  ;  and  Mr.  David  Paton,  of 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  has  provided  for  the  training  of  two 
of  our  divinity-students ;  a  third  is  expected  to  be  provided  for  by 
the  Free  Church. 

No  doubt  we  are  thankful  for  these  deeds  of  brotherly  love,  which 
fall  upon  us  like  drops  upon  a  glowing  stone — like  drops  upon  a 
glowing  stone  ! 

Moravia,  not  our  Church  as  such,  but  Moravia  as  a  country,  is  lost 
for  the  gospel,  if  our  Church  does  not  find  such  a  helper  as  the  Rev.  Dr. 
IV.  Robertson  has  proved  himself  in  proposing  the  scheme  for  the  Walden- 
sian Pastors'  Fund. 

The  Waldensian  Church,  as  a  martyr-Church,  is  in  the  heart  of 
hearts  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  in  the  west.  Is  there  no  heart 
of  hearts  left  for  us  in  America?  No  Robertson  for  us  in  the  second 
Council,  as  was  in  the  first,  for  the  Waldensians  ?  Where  have  the 
confessors  of  Christ's  pure  gospel  been  slain,  not  by  hundreds  or 
thousands,  but  by  thousands  of  thousands?     We  know  it  was  done  ifi 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  775 

Ihe  lands  of  the  Cup  and  of  the  Book.  Ours  is  a  martyr-Church,  hal- 
lowed by  the  blood  of  more  confessors  than  any  other  in  the  world  ! 

Next  year  the  Reformed  Church  in  Moravia  is  going  to  solemnize 
her  centenary.  One  hundred  years  ago  Joseph  II.  gave  us  his  Tolera- 
tion Edict.  For  an  hundred  years  then  our  Church  has  been  left  to 
herself,  struggling  for  her  life  and  helped  by  the  Holy  Spirit  only,  not 
by  men. 

Well,  se7id  out  from  you,  reverend  fatlicrs  and  brethren,  such  as  would 
feel  for  the  "Cradle  of  the  Reformation"  as  others  did  for  the 
Vaudois  ;  send  them  to  our  Centenary,  that  they  may,  in  our  own  midst, 
see  better  what  zve  cannot  sufficiently  express  here  in  a  foreign  tongue; 
and  we  are  sure  that  our  Robertson  champion  will  be  foicnd. 

In  the  meantime  our  prayer  has  been  always,  and  must  be  even  now, 
in  accordance  with  the  words : 

"  In  deepest  need,  in  anguish  sighing, 
I  cry  to  thee,  to  thee  alone. 
Were  I  to  other  help  applying. 

Vain  were  each  prayer,  each  suppliant  groan. 
My  plaints,  O  Lord,  ascend  to  thee ! 
Oh,  graciously,  give  ear  to  me  !  " 

CONCLUDING   REMARKS. 

There  should  be  far  more  written,  far  more  details  given  regarding 
■our  Church,  than  has  been  done  here.  The  present  writer,  however, 
is  restricted  to  twenty  minutes  allowed  for  reading  a  paper  in  the 
Council,  and,  beside  that,  it  is  a  severe  task-  to  him  to  write  on  such 
important  matters  in  a  tongue  so  little  in  his  power  as  the  English  is. 

The  chief  question  is,  will  that  which  has  been  put  down  here 
be  read  to  the  Council,  at  all?  We  must  hope  so.  We  are  sure, 
with  God's  grace,  there  will  beat  several  hearts  for  our  Church,  in 
the  Council.  There  will  be  present,  we  presume,  the  noble  friend 
of  the  Waldensians,  and  of  ours,  and  will  act  according  to  what  he 
wrote  in  the  public  press  some  years  ago,  saying : 

"What  a  sense  of  the  mercies  of  British  Christians  does  Bohemia, 
with  its  sad  history,  inspire  !  And  what  mighty  claims  on  our  sym- 
pathy and  aid  does  that  cruelly  persecuted  Church  possess  !  One  feels 
it  a  real  privilege  to  show  kindness  to  those  who  represent  the  old 
Protestants  of  Bohemia.  If  only  one  could  cheer  them  after  such 
protracted  and  heart-breaking  trials,  or  if  one  could  but  help  them  to 
gather  their  scattered  forces  and  break  forth  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left,  one  feels  strongly  that  it  would  be  a  service  to  the  Master,  as  well 
as  the  servants,  and,  assuredly,  it  would  not  lose  its  rewards  !  " 

Yes,  help  us  to  gather  our  scattered  forces,  and  we  will  break  forth 
on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  and  triumph  over  our  enemies, 
shouting  with  joy,  h.1  Jvoj  rtavto. ! 

Klobouk,  near  Briinn,  Moravia,  August,  1880.  F.  Cisar. 


776  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Chairman. — The  Rev.  Mr.  Buscarlet,  whom  we  heard  a 
few  moments  ago,  extends  the  following  invitation :  "  The 
Jubilee  or  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Societe  Evangelique  de 
Geneve,  the  oldjst  on  the  continent  in  Europe,  is  to  be  held  at 
Geneva  on  the  24th  of  June  next ;  and  the  society  extends  to 
the  Christians  of  America  a  cordial  invitation  to  be  present." 

Please  make  a  note  of  that,  and,  if  any  of  you  go  abroad  next 
summer,  be  sure  to  go  to  Geneva  on  the  24th  of  June. 

The  Rev.  Antonio  Arrighi  spoke  as  follows : 

THE  FREE  CHURCH  OF  ITALY. 

I  rejoice  in  the  fact  that  the  Free  Church  of  Italy  is  to  be  heard. 
I  would  love  dearly  to  show  you  how,  in  the  providence  of  God,  the 
door  was  thrown  open  twenty  years  ago  in  that  beautiful  land  for  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus  to  be  proclaimed  to  that  people.  But  this 
fact  is  well  known.  You  are  aware  also  that  as  long  as  the  Pope 
as  a  temporal  ruler  held  sway  in  that  country,  there  was  not  a  single 
chance  for  the  gospel  of  Jesus  to  be  introduced.  Therefore,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  it  was  necessary  that  this  great  evil  should 
be  removed.  The  Bible  says  there  is  no  remission  of  sins  without 
shedding  of  blood  ;  and  this  evil  which  has  so  degraded  and  demoral- 
ized that  people,  was  removed  on  the  battle-plains  of  Magenta 
and  Solferino.  Then  the  door  was  thrown  open  to  the  preaching  of 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  At  the  moment  when  Victor 
Emmanuel  was  declared  king  by  his  victorious  soldiers  on  the  battle- 
plains  of  Italy,  while  the  blood  of  the  dead  was  still  warm,  amid  the 
groans  and  cries  of  the  wounded,  the  Pope  ceased  to  be  ruler  of  the 
land,  and  the  temporal  part  of  the  papacy  was  destroyed — buried, 
never  to  be  resurrected.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
temporal  power  of  the  Pope. 

During  these  twenty  years  Jesus  and  he  crucified,  has  been  pro- 
claimed by  noble  and  faithful  men,  to  the  Italian  people ;  and  to-day  I 
stand  on  this  platform  in  the  name  of  10,000  Christians  converted  by 
the  labors  of  these  devoted  missionaries ;  and  I  repeat  to  you  the 
words  of  the  apostle  Paul :  "  They  of  Italy  salute  you  ;  "  they  of  Italy 
greet  you.  We  of  Italy  bring  to  you  Christian  salutations,  in  the 
name  of  our  common  Father,  in  the  name  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  in  the 
name  of  true  Christianity,  and  in  the  name  of  true  Presbyterian 
catholicity. 

The  Free  Church  in  Italy  was  organized  ten  years  ago.  It  is  the 
child  of  Divine  Providence.  It  was  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  Divine 
Providence ;  and,  therefore,  I  believe  this  is  the  time  to  do  much 
through  it  in  the  evangelization  of  Italy,  and  the  destruction  of  Popery 
and  superstition.  Of  course,  I  love  the  Free  Church  of  Italy,  on  the 
same  principle  that  every  man  should  love  his  own  wife  much  better 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  777 

than  the  wife  of  his  neighbor.  I  belong  to  that  Church.  I  am  mar^ 
ried  to  it ;  and,  therefore,  I  love  it  with  all  the  powers  of  my  soul. 
At  the  same  time,  I  am  ready  to  take  any  Christian  Church  by  the 
hand,  and  say  to  it,  God  bless  you,  God  speed  you,  God  be  with  you 
in  your  labors  of  doing  good. 

We  of  Italy  have  the  true  Presbyterian  spirit.  We  reason  in  this 
wise :  is  the  apostolic,  the  historical,  Waldensian  Church  doing  the 
work  of  the  Master  ?  Who  would  dare  to  say  no  ?  Is  the  Free  Chris- 
tian Church  of  Italy,  or  are  the  thousands  of  souls  who  have  been 
converted  through  the  instrumentality  of  that  Church,  doing  the 
work  of  the  Master  ?  Who  would  dare  to  say  no  ?  The  Wesleyan 
Church,  the  Baptist  Church — are  all  those  churches  doing  good,  and 
doing  the  work  of  the  Master  ?  Who  would  dare  say  no  ?  Then  I 
say  that  we,  as  Christian  ministers  and  believers  in  the  Son  of  God, 
being  fully  persuaded  that  those  churches  are  doing  the  work  of  the 
Master,  are  compelled  by  all  that  is  pure,  by  all  that  is  holy,  to 
take  them  by  the  hands,  and  to  say  to  them,  God  speed  you,  God 
bless  you.  The  man  who  is  not  ready  and  willing  to  take  any  of 
those  churches  by  the  hand,  and  to  call  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
them,  although  he  may  occupy  a  position  of  distinction,  although  he 
may  have  all  the  degrees  that  a  university  can  give  him,  is,  in  my 
humble  opinion,  very  small,  very  narrow,  right  here :  [Laying  his 
hand  upon  his  heart.] 

I  stand  here  and  plead  in  behalf  of  these  Free  Christian  Churches 
in  Italy,  and  ask  your  sympathy  and  your  prayers  and  your  active 
co-operation.  The  blessed  Book  says,  "The  poor  have  ye  always 
with  you."  The  brother  who  preceded  me  spoke  of  the  necessity  and 
wants  of  the  Moravian  Church.  Another  brother  spoke  of  the  wants 
and  necessities  of  the  Waldensian  Church.  But  the  poorest  church  in 
Italy  is  the  one  that  I  represent.  If  you  give  to  the  Moravian  Church 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  you  ought  to  be  able  to  give  to  the  Free 
Church  of  Italy  fifty  thousand  dollars.  It  is  the  poorest  Church  in 
Europe,  and  is  doing  as  much  good  as  any  Church  ever  planted  in 
that  land. 

I  desire  to  extend,  in  conclusion,  a  cordial  invitation  to.  you  to  go 
to  the  city  of  Rome,  to  hold  your  fourth  Assembly  in  the  eternal  city. 
The  Free  Christian  Church  in  Italy  is  ready  to  invite  you  to  come. 
The  objection  will  be  made  that  there  are  no  evangelical  churches 
large  enough  there  to  contain  these  brethren.  Will  you  let  me  go  on 
a  supposition  ?  By  the  time  that  this  Council  assembles,  for  the  fourth 
time,  we  hope  to  have  possession  of  St.  Peter's;  and  no  church  will 
be  more  commodious  than  that.  We  could  almost  admit  the  whole 
Presbyterian  city  of  Philadelphia  in  it,  without  going  to  the  expense 
and  trouble  of  issuing  tickets  of  admission.  Fifty  thousand  people 
can  be  easily  admitted  into  St.  Peter's.  And  as  to  the  hospitality 
that  the  Italians  will  offer,  every  one  of  you  can  be  accommodated  in 
the  Vatican,  for  it  has  over  eleven  thousand  rooms.  So  I  hope  you 
will  come  to  Rome. 


778  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

MISCELLANEOUS  DISCUSSION  ON  PAPERS. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Howie,  M.  A.,  of  Glasgow. — I  feel  it  diffi- 
cult to  say  in  five  minutes  all  I  would  like  to  say  on  the  subject 
of  city  evangelization.  However  I  rise  to  dissent  from  some 
views  that  were  expressed  in  two  of  the  papers  read  to  this 
Council,  the  paper  on  evangelization  (Dr.  Wilson's),  and  that  on 
church  life  and  church  order  (Dr.  Lang's).  If  I  understood 
those  views  aright  they  seem  to  imply  that  the  work  of  evan- 
gelization should  belong  to  a  certain  order  of  men  set  apart 
especially  for  the  purpose ;  and  that  it  did  not  belong  to  the 
ordinary  ministry  and  ordinary  members  of  the  Church.  While 
I  agree  with  the  speakers  that  there  are  men  who  ought  to  be 
set  apart  in  the  way  indicated,  still  I  believe  grievous  injury 
would  be  done  to  all  the  churches,  if  the  idea  should  go  abroad 
that  this  is  not  the  work  of  the  ordinary  ministry  and  ordinary 
membership  of  the  Church.  Indeed,  I  hold  that  we  cannot 
execute  our  commission  right  as  ministers  unless  we  are  not 
only  doing  evangelistic  work,  but  going  to  the  open  air  as  we 
get  opportunities  to  do  it. 

I  speak  on  this  matter  from  a  little  experience.  I  have  been 
for  twenty  years  at  this  work  on  the  Glasgow  Green  to  which 
Dr.  Lang  refers.  I  have" no  hesitation  in  saying  that  if  I  were 
to  give  up  this  department  of  my  work  I  would  be  doing  away 
with  that  which  has  been  the  most  productive  in  spiritual  results. 
The  command  is  to  go  out  to  the  highways  and  hedges  and  com- 
pel them  to  come  in,  and  if  ministers  are  to  lead  their  congrega- 
tions in  the  right  way  they  will  set  them  the  example  ;  if  we  are 
to  bridge  over  the  chasm  that  often  separates  our  ministers  and 
the  people,  we  will  do  this  kind  of  work.  If  we  go  to  the  open 
air  and  make  our  people  feel  that  we  can  expend  our  strength 
in  the  service  of  the  Master,  and  have  no  collection  and  no  pay 
for  it,  they  will  begin  to  feel  that  we  have  a  genuine  interest  in 
them,  and  in  that  way  we  will  get  at  those  who  will  not  come  to 
our  churches. 

Dr.  Knox  referred  to  the  Catholics  in  Ireland,  and  said  that 
we  could  not  get  at  them.  I  can  tell  him  that  this  is  the  way 
"we  get  at  Roman  Catholics  in  the  city  of  Glasgow ;  they  gather 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  779 

around  by  crowds ;  they  are  ready  to  listen,  and  many  of  them 
are  brought  under  the  power  of  the  truth. 

It  is  said  our  ministers  are  not  well  qualified  for  this  kind  of 
work.  If  not,  I  think  we  ought  to  get  them  qualified;  we  ought 
to  make  this  a  part  of  ministerial  training.  Perhaps  a  good  deal 
of  the  want  of  qualification  arises  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not 
attempted.  Down  in  the  Mammoth  cave  there  are  fishes  that 
have  no  eyes.  I  believe  all  religious  capacities  become  blunted 
through  disuse.  I  was  thrust  into  that  kind  of  work  in  my  third 
year  as  a  student  of  theology.  I  went  over  to  Ireland  in  1859 
with  some  prejudice  against  the  evangelistic  work;  anxious  to 
find  fault  with  it ;  but  somehow  I  got  a  baptism  of  fire  that  made 
me  feel  I  must  speak,  and  so  I  went  to  a  village  in  the  neigh- 
borhood and  began.  In  a  week  after  that  the  Spirit  of  God  came 
down  in  such  measure  that  we  conducted  our  meetings  night 
after  night  for  three  months,  and  until  I  went  to  my  last  session 
at  the  theological  hall  in  Edinburgh.  I  have  always  felt  that  the 
preparation  I  got  in  dealing  with  anxious  souls  during  those  three 
months  was  the  best  preparation  I  had  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

I  feel  that  pastors  have  another  advantage ;  they  will  be  much 
more  sober-minded  than  some  of  our  evangelists  in  dealing  with 
inquirers.  It  is  very  easy  for  an  evangelist  to  get  a  number  of 
people  of  all  sorts  of  temperaments  gathered  into  the  inquiry 
rooms,  and  then  tabulate  the  results  ;  but  he  does  not  know 
how  many  cases  turn  out  well.  We  on  the  spot  have  to  be  more 
cautious,  and  do  not  make  any  rash  statements  as  to  the  number 
converted. 

A  pastor  has  another  advantage  :  he  has  a  congregation  at  his 
back.  My  congregation  rejoice  in  being  associated  in  this 
work.  I  remember  down  in  Cornwall  being  interested  in  a 
peculiar  form  of  fishing  that  was  carried  on.  There  is  what  is 
called  a  large  seine-net  that  takes  in  a  great  compass  of  the  sea. 
They  go  out,  after  the  fish  are  gathered  into  that,  with  small 
boats  and  gather  up  the  fish  collected  in  this  way.  That  is  what 
my  office-bearers  and  members  of  the  church  are  doing.  They 
go  out  to  the  open  air  to  large  crowds  of  three  or  four  thou- 
sand.    They  are  on  the  lookout  for  people  that  seem  to  be  inter- 


78o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ested,  for  strangers,  and  they  put  their  hands  lovingly  on  their 
shoulders,  and  give  them  an  invitation  to  come  in.  We  do  not 
get  the  benefit  of  open-air  meetings  unless  we  have  an  after 
meeting  indoors ;  and  in  that  way  we  have  succeeded  in  gather- 
ing many  thousands  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Christian  Church. 

I  have  met  since  I  have  come  to  this  country,  since  I  have 
been  in  this  city,  not  a  few  who  have  told  me  of  those  meetings 
on  Glasgow  Green,  and  what  a  blessing  they  received  from  them. 
Some  of  them  are  elders  in  churches  in  this  country,  to-day.  If 
we  do  that  kind  of  work  I  am  sure  we  will  stir  up  our  people  to 
work  in  other  ways,  not  merely  in  the  open  air  but  by  territorial 
district  work,  so  that  we  will  be  able  to  get  at  the  population  of 
our  large  cities.  We  must  have  our  cities  mapped  out ;  we  must 
have  every  district  visited  weekly  ;  we  should  have  district  meet- 
ings from  week  to  week  conducted  by  the  people  in  our  churches; 
and  if  there  are  those  in  the  congregation  who  cannot  do  this, 
we  ought  to  encourage  them  at  least  to  bring  out  the  care- 
less and  the  Christless  to  the  meeting.  I  remember  a  man  tell- 
ing me  he  used  to  get  a  shilling  a  day  for  raising  the  game,  and, 
says  he,  since  I  have  been  brought  to  Christ  I  feel  that  that  is 
my  work — I  should  raise  the  game.  I  believe  our  general 
preaching  will  be  helped  if  we  go  to  the  open  air. 

Henry  Day,  Esq.,  of  New  York. — I  believe,  as  I  judge  from 
what  I  have  seen  in  the  north,  that  the  first  great  difficulty  in 
reaching  our  people  is  to  get  them  into  the  churches.  We  can 
get  churches  enough,  and  schools  enough,  if  the  people  would 
only  come.  I  believe,  after  consultation  with  some  of  the  best 
workers,  that  the  means  by  which  we  shall  accomplish  this  is 
through  the  women  of  the  church.  Send  out  the  women  as 
Bible  readers  during  the  week,  and  they  will  bring  the  people 
in.  I  protest  against  the  idea  of  converting  the  worst  class 
of  people  in  our  community  by  the  most  inefficient  means. 
It  has  got  to  be  a  practice,  if  you  want  to  work  among  the 
poor  and  degraded,  to  send  out  a  man  who  has  no  experi- 
ence, a  man  who  has  just  come  out  of  a  theological  seminary, 
or  a  man  who  has  no  training ;  he  is  good  enough  for  that  work 
it  is  thought — evidently  the  most  difficult  work  in  the  church 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  781 

to  do.  What  I  say  the  church  is  bound  to  do  is  this:  set  apart 
your  best  men  for  this  work ;  continue  those  men  in  that  work 
as  their  life-work,  and  do  not,  when  they  show  capacity  for 
preaching,  and  for  influencing  large  multitudes,  take  them  away 
and  give  them  to  a  rich  audience.  Let  these  men  consecrate 
themselves  to  the  work  for  their  life,  when  they  show  the 
capacity  for  it,  and  depend  upon  it  you  will  accomplish  a  work 
in  the  large  cities  of  the  country  that  never  has  been  done. 

Our  friend.  Dr.  Knox,  that  venerable  father  in  the  Church, 
stood  up  here  the  other  day,  and  read  a  paper  on  Ireland ;  and 
he  seemed  to  me  like  Jeremiah  weeping  over  the  desolation  of 
Jerusalem.  We  almost  wept  with  him.  There  is  that  island, 
not  so  very  small,  the  gem  of  the  sea,  bound  to  us  by  ties 
the  most  tender  of  all  in  the  world,  and  oppressed  as  no  nation 
under  heaven  is.  It  appeals  to  us.  It  is  sunken  in,  I  was  going 
to  say,  barbarism.  I  beg  pardon  for  the  word,  but  I  have  been 
from  north  to  south  in  Ireland,  and  in  the  south  of  Ireland  I 
have  seen  absolute  barbarism.  The  people  are  oppressed 
probably  by  the  land  laws,  those  cast-iron  laws  that  came  down 
from  the  feudal  ages,  which  cannot  be  or  have  not  been  changed 
as  yet.  But  the  great  oppressor  of  Ireland  is  the  spiritual 
oppressor.  It  is  Rome  whose  stalking  ghost  you  have  seen 
brought  up  before  you  from  every  country  in  Europe  as  being 
the  oppressor  of  the  people.  This  country  is  indebted  to  Ireland. 
We  could  not  get  on,  we  could  not  carry  on  the  works  of 
America,  we  could  not  print  our  newspapers  one  week,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  Irish.  We  cannot  build  a  railroad  in  this  country, 
we  cannot  build  a  church,  we  cannot  build  a  canal,  we  cannot 
get  our  dinner  here,  without  the  Irish.  That  is  no  joke,  it  is  the 
truth.  Some  of  the  best  blood  of  this  country,  some  of  the 
brightest  ornaments  of  the  Church,  have  come  from  the  north 
of  Ireland.  By  every  tie  we  are  bound  to  it.  It  is  a  shame  to 
the  Protestant  world  that  a  country  so  near  to  England,  and 
ufider  the  shadow  of  its  flag,  under  the  government  of  the  Queen 
of  Great  Britain,  is  oppressed,  degraded,  ignorant  and  starving. 
How  can  they  help  it  ?  Let  me  add  one  practical  word.  Talk- 
ing  and    not   acting  in  anything  is  of  no  account,      I   asked 


782  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

brother  Knox  what  he  wanted  to  have  done.  Said  he,  we  have 
a  large  institution  that  sends  colporteurs  all  over  Ireland;  if  you 
could  help  us  to  support  these  colporteurs,  to  distribute  books 
and  send  men  among  these  people,  you  would  do  a  vast  deal  of 
good  for  Ireland,  Ask  these  brethren  from  Ireland  how  you 
can  help  them,  and  then  render  them  material  aid, 

George  Smith,  Esq.,  LL.  D.,  of  Edinburgh, — This  seems  a 
proper  time  to  allude  to  a  question  which  does  not  find  its 
place  nominally  on  the  programme  of  business  at  this  stage,  but 
which  nevertheless  has  underlain  many  of  the  papers  to  a  large 
extent,  and  especially  the  subject  of  evangelization,  which  we  are 
now  discussing.  The  work  of  the  Church,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad,  can  be  done  only  through  two  agencies :  one  of  these 
agencies,  the  great  agent,  which  is  preaching  the  word  of  God 
through  the  pulpit,  has  been  somewhat  fully  discussed,  and  will 
be  still  more  so  in  this  Council.  The  other  agency  is  unhappily, 
to  a  large  extent,  abandoned  altogether  by  the  Church,  so  that 
I  may  say  there  has  been,  in  the  history  of  Presbyterianism  and 
of  the  Church  at  large,  a  divorce  between  it  and  evangelical 
religion  :  I  refer  to  the  newspaper  press. 

Presbyterianism  can  point  to  its  triumphs  in  some  departments 
of  literature,  and  hold  its  own  with  any  other  system  of  ecclesi- 
asticism.  But  to  the  press,  and  especially  to  the  daily  press,  I 
wish  for  a  moment  to  direct  attention  in  order  that  this  Council 
may  if  possible,  at  its  next  meeting,  consider  whether  this  divorce 
exists,  and  how  it  is  to  be  removed,  and  the  press  become  the 
handmaid  of  evangelism,  instead  of  being,  as  it  is  too  often,  its 
foe  and  its  opponent. 

The  Church  of  Christ,  and  the  Presbyterian  Church,  have 
certainly  their  church  organs,  I  do  not  refer  to  these.  It  is 
necessary,  for  business  purposes  and  ecclesiastical  purposes,  that: 
all  missionary  societies  and  churches  should  have  organs  to 
some  extent — newspapers  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  to 
the  members,  and  to  the  subscribers,  the  work  that  is  being  done. 
In  passing  I  would  merely  say,  first,  that  it  is  a  proper  subject 
for  inquiry,  whether  the  various  official  publications  of  the 
churches  which  form  the  Alliance  are  read;  and,  secondly,  if 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  783 

they  are  not  read,  or  not  read  as  they  ought  to  be,  the  suspicion 
that  I  think  many  of  us  entertain  is,  to  put  it  very  frankly,  that 
they  are  not  readable.  And  the  question  should  be  whether 
they  might  not  be  made  much  more  readable. 

There  is  a  class  of  literature,  in  which  you  in  this  country  are 
very  happy — what  may  be  called,  in  vague  language,  church 
newspapers.  My  experience,  as  a  literary  man,  of  church  news- 
papers for  the  last  twenty  years  has  been  most  painful.  As  a 
rule  a  church  newspaper  in  our  country  is  an  abomination.  It 
is  an  exponent  of  sectarianism ;  it  is  deficient  in  charity ;  it  is 
too  often  marked  by  an  absence  of  culture.  What  we  call 
church  newspapers,  so  far  as  you  have  them  in  this  country, 
seem  to  me  admirable.  From  the  Atlantic  to  San  Francisco  and 
back  again,  I  have  read  every  possible  American  newspaper, 
church  or  secular,  that  I  could  lay  my  hands  upon.  I  have  been 
struck  with  the  superiority  of  the  newspaper  with  which  you 
yourself,  I  believe,  are  connected,  and  the  other  newspapers  of  the 
same  class  that  bring  into  your  homes  and  families,  not  only- 
religious  instruction,  but  secular  instruction  in  a  religious  spirit. 

How  is  the  modern  daily  newspaper  to  be  conducted  in  a 
Christian  spirit  so  as  to  be  the  handmaid  I  do  not  say  of  the 
Church  but  of  Christianity,  or,  at  least,  to  be  its  ally  and  its 
friend?  I  believe  that  the  problem  is  not  insoluble.  It  has 
been  solved  in  one  or  two  remarkable  instances.  Hugh  Miller 
solved  it  in  Scotland  in  the  "  Witness  "  newspaper.  They  solved 
it  in  India  in  the  newspaper  known  for  thirty  or  forty  years  as 
the  "  Friend  of  India."  And  I  know  of  one  newspaper  in 
Europe  which,  though  not  altogether  evangelistic,  stands  alone 
in  its  support  of  Christianity ;  in  its  support  of  intuitional  phi- 
losophy ;  in  its  support  of  spiritual  truth  against  political  cor- 
ruption, against  conservative  reaction,  against  the  materialistic 
and  agnostic  tendencies  of  the  present  day.  Our  lawyers,  our 
journalists,  and  our  professional  classes  know  the  service  that 
that  newspaper  has  rendered  to  Christianity,  though  not  always, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  to  its  evangelical  side.  It  was  the  one 
cultured  newspaper  in  the  whole  of  Europe  that  understood 
the  North,  and  that  expressed  the  views  of  the  North  during 


784  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

that  great  civil  war  in  which  you  estabhshed  Hberty  for  the 
slaves. 

Now,  how  is  this  problem  to  be  solved,  you  ask  ?  That 
would  lead  one  too  far  into  details,  and  into  questions  that  refer 
to  professional  matters  connected  with  newspapers.  They  are 
not  for  discussion  in  a  Council  like  this.  But  I  will  say  plainly 
that  it  is  not  to  be  solved  by  rich  men  establishing  committees 
and  boards  of  directors,  and  by  such  men  managing  newspapers. 
Next  to  the  church  newspaper,  in  our  sectarian  sense,  I  know 
nothing  worse  than  newspapers  managed  by  committees,  whether 
•ecclesiastical  or  secular,  whether  managed  in  the  interest  of  po- 
litical or  ecclesiastical  parties.  Newspapers  must  grow.  They 
must  be  individual  property.  They  must  be  directed  by  indi- 
vidual minds,  and  not  be  interfered  with,  as  I  am  sorry  to  say 
Hugh  Miller  was  in  his  management  of  the  great  "  Witness  " 
newspaper. 

I  think  of  two  ways  in  which  this  divorce  between  evangel- 
ism and  the  press  can  be  removed.  First,  where  Christian  men 
are  conducting  a  daily  newspaper — for  I  speak  here  of  the  daily 
newspapers — it  would  be  well  that  something  of  the  assistance, 
the  wealth,  if  you  choose  to  call  it,  of  our  churches,  or  of  our 
wealthy  men  should  go  to  the  support  and  encouragement  of 
such  enterprises.  As  between  five  thousand  dollars  given  to 
any  one  of  the  schemes  of  the  churches,  and  five  thousand  dol- 
lars spent  in  the  encouragement,  in  the  extension,  in  the  im- 
provement, of  a  good  secular  newspaper,  commend  me  to  the 
latter.  I  would  draw  the  attention  of  men  of  wealth  in  this 
country,  as  well  as  at  home,  and  in  our  great  cities,  to  the  power 
of  the  press.  I  would  ask  them  to  study  it  for  themselves,  ac- 
cording to  its  local  condition,  and  to  ask  themselves  how  they 
can,  without  for  a  moment  breathing  even  upon  its  independ- 
ence, direct  a  daily  newspaper  to  the  one  idea  of  conducting  its 
enterprise  in  a  Christian  spirit,  and  to  the  subsidiary  point  of 
giving  just  as  fair  play  to  ecclesiastical  events  as  it  gives  to  po- 
litical parties  and  to  secular  occurrences.  The  second  way  in 
which  I  think  this  divorce  between  ecclesiasticism  and  the  press 
can  be  removed,  is  by  the  leaders  of  our  churches,  by  the  men 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  7S5 

who  fill  our  pulpits  with  most  power,  becoming  acquainted  with, 
and  making  friends  of,  and  moving  in  intimate  connection  with, 
the  leaders  of  the  press.  After  all,  churches  and  newspapers 
are  conducted  by  men  ;  and  the  wisest  ecclesiastics  I  have  known 
are  men  who  have  felt  the  power  of  the  press,  and  formed  inti- 
mate friendship  with  Christian  men  in  the  press;  who  have  encour- 
aged journalists  ;  who  have  taken  every  opportunity  to  influence 
them ;  who  have  drawn  them  to  the  pulpits  on  Sunday,  and 
who,  in  a  perfectly  legitimate  and  independent  manner,  have 
preached  through  them  to  a  far  larger  mass  of  readers  than  we 
ever  got  into  our  churches. 

The  Rev.  W.  E.  Boggs,  D.  D.,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia. — I  rise 
by  the  request  of  my  friend  and  co-delegate  from  the  Southern 
Church,  Rev.  Dr.  Witherspoon,  to  speak  in  regard  to  his  paper 
which  was  read  the  other  day.  Remarks  were  made  of  a  very 
kind  and  pleasing  nature,  so  far  as  their  tone  and  temper  were 
concerned,  by  brethren  of  the  Council ;  but  after  the  meeting 
was  over  they  seemed  to  express  some  disagreement  with  re- 
gard to  the  scope  of  the  paper.  I  desire  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  brother  Witherspoon,  in  the  beginning  of  what  he  said, 
informed  you  that,  of  course,  a  subject  so  vast  ia  its  extent  as 
the  great  doctrine  of  future  retribution,  could  not  be  entirely 
handled  in  thirty  minutes  ;  and,  therefore,  that,  without  for  one 
moment  throwing  any  shadow  of  doubt  upon  other  lines  of  ar- 
gument, he  would  chiefly  confine  himself  to  one  point — an  expo- 
sition of  the  scriptural  words  upon  which  the  Christian  Church 
bases  her  views  of  that  solemn  and  awful  subject.  Of  course, 
in  thirty  minutes  he  had  his  choice  either  to  have  run  very  su- 
perficially and  hastily  over*  great  number  of  lines,  and  said  no 
more  than  we  all  could  have  said  upon  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
shedding  no  light  upon  the  criticism  of  the  doctrine;  or  he  had, 
in  the  limits  assigned  him,  to  choose  one  word  and  that  the  key- 
word in  the  New  Testament,  and  expend  all  his  force  in  the  ex- 
position of  that. 

A  leading  newspaper  of  this  country,  as  I  understand,  re- 
marked that  it  felt  itself  perfectly  safe  to  predict  that  the  paper 
which  was  called  for  by  the  programme  on  that  subject,  would 
50 


786  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLL4NCE. 

be  duly  delivered  to  the  Council,  and  then,  with  most  commend- 
able prudence,  that  the  members  of  this  body  would  not  dare  to 
open  their  mouths  on  the  subject.  Now,  we  do  not  propose  to  ac- 
cept challenges.  We  do  not  wish  to  bandy  words  with  anybody  ; 
but  the  respected  gentlemen  who  thus  took  the  sentiments,  as 
they  thought,  of  this  Council,  I  am  sure  are  entirely  misinformed. 
There  is  none  of  us  that  wish  to  rush  hastily  upon  that  solemn 
and  awful  theme.  I  am  sure  that  all  preachers  of  the  gospel  feci 
something  of  the  spirit  of  Payson,  when  he  said  that  when  a 
man  preaches  upon  this  doctrine  he  should  do  it  most  tenderly, 
because  it  may  be  that  he  foretells  his  own  future  fate.  Yet  it  is 
right  that,  in  this  brief  way,  we  should  say  to  the  world  that  the 
Presbyterian  Church  has  never,  in  regard  to  this,  changed  from 
the  position  in  which  she  has  stood  for  all  the  years  of  her  history. 
We  hold  that  the  faithful  exposition  of  the  word  of  God  brings 
out  that  truth.  We  hold  that  the  gentle  Jesus,  who  wept  tears 
of  deep  and  holy  pity  on  the  thought  of  the  ruin  that  men  were 
bringing  upon  themselves,  was  himself  the  greatest  expositor  of 
this  solemn  and  awful  doctrine.  We  hold  that  a  careful  exposi- 
tion of  the  relation  between  the  redeeming  work  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  future,  world,  results  in  an  utter  dissipation  of  that  mist 
and  dust  which  hold  up  the  hope  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  offered  to  men  in  the  future  world,  and  that  if  a  man  dies 
in  his  sin,  God  has  made  an  arrangement  to  purge  that  sin  after- 
wards. Sorrow  cannot  do  it;  pain  cannot  do  it;  except  the 
sorrow  and  the  pain  that  were  borne  by  the  Lamb  of  God 
upon  the  cross  of  Calvary.  Therefore,  as  honest  men  and 
faithful  preachers  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  trembling  our- 
selves before  the  awful  judgment  bar  of  God,  we  hold  to  that 
standard  of  ancient  truth,  and  tell  men  to  beware  of  that  fire 
that  burns  forever  and  ever. 

.  The  Rev.  John  Jameson,  of  Madrid,  Spain. — I  am  sorry  to 
interrupt  what  might  perhaps  have  been  an  animated  discussion. 
But  with  reference  to  the  missionary  co-operation  which  has 
been  referred  to  several  times,  I  would  like  to  lay  before  the 
Council  the  fact  in  regard  to  our  Church  in  Spain.  I  stand  here 
eminently  a  representative,  not  only  of  co-operation,  but  of  in- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  i^i 

corporation.  In  Spain  we  have  not  only  incorporated,  so  to 
speak,  the  churches,  but  the  nationalities.  In  our  little  Spanish 
Church,  which  comprises  only  about  sixteen  pastors  and  four  or 
five  evangelists,  we  have  representatives  of  Scotch,  Irish,  Swiss, 
French,  German,  and  American  Presbyterians,  and  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  and  Free  Churches  of  Scotland,  all  working  in  most 
intimate  and  harmonious  union.  We  have  our  confession  of  faith 
made  by  natives  and  foreigners.  I  ought  to  have  added  that  the 
foreigners  are  only  perhaps  one-third,  certainly  not  more  than 
one-half,  of  the  element  in  the  Church.  We  have  as  many  and 
perhaps  more  native  pastors  than  we  have  foreiga  missionaries. 

The  question  has  never  come  up,  in  any  great  degree,  of  the 
difference  between  native  pastors  and  foreign  missionaries.  We 
all  have  the  same  status,  and  those  depending  upon  the  Churches 
in  Scotland,  Ireland  and  Germany,  have  no  difficulty  in  associat- 
ing ourselves  in  working  with  the  native  missionaries  and  pastors 
in  Spain. 

So  much  is  the  spirit  abroad  in  Spain  that  in  the  city  of 
Barcelona  we  have  an  illustration  of  a  still  more  intimate  union. 
The  pastors  there,  the  Swiss  Presbyterian  pastors,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  the  representatives  of 
the  Plymouth  Brethren  organization,  hold  what  might  be  called 
a  Presbytery  in  the  city  of  Barcelona.  In  Madrid  also  we  are 
able  to  point  to  a  union,  not  only  in  our  own  Christian  Church, 
but  in  the  Baptist  and  Episcopalian  Church.  Our  congregations 
there,  whether  they  be  Episcopalian,  or  Baptist,  or  Presbyterian, 
know  no  difference  in  the  outward  appearance  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  In  May,  of  this  year,  there  was  brought  up  for  the  con- 
sideration of  our  Assembly  a  motion  to  promote  union,  which  I 
most  respectfully  submit  to  the  Council  as  perhaps  contributing 
something  towards  the  solution  of  the  question  of  co-opera- 
tion among  missionaries.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  August  num- 
ber of  the  "  Catholic  Presbyterian,"  and  is  as  follows : 

"  l"he  General  Assembly  of  the  Church,  while  adhering  to  and  up- 
holding, as  in  their  eyes  pure  and  scriptural,  their  accepted  standards, 
and  desirous  of  maintaining  them  in  practice  as  heretofore,  do  recog- 
nize the  duty  of  providing  for  practical   union  with   the  brethren  in 


788  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  Lord,  who  are  vigorously  and  effectively  fighting  the  same  battle 
as  they  in  other  parts  of  Spain,  but  who,  while  desirous  of  co-operat- 
ing and  taking  counsel  with  this  church,  cannot  in  conscience  unite 
in  her  organization  and  discipline. 

"And  they  decree,  that  henceforward  the  Spanish  Christian  Church, 
continuing  in  all  things  unchanged  in  her  relation  to  those  who  accept 
her  standards,  do  receive  as  brethren  and  fellow-counsellors,  on  their 
regular  application  and  admission,  all  those  recognized  laborers  in  the 
Lord's  vineyard  in  Spain,  who  are  at  one  with  her  in  faith  and  doc- 
trine; taking  counsel  with  them  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  cause  of  Christ  in  Spain,  and  in  their  own  individual 
spheres  of  labor,  inviting  them  as  members,  with  all  the  privileges  ex- 
cepting that  of  voting  on  matters  on  which  they  do  not  submit  to  be 
governed,  to  all  ordinary  and  extraordinary  meetings  of  the  Presby- 
teries within  their  districts,  and  to  the  General  Assemblies. 

"And  the  United  Council  reserves  to  itself  the  power  of  suspending 
or  excluding  from  membership  any  one  who  may  be  proved  unworthy 
of  fellowship  with  the  body." 

All  other  missionaries  in  Spain  have  signified  their  desire  and 
willingness  to  co-operate  with  us  in  this  way ;  so  that  I  believe 
ere  long  we  shall  be  able  to  present  not  only  to  the  Presbyterian 
world,  but  to  the  whole  Christian  world,  the  spectacle  of  a  body 
of  missionaries  uniting  under  the  same  banner  and  on*  the  same 
basis. 

The  spirit  of  Presbyterianispi  has  so  entered  into  the  evan- 
gelical work  of  Spain  that  the  new  Episcopal  Church,  which, 
has  been  organized  within  the  last  year  or  two,  is  entirely  Pres- 
byterian in  its  organization,  with  the  exception  of  what  we  would 
call  permanent  moderator,  the  pastors  and  the  elders  represent- 
ing their  churches  in  the  Synod,  and  the  Synod  electing  their 
board  of  bishops :  the  only  difference  being  that  the  moderator 
is  a  permanent  officer. 

The  Rev.  James  M.  Rogers,  of  Londonderry,  Ireland. — I  am 
not  the  principal  of  a  great  educational  establishment;  I  am  not 
a  professor  of  theology  ;  I  am  not  even  a  doctor  of  divinity  ;  I  am 
only  a  wild  Irishman  caught  the  other  day ;  and,  in  connection 
with  the  question  of  Ireland,  I  have  a  few  ideas  to  express.  I 
have  been  filled  everywhere  I  have  gone  with  an  unspeakable 
astonishment.  Everybody  seems  to  think  that  he  understands 
the  Irish  question,  and  that  the  Irish  people,  of  all  others  in  the 
whole  world,  are  the  people  that  know  nothing  about  it.     The 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  ■      7 89 

Council  was  at  a  very  serious  loss,  because  I  could  not  pluck  up 
my  courage  to  address  it  when  the  question  of  the  working 
classes  and  Christianity  was  under  discussion ;  for  that  touches 
the  Irish  question  very  closely.  Equally  at  a  loss  was  the  Council 
because  I  did  not  say  anything  about  Christianity  and  politics  ; 
for  that  touches. the  Irish  question  closely, 

I  would  be  glad  if  you  would  give  me  half  an  hour  to  expatiate 
upon  this  question  in  a  way  that  would  electrify  the  assem- 
bly, and  communicate  a  fund  of  information  to  certain  blind 
understandings  who  know  nothing  whatever  on  the  subject, 
though  they  are  perfectly  complacent  as  if  they  understood  all 
about  it. 

The  first  thing  that  ought  to  be  said  in  connection  with  this 
Irish  question  is,  that  with  the  Irish  Presbyterians  the  Council 
is  perfectly  satisfied.  Secondly,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that,  with 
the  various  branches  of  the  Protestant  Church,  the  Council 
might  be  moderately  well  satisfied.  It  must  be  acknowledged, 
although  I  am  a  pretty  staid  Presbyterian,  that  there  is  a  won- 
derful amount  of  good  in  the  Irish  Episcopal  Church,  and  a 
great  amount  of  evangelism  in  it.  But  there  are  some  who  go 
about  the  country,  wherever  they  can  find  a  footing,  and  cover 
the  walls  with  posters,  offering  a  thousand  pounds  for  a  text  of 
Scripture  for  instance  that  will  prove  the  immaculate  conception, 
or  that  there  is  a  purgatory;  and  most  offensively  hurling 
anathemas  in  the  face  of  everybody  that  differs  from  them. 
Although  Luther  and  John  Knox  spoke  in  terms  of  considerable 
strength,  terms  such  as  these  are  not  the  ones  to  use  if  you 
want  to  get  close  to  a  man's  heart.  Irish  Roman  Catholics  have 
never  got  into  terms  of  familiarity  with  anybody  who  begins 
first  by  knocking  them  down  and  then  kicking  them.  We  have 
an  organization  called  the  Orange  Institution,  and  the  best  word 
it  has  for  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  "to  hell  with 
the  pope  ;  "  and  that  is  supposed  in  certain  circles  to  be  a  display 
of  great  piety,  and  singularly  illustrative  of  the  spirit  that  was  in 
Christ ! 

The  Irish  Roman  Catholic  community  is,  in  a  certain  sense, 
the  most  religious  community  in  Ireland.     There  is  not  a  soli- 


7;o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tary  community  in  Ireland  whose  members  attend  upon  the 
ordinances  of  its  own  Church  as  does  the  community  we  call 
Roman  Catholic.  Want  of  shoes,  want  of  stockings,  does  not 
keep  any  Roman  Catholic  woman  from  her  place  of  worship  on 
the  Sabbath.  When  the  clouds  stream  all  about  with  rain,  and 
our  Protestant  sensibilities  are  so  solemnly  affected  that  we 
retire  to  the  secrecy  of  our  own  fireside,  and,  with  our  feet  com- 
fortably on  the  fender,  spend  all  the  morning  talking  about  the 
ordinary  gossip  of  the  times,  or  perhaps  reading  the  newspapers, 
the  Roman  Catholic  community,  in  spite  of  wind  and  water,  are 
found  on  their  knees  in  the  sacred  precincts  where  they  expect 
the  mercy  of  God  to  be  attained  by  them.  It  is  utterly  prepos- 
terous, and  worse  than  preposterous,  for  it  entails  upon  us  a  vast 
amount  of  contempt  where  it  would  be  well  that  we  should 
receive  respectful  consideration,  for  people  to  go  on  expatiating 
about  the  irreligiousness  of  Roman  Catholics,  As  they  under- 
stand religion,  they  are  more  religious  than  we  are,  man  for 
man. 

Further,  your  newspapers,  in  a  very  sensational  manner,  com- 
municate to  the  general  public  the  fact  that  some  landlord  has 
been  killed,  with  six  or  eight  fatal  wounds  in  his  body.  Well, 
I  dare  not  make  merry  over  a  transaction  of  that  kind  which 
does  sometimes  occur.  But  I  maintain  this,  in  the  face  of  this 
Council,  and  in  virtue  of  the  most  abundant  evidence,  that  there 
is  not  a  country,  which  sends  representatives  to  this  Coun- 
cil, as  free  from  crime  as  Ireland.  Let  me  bear  this  testimony. 
You  talk  of  female  virtue.  The  opposite  is  unknown  in  Roman 
Catholic  Ireland ;  and  it  is  unknown  in  spite  of  difficulties  to  the 
contrary,  which  I  dare  not  here  dwell  upon,  partly  because  I  do 
not  want  to  waste  the  time,  and  partly  because  it  would  involve 
statements  too  painful  to  be  made ;  but  that  virtue  stands 
immaculate,  unimpeachcd,  and  unimpeachable. 

Edmund  Archibald  Stuart-Gray,  Esq.,  of  Perthshire,  Scot- 
land.— In  the  absence  of  Dr.  Adams,  of  Glasgow,  the  active  and 
indefatigable  convener  of  our  Home  Mission,  who  at  the  very 
last  moment,  after  having  made  every  arrangement,  was  pre- 
vented from  undertaking  the  voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  and  in 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  791 

the  silence  of  my  co-representative,  I  as  a  member  of  the  Home 
Mission  Committee,  and  also  engaged  in  the  Colporteur's  Society 
in  Scotland,  would  venture  to  say  a  word  or  two  on  the  sub- 
jects touched  upon  in  the  papers  read  regarding  evangelization 
and  home  mission  work  in  the  populous  cities  and  the  rural 
districts  of  our  country. 

Mr.  Howie,  of  Glasgow,  has  alluded  to  the  work  in  the  larger 
cities.  I  would  venture  to  suggest  two  questions  which  touch 
the  matter  in  a  practical  point  of  view.  As  this  is  a  meeting  for 
comparing  notes  one  with  another,  in  regard  to  the  agencies 
carried  on  by  representatives  of  the  Church  in  different  coun- 
tries, I  think  it  will  come  within  the  limits  of  our  discussion. 
As  regards  the  Americans,  I  would  ask  them,  How  do  they 
carry  on  mission  work  and  evangelistic  work  among  those  who 
are  engaged  in  the  coal  and  oil  regions  ?  I  would  then  ask  our 
Canadian  brethren,  how  they  are  able  to  reach  the  dwellers  in 
the  thinly  peopled  districts  and  counties,  the  farm  servants,  and 
others  engaged  in  agricultural  operations  ?  These  are  very 
fitting  subjects  to  hear  one  or  two  words  upon  before  this  meet- 
ing closes. 

They  will,  perhaps,  ask  us  the  question.  What  are  you  doing 
in  Scotland  }  In  reply,  I  would  refer  to  the  work  carried  on  by 
Home  Missions :  giving  grants  to  territorial  missions,  carrying 
on  the  operations  m  the  mining  and  rural  districts,  and  that  done 
by  the  Mining  Committee  intrusted  with  the  work  among  the 
miners.  Then  we  have  in  the  large  towns  grants  to  congrega- 
tional work,  territorial  missions,  to  which  a  certain  sum  is 
allowed.  I  then  refer  to  the  Highlands,  which  I  think  have 
not  been  mentioned,  where  the  people  are  as  devoted  to 
Presbyterianism  as  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Cate- 
chists  and  students  are  employed  to  carry  on  the  work,  and 
mission  services  and  addresses  are  made  in  the  Gaelic  language. 
The  work  among  our  fishermen  is  carried  on  by  evangelists 
sent  especially  to  them.  I  would  refer  also  to  the  work  in  the 
form  of  colportage  in  the  rural  districts.  These  are  the  agencies 
we  are  employing.  We  are  not  satisfied  with  what  we'  have 
done,  but  at  the  same  time  we  are  receiving  very  encouraging 


792  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

reports ;  and  these  are  the  means  of  bringing  in   many  to  the 
Church. 

Nearly  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  rural  districts  in  Scotland  are 
Presbyterians ;  but  we  find  many  of  the  upper  classes  are  leaving 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  going  over  to  the  Episcopal 
Church.  Methodism  does  not  thrive  with  us  in  our  north- 
ern districts  of  Great  Britain,  although  it  has  great  weight  and 
influence  in  the  southern  and  mining  districts  of  Wales  and 
Cornwall. 

The  Rev.  D.  J.  Macdonnell,  B.  D.,  of  Toronto. — Every  man 
seems  to  take  up  the  subject  nearest  his  own  heart  or  thought 
this  morning.  I  should  like  to  say  a  few  things  about  the 
excellent  address  given  by  Mr.  Dodge  on  a  very  imi:ortant 
practical  question — that  of  temperance,  or  rather,  that  of  total 
abstinence. 

1st.  He  ought  to  distinguish  between  those  two  things — tem- 
perance and  total  abstinence.  They  are  not  synonymous.  Some 
of  us  think  that  it  is  a  better  thing  that  a  man  should  be  trained 
to  self-control — that  is,  temperance — than  that  he  should  be  kept 
from  drunkenness  by  compulsory  abstinence,  which  is  the 
meaning  of  prohibition. 

.  2d.  We  ought  to  distinguish  between  two  kinds  of  self-denial : 
self-denial  as  a  law  of  the  daily  life  on  the  one  hand,  and  self- 
denial  for  the  gaining  of  a  specific  object,  in  a  particular  case,  on 
the  other.  I  honor  the  men  who  think  they  are  under  obliga- 
tion to  cut  off  the  right  hand  and  do  without  it  all  their  life  long, 
for  fear  that  somebody  should  use  that  right  hand  wrongly ;  but 
I  think  for  myself  that  a  man  is  not  called  on  by  the  Lord  to  cut 
off  his  right  hand,  excepting  under  very  exceptional  circum- 
stances. In  other  words,  I  think  that  what  the  Lord  means  us 
to  do  is  to  be  ready  to  deny  ourselves  utterly  for  the  gaining  or 
saving  of  a  brother,  but  not  to  be  called  on  to  deny  ourselves 
and  maim  ourselves,  either  physically  or  intellectually  or  so- 
cially, as  a  law  of  our  daily  and  continuous  life.  Paul  said  :  "  If 
meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat."  Don't 
you  -suppose  Paul  kept  on  eating  meat?  Of  course  he  did. 
You  don't  imagine  he  became  a  vegetarian  from  the  time  he 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  793 

wrote  that  sentence  ?  It  was  only  when  it  was  going  to  tempt 
some  brother  in  some  particular  case  that  Paul  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  do  without  meat ;  and  some  of  us  think  that  that  is  the 
right  principle  on  which  we  ought  to  do  without  our  wine. 

3d.  It  is  wise  to  distinguish  between  good  liquor  and  bad ;  I 
think  it  is  good  to  distinguish,  for  example,  between  fermented 
liquors  on  one  hand,  and  spirituous  liquors  on  the  other.  I  think 
it  is  wise  to  distinguish,  according  to  the  testimony  of  medical 
men  competent  to  testify,  between  fermented  liquors  which  have 
one  sort  of  effect,  and  spirituous  liquors  which  have  another  sort 
of  effect  on  the  human  system.  And  moreover  I  think  it  wise 
to  distinguish  between  good  wine  on  the  one  hand,  and  poison 
on  the  other ;  and  if  your  friend  offers  you  poison  at  his  table 
you  are  not  under  obligations  to  take  it. 

4th.  I  think  we  ought  to  consider  whether  positive  institutions 
for  the  promotion  of  temperance  are  not  better  than  mere  pro- 
hibition. By  positive  institutions,  I  mean  such  things  as  coffee- 
houses and  things  associated  with  coffee-houses,  where  you  give 
men  good  things  to  eat  and  drink.  I  don't  object  if  you  give 
them  lager  beer — I  personally  do  not  object  to  that ;  but  I  main- 
tain, in  the  long  run,  more  good  will  be  done  by  these  positive 
counteracting  agents  than  merely  by  the  cry  of  prohibition.  In 
other  words,  I  believe  that  with  Paul  we  are  to  overcome  evil 
with  good  ;  not  simply  by  denouncing  the  evil.  It  is  surely  de- 
sirable to  put  temperance  work  on  such  a  broad  basis  that 
temperance  men  can  cheerfully  work  along  with  total  abstainers. 
Dr.  Howard  Crosby  can  tell  you  all  about  that. 

The  Rev.  W.  U.  Murkland,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore. — It  was  the 
remark  of  Goethe,  that  the  great  benefit  of  history  is  to  incite 
enthusiasm.  I  speak  these  few  words  in  regard  to  the  great 
subject  which  has  been  so  ably  treated — the  Church  in  relation 
to  the  evangelizing  of  the  masses  at  home.  We  have  in  this 
great  assembly  traced  the  Church  back  in  an  unbroken  line  to 
the  Father  of  the  faithful,  and  have  proved  our  pedigree  for 
4,000  years  to  be  unsullied.  But  in  this  work  of  home  evangeli- 
zation we  do  not  need  to  go  further  than  eighteen  Christian 
centuries,  and  there  stands  he  whom  we  worship,  and  who  said, 


794  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

"As  the  Fathar  has  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you."  When  he 
was  on  earth  he  looked  at  the  masses  and  he  wept;  and  then 
when  he  came  near  to  a  poor,  pitiful  one,  he  touched  him.  In 
these  two  great  principles,  of  personal  sympathy  and  personal 
contact  we  have  the  secret  of  the  grandest  success  in  our  home 
mission  work :  touch  the  masses  ;  speak  to  them  in  the  love  and 
sympathy  of  Christ,  and  the  spirit  and  the  power  of  Christ  shall 
accompany  us. 

We  all  remember,  in  the  story  of  "  Sister  Dora,"  published  so 
recently,  the  English  laborer  who  came  into  the  hospital  with 
his  arm  crushed.  The  surgeon  said  it  must  be  amputated,  but 
the  poor,  appealing  look  of  the  man  said,  "  save  it,  it  is  my  life." 
And  the  sister  said,  "  I  will  save  it,  if  the  surgeon  gives  me 
leave."  And  for  three  weeks,  day  and  night,  she  watched  that 
man's  arm,  until  it  grew  strong  again.  Then,  when  after  two  or 
three  years,  that  sister  herself  was  stricken  with  a  loathsome 
disease,  this  same  man  walked  twenty-two  miles  every  Sunday 
morning  to  knock  at  the  door,  and  ask  how  Sister  Dora  was  ; 
and  to  say,  "  Tell  her  her  arm  called  to  inquire."  "As  my 
Father  has  loved  me,  even  so  have  I  loved  you,"  and,  "As  my 
Father  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you." 

You  will  pardon  me  if  I  relate  a  personal  story.  I  re- 
member one  day  coming  home  and  hearing  that  a  little  child  of 
my  congregation, had  been  burned  to  death.  I  went  into  a  nar- 
row court  where  he  had  lived.  A  little  boy  said,  "  You  want  to 
see  mother,  come  this  way."  I  went  up  three  or  four  flights  of 
stairs  into  a  rickety  garret,  and  there  I  saw  the  mother,  of  for- 
eign birth,  and  she  told  me  this  story:  she  had  to  work  very 
hard  ;  on  Sunday  morning  she  had  lain  in  bed  a  little  longer  than 
usual;  the  little  boy  got  up  to  dress  himself;  he  was  only  five 
years  old,  and  the  Sunday  before  he  had  been  out  at  our  Sun- 
day-school anniversary  where  the  services  were  opened  with  that 
song  which  you  know,  "  Open  the  doors  for  the  children."  As  he 
got  up,  dressing  himself,  stumbling  about  in  his  night  clothes  to 
find  a  match,  he  caught  fire.  As  he  lay  for  twenty-four  hours 
dying,  out  of  the  flannel  and  cotton  which  were  all  about  him, 
came  forth  the  tremulous  voice,  "  Open  the  doors  for  the  chil- 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  795 

dren."  Ah,  the  doors,  the  everlasting  doors  that  the  pierced 
hand  rolled  back  for  you  and  for  me  have  been  opened  wide ! 
And  they  were  opened  for  those  little  waifs  whose  history  we 
have  not  traced,  but  whom  God's  Spirit  has  met  in  the  simple 
stories  and  sweet  songs  of  our  childhood.  We  will  not  place 
them  under  the  blackness  and  darkness  of  the  song  of  Ten- 
nyson : 

"  Theirs  not  to  make  reply ; 

Theirs  not  to  reason  why ; 

Theirs  but  to  do  and  die." 

The  Rev.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Newark.—I  listened 
yesterday  morning  with  the  most  intense  interest  and  profit  to 
the  statements  that  were  made  by  the  representatives  of  our 
great  missionary  institutions.  I  would  be  the  last  to  take  excep- 
tion to  anything  said  by  men  of  such  large  experience ;  but 
there  was  a  single  statement  made  by  the  representative  of  the 
largest  of  these  boards,  which  I  cannot  allow  to  pass  unchal- 
lenged. I  read  from  the  report  the  remarks  made  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Lowrie :  "  I  should  like  to  see  this  work  [of  translating  and 
publishing  the  Scriptures  abroad]  relegated  to  the  missionary 
boards.  It  is  work  that  has  to  be  done  by  the  missionaries  ; 
and  they  had  better  remain  on  the  same  footing  with  their 
brethren  in  connection  with  their  own  boards.  At  any  rate, 
whether  this  be  so  or  not,  I  would  not  like  to  see  any  Bible 
Society  claiming  any  proprietary  rights  in  any  translation  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures  abroad.  I  think  they  ought  to  be  the 
common  property  of  the  Christian  Church  and  of  all  its  institu- 
tions." 

The  very  best  and  strongest  thing  about  any  man  or  institu- 
tion is  that  which  is  providential,  and  if  there  is  anything  provi- 
dential in  the  history  of  the  written  and  printed  word  within  the 
last  century,  it  is  the  rise,  and  usefulness,  and  world-wide  power  of 
these  Bible  Societies.  So  I  should  not  like  to  see  this  Council, 
nor  any  other  body  of  Christian  men,  standing  up  against  that 
which  bears  upon  its  face  so  completely  the  stamp  of  a  guiding 
and  of  an  overruling  Providence. 

These  Bible  Societies — and  I  speak  not  only  of  those  in  our 


796  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

own  country,  but  of  those  abroad,  and  chiefly  of  the  British  and 
Foreign,  and  American  Bible  Societies — represent,  as  no  other 
institution  in  this  world  represents,  the  principle  of  the  unity  of 
the  Christian  Church.  They  represent  every  denomination  in  this 
Alliance.  They  have  done  their  work  for  every  part  of  the 
world  represented  upon  this  floor,  and  they  have  done  that  work 
in  the  spirit  of  a  common  love  for  the  common  word.  There 
is  not  a  denomination  upon  the  face  of  this  globe  that  loves  the 
Avord  of  God,  which  desiring  to  go,  by  its  representatives,  with  a 
new  translation  into  the  language  of  the  smallest  tribe  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth,  can  knock  at  the  doors  of  either  of  these  socie- 
ties, and  not  have  admission  and  a  welcome. 

Moreover  these  societies  have  done  a  work  which  no  Christian 
denomination  on  the  face  of  the  globe  could  have  done  as  they 
have  done  it.  In  1804,  when  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  began  its  great  career,  the  Bible  was  printed  only  in  fifty 
versions;  and  those  particularly  of  the  continent  of  Europe  and 
the  regions  adjacent  to  the  Mediterranean  sea,  with  one  or  two 
in  mid-Asia.  Now,  through  the  agency  of  these  institutions, 
they  print  278  versions. 

The  Council  adjourned,  after  devotional  services,  until  the  after- 
noon. 

Philadelphia,  October  \st,  2.30  o'clock  p.  m. 

In  the  absence  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Sloan,  who  was  to  have 
presided,  the  Rev.  James  Nish,  of  Sandhurst,  Australia,  occu- 
pied the  chair, 

•DESIDERATA   OF   PRESBYTERIAN   HISTORY. 

The  first  thing  in  order,  after  the  devotional  exercises,  was  the 
presentation  of  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  "  Desiderata 
of  Presbyterian  History,"  by  the  chairman,  the  Rev.  Alexander 
F.  Mitchell,  D.  D.,  of  St.  Andrews,  Scotland,  who  said  : 

I  regret  that  the  duty  of  making  the  report  has  fallen  on  me,  and 
not  on  the  great  and  good  man  to  whom  the  organization  of  this  com- 
mittee and  the  starting  of  it  on  its  career  should,  to  a  large  extent,  be 
attributed,  A  fitting  tribute  to  the  memory  and  great  services  of  Dr. 
Lorimer  was  given  on  the  opening  day  of  the  Council,  It  would  nut 
become  me  to  attempt  to  add  to  what  was  then  said. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.        ■  797 

There  was  another  name,  however,  on  our  committee,  which  I  can- 
not pass  over,  and,  as  a  Scotciiman,  I  should  be  sorry  to  return  to  my 
own  country  without  testifying  here  to  the  deep  regret  which  we  all 
feel  on  account  of  the  removal  by  death  of  the  late  Mr.  David  Laing, 
of  Edinburgh.  He  has  contributed  largely  to  the  literature  of  our 
Church  history.  Much  as  I  knew  of  his  labors  in  this  direction,  and 
often  as  I  had  had  occasion  to  draw  on  his  productions,  I  confess  that 
even  I  knew  but  little  of  the  extent  to  which  he  had  studied  the  his- 
tory of  all  the  Reformed  Churches  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  and  the  mass  of  materials  he  had  collected  to  illustrate  his 
works.  I  believe  it  would  have  supplied  the  greatest  desiderata  of 
Presbyterian  history  had  some  patriotic,  wealthy  gentleman  in  Scot- 
land or  America  purchased  his  library,  and  kept  it  together  where  it 
could  have  been  consulted  by  Presbyterian  scholars.  There  were  a 
number  of  rare  books  in  it  illustrating  the  history  of  the  Reformed 
Churches.  The  number  of  volumes  was  perfectly  amazing.  It  had 
books  that  cannot  be  found  even  in  the  British  Museum,  nor  in  any 
of  the  libraries  of  Great  Britain.  Though  some  have  been  purchased 
and  retained  in  Scotland,  I  fear  a  great  many  have  been  dispersed 
where  Presbyterian  scholars  will  have  difficulty  in  getting  at  them. 

The  committee  beg  leave  to  report  that  they  have  received  returns 
to  the  inquiries  issued  to  the  following  Churches: 

Eirsf.  The  United  States:  (i.)  From  the  General  Synod  of  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America.  (2.)  From  the 
Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South.  (3.}  From  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church. 

Second.  In  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  the  Colonies:  (i.)  The 
Presbyterian  Church  of  England.  (2.)  The  Church  of  Scotland; 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  ;  thfe  United  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Scotland;  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland.  (3.)  The 
Irish  Presbyterian  Church.  (4.)  The^  Presbyterian  Church  of  Can- 
ada ;  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Victoria ;  and  the  Reformed  Dutcn 
Church  of  South  Africa. 

Third.  On  the  continent  of  Europe :  (i.)  The  Reformed  Church 
of  Holland.  (2.)  The  Christian  Reformed  Church  of  the  Nether- 
lands. (3.)  The  Reformed  Church  of  France.  (4.)  The  Free 
Church  of  France.  (5.)  The  Missionary  Church  of  Belgium.  (6.) 
The  National  Church  of  the  Canton  De  Vaud.  (7.)  The  Free  Ital- 
ian Church.  (8.)  The  Reformed  Church  of  Bohemia.  (9.)  The 
Reformed  Church  of  Hungary. 

The  retuRns  are  still  incomplete,  and  some  who  have  made  returns 
desire  further  time  to  make  them  more  accurate.  The  committee  rec- 
ommend that  the  Council  reappoint  them,  with  instructions  to  com- 
plete the  work  intrusted  to  them,  and  that  the  report  be  laid  on  the 
table  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council,  and  also  that  the  returns 
oe  accompanied  by  some  digest  or  abstract. 

I  am  sorry  that  the  returns  have  not  been  completed.  It  was  a  mis- 
take that  they  were  put  in  my  hands.     Occupied  as  I  was  with  the 


798  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

preparation  of  the  report  in  regard  to  creeds,  I  had  not  much  time  at 
command.  If  sufficient  time  is  given,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  work 
will  be  attended  to,  and  that  before  the  meeting  of  the  next  Council 
it  will  be  completed. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  careful  in  the  past  not  only  to 
make  a  history,  but  to  preserve  a  record  of  the  great  things  that  have 
been  done  by  our  leaders  ;  and  now  that  the  churches  are  more  closely 
brought  together,  I  am  sure  they  will  endeavor  to  do  more  in  this  way 
than  they  have  done  in  the  past.  The  interest  that  is  being  taken  in 
the  writings  of  our  leaders,  even  by  those  who  profess  to  have  but 
partial  sympathy  with  the  views  they  held,  is  remarkable.  There  is 
no  better  evidence  of  that  than  the  great  edition  of  the  works  of 
Calvin  which  is  being  brought  out  by  the  theologians  of  Strasburg. 
It  is  one  of  the  greatest  tributes  to  his  memory,  that  scholars  who 
differ  from  him  in  opinion  should  have  taken  so  great  labor  to  bring 
out  his  works.  There  is  another  proof  of  this  same  thing — it  is  the 
splendid  edition  of  the  Huguenot  Psalter  that  has  been  brought  out  at 
Paris  at  the  expense  of  the  French  government.  There  is  a  great  d»al 
in  that  book  with  which  Presbyterians  and  Calvinists  cannot  sympa- 
thize, and  a  great  deal  that  they  must  deeply  regret ;  but  still,  the  in- 
teresting information  that  has  been  given  in  regard  to  tlie  formation 
of  that  psalter,  and  the  other  psalters  that  were  derived  from  it,  is 
remarkable.  The  discovery  of  the  first  edition  of  the  psalter  of 
Calvin,  which  had  been  lost  sight  of  for  three  hundred  years,  and  a 
catechism  differing  in  plan  from  that  which,  during  these  three  hun- 
dred years,  has  been  known  as  Calvin's  catechism,  shows  the  interest 
taken  in  tlie  subject. 

These  specimens  will  convince  you  that  this  is  work  worthy  of  the 
attention  of  the  Council.  In  countries  such  as  Scotland,  we  may  hope 
to  do  a  great  deal  ourselves  without  assistance  from  those  in  other 
countries.  There  are  various  places  on  the  continent  where  the  Re- 
formed Church  is  awaking  to  an  interest  in  this  matter  ;  and  where 
there  are  historical  memorials  still  in  print,  it  would  surely  be  worthy 
of  this  Council  to  consider  whether  it  might  not  do  the  work  of  col- 
lecting these  materials. 

There  are  preserved  in  the  libraries  of  Vienna  and  many  other 
places  manuscripts  of  that  great  man,  the  forerunner  of  the  reforma- 
tion of  England,  who  was  very  Presbyterian  in  his  views,  and  who, 
on  that  very  account,  England  in  these  latter  times  has  not  sympa- 
pathized  with  so  much  as  she  should  do,  John  Wickliffe.  The  indi- 
cations of  his  zeal  remain  in  manuscript.  Would  it  not  be  worthy  of 
this  Council  to  present  them  in  some  accessible  form  to  the  Christian 
public? 

I  presume  the  Council  will  reply  to  the  request  of  the  committee, 
that  you  should  reappoint  them,  with  instructions  to  get  the  work 
completed  and  have  the  digest  prepared. 

Rev,  Dr.  Blaikie. — All  resolutions  should  be  referred  to  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  799 

Business  Committee.  This  one  should  be  so  referred,  especially 
as  a  new  convener  will  have  to  be  appointed. 

The  Rev.  Principal  William  Caven,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto, 
Canada. — We  are  very  much  indebted  to  Professor  Mitchell,  for 
having  taken  up  this  subject  on  such  short  notice.  I  hope  that 
the  Council  will  not  pass  on  this  formally,  but  entertain  the 
matter  with  zeal.  The  importance  of  it  has  not  been  overstated 
by  Professor  Mitchell.  I  am  afraid  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  many  sections  has  manifested  a  disposition  to  be  indifferent 
on  this  subject.  We  should  use  every  means  to  prevent  igno- 
rance in  regard  to  our  records.  I  can  conceive  of  nothing 
which  will  be  of  greater  value  to  scholars  and  others,  not  only 
as  material  for  enlarging  our  church  knowledge,  but  also  in  the 
way  of  keeping  up  and  nourishing  an  interest  among  our  sons 
and  daughters  in  the  great  and  glorious  history  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  than  the  prosecution  of  this  enterprise. 

The  Rev.  John  Cairns,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland. — I  am 
a  member  of  the  committee,  and  perhaps  I  ought  not  to  speak. 
But  when  you  consider  the  circumstances  which  surround 
us,  I  hope  you  will  permit  me  to  say  a  word.  Standing 
as  we  do,  under  the  shadow  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Lorimer,  we 
cannot  but  feel  how  much  we  have  lost  in  his  removal.  We 
are  also  under  very  great  obligations  to  Dr.  Mitchell,  for 
having  so  readily  taken  his  place,  and  done  what  could  be  done 
under  the  circumstances,  to  carry  on  the  work  and  to  furnish  his 
report.  I  earnestly  agree  with  the  motion  which  has  been  made. 
Let  me  say,  as  a  proof  of  the  interest  which  this  subject  awak- 
ens, that  a  dear  friend  of  mine,  Dr.  James  Mitchell,  of  Glasgow, 
who  made  special  inquiries  in  connection  with  the  matter,  be- 
stowed upon  it  the  greatest  labor,  and  brought  all  the  energy 
of  his  mind  to  bear  on  it.  I  also  desire  to  mention  my  late 
lamented  friend,  the  principal  of  the  theological  institution  with 
which  I  have  the  honor  of  being  connected — Dr.  Harper.  Among 
the  very  last  labors  of  his  life,  when  he  was  nearly  eighty-four 
years  old,  he  engaged  with  Dr.  Mitchell,  of  Glasgow,  in  making 
these  inquiries,  I  mention  these  things  to  show  how  important 
these  questions  are,     I  do  trust  our  churches  will  go  into  them, 


8oo  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  that  all  who  can  will  supply  the  materials  to  aid  in  making 
up  the  desiderata. 

The  Rev.  E.  D.  Morris,  D.  D. — Although  I  am  only  an  as- 
sociate member  of  the  Council,  I  deem  it  a  great  privilege  to  say 
that  I  not  only  feel  profoundly  thankful  to  Dr.  Mitchell  for  the 
work  he  has  done,  but  that  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church  of 
America  is  conscious  of  its  indebtedness  to  him.  The  service 
he  has  rendered,  by  adding  to  the  records  of  the  history  of  our 
Church  throughout  the  world,  cannot  be  overestimated.  And  I 
express  my  own  desire,  and  the  desire,  I  am  sure,  of  many 
others,  when  I  say  that  it  would  be  grateful  to  us  if  Professor 
Mitchell  would  consent  to  serve  us  still  as  the  convener  of  the 
committee. 

Dr.  Blaikie. — I  desire  to  say,  for  the  information  of  the 
Council,  that  among  the  invitations  we  have  received,  was  one 
from  the  Presbyterian  Historical  Society,  of  this  city,  to  visit  its 
building.  I  am  sorry  I  have  been  so  bound  by  my  duties  in 
the  Council,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  accept  the  invitation. 
I  therefore  simply  rise  to  make  the  suggestion  to  the  committee, 
that  it  might  be  very  desirable  that  they  should  put  themselves 
in  communication  with  that  society,  in  the  further  prosecution 
of  the  work  committed  to  them. 

The  report  was  then  referred  to  the  Business  Committee.    . 

Hon.  I.  D.  Jones,  of  Baltimore. — I  am  sure  that  not  only  the 
people  of  this  city,  but  also  the  representatives  of  the  people  of 
the  old  world,  from  whom  our  Protestantism  was  derived,  will 
be  irrterested  in  knowing  that  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  copy  of 
records  which  incidentally  show,  beyond  any  possibility  of 
doubt,  that  Francis  Makemie  established  a  church  at  Rehoboth, 
Somerset  county,  Md.,  anterior  to  1691.  All  the  circumstances 
point  to  the  establishment  of  that  church  from  1684  to  1686. 
About  that  time  Mr.  Makemie  made  some  voyages  to  England 
and  brought  out  other  ministers  with  him.  The  statement  about 
a  church  having  been  established  at  Rehoboth,  and  of  his  being 
the  minister  of  that  church,  appears  incidentally  in  an  affidavit 
witnessed  by  Dr.  John  Vigerous,  who  was  a  French  Huguenot. 
It  occurs  in  an  affidavit  made  in  the  case  of  the  prosecution  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  8oi 

a  man  named  William  Morris,  for  blasphemy,  under  the  act  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Colonial  government  of  Maryland, 
passed  in  1649,  which  made  blasphemy,  or  the  denial  of  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  or  of  the  Trinity,  a  capital  offence,  punish- 
able by  death.  Under  that  act  the  man  was  prosecuted  for  the 
most  outrageous  blasphemy,  which  is  stated  in  the  deposition, 
by  the  v/itnesses  who  heard  the  declarations,  to  have  occurred 
upon  the  2nd  of  April,  1691,  on  the  day  that  the  Rev.  Francis 
Makemie  preached  a  funeral  sermon  in  his  church  in  Rehoboth. 
The  record  of  the  trial,  which  took  place  before  the  Provincial 
County  Court,  contains  the  conviction  of  the  man,  and  also  the 
fact  that,  when  the  court  discovered  the  penalty  to  be  death, 
they  decided  that  they  had  no  jurisdiction  to  pass  sentence,  and 
he  was  remitted  to  the  capital,  on  the  western  shore  of  Maryland. 
The  other  instance,  which  is  also  incidentally  mentioned,  oc- 
curred in  the  same  year,  and  the  evidence  is  perfectly  conclusive. 
It  is  contained  in  the  will  of  John  Galbraith,  whom  I  take  to 
have  been  an  Irishman,  and  a  merchant  of  large  means,  without 
any  family  to  whom  he  could  leave  his  property.  In  this  will, 
dated  in  August,  1691,  and  probated  in  September,  he  gave  to 
Francis  Makemie,  "  the  minister  of  the  gospel  at  Rehoboth," 
five  thousand  pounds  of  pork.  Tobacco  was  the  colonial  cur- 
rency at  that  time,  but  pork  was  regarded  as  being  more  valu- 
able. He  made  a  similar  bequest  to  Samuel  Davies,  "the  min- 
ister of  the  church  at  Snow  Hill,"  which  is  claimed  to  have  been 
the  original  church  ;  but  it  was  one  of  those  founded  by  Ma- 
kemie, after  he  had  established  the  church  at  Rehoboth.  The 
will  also  contains  a  gift  of  five  thousand  pounds  of  pork  to 
Thomas  Wilson,  a  minister  in  Princess  Ann.  These  three  lega- 
acies  were  given  to  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  at  those  three 
points,  some  fifteen  or  eighteen  miles  from  each  other,  evidently 
showing  that  churches  were  established  at  those  points  previous 
to  the  making  of  the  will,  in  169 1.  I  will  state  that  these  are 
matters  which  have  been  recently  discovered,  and  are  of  record, 
incidentally  showing  the  establishment  of  the  Church  in  Mary- 
land to  have  been  the  first  planting  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
upon  this  continent. 
51 


8o2  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLL4NCE. 

The  Rev.  W.  P.  Breed,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  read  the  fol- 
lowing paper  on 

THE  DIFFUSION  OF  A  PRESBYTERIAN  LITERATURE. 

Literature  is  thought  made  visible,  tangible,  portable.  It  is  a  chief 
medium  of  contact  between  mind  and  mind.  As  such  it  ranks  among 
the  most  potent  of  moral  forces.  For  mind  is  a  sensitive  plant  that 
feels  and  often  tiirills  under  and  is  sometimes  permanently  modified 
hx  the  touch  of  a  single  thought.  Into  the  mind  of  one  tottering  on 
ithe  brink  of  moral  ruin,  the  thought  of  what  he  is  losing,  of  what 
.may  yet  be  possible  for  him  to  achieve,  has  come  like  the  touch  of 
an  angel's  finger  to  save  him  and  revolutionize  his  life.  And  one 
.thought  is  often  as  potent  to  slay  as  another  is  to  save. 

And  when  a  thought  ha^  done,  or  at  least  begun  its  work  in  the 
imind  that  gave  it  birth,  it  may  go  forth  and  repeat  that  work  in  other 
minds,  and  set  up  a  new  series  of  mind-moulding  thinkings  that  shall 
never  end.  That  thought  may  modify  opinion,  may  change  the  creed, 
may  introduce  a  new  and  powerful  element  into  the  dominant  aim, 
motive  and  purpose,  and  thus  determine  the  conduct,  and  thus  the 
destiny. 

The  power  of  written  or  printed  thought  marks  almost  the  whole 
pathway  of  religious  progress.  The  moulding  influence  on  the  world's 
history  of  those  ten  mighty  words — the  decalogue — overpasses  the 
reach  of  the  imagination.  Under  the  reading  of  a  few  sentences  of 
the  book  recovered  from  the  rubbish  in  the  temple-cloisters  at  Jerusa- 
lem, the  king  rent  his  clothes  in  anguish  of  heart.  And  the  reading 
of  that  Book  in  the  ears  of  the  people  issued  in  a  religious  awakening 
that  shook  the  land  from  Dan  to  Beersheba.  To  this  power  the  .Re- 
formation owed  its  rapid  progress  and  sweeping  success.  Tracts  from 
Wyclif's  pen  stole  from  hand  to  hand  into  countless  homes,  and  the 
theses  of  Luther  swept  Europe  like  an  American  prairie  fire. 

And  never  before  has  the  power  of  printed  thought  been  so  great, 
nor  so  extensive  as  it  is  in  our  day.  The  avidity  for  the  printed  page 
is  almost  universal,  and  it  is  insatiable.  Book-hunger  is  one  of  the 
predominant  traits  of  the  time.  Owing  to  the  facilities  for  education, 
almost  everybody  can  read,  and  the  all-pervading  excitements  of  the 
day  secure  the  actual  perusal  of  pages  that  no  man  can  number. 

And  of  printing  pages  to  feed  tin's  book-hunger  there  is  no  end. 
Like  tree-leaves  are  book-leaves  for  multitude.  They  are  thrust  in  at 
the  door ;  they  are  thrown  in  at  the  window  ;  they  are  piled  into  the 
lap  in  the  railway  car;  they  reach  us  in  every  form — in  the  bound 
volume,  in  the  review,  in  the  magazine  ;  in  the  newspapers,  the  daily, 
the  semi-weekly,  the  weekly;  hundreds  of  them,  thousands  of  them, 
millions  of  them. 

The  number  of  books  in  the  libraries  of  the  world  reaches  to  even 
hundreds  of  millions,  and  the  clang  of  the  press,  as  it  adds  to  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  803 

number,  ceases  not  day  nor  night.  The  annual  issue  of  newspapers 
in  the  United  States  alone  numbers  some  six  hundred  millions. 

The  moulding  effect  of  this  book  power  on  the  public  mind  and 
heart,  conscience,  character  and  conduct  is  immeasurable  if  even  it 
be  not  inconceivable. 

The  general  character  of  this  omnipresent  page  forms,  therefore,  a 
ve'ry  important  element  in  the  question  as  to  the  need  of  a  Presbyte- 
rian literature. 

Unquestionably  the  newspaper  press  of  our  day  is  the  medium  of  a 
vast  amount  of  excellent  writing,  of  valuable  information,  and  the  in- 
strument of  powerful,  intellectual  quickening.  And  the  number  of 
newspapers  is  not  small  which  not  only  abstain  from  what  might  offend 
devout  feeling,  but  which  expend  large  effort  to  procure  and  publish 
religious  intelligence. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  them  whose  moral  influence  is 
as  deadly  as  extensive,  is  by  no  means  insignificant.  In  fact  news- 
paper and  magazine  literature  ranges  in  moral  character  through  all 
gradations,  from  the  sublime  heights  of  a  pure  Christian  morality  and 
lofty  integrity  of  principle,  down  through  non-religion,  irreligion, 
scepticism,  infidelity,  atheism,  coarse  vulgarity  and  obscenity.  Of 
many  a  newspaper  the  following,  from  the  pen  of  another,  will  be 
recognized  as  anything  but  an  untruthful  portrait : 

"  It  has  vastly  more  power  to  occupy  than  to  guide,  to  distract  and 
agitate  than  to  settle  and  inform  the  public  mind.  It  is  only  made 
to  sell,  without  the  responsibility  of  books  and  treatises,  which  are 
exposed  if  they  do  not  add  something  solid  to  our  information  or  our 
edification.  It  collects,  with  preternatural  industry,  news — good,  bad, 
indifferent — from  all  the  winds  of  heaven,  and  pours  it  as  from  a 
myriad-mouthed  watering-pot  upon  the  ever-thirsty  attention  of  the 
American  people.  It  has  become  the  only  reading  of  millions — their 
pulpit,  library  and  gallery  of  art.  It  helps  to  make  restless,  smart, 
curious,  superficial  people  ;  to  keep  up  a  perpetual  buzz  and  fuss  about 
politics  ;  to  drag  crime,  suicide  and  robbery  before  the  minds  of  the 
whole  nation.  It  sometimes  devotes  itself  for  months  to  the  detailed 
.following  of  hateful  cases  of  vice  and  filthiness,  corrupting  a  whole 
generation  of  youth  by  their  lascivious  confessions." 

Not  less  varied  in  character  are  the  more  permanent  issues  of  the 
book-press.  It  sends  forth  volumes  of  priceless  value  ;  and,  as  we  are 
assured,  within  two  years,  it  has  put  into  circulation,  in  New  England 
alone,  some  20,000  copies  of  "  Paine's  Age  of  Reason." 

In  the  presence  of  facts  like  these  we  are  ready  for  the  question, 
''  What  are  the  marked  features  of  a  Presbyterian  literature?"  To 
this  we  reply,  a  Presbyterian  literature  is  the  embodiment  and  expres- 
sion of  the  thoughts  that  make  up  the  Presbyterian  system.  It  is, 
therefore, 

I.  First  of  all,  pre-eminently  a  ihcistlc  literature.  As  the  sun  is  the 
centre  of  the  solar  system,  so  God  is  the  centre  of  the  Presbyterian 
system.     As  the  planets  receive  their  hues  from  irradiated  sunshine, 


8o4  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

so  all  the  parts  of  the  Presbyterian  system  receive  their  hues  from 
irradiated  God-shine.  God  is  the  beginning,  the  continuance,  the 
end  of  all ;  God  infinite,  eternal  and  unchangeable  in  his  being,  wis- 
dom, power,  holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth.  Of  him,  through 
him,  to  him  are  all  thmgs,  to  whom  be  glory  evermore.  The  glory 
of  God  is  a  reason  infinitely  sufficient  for  any  decree,  any  act  of  his. 
The  highest  service  to  which  the  creature  is  competent  is  to  show 
forth  the  glory  of  God.  The  inscription  on  the  banner  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  reads:  "It  is  enough  for  one  universe  if  God  be  glorified." 
Man  made  in  the  image  of  God,  man  made  a  little  lower  than  the 
angels,  man  in  all  his  greatness,  and  on  earth  —  there  is  nothing 
great  but  man — man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him 
forever. 

It  is  also  the  will  and  active  power  of  God  that  makes  the  world  go 
round.  It  is  God's  eternal  decree  that  we  see  embodying  itself  in 
the  events  of  time.  Historic  phenomena  are  merely  the  dust  of  God's 
chariot  wheels,  as  he  drives  on  to  his  predestinated  goal.  Napoleon 
the  First  fancied  himself  the  child  of  destiny,  and  that  thought  in  his 
heart  quadrupled  his  power.  The  Presbyterian  does  not  fancy,  but 
knows  that  he  is  a  child  of  destiny,  and  that  when  he  is  working  upon  a 
heaven-assigned  task  he  is  simply  weaving  his  free  thought  and  action 
in  with  the  eternal  decree  of  God ;  and  this  knowledge  puts  the  shout 
of  victory  on  his  lips  when  he  fires  his  first  gun. 

With  this  ennobling  idea  of  God,  his  greatness,  his  goodness,  his 
unlimited  power,  his  unrestricted  presence,  and  his  universal  provi- 
dences— a  God  "of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil,  and  that  cannot 
look  upon  iniquity  " — Presbyterian  literature  palpitates  from  title-page 
to  finis. 

2.  Presbyterian  literature  is  also  emphatically  Christological. 

It  is  full  of  Christ — Christ,  the  eternal  and  co-equal  Son  of  God, 
very  God  of  very  God  ;  in  execution  of  the  eternal  decree  for  the 
salvation  of  countless  millions,  becoming  man,  rendering  a  perfect 
obedience  to  the  law,  setting  before  men  an  example  of  absolute  per- 
fection, bearing  the  sin  of  his  people  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree, 
rising  again  from  the  dead  and  ascending  to  heaven,  and  there  ever 
living  to  intercede  for  those  whose  sins  he  bore. 

3.  Presbyterian  literature  asserts  a  clean-cut,  distinctive  anthro- 
pology. 

It  holds  before  the  face  of  man  the  mirror  of  God's  word,  and  shows 
man  to  himself  as  he  is  portrayed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  fallen  in 
Adam,  as  crippled  in  the  fall;  and  not  merely  crippled,  but  smitten 
with  disease — "  the  whole  head  sick,  the  whole  heart  faint ;  "  and  not 
only  diseased,  but  slain — dead  in  trespass  and  sins,  and  hopelessly  and 
forever  dead,  but  for  the  operation  upon  his  nature  of  the  new-creating, 
life-giving  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

4.  Presbyterian  literature  presents  a  bold  biblical  eschatology. 
Man   must  die  and  be  raised  again  from  the  dead  ;   api)ear  before 

God  in  a  final  judgment,  there  to  give  an  account  of  all  the  deeds 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  805 

done  in  the  body,  and  thence  to  pass  either  into  life  eternal  or  into 
punishment  everlasting. 

5.  And  Presbyterian  literature  has  its  well-outlined,  clearly  defined 
system  of  polity. 

This  polity  involves  those  great  principles  of  representation,  of 
transfer  of  obligation,  of  vicarious  action  and  endurance  which  per- 
vade the  whole  kingdom  of  God,  as  that  kingdom  touches  the  race  of 
man.  The^e  principles  bind  the  Father  of  the  race  and  all  his  pos- 
terity into  an  organized  unity.  They  pervade  the  individual  family. 
They  are  resistlessly  forcing  themselves  into  recognition  in  the  state. 
They  are  working  with  the  power  of  destiny  to  mould  political  organ- 
izations the  world  over  into  representative  and  constitutional  forms. 

These  are  among  the  vital,  controlling  ideas  that  interlace,  pervade 
and  throb  in  a  truly  Presbyterian  literature. 

Further,  these  ideas  have  realized  themselves  in  biography  and 
history.  They  have  shown,  in  the  sphere  of  practical  life,  their 
competency  to  build  up  character,  to  inspire  man  with  aims  as  lofty, 
to  equip  him  for  achievements  as  daring,  to  nerve  him  for  endurance 
as  protracted  and  crucial  as  the  imagination  can  well  conceive. 

To  go  no  further  back  in  time,  they  have  left  foot-prints  of  super- 
lative glory  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  in  the  cities  and  on  the  plains 
of  France,  among  the  dunes  and  canals  of  the  Netherlands,  and  all 
over  Britain.  These  principles  spake  on  the  tongue  of  the  aged 
Palissey  the  potter.  When  King  Henry  said  to  him  as  he  lay  chained 
to  the  floor  of  the  Bastile,  "  If  you  do  not  recant,  I  shall  be  compelled 
to  give  you  over  to  the  flames,"  he  replied,  "Sire,  listen  to  me,  and 
I  will  teach  thee  to  talk  like  a  king;  I  cannot  be  compelled  to  do 
wrong."  They  spake  by  the  lips  of  Knox  that  day  when  issuing 
from  the  presence  of  that  wicked  beauty,  the  Queen  of  Scots,  he  over- 
heard the  courtiers  whisper,  "  He  is  not  afraid  ;  "  he  replied,  "  I  have 
looked  many  an  angry  man  in  the  face,  and  have  not  been  overmuch 
afraid  ;  why  should  the  tears  of  a  pretty  gentlewoman  afray  me  ?  " 

And  thousands  of  times  they  spake  also  in  the  words  and  acts  of 
woman.  France  was  trembling  with  the  agitation  produced  by  an 
oppression  no  longer  tolerable.  All  eyes  looked  for  a  leader.  Coligny 
hesitated,  for  never  did  he  draw  sword  on  a  Frenchman,  but  with  a 
shudder.  In  the  meantime,  the  cause  was  in  imminent  peril.  Char- 
lotte de  Laval,  his  wife,  upbraided  him  with  his  hesitation.  "To  be 
prudent  in  men's  esteem,"  said  she,  "is  not  to  be  wise  in  that  of 
God,  who  has  given  you  the  science  of  a  general  that  you  might  use 
it  for  the  good  of  his  children."  "  But,"  he  asked,  "  could  you  hear 
of  the  defeat  of  the  army  under  the  lead  of  your  husband,  and  not 
murmur  against  him  and  against  God?"  "I  could,"  she  answered. 
"But,"  he  continued,  "think  of  the  anxieties,  the  privations,  the 
bereavements,  the  woes  that  may  come,  not  only  on  others,  but  on 
you  and  yours.  Meditate  on  these  things  for  three  weeks,  and  then 
I  will  abide  by  your  decision."  Fixing  her  tear-moistened  eye  upon 
him,  she  answered,  "  Husband,  the  three  weeks  are  up  ;  do  your  duty, 


8o6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  leave  the  rest  to  God.  I  summon  you  in  God's  name  not  to 
defraud  us  any  more,  or  I  will  witness  against  )ou  at  his  judgment." 

They  spake  also  in  the  eyes,  the  heart,  and  by  the  lips  of  Jeanne  d' 
Albret.  When  word  reached  her  that  her  husband  had  apostatized 
and  given  orders  that  her  boy  Henry  should  be  committed  to  the 
tuition  of  Rome,  and  that  she  should  follow  his  base  example,  she 
caught  up  her  boy  Henry  in  her  arms  and  exclaimed,  "  Had  I  my 
child  in  one  hand,  and  my  kingdom  in  the  other,  sooner  than  go  to 
mass,  I  would  throw  them  both  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  so  that 
they  might  be  no  hindrance  to  me  in  the  way  of  duty." 

These  now  are  some  of  the  elements  of  a  Presbyterian  literature — 
these  ideas,  these  principles,  and  these  embodiments  of  them  in 
character  and  in  historic  acts. 

Can  now  the  question  be  even  raised,  aii  bono  ?  What  good  is  to 
be  expected  from  confronting  the  general  mind  with  these  ideas  and 
these  examples?  from  pouring  such  a  literature  into  the  great  deluge 
of  printed  thought  that  fills  all  the  valleys,  and  rises  more  than  fifteen 
cubits  above  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains? 

The  question  as  to  the  actual  practical  effect  on  men  of  these 
thoughts,  ideas,  principles,  has  found  repeated  and  effective  response 
in  the  verdict  of  keen-eyed  observers  of  many  whose  affinities  are 
other  than  Presbyterian. 

Of  the  system  which  forms  the  embodiment  of  these  ideas,  Prof. 
Dorner,  of  Berlin,  has  said  : 

"In  its  manly,  resolute  temper;  its  energy  of  action,  which  :lso 
expresses  itself  in  strength  and  energy  of  thinking;  its  zealous  breath- 
ing of  soul  for  the  increase  of  God's  kingdom  ;  its  willing  self-sur- 
render, and  its  fortitude  of  pursuit  in  great  and  bold  designs  for  the 
furtherance  of  Christ^s  reign ;  it  is  these  qualities  that  I  admire  in 
Presbyterianism. " 

Of  this  system  Mr.  Gladstone  writes  : 

"  It  has  given  Presbyterian  communions  the  advantage,  which  in 
civil  order  belong  to  local  self-government  and  representative  institu- 
tions— orderly  habits  of  mind,  respect  for  adversaries,  and  some  of 
the  elements  of  judicial  temper;  the  development  of  a  genuine  in- 
dividuality, together  with  the  discouragement  of  mere  arbitrary  will 
and  of  all  eccentric  tendency  ;  the  sense  of  a  common  life  and  the  dis- 
position energetically  to  defend  it ;  the  love  of  law  combined  with 
the  love  of  freedom;  last,  not  least,  the  habit  of  using  the  faculty  of 
speech  with  the  direct  and  immediate  view  to  persuasion." 

The  Edinburgh  Review  not  long  since  gave  the  following  verdict 
upon  this  system  : 

"  The  high  intelligence  which  has  long  distinguished  and  still  dis- 
tinguishes the  lower  classes  of  Scotland,"  it  says,  "may  largely  be 
attributed  to  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church  government,  especially 
taken  in  connection  with  the  Calvinistic  creed.  The  apprehension 
of  that  creed  cannot  fail  to  stimulate  the  mind  ;  the  working  of  that 
form  of  government  has  accustomed  Scotsmen  of  every  rank  to  look 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  S07 

upon  it  as  a  duty  and  a  right  to  exercise  their  judgments  on  questions 
involving  directly  or  indirectly  the  most  important  subjects  of  human 
thought.  The  Presbyterian  polity  has  also  tended  to  foster  that  liber- 
ality of  ojiinion  in  secular  politics  which  prevails  among  the  middle 
and  lower  classes  in  Scotland.  Such  must  of  necessity  be  the  influ- 
ence of  a  church  strictly  democratic  in  its  constitution,  recognizing 
within  itself  no  distinctions  of  persons,  no  grades  or  rank  of  office." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Curry,  an  able  and  fair-minded  leader  in  the  great 
Methodist  Church  in  America,  has  written  of  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession that  it  "  is  the  clearest  and  most  comprehensive  system  of  doc- 
trine ever  framed.  It  is  not  only  a  wonderful  monument  of  the  in- 
tellectual greatness  of  its  framers,  but  also  a  comprehensive  embodi- 
ment of  nearly  all  the  precious  truths  of  the  gospel.  We  concede," 
he  says,  "  to  the  Calvinistic  churches  the  honor  of  having  all  along 
directed  the  best  thinking  of  the  country.  Some  of  the  best  fruits 
of  Christian  life,"  he  adds,  "have  been  exhibited  among  those  who 
have  been  at  least  in  theory  Calvinists." 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  heaves  a  piteous  sigh  over  the  lack  of  Cal- 
vinism in  the  brain  and  heart  of  our  day  : 

"  Our  later  generation  appears  ungirt,  frivolous,  compared  with  the 
religions  of  the  last  or  Calvinistic  age.  'J'here  was  in  the  last  century 
a  serious  habitual  reference  to  the  spiritual  world  rtnining  through 
letters,  diaries  and  conversation,  yes,  and  into  wills  and  legal  in- 
struments, compared  with  which  our  liberality  looks  a  little  foppish 
and  dapper.  The  religion  seventy  years  ago  was  an  iron  belt  to  the 
mind,  giving  it  concentration  and  force.  A  rude  people  were  kept 
respectable  by  the  determination  of  thought  on  the  eternal  world. 
Now  men  fall  abroad,  want  polarity,  suffer  in  character  and  intellect." 

And  how  familiar  have  become  the  ringing  sentences  of  the  his- 
torian Froude : 

"  When  all  else  has  failed  ;  when  patriotism  has  covered  its  face, 
and  human  courage  has  broken  down  ;  when  intellect  has  yielded,  a.^ 
Gibbon  says,  with  a  smile  or  a  sigh,  content  to  philosophize  in  the 
closet,  and  abroad  worship  with  the  vulgar ;  when  emotion  and 
sentiment  and  tender  imaginative  piety  have  become  the  handmaids 
of  superstition,  and  have  dreamt  themselves  into  forgetfulness  that 
there  is  any  difference  between  lies  and  truth,  the  slavish  form  of  be- 
lief called  Calvinism  in  one  or  other  of  its  many  forms  has  borne  ever 
an  inflexible  front  to  illusion  and  mendacity,  and  lias  preferred  rather 
to  be  ground  to  powder  like  flint,  rather  than  bend  before  violence, 
or  melt  under  enervating  temptation." 

Now  the  question  before  us  is  as  to  the  desirableness,  importance, 
duty  and  necessity  of  making  a  way  into  the  general  deluge  of  printed 
thought  for  the  ideas  that  have  made  such  assertion  of  themselves 
among  men. 

We  are  by  no  means  to  forget  that  the  general  evangelical  press  is 
doing  a  vast  and  excellent  work.  If,  however,  in  the  Presbyterian 
system  there  are  not  distinguishing  and  powerful  elements  of  thought 


SoS  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  doctrine,  then  the  existence  of  that  system  is  an  impertinence. 
But  if  its  constituent  ideas,  thoughts  and  doctrines  impart  to  it  a  spe- 
cial and  distinctive  character,  and  if  this  system  bearing  this  character 
has  stamped  itself  on  the  best  life  of  the  world,  this  very  fact  makes  it 
imperative  on  the  thirty  or  forty  millions  of  those  who  hold  this 
system  to  keep  the  mind  of  the  world  ever  confronted  with  these 
thoughts  and  principles. 

Not  that  we  are  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  constant, 
large,  and  effective  outlay  of  talent  in  the  publication  of  Presbyterian 
newspapers  and  magazines.  One  of  these  magazines,  which,  if  not  a 
formal  organ  of  this  Council,  is  at  least  a  child  of  this  Council — 
I  mean  "The  Catholic  Presbyterian" — month  by  month  brings 
the  reader  face  to  face,  as  no  other  within  the  reach  of  our  knowledge 
does,  with  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches 
of  the  world — the  struggles  of  smaller  Presbyterian  bodies  here  and 
there,  in  the  great  awakening  sympathies,  evoking  prayers,  and  in 
many  ways  excites  and  fosters  a  religious,  healthful  Presbyterian  en- 
thusiasm. It  embodies  a  kind  of  Presbyterian  literature  we  should 
like  to  see  diffused  a  hundred  times  more  widely. 

But  aside  from  all  that  is  or  can  be  done  by  Presbyterian  news- 
papers and  magazines,  we  assert  the  duty  of  organizing  and  operating 
agencies  for  the  thrusting  in  earnestly,  constantly,  profusely,  among 
the  thinkings  of  men  the  great  ideas  that  pervade  a  true  Presbyterian 
literature. 

The  legitimate  aim  of  such  a  literature,  be  it  remembered,  is, 
omitting  no  doctrine  of  the  word  of  God  ;  embracing  all  those  ideas 
which  Christians  hold  in  common  ;  to  present  these  common  ideas  in 
their  logical  and  necessary  connection  with  those  other  great  truths 
which  distinguish  Presbyterian  from  other  systems  of  polity  and 
doctrine.  One  of  the  necessary  results  of  this  Council  is  a  weighty 
contribution  to  such  a  literature.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that 
the  volume  of  Proceedings  of  the  Edinburgh  Council  contains  a  body 
of  Presbyterian  thought  of  which  no  Church  need  to  be  ashamed.  It 
is  superfluous  to  affirm  that  the  Presbyterian  element  in  the  theological 
and  ecclesiastical  literature  of  the  world  holds  no  second  place, 
whether  for  biblical  soundness  or  for  intellectual  power. 

And  the  aim  of  this  paper  is  to  make  clear  the  duty  of  the  thirty 
millions  of  Presbyterians  in  the  world  to  organize  agencies  in  their 
several  local  centres  for  the  placing  of  her  literature  within  reach  of 
every  reading  person.  This  involves  the  idea  of  aggression, of  pro- 
pagandism.  There  must  be  no  wailing  for  men  to  apply  for  these 
books,  any  more  than  there  must  be  a  waiting  for  men  to  come  in 
quest  of  the  gospel.  The  command  is,  go — go  into  all  the  world  ; 
and  the  duty  of  Presbyterians  is  to  go,  in  the  persons  of  commissioned 
agents  from  door  to  door,  and  from  town  to  town,  and  from  province 
to  province,  and  present  these  volumes,  induce  their  reception  and 
perusal,  pray  with  the  recipient,  and  thus  get  the  thoughts  enclosed 
in  them  deep  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  809 

It  would  be  both  interesting  and  instructive  to  recite  the  story  of 
such  efforts  in  the  Protestant  Church  since  God  gave  the  printing- 
press  to  the  world.  It  would  be  both  instructive  and  interesting 
to  report  the  statistics  of  such  work  done  by  the  various  Churches 
represented  in  tliis  body.  But  statistics  of  vast  movements  outreach 
the  apprehension,  and  fail  to  produce  definite  practical  impression. 
Let  it  suffice  to  call  attention  to  the  doings  of  one  only  of  these 
various  branches : 

The  branch  of  which  we  speak  possesses  an  organized  agency  for 
the  publication  and  diffusion  of  a  literature  imbued  with  Presbyterian 
ideas.  Before  the  organization  of  this  board,  the  leading  publishers 
of  Philadelphia  were  importuned  to  republish  two  British  volumes  of 
a  Presbyterian  character,  and  not  one  of  them  could  be  found  who 
was  willing  to  take  the  pecuniary  risk.  These  very  volumes  have  now 
been  published  by  this  board,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  them  have 
been  sold.  It  puts  into  the  hands  of  the  public  more  than  500,000 
volumes  every  year.  It  has  sent  out  more  than  100,000  copies  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith ;  some  2,000,000  copies  of  the 
Shorter  Catechism  ;  nearly  2,000,000  copies  of  the  Child's  Catechism  ; 
nearly  20,000  copies  of  Boston's  "Four-fold  State;"  more  than 
30,000  copies  of  Alexander's  "Religious  Experience;"  nearly  10,000 
copies  ot  Dickenson's  "Five  Points  of  Calvinism;"  nearly  20,000 
copies  of  Fisher's  "Catechism;"  more  than  50,000  copies  of  f\iir- 
child's  "Great  Supper;"  nearly  10,000  copies  of  "  The  Christian's 
Great  Interest  ;"  between  15,000  and  20,000  copies  of  Matthews' 
"  Divine  Purpose;"  from  12,000  to  15,000  copies  of  Shaw's  "  Expo- 
sition of  the  Confession  of  Faith."  And  as  these  volumes  are  perma- 
nent and  last  for  years,  there  must  be  now  in  the  various  families  of 
this  land  some  5,000,000  copies  of  the  publications  of  this  one  agency 
alone;  and  it  adds  to  that  number,  as  I  have  stated,  more  than  500,- 
000  volumes  a  year.  It  keeps  from  seventy  to  one  hundred  agents  in 
the  field,  going  from  door  to  door  to  sell  or  give  away  these  volumes. 
If,  now,  the  whole  thirty  millions  of  Presbyterians  in  the  world  are 
doing  a  work  like  that  of  this  one  branch,  which  numbers  a  little  over 
one-half  million  of  communicants,  then  there  go  into  the  hands  of  the 
reading  world  from  year  to  year  considerably  more  than  35,000,000 
volumes  of  brain-stimulating,  heart-stirring  truths;  then,  in  the  course 
often  years,  there  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  reading  world  a  good 
deal  more  than  300,000,000  of  these  volumes. 

We  hail  the  existence  of  this  Alliance  and  the  meeting  of  this  Coun- 
cil as  another  great  agent  for  the  creation  and  diffusion  of  a  genuine 
Presbyterian  literature. 

At  this  point,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nish,  who  was  in  the  chair,  left 
it,  calling  Dr.  Breed  to  it,  in  order  that  he  might  present  the 


8io  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

CHURCH   WORK   IN  AUSTRALIA. 

Rev.  James  Nish,  of  Victoria,  Australia,  addressed  the  Coun- 
cil, as  follows : 

I  am  afraid  that  there  prevails  an  incorrect  impression  among  very 
many  members  of  this  Council  in  reference  to  Australia,  That  coun- 
try seems  to  be  regarded  by  some  as  a  comparatively  small  island,  and 
as  identical  with  New  South  Wales.  .New  South  Wales  was,  doubtless, 
the  original  settlement  established  there,  and  was  at  that  time  iden- 
tical with  New  Holland.  It  was  also,  unhappily,  a  penal  settlement. 
Those  times,  however,  have  now  changed. 

Since  the  year  1850,  a  portion  of  New  South  Wales — and,  I  may 
say,  a  comparatively  small  section — was  cut  off  and  formed  into  an 
independent  colony — the  colony,  of  Victoria.  Very  shortly  after 
Victoria  acquired  its  independence,  the  great  gold  discoveries  were 
made.  These  discoveries  led  to  a  large  rush  of  population  to  our 
shores ;  and  hence  this  colony  of  Victoria,  although  small  in  extent 
and  a  very  young  colony,  now  includes  a  population  greater  than  that 
of  New  South  VVales,  containing  some  900,000  inhabitants.  The  cap- 
ital of  Victoria,  Melbourne,  is  a  city  that  will  compare — though  not 
in  population  with  Philadelphia — certainly  with  many  of  the  large 
cities  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  Its  streets  are  wide  and  spacious  ; 
its  buildings  are  thoroughly  substantial ;  and  it  is  a  busy,  thriving 
city,  containing  a  population  of  200,000  souls.  This  has  all  been  ac- 
complished in  a  growth  of  only  thirty  years. 

In  addition,  however,  to  this  colony  of  Victoria,  a  new  section  of 
New  South  Wales  was  cut  off  in  the  north,  which  is  known  as  Queens- 
land, and  which  is  more  than  twice  as  large. 

We  have  not  only  these  three  colonies — Queensland  in  the  north. 
New  South  Wales  in  the  centre,  and  Victoria  in  the  south — but  we 
have  two-thirds  of  the  vast  continent  apportioned  in  two  other  col- 
onies— a  colony  in  South  Australia  and  one  in  West  Australia,  which 
lies  side  by  side  with  the  colony  of  South  Australia. 

Australia  is  not  by  any  means  an  island  ;  and  it  may,  perhaps,  give 
you  some  idea  of  its  vast  extent,  when  I  tell  you  that  it  is  2,500  miles 
in  length  and  1,950  miles  in  breadth.  You  can  also  form  some  idea 
of  its  extent,  if  you  locate  the  capital  of  Queensland  on  the  northeast, 
and  wish  to  take  a  journey  across  the  country  to  Perth,  the  capital  of 
West  Australia  ;  you  .would  then  find  that  you  had  a  journey  to  under- 
take quite  as  long  as  the  journey  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco, 
and  that  you  would  have  to  travel  about  three  thousand  miles.  You 
will  thus  perceive  tliat  our  continent  is  no  insignificant  portion  of  the 
world's  surface,  and  that  even  our  American  friends  cannot  afford  to 
despise  us  in  this  respect. 

We  have  listened  in  this  Council  to  addresses  which  seem  to  imply 
that  Presbyterian  ism  has  its  abode  only  in  Europe  and  America,  and  that 
Asia  and  Africa  are  our  mission  fields.     I  desire,  however,  to  remind 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  81 1 

you  that  there  is  a  young  Presbyterian  Church  in  Australia  ;  and,  con- 
sidering its  youth,  I  think  that  it  may  be  regarded  as  having  made 
very  considerable  progress.  We  have  upwards  of  four  hundred  and 
thirty  congregations  ]  lanted  in  that  continent.  But  for  the  distance 
Australia  is  from  Philadelphia,  you  would  have  had  not  only  three  of 
our  representatives  in  this  Council,  but  some  fourteen  or  fifteen.  I 
anticipate  that  we  will  continue  to  progress,  though,  perhaps,  not 
quite  so  rapidly  as  we  have  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  ;  and 
that,  if  not  before  the  end  of  the  present  century,  at  all  events  in  the 
early  beginning  of  the  next  century,  the  members  of  this  Council 
may  deem  it  advisable  to  hold  their  General  Council  in  Melbourne. 
I  am  quite  sure,  if  you  should  ever  resolve  to  do  this,  that  you  would 
find  in  Melbourne  a  hospitable  welcome. 

We  have  been  prosecuting  our  work  amid  many  difficulties,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  amid  much  encouragement.  We  are  a  thoroughly 
united  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  year  1854,  when  negotiations 
for  union  were  begun,  we  had  churches  representing  the  Established 
Church  of  Scotland,  churches  representing  the  Free  Church,  and  no 
less  than  three  churches  claiming  to  be  the  true  and  proper  representa- 
tives of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  All  these  different  sections 
of  the  Church  were  united  as- long  ago  as  1859.  I,  therefore,  claim 
to  stand  upon  the  floor  of  this  Assembly  as  the  representative  of 
the  oldest  union  Church  in  these  modern  days.  We  have  now 
attained  our  majority  as  a  union  Church.  That  union,  so  happily 
consummated,  did  something  tov/ard  helping  on  the  union  in  Can- 
ada, and,  I  presume,  the  union  in  the  United  States.  I  also  trust 
that  it  will  do  something  toward  helping  on  that  union  which  we  are 
all  looking  forward  to  so  anxiously  and  so  expectantly  in  Scotland. 

As  a  Church  we  aim  at  a  high  standard  of  attainment  for  our  min- 
isters. We  have  a  theological  hall  in  Victoria.  Four  of  our  ministers 
are  set  apart  for  a  certain  period  of  the  year  to  train  our  students  in 
all  the  various  branches  of  apologetics,  systematic  theology,  Hebrew, 
and  exegetical  theology.  The  training  which  they  receive  is  very 
thorough.  We  are  aiming  now  to  place  our  theological  hall  on  a  still 
better  basis ;  we  have  nearly  raised  the  sum  of  ^^30,000,  and  I  hope 
that  we  will  not  be  satisfied  until  we  increase  it  to  ^^40,000,  for  the 
endowment  of  our  theological  professorships.  We  propose  to  start 
the  hall  equipped  with  two  professors  and^a  tutor.  We  have  also 
erected  a  college  for  our  under-graduates.  The  principal  cause  which 
led  to  the  building  of  this  college  arose  from  the. fact  that  one  of  our 
elders,  whom  I  am  happy  to  see  on  the  floor  of  this  Council,  realized 
the  importance  of  that  work,  and  came  forward  and  subscribed 
;^io,ooo  towards  its  erection,  provided  that  the  other  laymen  of  the 
Church  raised  an  additional  ^10,000.  The  sum  has  been  raised,  and 
the  building  is  nearly  completed.  In  addition  to  this  amount,  the 
elder  of  whom  I  have  spoken  has  given  ^2.500  towards  the  erection 
of  a  suitable  spire  for  the  college,  and  ^2,500  towards  the  endow- 
ment of  the  principalship. 


8i2  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

We  are  not  only  training  our  students  for  the  ministry,  but  we  are 
also  actively  engaged  in  mission  work.  We  are  carrying  forward  the 
mission  work  in  the  New  Hebrides,  and  we  have  missionaries  among 
the  Chinese  and  among  the  aborigines. 

I  trust  this  brief  statement  of  the  work  in  Australia  will  serve  to 
impress  upon  the  members  of  this  Council  that  you  have  not  only 
sister  churches  in  other  lands,  but  that  you  have  a  little  sister  in  Aus- 
tralia of  whom,  I  hope,  you  will  have  an  affectionate  remembrance, 
and  that  she  will  have  an  abiding  place  alike  in  your  sympathies  and 
in  your  prayers.  We  are  ready  to  extend  the  hand  of  fellowship  to 
you,  and  I  trust  you  in  turn  will  extend  it  very  cordially  to  us. 

The  Rev.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  D.  D.,  of  New  York,  read  the 
following  paper  on 

REVIVALS  OF  RELIGION. 

Christianity  is  of  God.  Its  history  stamps  it  divine.  Beginning 
at  Jerusalem,  in  the  majesty  of  its  conscious  might,  it  "went  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer,"  and  rested  not  till  it  had  subdued  the 
world.  It  has  survived  the  conflicts  of  the  ages,  and  the  wrecks  of 
empires.  Its  vitality  is  the  world's  wonder.  "  Cast  down,"  it  can- 
not be  "destroyed."  It  is  to-day  the  mightiest  power  on  the  earth. 
Its  principles  and  spirit  are  the  controlling  forces  in  modern  civiliza- 
tion.    It  dominates  the  world. 

It  has  a  future  infinitely  more  glorious  than  its  past.  It  was  made 
ftr  man — designed  for  the  race — for  the  whole  world.  It  is  adapted, 
as  no  other  religion  is,  for  the  universal  brotherhood  of  humanity.  It 
meets  the  need  of  every  class,  every  condition,  every  age.  It  is  suited 
alike  to  the  bond  and  the  free;  the  savage  and  the  civilized;  the 
learned  and  the  unlearned  ;  the  rich  and  the  poor.  It  reclaims, 
renews,  refines,  expands,  exalts  and  purifies  the  soul.  It  sustains, 
consoles  and  heals  the  stricken;  pacifies  the  troubled  and  distressed  ; 
and,  with  hopes  enrapturing  and  immortal,  inspires  the  dying.  It  is 
sure  to  triumph  over  all  rivalry,  all  enmity.  "The  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it."  It  must  become  the  religion  of  the 
world. 

With  all  this  accords. the  voice  of  inspiration.  The  stone,  "cut 
out  Avithout  hands,"  becomes  "a  great  mountain,  and  'fills'  the 
whole  earth."  To  Him,  who  hung  on  the  tree  and  burst  the  bars  of 
death,  is  given  "  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people, 
nations  and  languages  should  serve  him  ;  his  dominion  is  an  everlast- 
ing dominion  which  shall  not  pass  away  ;  and  his  kingdom  that  which 
shall  not  be  destroyed."  "The  God  of  the  whole  earth  shall  he  be 
called."  "And  the  kingdom  and  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the 
kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High,  whose  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom, 
and  all  dominions  shall  serve  and  obey  him."     For  "  the  earth  shall 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  813 

be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 
So  we  believe  and  teach. 

How,  now,  shall  this  grand  consummation  be  brought  to  pass?  By 
what  agencies,  by  what  instrumentalities?  Is  the  past  to  be  the 
model  and  the  measure  of  the  future?  Are  we  to  be  content  with 
past  attainments,  with  present  achievements?  Is  there  not  to  be,  and 
that  in  the  near  future,  a  vivid  quickening  of  the  Spirit;  an  intense 
vitalizing  of  the  forces  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  its  assaults  on  the 
kingdom  of  darkness,  and  in  its  conquering  march  through  the  world  ? 
Is  not  the  day  at  hand,  when  she  is  to  look  for  vastly  mightier  mani- 
festations of  converting  and  sanctifying  grace,  than  at  any  former 
period ;  for  special,  and  copious,  and  widespread  effusions  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  stimulating,  beyond  all  precedent,  the  hopes,  the  faith  and 
the  purposes  of  the  people  of  God,  and  sweeping  away  all  opposition 
to  the  onward  and  triumphant  march  of  the  great  Captain  of  salvation? 
"I  will  pour  water,"  saith  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  "on  him  that  is 
thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the  dry  ground.  I  will  pour  my  Spirit  upon 
thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  upon  thine  offspring;  and  they  shall  spring 
up  as  among  the  grass,  as  willows  by  the  water-courses."  "And  it 
shall  come  to  pass  afterward,  that  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit  upon  all 
flesh." 

The  promises  and  the  prophecies  of  God's  word  give  abundant 
warrant  for  the  expectation  of  far  greater,  more  frequent,  and  more 
extensive  effusions  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  henceforth,  increasingly,  to 
the  end  of  time.  In  other  words  it  is  to  be  expected,  that,  as  in  times 
past,  so  in  the  time  to  come,  and  much  more  abundantly  and  mightily, 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth  is  to  be  built  up,  mainly,  by  revivals 
of  religion  ;  by  copious  showers  of  divine  grace  ;  by  the  quickening 
of  the  spirit  of  life,  simultaneously,  in  particular  localities,  districts 
and  regions,  among  large  bodies  of  people,  in  connection  with,  and 
in  attestation  of,  the  preaching  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus;  rousing 
the  dormant  energies  of  the  Church  to  new  and  unwonted  activity  ; 
greatly  elevating  the  tone  and  the  standard  of  piety;  and  bringing 
sinners,  in  large  and  increasing  numbers,  to  bow  at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 
Revivals  of  religion,  therefore,  it  is  maintained,  are  to  be  regarded  as 
appointed  means  of  grace ;  as  the  most  precious  and  desirable  of  all 
God's  gifts  to  his  Church  on  the  earth;  and  are  to  be  sought  most 
fervently,  to  be  expected  most  confidently,  to  be  promoted  by  all  the 
wisdom,  energy  and  piety  of  God's  people,  and  to  be  guarded  against 
everything  that  can  mar  their  purity,  or  diminish  their  power  for 
good. 

The  phrase — Revival  of  Religion — is  ordinarily  applied  to  the  case 
of  a  community,  in  which  a  special  interest,  more  or  less  general,  is 
felt  in  spiritual  and  eternal  matters;  accompanied  with  a  marked 
manifestation  of  divine  power  and  grace,  in  the  quickening  of  be- 
lievers, in  the  reclaiming  of  backsliders,  and  in  the  awakening,  con- 
viction and  conversion  of  unbelievers — of  sinners.  It  matters  not 
by  what  agencies  or  measures  these  results  may  have  been  reached ; 


8i4  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

with  what  degree  of  excitement  the  work  may  have  been  carried  for- 
ward ;  nor  whether  exception  may  not  properly  be  taken  to  some  of 
the  methods  and  teachings  of  preacher  or  people,  in  their  zealous 
efforts  for  its  advancement.  The  adventitious  is  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  essential.  The  adjuncts  may,  in  some  respects,  be  of  ques- 
tionable propriety;  may  be  proper  subjects  of  condemnation.  Never- 
theless, it  may  be  a  blessed  work  of  grace,  giving  abundant  evidence 
of  its  genuineness,  and  constraining  even  the  bold  blasphemer  to  say, 
"Surely,  this  is  the  finger  of  God." 

Are  revivals  of  religion,  thus  understood,  to  be  regarded  as  falling 
in  with  the  divine  plan  for  the  best  and  most  rapid  diffusion  of  the 
gospel  over  all  the  earth ;  and  so  to  be  made  the  object  of  intense 
desire,  of  fervent  prayer,  and  strenuous  effort  on  the  part  of  all  who 
look  and  long  for  the  speedy  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in 
power  and  divine  glory?  Or  are  we  to  depend  exclusively  on  what 
are  known  as  the  ordinary  means  of  grace  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
among  men  ? 

Not  a  few  have  serious  doubts  as  to  the  desirableness  of  these  move- 
ments; have  had  little  or  no  experience  of  these  special  seasons; or 
have  seen  or  heard  of  disorders  and  irregularities  growing  out  of  or 
accompanying  these  visitations,  so  baleful  or  dangerous  as  to  make  it 
questionable  whether  they  are  not,  on  the  whole,  productive  of  more 
evil  than  good.  They  maimain,  therefore,  that  it  is  best  to  rely  on 
the  regular  course  of  things,  and  move  on  in  a  quiet  way,  with  gradual 
and  regular  accessions,  believing  that  in  the  end  quite  as  much  will 
have  been  accomplished,  and  more  satisfactorily. 

Greatly,  however,  as  steadiness  and  regularity  and  freedom  from  de- 
clensions and  excitements  may  be  desirable,  and  beautiful  as  is  the 
theory  of  constancy  in  the  progress  of  the  gospel  among  men  and  in 
its  gracious  operations  in  the  human  heart,  no  such  state  of  things  is 
to  be  looked  for.  It  consists  not  with  human  experience  in  any  of  the 
relations  of  life.  The  very  nature  of  the  human  soul,  and  its  relations 
to  the  outer  world,  forbid  it.  As  well  may  we  expect  unclouded 
serenity  in  the  heavens  above  and  around  us,  unvarying  heat  in  summer 
or  cold  in  winter,  or  an  equable  temperature  for  the  whole  year  and 
all  the  years,  or  the  steady  growth  of  plants,  irrespective  of  the  acci- 
dents of  frost,  or  flood,  or  drought.  Man  cannot  come  into  conflict 
with  the  laws  of  nature,  and  expect  to  have  his  own  way.  Universal 
law  controls  him  ;  not  he  it.  Theory  must  give  place  to  stubborn 
fact. 

The  principle  of  the  divine  life  in  the  soul  is,  at  the  outset,  but  the 
merest  germ.  Its  first  pulsations  can  rarely,  if  ever,  be  detected  and 
determined.  The  subject  himself  becomes  conscious  ot  it  only  after 
some  interval.  It  is  like  leaven  ;  it  is  like  seed  cast  into  the  ground, 
that  springeth  up  and  groweth,  no  one  knows  how,  "  first  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  It  attains  its  full 
development  only  after  a  long  process  of  careful  and  diligent  cultiva- 
tion, by  the  use  of  appliances,  smaller  or  greater,  in  conformity  with 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  815 

the  natural  laws  of  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual  action.  In  the  young 
believer,  it  is  a  sapling,  easily  swayed  hither  and  thither  by  aerial  cur- 
rents ;  in  the  mature  disciple,  it  is  a  giant  of  the  forest,  towering  aloft, 
deep  and  wide-rooted  in  the  earth,  the  victor  in  a  thousand  conflicts 
with  storm  and  tempest, 

"  Unhurt  amidst  the  war  of  elements." 

It  is  found  in  every  possible  stage  of  development  short  of  absolute 
perfection,  to  which  it  attains  only  when  all  occasion  for  conflict  has 
passed. 

Sure  as  is  the  growth  of  grace  in  the  soul  of  the  believer,  the 
measure  of  this  growth  is  exceedingly  variable.  It  is  subject,  like  all 
thing?  human,  to  fluctuations  more  or  less  frequent  and  considerable. 
The  voyager  on  the  sea  of  time,  with  favoring  currents  and  propitious 
gales,  makes  rapid  progress;  the  winds  die,  and  he  floats  with  the 
tide ;  or  storms  arise,  and  beat  him  back  on  his  course.  Now  he  is 
all  life,  and  buoyant  with  hope ;  anon  he  is  cast  down  and  disquieted. 
Now  every  Christian  grace  is  in  lively  exercise,  and  he  makes  steady 
growth  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God  ;  again,  he  is  borne  along 
by  the  billows  of  political  excitement,  or  of  some  all-absorbing  com- 
mercial speculation.  He  has  his  moods  of  peace  and  trouble,  joy  and 
sorrow,  liglit  and  darkness,  heat  and  cold.  The  night  follows  the 
day;  the  winter's  cold  the  summer's  heat;  and  all  this  at  intervals 
quite  uncertain  and  irregular. 

Spiritual  development,  moreover,  is  subject  to  invariable  law.  It 
may  be  hastened  or  retarded  by  the  use  or  neglect  of  appropriate 
means.  Thought  and  feeling,  mind  and  heart,  are  continually  acting 
and  reacting  upon  each  other  for  good  or  ill.  Thought  is  indispen- 
sable to  feeling.  Before  an  object  can  act  upon  the  heart,  it  must  be 
more  or  less  distinctly  perceived  by  the  mind.  Deeply  to  feel  and  be 
moved  to  action  in  spiritual  concerns,  you  must  "  think  on  these 
things,"  life  and  death,  sin  and  guilt,  heaven  and  hell,  time  and  eter- 
nity, Christ  and  his  cross,  the  Spirit  and  his  work,  obligation  and  re- 
sponsibility. If  such  concerns  never  occupy  your  thoughts,  your 
heart  will  be  as  hard  as  a  stone,  as  cold  as  an  iceberg.  On  the  other 
hand,  so  constantly,  closely,  and  intensely  may  you  think  on  these 
and  similar  themes,  as  to  stir  up  your  whole  spiritual  and  moral 
nature  ;  to  fill  your  heart  with  glowing  emotion ;  and  to  be  deemed 
an  enthusiast,  a  fanatic,  a  madcap. 

Thought,  also,  in  like  manner,  is  subject  to  law.  Means  of  thought 
there  are,  as  well  as  means  of  grace.  Thought  is  just  as  susceptible 
of  cultivation  as  bone  and  muscle.  The  object  determines  the  thought. 
The  child  is  taught  to  think,  by  setting  before  him  jjroper  objects  of 
thought  and  fixing  his  attention  upon  them.  Thought  may  be  com- 
])elled,  or  suppressed,  by  a  fixed  purpose,  and  corresponding  effort  to 
exclude  from  the  mind  all  but  a  particular  class  of  objects.  The 
mourner  arrays  himself  in  sable  ;  gathers  about  him  the  relics  of  the 
loved  and  lost ;  shuns  all  cheerful  and  joyous  associations  and  occupa- 


8i6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tions ;  muses  on  death  and  the  grave  ;  shuts  out  the  warm  light  and 
glow  of  heaven;  lives  "in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death."  His 
home  is  a  sepulcnre. 

"The  wicked,  through  the  pride  of  his  countenance,  will  not  seek 
after  God."  "  God  is  not  in  all  his  thoughts."  To  think  of  God  is 
painful  to  the  sinner.  He  shuts  God  out  of  his  mind — gives  him  no 
place  there  whatever;  shuns  everything  fitted  to  bring  him  to  mind; 
brings  in  the  world  and  fills  every  nook  and  cranny  of  his  mind  with 
things  of  time  and  sense.  "God  is  not  in  all  his  thoughts."  His 
heart  becomes  a  stone. 

The  believer  may,  at  times,  be  drawn  away  from  the  steady  pursuit 
of  holiness.  So  closely  may  he  suffer  himself  to  be  occupied  with  the 
cares  and  pursuits  and  pleasures  of  the  world,  as  to  lose  much  (5f  the 
genial  warmth  of  God's  presence  and  love.  His  heart  is  benumbed ; 
he  wanders  from  the  right  ways  of  his  God ;  he  becomes  more  or  less 
a  backslider  in  heart,  if  not  in  practice.  Spiritual  declension  is  infec- 
tious. Backsliders  sin  not  alone.  A  whole  community  of  believers, 
by  the  same  or  a  similar  process,  may  for  a  time  be  turned  aside,  to 
some  extent,  from  the  steady  pursuit  of  holiness.  Worldly  matters  of 
deep  and  absorbing  interest  excite  and  engross  attention,  thought, 
emotion,  effort.  Spiritual  and  eternal  concerns  are,  in  a  degree, 
subordinated  to  the  carnal  and  the  temporal.  The  declension  becomes 
general,  and  possibly  long  protracted. 

The  rei>jvved  heart  is  i^anctified  but  in  part.  The  natural  is  ever  in 
conflict  with  the  spiritual;  "for  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit, 
and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh,  and  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the 
other."  It  requires  constant  vigilance,  untiring  diligence,  and  cease- 
less strife  with  the  flesh,  on  the  part  of  the  believer,  to  hold  on  his 
way,  and  make  daily  advances  in  the  life  divine.  An  earnest,  faithful 
and  godly  ministry,  with  gospel  ordinances  in  their  purity,  is  indis- 
pensable to  the  preservation  of  a  church  from  error,  worldliness,  luke- 
warmness,  and  spiritual  torpor.  Even  with  these  helps  and  incite- 
ments, how  frequently,  in  the  absence  of  the  special  outpouring  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  are  our  very  best  churches  brought  under  the  dreadful 
blight  of  spirltu.ll  declension  ! 

"  My  people,"  says  the  God  of  Israel,  "are  bent  to  backsliding 
from  me.  Why,"  he  asks,  "  is  this  people  of  Jerusalem  slidden  back 
by  a  perpetual  backsliding?  "  The  same  statement  and  the  same  in- 
quiry might  have  been  made  in  every  period  of  the  wonderful  history 
of  the  people  of  Israel  in  the  days  of  Moses,  of  the  judges,  of  the 
kings,  and  of  all  the  prophets.  The  fire  was  kept  burning  on  the 
altar  only  by  a  succession  of  divine  interpositions.  Judges  and 
rulers,  priests  and  ])rophets,  Deborah  and  Barak,  Samuel  and  David, 
Elijah  and  Elisha,  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  were  raised  up  from  time  to 
time  to  beat  back  the  waves  of  corruption,  to  arrest  the  tide  of  de- 
generacy, and  to  restore  the  people  of  Israel  and  Judah  from  their 
perpetual  backslidings. 

Similar  has  been  the  history  of  the  church  in  all  subsequent  periods. 


S£  COND    GENERA  L    CO  UNCIL .  817 

In  the  absence  of  the  special  effusions  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  how 
uniformly  have  ministers  and  churches  lost  the  fervor  of  their  "first 
love,"  as  at  Ephesus  ;  become  "lukewarm"  in  the  service  of  the 
Master,  as  at  Laodicea;  "defiled  their  garments,"  as  at  Sardis ;  or 
given  tar  to  the  voice  of  error,  as  at  Pergamos  and  Thyatira.  What 
a  mournful  picture  of  declension  is  presented  in  the  case  of  the  seven 
churches  of  Asia  not  only,  but  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  Philippi 
and  Corinth,  and,  most  of  all,  of  the  Church  of  Rome  !  How  de- 
plorable has  been  the  defection  oi  not  a  i^-w  of  the  churches  of  the 
Reformation !  Even  among  the  most  orthodox  and  circumspect 
communions,  the  ear  is  pained  and  the  heart  is  griev'ed  with  the  story 
of  leanness  and  coldness,  of  worldliness  and  deadneso  !  How  often,  in 
their  annual  narratives  of  the  state  of  religion,  do  Presbyteries  and 
Synods  and  General  Assemblies  lament  the  prevalence  of  sinful  con- 
formity to  the  world,  the  decay  of  piety,  and  the  lukewarmness  of 
many  among  their  people  !  Truly,  the  Christian  Church,  as  well  as 
the  Jewish,  are  bent  to  backsliding.  The  natural  tendencies  of  hu- 
man hearts  are  all  backward  and  downward,  so  grievous  is  the  cor- 
ruption of  our  poor,  sinful  nature. 

Now,  what  is  the  true  and  only  appropriate  remedy  for  spiritual 
declensions?  Most  assuredly,  spiritual  revivals.  By  all  the  authorized 
means  at  their  disposal,  the  people, who  are  constrained  to  acknowl- 
edge and  lament  their  backslidings,  should  seek  with  their  whole  heart 
and  soul  a  speedy  revival  of  the  work  of  the  Lord  among  them. 

But  how  is  this  greatest  of  blessings  to  be  secured  ?  What  has  been 
the  history  of  revivals?  How  have  they  begun,  and  how  has  their 
continuance  been  promoted  ?  Happily,  we  are  not  left  in  doubt  on 
these  points.  Whatever  may  be  the  case  in  other  parts  of  the  world, 
the  American  churches  and  (may  we  not  say,  though  possibly  not  to 
the  same  extent?)  the  churches  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  have  had 
large  experience  of  these  gracious  visitations,  and  not  a  few  of  them 
have  made  grateful  record  of  their  rise  and  progress. 

What  is  the  promise?  "Thou  shalt  arise,  and  have  mercy  upon 
Zion ;  for  the  time  to  favor  her,  yea,  the  set  time  is  come.  For  thy 
servants  take  pleasure  in  her  stones,  and  favor  the  dust  thereof." 
Various  are  the  ways  in  which  the  desired  result  is  brought  about. 
Naturally,  and  without  violence  to  the  laws  of  mind,  the  blessed 
Spirit,  by  whom  the  principle  of  divine  grace  is  implanted  in  the 
heart,  and  the  dormant  energies  of  the  soul  are  aroused  to  newness  of 
life,  arrests  the  steps  of  the  wanderer,  stirs  up  the  conscience  of  the 
backslider,  and  disturbs  the  dreams  of  the  worldly  professor.  A  sud- 
den and  severe  illness  ;  a  sad  and  sore  bereavement ;  a  prevalent  and 
infectious  disorder  ;  a  disastrous  reverse  of  fortune  ;  the  treachery  of 
a  friend;  the  faithlessness  of  a  lover;  deliverance  from  the  very  jaws 
of  death;  or  the  tidings  of  some  great  catastrophe  involving  great  loss 
of  property  and  life;  nay,  "  a  still  small  voice,"  heard  only  in  the 
deep  recesses  of  the  soul,  may  rouse  the  slumberer,  and  reveal  to  him 
his  perilous  condition  and  prospects. 
52 


8i8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  mind  thus  turned  towards  itself,  becomes  conscious  of  its  un- 
rest, its  want  of  entire  conformity  to  the  divine  will,  its  Avant  of  heart 
in  God's  service,  its  disregard  of  the  wants  of  its  own  moral  nature 
and  its  wretchedness.  A  sense  of  guiltiness,  more  or  less  acute,  suc- 
ceeds;  a  sense  deep  enough  at  times  to  produce  remorse,  penitence, 
renewal  of  covenant  obligations,  abhorrence  of  past  neglect  and  wan- 
derings from  God  ;  ardent  desires  after  holiness  of  heart  and  life, 
earnest  efforts  to  be  reinstated  in  the  divine  favor;  and,  in  a  word,  a 
whole-hearted  consecration  to  God.  The  believer  is  now  brought 
into  free  and  full  fellowship  with  the  divine  nature.  He  walks  in  the 
light,  and  rejoices  in  the  love  of  God  "  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
©f  glory."  He  reflects  the  radiance  divine — the  home,  the  shop,  the 
storehouse,  the  walks  of  trade,  the  circle  of  domestic  love,  the  round 
of  social  intercourse,  the  commimity  of  fellow-believers,  and  even  the 
outlying  world,  all  feel,  to  some  extent,  the  heavenly  influence  of  the 
renewed  life.  The  blessed  infection  spreads;  other  sleepers  are 
aroused  ;  the  community  are  stirred  ;  the  jjulpit  glows  with  new  light 
and  life  ;  "  the  house  of  God  "  becomes  "  the  gate  of  heaven  ;  "  the 
gatherings  for  social  prayer  are  enlarged  ;  the  formal  listless  utterance 
gives  place  to  fervency  and  importunity  ;  the  attention  of  the  ungodly 
and  the  careless  is  arrested  ;  sinners  are  brought  under  conviction  ; 
and  converts  of  "  such  as  should  be  saved  "  are  multiplied.  A  great, 
a  peculiar,  a  wonderful  change  comes  over  the  community,  and  the 
Avorld  are  constrained  to  say  that  "God  is  in  the  midst  of"  them 
in  deed  and  in  truth.     This  is  a  revival  of  religion. 

In  bringing  about  these  blessed  results,  the  Holy  Spirit  uses  every 
variety  of  agency  and  instrumentality,  within  the  domain  of  the  right 
and  the  true.  The  work  may  begin  in  the  heart  of  a  single  believer, 
and  that  one  illiterate,  it  may  be,  and  obscure;  or  several  hearts  may 
be  moved  separately  and  simultaneously.  It  invariably  begins  '•  at 
the  house  of  God."  Very  often  the  pastor  of  the  flock  becomes  so 
deeply  sensible  of  the  need  of  more  grace,  for  himself  and  his  people, 
as  to  be  roused  to  greater  fervor  in  prayer,  to  deep  heart-searchings, 
and  to  unwonted  importunity  in  preaching  the  word.  He  can  no 
longer  be  content  with  barren  ordinances.  He  longs  to  reap  as  well 
as  to  sow.  "  Give  me  the  souls  of  my  people,  or  I  die,"  is  the  pur- 
port of  his  every  prayer.  He  now  deals  with  themes  of  infinite  mo- 
ment— the  worth  of  the  soul;  its  undone  condition,  its  exceeding 
guiltiness,  and  its  perishing  need  of  the  salvation  offered  in  the  gospel  ; 
the  danger  of  delay  ;  the  exclusive  efficacy  of  the  Saviour's  blood  ;  the 
shortness  and  uncertainty  of  life  ;  the  tremendous  realities  of  the  future 
state  ;  the  necessity  of  regeneration  ;  and  the  utter  dependence  of  the 
sinner  on  the  sovereign  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  these  are  the 
themes  that  the  awakened  preacher  ])resents.  They  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  the  careless  ;  arouse  the  slumbering  ;  wake  up  the  stupid  ;  take 
hold  of  the  heart ;  and  become  the  all-absorbing  subjects  of  thought, 
of  anxious  inquiry,  and  personal  concern.  They  are  accompanied 
with  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One ;  are  preached  "  in  demonstration 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  819 

of  the  Spirit  and  of  power."  House  after  house  becomes  a  Bochim. 
Songs  of  gratitude  follow  hard  on  tears  of  penitence.  Converts  are 
multipHed ;  saints  are  quickened;  wanderers  are  brought  back; 
Christ  is  honored  ;  God  is  glorified.  Blessed  people,  that  are  thus 
refreshed  with  the  divine  presence  ! 

In  all  this,  wonderful  and  glorious  as  are  the  results,  there  is 
nothing  miraculous  or  abnormal,  more  than  in  the  case  of  every  con- 
vert to  Christ.  The  work  is  of  God,  but  conformed,  in  all  its  parts 
and  stages,  to  the  well-known  laws  of  our  mental  and  moral  nature. 
True — "  tlie  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  has  away  of  its  own, 
'*  past  finding  out."  Every  aerial  current,  however,  in  its  inception, 
course,  velocity  and  continuance,  is  subject  to  laws  as  fixed  and  defi- 
nite as  those  which  govern  the  solar  system.  "  So  is  it "  with  "  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  He  who  created  the  universe,  and 
controls,  by  laws  of  infinite  wisdom  and  might,  the  starry  systems,  is 
the  author  of  the  new  creation,  and  of  every  gracious  operation  in  the 
human  soul,  working  by  law,  as  fixed  and  cfefinite  in  the  one  case  as 
in  the  other. 

Revivals  of  religion,  then,  are  to  be  regarded,  sought  and  looked 
for,  as  the  legitimate  result  of  principles  that  shape  and  govern  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man  ;  as  in  entire  conformity  to  the  plans,  pur- 
poses and  procedure  of  the  Almighty,  in  the  building  up  of  the  king- 
dom of  grace  on  the  earth,  as  set  forth  in  promise  and  prophecy,  and 
confirmed  by  the  history  of  the  Church  in  all  ages.  From  the  begin- 
ning, God  has  carried  forward  his  great  work  of  redemption  among 
men,  by  successive  outpourings  of  his  Spirit,  age  after  age,  until  now\ 
The  "  History  of  Redemption"  is  a  continuous  record  of  spiritual 
declensions,  succeeded  and  overcome  by  great  and  wonderful  spiritual 
revivals. 

The  Christian  dispensation,  as  distinguished  from  the  Jewish,  was 
born  in  the  greatest  revival  of  religion  ever  known  until  then.  "  From 
the  days  of  John  the  Baptist,  until  now,"  said  the  great  prophet  of 
Nazareth,  *'  the  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 
take  it  by  force."  What  a  deep  and  all-pervading  commotion  was 
created  in  Judea  and  in  Galilee,  by  the  preaching  of  John  and  of 
Jesus;  of  James  and  of  his  brother  John  ;  of  Peter  and  of  Paul ;  of 
Silas  and  of  Barnabas !  How  wonderful  were  the  effusions  of  the 
Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  immediately  subsequently  !  and 
on  through  the  apostolic  age,  what  mighty  revolutions  were  effected 
by  the  consequent  upheaval  of  society,  and  the  introduction  of  the 
new  dispensation  of  grace  among  men  !  The  history  of  the  Christian 
Church  during  the  first  three  centuries  of  our  era,  among  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  is  simply  a  history  of  revivals.  When  the  Papal  apos- 
tacy  had  resulted  in  an  almost  universal  declension  of  true  godliness, 
and  the  dark  ages  had  shrouded  the  Church,  how  was  the  liglit 
restored,  and  the  Church  redeemed,  but  by  those  wonderful  revivals 
of  religion  tliat  followed  the  faithful  preaching  of  Huss  the  Bohemian, 
of  Jerome  of  Prague,  of  Wickliff  the  Briton,  of  Luther  and  Calvin, 


820  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  Knox  and  Farel,  of  the  great  host  of  British  and  continental  re- 
formers and  martyrs?  And,  when  the  reformation  itself  had  degen- 
erated, how  were  the  power  and  prevalence  of  godliness  restored,  but 
by  the  remarkable  revivals  of  religion,  that  resulted  from  the  earnest 
and  godly  preaching  of  Bunyan  and  Baxter,  and  the  noble  band  of 
Puritans  that  adorned  the  seventeenth  century  in  the  British  Isles,  and 
from  that  of  Wesley,  Whitefield  and  their  compeers  in  the  eighteenth 
century? 

The  Presbyterian  Church,  in  both  the  old  and  the  new  world,  owes 
everything  to  the  gracious  and  powerful  revivals  of  religion  that  from 
the  beginning  have  characterized  its  history.  It  was  by  an  extra- 
ordinary outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  that  Scotland  was  redeemed,  in  the 
days  of  Knox,  from  the  blight  of  the  Papacy.  "  The  whole  nation," 
says  Kirkton,  "  was  converted  by  lump.  Lo  !  here  a  nation  born  in 
one  day;  yea,  moulded  into  one  congregation,  and  sealed  as  a  foun- 
tain with  a  solemn  oath  and  covenant."  "  What  swift  course,"  says 
Fleming,  "  the  preaching  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  had,  and  how 
professors  of  the  truth  thronged  in,  amidst  the  greatest  threaten- 
ings  of  those  on  whose  side  authority  and  power  then  were  !  Oh  ! 
how  astonishing  and  extraordinary  was  this  appearance  of  the  Lord 
there  on  all  ranks,  so  that  they  offered  themselves  willingly  for 
the  truth  !  The  Church  of  Scotland  was  born  anew  in  this  great 
revival." 

Wonders  of  divine  grace  were  witnessed  in  those  days  among  her 
congregations,  under  the  preaching  of  George  Wishart,  William 
Cooper,  John  Welsh,  and  other  such  servants  of  Christ.  It  was  a 
mighty  effusion  of  the  Spirit  that  wrought  upon  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  1596;  more  than  four  hundred  men  of  God  to  humble  them- 
selves with  sighs  and  groans,  and  shedding  of  penitential  tears,  and 
with  one  mind  and  heart,  to  renew  the  league  and  covenant  of  their 
fathers.  With  what  power  in  those  memorable  days  did  Bruce,  at 
Edinburgh,  bear  witness  to  the  truth,  making,  as  one  says,  "always 
an  earthquake  upon  his  hearers,  and  rarely  preaching  but  to  a  weep- 
ing auditory  !  "  Memorable,  in  the  annals  of  the  old  Kirk,  was  that 
sacramental  day,  June,  1630,  in  the  parish  of  Shotts,  when,  under  the 
preaching  of  the  aged  Bruce,  and  the  youthful  Livingston,  the  Spirit 
of  God  was  poured  out  with  such  power  that  "  near  five  hundred  had, 
at  that  time,  a  most  discernible  change  wrought  on  them,  of  whom 
most  proved  lively  Christians  afterwards — so  much  so  that  many 
of  the  most  eminent  Christians  of  that  country  (Clydesdale)  could 
date  either  their  conversion,  or  some  remarkable  confirmation  of 
their  case,  from  that  day." 

Miracles  of  grace  were  also  wrought  in  1625,  at  Stewarton,  in  an 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  under  the  preaching  of  Dickson  of  Irvine, 
exciting  the  wonder  of  the  whole  land.  Multitudes,  too,  were  con- 
verted in  his  own  parish,  and  few  Sabbaths  passed,  for  a  considerable 
time,  without  such  tokens  of  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Spirit. 
At  the  signing  of  the  covenant,  in  1638,  the  whole  country  was  stirred 


SECOND  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  821 

as  by  the  mighty  hand  of  God,  so  that  Livingston  said,  "  In  all  my 
lifetime,  excepting  at  the  Kirk  of  Shotts,  I  never  saw  such  motions 
from  the  Spirit  of  God."  "I  have  seen,"  he  adds,  "more  than  a 
thousand  persons  all  at  once  lifting  up  their  hands,  and  the  tears  fall- 
ing down  their  eyes." 

Similar  manifestations  of  divine  grace  occurred  in  1650,  under  the 
preaching  of  William  Guthrie,  of  Fenwick,  multitudes  from  all  the 
region  round  thronging  to  the  kirk,  Christians  developing  extraor- 
dinary zeal  in  their  Master's  cause,  and  a  great  number  of  souls  being 
truly  converted  to  Christ. 

These  baptisms  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  abundantly  dispensed  during 
the  first  hundred  years  after  the  Reformation  from  popery,  gave  to  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  a  signal  position  among  the  Churches  of  Protestant- 
ism ;  so  that,  ever  since,  she  has  been  regarded  as  a  mighty  bulwark 
of  the  faith,  and  her  people  as  among  the  most  orthodox  and  godly 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.     She  owes  everything  to  revivals. 

In  later  days,  also,  her  people  have  been  favored  with  similar  attes- 
tations of  the  Spirit's  power.  At  Camburslang  and  Kilsyth,  at  Camp- 
sie  and  Calder,  at  Gargannock,  and  in  all  the  region  round  about,  in 
1742,  as  signal  revivals  prevailed  as  were  experienced,  at  the  same 
date,  in  New  England,  under  the  preaching  of  Edwards  and  Buell, 
and  their  coevals.  Time  would  fail  to  enumerate  the  blessed  effusions 
of  the  Spirit,  with  which  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  her  various 
branches.  Established,  Free,  Covenanting,  Relief  and  United,  has 
been  favored  in  the  present  century. 

What  God  has  done,  in  this  regard,  for  the  churches  of  the  same 
faith  and  order  in  America,  is  known  to  all  the  world.  From  the 
beginning,  the  Presbyterian  ministry  and  people  of  this  land  have 
believed  in  revivals  as  the  richest  of  blessings ;  have  sought  in  earnest 
prayer  the  bestowment  of  these  divine  gifts,  and  labored  strenuously 
to  obtain  and  secure  them.  In  the  darkest  times,  their  cry  has  been 
*'0  Lord,  revive  thy  work!" — and  not  in  vain.  The  American 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  all  its  several  parts,  is  a  standing  monument 
to  the  necessity  and  blessedness  of  revivals  of  religion.  But  for 
these  visitations  of  mercy  she  would  never  have  filled  the  land,  as  she 
has,  with  the  savor  of  her  orthodoxy,  and  the  fruits  of  her  piety. 
The  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1 740-1 742,  shared  largely,  under  the 
preaching  of  the  Tennents,  Dickinson,  and  their  associates,  in  the 
wonderful  work  of  grace  with  which  New  England  v/as  then  visited, 
and  was  everywhere  built  up  in  the  faith.  During  the  period  of  bat- 
tle, in  the  Revolution  and  immediately  afterwards,  infidelity,  irrelig- 
ion,  and  immorality  came  "in  like  a  flood,"  but  the  Lord  God  lifted 
"  up  a  standard  against  them,"  and,  for  a  considerable  period,  from 
and  after  1784,  poured  out  his  Spirit  upon  numerous  congregations, 
and  gave  a  wonderfiil  impulse  to  the  cause  of  his  Son.  "  So  mightily 
grew  the  word  of  God  and  prevailed." 

In  the  year  1799,  Dr.  Griffin  said,  "I  could  stand  at  my  door  in 
New  Hartford,  Litchfield  county,  Conn.,  and  number  "fifty  or  sixty 


822  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

congregations  laid  down  in  one  field  of  divine  wonders,  and  as  many 
more  in  different  parts  of  New  England.  By  1802  revivals  had  spread 
themselves  through  most  of  the  Western  and  .Southern  States,  and 
since  that  time  they  have  been  familiar  to  the  whole  American  people." 
This  was  said  in  1831,  at  a  time  when,  for  several  years,  a  mighty 
wave  of  the  Spirit  had  been  pouring  over  the  land.  Repeatedly  since, 
in  1858,  and  in  1876,  particularly,  similar  pentecostal  showers  have 
been  poured  upon  the  churches  of  America,  to  the  praise  of  divine 
grace,  and  the  great  enlargement  and  edification  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  Redeemer.  Scarcely  a  year  has  passed,  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury, when  some  considerable  portions  of  the  country,  or  numerous 
particular  congregations,  have  not  been  thus  visited  and  blessed. 
Differ  as  we  may  about  the  means  and  methods  of  conducting  and 
promoting  revivals,  we  believe  in  revivals  themselves  almost  to  a  man. 

It  is  a  matter  of  record,  that  by  far  the  larger  number,  not  less 
probably  than  seven-eighths  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Presby- 
terian communicants  in  America,  are  the  fruits  of  these  blessed  means 
of  grace.  The  periods  of  largest  growth  and  greatest  efficiency  have 
been  revival  periods.  The  Annual  Narratives  of  the  several  General 
Assemblies,  for  ninety  years  past,  bear  uniform  testimony  to  the  de- 
sirableness of  these  visitations,  with  lamentations  over  their  absence, 
or  grateful  attestation  to  the  goodness  of  God  in  bestowing  them, 
while  the  churches  are  continually  urged  to  pray  and  labor  for  their 
widespread  diffusion. 

Nearly  all  the  great  institutions  of  Christian  benevolence — the  home 
and  foreign  missionary  and  education  boards  and  societies,  the  Bible, 
tract,  and  temperance  societies,  and  kindred  organizations — have 
mainly  sprung  up  within  the  period  of  the  Modern  Revival  Era,  and 
have  been  best  sustained,  and  proved  most  efficient,  in  those  sections 
of  the  Church  where  these  divine  influences  have  been  most  abun- 
dantly enjoyed.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  energetic  and  effective 
ministry  of  the  land  have  themselves  been  converted  in  revivals. 
Very  many  others,  by  reason  of  the  occurrence  of  such  works  of  grace 
among  their  people,  have  put  new  life  and  efficiency  into  the  whole 
©f  their  subsequent  ministry.  The  remark  has  been  made  very  truth- 
fully, that  '^'  it  is  amidst  the  effusions  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  men 
are  trained  to  engage  actively  and  efficiently  in  the  great  enterprise 
of  Christian  benevolence;  have  their  hearts  and  their  hands  opened 
in  behalf  of  those  who  are  sitting'*  in  the  region  and  shadow  of 
death  ;  "catch  that  spirit  of  zeal  and  self-denial,  and  holy  resolution, 
which  will  lead  them  to  attemp)t  great  things,  and,  by  God's  blessing, 
to  accomplish  great  things^  towards  the  moral  renovation  of  the 
world." 

More,  therefore,  than  for  aught  or  all  else  in  the  wide  world,  should 
the  Christian  Church  plead  the  promise  of  the  Father,  and  seek  the 
gift,  in  large  and  copious  effusions,  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  More 
abundantly,  than  in  aught  else,  does  the  Father  delight  in  these  blessed 
dispensations  of  grace.     Called  to  serve  God  under  the  dispensation 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  823 

of  the  Spirit,  most  implicitly  should  we  believe,  and  act  upon,  the  in- 
spired testimony,  that  if  we,  "being  evil,"  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  to  our  "  children,"  "  much  more  shall  "  our  "  Heavenly  Father 
give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him."  The  one  great  need  of 
the  Church  is  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  upon  all  people.  The  one 
great  need  of  this  Presbyterian  Council,  and  the  most  blessed  consum- 
mation possible  of  its  deliberations,  is  such  a  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
as  came  upon  the  first  Christian  Council,  at  Jerusalem,  on  the  first 
Pentecost  after  the  blood  of  Jesus,  our  divine  Lord,  was  shed  for  the 
remission  of  sins.  Most  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  Church  would 
this  Council  be,  if,  thus  baptized  anew  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  its 
members  should  return  to  their  respective  homes,  so  burdened  with 
the  heavenly  gift,  as  to  kindle,  everywhere,  among  the  particular 
churches  of  their  several  communions,  a  burning  desire  and  an  intense 
zeal  for  the  revival  of  God's  work  among  them.  Even  now  we  may 
hear  a  voice  from  the  inner  temple,  crying,  in  the  fullness  of  Almighty 
love,  to  all  these  servants  of  Christ,  and  the  churches  that  they  repre- 
sent:  "Awake!  awake!  put  on  thy  strength,  O  Zion  !  put  on  thy 
beautiful  garments."  "Arise!  shine!  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee." 

The  great  and  glorious  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand — the  day  of  the 
Redeemer's  triumph,  and  coronation  as  "  King  of  kings,"  and  "  Lord 
of  lords."  Prophecies  and  wonderful  providences  have  ushered  it  in. 
The  age  of  revivals  is  upon  us.  God  is  giving  us  the  mightiest  means 
of  grace  ever  instituted  and  given  to  the  Church  of  Christ.  Our 
great  cities  are  to  be  saved  thereby.  The  world  can  be  saved  only 
thus.  More  and  more  these  divine  manifestations  are  to  be  sought  in 
prayer — to  be  the  burden  of  every  prayer  for  the  Church.  The  minis- 
try are  to  be  taught,  in  their  theological  training,  how  to  preach,  how 
to  labor,  and  how  to  pray  for  them.  The  whole  Church  are  to  look 
and  long  for  them,  with  unwavering  faith,  and  intense  expectation. 

A  voice  from  the  throne — a  voice  of  infinite  love — is  continually 
saying  to  ministers  and  people,  "  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the 
storehouse,"  "and  prove  me  now  herewith,"  "  if  I  will  not  open  you 
the  windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall 
not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it."  "Ye  that  make  mention  of  the 
Lord,  keep  not  silence,  and  give  him  no  rest,  till  he  establish,  and 
till  he  make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth." 

The  Rev.  Prof.  David  Steele,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  read 
the  following  on 

PERSONAL  RELIGION. 

The  age  in  which  we  live  is  one  of  great  activity.  Willing  hands  and 
enterprising  minds  are  at  work,  striving  after  something  higher,  better, 
nobler,  and  more  worthy  of  our  race,  than  anything  that  has  yet  been 
reached.  In  art,  in  science,  in  philosophy,  in  literature,  and  in  dis- 
covery, this  is  true.  This  activity  gives  existence  and  form  to  plans, 
systems  and  operations,  distinguished  by  principles  conservative  of 


824  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

individual  and  social  comfort  and  amelioration.  Surprising  and 
startling  as  may  be  the  motions  of  our  earth  in  its  orbit  and  upon  its 
axis,  the  world  moves  in  a  higher  and  grander  sense.  In  its  aggres- 
sive power  and  influences,  the  civilization  of  to-day  is  extraordinary. 
The  sleep  of  ages  has  been  thrown  off,  and  thought,  winged  with 
lightning  and  daring  as  the  elements,  which  have  given  it  scope, 
traverses  sea  and  land,  linking  together  oceans,  continents,  races  and 
nationalities.  The  incrustations  of  habit,  prejudice,  tradition,  pre- 
dominant character  and  of  false  systems  of  religion  are  being  broken 
up;  and  the  signs  of  a  reconstruction,  adequate  to  the  wants  of 
humanity,  are  daily  multiplying.  "Behold,"  says  God,  "I  make  all 
things  new."  A  new  era  is  expected.  The  halcyon  days  of  a  world's 
sublimation  steadily  draw  near.  And  if  there  is  one  thing  more  than 
another,  that  shall  mark  the  period  of  the  world's  highest  civilization, 
it  shall  be  the  prevalence  of  personal  religion,  individual  consecration 
to  God,  and  voluntary  subjection  to  the  Lord  and  his  Christ.  "  One 
shall  say,  I  am  the  Lord's  ;  and  another  shall  call  himself  by  the  name 
of  Jacob;  and  another  shall  subscribe  with  his  hand  unto  the  Lord 
and  surname  himself  by  the  name  of  Israel." 

With  these  introductory  remarks,  we  are  brought  to  consider  the 
subject  before  us — Personal  Religion. 

I.  What  is  it? — In  its  derivation  from  re  and  ligo,  religion  means 
the  reattachment  or  rebinding  to  God  of  the  being  who  had  departed 
from  him.  By  the  radical  import  of  this  term,  we  are  reminded  of 
our  apostasy  from  God,  and  of  that  amazing  provision  in  the  divine 
economy,  by  which  guilt  is  pardoned,  reconciliation  to  an  offended 
majesty  is  effected,  prodigals  brought  back  to  their  father's  house — 
and  the  entire  nature  of  men — understanding,  will,  affections  and 
conscience — renovated  and  readjusted. 

In  its  most  comprehensive  sense,  religion  is  both  objective  and 
subjective.  Contemplated  objectively,  it  includes  a  belief  in  the  being 
and  perfections  of  God,  in  the  revelation  of  his  will  to  man,  in  man's 
obligation  to  obey  the  divine  commands,  and  in  his  accountability  to 
his  Maker.  Viewed  subjectively,  religion  comprehends  the  recognition 
and  practice  of  that  experimental  and  scriptural  godliness,  which  is  the 
life  of  the  soul.  The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  has  both  its  credenda, 
or  things  to  be  believed,  and  its  agenda,  or  things  to  be  done. 

In  its  more  restricted  sense  religion  differs  from  theology,  inasmuch 
as  religion  is  practical,  while  theology  is  scientific.  A  religious  per- 
son is  a  theologian  just  in  so  far  as  his  knowledge  is  scriptural  and 
comprehensive  ;  a  theologian  is  religious  in  so  far  as  his  knowledge  is 
experimental  and  practical.  Personal  religion  is  the  personal  posses- 
sion of  those  qualities  and  acquisitions  of  mind  and  heart,  which 
demonstrate  that  the  individual  has  been  reinstated  in  the  divine 
favor,  and  that  he  has  been  brought  into  a  saving  relation  to  that  sov- 
ereign from  whom  he  had  deeply  revolted.  From  all  this  it  is  obvious 
that  personal  religion  is  not  a  myth.  In  its  origin,  relations,  influ- 
ences, and  destiny  it  is  real.     It  is  not  ari  imaginary  something  after 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  825 

which  individuals  may  long,  but  of  which  they  can  never  lay  hold. 
It  has  its  seat  in  the  soul. 

And  if  it  is  then  as  water,  there  that  water  is  not  stagnant,  but 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life.  If  it  is  in  the  soul  as  fire,  then  it 
is  as  coals  which  have  a  most  vehement  flame.  Many  waters  cannot 
quench  this  flame,  neither  can  the  floods  drown  it. 

Nor  does  personal  religion  consist  in  an  ardent  attachment  to  cere- 
mony and  forms.  True,  the  form  is  not  without  its  appropriate  place 
in  religion.  "  Hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words,"  is  an  apostolic 
injunction.  And  significant  symbols  occupy  an  important,  though  a 
subordinate  place  in  the  Christian  system.  If  we  might  illustrate — 
what  the  shell  is  to  the  contents  within, in  the  case  of  an  egg,  or  what 
the  external  covering  is  to  the  kernel, in  the  case  of  the  nut,  in  many 
respects  the  form  in  religion  is  to  the  inward  power.  In  either  case, 
let  the  outside  be  broken,  and  the  contents  will  suffer.  And  so,  fling 
to  the  winds  creeds,  confessions,  signs,  and  significant  ceremonies — 
discard  all  forms  in  religion,  and  the  new  creature,  the  spiritual  life  in 
the  soul,  will  be  more  or  less  unfavorably  affected. 

In  the  present  day,  the  pendulum  of  human  thought  seems  to 
vibrate  between  two  extremes — the  extreme  of  radicalism,  in  subvert- 
ing all  forms  ;  and  the  extreme  of  ritualism,  in  largely  substituting 
imposing  shows  and  ceremonies  for  that  personal  religion  and  prac- 
tical godliness,  which  are  the  normal  outcome  of  the  "new  heart." 
In  regard  to  this  latter  tendency,  the  past  should  be  admonitory.  It 
was  the  formalism  of  the  Pharisees,  and  their  punctilious  adherence  to 
rites  and  ceremonies,  which  called  forth  from  our  Lord  those  wither- 
ing rebukes  administered  by  him  to  these  hypocrites  in  the  days  of 
his  flesh.  The  decoration  of  churches,  and  the  introduction  of  a 
showy  and  sensuous  worship,  together  with  all  the  adventitious  and 
fascinating  performances  of  the  priesthood  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  cen- 
turies, paved  the  way  for  the  full  development  of  "the  Antichrist." 
This  was  succeeded  by  the  "dark  ages."  Israel  forgot  his  Maker, 
even  when  building  temples.  Men  may  admire  the  esthetic  in  reli- 
gion, and  may  revel  in  the  pleasure  of  contemplating  the  splendid 
ritual,  and  yet  be  destitute  of  the  power  of  goclliness.  A  man  may 
possess  the  most  illustrious  and  brilliant  talents  that  ever  excited  the 
admiration  or  dazzled  the  eye  of  mortals  ;  he  may,  were  it  possible, 
descant  with  the  intelligence  and  power  of  an  angel  upon  the  sublime 
character,  eventful  life,  and  triumphant  death  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
and  yet  be  a  stranger  to  personal  religion.  He  might  climb  in 
thought  and  in  discovery  the  temple  of  the  created  universe,  and 
having  planted  his  feet  upon  the  loftiest  point,  and  in  one  comprehen- 
sive survey  having  taken  in  the  myriads  of  systems  which  people  the 
vastness  of  space,  claim  all  as  the  product  of  him  by  whom  all  things 
were  created,  and  yet  be  destitute  of  personal  religion.  How  shall  it 
be  described?  It  is  to  experience  the  invincible  and  omnipotent 
might  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  quickening  the  individual  soul  into  spiritual 
life;  it  is  to  apprehend  the  transcendent  disclosures  of  that  love  which 


826  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

passeth  knowledge  in  the  pardoning  of  sin,  and  in  the  raising  up  of 
the  individual  to  sit  with  Christ  in  heavenly  places;  it  is  to  discover 
by  their  effects  the  marks  of  the  blood  of  sprinkling  upon  the  con- 
science;  it  is  to  feel  the  soul  held  in  the  everlasting  embrace  of  those 
arms  which  bear  up  the  pillars  of  the  moral  and  the  material  universe, 
and  nestling  in  the  cleft  of  that  rock,  which  shall  stand  unshaken 
amid  the  desolations  of  time  and  the  ravages  of  blighting  and  destruc- 
tive change;  it  is  to  swim  in  that  ocean  of  love,  the  waters  of  which 
at  once  lave  the  shores  of  eternity  and  pour  their  cascades  on  earth, 
the  dwelling-place  of  mortals.  It  is  more.  It  is  for  the  individual 
to  be  a  living  epistle  of  Christ,  known  and  read  of  all  men ;  it  is  to 
have  the  soul  transformed  into  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  yea,  a 
holy  of  holies,  where  shall  dwell  the  incomprehensible  Shechinah  ;  it 
is  to  have  the  immortal  nature  converted  into  a  perennial  fountain  of 
joy,  from  which  shall  well  up  to  eternal  life  those  gracious  affections, 
holy  desires,  and  God-ward  aspirations  which  make  to  the  person  him- 
self a  little  heaven  on  earth,  and  change  the  world  into  the  vestibule 
of  the  upper  sanctuary. 

II.  Sources. — The  origin  of  personal  religion  is  divine.  It  is  the 
outcome  or  resultant  of  a  principle  of  spiritual  life  implanted  in  the 
soul,  as  mysterious  as  it  is  real,  and  as  instantaneous  in  its  beginning 
as  it  is  spiritual  in  its  nature  and  revolutionary  in  its  tendencies.  Re- 
generated "  men  are  not  born  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh, 
nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God.-"  The  beginning  of  personal 
religion  is  variously  designated  in  Scripture.  By  the  prophet  Jere- 
miah, it  is  called  a  "  new  heart;"  by  the  evangelist  John,  it  is  spoken 
of  as  a  new  birth  ;  by  the  apostle  Paul,  it  is  characterized  as  a  new 
creation,  and  as  a  resurrection  from  the  dead. 

The  truth  is  alarming,  but  it  is  not  the  less  certain,  that  the  condi- 
tion of  all  men  by  nature  is  a  condition  of  spiritual  death.  As  the 
offspring  of  fallen  Adam,  the  representative  of  the  human  race  in  the 
covenant  of  works,  men  in  their  natural  state  are  under  a  sentence  of 
condemnation;  justly  exposed  to  the  wrath  of  God,  disabled  and  made 
opposite  to  all  that  is  spiritually  good,  and  wholly  inclined  to  evil. 
The  change  that  takes  place  in  the  soul  of  man  when  the  Spirit  of 
God  takes  possession  of  it,  is  a  change  from  darkness  to  light,  from 
death  to  life,  from  sin  to  holiness,  from  nature  to  grace.  Understand- 
ing, will,  conscience,  and  sensibilities  are  affected.  The  mind  is 
illuminated,  the  heart  is  renewed,  the  will  is  conquered;  or,  in  the 
language  of  Scripture,  the  individual  is  made  willing  in  the  day  of 
Jehovah's  power.  The  brand  of  sin  is  wiped  from  the  brow ;  the 
poison  of  sin  is  extracted  from  the  heart ;  the  title-deeds  to  a  heavenly 
inheritance  are  placed  in  the  person's  hands,  and  the  soul  begins  its 
march  to  glory.  The  tree  being  made  good,  the  fruit  is  also  good. 
Henceforth  the  affections  are  set  on  things  that  are  above ;  the  life  is 
hid  with  Christ  in  God  ;  the  conversation  is  in  heaven  ;  the  world  is 
under  the  feet ;  and  to  the  individual  thus  changed,  and  in  process 
of  a  spiritual  renewal,  heaven  and  earth  stand  in  new  relations.     This 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  827 

thought  has  been  beautifully  expressed  as  follows:  "As  the  sun 
gleams  over  the  palace  and  into  the  cottage,  flushing  alike  with  its 
splendor  the  council  chamber  of  the  monarch  and  the  kitchen  of  the 
peasant ;  as  the  all-pervasive  light  fills  the  vast  dome  of  the  sky  and 
the  tiny  cup  of  the  flower,  so  religion  at  once  illumines  the  heaven  of 
our  hopes  and  the  earth  of  our  cares.  Secularilies  become  hallowed ; 
toil  brightens  with  the  smile  of  God  ;  business  becomes  crystalline — 
light  from  God  comes  through  it  to  us,  glances  from  us  go  through  it 
to  God." 

An  important  fontal  element  in  personal  religion  is  uniofi  to  Christ. 
"I  am  come,"  says  Christ,  "that  ye  might  have  life,  and  that  ye 
might  have  it  more  abundantly."  "In  him  was  life."  In  his  own 
emphatic  as  well  as  paradoxical  style,  the  apostle  Paul  presents  this 
thought:  "I  am  crucified  with  Christ;  nevertheless  I  live,  ....  and 
the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of 
God,  who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me."  Here  the  apostle 
traces  his  w^hole  life  of  pardon,  peace,  holiness,  and  hope  of  glory  to 
union  with  Christ.  From  eternity  a  federal  or  representative  relationship 
of  Christ  to  his  people  yet  unborn  was  established.  More  than  this,  how- 
ever, was  required,  in  order  that  sinners  might  come  into  the  possession 
of  that  inheritance  of  spiritual  life  here  and  glory  hereafter,  procured  by 
the  death  of  the  Mediator.  In  this  federal  relationship,  a  foundation 
was  laid  for  that  subsequent  vital  union  or  reciprocal  inbeing  of  Christ 
and  his  people,  which  is  the  result  of  a  regenerated  soul's  taking  hold 
of  the  Saviour  by  faith,  and  resting  upon  him  alone  for  salvation,  as 
he  is  offered  in  the  gospel.  This  faith  which  unites  to  Christ,  strength- 
ens by  exercise,  works  by  love,  purifies  the  heart,  overcomes  the  world, 
and  in  its  stupendous  outgoings  and  embraces,  takes  into  the  soul  the 
fulness  of  God.  All  its  supplies  for  life  and  for  godliness  it  finds  in 
Christ;  and  in  its  actings  and  manifestations  in  connection  with  prac- 
tical piety,  its  possessor  lives  and  labors,  obeys  and  sacrifices  for  the 
Redeemer.  Personal  religion  has  had  some  of  its  finest  exemplifica- 
tions in  the  discovery  and  actings  of  faith.  Under  the  influence  of 
this  principle,  Enoch  walked  with  God.  The  efficacy  of  this  same 
grace  appears  in  Noah's  being  promi)ted  to  build  an  ark  for  the  saving 
of  himself  and  his  household.  The  foith  of  this  patriarch  was  sublime. 
He  was  a  preacher  of  righteousness.  But  he  was  more.  He  was  a 
personal  and  active  embodiment  of  that  piety  which  is  the  outgrowth 
of  spiritual  life  nourished  by  union  to  Christ,  and  having  its  most 
impressive  development  in  prompt,  sincere,  and  universal  obedi- 
ence. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  example  of  active  faith  and  consequent 
practical  religion,  is  Abraham.  The  command  of  God  to  this  patri- 
arch is,  "Take  now  thy  son,  thine  only  son  ....  and  offer  him 
.  .  .  .  for  a  burnt-offering."  The  very  thought  seems  revolting. 
What  !  shall  I  take  my  only  son,  the  child  in  whom  centre  all  the 
j)romises,  the  son  of  my  old  age,  and  offer  him  as  a  sacrifice?  Shall 
I  quench  the  light  of  coming  ages,  and  strike  down  the  Church  with 


828  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

one  blow?  These  and  many  other  questions  might  have  risen  in  the 
mind  of  this  man  of  God.  But  his  faith  was  equai  to  the  occasion, 
and  as  he  raised  his  hand  to  inflict  the  fatal  stroke,  "  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  called  unto  him  out  of  heaven.  .  ,  .  Lay  not  thine  hand  upon 
the  lad  ....  for  now  I  know  that  thou  fearest  God,  seeing  thou 
hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me."  Elsewhere,  of 
this  same  person,  God  declares,  *'  I  know  him  that  he  will  command 
his  children  and  his  household  after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way 
of  the  Lord."  These  and  other  like  examples  of  personal  religion, 
recorded  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews,  show  that  the  faith 
which  unites  to  Christ  is  a  practical  as  well  as  a  saving  principle, 
which  surmounts  obstacles,  ranges  on  its  side  the  God  of  battles — and 
in  its  exercise  and  growth  brings  into  play  a  stalwart  piety,  a  heroic 
devotion  to  God,  and  a  personal  up-taking  and  appropriation  of 
Christ  and  the  promises,  which  triumph  over  all  opposition  and 
bind  to  duty  and  to  God. 

IIL  Accessories. — Personal  religion  has  its  beginning  in  spiritual 
life,  its  growth  in  progressive  holiness,  and  its  perfection  in  a  com- 
pleted sanctification.  A  special,  if  not  the  chief  characteristic  of 
personal  holiness,  is  growth.  Had  it  pleased  God,  the  order  of  grace 
might  have  been,  that  so  soon  as  an  individual  should  be  quickened 
into  spiritual  life,  he  would  be  immediately  introduced  into  glory. 
Tne  divine  arrangement  is  ordinarily  otherwise.  As  in  nature  there 
is  growth,  so  also  there  is  progress  in  the  religious  life.  In  the  natural 
world  there  is  "  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear."  Or,  as  it  is  in  the  lighting  up  of  our  earth  ;  there  is  in  the 
beginning,  the  aurora  or  dawn,  then  the  sun  rising  in  glory  above  the 
horizon,  and  ultimately  the  king  of  day  standing  in  the  zenith,  and 
pouring  down  his  life-giving  rays  upon  the  world.  Thus  it  is  with 
the  Christian.  "  The  path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light,  that 
shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 

The  word  of  God,  read  and  expounded,  is  an  effective  means  of  pro- 
moting personal  religion.  History,  experience,  and  the  Bible  itself, 
unite  in  exhibiting  the  truth  of  God,  as  the  grand  agency  in  advanc- 
ing practical  godliness.  You  might  as  well  expect  light  and  heat, 
verdure  and  fruit,  when  the  sun  is  absent,  as  expect  individual  piety 
where  the  Scriptures  are  unknown.  Christianity  flourishes  in  propor- 
tion to  the  degree  in  which  the  "book  of  books"  is  understood,  and 
its  blessed  truths  are  diffused  among  the  people.  During  the  first 
ages  of  Christianity,  when  the  apostles  went  everywhere  preaching  the 
word,  religion  triumphed  in  the  hearts  and  lives,  sacrifices  and  deaths 
of  noble  men  and  women.  Subsequently, when  truth  became  corrupted 
by  false  interpretations,  and  the  Bible  was  consigned  to  the  cloister, 
darkness  covered  the  earth,  and  practical  piety  proportionately  waned. 
When,  again,  the  Bible  was  exhumed  from  the  cell  of  the  monk,  and 
was  given  to  the  people,  personal  religion  took  root  anew,  and  under 
the  sun,  and  smile,  and  influence  of  truth,  it  bloomed  and  bore  the 
fruit  j  which  is  seen  to-day  in  the  civilizations  of  the  old  and   new 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  829 

worlds,  and  in  those  widespread  and  Christ-like  missionary  labors, 
peculiar  to  the  period  of  the  world's  history  in  which  we  live. 

Nor  should  we  thoughtlessly  ascribe  that  power  to  the  word,  which 
belongs  to  the  Spirit.  If  the  word  is  a  sword,  quick  and  powerful, 
capable  of  inflicting  fearful  wounds  in  the  conscience  and  in  the  heart, 
it  is  the  Spirit  of  God  that  wields  this  weapon.  If  the  word  is  a  ham- 
mer that  breaks  in  pieces  the  flinty  heart,  it  is  the  same  Spirit  that 
employs  it.  If  the  word  is  a  fire,  it  is  the  Spirit  that  gives  life  to  its 
coals  and  vehemence  to  its  flame. 

Another  aid  to  personal  religion  is  prayer,  public,  private  and  social. 
"  What  the  key  is  to  the  watch,"  says  Swinnock,  "  that  prayer  is  to 
religion  ;  it  winds  it  up,  and  sets  it  going."  In  prayer  the  soul  takes 
its  flight  to  the  bosom  of  God,  and  claiming  nativity  beyond  the  stars, 
it  seeks  to  escape  to  a  broader  and  purer  sphere. 

The  strength  which  has  nerved  individual-:  for  great  spiritual  con- 
flicts has  been  received  in  answer  to  prayer.  The  communion  with 
God  which  is  enjoyed  at  a  throne  of  grace  imparts  consistency  to 
character,  fits  for  holy  living,  and  throws  a  halo  of  glory  around  the 
suppliant  himself.  The  face  of  Moses  shone,  when  he  came  down 
from  the  mount,  where  he  had  been  with  God.  And  the  individual 
who  practises  holy  wrestling  with  the  hearer  of  prayer,  will  shine  in 
all  the  beauties  of  personal  holiness,  in  the  closet,  in  the  family,  in 
the  church,  and  in  the  world.  How  was  it  with  Daniel  ?  Providence 
ordered  it  so,  that  for  a  time,  his  place  was  at  a  heathen  court.  In  a 
brief  period  the  atmosphere  of  prayer  in  which  he  had  lived  and 
moved  gave  him  a  force  of  character,  which  even  heathen  courtiers 
were  compelled  to  acknowledge.  Neither  could  the  wrath  of  a  king, 
nor  the  prospect  of  being  thrown  into  the  lion's  den  compel  him  to 
renounce  his  intercourse  with  God.  "Three  times  a  day  he  kneeled 
upon  his  knees,  and  prayed  and  gave  thanks  before  his  God."  Never, 
perhaps,  did  the  apostle  Paul's  piety  rise  to  a  more  sublime  pitch,  than 
when  he  bowed  his  knees  before  God,  and  prayed  that  of  the  riches  of 
his  grace,  he  would  grant  that  the  Ephesian  brethren  might  be  able 
to  comprehend  with  all  saints,  "  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and 
depth,  and  height ;  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth 
knowledge."  Upon  the  background  of  a  fortitude  and  faith  as  in- 
vincible as  the  rock,  Luther's  personal  piety  projected  itself  in  mar- 
vellous outline,  when  he  declares  in  substance,  the  Protestant  interest 
is  so  low,  and  my  work  is  so  vast,  that  I  cannot  get  along,  without 
three  hours  a  day  in  prayer. 

If  ever  there  was  an  hour  in  the  world's  history  when  a  mere  man 
appeared  like  the  God-man  himself,  when  celestial  glory  seemed  to 
beam  upon  the  brow  of  a  mortal,  and  personal  piety  was  wrought  up 
into  a  self-abnegation,  a  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  conscious 
dependence  on  God,  which  have  challenged  the  admiration  of  genera- 
tions, it  was  when  John  Knox,  with  the  faith  of  a  prince  having  power 
with  God,  and  a  fervor  rivalling  the  seraph,  prayed  :  "  Give  me  Scot- 
land, or  I  die."     And  if  ever  the  personal  piety  of  united  and  com- 


830  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

prehensive  Presbyterianism  throughout  the  world  shall  rise  to  the 
climax  of  development  and  perfection,  outlined  and  commended  in 
the  word  of  God  and  in  the  lives  of  men  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy  ;  it  will  be  when,  under  a  Pentecostal  outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  all  the  churches  organized  on  Presbyterian  principles,  in- 
cluding ministers,  ruling  elders,  deacons  and  people,  shall  be  brought 
to  their  knees;  and,  taking  hold  of  the  everlasting  covenant  and  of  the 
angel  of  that  covenant,  they  shall  refuse  to  let  the  God  of  Bethel  go, 
except  he  bless  them. 

A  valuable  help  to  personal  religion  is  the  Christian  Sabbath,  or  the 
Lords  day.  The  Sabbath  is  a  primitive  institution,  and  the  rest 
v/hich  it  affords  was  designed  for  the  entire  race  of  men.  "  The 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man."  If  it  was  needed  when  our  first  parents 
were  innocent,  much  more  is  its  rest  required  now.  Every  Christian 
knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  shake  from  his  feet  the  dust  of  eartli,  as 
well  as  to  free  himself  from  that  secularization  which  in  these  days  of 
sharp  competition  is  everywhere  incident  to  business.  The  Sabbath, 
with  its  solemn  pause,  its  hallowed  rest,  its  sacred  memories  and  its 
foretastes  of  heaven,  comes  periodically  to  the  Christian's  aid,  and 
supplies  him  with  a  leverage  by  which  he  can  poise  his  soul  above 
the  world,  and  give  scope  and  energy  to  his  spiritual  nature  in  holding 
converse  with  God. 

"  Hail  to  the  day! 
The  Lord's  own  day — to  man's  Creator  owed, 

And  man's  Redeemer;  for  the  soul's  increase 
In  sanctity,  and  sweet  repose  bestowed : 

Type  of  the  rest,  when  sin  and  care  shall  cease, 
The  rest  remaining  for  the  loved  of  God  !  " 

The  United  States  owe  much  to  the  continent  of  Europe.  But  it 
is  to  Scotland  particularly  that  they  are  indebted  for  their  ideas  of 
Sabbath  observance.  And  if  the  Puritans  of  England  and  the  Cove- 
nanters of  Scotland  had  left  no  other  legacy  to  their  descendants  in 
America  than  those  ideas  which  they  cherished  respecting  the  Sabbath, 
they  would  have  furnished  a  grand  ernporium  for  the  replenishment 
of  personal  piety,  and  they  would  have  deserved  a  high  place  in  that 
roll  of  honor,  to  which  the  names  of  prophets  and  apostles  have  been 
transferred. 

Wherever  to-day  throughout  the  world  you  find  an  individual  dis- 
tinguished for  personal  piety,  there  you  will  find  a  person  scrupulously 
careful  in  observing  the  Sabbath.  And  if,  as  the  dying  Guthrie  de- 
clared, "The  covenants,  the  covenants  shall  be  the  reviving  of  Scot- 
land," surely  the  universal  love  and  observance  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath  will  be  the  revival  of  true  religion  throughout  the  earth. 

An  intense  and  intelligent  longing  after  cotiformity  to  Christ  is  promo- 
tive of  personal  religion.  The  model  of  the  Christian  believer  is  his 
Saviour.  The  aspiration  of  a  religious  life  and  the  acme  of  a  believer's 
hope  are  to  know  Christ,  and  "the  power  of  his  resurrection  and  the  fel- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  831 

lowship  of  his  sufferings  being  made  conformable  unto  his  death." 
The  Saviour  is  to  be  contemplated  in  a  two-fold  light,  both  as  an 
atonement  and  as  an  example.  In  the  one  character  he  has  effected 
peace  between  us  and  our  sovereign.  In  the  other,  he  has  disclosed 
to  us  what  our  Maker  is  in  respect  of  his  moral  attributes,  and  what 
he  requires  men  to  be.  That  Christ  is  the  model  after  which  men  are 
to  be  patterned,  is  evident  from  his  own  command,  '*  Follow  me;  " 
from  the  purpose  of  God  that  all  the  members  of  his  family  are  to  be 
conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son;  and  from  the  effect  of  the  gospel 
upon  believers  who,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are 
changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory.  What  a  sublime 
idea  of  personal  religion — likeness  to  the  Son  of  God  in  our  nature, 
to  him  who  is  the  sum  of  all  excellence,  the  living,  personal  and 
divine  embodiment  of  all  that  is  estimable  in  man  and  glorious  in 
God  !  "  When  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him  ;  for  we  shall  see 
him  as  he  is.  And  every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  him,  purifieth 
himself,  even  as  he  is  pure." 

Other  aids  to  personal  religion  might  be  adduced,  as  those  noted 
above  are  by  no  means  exhaustive — such  as  the  sacraments,  meditation, 
and  active  benevolence,  etc. 

IV.  Results. — These  are  glorious.  They  respect  the  individual 
himself.  Godliness  is  profitable  unto  all  things.  The  whole  plan  of 
God  respecting  duty  and  salvation  is  to  individualize  men.  Religion 
is  the  one  thing  needful,  and  it  is  a  personal  matter.  Among  the 
faithless,  men  must  learn  to  stand  faithful.  Every  one  of  us  must 
give  account  of  himself  to  God.  Men  are  not  saved  in  troops.  One 
is  taken  and  another  is  left.  The  author  of  the  good  work  which  is 
begun  in  the  believer's  heart  is  God,  and  he  will  perform  it  until  the 
day  of  Jesus  Christ.  What  is  it  alone  that  can  inspire  a  man  with  a 
hope  blooming  with  immortality?  What  is  it  alone  that  can  give  a 
man  peace  in  a  dying  hour?  What  is  it  alone  that  can  prepare  an 
individual  for  companionship  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  of 
life,  and  for  the  exercises  of  the  land  of  glory?  We  answer,  per- 
sonal religion — a  personal  interest  in  Christ,  with  all  its  subordinate, 
collateral  and  God-glorifying  attendants. 

In  its  effects  personal  religion  is  diffusive.  It  does  not  terminate 
upon  the  individual  who  is  its  possessor.  The  theatre  of  its  influence 
is  the  world.  It  is  a  centre,  the  circumference  of  which  is  ever  widen- 
ing, until  the  outmost  circle  of  its  grand  achievements  shall  reach  the 
closing  epochs  of  time,  and  shall  even  touch  the  shores  of  eternity. 
Revelation  has  pictured  its  destiny.  In  its  light,  power,  fulness,  and 
growth,  and  wrought  up  into  those  marvellous  associations  of  men  and 
means  that  shall  mark  the  millennial  day,  it  shall  control  the  world  for 
Christ. 

The  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord 
and  of  his  Christ.  "A  little  one  shall  become  a  thousand."  "Thy 
people  also  j/!«// (5^  all  righteous."  Holiness  unto  the  Lord  shall 
be  upon  the  bells  of  the  horses,  and  the  pots  in  the  Lord's  house  shall 
be  like  the  bowls  before  the  altar. 


832  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Associated  with  a  morality  which  has  its  basis  in  revealed  truth,  and 
its  obligations  and  accountability  growing  out  of  the  recognition  of  a 
personal  and  covenant  God,  round  and  round  our  globe  personal  reli- 
gion shall  take  its  circuit,  until  the  masses  and  majorities  of  our  race 
shall  find  the  highest  point  of  their  elevation,  their  centre,  and  their 
fount  of  personal  and  spiritual  supply  in  God.  And  Jehovah — Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost — shall  have  all  the  glory. 

And  now,  when  creation  is  groaning,  when  the  powers  of  darkness 
are  active,  when  the  hosts  of  Armageddon  are  marshalling  for  the 
conflict,  when  we  are  surrounded  with  a  crowd  of  witnesses,  and 
almost  sixty  centuries  look  down  upon  us,  let  us  raise  aloft  the  standard 
of  Protestant  Presbyterianism,  and  emblazoning  upon  it  the  time- 
honored  motto,  "For  Christ's  Crown  and  Covenant,"  with  every 
letter  undimmed  ;  and  in  the  name  of  the  struggles  and  victories,  the 
testimonies,  contendings,  and  covenants  of  our  fathers,  let  us  signal  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth  that  the  lineal  and  ecclesiastical  descendants  of 
the  children  of  the  Alps,  of  the  reformers  of  the  continent  of  Europe, 
and  of  John  Knox,  in  council  assembled,  expect  every  man  bearing 
the  Presbyterian  name  to  do  his  duty. 

And  in  these  days,  when  the  question  of  nativity  is  frequently 
mooted,  and  the  cry  is  often  heard,  England  for  the  Angle,  Germany 
for  the  Teuton,  Russia  for  the  Slav,  Asia  for  the  Asiatic,  Africa  for  the 
negro,  and  America  for  the  American  ;  for  all  such  utterances,  with 
the  voice  of  the  ages  sounding  in  our  ears,  and  the  anticipations  of 
the  future  beckoning  on  to  an  enlarged  philanthropy,  let  us  substitute 
the  watchword,  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  America,  Australia,  and  the 
islands  of  the  sea  for  the  Church  of  God,  and  the  world  and  the  ful- 
ness thereof  for  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Council  was  adjourned,  after  the  singing  of  the  Doxology; 
and  the  pronouncing  of  the  benediction  by  the  chairman. 

October  \st,  7.30  P.  M. 

The  Council  was  called  to  order  in  the  Academy  of  Music  by 
Jacob  Rader,  Esq.,  of  Easton,  Pa.,  President. 

After  devotional  services,  the  Rev.  Justus  E.  Szalatnay,  of 
Velim,  Bohemia,  read  the  following  paper  on 

THE   CHURCH   IN  BOHEMIA. 

"When  the  tempest  of  the  wrath  of  God  shall  have  passed  away, 
the  management  of  thine  own  affairs  will  return  to  thee  again,  people 
of  Bohemia."  With  these  words  the  last  senior  of  the  dying  "  Uni- 
tas  Fratrum  Bohemorum,"  John  Amos  Comenius,  had  prophesied  in 
sad  times  of  cruel  destruction,  not  only  of  the  glorious  Church  of  the 
"  Book  and  Cup,"  but  also  of  the  kingdom  and  nation  of  Bohemia. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  833 

The  tempest  of  the  wraih  of  God  lasted  for  a  long  time,  during 
wliich  the  desolate  ruins  of  Zion  in  Bohemia  presented  a  melancholy 
aspect  to  the  eye  of  every  friend  of  God's  truth  ;  it  seemed  to  indi- 
cate that  in  Bohemia,  the  city  of  God  will  never  be  raised  again,  nor 
the  light  of  the  gospel  once  more  be  put  on  the  candlestick. 

It  is  not  my  task  at  present  to  picture  tlie  sufferings  of  the  hidden 
remnant  of  the  lovers  of  God's  truth  in  Bohemia,  or  to  describe  the 
diabolic  zeal  of  the  Jesuits  for  the  extirpation  even  of  the  last  inclina- 
tion of  the  Bohemians  to  the  faith  of  their  forefathers,  by  confiscating 
and  destroying  the  Bibles  and  all  books  of  devotion  which  they  were 
able  to  snatch  from  them,  and  by  perverting  the  history  in  such  a 
shameful  manner,  so  that  the  generations  to  come  might  abhor  the  time 
of  Reformation  in  Bohemia  as  a  time  of  damnable  delusion  and  of  the 
heaviest  calamity  which  fell  upon  Bohemia  ;  yea,  that  the  posterity  of 
the  Protestants  might  be  ashamed  to  be  called  Bohemians.  The  his- 
tory of  that  time,  once  fully  revealed  and  brought  to  light,  will  aston- 
ish the  world. 

But  at  last  the  whirlwind  of  God's  wrath  began  to  cease,  and  the 
morning  of  a  better  time  commenced  to  dawn.  The  name  of  the 
Emperor  Josepli  II.,  of  Austria,  will  ever  be  prominent  on  the  brazen 
tables  of  history,  for  publishing  the  edict  of  toleration,  the  centenary 
of  which  will  be  celebrated  next  year. 

Although  the  Jesuits  have  done  their  utmost  during  a  hundred  and 
sixty  years  lest  any  trace  of  the  old  church  of  the  "  Book  and  Cup  " 
should  be  left,  yet  the  evangelical  Church  of  Bohemia  rose  again 
within  a  few  months  after  the  promulgation  of  the  edict  of  toleration. 

She  consisted,  indeed,  only  of  a  small  number  of  congregations ; 
but  "who  will  despise  the  day  of  small  things?"  (Zech.  iv.  10.) 
She  was  gathered  of  "an  afflicted  and  poor  people,"  but  "  that  peo- 
ple trusted  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."   (Zeph.  iii.  12.) 

The  choice  between  the  Helvetic  and  the  Augustana  Confessions 
the  government  left  to  the  people  themselves,  and  by  far  the  largest 
part  of  them  chose  the  Helvetica  posterior  and  the  Heidelberg 
catechism. 

Being  without  prcuchers  of  the  word  of  God,  the  field  was  supplied 
with  ministers  from  tlie  happier  Hungary.  And,  although  these 
humble  servants  of  the  Lord  had  first  to  learn  Bohemian,  a  foreign 
language  to  them,  yet  there  was,  as  one  of  them — my  grandfather — 
in  his  memoirs  says,  a  great  joy  among  the  people,  when — assembled 
in  a  barn — they  for  the  first  time  again  could  hear  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  of  peace  and  glad  tidings  of  good  things.     (Rom.  x.  15.) 

However,  the  time  of  toleration  was  still  a  hard  time.  The  popish 
clergy  never  ceased  to  harass  the  Protestants,  and  to  picture  them  to 
their  own  people  as  perilous  heretics — worse  than  the  heathen.  The 
civil  courts,  too,  could  not — or  most  of  them  rather  would  not — com- 
prehend the  magnanimous  intentions  of  their  enlightened  monarch. 

Subsequently,   therefore,   the    many  restrictions    of   the   edict  of 
toleration  were  multiplied   by  numerous  additional  orders,  decrees, 
53 


834  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

instructions,  prohibitions,  etc.,  etc.,  so  that  our  church  had  just  room 
enough  to  breathe,  but  all  possibility  of  growth  and  of  enlargement 
was  taken  from  her. 

The  congregations  had  their  ruling  elders  and  kirk  sessions,  but 
their  power  was  very  limited.  The  supreme  court  of  the  Church,  the 
imperial  and  royal  consistory  in  Vienna,  whose  president  was  a  Roman 
Catholic  civil  officer,  had  rather  to  watch  over  the  Church,  than  to 
provide  for  her.  Presbyteries,  Synods,  General  Assemblies,  and  other 
Presbyterian  institutions  were  forbidden.  Without  any  intercourse 
with  other  churches  holding  the  reformed  faith,  and  organized  on 
Presbyterian  principles,  always  in  struggles  for  existence  ;  in  peril  by 
her  own  countrymen  ;  scarcely  able  to  procure  the  means  of  sus- 
tenance for  her  congregations — our  church  lived  a  poor  and  retired 
life,  till  the  year  1848. 

That  stormy  year  and  the  following  period  were  eventful  also  for 
Protestantism  in  Bohemia. 

Claiming  political  rights  for  themselves,  the  nations  of  Austria 
could  not  withhold  the  same  any  longer  from  Protestants.  They 
durst  not  make  them  to  bear  onward  the  old  slavery,  which  they 
themselves  wished  to  abolish.  Old  absolutistic  Austria,  coerced  to 
consider  the  time  and  to  yield  to  the  urgent  voices  for  a  constitutional 
government,  could  no  longer  follow  blindly  the  hostile  wishes  of  the 
Romish  hierarchy.  In  this  way  fell  by  and  by  many  a  fetter  which 
had  been  thrown  round  Protestantism  during  the  time  of  toleration. 
Out  of  the  "  tolerated"  church  grew  up  the  evangelical,  recognized 
state-church  of  Austria.  Liberty  of  conscience  was  proclaimed  and 
recognized,, at  least  in  principle.  Henceforward,  on  account  of  faith, 
neither  civil  rights  could  be  withheld  from  citizens  of  the  state,  nor 
access  to  state  offices  made  impossible  for  them.  To  turn  Protestant, 
which  formerly  was  connected  with  many  difficulties  and  hardships, 
was  now  made  easier  and  simpler,  and  the  formation  of  congregations 
was  essentially  facilitated. 

The  change  of  political  affairs  in  Austria  had  also  a  favorable  influ- 
ence upon  the  situation  of  the  evangelical  churches.  Soon,  however, 
the  necessity  was  felt  of  securing  for  the  evangelical  church  a  new  and 
lasting  foundation,  in  place  of  that  secured  by  the  edict  of  toleration. 
The  commencement — to  speak  frankly — was  made  by  the  government 
itself. 

By  the  proposal  made  in  the  council  of  churchmen,  who  were 
appointed  to  it  by  the  state,  an  imperial  edict  was  published  on  the 
8th  of  January,  1861,  which  to-day  forms  the  foundation  of  those 
rights  and  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  Reformed  Church  in  Bohemia  as 
well  as  in  Austria. 

For  the  realization  of  this  edict,  the  Austrian  government  published,, 
in  the  year  1861,  a  provisory  church  constitution,  according  to  which 
a  kind  of  General  Synod  was  called  together  in  the  year  1869.  This 
not  only  acknowledged  the  larger  part  of  that  churqh  constitution, 
but  also  changed  some  of  its   claims  for  the  worse — a  thing  very 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  835 

natural  since  the  Synod  consisted  chiefly  of  church  dignitaries,  a  batch 
from  the  Episcopal  and  Consistorial  systems.  In  this  way  a  roof  was 
put  over  the  Reformed  Church  in  Austria,  and  the  right  of  privileges 
was  granted  to  her.  This  roof,  leaky  in  one  place  and  weak  in  an- 
other, was,  indeed,  widened  in  some  parts,  after  the  unhappy  war  in 
the  year  1866,  by  the  state  legislature,  but  in  other  parts  again,  espf- 
cially  as  regards  the  schools,  it  was  narrowed  down  ;  and  that  right 
of  privileges,  too,  is  still  connected  with  many  difficulties,  still  it  i.-  ;i 
roof  which  affords  protection.  And  we  can  imagine  that  those 
people,  who  formerly — if  I  may  say  so — sat  on  another's  bench  and 
were  exposed  to  various  discomforts,  were  now  thankful  to  possess 
their  own  shelter,  although  it  was  limited  enough  and  insignificant  ; 
and  althougli  it  neither  protected  them  entirely  from  their  quarrelsome 
and  envious  neighbors  nor  from  violence.  Although  this  .church 
organization,  which  was  given  to  our  evangelical  congregations,  could 
not,  or  rather  would  not,  as  yet  compensate  and  repair  the  deficiencies 
and  faults;  yet  the  organization,  which  is  now  in  force,  and  tlie  new 
fundamental  and  interconfessional  Austrian  laws,  afford  not  only  a 
safer  existence  to  the  Reformed  Church,  but  also  a  possibility  of  their 
being  mended  and  perfected. 

If,  therefore,  the  Protestants  of  Austria  have  cause  gratefully  to  re- 
member the  Emperor  Joseph  II.,  who  had  broken  the  fitters  of  the 
liberty  of  conscience,  they  have  surely  no  less  cause  to  respect  very 
highly  their  present  emperor,  Francis  Josepli  I.,  who,  in  many  various 
ways,  has  endeavored  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  same.  This  dutiful 
thankfulness  does  not,  however,  exclude  the  right  of  examination  of 
the  wants  of  our  Church  constitution  ;  neither  can  it  hinder  us  in  the 
perception  of  its  many  and  fundamental  wants  ;  nor  can  it  render  need- 
less its  efforts. 

The  organization  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Bohemia,  and  in 
Austria  in  general,  is  a  peculiar  mixture  of  Presbyterial  and  Consis- 
torial principles,  with  a  slight  tinge  of  Episcopalism. 

Although  the  imperial  edict  mentioned  above,  as  well  as  our  church 
organization — both  of  v/hich  are  included  in  the  collection  of  the 
Austrian  state-laws — warrant  to  our  Church  the  right  of  regulating, 
ruling,  and  directing  independently  her  own  affairs,  yet  both  these 
laws  place  over  her  as  the  highest  organ  of  the  church  administration 
the  imperial  and  royal  evangelical  church  court,  a  state  authority, 
api)ointed  by  the.state,  and  to  which  it  is  subordinate  and  responsible. 

The  Church  has  her  congregations,  Kirk-sessions,  and  Presbv- 
teries — the  moderator  of  which  is  called  Senior — one  Synod  and 
General  Assembly.  In  these  churcli  courts  all  church  matters  can  1);^ 
discussed.  Their  resolutions,  however,  have  no  decisive  legality,  as 
long  as  they  have  not  been  ajjproved  of  by  the  state  ministry  ;  even 
resolutions  touching  church  matters  only,  which  are  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  the  functions  of  the  state,  are  subjei:t  to  the  san(  tion  of 
the  imperial  and  royal  evangelical  upper  court ;  that  is,  they  are  sub- 
ject to  a  state  office,  neither  appointed  by  t'.ie  Church,  nor  responsi- 


836  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ble  to  her.  Preachers  and  office-bearers  of  the  Church,  indeed,  can- 
not accept  and  conduct  their  offices,  laid  upon  them  by  election, 
without  the  sanction  of  the  state.  For  the  education  of  ministers 
there  is  the  imperial  and  royal  evangelical  theological  faculty  in 
Vienna,  established  and  supported  by  the  state,  whose  professors  also 
are  appointed  by  the  state  alone.  To  preach  and  to  teach  in  the 
church  is  allowed  only  to  one  who  is  appointed  by  the  state. 

Tiie  church  organization  confers  upon  the  minister  full  power  of 
preventing  any  one,  who,  outside  of  the  church  organization,  would 
wish  to  carry  on  evangelistic  work  within  his  parish.  On  the  other 
hand  again,  according  to  the  same  church  law,  the  civil  authorities 
have  power  to  prevent  such  work  even  there,  where  the  minister  per- 
mits it.  Similar  cases  occurred  lately  several  times.  From  this  it  is 
evident  that  the  Evangelical  churches  in  Austria  are  indeed  state 
churches,  or  at  least  quite  dependent  on  the  jwwer  of  the  state,  with- 
out ei' joying  those  privileges  which  are  granted  to  state  churches  else- 
where. 

This  relation  of  dependence  is  the  stronger,  because  since  the 
apcendency  of  that  most  ultramontane  minister.  Count  Leo  Thun,  the 
state  gives  to  the  Evangelical  congregations  a  considerable  yearly  help 
out  of  the  state  funds.  Out  of  this  the  state  administration  pays  the 
special  allowances  made  to  the  superintendent  and  the  seniors,  and 
the  yearly  donation  to  every  individual  minister  who  asks  for  it,  and 
is  found  worthy  of  it ;  the  rest  is  distributed  among  poor  congrega- 
tions under  the  same  conditions.  Although  this  help  from  the  state 
is  very  welcome,  on  the  one  hand,  to  our  very  poor  congregations, 
yet  on  the  other  hand,  the  Church  gets  no  advantage  from  it.  She 
rather  became  by  means  of  it  only  the  more  restricted  in  her  activity 
and  independence. 

It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  the  present  Church  organization,  its 
bureaucratic  arrangements,  and  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  state 
founded  upon  it,  affords  indeed  to  the  Church,  at  least  in  some  mea- 
sure, a  surer  existence ;  yet,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  is  in  many 
respects  a  fence,  hindering  her  extension  and  development,  as  if  there 
had  been  the  intention  of  keeping  our  Church  within  her  own  bound- 
aries, so  that  she  might  remain  tliere  where  she  is,  and  not  be  in  any- 
body's way.  It  is  not  necessary  to  add  that  in  such  circumstances 
our  Church  could  not  grow  as  it  was  desirable. 

Being  restricted  in  many  ways  during  the  time  of  .toleration  ;  form- 
ing only  a  very  inconsiderable  fraction  in  the  Bohemian  nation,  which 
\vas  ruled  by  the  Romish  priests;  standing  in  no  connection  with 
foreign  sister  churches,  and  having  no  representative  and  legislative 
l)odies,  but  being  administered  in  quite  a  bureaucratic  way;  being 
widely  dispersed  over  the  country;  continually  contending  with 
material  wants,  and  having  but  a  remnant  of  the  educational  literature 
of  her  ancestors,  which  was  left  to  her  after  cruel  confiscations  and 
destructions  by  the  Jesuits — the  Bohemian  Church  could  hardly  pene- 
trate to  a  clear  consciousness  of  those  holy  and  faithful   privileges 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  837 

given  to  her  by  her  holy  Head — Christ ;  far  less,  therefore,  could  she 
seek  for  them  or  demand  them. 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  these  very  unfavorable  circumstances, 
the  Church  grew.  The  number  of  congregations  has  increased  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  since  1848.  To  this  have  been  added  lately  several 
preaching  stations,  which,  however,  are  supported  by  friends  from 
Great  Britain.  A  large  number  of  congregations  have  undertaken  the 
building  of  new  churches,  and  this  the  more  willingly  because,  before 
the  year  1848,  they  were  not  allowed  to  build  them,  so  as  to  appear 
externally  like  churches,  while  in  addition  they  had  to  be  built  only 
in  out-of-ihe-way  and  hidden  places. 

Likewise  a  number  of  schools  have  been  established  in  which  all 
education  is  founded  upon  the  word  of  God.  The  latest  Austrian 
school  legislature,  resting  upon  the  principle  of  a  confessionless  public 
school  (which  principle,  however,  was  not,  ami  will  never  be,  carried 
out),  has  again  ruined  some  of  them  ;  yet  our  people  feel  and  recog- 
nize very  deeply  the  necessity  of  their  own  school,  jn  which  religion 
takes  the  first  place.  In  these  undertakings  a  considerable  number  of 
our  congregations  have  received  support,  mere  especially  from  the 
Gustavus  Adolphus  Society,  and  from  friends  in  Geneva;  but  the 
larger  part  of  the  expenses  they  have  defrayed,  themselves. 

To-day  the  Bohemian  Church  collects  for  the  support  of  her  minis- 
ters, ;^i4,ooo;  for  the  support  of  schoolmasters,  7,000  florins;  besides, 
there  are  various  other  collections  for  building  and  other  purposes. 
According  to  this  statement,  the  salary  of  ministers  amounts  on  the 
average  to  $275  ;  the  salary  of  schoolmasters  to  $150.  In  order  to 
secure  for  our  schools  teachers  educated  in  the  spirit  of  the  gospel, 
a  teachers'  seminary  was  established,  twelve  years  ago,  at  Caslav — a 
town  where  there  is  the  grave  of  the  far-famed  Hussite  General,  John 
Zizka,  of  Trocnov,  which,  to  be  sure,  was  desecrated  during  the  time 
of  anti-reformation.  This  seminary,  established  and  supported  by  the 
aid  of  friends  abroad  as  well  as  by  the  public  exchequer,  involves  a 
yearly  expense  of  about  7,000  florins.  But,  alas !  this  sum  exceeds 
the  contributions  of  the  Church  as  well  as  of  the  support  which,  until 
now,  we  have  been  receiving  from  abroad,  so  that  (just  now)  we  arc 
threatened  with  the  great  danger  of  being  obliged  to  close  this  insti- 
tution ;  and  this  just  at  the  time  of  our  centenary  celebration  of  (the) 
"Toleration,"  which  would  cause  a  great  sorrow  and  disaster  to  our 
Church. 

If  we  consider,  that  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  Reformed  con- 
gregations are  country  congregations,  consisting  of  small  farmers  and 
trades-people — and  not  at  all  of  wealthy  people — we  must  admit  that 
what  the  Church  does  for  her  own  support  is  not  inconsiderable. 

Beside  this  just  mentioned  teachers'  seminary,  there  exists  in  our 
Church  only  one  other  educational  institution,  and  that  is  for  the 
education  of  girls.  It  is  a  private  undertaking  of  pastor  Subat,  of 
Krubsic,  whose  name  is  perhaps  known  to  some  of  the  members  of 
this  Council.     This  institution,  which  is  continually  increasing,  arwl 


838  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

whose  operations  have  been  richly  blessed,  is  also  supported  by  chari- 
table friends  abroad.  Since  the  year  1868,  the  Bohemian  Church  pos- 
sesses also  her  own  Tract  Society,  under  the  namt-  "  Comenius 
Society,"  in  Prague,  whose  sole  and  active  convener,  pastor  Kaspar, 
fourteen  years  ago  visited  some  of  the  sister  congregations  in  the 
United  States  of  North  America.  The  sphere  of  labor  of  this  society, 
which  also  enjoys  foreign  support,  is  increasing  year  by  year  in  spite 
of  the  various  difficulties  which  the  colportage  has  to  overcome,  and 
in  spite  of  the  insufficiency  of  material  means.  (It  would  be  very 
desirable  if  this  society  could  take  steps  for  publishing  and  spreading 
some  of  the  old  treasures  of  Evangelical  literature  left  to  us  by  our 
])ious  fathers,  and  which  even  to-day  are  of  great  value.)  To  extend  the 
activity  of  this  society  as  much  as  possible,  is  of  great  importance,  be- 
cause various  Popish  societies,  with  feverish  efforts,  flood  the  Bohemian 
nation  with  pamphlets  saturated  throughout  with  ultramontanism. 
But,  alas,  the  great  poverty  of  our  Church  hinders  the  operations  of 
this  society  also. 

Still  another  of  our  societies,  from  which  much  good  is  to  be 
expected  in  the  future,  as  regards  the  revival  of  the  Bohemian  Church, 
is  the  "Evangelical  Society  for  Christian  Charity." 

This  new  society  can^of  course,  not  do  much  as  yet;  but,  having 
for  its  aim  the  spreading  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  receiving  as  its 
members  only  such  as  decidedly  stand  and  wish  to  remain  upon  the 
only  foundation,  "  for  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  thai  is  laid, 
which  is  Jesus  Christ;''  occupying  in  the  church  a  position  dependent 
only  upon  the  law  of  association,  it  will,  by  God's  help,  be  one  day  an 
efficient  help  and  refuge  to  every  true  and  free  Christian  work,  which 
cannot  now  prosper  under  the  shadow  of  the  ossified,  bureaucratic 
church-organization. 

If  I  add  further,  that  there  exists  with  us,  although  in  connection 
with  the  Lutheran  Church,  a  branch  of  the  Gustavus-Adolphus  Society, 
and  that  in  our  Church  the  Sunday-school  begins  to  make  its  way,  is 
understood  and  liked,  I  have  told  almost  all  that  can  be  said  abroad 
asa  witness  of  the  life  and  activity  of  our  Church. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  much  ;  yet,  in  view  of  all  these  difficulties 
through  which  our  Church  has  had  to  pass,  we  have  cause  to  give 
thanks  to  the  Lord  even  for  these  feeble  beginnings  of  progress. 

With  regard  to  her  church  constitution — which  indeed  affords 
her  a  kind  of  security  from  without,  yet  inwardly  obstructs  her  un- 
folding and  work — the  Reformed  Church  advances  continually  to  a 
clearer  idea  of  that  freedom  which  is  necessary  for  her. 

If  we  take  into  account,  that,  in  the  present  circumstances,  minis- 
ters and  schoolmasters  cannot  sustain  themselves  upon  the  small  salary 
which  the  congregations  afford  to  them,  and  that,  tlicrefore,  the  sup- 
port from  the  public  exchequer — depending  upon  the  reconnnenrlation 
of  the  imperial  and  royal  upper  church  court,  and  upon  a  good  con- 
duct as  regards  politics — must  be  very  welcome  to  them,  and  that  to 
such  the  discussion  of  the  question  about  the  relation  of  Church  and 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  839 

state  is  very  distasteful ;  and  if  we  consider  further,  that  we  have 
ahnost  no  literature  on  this  question,  and  that  what  our  fathere  thought 
and  wrote  concerning  it,  is  very  little  known  ;  further,  also,  that  on 
the  continent  of  Europe  in  general,  until  these  modern  days,  no  great 
importance  was  attached  to  this  question  (I  myself  have  found,  to  my 
great  astonishment,  eminent  theologians  to  be  quite  indifferent  as 
regards  it),  so  that  our  theologians  had  hardly  any  opportunity  of 
getting  to  know  and  to  understand,  how  deeply  this  organization  of 
the  Church  and  her  position  towards  the  state  power,  encroaches  upon 
the  life  and  activity  of  the  former,  and  even  undermines  them  :  this 
is  evidently  the  most  {)rominent  feature  of  the  Bohemian  and  Moravian 
Church  now — that  it  begins  to  strive  after  pure  Presbyterian  principles. 

The  last  General  Assembly,  held  in  the  year  1S77,  has  firmly 
declared  its  wish,  to  construct  our  church  constitution,  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  Presbyterianism  ;  to  endeavor  that 
the  relation  of  the  Ohurch  to  the  state  may  be  constituted  according 
to  the  authority  of  the  word  of  God  ;  and  to  strive  after  all  such  holy 
and  undeniable. privileges  as  are  given  to  the  Ohurch  by  her  Divine 
King  and  Lord,  Jesus  Ohrist. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  resolution  will  call  forth  a  series  of 
struggles  on  many  sides.  The  first  will  be  within  the  Church  herself, 
against  the  various  elements  who  are  opposed  to  every  strict  and 
exceptionless  subjection  to  the  word  of  God ;  then,  also,  with  those 
satisfied  and  tiresome  people,  who  rather  shun  a  fight  altogether  for 
fear  of  losing  their  state  support ;  next,  also,  with  our  imperial  and 
royal  evangelical  upper  church  court,  whose  existence  will  be  endan- 
gered, and  for  which  it  will  certainly  fight  unto  the  last ;  while  at  last, 
a  contest  is  to  be  expected  with  the  state  administration  itself.  By- 
zantinism,  which  is  so  deeply  rooted  with  us,  will  be  the  more  difficult 
to  ^radicate,  because  in  our  next  neighborhood — in  Protestant  Ger- 
many— the  evangelical  Church  is  so  entirely  dependent  upon  the 
state. 

However,  I  do  not  give  up  the  hope  that  this  battle,  although  it  may 
last  longer  than  it  did  anywhere  else  where  it  has  been  gained  already, 
will  at  last  be  won.  This,  my  firm  hope,  I  build  first  of  all  upon  the 
firm  assurance  that  all  that  our  almighty  Lord  has  spoken  and  com- 
manded must  be  accomplished.  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away."  Further,  also,  I  trust  to  the  feel- 
ing which  Austria,  and  more  especially  her  magnanimous  emperor, 
have  for  justice.  Although  even  of  late  some  cases  occurred  on  the 
part  of  subordinate  state  organs  which  do  not  agree  with  the  protec- 
tion of  the  liberty  of  conscience,  neither  with  the  proclaimed  equal- 
ity of  religious  rights — which,  after  all,  is  conceivable  in  a  state  the 
larger  majority  of  which  is  Roman  Catholic,  and  in  which  the  Roman 
hierarchy  has  still  a  very  great  influence — yet  a  protest  to  the  imperial 
government,  and  esjiecially  to  the  person  of  the  emperor  himself,  does 
not,  as  a  rule,  remain  without  effect.  I  call  to  remembrance  only  the 
encouraging  result  of  the  deputation  which  was  sent  to  Vienna  by  the 


840  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Evangelical  Alliance.  Besides,  we  are  persuaded  that  the  Austrian 
government,  being  acquainted  with  the  ideas  of  the  papacy  as  regards 
the  privileges  and  liberties  of  the  Church,  will  at  last  look  more 
favorably  upon  those  claims  of  ours  which  are  founded  upon  the 
word  of  God.  This  expectation  is  confirmed  by  the  recent  recogni- 
tion by  our  government  of  the  Moravian  Brethren  Church,  which, 
indeed,  has  her  supreme  court,  not  in  Austria,  but  in  Saxony.  It 
is,  therefore,  to  be  expected  that  Austria  will  shortly  recognize  as  a 
state  church  those  of  our  brethren  in  faith  for  whom  the  deputation 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  has  been  interceding.  Then,  surely,  self- 
government  and  liberty  cannot  be  denied  any  longer  to  our  already 
recognized  Reformed  Church,  which  indeed  is  guaranteed  to  her  by 
the  above-named  imperial  edict,  and  is  already  conferred  upon  other 
denominations. 

I  am  well  aware  that  the  road  to  this  desired  end  is  still  long  and 
rough,  and  that  in  the  meantime  our  Church  will  have  the  more  need 
of  the  prayers,  the  sympathy,  and  support  of  sister  churches,  to  ask 
for  which  fervently  and  humbly  I  have  come  into  this  very  reverend 
Assembly. 

In  Bohemia  and  in  the  whole  of  Austria  not  only  is  the  Reformed 
Church  recognized  by  the  state,  but  also  the  Lutheran.  Although  in 
the  whole  of  Austria  there  are  Reformed  and  Lutheran  congrega- 
tions, yet  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  the  number  of  the  former  prepon- 
derates. 

The  experience  of  both  these  churches  has  been  very  much  alike. 
The  present  church  constitution  is  common  to  both,  and  the  im|x;rial 
and  royal  upper  church  court,  though  divided  for  tlie  administration 
of  both  these  churches,  forms  one  body  ;  the  church  constitution  de- 
crees that  the  two  General  Synods  can  join  into  one.  Thus  we  have 
with  us  quite  a  peculiar  and  commanded  union  ;  but  the  Reformed 
Church  has  never  got  any  advantage  from  it.  As  in  Germany,  the 
Reformed  element  is  fast  disappearing  in  the  union,  so  is  it  alsowith 
those  Reformed — especially  the  German — members  of  our  Church, 
who  are  obliged  to  attend  Lutheran  churches;  they  also  become 
estranged  from  our  Reformed  Church.  The  people,  in  fact,  do  not 
know  of  this  union,  the  bond  of  which  forms  chiefly  "the  Imperial 
and  Royal  evangelical  upper  church  court  ;"  anri  because  they  wish 
for  the  abolition  of  this  court,  they  are  quite  intiilferent  to  this  only 
superficial  union. 

The  Bohemian  Lutheran  congregations  arose  in  this  way :  After  the 
publication  of  the  edict  of  toleration,  some  Lutheran  preachers,  of 
Slavonic  origin,  came  from  Hungary  to  Bohemia.  Originally  they 
did  not  differ  much  externally  from  the  Reformed  Church,  but  re- 
cently some  of  their  ministers,  although  very  much  disliked  by  the 
peoi)le,  introduced  gradually  altars,  crucifixes,  and  pictures  into  the 
church,  wafers  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  various  ceremonies  which 
formerly  did  not  exist. 

In  this  they  differed  more  and  more  from  the  Reformed  Church. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  841 

The  <onsistorial  idea  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  Lutheran  Church, 
as  well  as  the  German  spirit  of  **  Frotestantenvereinlers "  which 
predominated  at  the  last  Lutheran  General  Synod,  led  the  Reformed 
General  Synod  of  1877  to  the  conclusion  that  those  external  signs 
of  a  union,  which  was  only  in  appearance,  should  be  removed. 
Knowing  that,  as  she  has  a  church  constitution  in  common  with  the 
Lutherans,  she  could  never  accomplish  a  reorganization  of  it  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  of  Presbyterianism,  the  Reformed  Church  re- 
solved, therefore,  to  insist  upon  becoming  an  independent  body.  To 
this  resolution  she  remains  faithful,  even  in  view  of  a  proposed  com- 
mon fund  for  pensions,  now  being  collected  for  the  evangelical 
churches  in  Austria  by  the  Gustavus  Adolphus  Society,  as  a  centenary 
celebration  of  toleration  to  be  held  next  year,  by  which  the  not  very 
happy  union  of  both  these  Churches  is  intended  to  be  made  firm  under 
the  aegis  of  the  imperial  and  royal  evangelical  upper  church  court. 

The  Bohemian  Church  has  no  pension  funds  for  her  ministers  and 
schoolmasters,  and  her  servants  are  very  poorly  rewarded  for  their  not 
very  easy  work  ;  but  in  her  efforts  for  self-government,  and  in  her 
striving  to  arrange  her  church  constitution  strictly  according  to  Pres- 
byterian principles  founded  upon  the  word  of  God,  she  will  remain 
firm,  even  if  her  petition,  that  a  proportionable  amount  of  this  thanks- 
giving fund  which  is  about  to  be  raised,  and  to  which  she  herself  also 
contributes,  should  not  be  adjudged  to  her. 

Although  the  Reformed  Church  wishes  to  have  as  well  as  to  rule  her 
own  household,  yet,  thereby,  she  does  not  deny  her  brotherhood  and 
fellowship  to  the  Lutheran  Church,  with  whom  she  suffered  mutually. 
The  Evangelical  Alliance  combines  many  denominations  in  united 
and  hearty  work  for  God's  cause,  without  any  of  the  denominations 
being  obliged  to  change  or  lay  aside  their  peculiarities.  The  same  is 
valid  here,  too.  It  is  a  golden  proverb  :  Schiedlich  friedlich  (^parted 
and  amiable). 

In  order  to  give  as  far  as  possible  a  complete  picture  of  the  position 
of  Protestantism  in  Bohemia,  I  must  mention  also  the  relation  of  our 
Church  towards  the  political  parties  in  our  nation. 

After  a  long  and  hard  sleep  of  servitude,  into  which  they  were  lulled 
by  the  anti-reformation  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Bohemian  people 
awoke  again  to  their  national  consciousness.  It  is  almost  a  wonder 
that  they  did  not  perish  altogether,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Loyola,  who  taught  the  nation  to  be  ashamed  of  their  lan- 
guage, and  to  look  with  awe  upon  its  past  history.  But  noticing  that 
the  ancient  enemies,  however,  took  great  care,  notwithstanding  this 
the  nation  regained  its  national  self-consciousness,  that  it  may  be 
proud  of  its  renowned  fathers  only  as  of  great  Bohemians,  not  remem- 
bering their  firmness  in  faith  and  tlieir  martyrdom  for  the  truth  of 
God,  which  they  loved  more  than  their  dear  country.  The  popish 
clergy  also  pretended  to  be  patriotic. 

The  Ultramontanes  continually  develop  a  feverish  activity,  their 
principal  leaders  being,  of  course,   the  Jesuits,  who  are  increasing 


842  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

daily;  for  wherever  they  have  been  turned  out,  a  considerable  contin- 
gent of  them  always  seeks  and  finds  refuge  in  Bohemia.  The  French 
Jesuits  have  already  bought  a  splendid  house  in  Prague. 

Although  the  Bohemian  nation  as  a  whole  does  not  wish  to  be  iden- 
tified with  the  Ultramontanes,  and  although  the  good  friend  of  the 
Jesuits,  Cardinal  Schwarzenberg,  was  right  in  saying  in  the  Vatican 
Council  that  in  Bohemia  the  spirit  of  Hussites  is  smouldering  still 
under  its  ashes,  yet  the  influence  of  the  Ultramontanes  is  great.  The 
missions  of  the  Jesuits  are  always  on  the  programme  of  the  day,  and 
the  attendance  on  their  meetings  is  very  considerable. 

Now  there  are  in  the  Bohemian  nation  three  great  political  parties; 
the  first  is  the  national  conservative,  the  second  the  national  liberal, 
and  the  third  is  the  Ultramontane  party,  to  which,  in  the  first  place, 
belongs  the  nobility.  The  Ultramontanes  are,  of  course,  open  and 
natural  enemies  of  our  Church. 

But  even  among  the  Bohemian  patriots  all  are  not  friends  of  our 
Church. 

There  are  plenty  short-sighted  politicians  with  us  who  think  that, 
with  the  help  of  the  Ultramontane  nobility  and  clergy,  they  will  be 
able  to  secure  their  national  rights  and  privileges;  as  if  by  the  help  of 
those  who  aided  to  ruin  the  Bohemian  nation  they  could  raise  it  again, 
and  as  if  the  clergy  who  had  our  nation  for  more  than  two  centuries 
in  their  hands,  imtil  it  almost  ceased  to  live,  and  which  accuses  of 
heresy  its  most  famed  period  of  history,  could  now  sincerely  wish  that 
the  true  patriotic  feeling  of  our  fathers  who  lived  during  the  times  of 
Huss,  or  immediately  after  Huss,  might  revive  again. 

The  liberal  party,  which  occupies  a  friendly  position  towards  our 
Church,  is  again  too  fond  of  religious  liberalism  to  extremes,  and  its 
leaders  are  full  of  modern  ideas  about  the  superiority  of  state  above 
the  Church. 

Thus  the  Reformed  Church  is  obliged  to  occupy  a  position  of  her 
own,  and  she  hopes  that  the  more  the  patriotism  of  the  Bohemian 
people  will  get  ripened,  purified  and  ennobled,  the  more  she  will  return 
to  the  government  of  her  own  affairs ;  -and  the  more  the  Bohemian 
nation  will  get  to  know  its  own  history  of  the  time  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, the  nearer  it  will  approach  to  our  Church. 

It  would  be  very  desirable  at  the  present  time  of  purification,  when 
the  contrasts  are  sharpened  and  evidently  a  great  crisis  is  preparing, 
that  we  should  possess  our  own  newspapers,  which  would  make  their 
way  into  the  circles  of  our  Roman  Catholic  countrymen  ;  but  as  the 
number  of  Protestants  in  Bohemia  is  so  small,  and  their  wants  are  so 
many,  it  is  impossible  at  present  to  reach  this  desired  end. 

The  tempest  of  God's  wrath  has  passed  away  ;  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Bohemia  looks  forward  to  a  new  and  more  pleasant  future ;  the 
government  of  her  own  affairs  has  indeed  not  quite  returned  to  her 
again,  as  Comenius  foretells.  She  has  not  recovered  as  yet  from  her 
great  tribulation  and  deep  swoon,  and  is  about  to  meet  sorrowfully 
her  centenary  jubilee,  as  if  it  were  after  a  very  hard  battle.     In  her. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  843 

nation  she  does  not  yet  occupy  that  honored  and  important  place 
which  properly  belongs  to  her,  as  to  the  full-aged  heir  of  our  martyrs  ; 
but  no  one  can  set  aside  our  hope  that  the  walls  of  the  city  of  God 
will  once  more  be  built  in  our  country,  and  that  the  Lord  God  will 
raise  up  again  his  Bohemian  Zion  as  in  those  old  times;  and  that  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  for  which  our  fathers  suffered  death,  and  for  which 
we  still  have  to  bear  contempt  and  scorn,  will  resound  again  in  its 
purity  over  all  the  ends  of  beautiful  Cechia. 

'■^Veritas  omnia  vincet''^  is  the  motto  of  our  fathers,  and  ours  after 
them.  Now,  this  motto  predicts  to  us  that  our  hope  will  not  be  put 
to  shame.  Being  conscious  of  her  own  weakness  and  of  the  greatness 
of  her  task,  our  Church  looks  the  more  fervently  to  you,  the  represent- 
atives of  better-favored  sister  churches,  asking  for  your  affectionate 
prayers  and  interest.  Help  us  to  preserve  and  to  extend  that  which  we 
have,  and  to  carry  out  what  the  Lord  has  imposed  upon  us.  Help  us 
to  multiply  our  widespread  congregations,  so  that  the  gospel  may  be 
preached  more  abundantly  in  our  country.  Help  us  to  bring  up  our 
young  people  that  they  may  not,  in  Roman  Catholic  schools,  be 
estranged  from  our  Church,  but  that  they  may  one  day  earnestly  work 
for  her.  Help  us,  further,  to  provide  for  the  Bohemian  people  such 
works  of  literature  as  are  full  of  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  more  espe- 
cially that  precious  treasure  of  our  fathers  which  is  now  almost  for- 
gotten. Come  over  and  help  us  in  the  work  of  God,  to  carry  for  the 
gospel  the  old  battle-field  which  was  once  the  cradle  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  from  which,  first  of  all,  resounded  again  the  powerful  voice 
into  the  world,  darkened  by  the  cloud  of  the  papacy:  '*To  the  law 
and  to  the  testimony  !  " 

The  Rev.  Fritz  Fliedner,  of  Madrid,  Spain,  read  the  follow- 
ing on 

THE   GOSPEL   IN  SPAIN. 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  give,  in  the  short  space  of  half  an  hour,  a  sur- 
vey of  a  field  of  labor  so  extensive  and,  at  the  same  time,  so  new  as 
that  of  the  evangelical  mission  in  Spain  ;  moreover,  to  do  it  in  a  for- 
eign tongue,  which  seems,  for  a  German  ear,  expressly  made  in  order 
to  confound  all  sound  rules  of  pronunciation.  So  I  must  count  upon 
indulgence  when  I  endeavor  to  speak  about  the  gospel  in  Spain — its 
progress,  its  enemies,  its  wants,  and  its  future. 

The  gospel  in  Spain  !  Does  not  this  single  word  say  enough?  In 
this  year  it  is  400  years  since,  in  1480,  was  established  in  Spain  that 
terrible  instrument  of  destruction  in  defence  of  the  Church  of  Rome — 
the  Spanish  Inquisition.  From  the  same  country  sprang  up,  sixty 
years  later,  in  1540  the  monstrous  order  of  the  Jesuits,  who  alone 
have  done  more  to  kill  the  Christian  conscience  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  than  all  her  ceremonies  and  superstitions.  Owing 
to  these  two  institutions,  the  power  of  Ultramontanism  is  still  quite 
enormous;   it  has  created  a  habit  which,  in  an  incredible  measure, 


844  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

governs  the  whole  life  of  the  people,  and  even  the  circle  of  ideas  of  its 
very  enemies.  It  has  destroyed  all  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ; 
even  where  Christ's  name  is  still  used  they  have  turned  our  Saviour 
into  an  idol,  and  do  not  adore  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  but  the 
"  born  Jesus"  in  Braga,  near  Operto  ;  the  "  Cristo  de  la  Victoria  "  in 
Vigo ;  the  famous  crucifix  of  Cangas  in  Asturias,  which  is  said  to  have 
swam  over  the  sea  from  Ireland  in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  to  find 
shelter  in  Spain;  or  the  "blood-sweating"  Christ  in  Burgos — all  dif- 
ferent Christs,  who  are  sometimes  in  fierce  competition  against  each 
other  about  their  relative  efficacy.  But  the  Mariolatry  is  a  thousand 
times  worse.  The  virgin  of  the  sacred  pillar  in  Zaragoza,  the  black 
virgin  of  Jerez,  of  Guadalupe,  and  half  of  all  the  Spanish  names,  prove 
that  this  modern  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  has  become  the  centre  of 
religion  here.  Yes,  she  has  even  usurped  the  place  of  our  Lord  in 
the  Trinity,  in  the  prayer  which  all  the  Spanish  children  in  religious 
families  repeat:  "  Con  Dios  me  acuesto,  con  Dios  me  levanto,  con  la 
Virgen  Maria,  y  el  Espiritu  Santo — With  God  I  lie  down,  with  God  I 
arise,  with  the  Virgin  Mary  and  with  the  Holy  Spirit."  Such  super- 
stition destroys  all  religion.  Nowhere  in  Christendom  are  to  be  heard 
such  fearfully  blasphemous  curses,  nowhere  are  the  most  holy  things 
so  degraded  and  dragged  down  into  the  very  filth  of  the  street,  as  in 
that  country  of  the  "  old  Christians,"  as  they  proudly  call  themselves. 
Besides,  there  are  still  glowing  embers  of  hatred  against  the  Roman 
Church  amongst  the  lower  classes  of  the  people,  which,  fanned  by  the 
tyranny  of  the  priests,  will  break  out  in  fearful  flames  at  the  next 
revolution.  Moreover,  the  struggle  against  the  infidelity  of  the  edu- 
cated demands  the  very  best  forces,  the  highest  intellectual  culture  of 
the  combatants.  In  no  country  would  the  most  bitter  enemy  of 
Christ  dare  to  mock  so  shamelessly  the  general  Christian  doctrines  of 
the  Trinity,  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  etc.,  as  is  done  publicly  and 
with  applause  in  the  Athenaeum  of  Madrid,  the  first  scientific  society 
of  Spain.  And  the  struggle  against  error  mixed  with  truth  is  often 
far  more  difficult  than  with  error  alone. 

Now,  into  this  country  the  gospel  has  entered.  That  the  task  of 
evangelization  there  is  difficult,  perhaps  at  the  present  time  more  so 
than  in  any  other  Roman  Catholic  country,  is  clear.  But  we  do  not 
the  work ;  the  power  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
does  it.  One  day  enters  a  Bible  colporteur  the  little  village  Mon- 
talborejo,  in  the  province  of  Toledo.  He  sells  a  big  Bible  in  the 
market-place  ;  but  the  priest,  just  coming  up  to  them  from  the  church, 
tares  the  Bible  out  of  the  hand  of  the  buyer,  throws  it  to  the  ground 
with  the  words:  "These  heretical  books  shall  never  enter  our  vil- 
lage," and  then  arouses  the  multitude  against  the  bookseller,  so  that 
he,  while  stones  are  following  him,  must  make  a  hasty  escape.  Four 
weeks  later  his  way  leads  him  through  the  same  village,  which  he 
cannot  avoid,  if  he  would  not  take  a  round  often  miles  ;  and,  as  it  is 
evening,  he  hopes  nobody  will  recogr  ize  him.  But  the  first  man  he 
meets  under  the  gateway  asks  him :   "Are  you  not  the  man  who  sold 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  845 

the  Bible?"  He  would  fain  have  said  no,  but  he  could  not  lie;  and 
so  he  said,  rather  hesitatingly,  "  Yes,  I  am  the  man  !  "  "  Then  come 
into  our  village,  we  all  want  your  Bibles  !  "  "  What !  is  this  not  the 
same  place  where  you  nearly  stoned  me?"  "True;  but  everything 
has  changed  now:  we  want  now  your  Bibles."  And  then  he  told 
him  how  a  speculative  grocer  had  taken  uj)  the  big  book,  and  used  his 
leaves  to  fold  liis  groceries  in  them.  So  the  Bible  leaves  went  with  a 
bit  of  sugar,  or  of  soap,  or  of  salt,  all  over  the  village.  Spaniards 
like  to  read  ;  and  there  they  read  the  beautiful  stories  of  Hannah  and 
Samuel  ;  the  song  of  the  angels  at  the  first  Christmas,  which  was  ever 
celebrated,  though  the  world  did  not  celebrate  it ;  the  story  of  the 
prodigal  son,  to  whom  a  father's  heart  is  opened  ;  and  more  than  all, 
the  record  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  our  Lord  which  they  never 
have  heard,  though  their  churches  are  fall  of  crucifixes.  Then  they 
came  rushing  back  to  the  grocer,  asking  him  for  more  leaves.  These 
were  soon  at  an  end  ;  so  they  prayed  to  God  to  send  them  back  the 
man,  and,  when  he  came,  he  sold  all  his  Bibles;  and  he  had  to  stay 
with  them  some  days,  to  teach  them  the  way  of  God  more  perfectly. 

The  hunger  and  thirst  for  the  word  of  God  is  not  abated.  The 
eagerness  with  wliich  they  love  to  hear  it,  puts  many  a  time  us  old 
evangelical  Christians  to  shame.  Sometimes  one  has  to  preach  under 
difficulties  indeed,  as  on  one  occasion  in  one  of  our  mission  stations 
at  Escornaz,  where  I  feared  my  auditors  might  fall  on  my  head. 
There  the  little  hall  was  soon  filled,  and  more  came  crowding  in  ; 
when  it  occurred  to  one  young  fellow  to  climb  up  into  the  beams 
which  braced  the  roof.  One  after  another  followed  his  example  ;  and 
soon  they  sat  in  rows  like  sparrows  on  a  house-top.  It  is  true  that  I 
sometimes  looked  up,  when  a  movement  was  made,  thinking:  "Are 
they  coming  down,  or  not?"  But  there  was  no  Eutychus  amongst 
them.  Truly  it  is  a  great  joy  to  preach  the  Saviour  to  such  congre- 
gations. 

Last  summer  I  visited  Morgadanes  in  Galicia,  where  a  few  days 
before  two  evangelists  had  been  wounded  by  the  fanatical  people,  and 
only  made  their  escape  from  being  stoned  to  death  by  a  precipitate 
flight.  With  some  trepidation  1  pushed  my  way  into  the  mountains 
up  the  same  rocky  path  ;  but  I  only  wish  all  my  hearers  could  have 
seen  the  delight  with  which,  like  their  forefathers,  the  ancient 
Galatians,  these  simple  villagers  received  me,  as  if  I  had  been  an 
angel  of  God  ;  and  then  gave  me  of  the  best  they  had,  like  the  fisher- 
men of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  coarse  maize  bread  and  a  few  little  fishes. 
At  another  place  an  old  man  of  seventy  came  twenty-four  miles  on 
foot  to  buy  a  Bible.  I  could  mention  many  such  cases  if  time  did  not 
fail  me. 

The  door  is  opened  before  us  for  access  to  the  higher  educated 
classes,  where  there  is  more  desire  for  new  spiritual  life  and  light  than 
is  generally  supposed.  A  new  intellectual  life  is  springing  up. 
This  spring  the  greatest  living  poet  of  Spain,  Jaspar  Nuiiez  de  Arce, 
in  the  Athenoeum  of  Madrid,  in  the  presence  of  the  best  known  repre- 


846  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sentatives  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  of  the  men  of  education  and  of  the 
rostrum,  presented  his  last  poem  :  "  The  Vision  of  Brother  Martin." 
This  brother  Martin  is  none  less  than  Dr.  Martin  Luther,  who,  in  his 
monastery-cell,  is  struggling  with  doubts  as  to  the  authority  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  In  a  trance  he  sees  the  great  sea  of  nations  strug- 
gling onward  to  heaven  ;  the  way  is  led  by  priestly  Rome  under  the 
banner  of  the  cross;  but,  lo,  he  sees  it  transformed  into  the  great 
monster  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  cross  everywhere  broken  and  trampled 
under  the  feet,  the  pardon  of  sin  sold  in  the  market-place;  he  sees 
the  spectre  of  horrible  Alexandre  Borgia,  of  cruel  Julius  II.,  who  is 
blessing  with  one  hand  and  killing  with  the  sword  in  the  other,  and 
he  exclaims:  "O  Rome,  Rome,  what  have  you  made  of  my  God." 
Above  all  he  sees  the  eternal  word,  strong  enough  to  break  the  fetters 
of  Rome  and  to  overthrow  the  old  Babylon.  When  he  awakes  the 
monks  surround  hiiT),  and  congratulate  him  about  his  return  to  life. 
"Yes,"  he  exclaims,  "a  new  life  begins  for  me.  I  am  ashamed  of 
my  monk's  dress  !  "  "  What  are  you  about?"  asked  the  old  Prior. 
"  Conquer  Rome,  that  I  shall !  "  he  answers.  And  though  then  the 
poet  adroitly  closed  with  the  curse  of  the  Prior  over  him,  thus  shielding 
himself  against  the  Romish  hatred,  the  impression  was  immense  and 
lasting.  For  the  first  time  a  Spaniard  had  dared  to  present  the  hero 
of  the  Reformation  in  his  true  light,  fighting  the  battle  of  Christianity 
against  depraved,  immoral  Ro-me,  and  had  found  an  echo  all  over  that 
country,  where  up  to  this  very  day  the  public  normal  school  of  the 
capital  in  one  of  their  standard  books  puts  the  following  question : 
"  How  can  you  speak  of  many  religions,  as  there  is  only  one  true  one, 
that  of  the  holy  Roman  Church?  "  and  answers  it  thus:  "There  is 
only  that  one  true  religion,  but  in  a  wider  sense  the  word  is  improperly 
used  for  all  the  different  religious  errors,  and  so  we  speak  of  a  religion 
of  the  Chinese,  Mahometan,  English,  etc.,"  and  where  the  arch- 
bishop of  Santiago  says  in  his  catechism,  that  Protestantism  is  the 
same  evil  in  morals  as  the  pest  in  nature. 

Now  in  this  country  three  Bible  societies  are  actively  at  work,  sell- 
ing with  the  help  of  thirty  colporteurs  and  a  Bible  carriage  thousands 
of  Testaments  and  Gospels.  The  tract  society  does  not  only  distribute 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  tracts,  but,  what  is  far  more  important,  sells 
thousands  of  pamphlets  and  books,  and  sells  every  year  more.  There 
are  now  about  sixty  larger  or  smaller  mission  stations  in  the  peninsula ; 
perhaps  the  same  number  of  schools  with  from  5,000  to  6,000  chil- 
dren;  about  10,000  adherents  and  perhaps  20,000  who  hear  constantly 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel ;  fifty  Sunday-schools  with  more  than  3,000 
children  ;  fourteen  properties  bought  for  churches  and  schools ;  an 
orphanage  with  thirty  children;  a  small  hospital  which  has  been  of 
service  to  all  congregations  in  Madrid  ;  and  four  Protestant  weekly 
and  fortnightly  newspapers  issued  from  our  own  Protestant  bookshop, 
where  are  printed,  besides,  a  great  many  tracts  and  books,  also  a  yearly 
Christian  almanac.  Fifteen  of  these  churches  are  united  in  the  so- 
called    Christian   Church  of  Spain,   represented   here,   having  three 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  847 

missionary  outposts  besides;  and  we  hope  that  more  will  join.  We 
thank  God  that  we  can  say,  that  on  the  whole  all  the  laborers  in  Spain, 
with  perhaps  the  exception  of  one  or  two  black  sheep,  whom  the  Lord 
will  remove  in  his  time,  work  in  the  spirit  of  peace  and  union  for  ihe 
one  Lord.  Only  to  the  congregation  of  Philadelphia,  of  brotherly  love, 
is  given  the  promise  :  "  Behold,  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open  door 
and  no  man  can  close  it."  On  my  way  here,  when  I  passed  so  many 
tunnels  and  so  many  gigantic  bridges,  I  thought :  Who  has  done 
all  this?  No  emperor  would  have  been  powerful  enough,  and  no 
Rothschild  rich  enough  to  do  it.  But  union  has  completed  it.  People 
of  widely  different  stations  in  life  have  united  with  the  one  powerful 
object  to  make  money  ;  and  so  they  have  subdued  the  earth.  Shall 
we  not  learn  from  the  children  of  this  worKl  ?  What  is  more  neces- 
sary in  the  struggle  with  Rome's  superstition  and  unbelief  than  union 
amongst  the  combatants?  Let  us  go  forward  then,  children  of  the 
light,  united  for  the  one  great  object,  not  to  make  money  but  to  win 
souls  for  the  Saviour ;  and  the  kingdom  is  ours. 

Truly  we  have- a  large  field  before  us.  We  do  not  look  merely  at 
the  peninsula,  but  we  unite  also  with  our  American  brethren  in  the  work 
in  the  countries  of  South  and  Central  America  ;  and  I  think  no  Monroe 
doctrine  shall  hinder  us.  '  These  countries,  though  independent  of 
the  mother  country  for  years,  have  still  numberless  relations  with 
her;  and  in  many  branches  of  literature  are  entirely  dependent  on 
her  language  and  science.  And  now,  as  formerly,  thousands  of  the 
flower  of  our  youth  go  out  to  Mexico  and  South  America  to  seek  their 
fortune,  who,  if  converted  to  the  gospel,  would  bring  the  true  fortune 
to  their  former  colonies.  Through  the  help  of  the  American  Foreign 
Sunday-School  Union  many  hundreds  of  our  Sunday-school  papers  are 
going  already  there. 

Outward  oppression,  it  is  true,  has  reduced  our  numbers,  and  made 
the  work  more  difficult  and  its  growth  slower;  but  has  proved  only  a 
blessing  for  the  inward  development  of  our  work.  Our  teachers  are 
gradually  becoming  better  trained,  the  evangelists  better  educated. 
Christian  literature  is  on  the  increase,  Christian  children  are  growing 
up,  and  our  quiet  influence  increases  unseen  but  surely.  It  will  be 
long  ere  we  can  think  of  our  congregations  becoming  self-supporting; 
yet  we  can  show  a  slow  increase  of  the  contributions  of  the  members 
of  the  Spanish  Churches.  Self-support  is  at  least  the  desired  aim 
towards  which  we  are  consciously  advancing,  however  far  it  may  yet 
appear. 

Divine  service  has  become  more  quiet  and  decorous.  With  what 
delight  do  our  young  Christians  sing:  "Safe  in  the  arms  of  Jesus." 
"  Salvo  in  los  tiernos  brazos  de  mi  Jesus  sere,"  or,  "  How  sweet  the 
name  of  Jesus  sounds  !  "  "  Cuan  dulce  el  nombre  de  Jesus*."  And 
how  does  a  Protestant  heart  rejoice  when  we  can  sing  in  the  sonorous 
language  of  the'  Hidalgos,  and  challenge  the  old  enemy  of  our  Re- 
formation in  his  own  bloody  fortress,  with  Luther's  song  of  triumph  : 
*'  Ein  feste  Burg  ist  imrer  Gott."    A  safe  stronghold  is  God  our  Lord  : 


848  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

"  Castillo  fuerte  es  nuestro  Dios  !  "  It  is  like  a  prophetic  shout  in  the 
land  of  scaffolds  and  torture  chambers,  the  grave  of  thousands  of  noble 
martyrs:  "Awake  and  sing  ye  that  dwell  in  the  dust,  for  thy  dew  is 
like  the  dew  of  herbs,  and  the  earth  shall  cast  out  the  dead."  The 
Protectant  hymn  has  become  a  jrower  in  Spain;  we  have  heard  it 
amongst  the  rocks  of  Montserrat,  even  within  the  cloistered  walls, 
where  Ignatius  of  Loyola  devoted  himself  as  knight  to  the  virgin 
Mary,  in  order  to  begin  his  dark  struggle  against  the  bright  gospel 
of  God.     Jesus  remains  stronger  than  the  Jesuits. 

But  has  the  present  commercial  depressure  throughout  the  world, 
and  the  great  claims  made  on  all  Protestant  countries,  not  injured  the 
work  of  tiie  mission  in  Spain  in  a  financial  point  of  view?  It  is  true 
that  wherever  we  begin  to  speak  of  the  work  our  friends  hasten  to 
assure  us,  that  the  times  are  very  bad.  But  though  we  have  never 
been  rolling  in  wealth,  yet  we  never  have  wanted.  Our  cruse  of  oil 
has  not  been  full  to  the  brim  ;  we  had  sometimes  little  food  in  the 
house.  Notwithstanding  we  confess  with  praise  that  the  meal  in 
the  barrel  did  not  waste,  neither  did  the  cruse  of  oil  fail  in  our  work. 
Where  perhaps  formerly  too  much  was  extravagantly  expended,  the 
work  has  only  been  improved  and  furthered  by  the  fact  that  the  out- 
ward means  were  limited.  Neither  are  we  afraid  for  the  future.  Is 
the  work  not  of  our  Lord?  And  are  not  silver  and  gold  also  his? 
He  that  clothes  the  lilies  of  the  field  with  more  glory  than  that  of 
Solomon,  has  all  that  we  want,  and  abundantly,  not  only  silver  and 
gold,  but  jewels,  too,  for  the  building  of  his  temple.  Do  not  sparkle 
more  than  the  most  precious  stones  the  farthings  of  that  poor  shoe- 
maker's wife  in  Alsatia,  who  laid  apart  five  centimes  of  each  pair  of 
boots  sold,  for  the  Lord's  work  in  Spain  ;  or  the  plain  watch  of  yon 
man  on  the  Rhine,  which  he,  enthusiastic  for  his  Saviour's  cause,  tore 
from  its  iron  chain  and  laid  upon  the  plate  ;  the  cents  of  children 
in  America,  who  gather  and  sell  old  iron  for  the  benefit  of  the  Spanish 
orphans;  the  two  little  crosses  and  a  silver  cup,  remembrances  of 
three  dear  children,  who  died  in  one  year,  sent  by  their  father  for 
God's  work ;  the  rings  of  the  octogenarian  pastor  in  Wurtemberg, 
who,  in  the  certainty  of  soon  meeting  his  wife,  who  had  preceded, him 
before  the  throne  of  the  Lamb,  requires  not  outward  remembrance  of 
her,  and  therefore  brings  his  own  and  her  marriage  ring  to  the  Lord  ; 
or  the  little  garnet  cross,  which  was  sent  with  the  words:  "There  is 
no  restraint  to  the  Lord,  to  help  by  many  or  by  few."  Here  we  can 
glance  into  the  secret  treasure  chambers  of  our  glorious  God  ;  here  we 
receive  refreshment  and  joyfulness  for  our  work,  because  we  see  what 
fellow-laborers  God  has  placed  on  our  side.  Our  work  increases ;  we 
require  each  year  more  money ;  but  it  does  not  make  us  anxious.  We 
thank  Goii  for  daily  growth,  and  do  not  fear  for  our  daily  wants. 
When  my  wife  comes  to  me  and  says  :  "  Fritz,  it  is  terrible  :  we  need 
again  a  new  pair  of  trousers  for  our  Theodore ;  the  boy  grows  most 
awfully."  I  laugh  with  the  whole  face,  and  answer:  "Thank  God 
for  his  growth,  he  will  give  the  trousers,  too."  For  our  God  has  not 
exiiausted  his  treasures,  and  the  experience  and  joyful  confidence  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  849 

his  children  remains :    "All  that  the  Lord  created  hath,  his  faithful- 
ness sustainetli." 

Now  we  turn  to  our  enemies.  We  may  truly  say,  that  amongst  all 
the  Roman  Catholic  countries,  which  God's  ])ower  has  opened  so 
wonderfully  in  the  last  ten  years  to  the  gospel,  Italy,  Austria,  Belgium, 
France,  there  is  rtot  one  where  the  work  suffers  so  much  from  outward 
oppression  as  that  in  Spain.  With  the  return  of  the  Bourbons  a 
reaction  began  which  increases  daily ;  our  former  religious  liberty  has 
been  reduced  to  the  minimum  of  religious  toleration,  all  public  mani- 
festations being  forbidden  us.  Old  monasteries  which  were  closed  for 
years  are  reopened  ;  imposing  new  Jesuit  schools  seem  to  spring  out 
of  the  earth  ;  persecutions,  .set  on  foot  by  the  priests,  occur  over  and 
over  again,  because  they  are  left  unreproved  by  the  law.  Have  we 
then  not  reason  to  fear  the  return  of  absolute  intolerance  within  a 
short  time?  We  praise  and  thank  God,  that  we  can  answer  :  No.  Ab- 
solute intolerance  even  in  the  birth-place  of  the  inquisition,  is  im- 
jiossible.  Our  situation  is  best  characterized  by  the  apostolic  words: 
''  We  are  troubled  on  every  side,  yet  not  distressed  ;  we  are  perplexed, 
but  not  in  despair;  persecuted,  but  not  forsaken  ;  cast  down,  but  not 
destroyed."  The  church  of  the  crucified  has  always  flourished  under 
the  cross.  True,  many  a  branch  of  our  work  has  been  cut  off,  but 
only  that  the  tree  may  become  more  deeply  rooted.  The  true  hus- 
bandman prunes  and  cleanses  the  branches,  that  they  may  bring  forth 
more  fruit.  The  Lord  our  God  shows  us  daily,  that  he  is  at  the  helm 
and  governs  with  might.  Ministers  and  governors  are  in  his  hand. 
Often  when  it  seemed  as  if  we  had  no  means  to  defend  ourselves  against 
persecution  and  unjust  oppression,  our  enemies  themselves  put  at  the 
right  time  the  weapons  into  our  hand.  Our  books,  even  those  of  a 
polemic  character,  passed  the  censure;  our  banished  pastors  and 
teachers  returned  to  their  posts,  royal  decrees  disapproved  the  exercise 
of  religious  constraint,  and  when  the  danger  was  greatest,  at  midnight 
ministers  telegraphed  that  the  police  should  be  sent  for  the  protectioin 
of  the  threatened  Protestants.  "  He  everywhere  has  way,  and  all 
tilings  serve  his  might  !  " 

It  may  be,  that  a  revolution  is  plotted  ;  evangelical  Christian^i  do 
not  long  for  it.  We  do  not  meddle  with  politics,  but  we  are  not 
'afraid  of  any  change.  We  do  not  trust  in  man,  not  even  in  princes, 
although  the  young  king  is  liberally  inclined.  But  the  King  of  kings 
is  with  us,  and  therefore  we  shall  remain  steadfast.  "  Behold,  he 
fighteth  on  our  side  with  his  all-powerful  Spirit." 

But  our  wants  are  great ;  and  I  wished  to  have  in  my  possession 
the  horn  of  the  famous  knight  Roland,  to  shout  into  the  heart  o-f  every 
Presbyterian  church:  "  Come  over  and  help  us."  Do  not  lose  the 
glorious  opportunity  which  God  has  given  now  to  conquer  the  old 
enemy  of  the  gospel.  As  a  good  Prussian  soldier  I  say  to  you  :  I>o  not 
wait  till  Roman  Catholicism  is  attacking  you  in  your  own  countries. 
I^arn  from  your  enemies.  The  war  is  always  ea.siest  in  the  very 
country  of  the  enemy  himself. 
54 


850  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

It  is  true  we  want  more  means ;  but  that  is  not  the  principal  want. 
I  am  never  afraid  for  the  means,  if  we  have  only  the  men.  But  men 
are  wanting.  We  could  double  our  stations  if  we  had  only  the  men. 
And  Christ  never  told  us  to  ask  for  more  money,  but  he  said  :  "  Pray 
ye  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  will  send  forth  laborers  into  his 
harvest  !  "  How  yearns  our  heart  for  more  truly  devoted  missionaries  ! 
The  last  time  I  was  over  in  America,  I  had  the  privilege  of  interpret- 
ing for  our  noble  co-worker,  Carrasco.  He  sleeps  in  the  bottom  of 
the  sea;  since  then  has  died  Pablo  Sanchet ;  in  this  year  Astray,  and 
the  place  of  the  latter  is  not  yet  filled.  We  must  train  our  own  evan- 
gelists and  preachers  in  Spain  ;  but  this  is  very  slow  work.  Our  ideal 
is  to  train  young  people  of  our  congregations  in  a  seminary,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  allow  them  to  visit  the  best  Spanish  educational  institu- 
tions, and  to  let  them  pass  their  examinations  there,,  in  order  that  they 
may  grow  up  as  Spaniards  in  the  midst  of  the  intellectual  culture  of 
Spain,  and  be  enabled  to  work  with  success  amongst  their  country- 
men. The  most  talented  of  them  might  go  later  for  some  years  to 
Protestant  countries  for  study;  it  would  widen  their  views  and  sym- 
pathies without  tearing  them  away  from  the  intellectual  life  of  their 
country.  We  do  not  know  whether  the  seminary  which  is  to  be 
founded  in  Cordoba  will  fulfil  this  ideal.  We  wish  it  success  with 
all  our  heart.  The  preparatory  school  which  we  have  begun  in 
Madrid,  is  still  far  too  small  to  be  reported  upon.  But  one  thing  is 
certain  ;  seminaries  for  teachers  and  evangelists  in  Spain  itself  are  a 
crying  necessity,  and  we  long  with  all  our  heart  that  flourishing  pre- 
paratory schools  for  laborers  may  come  from  these  small  beginnings. 

Now,  dear  brethren,  for  the  sake  of  the  work,  pardon  me,  when  I 
speak  with  all  humility,  but  very  plainly.  We  Presbyterian  churches 
have  a  great  danger  within  ourselves,  if  we  are  lacking  in  missionary 
efforts.  Eight  years  ago  the  American  Presbyterian  Church  offered 
its  help  ;  up  to  this  day  it  has  never  come  across  the  ocean.  Another 
Church  has  blessed  native  missionary  stations  in  Spain  ;  but  in  vain  I 
entreated  them  for  more  than  five  years  to  send  out  a  missionary  agent 
of  their  own  ;  they  have  none.  Leading  members  of  another  church, 
with  one  missionary,  in  Spain,  tell  me  they  may  look  all  over  their 
church,  they  can  find  not  another  one.  Whence  arises  this  want? 
If  our  churches  have  not  within  themselves  enough  truly  devoted  men 
for  missionary  work,  if  those  men  are  coming  forth  every  year  more 
.slowly  and  scarce,  is  this  not  a  bad  sign  for  our  entire  self-consecration 
to  the  Lord?  God  has  blessed  our  Presbyterian  churches  with  great 
means.  But  the  danger  is  that  of  which  Christ  says  :  "How  hardly  is 
it  for  them,  that  trust  in  riches,  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  !  " 
This  danger  threatens  also  the  rich  Presbyterians,  and  aye,  the  rich 
ministers,  too  !  When  we  ourselves  are  truly  Christ's,  consecrated  to 
him  in  body  and  soul,  then  all  things  are  ours  ;  and  all  gold  and  silver, 
too  ;  but  if  this  is  not  the  case,  we  may  have  great  congregations, 
great  eloquence,  great  salaries,  and  still  Christ's  work  is  not  prospered 
by  us.     With  what  joy  did  I  preach  last  Sunday  in  one  Presbyterian 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  851 

congregation  of  this  city,  when,  on  entering  it,  I  read  :  "All  seats 
are  free  !  "  And  there  was  no  need  to  say  to  the  poor :  "  Stand  thou 
there,  or  sit  here  under  my  foot-stool."  If  a  missionary  does  not  go 
by  the  rule  given  by  the  greatest  missionary  whom  the  world  ever 
saw:  "  Having  food  and  raiment,  let  us  therewith  be  content,"  he  is 
not  fit  to  be  a  missionary.  And  when  our  churches  at  home  do  not 
give  this  living  example,  how  can  we  expect  from  them  true  mission- 
aries to  come  forth?  May  God  also  bless  this  Council,  that  in  all 
our  congregations  and  ministers  a  new  life  of  entire  self-consecration 
may  spring  forth,  and  the  missionaries  will  not  be  longer  wanting. 

One  word  more  as  to  the  future  of  our  work  and  I  have  done.  Our 
field  is  great,  the  workers  few.  The  question  arises  :  "  Do  you  really 
believe  that  your  small  congregations,  consisting  of  a  few  thousands 
of  poor,  and  for  the  most  part,  uneducated  Christians,  which  are  like 
a  drop  in  a  bucket,  compared  to  the  many  millions  of  Spanish-speak- 
ing people  in  the  old  and  new  world,  will  make  a  lasting  impression  ? 
Are  they  not  too  weak  even  to  act  as  leaven  for  these  great  supersti- 
tious and  incredulous  masses?"  We  find  the  answer  in  Spain  itself. 
There  stands  amongst  the  splendid  rows  of  columns  in  the  ancient 
mosque  of  Cordoba,  hidden  away  behind  many  hundred  pillars,  one 
of  particular  importance.  A  cross  with  the  image  of  our  Saviour  is 
engraved  upon  it  with  rough,  but  recognizable  lines.  Whilst  the 
false  prophet,  Mahomed,  made  the  West  tremble  with  the  fanatic 
hordes  of  his  warriors,  whilst  the  dominion  of  the  Arabs  extended 
throughout  Spain,  and  the  splendor  of  their  mosques  surrounded  the 
religion  of  Islam  with  fairy-like  glory,  there  stood  a  poor  Christian  slave 
chained  to  that  column,  destined  by  his  presence  to  add  to  the  noisy 
glory  of  the  festivities  of  Islam,  but  who  could  not  forget  the  despised 
and  crucified  One  whose  love  filled  his  heart.  With  persevering,  toil- 
some labor,  he  scratched  with  a  nail  Christ's  cross  and  im.age  on  the 
marble  pillar.  And  now?  Mahomed's  glory  has  passed  away;  the 
sce-ptre  of  Islam  is  broken— but  the  simple  image  of  our  Saviour  has 
lasted  longer  than  the  power  and  the  glory  of  a  civilization  which 
once  filled  the  world.  Let  then  superstition  keep  its  noisy,  popular 
feasts ;  let  the  falsely-praised  wisdom  and  philosophy  boast  in  her 
vain  self-conceit  of  the  proud  pillars  of  her  splendid  temple  as  eter- 
nal ;  we  will  engrave  with  quiet,  unseen  and  despised  labor  the  image 
of  our  crucified  Saviour  in  the  Latin  races,  with  the  joyful  confidence 
that  this  image  carries  with  it  the  seal  of  eternity.  Christians  can 
never  be  too  enthusiastic.     For  Christ's  is  the  kingdom. 

The  Rev.  Professor  Emilio  Comba,  of  Florence,  Italy,  read 
the  following  paper  on 

THE  CHURCH  IN  ITALY. 

The  Waldensian  Church  was  represented  at  the  First  General  Pres- 
byterian Council  by  our  beloved  moderator.     He  charged  me  to  pre- 


852  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sent  to  you  the  salutationc  of  the  old  church  of  the  Waldensian  valleys 
— which  claims  also  to  be  young — and  in  a  special  manner  to  return 
thanks  to  the  generous  promoters  of  the  subsidy  for  the  improvement 
of  the  economic  condition  of  its  pastors. 

Some  of  you  may  remember  that  in  that  Council,  something  was 
said  concerning  the  origin  of  our  Waldensian  Church.  The  lamented 
Dr.  Lorimer,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastic  History  in  the  Presbyterian 
Theological  College  of  London,  insisted  that  some  conclusion  should 
be  reached  touching  this  question,  interesting  not  only  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  but  to  the  whole  Protestant  Christendom.  Moreover, 
he  continued,  before  arriving  at  a  conclusion,  we  will  do  well  to  wait 
for  the  result  of  the  researches  begun  by  one  of  the  professors  in  the 
Waldensian  Theological  College  of  Florence.  Now — and  I  am  pleased 
to  be  able  to  say  it  here — these  researches  have  already  been  made 
public,  not  only  in  my  native  language,  but  also  in  English.  I  have 
them  compendiously  arranged  in  a  little  volume  which  I  will  do  my- 
self the  honor  of  presenting  to  our  President.  It  is  entitled  :  "  Waldo 
and  the  Waldensians  before  the  Reformation."  I  hope  that  the  ques- 
tion of  the  origin  of  the  Waldensians  will  be  found  here  summed  up 
with  some  precision,  perhaps  definitely  solved,  thanks  to  the  light 
from  many  sources,  herein  indicated  in  the  most  exact  and  complete 
method  possible  to  me.  Now,  if  my  conclusions  are  in  nowise  in 
accordance  with  the  writers  of  the  Leger  school,  therefore  less  than 
ever  with  our  English,  Scotch  and  American  apologists,  there  must 
be  a  reason.  This  he  who  will  give  himself  the  trouble  to  read  will 
find.  It  is  time,  in  my  opinion,  that  we  should  declare  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  that  our  history  is,  in  some  proportion,  to  be  made 
over;  and  when  made  over  and  purified  of  all  legends,  it  will  be  more 
true,  hence  more  beautiful.  Let  the  admirers  of  our  antiquity  be 
consoled.  If  we  have  not  lived  through  all  the  past  centuries,  from 
the  time  of  the  apostles,  please  God  we  shall  live  many  ages  to  come. 
He  did  not  give  us  life  by  means  of  fables  and  legends,  but  only 
through  his  word  of  truth  and  of  light,  destined  to  shine  forever  and 
ever. 

It  is  true  that  the  Waldensians  were  and  are  in  Italy  the  heirs  and 
continuators  of  the  protest,  which  from  the  earliest  period  arose 
against  the  dark  Papal  dominion,  and  which  thus  far  has  not  obtained 
the  attention  it  deserves,  especially  from  Protestants.  Indeed,  how 
many  are  there  who  tHink  of  this  fact,  that  God  hardly  ever  left  Italy 
without  prophets?  Yet  it  is  very  evident;  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
could  repeat  against  the  one  that  pretends  to  be  the  Jerusalem  of  tlie 
West,  the  words  addressed  to  the  other  where  he  died  :  "  O  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  which  are 
sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together 
even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 
not !  Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate.  For  I  say  unto 
you,  Ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth,  till  ye  shall  say,  Blessed  is  he 
that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."     In  fact,  the  Church  at  Jeru- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  85 3 

salem  had  hardly  sprung  up,  when  it  sent  a  ray  of  its  splendor  to 
Rome;  as  the  sun,  which,  as  it  comes  up  on  the  horizon,  irradiates 
the  highest  mountain  tops.  It  is  well  known  that  the  faith  of  the 
Romans  had  already  manifested  itself  before  they  heard  the  preaching 
of  any  of  the  apostles ;  it  was  revived  by  the  means  of  the  golden 
epistle  of  that  civis  roinanus  who  became  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, then  sealed  by  his  preaching  and  martyrdom.  St.  Paul  is  our 
first  Protestant,  and  at  his  side  1  see  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  Their  pro- 
test was  silenced  for  a  while,  and  it  still  lies  under  the  renewed  tradi- 
tions of  these  scribes  and  Pharisees  who  "  make  the  commandment  of 
God  of  none  effect,"  and  "shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven  against 
men  ;  for  ye  neither  go  in  yourselves,  neither  suffer  ye  them  that 
are  entering  to  go  in."  Thus  there  are  two  Romes:  one  more  vis- 
ible, "  has  a  name  that  she  liveth,  hut  is  dead  "  (Apoc.  iii.  i.  cf. ;  i 
Tim.  V.  6)  ;  the  other  lies  in  the  Catacombs,  but  it  is  the  Rome  of  the 
future. 

If  your  great  Dr.  Adams  were  here,  whom  I  hoped  to  see  again,  he 
would  confirm  the  truth  of  my  assertions,  for  he  visited  the  two  Romes; 
and  as  there  is  a  subterranean  Rome  full  of  the  splendor  of  Christ, 
there  is  also  a  subterranean  Italy,  where  are  found  whole  generations 
of  martyrs — from  Gioviniano  of  Rome  to  Claudius  of  Turin,  Arnaldo 
da  Brescia,  the  great  patriarch  of  heretics — that  in  the  middle  ages 
multiplied  and  filled  with  their  clamor  the  churches,  the  schools,  the 
squares,  the  prisons,  and  though  distinct,  are  united  as  "serpents  by 
the  tail."  Said  the  Popes,  "species  quidem  habentes  diversas,  sed 
caudas  ad  invicem  coUigatas."  They  were  united  in  proclaiming  tlie 
decadence  of  the  Church  from  the  times  of  Constantine  and  the  need 
of  many  reforms.  This  is  the  common  principle  of  the  most  discor- 
dant reactions,  whether  of  the  Cathari,  or  the  Patareni,  the  Ghibellini, 
or  the  Fraticelli,  not  excluding  the  Waldensians,  be  it  well  under- 
stood. Finally,  from  the  midst  of  the  renascency  which  elsewhere 
was  to  lead  to  the  Reformation,  but  in  our  country  led  us  back  under 
the  yoke  of  human  tradition,  there  arises  a  pile  more  majestic  in  its 
lugubrious  appearance  than  the  throne  of  the  persecuting  Popes. 
Upon  that  pile  ascends  the  prophet  of  Italian  Reformation,  Savona- 
rola. You  know  that  he  called  Christ  the  King  of  Florence,  and  left 
to  Italy  a  great  saying  I  wish  to  recall:  "O  my  Italy,  I  Avarn  thee 
that  nothing  can  save  tiiee  but  Christ.  The  time  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  be  sent  has  not  yet  arrived,  hut  it  will  come.^''  Upon  his  ashes  fell 
at  once  tears  and  imprecations.  Michael  Angelo,  almost  dumb  with 
grief,  comforted  himself  with  the  love  of  a  woman  who  symbolized 
the  renewed  illusions  of  Reformation  which  he  received  no  more  ; 
Guicciardini  said  openly  that  if  it  were  not  for  fear  of  injuring  his 
own  individual  interests,  he  would  have  hesitated  no  longer  to  break 
away  from  the  "  infamous  horde  of  priests  "  to  follow  Martin  Luther; 
finally  Machiavelli  came  out  with  a  grave  confession  :  "  We  Italians," 
he  said,  "  owe  to  the  Church  and  to  the  priests  this  first  obligation,  to 
have  become  without  religion  and  wicked."     The  second  was,  to  have 


854  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

remained  with  the  divided  country  and  servile  to  the  oppressors. 
Alas  !  every  hope  of  a  new  birth  disappeared  entirely.  The  Catholic 
Reformation,  that  counted  among  its  numbers  magnanimous  promo- 
ters, failed.  Such  was  also  the  fate  of  the  Evangelical  Reformation, 
but  it  was  crowned  with  the  halo  of  martyrdom,  and  mourned  by  its 
exiles.  Were  I  a  painter,  I  would  represent  upon  a  canvas  Bernardino 
Ochino,  General  of  the  Franciscans,  when,  already  meditating  to  pass 
into  Switzerland  to  flee  from  persecution,  he  visited  at  Bologna  the 
dying  Cardinal  Contarini.  These  two  were  among  the  first  promoters 
— the  former  of  Catholic  Reformation,  that  died  in  its  own  bed  of 
natural  as  well  as  inevitable  death  ;  the  latter  of  Evangelical  Reforma- 
tion, that  breathed  its  last  in  the  agony  of  exile.  Thus  Italy  fell  into 
the  power  of  the  Jesuits,  who  were  the  cause  of  its  being  called  "  the 
land  of  the  dead." 

But  behold  in  our  own  day  the  arising  of  the  Prince  liberator  ever 
invoked  by  the  greatest  intellects  from  Dante  to  Guiseppe  Giusti  ! 
Everybody  is  acquainted  with  the  deeds  of  Victor  Emanuel,  assisted  in 
the  great  work  of  our  national  restoration  by  Cavour,  Garibaldi,  and 
many  others  whose  names  1  will  not  stop  to  mention,  not  excluding 
Pius  IX.,  however  involun'tary  his  co-operation  may  have  been.  It  is 
true  that  while  these  men  stirred  about,  God  was  he  who  guided  them, 
to  use  a  popular  adage.  And  the  king  "  Galantuomo  "  was  conscious 
of  this  until  the  day  when,  from  the  city  of  the  seven  hills,  chosen  for 
the  capital  of  the  country  now  united  and  independent,  he  said  : 
"  We  are  at  Rome,  and  we  shall  remain  here." 

But  that  ended  the  first  phase  only  of  our  independence.  Now  a 
second  one,  grave  and  full  of  penis,  opens  before  a  new  king,  a  new 
Pope  and  a  new  generation.  As  said  one  of  our  most  illustrious 
statesmen,  both  a  lover  of  literature  and  an  artist:  "  Italy  is  made; 
we  must  make  the  Italians."  In  other  words,  we  need  a  principle,  a 
base  of  moral,  political,  social  education,  or  a  religion  of  life,  of  lib- 
erty, with  the  aid  of  which  our  country  may  not  only  be  kept  on  its 
feet,  but  protected  against  the  power  that  was  ever  its  enemy— papacy. 
This  is  the  opinion  of  not  a  {^^  of  our  politicians  and  thinkers,  who 
declare  it  now  in  open  parliamentary  discussions,  now  in  the  schools, 
now  in  their  writings.  Had  I  the  time  I  would  show  you  the  pro- 
gressive development  of  the  religious  question  during  the  last  few 
years.  Where  it  becomes  more  inevitable,  and  even  full  of  appre- 
hension for  us,  it  is  in  education.  One  day  Cardinal  Antonelli, 
speaking  with  one  of  our  statesmen,  said:  "The  Church  is  sure  of 
those  it  educates."  And,  to  tell  the  truth,  without  his  saying  it,  our 
free-thinkers  were  well  aware  of  that.  And  so  they  were  animated  by 
a  desire  which  can  be  understood,  that  of  providing  laws  which  might 
give  rise  to  a  beginning  of  religion  while  preventing  clerical  action. 
Imagine  the  many  combinations,  the  many  ridges  one  maybe  reduced 
to  cling  to,  who  has  not  a  definite  faith,  yet  hopes  nothing  from  his 
own  scepticism,  neither  would  trust  in  the  care  of  the  clergy  "  the 
hope  of  the  country;  "  and  then  will  you  hear  how,  at  the  end  of  a 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  855 

long  and  varied  but  inconclusive  discussion  that  took  place  in  the 
National  Parliament,  a  deputy  arose  to  say,  "  One  ounce  of  the  good 
sense  of  Luther  is  worth  here  more  than  all  the  volumes  that  have 
been  published  to  conciliate  Catholicism  with  civil  sovereignty;  "  and 
of  this  I  am  most  firmly  convinced,  notwithstanding  the  opinion  of 
the  orator,  De  Masino,  and  I  accept  willingly  the  opprobrium  that  I 
may  have  to  bear,  since  I  shall  divide  it  with  millions  of  learned  and 
virtuous  non-Catholics  I  am  constrained  to  envy,  whatever  may  be 
his  opinion.  And,  therefore,  I  who  have  so  much  admired  the  logic 
and  philosophic  discourse  of  the  honorable  friend  Bosio,  in  this  alone 
I  cannot  agree  with  him :  that  incredulity  may,  in  the  efficacy  of  a 
moral  recomposition  of  the  nation,  supply  the  want  of  the  method  of 
Luther.  Every  one  of  us  knows  that  whatever  man,  even  the  great- 
est saint  in  doctrine  and  conduct,  has  had  the  desire  in  the  most 
benevolent  manner  to  offer  some  idea  of  reformation  to  the  papacy, 
has  met  the  fate  of  Arnaldo  da  Brescia,  Savonarola,  Aonio  Paleario. 
A  moderate  Catholicism,  after  the  ideal  of  Manzoni,  of  Cavour, 
and  even  that  sought  after  by  the  great  moderate  journals,  is  repu- 
diated and  detested  as  much  as  a  heretic  doctrine,  and  it  is  destined, 
alas  !  to  perpetuate  the  ambiguity  and  the  moral  inferiority  of  the 
people  who  maintain  it.  Of  this  inferiority  of  Catholic  nations  you 
have  heard  the  proofs  day  before  yesterday  in  the  very  learned  dis- 
course of  the  Hon.  Petruccelli. 

In  fact,  the  day  before  only,  Hon.  P.  della  Gattina  had  made  the 
apology  of  the  Protestant  nations  as  compared  with  the  Catholic  in  a 
speech  remarkable  for  the  clearness  and  force  of  his  arguments,  and 
concluded  with  the  sentence  which  reassumed  all  he  had  previously 
said:  "In  the  Catholic  countries,  then,  everything  is  inferior  to  the 
Protestant:  moral,  science,  conscience,  individual  activity."  But 
does  that  mean  that  the  Hon.  Majocchi,  Hon.  P.  della  Gattina,  and 
others  like  them,  who  are  anxious  to  rid  themselves  of  the  Papal  sur- 
roundings, and  would  put  the  nations  upon  the  way  of  independence 
and  civilization,  will  become  Protestants?  We  may  be  at  least  per- 
mitted to  doubt  this.  Hence,  this  ironic  comment  published  in  a 
political  newspaper  of  Rome:  "Look  at  these  new  Luthers  and 
Zwingles  in  miniature  !  They  preach  the  reformation  of  a  faith  they 
do  not  feel  they  need  for  themselves.  The  religious  renovation  of 
Italy  cannot  be  the  work  of  espriis  forts.''^  It  may  be  worth  while  to 
add  here  as  a  characteristic,  that  the  critic  is  one  of  those  Jews  who 
ill  Italy,  as  elsewhere,  do  harm  to  public  opinion.  Moreover,  this 
phenomenon  seen  in  Italy  is  not  a  mere  caprice,  but  it  has  a  deep 
reason  for  its  existence:  the  phenomenon  of  free-thinking,  which 
opens  the  way  to  a  faith  to  come,  perhaps  to  Christianism  of  Protes- 
tant form,  so  long  as  it  can  throw  off  the  scent  the  ferocious  wolf 
which,  after  the  long  repast,  "  Ha  pici  fame  di  pria  "  (is  more  hungry 
than  before). — Daiite.  I  will  choose  to  make  this  more  forcible  by 
two  examples  in  Naples,  the  birth-place  of  philosophers  t^*"'  are  not 
lazzaroni. 


856  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Firstly.  I  will  speak  of  Bonghi,  one  of  our  most  learned  and  intel- 
ligent professors,  and  of  late  years  better  known  as  a  publisher,  and 
among  the  leaders  of  our  moderate  politicians.  If  you  ask  me  con- 
cerning his  faith,  I  must  answer  that  he  is  a  sceptic.  And  yet  under 
the  incubus  of  political  and  social  lile,  this  scepticism  does  not  exclude 
a  surprising  intuition  of  our  necessities.  Listen  to  a  few  words  spoken 
by  Bonghi,  in  the  Deputy  Chamber,  some  few  years  ago:  "Our 
speeches  are  in  vain  .;  the  Catholic  Church  is  a  moral  power,  I  believe, 
following  a  bad  road  ;  but  this  Church  thus  under  way  will  not  be 
defeated  by  our  addresses  and  our  laws.  You  need  to  inculcate  in 
your  Iiearts  a  faith  of  some  kind,  a  faith  in  nothing,  if  no  more,  but 
you  want  even  this.  You  must  have  a  positive  establishment  and  a 
firm  belief,  otherwise  you  will  be  powerless  before  this  ancient  estab- 
lishment, this  ancient  belief.  Such  a  great  moral  power  so  rooted,  is 
not  put  to  flight,  is  not  eradicated  until  it  is  surrounded  by  a  flame 
burning  about  it,  until  a  word  shall  be  heard  that  will  take  its  place; 
but  there  must  be  a  flame,  there  must  be  a  word,  and  here  the  flame  is 
wanting,  the  word  is  not  heard." 

Now  this  intuition  is  transformed  in  high  and  ardent  aspiration,  as 
shown  by  the  following  words  written  not  long  ago,  by  Bonghi :  "To- 
day the  breath  of  life  reaches  us  from  no  direction,  though  there  cer- 
tainly is  a  certain  inquietude  of  mind,  and  a  sometimes  anxious  ex- 
pectation. With  what  love,  what  obstinate  faith,  what  piety,  what 
tears  would  not  again  be  received  a  man  whose  every  word,  as  once 
that  of  Christ — evangelist.  Saviour,  grace,  peace,  refreshing  water, 
bread  of  life — is  full  of  promise  and  joy.  I  come,  said  he,  that  ye 
might  have  life,  and  ye  have  it  in  a  greater  measure ;  come  unto  me 
and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls;  I  speak  that  my  joy  may  be 
accomplished  in  my  disciples.  For  the  second  time,  a  '  Son  of 
Peace '  should  come  and  say  with  efficacious  accents,  that  his  mission 
consists  in  leading  back  his  faithful  in  'the  paths  of  peace,'  and  to 
indicate  the  way.  And  in  that,  in  this  life-giving  word  would  be  the 
true  consummation  and  crowning  of  the  liberal  doctrines,  and  the 
])urifying  of  all  they  have  of  vague,  of  varied,  of  contradictory  and  of 
flat.  But  an  innovation  of  that  kind  is  not  in  our  hands,  but  in  the 
hands  of  God,  or  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  it  behooves  us  to 
mark  the  time  for  it  at  the  opportune  moment  of  the  progressive  de- 
velopment of  the  divine  nature  in  the  human  conscience." 

One  more  example.  Here  is  R.  Mariano,  one  of  the  most  worthy  of 
our  young  thinkers.  According  to  him  it  is  important  that  the  relig- 
ious problem  be  solved  if  we  desire  to  progress.  But  how  does  he 
wish  to  solve  it?  Lately  he  published  a  very  profound,  critical  and 
positive  work,  entitled  :  "  Christianity,  Catholicism  and  Civilization." 
It  is  already  translated  into  German,  and  we  consider  it  as  a  sign  of 
the  times.  I  will  select  from  that  work  only  these  {^w^  words,  which 
are  worth  many :  "  That  a  religious  regeneration  should  burst  forth' 
from  the  very  bosom  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  as  some  think,  or  from 
the  reawakening  and  the  needs  of  the  laity  and  the  civil  society,  this, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  857 

to  a  certain  extent,  is  of  secondary  importance.  The  essential  is  that 
it  burst ;  and  sooner  or  later  it  must  burst.  This  Italy  cannot  live 
and  maintain  itself  any  length  of  time  without  religion.  But  its 
Catholicism  is  not  a  religion — Catholicism  creates  ignorance,  extin- 
guishes morality,  destroys  the  conscience.  Hence,  the  dilemma  is  ter- 
rible, fatal ;  to  die,  or  to  abandon  Catholicism.  If  I  condemn  Papacy 
and  Catholicism,  it  is  because  reason  and  history  compel  me.  They 
represent  a  degraded  and  deteriorated  ideal.  But  condemning  them, 
I  do  not  condemn  religion.  I  speak  instead  in  the  name  of  religion, 
of  a  piety  strictly  Christian.  And,  if  I  thrust  back  the  papal  clergy, 
it  is  because  I  wish  for  a  national  clergy,  and  I  long  for  the  Church  of 
the  gospel. ' ' 

These  voices  still  preach  in  the  desert,  but  they  are  already  heard 
by  many,  and,  as  in  the  days  of  the  first  appearance  of  Christ,  many 
souls  are  "  waiting  for  the  consolation,"  and  many  of  our  aged  people 
would  willingly  leave  this  life,  if  they  could  exclaim  with  Simeon: 
"  Mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation,  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles." 
One  of  those  who  entered  Rome  by  the  breach  of  Porta  Pia,  and  was 
first  Minister-President  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Italy,  was  writing 
but  a  little  while  since:  "  I  hold  firmly  that  the  gospel  contains  the 
germs  of  an  almost  infinite  civil  and  humanitarian  progress.  This 
divine  book,  that  proclaimed  the  abolition  of  slavery,  universal  brother- 
hood, [)eace  on  earth,  the  obligation  of  giving  to  the  poor  of  the 
superabundance,  etc.,  must  have  the  virtue  to  satisfy  all  the  claims  of 
the  most  perfect  civilization,  and  to  be  the  credo  of  all  humanity. 
We  only  want  the  apostle  who  knows  how  to  bring  back  to  life  those 
holy  doctrines  of  Christian  faith,  and  predis]JOse  the  religious  feeling 
of  our  people  to  receive  them.  I  am  confident  that  when  the  time 
shall  have  come,  he  will  appear.  Meanwhile,  we  are  crossing  the 
period  of  preparation,  and  they  do  a  meritorious  work,  who,  gifted 
with  talent  and  wholesome  doctrine,  strive  to  instruct  and  educate  the 
people,  to  revive  religious  sentiment,  without  which  nothing  great 
will  be  accomplished." 

You  see  that  slowly  but  progressively  the  minds  are  working,  and 
it  may  be  asked  :  Shall  we  have  a  Catholic  or  an  Evangelical  reforma- 
tion ?  Catholic  reformation  thus  far,  has  no  well-founded  hope.  You 
know  how  the  neo-Catholic  movement  ended  at  Naples  ;  it  spent  itself 
apparently  in  the  laborious  election  of  its  Bishop  who  did  not  succeed 
in  getting  together  his  electors.  Here  and  there  curates  have  been 
nominated  by  the  people;  even  a  parish  withdrew  from  the  papal 
jurisdiction  to  place  itself  upon  a  free  footing,  under  the  direct  pro- 
tection of  civil  law.  But  these  efforts  remain  isolated,  without  conse- 
quence. Why?  Because  the  sap  is  wanting  in  the  old  tree  of  the 
hierarchy,  and  the  soil  of  the  Church  is  exhausted.  I  prove  this  with 
the  very  words  of  our  most  independent  minds.  "  Ours  is  a  wearied 
soil,"  says  Bonghi,  and  the  philosopher  Namiani  adds:  "  I  have  not 
the  slightest  hope  to  see  any  new  branch  shoot  out  of  the  old  Catholic 
trunk."     Here  is,  moreover,  a  very  significant  fact,  that  will  prove 


858  THE    PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  you  these  assertions  are  not  exaggerated.  You  know  the  evolution 
of  P.  Curci,  who  formerly  defended  to  the  utmost  the  temporal  power 
of  the  Pope,  and  to-day  the  voluntary  herald  of  Spiritual  Papacy. 
Since  the  fall  of  his  idol,  /.  e.,  since  1870,  he  has  given  himself  up  to 
the  meditation  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  New  Testament,  which  he 
translates  and  comments  upon.  What  happened?  Expelled  from 
the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  he  owes  it  to  the  personal  clemency  of  Leo 
XIII.  not  to  be  excommunicated  from  the  Church.  He  retired  to 
Naples,  his  native  city,  and  I  believe  he  says  in  his  heart:  "to  see 
Naples  and  then  die" — veder  Napoli  poi  morire.  Let  us  gather  the 
words  which  resume  the  first  phase  of  his  life.  "The  holy  gospel  is 
not  read,  perhaps  not  even  known  by  many  Christians  ;  now  it  is 
sufficient  that  many  should  make  use  of  this  means  (perhaps  the  most 
capable  to  reawaken  the  souls  and  to  infuse  into  them  Christian  feel- 
ing), and  many  should  consent  to  it,  to  induce  others  to  use  it. 
Nearly  ten  years  ago,  seeing  that  the  religious  interests  were  growing 
worse  and  worse  among  us,  not  because  of  the  revolution  only,  and 
hoping  nothing  better  for  the  future,  I  was  strongly  impressed,  I  un- 
derstood, and  said  that  in  the  condition  in  which  we  were,  either 
there  was  no  salvation  for  the  present  generation,  or  it  could  be  found 
only  by  returning  to  Christ  and  his  gospel,  the  leaving  of  which  has 
led  us  to  this  pass." 

Now,  what  of  this  Curci,  and  how  was  his  zeal  for  the  dissemination 
of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  received  in  the  bosom  of  the  Romish  Church? 
Curci  lives  more  secluded  than  he  ever  did  in  convent.  He  is 
abandoned  of  all.  Hear  these  sad  words  of  the  solitaire  of  Naples: 
"  It  was  for  me  the  worst  possible  sign  not  to  have  found  a  soul  that 
showed  approbation  of  the  thought  in  itself,  and  let  us  say  it  at  the 
beginning;  not  even  in  a  dream!  It  was  surprising  that  I  was  not 
molested  ;  but  open  spites  were  not  wanting,  nor  dark  grumblings 
against  the  innovation  that  is  to  have  the  gospel  read  and  explained 
from  the  pulpit  !  even  to  see  in  that  a  tendency  to  Protestantism  ! 
But  I  rejoice  to  think  that  the  reading  of  the  gospel,  done  in  secret 
by  simple  people,  who,  knowing  little  and  suspecting  nothing  of  dis- 
tinctions between  Catholics,  heretics  and  schismatics,  seek  faithfully 
for  the  truth,  may,  by  the  help  of  grace,  implant  in  their  souls  a  true 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  which  faith,  binding  them  in  spirit,  if  not  bodily, 
to  the  Church,  will  enable  them  to  obtain  eternal  life,  rather  than 
many  Catholics  of  baptism  only,  who  never  thought  of  informing 
themselves,  were  it  only  for  simple  historical  curiosity,  as  to  who  was, 
after  all,  this  Jesus  Christ  in  whom  they  profess,  and  perhaps  even 
think  to  believe." 

Bitter  words,  clearly  showing  the  disenchantment  of  one  who  thought 
possible  a  Catholic  reformation.  No  ;  such  a  reformation,  born  to- 
day, would  soon  be  denied  by  its  very  promoters  because  irreconcil- 
able with  Papacy.  Remember  that  Cardinal  Caraffa  wanted  it  in  the 
sixteenth  century  ;  hardly  had  he  ascended  the  pontifical  throne  than 
he  betrayed  it;  as  did  Pius  IX.  with  Italy,  first  blessed  by  him,  then 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  859 

excommunicated  to  all  eternity.  Therefore,  welcome  to  the  evangeli- 
cal mission  ;  it  is  opportune,  neither  will  you  refuse  to  put  faith  in 
my  words  if  I  tell  you  that  in  the  midst  of  the  indifference  that  is  but 
too  truly  the  atmosphere  in  which  it  moves,  yet  it  takes  root  and 
spreads  gradually. 

You  may  have  heard  about  Italian  mission  the  grossest  and  strangest 
news;  now  to  exalt  it  in  the  person  of  certain  individuals  who  pass 
themselves  for  its  representatives,  more  or  less  exclusively,  while  it  is 
clear  that  they  emulate  la  mouche  dtc  coche  of  La  Fontaine ;  now  to 
lower  it  and  make  themselves  noticeable  with  a  criticism  not  only  un- 
generous but  ridiculous.  If  I  mistake  not.  to  the  too  easy  illusions 
has  succeeded  a  certain  diffidence,  and  we  see  from  the  optimism  of 
certain  reports  arise  pessimism  in  the  mind  of  him  who  has  not  abso- 
lutely stopped  reading  them.  Avoiding  as  much  as  I  can  extremes 
which  succeed  each  other  and  perpetuate  themselves  to  the  harm  of 
the  mission  in  question,  I  dare  to  state  that  the  truth  is  comforting. 
I  will  take  cne  or  two  examples,  and  then  I  will  give  place  to  more 
authentic  statistics. 

Do  you  know  how  many  Italian  Evangelical  churches  there  were 
the  first  year  of  our  liberty,  that  is,  in  1848?  There  were  fifteen  ;  all 
enclosed  in  the  three  little  valleys  of  Piedmont.  Now  the  Waldensian 
Church  alone  numbers  more  than  fifty,  without  counting  the  little 
stations  and  other  places  visited;  if  you  add  to  these  the  other  con- 
gregations belonging  to  six  other  denominations,  we  will  have  con- 
siderably more  than  a  hundred.  If  you  count  the  French,  Swiss, 
German,  English  and  American  Protestant  communities,  you  will 
have,  I  believe,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

Another  significant  feature  is  that  of  the  schools,  especially  of  the 
Sabbath-scliools.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Cushing,  who  saw  Italy  through  the 
windows  of  our  railroad  cars,  dared  to  write  last  year,  in  date  of  Jan- 
uary 2 2d,  to  the  Western  Christian  Advocate  of  Cincinnati,  these 
very  words  :  "  There  are  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  regular  mission- 
aries in  all  Italy,"  and  he  speaks  of  us  as  of  a  people  who  "  know  very 
little  about  Sunday-school  work."  Now  then,  the  first  time  it  will 
please  Dr.  Cushing  to  return  to  Florence,  I  will  show  him  in  that  city 
alone,  at  least  1,000  children  divided  off  into  half  a  dozen  Sabbath- 
>tc,hools,  in  which  the  pastors  have  little  or  nothing  to  look  after..  It 
is  well  known  that  nine-tenths  of  them  aie  Catholics  and  sons  of 
Catholics.  As  for  the  other  cities  and  provinces,  I  will  only  say  that 
there  is  no  church  without  one  or  more  Sabbath-schools,  directed  in 
such  a  manner  that  an  American  would  feel  perfectly  at  home,  as  I 
thought  to  be  at  home  some  weeks  ago  in  a  Sunday-school  in  Massa- 
chusetts. These  churches  and  schools  grow  notwithstanding  the 
malediction  of  the  Pope,  whom  our  people  do  not  fear  or  care  for,  to 
tell  the  truth. 

Rut,  as  I  said,  I  will  now  let  the  last  published  official  statistics 
speak  for  themselves : 


86o 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


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SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  86 1 

Such  are  the  results  as  per  official  reports.  But  who  can  determine 
the  secret  influence  of  the  gospel  in  the  hearts  and  in  public  opinion? 
Every  evangelist  preaches  to  hundreds  of  souls  ;  some  to  thousands 
who  surround  and  sometimes  almost  hide  the  little  nucleus  of  com- 
municants. I  believe  for  instance  that  I  may  say  that,  for  ten  persons 
who  unite  with  our  churches,  there  are  a  thousand  who  content  them- 
selves with  listening  at  intervals  more  or  less  distant.  And  whv  is 
this  thus?  The  greatest  reason  is  found  in  the  parable  of  the  sower. 
Rut  there  remains,  I  think,  a  confession  to  be  made,  and  it  is  this: 
Italy  deserved,  that  before  beginning  to  evangelize,  the  various 
churches  should  have  concerted  together  to  do,  if  not  a  work  in  com- 
mon, at  least  not  a  sectarian  one,  so  varied  and  even  inharmonious  as 
not  to  respond  exactly  to  the  conception  of  unity,  or  of  beauty,  a 
thing  that  partakes  of  the  nature  of  Italians.  Whoever  goes  out 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  rather  than  to  enter  in  a  little  church,  will 
stay  in  the  open  air,  as  the  most  cultured  and  intelligent  are  inclined 
to  do,  in  whose  mind  the  national  disposition  is  more  clearly  reflected. 
Let  us  admit  fully  the  principle  of  liberty,  from  which  originate  the 
various  ecclesiastical  forms;  but,  if  certain  forms  are  natural,  historical 
elsewhere,  is  that  a  reason  why  they  should  be  adapted  to  the  nature 
of  Italians?  For  instance,  what  do  you  think  of  the  Sabbatarians 
that  have  come  to  Naples  to  teach  us  that  we  should  rest  on  Saturday? 
If  all  ambitions,  individual  and  denominational,  were  joined  in  this 
one,  "  to  wish  to  know  nothing  but  Christ,"  and,  further,  "  to  preach 
the  gospel,  not  where  Christ  was  named,  and  not  to  biiild  on  another 
man's  foundation"  (Rom.  xv.  20),  it  is  beyond  the  question  of  a 
doubt  that  we  would  respond  in  that  manner  to  the  more  or  less  un- 
conscious aspirations  of  the  Italian  nation — that  is  neither  one  of 
pagans  nor  of  barbarians,  and  we  would  soon  have  the  spectacle  of 
a  nation,  "Rinovellata  di  novella  fronda "  (Renewed  with  new 
branches). — Dante.  Meanwhile,  since  experience  is  necessary  to  us, 
let  us  hope  that  it  will  teach  us,  and  that  the  first  fruits  already 
gathered  in  this  our  mission  may  be  the  signs  of  abundant  harvests. 

One  word  more  : 

God  it  is  who  most  manifestly  works  in  Italy,  not  men.  His 
providence  is  palpable  not  only  in  the  works  of  his  wondrous  creation, 
which  sin  and  error  have  in  vain  attempted  to  ruin,  but  in  a  special 
way  in  the  merciful  preservation  of  the  Waldensian  people,  and  in 
the  miraculous  restoration  of  our  present  liberties.  And  where  God 
works  so  evidently,  there  is  an  aim,  there  is  a  future,  and  there  is  for 
us  a  duty.  If  God  is  for  us,  who  will  be  against  us?  We  will  see 
that  the  mountains  shall  be  brought  low,  and  the  crooked  shall  be 
made  straight  and  his  name  will  reign.  Besides,  God  is  master  of 
time — patiens  quia  cttcrnus.  Every  good  seed  will  give  fruit,  but  in 
its  season.  There  are  no  machines  to  plow,  nor  to  sow,  nor  to  reap 
in  the  field  of  truth.  Therefore,  oremus  et  laboremus.  See,  to-day, 
who  is  it  that  triumphs  at  Rome?  Arnaldo  da  Brescia,  but  after 
seven  centuries  of  expectation.     Indeed,   the  army  of  the  pope  is 


862  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

greater  in  comparison,  while  the  evangelicals  are  a  little  company. 
But  look  on  high  to  the  standards  ;  that  of  the  pope  now  reigning  has 
one  star,  but  I  know  another  that  has  seven,  and  says  :  Lux  lucet  in 
tencbris  ;  higher  still,  and  who  do  I  see  ?  Christ,  who  says  :  "  Fear  not, 
little  flock ;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the 
kingdom."     Luke  xii.  32. 

The  Rev.  Leonard  Anet,  of  Brussels,  then  addressed  the 
Council  on 

THE  CKURCH  IN  BELGIUM. 

At  the  request  of  the  Programme  Committee  I  prepared  a  paper 
upon  the  question  of  Romanism  and  the  school  question  in  Belgium ; 
and  I  am  very  happy  to  say,  and  you  will  doubtless  be  as  hap|)y  to 
hear,  that  the  paper  has  gone  into  the  hands  of  the  printer  and  I  can* 
not  read  it.  The  Business  Committee  was  kind  enough  to  save  you 
the  trouble  of  listening  to  my  paper.  But  I  ask  your  permission  to 
say  a  few  words  about  our  Church  in  Belgium. 

The  Church  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  here  is  very  young, 
almost  the  youngest  of  our  Alliance;  though  I  think  sometimes  she  is 
the  oldest.  This  is  seemingly  a  contradiction,  but  I  am  sure,  after 
two  minutes  of  patience,  you  will  agree  with  me.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  the  gospel  was  preached  in  Belgium,  in  all  our  cities  and 
towns,  and  not  only  was  it  preached  there,  but  it  was  accepted  by  all 
the  people.  Congregations  were  assembled.  In  1561  the  ministers 
and  elders  of  those  congregations  met  together  at  Antwerp  and 
created  a  Presbyterian  organization  and  a  Confession  of  Faith.  That 
confession  of  faith,  if  it  is  not  one  of  the  best,  at  least  is  one  of  the 
most  earnest,  confessions  of  faith  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was 
adopted  by  the  Synod.  It  is  the  confession  of  faith  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  and  I  beg  you  to  remember  that  it  originated  in  Bel- 
gium. It  was  sent  to  Philip  the  Second  of  Spain  with  an  application 
to  obtain  freedom  of  worship.  He  answered  in  such  a  way  that  the 
Church  was  put  to  death  by  tortures,  by  fire  and  by  sword,  and  not  a 
single  member,  not  a  single  child,  of  that  Church  remained  on  the 
soil  of  Belgium. 

A  dear  old  friend  of  mine  said  to  me  a  few  days  ago  that  our  old 
creed  grew  up  through  fire  and  blood.  The  confession  of  faith  of 
our  fathers  was  the  first  that  passed  through  blood  and  fire.  The 
blood  of  our  fathers  in  that  century  has  been  the  baptism  of  that  con- 
fession of  faith,  and  if  there  is  any  creed  that  has  passed  through  fire 
and  blood  it  is  our  confession,  the  first  before  all.  And  from  that  time 
the  Church  was  immured  in  the  tomb  for  ages.  Then  at  the  end  of 
the  third  century,  or  at  the  end  of  the  third  day,  just  as  you  may  call 
it,  she  heard  the  voice  of  her  Redeemer  and  rose  from  the  dead.  In 
1848,  after  ten  years  of  labor  among  the  Romanists,  we  got  a  Presby- 
terian organization,  and  we  adopted  the  very  confession  of  faith  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL,  863 

our  fathers  with  the  motto,  "Be  faithful  unto  death."  We  have  the 
same  confession  of  faith,  and  we  do  not  forget  that  its  standard  was 
baptized  by  the  blood  of  our  fathers.  All  the  members  of  our  Church 
have  been  brought  out  from  the  Church  of  Rome  by  the  united  power 
of  tlie  gospel  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  just  as  was  the  case  with  our  fathers 
in  the  sixteenth  century. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  our  Church  is  the  same  Cliurch  as  the 
Church  of  the  sixteenth  century.  She  appears  younger,  and  in  her 
new  garments  she  seems  to  be  something  different,  but  she  has  the 
same  faith,  the  same  organization,  the  same  spirit,  the  same  Saviour, 
the  same  God,  and  I  may  say  the  same  life.  She  trusts  in  the  Lord 
that  the  time  will  come  in  which  all  the  children  of  Benjamin  will  be 
gathered  into  her  tent.  We  work  for  that  great  end,  and  I  am  sure 
that  you  will  earnestly  pray  for  us  and  for  that  young  girl,  our 
Church,  who  is  growing  with  every  year.  I  hope  that  she  will  be- 
come by  the  blessing  of  God  more  vigorous  and  stronger  than  her 
mother. 

The  prepared  paper  of  M.  Anet  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix, 
p.  929. 

A  MESSAGE  FROM  FRANCE. 

Dr.  Prime. — I  desire,  in  a  few  words,  to  state  to  the  audience 
the  circumstances  under  which  we  are  favored  to-night  in  receiv- 
ing a  deputation  from  the  Protestants  of  P"rance.  A  few  years 
ago,  in  the  midst  of  the  great  conflict  between  popery  and 
Protestantism  in  that  country,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  author 
and  journalist,  came  to  the  front,  and  by  his  eloquence  and  his 
power  as  a  reasoner  and  speaker  awakened  extensive  attention 
throughout  that  country,  and  held  vast  audiences  thrilled  by  his 
utterances.  By  and  by,  in  the  midst  of  this  war,  it  pleased  God 
to  touch  his  heart  with  divine  grace,  and  he  became  not  only  a 
political  opponent  of  the  papal  power,  but  also  a  child  of  God, 
a  follower  of  Christ,  and  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  cause  of  true 
religion.  The  Protestants  of  France  have  desired  this  distin- 
guished gentleman  to  come  to  America  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
forming us  in  regard  to  the  progress  of  the  truth  in  that  country 
to  which  we  are  so  ardently  attached  by  national  ties,  and  in 
which  we  are  so  much  interested.  We  regret,  and  he  also  does, 
that  he  cannot  speak  our  language.  Oh  !  for  the  gift  of  tongues  ; 
but  we  have  it  not.  A  young  servant  of  God  connected  with 
the  MacAU  Mission  in  Paris,  the  Rev.  George  Theophilus  Dodds, 


864  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

a  son-in-law  of  a  well-known  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bonar,  of 
Edinburgh,  comes  with  him  as  a  delegate  to  this  Council  from 
the  Free  Church  of  France.  These  gentlemen  will  both  address 
us,  the  one  in  French  and  the  other  in  English.  The  first  gen- 
tleman will  speak  now  for  the  first  time  to  an  American  audi- 
ence;  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  providences  connected 
with  this  great  Council  that  just  at  the  close  of  our  sessions 
these  beloved  brothers  should  arrive  on  our  shores,  and  come  to 
this  city,  and  have  their  first  appearance  in  this  country  greeted 
by  such  a  Council  and  such  an  assemblage  as  this.  I  now  have 
the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Mons.  Eugene  Reveillaud 
and  the  Rev.  George  Theophilus  Dodds  of  Paris. 

Mons.  Reveillaud  spoke  as  follows  in  French,  and  was  inter- 
preted sentence  by  sentence  in  English  by  Mr.  Dodds : 

If  I  cannot  speak  to  you  in  your  own  language  I  should  like  you  to 
understand  that  it  is  not  through  any  lack  of  respect,  but  through  a 
lack  of  custom.  The  time  no  longer  exists  when  even  in  France  it  is 
possible  to  despise  language.  Every  one  in  France  is  required  to 
have  at  least  a  knowledge  of  one  foreign  language,  and  we  cannot  afford 
to  despise  the  language  of  Shakspeare  and  of  Longfellow.  At  this  day 
the  smallest  boy  in  our  colleges  must  be  able  to  speak  a  foreign  tongue, 
and  in  referring  to  myself  I  must  say  that  I  have  profited  at  least  a 
little  from  the  lessons  I  received  from  my  English  professor.  Of  the 
lessons  which  I  "received  I  remember,  at  least,  two  words  which  are 
perhaps  more  American  than  English,  and  they  are  words  with 
which  one  can  travel  from  the  east  to  the  west  of  your  great  conti- 
nent. Those  words  are."  all  right"  and  "go  ahead."  Therefore 
understand,  dear  friends,  that  it  is  not  the  language  of  your  country 
which  I  despise,  but  it  is  a  want  of  habit  which  prevents  me  from 
speaking  your  tongue.  Yes,  I  respect  your  great  tongue  too  much  to 
have  a  desire  to  spoil  it  by  an  attempt  to  address  these  remarks  to  you 
in  it. 

You  have  already  been  told  of  the  special  object  we  have  in  coming 
to  America.  I  come  to  plead  before  you  the  cause  of  the  holy 
war  of  religious  independence  waging  in  our  country;  and  it  is  a 
joy  for  me  to  speak  here  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  from  whence 
Franklin  set  sail  for  France,  and  where  for  the  first  time  was  rung  the 
bell  that  proclaimed  the  independence  of  the  United  States.  There 
are  two  bells  that  are  celebrated  in  history.  The  one  is  the  bell 
which  was  rung  in  a  church  in  Paris,  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois,  and 
which  tolled  the  beginning  of  the  massacre  of  the  Huguenots.  The 
other  is  the  Protestant  bell  that  proclaimed  the  independence  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  865 

United  States  of  America,  For  a  hundred  years  these  two  bells  have 
rung  together.  A  little  time  since  the  Protestant  bell  begun  to  gain 
the  upper  hand  over  the  Roman  Catholic  bell ;  and  when  the  time 
shall  come  that  that  bell  shall  have  gained  a  final  victory  antichrist 
will  be  destroyed. 

It  has  been  to  me  a  great  joy  to  be  present  here  at  the  sittings  of 
this  great  Council,  and  to  see  before  me  the  realization  of  the  idea 
which  once  struck  Calvin,  and  which  he  attempted  to  realize  in  his 
thoughts — the  idea  of  a  great  Council  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Prot- 
estant bodies  of  the  world  meeting  together.  For  three  hundred  years 
one  waited  in  vain  for  the  realization  of  that  great  idea.  The 
providence  of  God  reserved  for  this  century  that  realization  of  it 
which  took  place  at  the  very  time  when  the  Vatican  Council  was 
promulgating  its  decrees.  One  can  now  see  that  just  at  that  time 
when  the  Vatican  Council  met  together,  there  really  had  come  about 
a  downfall  of  the  Roman  rule  and  an  awakening  of  the  realization  of 
the  Protestant  idea  \  and  you  are  realizing  to-day  in  this  great  Council 
the  oecumenicity  of  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  have  the  honor  to  represent  before  you  this  evening  some  of  the 
old  Churches  of  what  we  call  the  desert  of  France.  They  are  the 
Churches  which  have  given  to  the  Lord  the  martyrs  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
and  the  dragonnades  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  and  which  have  sent  their 
exiles  to  every  shore  of  the  habitable  globe.  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
commanded  the  destruction  of  the  temples  wherein  they  worshipped 
God,  and  when  he  had  sent  them  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  he  caused 
a  medal  to  be  struck  with  the  device,  "  Destruction  to  the  Heretics;  " 
but  this  edict  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth  was  not  carried  out.  They 
were  not  destroyed.  One  hundred  years  after,  the  National  Assembly 
opened  their  doors  in  France.  Whom  did  they  name  for  their  pastor? 
It  was  none  other  than  the  son  of  one  of  those  very  pastors,  and  that 
man  as  he  went  up  the  steps  to  the  throne  of  the  president  said,  "  We 
are  the  sons  of  a  great  people."  Louis  the  Fourteenth  thought  that 
he  had  exterminated  this  great  people ;  and  yet  at  this  very  day, 
and  in  that  very  palace,  even  at  the  very  doors  that  Louis  the  Four- 
teenth endeavored  permanently  to  close,  can  be  heard  the  Psalms  of 
the  old  Huguenots  sung  to  the  praise  of  God. 

You  may  well  believe  that  the  terrible  persecutions  to  which  the 
Christians  in  France  were  subjected  have  left  their  effect  upon  our 
country.  The  Church  has  come  back  to  life,  but  in  what  position 
has  it  found  itself?  It  is  in  the  position  of  that  poor  man,  wounded, 
bruised  and  lying  on  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  who  was 
rescued  by  the  rich  Samaritan.  The  Scriptures  teach  us  that  the  poor 
man  came  back  to  life.  He  needed  the  saving  oil  to  be  poured  into 
his  wounds,  and  the  care  of  the  good  Samaritan.  What  I  ask  of  you 
this  night  is  that  you  should  be  a  good  Samaritan  to  our  poor  France. 

Reproaches  have  been  made  against  the  French  Church  because  it 
has  not  been  able  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people  in  regard  to  evan- 
55 


S66  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

gelization  ;  but  those  reproaches  will  fall  by  the  wayside  if  you  will 
only  listen  to  my  speaking  to  you  in  relation  to  two  facts.  The  first 
is  the  present  position  of  France  after  the  persecutions  of  two  centuries ;. 
and  the  second  is  the  present  position  of  French  Protestantism.  The 
French  Church  has  suffered  from  something  far  worse  than  the  perse- 
cutions of  Louis  XIV.  She  has  suffered  from  the  pestilential  wind 
of  infidelity  that  blew  fierce  upon  it.  The  worst  of  all  the  wounds 
inflicted  upon  her  is  presented  in  the  fact  that,  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  there  should  be  found  in  the  Reformed  Church  a  French 
pastor  who  knew  nothing  whatever  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  But 
a  revival,  thank  God,  has  taken  place,  and  infidelity  has  been  con- 
quered ;  and  on  the  very  day  that  the  faith  came  back  to  the  Church 
religious  activity  became  stimulated.  Since  the  year  1820  three 
societies  of  evangelists  have  been  founded  in  France,  two  Bible 
societies,  and  the  French  missionary  society  of  which  you  have  a 
worthy  representative  in  the  person  of  Mons.  Mabille,  from  Basuto 
Land,  who  addressed  you  the  other  evening.  That  noble  man  has 
■founded  thirty  missionary  stations  in  that  district,  and  through- 
out the  whole  of  that  country  he  has  opened  up  gates  for  the  en- 
trance of  the  gospel  which  is  destined  to  stretch  across  that  great 
continent. 

I  do  not  include  in  this  work  which  has  been  done  in  France,  the 
benevolent  societies  which  exist  there  for  the  orphans,  nor  other  charit- 
able institutions  and  asylums.  I  desire  to  lay  before  you  one  fact 
which  will  give  you  a  good  idea  of  the  living  power  of  the  Protestant- 
ism of  the  Church  of  France.  A  society  has  been  founded  for  the 
purpose  of  extending  assistance  to  those  who  receive  very  small  sala- 
ries. It  is  devoted  to  the  collection  of  what  you  would  call  pennies. 
When  there  was  to  be  a  partition  of  the  income  of  that  society,  there 
were  found  no  less  than  thirty  societies  who  came  to  ask  for  their  pro- 
portion. Thus  you  can  readily  see  that  this  activity  of  the  Church  of 
France  is  a  real  fact,  and  that  the  power  which  it  has  manifested  is 
something  of  great  importance. 

I  desire  to  say,  however,  that  we  find  ourselves  to-day  in  a  new 
position,  and  under  circumstances  which  are  quite  peculiar.  We  do 
not  hide  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  we  need  generous  efforts.  We  ask 
you  here,  in  this  country,  to  put  your  shoulders  together  and  help  tO' 
discharge  a  portion  of  what  I  may  say  is  your  duty  and  privilege. 
We  are  now  just  exactly  in  the  position  of  Simon  Peter  and  the  other 
apostles,  at  the  time  when  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes  occurred. 
The  Lord  has  allowed  us  for  many  centuries  to  cast  our  net  into  the 
sea,  but  we  have  caught  nothing,  and  he  has  now  said  to  us,  "  Cast 
in  the  net."  We  have  cast  in  the  net  and  are  drawing  it  to  the  shore, 
but  we  have  found  in  its  meshes  such  a  quantity  of  fishes  that  the  net 
is  beginning  to  break,  and  to  our  lips  there  come  the  words  which 
came  from  the  lips  of  the  disciples,  "  Come  and  help  us."  The  ac- 
count in  the  gospel  says  that  at  this  request  of  the  disciples,  the  others 


SECOND    GENERAL   COUNCIL.  867 

came.  Shall  it  be  said  that  we  have  shown  to  you  our  great  needs, 
have  shown  to  you  also  that  the  net  is  about  to  break,  and  that 
America  did  not  come  to  our  assistance  ? 

I  will  now  bring  before  you  some  facts  which  are  more  eloquent 
than  any  words  I  can  address  you.  I  have  been  for  about  three  years 
one  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  MacAU's  chief  assistants.  You  know  very  Avell 
the  story  of  the  work  of  faith,  which  he  performed,  and  how,  after 
having  been  spoken  to  by  a  workman  in  one  of  the  streets  of  France, 
he  came  to  Paris  at  the  request  and  entreaty  of  this  workman  to  speak 
of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  came  not  alone ;  his  brave  wife 
came  along  with  him.  When  he  reached  Paris  he  had  no  knowledge 
of  the  French  language  at  all,  and  when  he  did  speak  it,  it  was  with 
the  same  imperfection  that  characterizes  my  attempts  with  the  English 
language.  He  entered  those  quarters  of  Paris  which  are  full  of  mis- 
ery and  degradation,  and  wherein  one  can  hardly  believe  there  exists 
a  soul.  He  went  to  those  people  and  showed  them  there  was  an  im- 
mortal soul  by  opening  up  his  own  soul  to  them.  And  now  through- 
out that  whole  city,  even  extending  to  its  very  centre,  there  are  no 
less  than  twenty-three  meeting  places.  The  gospel  of  truth  is  preached 
once  or  twice,  and  sometimes  even  seven  times,  during  the  day  in 
those  meeting  places  in  Paris.  The  halls  are  always  full,  and  the 
workmen  and  the  industrious  classes  are  the  very  first  to  bear  witness 
to  the  good  they  have  received  in  those  meetings.  In  every  quarter 
of  .Paris,  even  though  it  is  well  known  that  his  is  a  Protestant  work, 
the  name  of  Mr.  MacAll  is  venerated  and  blessed.  There  is  a  great 
society  in  France  called  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Good 
Deeds.  When,  two  years  ago,  it  was  anxious  to  add  another  to  the 
list  of  those  who  possessed  its  medal  of  honor,  the  name  of  Mr.  MacAll 
was  selected,  and  to  his  button-hole  they  affixed  the  medal. 

It  is  well  known  that  evil  is  not  alone  in  its  power  of  spreading 
contagion,  but  that  good  can  also  exert  a  powerful  influence.  So  we 
find  that  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  Mr.  MacAll  in  the  heart  of  Paris 
has  extended  beyond  the  scene  of  his  personal  exertions,  and  that  now 
the  outlying  districts  and  towns  of  France  are  being  covered  by  similar 
prayer  meetings.  Five  halls  have  been  opened  at  Lyons  ;  others  at 
La  Rochelle  and  Bordeaux ;  besides  in  many  other  places  which  I 
have  forgotten.  Even  in  Marseilles  five  prayer-meetings  were  held  in 
mid  winter,  which  is  a  time  of  year  when  the  citizens  are  very  unwill- 
ing to  come  out  of  doors ;  and  yet  those  meeting  places  have  been 
filled  with  worshippers. 

I  can  say  that  I  am  the  lowest  of  these  evangelists.  In  fact,  I  can 
repeat  the  words  of  the  apostle,  and  say  that  I  am- not  worthy  to  be 
called  an  evangelist,  and  that  I  have  been  born  out  of  due  time ;  and 
yet  what  do  I  see  !  In  forty  towns  of  France,  as  well  as  in  many  out- 
lying districts,  ti»e  grace  of  God  has  given  me  an  opportunity  to  go 
and  proclaim  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  have  preached  the  gospel 
in  theatres,  and  in  halls  as  beautiful  as  this,  though  not  so  great.     I 


868  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

liave  preached  the  gospel  in  taverns  ;  I  have  preached  it  in  ball- 
rooms ;  I  have  preached  it  in  Catholic  schools,  for  you  must  remem- 
Ijer  that  in  France  we  are  still  under  the  power  of  the  Church  in  regard 
to  education.  I  have,  however,  been  less  fortunate  than  one  of  my 
friends  in  the  work,  who  had  the  great  good  fortune  to  preach  the 
.gospel  in  a  Roman  Catholic  church — a  church  long  established  for 
the  purpose  of  religious  worship  according  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
rites. 

You  can  form  some  idea  of  the  state  of  religious  fervor  in  which 
France  is  to-day,  and  of  the  multitudes  in  the  country  and  the  towns  who 
are  being  detached  from  Romanism,  when  I  tell  you  that  not  long  ago 
I  read  a  petition  from  a  number  of  inhabitants  residing  in  one  of  the 
departments  asking  that  a  Roman  Catholic  church  might  be  turned 
into  a  place  of  worship  according  to  the  Protestant  faith.  This  may 
.seem  a  little  curious,  but  the  immense  proportion  of  the  municipal 
.bodies  in  France  would  do  the  same  thing  if  the  opportunity  was  af- 
forded them.  There  is,  however,  a  piece  of  information  I  have  to 
give  you  which  is  even  more  curious,  and  that  is- that  the  municipal 
council  charged  with  the  building  of  the  church  I  have  referred  to, 
voted  to  give  up  the  building  as  a  Protestant  place  of  worship. 

Without  exaggeration,  I  can  say  of  France  what  has  already  been 
said  in  this  Council  of  other  nations — not  only  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
•will  come,  but  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  upon  France.  I  do  not  want 
any  other  proof  of  this  glorious  fact  than  the  applause,  encouragement 
and  enthusiasm  which  everywhere  meet  our  evangelists  and  mission- 
aries as  they  go  about  preaching  the  gospel  of  peace.  Eight  months 
ago  a  Catholic  priest  wrote  to  me  requesting  that  I  should  visit  his 
manse  tor  the  purpose  of  preaching  there.  It  was  in  a  little  village. 
When  I  went  there,  I  found  gathered  about  thirty  fathers  and  mothers 
with  their  families.  At  the  end  of  the  service  they  came  forward  and 
said  to  the  priest,  "Go  on,  and  we  will  follow  you."  The  priest, 
after  having  gone  a  certain  length,  returned  like  the  dog  to  his  vomit ; 
but  these  thirty  fathers  and  motners  remained  faithful  to  their  promise. 
Not  long  ago  I  received  an  invitation  to  preach  ;  and  at  the  end  of 
the  meeting,  out  of  the  2,000  or  3,000  people  present,  no  less  than 
200  heads  of  families  came  and  signed  the  declaration  that  they  wished 
to  belong  to  the  Christian  Church — the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  founded 
upon  him.  Upon  another  occasion,  in  another  place  not  far  from 
Paris,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hitchcock  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Newell  went  with 
me  to  confirm  the  impression  I  had  received  from  preaching  there, 
'that  the  gospel  was  making  its  way  among  the  people  in  that  locality. 
jMr.  Newell  could  tell  you  of  the  enthusiastic  manner  in  which  the 
iew  words  he  spoke  to  them  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  were  received. 

I  wish  to  thank  you  for  listening  to  my  remarks,  and,  as  I  do  not 
•wish  to  prolong  them,  I  can  only  add  that  France  is  ready  to  receive 
the  gospel  in  all  her  villages,  in  all  her  towns,  and  even  in  her  most 
ibigoted  Catholic  districts.     The  three  great  societies  of  France,  which 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  869 

were  founded  some  years  ago,  have  done  and  are  doing  all  they  possi- 
bly can  to  meet  the  pressing  needs  of  the  people  of  France,  but  they 
have  not  done  all  that  the  Lord  has  called  them  to  do,  and  that  is 
why  we  come  and  call  out  to  you,  "Come  to  our  help."  That  is 
why  we  say  to  you  we  have  need  of  your  prayers,  need  of  your  sym- 
pathy, need  of  your  missionaries  ;  and  also  we  need  your  money.  In 
one  of  the  proverbs  of  Italy  we  read  of  the  spread  of  information  by- 
means  of  a  runner  who,  taking  a  torch  in  one  hand,  sped  on  with  the 
news,  and,  when  exhausted,  passed  it  to  another  who  carried  it  still 
further  on.  This  is  the  way  in  which  Christianity  has  spread  the  gospel. 
It  has  passed  the  flaming  torch  from  the  East  to  the  West.  From  Jeru- 
salem it  has  been  passed  to  Greece  ;  from  Greece  to  Italy  ;  from  Italy 
to  France  ;  and  from  France  to  other  countries.  It  was  only  the 
darkness  which  fights  with  the  light  that  assisted  for  a  long  time  in 
obscuring  that  torch  ;  and,  therefore,  you  must  bring  back  the  torcb 
to  us  in  France,  and  then  we  shall  pass  it  on  to  Italy ;  Italy  shall  pass 
it  on  to  Greece;  Greece  shall  pass  it  on  to  Jerusalem,  and  the  power 
of  Christianity  shall  be  felt  in  all  the  high  places  of  darkness  and 
superstition.  Then  glorious  shall  be  the  day  when  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  shall  be  proclaimed,  and  he  shall  reign  throughout  the 
whole  earth. 

In  concluding  this  address,  M.  Reveillaiid  added,  in  English : 
"  Brethren,  God  bless  this  Council ;  and  advance  his  kin^jdom 
through  the  alliance  of  France  and  America." 

The  Rev.  John  Marshall  Lang,  D.  D. — An  opportunity  is 
afforded  us  this  evening,  in  the  presence  of  this  vast  assemblage, 
of  testifying  in  some  special  way  our  gratitude  to  the  distin- 
guished brethren  from  foreign  lands  who  have  addressed  the 
Council,  I  am  sure  it  Avas  worth  while  to  come  three  thousand 
miles  across  the  Atlantic  to  listen  to  the  addresses  we  have 
heard  this  evening;  and  I  think,  without  seeming  invidious,  I 
may  say  that  the  interest  of  this  vast  audience  concentrated 
mainly  upon  the  wonderfully  stirring  address  just  delivered  by 
Mons.  Reveillaud.  I  am  sure  1  am  interpreting  the  thought  of 
every  person  present,  when  I  say  that  we  ought  not  to  part 
without  specially  asking  our  beloved  and  honored  friends  to 
accept  our  warmest  wishes,  our  hearty  God-speed  in  their  good 
work,  and  our  pledge  and  assurance  that  we  will  remember  them 
in  our  prayers,  and  help  them  with  our  means. 

The  Rev.  Principal  John  Cairns,  D.  D. — The  thought  has 
occurred  to  my  mind  that,  inasmuch  as  so  many  of  us  who  have 


870  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

had  the  pleasure  and  delight  of  being  in  this  meeting  are  going 
away,  and  there  cannot  possibly  be  such  a  meeting  to-morrow  as 
we  have  here  to-night,  it  might  be  well — though,  perhaps,  antici- 
pating the  action  of  the  Council  to-morrow — by  a  rising  vote  to 
tender  our  thanks  to  the  people  of  Philadelphia — Christian  peo- 
ple, Presbyterians  and  others  —who  have  so  nobly  received 
and  entertained  and  encouraged  the  Council.  I  think  we  shall 
not  do  justice  to  the  greatness  of  this  occasion,  if,  at  this  hour, 
when  undoubtedly  the  largest  meeting  of  the  Council  is  being 
held,  or  can  be  held  in  connection  with  it,  we  do  not  by  a  rising 
vote  return  our  inexpressible  thanks  to  our  dear  friends,  the 
brethren  and  sisters  in  Philadelphia. 

The  suggestion  was  agreed  to,  and  then  the  Council  adjourned, 
with  devotional  exercises,  until  to-morrow  morning 


NINTH    DAY'S   SESSION. 

Saturday,  October  2d,  1 880. 

The  Council  was  Called  to  order  at  10  o'clock,  by  the  Rev. 
Prof.  D.  R.  Kerr,  D.  D.,  President. 

After  devotional  services,  the  minutes  of  yesterday  were  read 
and  approved. 

The  President.-— This  session  is  to  be  devoted  to  what  is 
termed  miscellaneous  business,  in  which  the  Council  is  to  de- 
clare its  conclusions,  and  to  adopt  measures  for  the  furtherance 
of  the  objects  of  the  Alliance.  I  hope  each  part  of  this  busi- 
ness as  it  comes  up  will  receive  close  attention,  that  there  will  be 
no  unnecessary  delay,  and  that  we  will  go  along  in  good  order. 

BIBLE   REVISION. 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Calderwood. — I  have  now  to  submit  from 
the  Business  Committee  certain  resolutions  which  were  prepared 
yesterday.  The  Business  Committee  is  still  in  session,  under 
the  chairmanship  of  Dr.  Prime,  who  will  submit  the  remaining 
resolutions  as  they  are  prepared  this  morning.     The  first  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  871 

resolutions  is  that  bearing  upon  the  revision  of  the  Bible.  After 
very  careful  consideration  and  discussion,  the  committee  resolved 
to  recommend  that  no  action  be  taken  until  the  work  be  pub- 
lished. The  desire  of  the  committee  is,  to  secure  that  there 
should  not  be  called  for  from  the  Council  any  expression  of 
opinion  as  long  as  we  have  not  the  revision  itself  published. 
The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 

RULES   OF  ORDER. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  second  resolution  has  reference  to  the 
rules  of  procedure,  or  parliamentary  rules  for  the  guidance  of 
future  Councils.  After  consideration,  your  committee  resolved 
to  recommend  that  there  should  be  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare  such  rules,  and  that  the  committee  consist  of  the  follow- 
ing: Drs.  Prime,  Jenkins,  Rainey,  Rev.  R.  N.  Edgar,  Justice 
Strong  and  William  J.  Menzies,  Esq.,  of  Edinburgh,  with  the 
•clerks. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to,  and  the  nominations  of 
the  committee  confirmed. 

PROGRAMME. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  third  subject  brought  under  the  con- 
sideration of  the  committee,  was  concerning  the  programme  for 
the  next  Council.  The  committee  recommend  that  this  be  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Arrangements  appointed  in  view  of 
the  next  Council. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 

ADMISSIONS  TO   THE  ALLIANCE.* 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  next  point  brought  under  considera- 
tion was  that  referring  to  the  application  for  admissions  to  the 
Council.  The  committee  resolved  to  recommend  that  a  com- 
mittee on  this  subject  be  appointed,  to  consist  of  Principal 
McVicar,  Drs.  Cairns,  Flint,  Brown,  Watts,  Rainey,  and  Kerr, 
with  Judge  Strong  and  Francis  Brown  Douglas,  Esq.,  as  elders. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 


872  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

HELPING    CONTINENTAL   CHURCHES. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie. — The  Business  Committee  recommend 
the  following  on  the  modes  of  helping  continental  Churches : 
The  Council  approve  of  the  report  of  the  committee,  and  record 
their  thanks  to  them  for  what  they  have  done  in  the  Waldensian 
pastors'  aid  fund,  and  express  their  hope  that  that  movement  will 
be  prosecuted  to  a  close.  They  authorize  the  committee  to  take 
such  steps  as  they  may  deem  best  to  show  sympathy  with  the 
Bohemian  and  Moravian  Churches  on  the  occasion  of  the  cen- 
tenary of  the  Edict  of  Toleration  next  year.  The  Council  re- 
solved that  the  committee  shall  consist  of  a  European  and  an 
American  section,  to  work  in  concert,  as  follows  :  The  European 
committee — J.  A.  Campbell,  Esq.,  LL.  D.,  M.  P.,  and  David 
Maclagan,  Esq.,  C.  A.,  joint  conveners ;  Rev.  Dr.  John  Marshall 
Lang,  Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie,  Rev.  Dr.  Robertson,  Rev.  Dr.  Dykes, 
Rev.  William  Welsh,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Thomson,  Rev.  John  S.  Mac- 
intosh, Rev.  Dr.  W.  Gillies,  James  MacDonald,  Esq.  The 
American  committee — Henry  Day,  Esq.,  chairman ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Breed,  Rev.  Dr.  Murkland,  Rev.  Dr.  Hall,  of  New  York,  Rev. 
Dr.  VanNest,  Hon.  W.  E.  Dodge,  Rev.  Dr.  Prime,  William 
Neely,  Esq.,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  Hon.  Stanley  Matthews. 

The  report  was  agreed  to. 

DESIDERATA   OF   PRESBYTERIAN  HISTORY. 

Dr.  Blaikie. — In  reference  to  the  "  Desiderata  of  Presbyte- 
rian History,"  it  is  recommended  that  the  Council  approve  of 
the  report  of  the  committee,  and  record  their  sense  of  the  great 
loss  sustained  by  the  death  of  the  late  honored  convener,  Prin- 
cipal Lorimer,  and  the  late  Mr.  David  Laing,  of  Edinburgh. 
The  Council  remit  the  documents,  to  be  completed  and  arranged,, 
to  the  following  committee :  Prof  Mitchell,  Principal  Caven,. 
Principal  McVicar,  Principal  Cairns,  Principal  Rainey,  Profs. 
Monod,  Montauban,  Balogh,  Debreezen,  Rev.  Dr.  Breed,  Rev. 
Dr.  McCook,  Prof  Green,  Dr.  Boggs,  Dr.  Matthews,  Dr. 
Struthers,  Dr.  Wm.  Graham,  Dr.  Apple,  Dr.  Boyce,  Dr.  Milli- 
gan,  Dr.  D.  R.  Kerr,  T.  W.  Taylor,  Esq.,  Toronto,  Dr.  George 
Smith,  of  Edinburgh.     Professor  Mitchell  expressed  his  desire 


SECOND  ■  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  873 

to  be  relieved  from  the  convenership,  but  the  Business  Com- 
mittee thought  his  services  were  of  so  great  value  that  they 
could  not  accede  to  his  request,  and  reappointed  him  to  that 
office. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 

THE   STATISTICS. 

Dr.  Blaikie. — The  Committee  on  Statistics  recommend  that 
the  Council  discharge  this  committee,  and  remit  to  the  clerks  to 
complete  the  statistics  now  collected,  that  they  may  be  published 
in  the  proceedings,  and  to  make  arrangements  for  more  statis- 
tical information  against  the  meeting  of  the  next  Council.  They 
authorize  them  to  suggest  to  churches  that  have  no  statistical 
committee  the  desirableness  of  such  appointment,  with  view 
to  more  authentic  and  uniform  statistical  returns.  It  was 
thought  best  that  the  clerks  should  be  intrusted  with  this  branch 
of  the  work.  On  the  first  day  of  the  Council,  I  brought  up 
from  them  a  report  which  was  not  complete.  I  hoped  that 
during  the  proceedings  we  would  be  able  to  complete  that  report. 
There  were  some  important  returns  which  we  had  not  received. 
We  have  not  yet,  however,  received  returns  from  some  important 
churches  in  this  country,  though  I  had  the  hope  that  we  should 
get  them  during  the  Council,  so  as  to  have  completed  the  report. 

The  recommendation  of  the  committee  was  agreed  to. 

COMMUNICATION  WITH   THE   CHURCHES. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  Business  Committee  have  had  under 
consideration  a  plan  to  be  suggested  to  the  Council  for  uniform 
communication  by  the  clerks  with  the  several  churches  holding 
a  place  in  the  Alliance ;  and  they  submit  to  you  the  following 
resolution : 

That  the  Council  respectfully  suggest  to  the  several  Churches  in  the 
Alliance  the  appointment  of  a  small  standing  committee  with  whom 
the  clerks  of  this  Council  may  correspond  ;  and  further,  that  the 
Council  request  the  delegates  present  at  this  Council  to  bring  this 
suggestion  to  the  attention  of  the  Churches  they  severally  represent. 

If  this  be  carried,  it  will  fall  to  the  convener  of  each  delega- 


S74  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tion  to  submit  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Church  this  sug- 
gestion. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 

PERTH  CONFERENCE. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  committee  had  referred  to  it  a  letter 
of  congratulation  and  good  wishes  from  the  Perth  Conference. 
In  reference  to  that  we  suggest  that  this  letter  be  acknowledged, 
with  thanks  from  the  Council,  and  that  the  acknowledgment  be 
sent  in  the  name  of  the  Council  by  its  clerks.  The  Council  will 
remember  that  a  communication  came  at  an  early  period  in  the 
sitting  from  the  conference  which  met  at  Perth,  desiring  that  the 
divine  blessing  might  descend  upon  us  as  a  Council.  The  Busi- 
ness Committee  think  it  well  that  we  should  take  an  account  of 
such  a  communication,  although  not  coming  from  a  Church,  but 
from  a  General  Conference. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 

FREE  CHURCH  OF  BRESLAU. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  committee  next  had  laid  upon  its 
table  a  letter  from  the  Free  Church  of  Breslau.  The  letter  bears 
upon  the  history  of  its  Church,  upon  its  wants,  and  very  specially 
upon  its  conflict  in  Germany  as  to  proper  Sabbath  observance. 
After  consideration,  the  committee  resolved  to  recommend  that 
the  friendly  greeting  of  the  Council  be  presented  to  this  Church, 
and  quo  ad  ultra  that  this  letter  be  sent  to  the  Committee  on 
Continental  Churches. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 

METHODIST   CONFERENCE. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — There  was  next  laid  before  the  committee 
a  communication  bearing  upon  the  Methodist  Conference  to  be 
lield  in  London  in  1881.  The  committee  recommend  that  a 
letter  conveying  friendly  greeting  and  good  wishes  be  sent 
from  this  Council  by  the  clerks,  indicating  our  desire  for  the 
success  of  that  meeting. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  875 

FINANCES. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  next  step  brings  us  to  the  question 
•of  finances,  which  will  require  some  consideration  from  the 
Council.  The  committee,  after  a  very  careful  consideration, 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  we  had  now  reached  a  period  in  the 
history  of  the  Council  when  it  had  become  necessary  to  make 
some  definite  arrangement  for  the  discharge  of  the  business  by 
our  clerks,  or  by  those  who  are  to  be  employed  under  those 
clerks  for  carrying  through  the  work.  They  have  resolved  to 
submit  to  the  Council  the  following  proposal  bearing  upon  finan- 
cial arrangements:  That  ;^  1,000  be  appropriated  annually  for  the 
services  of  the  clerks,  in  addition  to  their  necessary  expenses, 
until  the  meeting  of  the  next  Council,  the  sum  to  be  appropri- 
ated under  the  direction  of  a  committee.  If  this  be  approved, 
it  is  recommended  that  the  committee  consist  of  Henry  Day, 
Esq.,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Prime,  of  New  York ;  Rev.  Dr.  Knox,  of 
Belfast;  with  Messrs.  A.  P.  Niven,  Esq.,  and  James  MacDonald, 
Esq.,  of  Edinburgh — the  object  being  to  represent  the  Churches 
•on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

Dr.  Wallace. — Where  is  the  money  to  come  from  ? 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  committee  have  a  scheme  to  submit 
to  you  as  to  the  quarter  from  which  the  money  is  to  come.  The 
question  submitted  at  present  is,  whether,  being  organized  as  we 
are,  and  having  undertaken  certain  responsibilities  with  a  large 
amount  of  work  to  do,  we  shall  not  at  once  decide  that  our 
clerks  are  to  be  paid  for  the  work  so  done,  and  then  arrange  for 
the  raising  of  money — which  should  be  a  very  small  matter,  in- 
deed, for  this  Council. 

Dr.  Wallace. — I  respectfully  suggest  that  the  whole  scheme 
of  finance  be  read,  before  we  vote  upon  any  part  of  it. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  latter  part  has  only  now  come  into 
my  hands.  That  was  the  part  the  committee  was  still  con- 
sidering. It  recommends,  in  addition,  that  this  sum  be 
raised,  one-half  in  Europe  and  one-half  in  America,  under  the 
direction  of  said  committee. 

T.  C.  Henry,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia. — I  hope  there  will  be  no 
hesitation  about  adopting  that  report  of  the  Business  Committee. 


876  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

In  the  first  place,  as  Dr.  Calderwood  has  properly  said,  there 
will  be  a  good  deal  of  business  to  be  done  by  these  clerks ;  we 
cannot  expect  them  to  give  their  time  and  attention  to  it  without 
some  compensation.  In  the  second  place,  this  great  Council 
cannot  hesitate  one  moment  about  appropriating  the  small  sum 
of  ;^i,000.  I  think  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt,  that  if  the 
amount  was  very  much  larger  than  that,  it  would  be  forthcoming 
without  any  debate  or  difficulty  from  those  who  are  interested 
in  the  Council. 

Henry  Day,  Esq.,  of  New  York. — There  seems  to  be  a 
misunderstanding  among  some  around  me  regarding  the 
amount  appropriated,  whether  it  is  ^1,000  for  each  of  the 
clerks,  or  ;^  1,000  for  both  of  them.  There  is  no  doubt  as 
to  what  the  meaning  of  the  committee  is — that  it  is  ;^  1,000  for 
the  services  of  both.  They  will  have  a  vast  deal  of  writing  to 
do,  correspondence  with  all  other  bodies  and  Christian  people 
and  missionary  fields. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Robson,  of  Inverness. — I  would  suggest  a  verbal 
alteration  in  the  resolution.  It  says  "  that  this  sum  be  raised." 
That  might  seem  to  imply  simply  the  ^1,000.  But  reference  has 
been  made  to  other  expenses ;  therefore  that  should  be  altered 
to  be  "that  the  requisite  funds  be  raised." 

Dr.  Calderwood. — That  is  quite  clearly  a  necessary  altera- 
tion, as  it  is  proposed  to  raise  not  merely  the  ^1,000,  but  any 
additional  expense — postage  or  travelling  expenses,  etc. — that 
may  be  necessary. 

Dr.  Breed. — A  resolution  of  the  Council  provides  that  a  copy 
of  the  report  of  the  proceedings  be  sent,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Council,  to  every  theological  seminary  in  our  Churches,  and  to 
every  one  of  the  programme  writers.  To  provide  for  the  ex- 
pense of  that,  money  must  be  raised. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — Will  not  all  that  is  required  be  involved 
in  this,  "  that  the  sum  necessary  for  all  expenses  be  raised  ?  " 

Dr.  Prime. — Is  it  proposed  to  remit  to  this  committee  the 
raising  of  the  money  necessary  for  carrying  on  the  business  of  this 
great  Council  ? 

Dr.  Calderwood. — It  is  so  recommended,  and  Dr.  Prime  will 
have  the  obligation  on  his  shoulders. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  877 

Dr.  Prime. — Then  I  may  be  pardoned  for  one  remark.  It  is 
said  in  our  country,  that  the  first  qualification  of  a  good  elder  is 
to  take  his  minister  to  the  Presbytery  and  pay  all  expenses.  I 
hope  the  eldership  will  bear  that  in  mind. 

The  recommendation  of  the  committee  was  agreed  to. 

THE  OFFICIAL  VOLUME. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  point  which  next  came  under  the 
•consideration  of  our  committee,  was  the  arrangement  which  the 
Council  would  make  bearing  upon  the  papers  submitted  to  it. 
The  committee  recommend : 

That  the  following  be  the  understanding  as  to  the  papers  submitted 
to  this  Council:  i.  That  the  papers  prepared  for  the  Council  be  re- 
garded as  the  property  of  their  authors.  2.  That  the  original  manu- 
script be  handed  to  the  editors  of  the  volume,  and  be  retained  as  a 
memorial  of  the  Council.  3.  That  the  Council  authorize  the  separate 
publication  of  any  paper  for  wider  circulation  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  on  condition  that  the  friends  arranging  for  such  publication 
undertake  the  entire  charge,  and  that  every  such  reprint  bear  on  it 
that  it  is  extracted  from  the  authorized  report  of  the  proceedings  by 
■  arrangement  with  its  publishers. 

.  Principal  Caven,  of  Toronto. — If  I  rightly  understand  this 
recommendation,  I  am  afraid  that  I  cannot  assent  to  it.  I  under- 
stand it  to  give  permission  to  any  parties  who  have  read  papers 
to  have  them  published  as  authorized  by  the  Council. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — I  think  it  will  be  better  to  submit  the  reso- 
lutions seriatim,  so  as  to  allow  criticism  upon  the  points  involved ; 
pirobably  that  would  be  a  better  plan  to  secure  a  right  understand- 
ing. There  is  no  special  sanction  or  authority  proposed  to  be  given, 
■but  if  Principal  Caven  will  observe,  as  we  pass  on,  his  criticism 
may  fall  upon  the  third  point.  The  committee  felt  it  to  be  ex- 
ceedingly desirable  that  there  should  be  some  distinct  and  defi- 
nite understanding  amongst  us  concerning  the  use  and  custody 
of  the  papers ;  and  they  thought  that  now  the  time  had  come 
that  we  should  put  upon  record  what  that  understanding  was,  as 
not  only  regulating  this  Council,  but  regulating  our  arrange- 
ments in  times  to  come.  Hence,  it  is  recommended,  "  first,  that 
the  papers  prepared  for  the  Council  be  regarded  as  the  properly 


878  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  their  authors."  That  is  to  say,  this  Council  distinctly  ac- 
knowledges that  the  author  of  every  paper  is  entitled  to  make 
what  use  he  pleases  of  his  paper,  over  and  above  the  place  it 
occupies  in  our  proceedings. 

The  recommendation  of  the  committee  was  agreed  to. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  next  is  concerning  the  custody  of  the 
original  manuscript:  "That  the  original  manuscript  be  handed 
to  the  editors  of  the  volume,  and  be  retained  as  a  memorial  of 
the  Council." 

The  recommen(iation  was  agreed  to. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — The  next  is  the  point  to  which  I  would 
ask  P?-incipal  Caven  to  give  some  attention,  lest  it  contain  his 
difficulty,  which  I  think  it  probably  does.  The  committee  felt 
that  it  might  very  easily  occur,  after  the  Council  had  been  dis- 
missed, that  a  considerable  number  of  friends  might  wish  to- 
select  some  one  paper  for  circulation  through  the  churches, 
either  here  or  on  the  other  side.  We  carefully  communicated' 
with  our  editors,  to  ascertain  whether  such  liberty  as  this  might 
prove  an  infraction  upon  the  arrangements  made  with  the  pub- 
lishers. We  then,  after  receiving  their  reply,  and  in  harmony 
with  them,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  any  circulation  of  distinct 
papers  such  as  these,  if  it  were  allowed,  would  not  hinder  the- 
circulation  of  the  volume,  but  rather  help  it.  Further,  the  com- 
mittee came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  were  some  of  the  papers 
bearing  upon  the  practical  or  doctrinal  interests  of  the  Church, 
which  might  be  regarded  as  papers  suitable  for  a  wider  circulation 
than  the  volume  may  have.  Accordingly,  their  recommendation; 
takes  the  following  shape  :  "  That  the  Council  authorize  the  sepa- 
rate publication  of  any  paper  for  wider  circulation  in  the  interests 
of  the  Church,  on  condition  that  the  friends  arranging  for  such 
publication  undertake  the  entire  charge,  and  that  every  such  re- 
print bear  on  it  that  it  is  extracted  from  the  authorized  report 
of  the  proceedings,  by  arrangement  with  its  publishers."  The 
object  of  the  first  part — which  is  the  one  requiring  consideration 
— that  the  Council  authorize  the  separate  publication,  is  this : 
That  in  the  event  of  such  publication  taking  place,  it  should  not 
be  a  possible  question  to  be  raised  whether,  by  such  circulation,. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  879- 

any  one  had  been  guilty  of  an  infraction  of  the  understanding 
had  at  this  Council.  We  wanted  simply  to  have  it  distinctly 
laid  before  the  Council,  and  assented  to,  that  if  there  could  be 
found  in  America  or  Scotland  or  elsewhere  any  desire  to  circu- 
late any  one  of  these  papers  singly  and  by  itself  in  the  form  of  a 
tract,  that  should  be  allowable,  and  should  be  distinctly  recog- 
nized by  us  as  a  Council. 

The  Rev.  Principal  Caven. — Professor  Calderwood  is  quite 
correct  in  saying  that  my  criticism  would  fall,  with  very  great 
respect  to  the  committee,  upon  this  third  resolution.  The  objec- 
tion to  it  the  Council  will  see  at  once.  I  am  sure  the  Council  is 
not  afraid  to  be  responsible  for  the  whole  volume,  taking  the 
essays  and  the  criticisms  upon  them  together.  I  need  not  say 
that  almost  every  essay  that  has  been  read  highly  commended 
itself,  both  in  its  theology  and  in  its  spirit.  I  regret  to  say,  ho^w- 
ever,  that  there  have  been  one  or  two  exceptions.  It  is  quite  a 
possible  thing  that  those  papers,  which  I  may  not  now  specify, 
might,  under  this  authorization,  be  published.  The  point  I  re- 
spectfully submit  to  the  Council  is  this  :  Are  you  willing  to  have 
any  paper  which  unfolds  views  that  the  Council  does  not  as- 
sent to  (and  I  venture  to  say  that  two  or  three  papers  do- 
that)  published  under  the  authorization  of  this  Council  without 
the  accompanying  criticisms  ?  If  the  Council  is  prepared  to  do- 
that,  I  must  very  earnestly  decline  any  responsibility  of  that 
kind.  If  parties  wish  to  publish  the  papers  they  are  at  liberty 
to  do  it,  because  the  Council  has  very  properly  voted  that  they 
are  the  property  of  the  writers  ;  but  I  would  allow  them  to  pub- 
lish them  without  any  authorization  of  this  Council. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — Probably  Principal  Caven's  objection  would 
be  obviated  if  we  were  to  strike  out  the  word  "  authorize,"  and 
insert  "  offer  no  objection  to." 

A  Delegate. — How  would  the  word  "  allow  "  do  ? 

The  Rev.  Dr.  DeWitt. — How  can  we  "  allow"  other  persons 
to  publish  papers  that  already  belong  to  them  ? 

Mr.  Croil. — So  far  as  I  understood  it,  it  was  the  distinct  un- 
derstanding in  the  Business  Committee,  that  not  only  should 
the  volume,  but  also  every  paper  that  might  be  printed  in  the 


88o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

way  now  spoken  of,  be  distinctly  guarded  against  anything  in 
the  direction  of  Principal  Caven's  objection.  We  agreed,  if  I 
am  not  wrong,  that  every  paper  that  went  from  this  Council 
should  bear  upon  the  face  of  it  the  declaration  that  the  Council 
do  not  hold  themselves  responsible  for  the  statements  in  it. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — That  is  not  the  understanding  that  I  had 
of  the  decision  we  reached ;  and  that  is  the  next  point  to  be 
submitted. 

Dr.  DeWitt. — The  first  resolution  submitted  by  the  com- 
mittee, and  already  passed  by  the  Council,  is  that  the  papers 
read  by  the  several  authors  are  the  property  of  the  authors 
themselves.  Now,  it  is  proposed  by  the  Council,  if  this  resolu- 
tion passes,  to  allow  these  authors  to  publish  the  papers  that 
they  have  read,  with  the  proviso  that  they  state  upon  the  title- 
page  that  it  is  done  with  the  permission  of  the  publishers.  How 
can  a  publisher  permit  an  author,  or  make  any  condition  of  his 
permission  to  an  author,  to  publish  his  own  paper?  I  will 
stretch  my  imagination  so  far  as  to  suppose  an  inconceivable 
case,  that  the  paper  I  had  the  honor  to  read  to  this  Council 
should  be  printed  as  a  separate  pamphlet :  must  I,  according  to 
this  resolution,  place  upon  that  paper  that  it  is  printed  by  per- 
mission of  the  official  publishers  of  the  Council  ?  So  it  would 
seem  from  the  resolution.  But  I  do  not  conceive  that  I  must 
put  that  on,  according  to  the  first  resolution,  for  the  paper  is 
mine.  I  therefore  trust  that  the  last  part,  "  by  permission  of  the 
official  publishers  of  the  Council,"  be  stricken  out.  There 
ought  to  be  no  proviso  whatever. 

Professor  Calderwood. — This  is  not  the  understanding. 
Dr.  De  Witt  misunderstands  what  the  object  of  this  third  point 
is.  Of  course  it  is  obvious,  from  passing  the  first  that  the  author 
may  do  what  he  likes  with  his  paper.  But  you  observe  these 
papers  are  not  papers  that  belong  only  to  the  author ;  they  are 
not,  after  they  are  published,  papers  over  which  the  author  can 
keep  control  as  if  he  had  a  copyright.  It  is  intended  to  provide 
for  such  a  contingency  as  this :  that  any  committee,  interested 
in  the  action  of  this  Council,  may  extract  and  circulate  any  single 
:paper,  if  only  the  paper  bear  upon  its  face  that  it  is  an  extract 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  88i 

from  our  official  report  by  arrangement  with  its  publishers. 
This  would  be  a  Httle  infraction  on  the  rights  of  the  authors, 
if  they  were  copyrighted ;  and  what  we  want  simply  is  that  there 
shall  be  a  full  understanding,  among  all  the  Churches  in 
this  Alliance,  that  they  might  make  for  general  interest  such  a 
use  of  these  papers  as  is  indicated  here  in  the  third  resolution. 

Rev.  James  Rodgers,  of  Derry,  Ireland. — All  the  desiied 
ends  would  be  met  by  using  a  word  less  emphatic  than 
•'  authorize." 

Dr.  Calderwood. — I  suggest  that  we  substitute  the  word 
"  permit  "  for  "  authorize." 

Dr.  Stark.— -If  Dr.  Calderwood  could  put  the  explanation  he 
has  given  into  the  words  that  would  express  it,  it  would  get 
over  all  objections.  The  resolution  does  not  carry  out  what 
Dr.  Calderwood  so  clearly  expresses.  I  think  we  should  modify 
it  so  that  the  Council  permit  any  committee,  or  any  party  that 
may  think  it  will  do  good  by  publishing  these  papers,  to  do  it — 
but  only  by  permission  and  without  authorization. 

Dr.  Calderwood. — Shall  I  again  read  the  form  in  which  it  is 
at  present?  "That  the  Council  permit  the  separate  publication 
of  any  paper  for  wider  circulation  in  the  interest  of  the  churches 
on  condition  that  the  friends  arranging  for  such  publication  un- 
dertake the  entire  charge  ;  and  that  every  such  reprint  bear  on 
it  that  it  is  extracted  from  the  authorized  report  of  the  proceed- 
ings by  arrangement  with  its  publisher."  Now  the  understand- 
ing of  the  committee  was,  that  by  this  allusion  to  the  friendSi. 
arranging  for  it,  we  were  pointing  to  those  who  might  be  a  com- 
mittee of  a  church,  or  at  least  who  might  be  generally  interested 
in  works  of  benevolence  or  evangelization  ;  and  that  thus  we 
had  left  it  very  wide. 

Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hamilton,  of  Mobile. — It  seems  to  me  that 
the  understanding  in  the  Business  Committee,  as  stated  by  elder 
Croil,  will  meet  every  objection.  It  was  my  understanding  in 
that  committee  that  each  one  of  these  papers,  which  might  be 
sent  forth  as  an  extract  from  the  proceedings  of  this  Council, 
should  bear  upon  its  face  the  statement  that  it  was  not  neces- 
sarily the  expressions  of  the  opinions  or  views  of  the   Council. 


882  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

As  it  stands  now,  if  a  paper  should  go  forth,  separately,  as  an 
extract  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Council,  it  might  be  inferred 
that  the  Council  indorsed  it.  But  if  it  should  bear  upon  its  face 
the  statement  that  it  is  simply  an  extract  from  the  papers  read, 
and  that  it  is  not  indorsed  by  the  Council,  it  seems  to  me  that 
would  obviate  all  objection. 

We  have  no  objection,  I  suppose,  to  these  proceedings  being 
scattered,  provided  they  are  sent  forth  as  the  statement  of  the 
views  of  particular  individuals.  Therefore  it  seems  to  me  that 
to  place  upon  it  the  same  statement  which  is  required  to  be 
placed  upon  the  proceedings  themselves  would  answer  every 
purpose. 

Dk.  Breed. — The  object  of  this  motion  is  to  promote  the  dif- 
fusion of  Presbyterian  literature.  It  is  quite  possible,  and  almost 
certain,  that  our  Philadelphia  Board  of  Publication  will  select 
some  of  these  articles  and  publish  them  as  tracts,  and  send  them 
broadcast  over  all  the  land.  We  want  them  to  go  just  as  far  as 
possible.  The  object  of  this  motion  is  to  promote  such  a  diffu- 
sion and  distribution. 

Dr.  Schaff. — The  objection  just  raised  is  all  provided  fof 
and  met  by  an  additional  action.  If  Prof  Calderwood  will  be 
kind  enough  to  read  that,  it  will  cover  the  whole  ground. 

Prof.  Calderwood. — That  comes  as  the  next  step.  If  it  will 
relieve  the  mind  of  the  Council  I  will  read  it  as  the  thing  that 
follows  next;  only  the  question  is  quite  a  different  one,  whether 
we  shall  have  such  an  imprint  on  every  separate  paper,  which  I 
do  not  submit  I  am  agreeing  to  in  reading  this : 

That  the  editors  of  the  volume  of  the  Proceedings  of  Council  be 
instructed  formally  to  state  in  its  preface  that  the  Council  does  not 
make  itself  responsible  for  the  opinions  expressed  in  the  papers  sub-' 
mitted  for  consideration. 

That  is  to  be  submitted  to  you  as  another  resolution.  The 
question  really  before  the  Council  is  whether,  knowing  that  it  is 
to  be  suggested  as  an  essential  part  of  the  preface  of  the  volume, 
you  are  also  to  insist  that,  in  case  of  the  extract  from  that 
volume  of  any  paper,  such  paper  shall  bear  this  statement.  With 
all  submission  I  do  not  think  it  should  be  done. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  883' 

The  recommendation  of  the  committee  was  then  agreed  to,  the' 
word  "permit"  being  substituted  for  "authorize." 

Professor  Calderwood. — I  submit  further  from  the  com- 
mittee that  which  I  have  just  read,  which  becomes  the  next 
resolution. 

That  the  editors  of  the  volume  of  the  Proceedings  of  Cormcil  be 
instructed  formally  to  state  in  its  preface  that  the  Council  does  not 
make  itself  responsible  for  the  opinions  expressed  in  the  papers  sub- 
mitted for  consideration. 

The  recommendation  was  agreed  to. 

Dr.  Breed. — As  supplementary  to  what  has  already  been 
done,  I  offer  the  following : 

Resolved,  I.  That  the  standing  committee  on  the  expenses  of  the 
Council,  of  which  Dr.  Prime  is  the  chairman,  be  authorized  to  fill 
any  vacancies  that  may  occur  in  their  number.  2.  That  in  case  of  the 
disability  or  removal  of  either  of  the  clerks  of  this  Council,  this  com- 
mittee be  authorized  to  fill  the  vacancies  thus  occasioned  until  the  next 
meeting  of  Council. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to. 

CO-OPERATION  IN  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Mathews  read  the  following  report  in  reference 
to  co-operation  in  foreign  missions : 

Inasmuch  as  one  of  the  great  objects  embraced  in  the  constitution 
of  this  Alliance  is  to  entertain  all  subjects  directly  connected  with 
the  work  of  evangelization,  such  as  the  relations  of  the  Christian 
Church  to  the  evangelization  of  the  world,  the  distribution  of  mission 
work,  and  the  combination  of  church  energies,  especially  in  reference 
to  great  cities  and  destitute  districts  ;  and  this  Council  having  manifest 
evidence  from  various  quarters  of  the  strong  and  increasing  desire 
among  the  Churches  in  connection  with  it  that  some  suitable  measures 
should  be  taken  to  secure  as  far  as  practicable  co-operation  in  the 
work  of  foreign  missions;  therefore  be  it  resolved: 

First,  That  the  success  which  has  attended  the  work  of  foreign  mis- 
sions claims  devout  gratitude  to  God  from  the  whole  Christian  Church  ; 
and  the  desire  expressed  for  such  co-operation  as  may  be  found  suit- 
able should  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  the  future. 

Second,  That  the  Council  is  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance, 
of  close  union  in  the  practical  work  of  the  mission  field  among  the 
Reformed  Churches ;  and  approving  generally  of  the  recommendations 


B&4  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

accompanying  the  report  of  the  committee  on  co-operation  in  foreign 
mission  work,  and  remitting  the  same  to  tiie  various  churches  of 
the  Alliance  for  their  consideration,  regards  it  as  most  desirable  and 
timely  were  the  Churches  represented  in  this  Council  to  adopt  such 
measures  as  in  their  wisdom  might  seem  meet  for  maturely  consider- 
ing the  question  of  the  best  means  of  further  organizing  and  unifying 
evangelization  in  the  several  fields  in  which  a  plurality  of  Presby- 
terian missions  are  contiguously  established,  and  this  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  interests  and  claims  of  the  parent 
Churches. 

Third,  That  the  Council,  assuming  no  right  to  offer  suggestions  or 
initiate  measures  for  the  Churches  represented  in  it,  does  respectfully 
approach  them  by  the  communication  of  the  paper  hereby  adopted 
with  the  expression  of  its  fraternal  and  dutiful  regards  as  an  assem- 
blage of  committees  appointed  by  them  to  confer  upon  matters  of 
common  interest  in  promoting  our  common  Christianity,  and  with 
the  prayer  that  these  great  and  holy  ends  may  be  advanced  by  a  care- 
ful consideration  of  the  matters  herein  set  forth. 

Fourth,  To  carry  into  effect  the  reference  of  this  matter  to  the 
several  Churches  concerned  in  it,  the  Council  does  hereby  appoint 
two  committees,  namely,  for  the  United  States  and  Canada:  Rev. 
William  M.  Paxton,  D.  D.,  of  New  York,  Convener;  Rev.  J.  Leigh- 
ton  Wilson,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore;  Rev.  J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D.,  of  Phda- 
delphia  ;  Rev.  Philip  Peltz,  D.  D.  ;  Dr.  Jas.  Boyce  ;  Dr.  John  O. 
Ferris;  Jas.  Croil,  Esq.;  Rev.  I.  M.  King;  Dr.  S.  M.  Wylie;  Dr. 
Fisher ;  for  Europe  and  other  places  not  otherwise  provid-ed  for  : 
Dr.  Murray  Mitchell,  Convener;  David  MacLagan,  Esq.,  Edinburgh; 
Rev.  Dr.  Graham,  of  London  ;  Rev.  George  Robson,  of  Inverness ; 
Rev.  Dr.  John  Marshall  Lang,  of  Glasgow ;  Rev.  J.  S.  Macintosh,  of 
Belfast;  Geo.  Smith,  Esq.,  LL.  D. ;  Rev.  H.  Wallace  Smith,  of  Kirk- 
newton  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Main  ;  Rev.  Geo.  Thomas  Smith. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  these  committees  to  communicate  in  such 
manner  as  they  may  deem  best  with  the  Churches  assigned  to  them 
and  report  the  result  to  the  next  Council. 

Fifth.  Should  it  become  manifest  in  the  meantime  that  plans  of  co- 
operation to  some  extent  can  be  agreed  upon  amongst  some  of  the 
Churches  interested,  the  said  committees  are  authorized  and  requested 
to  give  such  aid  in  carrying  them  into  effect  as  may  be  found  prac- 
ticable. 

The  various  resolutions  were  agreed  to,  and  the  whole  paper 
was  adopted. 

COMMITTEE  OF  ARRANGEMENTS. 
The  Business  Committee  recommended,  and  the  Council  with 
amendments  agreed  to  their  recommendation,  to  appoint  the  fol- 
lowing, with  power  to  add  to  their  number,  as  the  Committee  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  885 

Arrangements  for  the  next  meeting:  Rev.  R.  Knox,  D.  D., 
Chairman;  Prof.  R.  Watts,  D.  D. ;  J.  S.  Macintosh;  J.  S. 
Hamilton;  Jas.  M.  Rodgers  ;  R.  M'Edgar;  Jas.  C.  Ferris;  S.  J. 
Hanson;  Jonathan  Simpson ;  Edward  F.Simpson;  J.  Marshall 
Lang,  D.  D. ;  Principal  Rainy,  D.  D. ;  Prof  Calderwood,  LL.  D. ; 
Alex.  McLeod,  D.  D. ;  S.  I.  Prime,  D.  D. ;  Wm.  Brown,  D.  D. ; 
W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.  D. ;  Thos.  C.  Porter,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. ;  J.  I. 
Bonner,  D.  D. ;  John  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. ;  J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D. ; 
David  Steele,  D.  D. ;  A.  M.  Milligan,  D.  D. ;  Theodore  W.  J. 
Wylie,  D.  D. ;  John  Hanson,  Esq. ;  A.  T.  Niven,  Esq. ;  Edmund 
Archibald  Stuart-Gray,  Esq.;  David  Corsar,  Esq.;  Geo.  Junkin, 
Esq.,  with  the  clerks. 

INTERNATIONAL  PEACE. 

Rev.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.  D. — I  desire  to  offer  a  resolution 

upon  a  topic  which  has  not  been  touched  in  the  discussions  of 

the  Council.     I  have  no  speech  to  make  in  regard  to  it,  and  do 

not  suppose  that  it  will  awaken  any  discussion : 

Resolved,  That  this  Council,  representing  the  common  Christian 
faith  and  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  many  lands,  respectfully 
and  earnestly  lifts  up  its  voice  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  of  the 
world  by  the  application  of  those  principles  of  Christianity  which 
underlie  the  system  of  modern  international  law,  which  have  already 
prevented  war  between  the  most  powerful  of  Christian  nations  by 
successful  arbitration,  and  which  are  the  heritage  of  the  world  through 
the  gospel  and  kingdom  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

Dr.  Prime. — I  second  this  resolution  most  heartily. 

Dr.  Blaikie. — I  entirely  approve  of  the  resolution,  but  I  think 
it  would  have  been  better  if  it  had  been  submitted  to  us  at  an 
earlier  time,  so  as  to  pass  through  the  usual  process  to  which 
resolutions  are  submitted.  I  merely  state  this  for  guidance  in 
the  future. 

The  resolution  was  adopted. 

LETTER  TO  THE  CHURCHES. 
Dr.  Prime. — The  Business  Committee  heard,  before  it  ad- 
journed, the  letter  which   Dr.  Lang  and  Dr.  Paxton  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  Council  to  prepare.  They  adopted  it,  and  directed 
that  it  should  be  read  by  Dr.  Lang  to  the  Council. 


886  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Lang,  therefore,  read  the  following  letter: 

To  Ministers,  Elders,  Office-bearers,  and  Members  of  Presbyterian 
Churches  :  Grace  be  unto  you,  and  Peace  from  God  our  Eathcr  aTid 
from  the  Lord  Jestis  Christ. 

Dearly  Beloved  Brethren  :  At  the  close  of  our  sessions  it  seems 
good  to  us  to  send  a  letter  of  cordial  greeting  to  the  Churches  which 
are  represented  in  our  Alliance. 

We  ask  you  to  rejoice  with  us  in  the  tokens  of  divine  favor  which 
the  Council  has  so  largely  received  during  this,  its  second  meeting. 
The  kindness  of  our  honored  friends  in  Philadelphia  in  the  prepara- 
tions made  for  our  reception,  in  every  arrangement  for  the  transaction 
of  our  business,  in  the  hospitalities  so  generously  conceded,  has  left 
an  ineffaceable  impression  on  our  hearts.  You  will  join  us  in  the  ex- 
pression of  our  warmest  thanks  to  all  who,  at  so  much  cost  of  time 
and  means,  have  provided  both  for  our  work  and  our  comfort  far 
beyond  our  utmost  expectation.  The  marked  interest  taken  in  our 
proceedings,  as  evidenced  by  the  crowds  which  have  listened  with 
earnest  attention  to  the  papers  and  discussions,  was  most  gratifying 
and  encouraging.  We  have  pleasure  in  certifying  that  our  delibera- 
tions have  been  characterized  by  a  harmony  never  broken  ;  that, 
whilst  on  many  points,  differences  of  opinion  have  been  manifested, 
charity  and  courtesy  have  never  failed.  Subjects  of  lasting  impor- 
tance to  all  our  Churches  have  been  freely  and  fully  considered,  and 
the  interchanges  of  thought  on  these  subjects  have  been  both  welcome 
and  profitable.  Let  us  say,  farther,  that  the  concourse  of  brethren 
from  many  lands,  declaring  in  many  languages  the  wonderful  works 
of  God,  has  proved  the  essential  unity  of  Reformed  Christendom, 
and  foreshadowed  the  blessedness  of  that  day  of  the  Lord,  when  a 
multitude  which  no  man  can  number,  of  all  nations  and  peoples  and 
kindreds  and  tongues,  shall  stand  before  the  throne  and  before  the 
Lamb. 

Truly  the  good  hand  of  our  God  has  been  good  upon  us.  Let  us 
extol  his  name  together. 

But  we  cannot  part  from  the  scene  of  our  fellowship  without  offer- 
ing some  words  of  friendly  counsel,  and  endeavoring  to  strengthen 
you  in  the  love  and  service  of  our  Lord  and  Master. 

During  our  proceedings  we  have  been  often  reminded  of  the  con- 
flicts and  incertitudes  of  the  time  in  which  we  live.  Never  more 
called  for  than  now  is  the  exhortation  of  St.  John  to  Christians : 
"  Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are 
of  God."  You  need  no  unction  from  the  Holy  One  to  sift  the  true 
from  the  false,  to  discriminate  and  rightly  judge  as  to  the  voices 
which  appeal  to  you  claiming  the  homage  that  is  due  to  truth.  All 
truth  is  welcome  to  the  Christian.  Reverently  he  listens  to  all  that 
science  teaches  or  philosophy  interprets.  He  knows  that  there  can  be 
no  contradiction  between  the  works  and  the  word  of  God,  that,  when 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  887 

there  seems  to  be  such  a  contradiction,  either  the  observation  of  the 
works  or  the  understanding  of  the  word  is  imperfect.  And  he  is  con- 
tent to  wait  until  the  Lord  himself  shall  reveal  things  now  beyond  his 
reach.  His  assurance  is  that  in  Christ  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge  ;  and,  amid  the  feverish  and  harsh  cries  of 
men,  in  quietness  and  confidence  he  finds  his  strength.  May  that 
(juietness  and  that  confidence  be  yours. 

We  desire,  beloved  in  Christ,  to  emphasize  our  acceptance  of  the 
.Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  the  only  rule  to  direct 
us  how  we  may  glorify  and  enjoy  God.  The  Scriptures  not  only  were 
inspired  ;  they  are  inspired  ;  for  all  of  us — for  all  men,  they  are 
breathed  through  and  through  by  the  living  Holy  Spirit  of  God — 
(iod's  word  to  us  in  the  special  circumstances  of  our  life  and  history. 
He  does  indeed  speak  in  divers  manners;  there  are  manifold  whispers 
and  unveilings  of  himself;  where  there  is  the  eye  to  see,  he  is  always 
present ;  where  there  is  the  ear  to  hear,  he  is  always  audible.  But  the 
one  authoritative  declaration  of  his  will  for  our  salvation  is  made  in 
the  Bible.  For  that  purpose  Holy  Scripture  is  fully  inspired.  Let  us 
intreat  you  to  stand  fast  to  the  immemorial  doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
(jod  as  to  the  sufficiency,  perfect  and  sole,  of  the  inspired  word.  Let 
us  remind  you  that  the  right  honor  to  give  to  the  word  is,  to  use  it,  to 
teach  it,  to  make  it  your  meditation,  "  to  lay  it  up  in  your  hearts  and 
practise  it  in  your  lives."  The  literature  that  is  offered  to  you  is 
various  and  abundant.  We  are  heartily  thankful  that  knowledge  is 
running  to  and  fro ;  but  we  ask  that  no  literature  ever  supersede  the 
Bible;  that  no  compilations  of  texts  or  passages  ever  be  put  in  its 
place  ;  that  earnestly,  humbly,  prayerfully,  you  study  the  Book  itself, 
comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual,  and  seeking  to  see  the  light 
in  the  light  of  God. 

Affectionally,  we  urge  on  you  the  maintenance  of  worship  in  the 
family  circle.  Wherever  the  Christian's  home  is,  there  should  be  the 
('hristian's  altar.  We  fear  that  often,  owing  to  the  strain  on  time  and 
strength,  so  prevalent  among  us,  the  blessed  exercises  of  family  reli- 
gion are  hurried  over,  if  not  wholly  neglected.  But  the  family  is  the 
germ  of  the  state  and  of  the  Church.  What  the  temperature  of  the 
home  is,  that  the  temperature  of  the  Church  will  be.  Nay,  more  ;  the 
tone  given  to  your  homes  affects  powerfully  all  the  relations  and 
arrangements  of  the  household.  Suffer  us  to  express  the  hope  that 
ministers  will  press  the  duty  of  all  in  this  matter  with  kindness  and 
urgency,  and  that  the  faithful  people  of  Christ  will  conscientiously, 
and  as  those  to  whom  it  is  not  a  mere  form,  but  a  reality,  observe  the 
stated  time  of  worship,  in  which  parents,  children,  servants — all  form- 
ing the  home  circle — unite  in  thanksgiving,  prayer,  and  the  reading 
uf  the  word  of  life. 

It  may  seem  unnecessary  to  recall  to  you  the  obligation  and  privilege 
of  a  faithful  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  and  a  habitual  attendance 
on  the  means  of  grace.  But  is  there  not  too  much  occasion  for  anxiety 
lest  the  sacred ness  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  be  violated  ?     We  feel  our- 


888  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

selves  bound  to  remind  you  that  the  "one  day  in  seven"  has  been 
marked  off  as  holy  to  tlie  Lord;  not,  indeed,  the  only  day  that  is 
holy,  but  that  which,  "enthroned  in  its  sovereign  sphere,"  witnesses 
for  and  is  an  aid  to  the  holiness  of  every  day.  Let  us  warn  you 
against  the  laxities  which  are  increasing  amongst  us.  Let  us  suggest 
to  you  that  whatever  takes  from  the  religious  character  of  the  day, 
brings  it  so  much  more  within  the  sphere  of  influences  which,  secular- 
izing it,  imperil  the  continuance  of  its  blessings  for  the  weary  sons  of 
toil.  Should  we  not  beware  of  contributing  by  our  example  to  such 
secularization?  Should  we  not  make  it  manifest  that  to  us  it  is  "  a 
delight,  holy  and  honorable?  "  Not  a  time  draped  in  black,  sad  and 
dreary,  but  a  time  brimful  of  joy  in  the  Lord,  consecrated  by  the  wor- 
ship whose  note  was  struck  in  the  message  of  the  Resurrection  Morn- 
ing, "  The  Lord  is  not  in  the  grave  ;  he  has  risen  ?  "  And  earnestly, 
in  this  connection,  would  we  remind  our  brethren  that  they  are  re- 
sponsible to  Christ  and  his  Church  for  a  regular  and  hearty  participa- 
tion in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary.  This  is  no  mere  matter  of  per- 
sonal liking  ;  it  is  a  matter  of  personal  duty.  The  Christian  member 
is  as  much  bound  to  be  in  his  pew,  as  the  Christi*n  minister  is  to  be 
in  his  pulpit.  The  worship  of  God  is  their  common  business,  and  the 
sign  of  their  common  priesthood.  Having,  therefore,  brethren, 
boldness  to  enter  into  the  Holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  let  us 
not  forsake  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together,  as  the  manner  of 
some  is. 

To  your  warmest  regards  we  commend  the  missionary  agencies  and 
efforts  of  our  Churches.  Our  hearts'  desire  and  prayer  is,  that  Christ's 
people  may  realize,  with  new  vividness  and  force,  the  truth  of  his  per- 
emptory commandment,  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  make  disciples 
of  all  nations.  It  has  cheered  us  to  listen  to  the  accounts  of  beloved 
missionaries  who  have  been  present  at  our  meeting,  and  to  be  assured 
that  whilst  it  is  still  the  day  of  small  things,  the  signs  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  power  in  the  missions  of  the  Church  are  not  withheld.  Indeed, 
the  results  in  most  parts  of  heathendom  already  realized  are  exceed- 
ingly abundantly  above  what,  considering  the  faithlessness  of  the 
Church,  we  might  have  expected  to  receive. 

Would  that  all  our  Churches  were  blessed  with  a  new  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  of  fire  !  Then  would  the  word  of  God  have  free 
course  and  be  magnified  !  Then  would  the  gospel  of  Christ  break 
forth  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left.  Beloved,  we  need  more  clear 
apprehension  of  the  will  of  God  as  to  the  salvation  of  men.  We  need 
more  sympathy  with  the  heart  of  God,  in  his  longing  for  the  answer- 
ing love  of  the  heart  of  man.  Think  of  God  so  loving  the  world  as 
to  give  his  only  begotten  Son  !  Do  we  not  feel  the  throb  of  that  love 
in  our  hearts?  Will  we  not  seek  to  have  a  part  in  sending  the  good 
news  of  the  kingdom  to  every  creature  ? 

The  members  of  the  several  churches — all  who  have  the  privileges 
of  a  gospel  ministry — will  not  be  slow  to  prove  their  gratitude  for 
such  privileges  by  the  liberal  support  of  those  who  are  called  to  minis- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  889 

ter  in  holy  things,  and  by  their  gifts  to  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  for 
the  sake  of  his  cause,  and  for  purposes  connected  with  Christian  phi- 
lanthropy. Systematic  benevolence  is  greatly  needed  among  us.  This 
does  not  interfere  with  the  spontaneity  which  should  mark  all  Chris- 
tian offering  :  it  is  only  the  mode  of  giving  effect  to  the  will  cjuickened 
into  activity  by  the  sense  of  the  love  of  Christ.  May  we  remind  you 
of  the  apostolic  order  as  to  sacrifice  ?  First.  Your  ownselves  conse- 
crated to  the  Lord,  and  then  yours.  What  you  have  is  the  expression 
of  what  you  are.  What  a  gain  to  the  work  of  God  would  be  realized, 
if  those  who  know  the  grace  of  Christ,  more  fully  acted  up  to  the  pre- 
cept cf  St.  Paul — "to  lay  by  them  in  store  as  God  had  prospered 
them."  How  solemnly  the  word  of  the  prophet  sounds  in  our  ears, 
"Ye  have  robbed  God.  Wherein  have  we  robbed  ?  In  tithes  and 
offerings.  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  store-house,  that  there  may 
be  meat  in  mine  house  and  prove  me  now  herewith,  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you 
out  a  blessing  that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it." 

Beloved  fathers  and  brethren  in  the  ministry  of  the  Christian  Church, 
we  offer  you  the  expression  of  our  most  affectionate  and  loyal  regard. 
Pastors  and  overseers  in  the  Church  of  God,  yours  is  indeed  a  most 
solemn  and  glorious  calling.  The  highest  interests  of  man  are  your 
immediate  care.  You  work  for  eternity.  The  eternal  in  the  life  of 
man,  as  distinguished  from  the  merely  temporary,  is  ever  with  you. 
The  domain  of  your  action  is  the  conscience.  You  see  that  conscience 
in  its  ruin  through  sin.  You  bring  to  it  redemption  in  Jesus  Christ. 
You  are  interpreters  of  the  mysteries  of  the  human  being ;  you  are 
stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Divine.  Deem  it  not  intrusive  if  we 
plead  with  you.  Be  faithful.  Speak  plainly  as  to  sin.  Be  faithful  in 
the  declaration  of  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  Do  not  shun  that  be- 
cause of  the  likings  or  dislikings  of  men.  Aim  at  the  apostle's  mark 
— to  know  nothing  among  your  people  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified.  A  full  Christ — a  free  salvation — be  this  the  end  of  all  your 
preaching  and  labor.  Rightly  divide  the  word  of  truth.  Remember 
the  immature,  the  young  in  years  or  in  wisdom  ;  "  Feed  the  lambs." 
Remember  the  mature,  the  old  in  years  or  in  wisdom  ;  "  Feed  the 
sheep."  Our  Master  is  very  kind  and  gracious.  He  takes  our  poor 
service,  and  thinks  kindly  of  us  when  our  hearts  are  set  to  do  his  will. 
Toil  on,  dear  brethren.  The  sound  of  his  footsteps  is  ever  behind 
you.  Whatever  your  interests  in  those  amongst  whom  your  labor  may 
be,  it  is  as  nothing  to  his.  You  are  to  be  ministers  to  the  people. 
His  joy  will  be  your  strength,  if,  trusting  him,  you  realize  the  ))osition 
that  you  are  ambassadors  for  Christ  as  though  God  did  beseech  them 
by  you. 

Beloved  brethren  in  the  eldership,  we  offer  you  the  testimony  of 
our  ai)prcciation  of  your  work  and  labor  of  love.  Those  of  your  num- 
ber who  have  deliberated  in  this  Council  have  helped  largely  by  their 
wisdom  and  earnestness  to  make  it  successful.  And  our  experience 
is  only  a  mirror  of  the  benefits  to  a  congregation  of  a  zealous  and 


890  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

efficient  eldership.  In  Presbyterian  Churches  your  position  is  one  of 
honor,  and  opening  into  many  ways  of  usefulness.  Let  us  entreat  you 
to  reflect  on  the  duties  of  your  office.  Do  not  rest  content  with  a 
merely  perfunctory  discharge  of  them.  The  service  of  God's  Church 
should  obtain  more  than  mere  scraps  of  time  or  fragments  of  energy. 
Your  shrewdness,  your  capabilities  of  administration,  your  spiritual 
and  mental  gifts,  should  be  freely  offered  to  the  purposes  of  your  call- 
ing. We  ask  you  especially  to  regard  the  Sabbath-schools  connected 
with  your  churches  as  your  charge.  When  the  elder,  as  teacher  or 
overseer,  proves  his  interest  in  the  school,  both  teachers  and  taught 
are  encouraged,  and  the  right  relation  of  the  school  to  the  church  is 
maintained.  Brethren,  be  circumspect  in  your  daily  walk.  Hold  up 
the  example  of  a  life — in  the  world,  yet  unworldly.  Be  in  your  several 
places  Christ's  witnesses — yourselves  ruled  by  him,  and  so  prepared 
to  rule  in  his  name  and  spirit  in  the  congregations  with  which  you  are 
associated. 

Brethren  who  call  on  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  we  have 
realized  with  most  gracious  power  the  oneness  of  all  believers.  We 
have  felt  how  large  is  the  section  of  the  family  of  Christ  holding  the 
Presbyterian  system.  And  we  ask  you  and  others  to  adhere  loyally 
to  this  section  of  the  family.  Its  history,  its  constitution,  the  sim- 
plicities of  its  worship,  and  the  purity  of  its  doctrine  constitute  its 
claim  on  your  regard.  But  Presbyterian  ism  has  been  to  us  during  our 
conference  less  than  the  consciousness  of  Christendom.  Christendom 
is  one.  The  sea  is  one,  although  there  are  many  seas.  The  flock  is 
one,  although  there  are  many  folds.  And  so  with  the  Church.  The 
same  current  of  thought,  the  same  forces,  drifts  and  tendencies,  ap- 
pear, sooner  or  later,  in  all  Churches.  None  can  shut  itself  off  from 
the  other.  "  If  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it ; 
if  one  member  be  honored,  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it."  May 
we  not  assure  the  weaker  Churches  on  the  European  continent  or  on 
more  distant  continents,  of  the  loving  regard  and  sympathy  both  of 
the  old  and  the  new  world?  May  we  not  pledge  that  those  to  whom 
much  has  been  given  will  pray  for  and  help,  with  purse  and  with 
prayer,  those  who  are  called  to  pass  through  a  great  fight  of  afflic- 
tion ? 

It  is  one  of  the  principles  of  our  Alliance  that  no  interference  in  the 
creed  or  constitution  of  the  Churches  forming  it  is  allowed.  We  do 
not  touch  on  aught  in  which  one  denomination  stands  apart  from  the 
others.  We  bid  you  all  God  speed  in  your  several  fields.  We  desire 
that  every  Church  may  receive,  in  ever  increasing  measure,  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  all  standing  in  their  lot  may  manifest 
that  charity  which  "  suffereth  long  and  is  kind,  which  envieth  not, 
vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly, 
seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil,  re- 
joiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth,  beareth  all  things, 
believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things." 

That  God  in  his  own   time  may  heal  division  all  will   pray ;  but 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  891 

meanwhile  the  surest  way  of  union  is  for  each  Church  and  each  Chris- 
'  tian,  to  live  at  the  great  centre  of  blessing — Christ  himself.  In  him 
we  are  one.  Through  him  we  shall  be  one  in  a  resolute  and  holy  war 
against  the  devil,  the  world  and  the  flesh ;  one  in  the  longing  to  labor 
for  the  perfected  kingdom  of  God  ;  one  in  the  response  of  the  re- 
deemed :   "Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus." 

Commending  you  to  God  and  the  word  of  his  grace,  we  bid  you 
farewell.  "Be  perfect,  be  of  good  comfort,  be  of  one  mind,  live  in 
peace,  and  the  God  of  love  and  peace  shall  be  with  you." 

Rev.  Charles  Read,  D.  D.,  of  Richmond,  Va. — I  desire  the 
honor  of  moving  the  adoption  of  this  paper.  I  rejoice,  before 
God  and  the  presence  of  this  brotherhood  in  Christ,  for  the 
privilege  of  having  listened  to  many  papers,  and  most  of  all  of 
having  listened  to  this  one. 

You  find  in  Ps.  1.  5,  these  words,  which  contain  the  doctrinal 
law  of  Christian  union :  "  Gather  my  saints  together  unto  me ; 
those  that  have  made  a  covenant  with  me  by  sacrifice."  This  is 
addressed,  as  you  will  perceive,  to  persons  who  are  infirm,  and 
whose  infirmities  and  sins  are  rebuked.  They  are  expectant 
saints.  The  word  "  saint,"  if  I  understand  it,  stands  always  con- 
nected with  the  fall  and  depravity  of  our  race.  But  for  the  fall, 
the  word  "  saint "  would  never  have  been  placed  in  the  nomen- 
clature of  the  world.  But  take  the  second  characteristic, "  those 
that  have  made  a  covenant  with  me  by  sacrifice."  What  a  field 
of  thought  is  opened  here !  Two  modes  of  clothing,  sin  early 
introduced  into  the  world :  the  one  the  clothing  of  fig  leaves, 
and  the  other  clothing  at  the  cost  of  God.  When  these  gar- 
ments were  received  by  our  first  parents  in  Paradise,  if  I  under- 
stand it,  there  was  the  making  of  a  covenant  with  God  by  sacri- 
fice. That  was  the  beginning  of  the  system  of  vicarious  sacri- 
fice, and  of  justification  by  faith. 

Among  the  very  first  acts  of  worship  are  those  which  took 
place  when  Abel  came  with  his  sacrifice  of  blood,  and  Cain,  a 
free  thinker,  and  perhaps  a  man  of  very  aesthetic  tastes,  may 
have  brought  his  flowers ;  but  the  sacrifice  by  blood  was  ac- 
cepted, and  the  sacrifice  without  blood  was  not  accepted. 
Thenceforth  human  history  is  diverted  into  two  streams,  the  one 
the  Cainite  stream  and  the  other  the  Abel  stream.    The  one,  de- 


892  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

veloped  all  through  the  sacrificial  system,  conveys  and  sustains 
that  grand  idea  of  covenant  by  sacrifice.  To  the  man  who 
repudiates  all  reliance  upon  personal  righteousness,  and  who 
trusts  solely  in  the  righteousness  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
enters  into  covenant  with  God  by  sacrifice,  here  is  my  hand,  and 
my  heart  is  in  it.  I  care  little  for  architecture,  little  for  dress,  if 
this  one  great  feature  is  realized,  covenant  with  God  by  sacrifice. 
Here  is  the  foundation  of  union  among  Christians.  Things  that 
are  like  the  same  thing  are  alike  to  one  another ;  and  the  nearer 
Christians  get  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  more  they  are 
imbued  by  Christian  spirit,  the  nearer  should  they  come  to  each 
other.  Names  are  little ;  life  power  is  everything.  Very  little 
is  the  shape  of  the  loaf,  but  the  quickening  power  of  the  leaven 
is  everything. 

Then  there  is  another  aspect  of  the  case.  It  is  not  good  for 
a  man  to  be  alone.  Man  was  not  made  to  be  alone ;  sociability 
was  stamped  upon  his  very  constitution.  I  find  it  in  the  nerves 
of  my  hands.  Those  nerves  will  never  thrill  as  they  were  meant 
to  thrill  until  I  grasp  the  hand  of  a  fellow-being — not  simply  a 
human  being,  but  a  Christian  fellow-being  ;  never  will  the  nerves 
of  my  ear  thrill  as  they  are  made  to  thrill  until  I  hear  the  voice 
of  praise  to  God,  the  highest  use  of  the  ear,  and  the  highest  en- 
joyment of  the  soul ;  and  never  will  the  nerves  of  my  eye  thrill 
as  they  were  made  to  thrill  until  it  sees  down  in  another  human 
eye  wells  of  joy  or  wells  of  grief  springing  up  responsive  to  my 
own.  If  I  meet  a  brother,  whether  from  India  or  Africa,  and 
find  him  entering  into  the  covenant  of  God  by  sacrifice,  trying 
to  get  nearer  to  Christ,  here  I  find  the  perfection  of  our  nature, 
and  the  whole  soul  vibrates  under  this  principle  of  united  fellow- 
ship. 

We  stand  upon  the  old  doctrines.  These  have  been  evolved 
and  asserted  over  and  over  again.  Adherence  to  them  runs 
through  this  letter^  which  is  now,  I  trust,  to  be  sent  to  the 
Churches. 

Dear  brethren,  tnis  is  my  first  utterance.  Do  you  enter  into 
the  covenant  of  God  by  sacrifice  ?  We  of  the  South  meet  you 
on  that  ground.     Are  you  striving  to  draw  nearer  and  nearer  to 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  893 

the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  under  the  power  of  faith  and  sanctifica- 
tion?  We  greet  you  upon  that  ground.  Do  you  find  your 
feeUngs  thrill  under  these  influences  of  union  with  God  and 
union  with  one  another  in  the  covenant  of  Christ?  Then  we 
of  the  South,  in  the  providence  of  God,  greet  you  upon  this 
ground.  I  rejoice  to  move,  as  I  have  moved,  the  adoption  of 
this  Letter  to  the  Churches. 

Henry  Day,  Esq.,  of  New  York. — I  second  the  motion. 
.  Prof.  Stephen  Alexander,  of  Princeton. — In  the  remarks 
which  have  just  been  made,  as  well  as  in  the  Letter  itself,  there 
is  implied  the  apostolic  rule  of  Christian  fellowship  and  recogni- 
tion. It  is  found  in  i  Corinthians  i.  2.  It  has  been  properly 
quoted  several  times  in  this  Council.  It  tells  whom  we  are  to 
recognize  as  a  Christian  brother.  "  Unto  the  church  of  God 
which  is  at  Corinth,  to  them  that  are  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus, 
called  to  be  saints,  with  all  that  in  every  place  call  upon  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  both  theirs  and  ours."  It  is  very 
simple  and  beautiful — all  that  in  every  place  call  upon  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Whoever  does  that  according  to  the 
apostolic  rule  is  my  Christian  brother. 

The  Letter  was  then  adopted  by  the  Council. 

Rev.  Dr.  Prime. — I  move  the  publication  of  the  Letter.  Of 
course,  that  will  be  done  in  the  volume  of  Proceedings  ;  but  I 
move  also  that  the  Council  request  the  pastors  of  all  the  churches 
represented  in  this  Council  to  read  it  publicly  to  their  congrega- 
tions. 

Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  of  Fredericksburg,  Va. — I  second  the  mo- 
tion. It  has  been  my  privilege,  as  it  has  been  of  others,  to  hear 
many  good  letters  of  a  pastoral  or  friendly  character ;  but  I  never 
heard  one  that  more  completely  came  up  to  my  idea  of  what  a 
communication  of  that  kind  should  be  than  this  has  done.  While 
I  rejoice  to  hear  the  doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
so  clearly — though  briefly,  as  it  must  necessarily  be — presented 
in  that  letter,  I  cannot  but  remember  that  there  is  another, 
though  a  lower,  kind  of  inspiration,  and  I  felt  that  the  brethren 
who  drew  up  that  letter  had  it,  and  wrote  under  the  guidance 
of  the  Spirit  of  God.     It  cannot  fail  to  accomplish  a  blessed 


894  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

work  among  all  who  read  it.  I  rejoice  in  a  resolution  that  will 
encourage  the  circulation  of  it,  not  only  in  the  newspapers,  but 
from  the  pulpits  to  congregations. 

Dr.  Prime. — I  am  requested  to  add  a  clause  to  this  resolution, 
to  the  effect  that  a  particular  Sabbath  be  appointed  for  the  read- 
ing of  the  Letter.  I  would  suggest  the  first  Sabbath  of  January- 
next. 

Rev.  Dr.  Pierson,  of  Detroit. — The  sooner  that  Letter  follows 
the  adjournment  of  this  great  Council,  the  more  effect  it  will 
have. 

Dr.  Prime. — Name  an  earlier  Sabbath. 

Dr.  Pierson. — If  we  could  present  it  to  our  congregations 
about  the  middle  of  November,  it  would  be  far  better  than  to 
wait  until  the  first  of  January.  There  is  no  reason  why  it  cannot 
go  before  all  our  congregations  by  that  time.  I  would  suggest 
the  third  Sabbath  of  November. 

Dr.  Schaff. — That  is  impossible.  The  document  has  to  go 
to  South  Africa,  to  Australia,  to  India,  and  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  It  cannot  be  received  by  that  time.  I  doubt  if  it  can  be 
read  by  the  first  Sabbath  in  January. 

Dr.  Prime. — I  have  no  doubt  that  the  first  Sabbath  in  January 
is  the  earliest  possible  time  in  which  we  can  accomplish  it.  We 
want  it  read  at  the  antipodes  as  well  as  here,  and  we  cannot 
have  that  done  before  the  first  Sabbath  in  January. 

Dr.  Prime's  motion  was  agreed  to. 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  THANKS. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Knox  then  introduced  the  following  resolutions, 
calling  on  various  members  of  the  Council  to  move  and  second 
them  severally,  which  they  did,  with  brief  addresses : 

This  General  Council  cannot  adjourn  without  recording  its  deep 
sense  of  obligation  to  the  local  committees.  All  the  arrangements 
have  been  made  with  consummate  skill  and  taste,  and  with  the  most 
delicate  regard  for  the  comfort  of  the  Council  and  the  efficiency  of  its 
proceedings. 

The  Council  desire  very  specially  to  thank  the  gentlemen  connected 
with  the  press  for  the  fulness  and  the  accuracy  with  which  the  proceed- 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  895 

ings  have  been  reported,  since  thereby  the  influence  of  this  Council 
has  been  extended  from  day  to  day,  not  only  to  every  part  of  this 
continent,  but  to  other  lands. 

One  of  the  arrangements  that  has  contributed  greatly  to  the  con- 
venience of  the  Council,  has  been  the  free  and  unrestricted  use  of  the 
splendid  rooms  of  the  Board  of  Publication,  1334  Chestnut  street, 
and  the  thanks  of  the  Council  are  eminently  due  and  are  hereby  ten- 
dered to  the  Board  who  have  charge  of  that  institution,  and  have 
placed  its  conveniences  at  our  disposal,  as  well  as  to  the  different 
officers  in  charge. 

The  cordial  thanks  of  the  Council  are  expressed  to  Mr.  D.  M. 
McKee,  the  leader,  and  to  the  members  of  the  choir  severally,  for  the 
efficient  and  acceptable  assistance  they  have  rendered  in  this  portion 
of  our  devotional  exercises. 

The  Council  is  under  great  obligations  to  the  societies  and  public 
institutions  of  this  city,  which  have  sent  kind  and  courteous  invita- 
tions to  its  members,  and  desires  to  express  regret  that  owing  to  pres- 
sure of  business,  many  were  unable  to  avail  themselves  of  them  as  fully 
as  they  could  have  wished. 

The  especial  and  cordial  thanks  of  the  Council  are  hereby  tendered 
to  those  brethren  who  prepared  the  Programme ;  to  the  writers  of  the 
many  able  and  eloquent  papers;  above  all,  to  the  three  brethren,  Dr. 
Blaiicie,  Dr.  Mathews,  and  Mr.  Newkirk,  who  have  acted  as  honorary 
clerks ;  and  also  to  the  gentlemen  who  have  been  in  charge  of  the 
post-office  arrangements. 

This  Council  is  deeply  indebted  to  Thomas  Cook,  Esq.,  of  London, 
for  his  generous  action  in  regard  to  the  travelling  of  the  delegates  to 
and  from  the  Council ;  and  directs  a  copy  of  the  minutes  of  our 
proceedings  to  be  forwarded  to  him,  and  also  to  his  agent  in  New 
York. 

The  Council  has  also  pleasure  in  thus  acknowledging  the  kindness 
shown  the  delegates  by  the  Pennsylvania,  and  Reading,  and  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  railroads. 

No  words  can  adequately  express  the  high  appreciation  felt  by  this 
Council  for  the  princely  hospitality  of  the  Christian  people  of  Phila- 
delphia, who  have  taken  us  not  only  to  their  homes,  but  to  their 
hearts ;  and  of  the  kindness  with  which  the  delegates  have  been 
received  every  one  will  cherish  a  lively  remembrance  as  long  as  he 
lives. 

The  resolutions  were  all  unanimously  adopted. 
Dr.  Prime. — The  Business  Committee  recommended  for  the 
order  this  morning,  that  after  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions, 


896  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

we  shall  hear  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dickey  in  behalf  of  the  mem- 
bers and  others  in  Philadelphia,  when  a  response  will  be  made 
from  a  member  of  the  Council.  Then  we  propose  to  conclude 
with  devotional  services. 

Dr.  Blaikie. — At  the  Edinburgh  meeting,  instead  of  weary- 
ing the  audience  at  the  close  by  reading  the  minutes  of  the 
closing  session,  which  were  large  in  consequence  of  the  number 
of  email  pieces  of  business,  ihey  were  remitted  to  the  Committee 
of  Arrangements  and  the  chairman.  Would  it  be  agreeable  to 
the  Council  that  the  minutes  of  this  morning's  meeting  be  re- 
mitted to  the  clerks  and  the  chairman  of  this  session  for  re- 
vision? 

Dr.  Prime. — It  may  safely  be  done ;  and  I  move  it. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

Rev.  C.  a.  Dickey,  D.  D.— 

FAREWELL. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Fathers,  and  Brethren  :  I  cannot  hope  to  bring 
words  worthy  of  this  solemn,  sacred  hour  that  is  to  close  this  memor- 
able Council.  Speech  seems  an  intrusion  when  reverent  silence  would 
be  so  appropriate.  Standing  on  the  summit  of  this  mountain,  which 
we  have  reached  by  the  successive  steps  of  these  splendid  days,  in 
whose  sweet  communion  we  have  been  so  well  satisfied,  our  hearts,  en- 
tranced by  the  visions  of  such  a  transfiguration,  can  only  find  expres- 
sion in  such  a  wish  as  the  bewildered  Peter  pressed  upon  his  Lord,  "It 
is  good  for  us  to  be  here.  ...  let  us  make  here  three  tabernacles,  one 
for  the  blessed  Lord,"  whose  glorious  person  has  had  the  pledge  of  so 
much  love  and  loyalty;  and  "one  for  Moses,"  the  representative  of 
the  holy  law,  whose  binding  force  and  honor  we  are  better  ready  to 
sustain;  and  "one  for  Elias,"  the  representative  of  prophecy,  in  the 
splendid  fulfilments  of  which  we  stand  and  praise  the  power  that  has 
shown  us  such  wonders,  and  in  hope  wait  confidently  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  all  the  "glorious  things  that  are  spoken  of  the  city  of 
God." 

Taking  up  the  refrain  of  the  symphony  of  the  sweet  instrument  that 
has  so  charmed  us,  I  remember  the  key-note  so  skilfully  touched  at  the 
beginning.  The  strains  have  been  exquisite;  the  harmony  has  been 
delightful ;  the  whole  song  has  been  a  Te  Deiitn  Laudamiis.  Presby- 
terianism  has  been  clearly  defined  and  nobly  defended  ;  but  the  Person 
of  Christ  has  been  more  exalted.  The  cloud  of  witnesses  gathered 
out  of  the  conflicts  of  centuries,  out  of  the  smoke  of  many  martyr- 
doms, might  not  be  ashamed  of  the  steadfastness  of  these  successors, 
who  have  contended  so  earnestly  for  the  fiiith  they  gave  their  lives  to 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  897 

keep.  The  great  doctrines,  defended  by  the  faith  and  endurance  of 
darker  days,  have  been  asserted  with  a  distinctness  and  advocated  with 
a  determination  that  intimate  neither  decline  nor  departure. 

The  treasures  intrusted  by  tlie  Reformation  have  not  been  tarnished. 
The  blessings  which  cost  so  much  have  been  carefully  preserved.  Relig- 
ious liberty  has  had  a  splendid  demonstration  in  the  Council,  and 
civil  liberty  has  received  impulses  that  both  imply  and  promise  ad- 
vance. 

When  I  saw  our  honored  chairman,  whose  ministry  has  linked  both 
continents,  grasp  the  hand  of  the  endedred  representative  of  Good 
Hope,  and  in  the  name  of  this  Council, that  has  gathered  its  represent- 
atives from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  express  fraternity  and  good  cheer, 
I  felt  that  we  witnessed  the  glorious  symbol  of  triumphs  already 
assured,  and  of  blessed  hopes  that  are  being  al;-eady  realized.  We 
might  safely  adopt  Good  Hope  as  the  watchword  of  this  Council.  We 
have  witnessed  a  unity  that  gives  the  hope  of  increasing  strength. 
We  have  witnessed  presentations  of  power  that  give  the  hope  of  pre- 
vailing. We  have  witnessed  a  procession  of  triumphs  that  gives  a  good 
hope  of  final  and  complete  victory.  We  have  witnessed  the  spring 
and  flow  of  a  spirit  which,  sanctified  and  consecrated,-  encourages  the 
hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  in  which  the  Psalmist's  prophecy 
shall  find  fulfilment :    "AH  nations  shall  call  him  blessed." 

When  I  remember  that  this  Alliance  was  formed  for  the  distinct 
purpose  of  emphasizing  the  principles  of  the  Reformed  Churches, 
and  of  more  firmly  establishing  the  Presbyterian  system,  which 
together  constitute  our  bond  of  union,  I  feel  disposed  to  ask,  first,  the 
question,  "What  has  the  Council  accomplished  for  ourselves,  for  the 
churches  we  represent,  for  the  principles  to  which  we  have  pledged 
our  adherence,  and  the  system  which  we  believe  to  be  scriptural  in  all 
its  essentials,  and  most  likely  to  accomplish  the  mission  of  the 
Church?"  The  success  of  this  Council  in  all  directions  will  be  de- 
termined by  the  degree  to  which  we  have  assured  our  own  unity  and 
strength.  The  chain  of  the  Church  of  Christ  can  be  no  stronger  than 
its  single  links;  and  unless  we  are  most  deeply  concerned  about  the 
strength  of  our  own  link,  we  may  discover  that  the  catholicity,  b}' 
which  we  would  assure  the  closer  unity  of  Christendom,  is  but  a  senti- 
ment that  reveals  weakness,  and  more  likely  to  break  than  to  weld. 

Our  own  consistency  will  be  the  expression  of  the  truest  catholicity! 
Our  own  strength  and  unity  will  be  the  best  contribution  we  can  make 
to  the  success  of  Christianity  and  to  the  unity  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
By  keeping  our  own  octave  to  the  key-note,  we  will  most  likely  help 
the  harmony  whose  sweet  strains  are  to  fill  the  finished  temple.  If  I 
have  rightly  observed  and  interpreted  the  doings  and  influences,  of 
this  Council,  I  think  they  bear  testimony  to  the  determination  of  the 
Reformed  Churches  to  adhere  to  the  principles  of  the  Reformation 
and  to  the  Presbyterian  system ;  to  study  a  closer  unity  among  our- 
selves that,  with  the  sign  of  the  cross  to  distinguish  us,  and  character- 
ized by  this  atonement,  we  may  bring  a  power  into  Christendom  that 
57 


898  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

will  sooner  insure  that  larger  alliance  of  Christian  Churches  for  which 
we  long  and  wait,  which  can  only  be  formed  by  following  on  in  the 
path  that  is  lighted  by  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  It  is  not  separation 
that  we  seek  by  fidelity  to  truth  as  it  is  revealed  to  us — we  would  only 
be  separated  from  sin  and  error — but  we  plead  for  consistency  and 
unity  within  our  own  lines,  that  we  may  the  more  quickly  realize  the 
brighter  hope,  the  broader  fraternity,  of  the  friends  and  followers  of 
Christ.  Egypt's  pyramids  must  stand  where  her  princes  planted 
them,  under  the  crust  of  centuries,  and  in  the  remoteness  that  answers 
us  with  silence  ;  but  her  obelisks  may  throw  the  shadows  of  their  strange 
inscriptions  on  the  waters  of  the  Seine,  the  Hudson,  and  the  Thames. 
So  there  are  great  cardinal  truths  in  our  Confessions  that  only  hold 
our  faith  because  they  cannot  be  moved — that  must  stand  where  the 
word  of  God  has  set  them.  We  may  submit  to  the  transfer  of  our 
obelisks,  but  must  continue  to  contend  for  the  permanency  of  our 
pyramids. 

Let  us  not  hasten  in  our  judgment  of  results.  Let  us  not  mistake 
discussion  for  division  ;  let  us  not  count  free  thought  friendliness  to 
error  or  betrayal  of  truth.  Let  us  be  careful  lest  we  overestimate  the 
enthusiasm  of  these  memorable  days.  I  rejoice  when  I  think  of  the 
possible  results  we  may  find  in  this  community  that  has  been  blessed 
with  the  direct  impressions  and  influences  of  this  great  gathering  of 
Christ's  servants.  But  what  a  speck  in  the  field  over  which  these 
sowers  of  the  seed  are  soon  to  scatter  !  Who  shall  estimate  the  pos- 
sible harvest  ?  Who  can  tell  the  fruit-gathering  that  shall  gladden 
wounded  France  whose  crimson  fields  are  white ;  and  splendid  Swit- 
zerland, that  listens  for  the  hushed  voices  of  her  old  Reformers ;  and 
Belgium,  breaking  from  her  chains;  and  Holland,  whose  memories 
should  be  showers ;  and  Spain,  so  full  of  promise ;  and  Italy,  whose 
rising  chapels  are  grander  than  her  galleries  ;  and  England,  Ireland, 
and  Scotland,  where  the  soil  was  never  richer  and  the  sowers  never 
more  resolved  to  reap  for  Christ ;  and  our  neighbors  of  the  North, 
whose  frankness  will  be  the  pledge  of  their  fidelity ;  and  Bohemia  and 
the  desert  of  the  Dark  Continent ;  and  our  own  beloved  land,  that 
has  not  withheld  its  welcome,  and  shall  blossom  and  bloom  and  bear 
rich  and  abundant  fruit,  unless  we  waste  these  opportunities  with  a 
neglect  that  should  turn  our  heritage  to  others? 

But  I  have  too  long  trespassed  on  your  time.  There  is  one  thing 
needful,  brethren,  to  insure  these  blessed  expectations.  Four  years 
ago  Philadelphia  invited  the  world  to  our  Centennial  Feast.  The 
nations  brought  their  works  of  art  and  spread  before  us  the  symbols 
of  their  prosperity.  In  one  great  hall  was  displayed  the  machinery 
of  All  nations.  Each  set  up  its  own,  polished  and  prepared  for 
action.  America  placed  in  the  centre  a  powerful  engine,  beautiful  to 
behold,  a  giant  of  strength  ;  the  belting  Avas  carefully  adjusted  ;  every- 
thing was  ready  for  action — but  still  nothing  moved.  The  fuel  was 
gathered  and  put  in  its  place,  but  still  there  was  no  motion  ;  then  the 
fire  was  applied,  the  force  generated,  and  at  a  given  signal  the  great 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  899 

hall  was  alive  with  action.  So  I  think  we  have  all  things  ready.  Our 
ecclesiastical  machinery  makes  a  promising  display — it  shows  careful 
adjustment ;  but  we  must  have  fire  from  heaven  to  insure  the  motive- 
power  that  shall  give  success.  This  pentecostal  picture  will  be  a  Pen- 
tecost indeed,  if  the  Holy  Spirit  will  come  and  make  our  Council  the 
power  of  God. 

Rev.  Prof.  Calderwood. — I  respond  to  the  obligation  laid 
upon  me  by  the  Business  Committee,  and  venture  to  say  a  few 
words  in  acknowledgment  of  the  great  kindness  we  have  re- 
ceived in  Philadelphia;  and  of  the  sense  we  have  of  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Divine  Master  and  the  outpouring  of  the  Divine  Spirit 
upon  us  as  we  have  been  gathered  together.  Many  of  us  came 
to  Philadelphia  well  acquainted  with  and  deeply  attached  to 
each  other,  but  entire  strangers  to  many  of  those  with  whom 
we  were  to  meet.  I  think  I  am  only  expressing  what  is  the 
unanimous  feeling  of  the  Council,  when  I  say  that  those  who 
came  here  as  friends  return  to  our  familiar  spheres  still  more 
closely  bound  together  in  the  ties  of  Christian  affection  than  we 
were  when  we  started ;  and  that  those  of  us  who  have  met  with 
fathers  and  brethren  as  strangers  are  returning  now  no  longer 
strangers,  but  with  strong  attachments  to  our  newly  made 
friends.  We  carry  with  us  new  interests  and  new  bonds.  We 
have  found  in  the  centres  of  Christian  sympathy  a  love  which, 
in  the  secret  of  our  closet  and  in  the  midst  of  our  public  worship, 
will  rise   from  our  hearts  in  most  earnest   supplications. 

We  look  back  upon  our  procedings  with  gratitude  to  God  for 
the  evidence  that  we  have  had  that  as  a  Council  we  are  most  ear- 
nestly and  thoroughly  united  in  our  adhesion  to  the  faith.  We 
bow  with  all  reverence  before  our  God  to  make  acknowledgment 
of  his  divine  sovereignty  and  grace ;  and  with  all  gratitude  we 
acknowledge  the  wealth  of  the  Spirit's  power.  If  there  be  any 
one  thing  upon  which  we  would  specially  dwell,  I  think  it  is  this: 
that  we  have  been  favored  to  see  the  evidences  from  all  parts  of 
the  world  of  how  the  blesred  and  glorious  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  winning  its  way.  We  have  heard  from  far-distant  lands ; 
from  the  islands  of  the  sea  ;  from  the  continent  of  Europe.  And 
we  have  heard,  with  intense  interest,  of  that  stirring  throughout 
the  v/hole  extent  of  France,  which  we  together  unite  in  hoping 


900  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

and  praying  will  become  a  great  national  movement  in  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  Jesus  Christ  our  blessed  Saviour. 

Acknowledging  as  we  do  all  these  tokens  of  divine  goodness 
and  love,  I  think  that  we  rightly  close  if,  uniting  in  heart  and  soul, 
we  desire  that  God  would  grant  unto  us,  as  united  Churches  in 
this  Alliance,  an  increase  of  the  power  of  Christian  faith;  that 
he  would  grant  to  us  yet  more  of  the  ardor  and  the  power  of 
brotherly  love;  and,  above  all,  would  give  to  us  more  of  the 
spirit  of  complete  consecration  to  the  grand  purpose  of  our 
Master,  when,  coming  forth  from  the  tomb  victorious,  he  said, 
"Go,  go,  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature." 

After  the  singing  of  a  Psalm,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  led  the  Council  in  prayer ;  and  then 

The  President  declared :  This  Council  is  now  dissolved,  and 
the  next  General  Council  is  appointed  to  meet,  by  leave  of  Prov- 
idence, in  the  town  of  Belfast,  in  Ireland,  in  the  year  1884,  on 
such  a  day  as  maybe  agreed  upon  by  the  Comm.ittee  of  Arrange- 
ments. 

After  which  he  pronounced  the  Benediction,  and  the  Council 
dissolved. 


THE  APPENDIX. 


The  Appendix  consists  of  the  following  Divisions  : 

\.    The  Papers  that  were  prepared  for  the  Council 
and  transmitted  to  it,  but  not  read. 

II.— The  German  Meeting. 

III.— The  Statistical  Reports. 

IV. -The  Creeds. 

v.— Foreign  Mission  Papers. 

VI.— Miscellaneous  :  Letters. 


(901) 


902  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

I. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  paper  (see  page  250)  of  Ed.  de  PRESSEKsfe, 
D.  D.,  of  Paris,  France,  on 

THE  ACTUAL  CONDITIONS  OF  CHRISTIAN  APOLOGETICS. 

Apologetics  is  not  the  apology  itself  of  Cliristi;'.nity  ;  it  confines  itself  to  a  question 
of  method.  It  gives  the  outline,  but  does  not  fill  it;  it  arranges  the  plan  of  attack, 
but  does  not  join  battle.  It  is  true  that  this  plan  depends  on  a  general  conceptii^n 
of  Cliristianity,  which  implies  and  expresses  a  determined  theological  tendency.  In 
order  to  be  complete,  apologetics  ought  to  assume  a  scientific  form,  and  display 
an  appearance  of  reasoning  which  borrows  its  principles  from  the  different  iiranches 
of  theology.  Side  by  side  with  this  systematic  a[)ologetics  there  is  a  fragmentary 
apologetics,  equally  scientific,  which  defends  some  pnrticulnr  point  of  Chnsiinnity. 
Finally,  there  is  a  familiar  daily  apologetics,  which  forces  itsell  into  the  pulpit  and 
the  journals,  as  well  as  into  public  and  ]irivate  discussions.  The  former  is  a  ground- 
work for  the  latter.  It  serves  as  an  arsenal  for  them.  Above  all,  it  directs  their 
course. 

My  design  is  to  treat  of  the  general  principles  which  should  inspire  Christian  apolo- 
getics in  every  f  )rm,  seeking  the  i)est  means  of  convincing  oui'  contemporaries,  in 
this  troubled  and  agitated  age,  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  These  principles  may 
vary  in  their  form  of  exposition  and  their  applications,  according  as  the  question 
bears  upon  the  scientific  or  popular  apology,  but  their  substance  is  the  same.  Chris- 
tianity ignores  e>oterism ;  it  desires  a  demonstration  satisfactory  to  the  people. 
The  proof  which  can  be  presented  to  the  poor  and  ignorant,  and  not  to  the  learned, 
would  surelv  be  injurious;  it  would  be  still  more  so  in  the  contrary  case;  for  an 
argument  which  would  only  reach  the  expert,  and  the  erudite,  and"  which  would 
fail  befjre  the  artless,  could  not  be  intended  for  human  nature.  Science,  doubtless, 
O'eates  special  difficulties  which  must  be  met  on  their  own  ground;  but  this  is  the 
secondary  pirt  of  the  apology.  The  decisive  proof  must  be  universal  and  truly 
human,  answering  to  the  general  laws  of  certitude,  for  we  do  not  require  any 
privilege  or  exemption  for  our  faith. 

I  hope  to  establish  the  fact  that  theological  progress  accomplished  in  our  time, 
according  to  the  general  acceptation,  at  least  as  I  understand  it,  has  really  had  the 
cfl^ect  of  giving  ])ower  to  this  universal  and  truly  human  proof.  The  scholasticism 
of  the  various  churches  had  enveloped  ihe  victorious  sworn  with  a  thick  sheath, 
which  could  not  be  drawn  even  in  the  hour  of  conflict.  It  is,  however,  necessary 
to  draw  this  sheath,  that  the  sharp  point  of  the  blade  may  be  exposed. 

Apologetics  IS  not  the  less  needed  to-dny,  within  the  somewhat  undefined  pre- 
cincts of  the  historical  churches,  than  without  it,  for  it  is  well  known  that  a  religious 
radicalism  is  springing  up  among  them  which  rejects  the  supernatural. 

Antichristianity  has  some  points  which  I  am  far  from  disregarding.  Nevertheless, 
in  my  opinion,  the  central  idea  of  the  gospel  is  diverted,  and  the  idea  of  redemption, 
in  its  broadest  sense,  is  replaced  by  that  of  evt)lution.  However,  nothing  is  more 
dangerous  than  to  confound  the  apologetic  question  with  the  ecclesiastical  question 
in  the  body  of  the  Church  and  state,  which  has  neither  the  right  nor  power  to  impose 
unity  of  dvKtrine.  It  is  impossible  to  liken  the  tolerance  ol  people  to  that  of  ideas; 
and  the  pardon  of  offences  does  not  imply  the  abandonment  of  the  rights  of  truth. 
Whatever  may  be  the  honorable  reasons  which  similar  ecclesiastical  institutions 
maintain,  the  vigorous  defence  of  the  essential  truths  of  the  gos]iel  is  incumbent 
upipn  all  those  who  admit  them.  Antichristianity  being  in  force,  the  arm  of  de- 
tence  must  be  turned  against  it.  Latitudinarianism,  which  pretends  to  settle  the 
|jrofound  divisions  of  thought  by  sentimental  homilies,  would  end  not  only  in  the 
weakening  of  the  evangelical  faith,  but  what  is  still  more  serious,  in  the  lamenlaMe 
enervation  of  Christian  thought.  It  is  then  an  established  fact,  that  Apologetics 
has  a  place  above  even  the  Historic  Church. 

Moreover,  I  think  it  is  necessary  for  the  believing  portion  of  the  Church,  that 
their  faith  should  be  constantly  confirmed  by  Apolegetics;  for  every  breath  of  wind 
that  blows  to-day  brings  a  doubt. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  003- 

The  altadc  on  Christianity  is  everywhere  active,  energetic,  and  quick  to  assume  a 
clear  and  brief  form.  The  work  of  consolidating  is  as  indispensable  as  that  of 
])ropagation.  Those  who  are  in  frequent  contact  with  our  young,  know  that  this  is 
an  important  task.  Hence,  the  great  importance  of  the  question  on  whicli  I  have 
been  commissioned  to  speak,  and  concerning  which  I  shall  be  able  to  present  con- 
clusions only,  without  enlarging. 

I  will  review,  succinctly,  the  moral  and  theological  conditions  of  a  good  apology 
for  Christianity,  under  existing  circumstances,  trying  especially  to  bring  forwartl  the 
new  requirements  which  the  present  state  of  antichristianity  imposes  upon  us. 

I  pass  by  the  historical  part  of  the  subject. 

I.  I  will  speak  briefly  of  the  moral  condition  of  Christian  Apologetics.  It 
should  be  careful  to  avoid  confounding  a  firm  confidence  in  the  cause  with  a  to'nu 
of  premature  victory.  Nothing  is  more  weakening  than  to  take  a  triumphant  posi- 
tion before  beginning  the  comi)at,  whether  the  objection  to  i)e  refuted  is  carefully 
lessened,  or  summarily  dismissed.  You  are  not  forced  to  enter  on  a  philosophical 
or  scientific  combat.  Being  content  with  sharp  aflirmations,  you  fortify  what  you 
pretend  to  crush.  This  victorious  air  has  done  great  harm  to  the  Catholic  Apolo^ 
getics,  which  always  seems  to  have  one  foot  on  heresy,  and  the  other  on  philosophicat 
r.Uionali^m.  It  is  like  a  tableau  of  St.  Michael  destroying  the  dragon.  To  mount 
to  ihe  capitol  before  giving  battle,  armed  with  ignorance  and  self-sufficiency,  is  only 
to  put  yourself  in  a  bad  position,  and  provoke  remarks  which  are  not  flattering.  Let 
us  be  on  guard  not  to  be  too  good  Catholics  in  this  respect. 

Let  us  handle  only  the  points  of  discussion  which  are  familiar  to  us,  approach 
them  when  we  are  able  to  discuss  them  thoroughly,  and  never  mistake  declamation- 
for  an  argument.  Especially  let  us  avoid  replacing  the  latter  by  denum-iation.  To 
attack  an  argument  is  not  to  reply  to  it.  To  threaten  is  vulgar,  a  [iroccedmg  which' 
affects  only  the  ignorant;  the  surest  means  of  attracting  generous  spirits  is  not  thus 
f  Hind.  I  speak  here  only  of  such  denunciation  as  is  possible  with  us,  and  not  that 
which  has  flourished  so  much  in  the  Ultramontane  camp,  and  which  attaches  itself  to' 
the  social  or  political  danger  of  the  doctrines.  When  behind  the  Creed  the  gen- 
darme's tricorne  is  seen,  the  intellectual  combat  is  suddenly  finished  for  want  of  a 
combatant. 

Ttie  Christian  apologist  ought,  further,  to  keep  from  any  snare  into  which  he  might 
be  drawn  by  the  exaggeration  of  a  point  true  in  itself.  It  is  certain  that  in  the  per-: 
sistent  denial  of  the  gospel,  there  is  for  us  a  moral  consideration,  and  in  a  general 
way,  the  words  of  Christ, —  Yoti  ivotild  not  come  unto  me,  because  your  deeds  ar/ 
evil — find  their  justification  in  the  facts. 

We  have  no  more  right  to  attribute  all  opposition  to  Christianity  to  moral  deprav- 
ity, than  we  have  to  conclude  that  all  her  adherents  are  godly.  Opposition,  as  well  os 
adherence,  must  be  analyzed  with  care;  the  second  perhaps  can  be  only  intellectual, 
and  consequently  imaginative,  and  the  evil  becomes  more  serious  under  this  cold  light. 
On  the  other  hand,  opposition  to  Christianity  can  be  connected  with  ignorance  and 
misunderstanding,  united  to  a  great  generosity  of  spirit.  We  must  then  be  very 
careful  not  to  criminate  unbelievers.  When  they  are  treated  thus,  they  seem  in»- 
pressed,  without  remembering  the  old  idea  that  Christendom  belongs  by  right  to 
the  Church,  and  that  unbelief  is  a  revolt. 

The  word  unbelief  cannot  be  ap]5lied  indiscriminately  to  all  opponents;  many  of! 
them  believe  in  conscience,  in  duty,  and  in  a  holy  and  good  God.  Doubtless  they 
have  illusions  which  we  should  try  to  dissipate,  in  awakening  in  them  a  sense  of' 
sin.  But  it  is  not  by  violent  attacks  that  they  will  be  led  to  an  impartial  examina- 
tion of  religious  truths.  If  you  begin  with  violent  reproaches  you  will  be  left  to 
harangue  to  yourself  alone.  L-ct  us  avoid  all  this  old  rhetoric  of  authoritative  ajiol- 
ogy  which  takes  refuge  in  mandates  only.  Protestantism  is  too  often  adorned  with 
what  the  latler  casts  off.  To  our  adversaries  let  us  show  ourselves  respectful  and 
scrupulous  ;  discussion  will  be  more  manly,  for  nothing  is  more  senile  than  loquacious 
anger. 

II.  I  come  to  the  heart  of  the  question  and  ask.  What  is  the  best  method  of  argu- 
ment to  establish  the  truth  of  the  gospel  ?     I  repeat  it,  we  wish  only  to  lay  claim  to 


,904  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  general  and  normal  laws  of  certitude.  But  it,  I  state,  has  two  conditions :  first, 
it  is  to  rely  upon  a  suHicient  experience,  and  second,  to  appropriate  the  modes  or 
instruments  of  experience  to  its  different  objects.  This  is  the  root  of  the  experi- 
mental method — so  far  as  it  is  applicable  to  our  subject.  I  apply  this  method  to 
Christianity,  which  has  found  its  Descartes  in  Claude  Bernard.  It  forms  a  vast 
organism.  It  has  had  its  realization  in  history;  this  history  has  its  documents;  the 
latter  belong  to  the  science  of  documents;  that  is,  criticism. 

Christianity  has  an  aesthetic  side,  born  of  the  imagination.  Its  parts  are  closely 
united;  it  is  the  part  of  logic  to  break  the  chain,  and  search  for  order  in  the  rich 
synthesis  of  life.  But  that  is  not  its  essential,  characteristic  feature.  It  professes  to 
be  a  power  of  redemption  and  restoration,  and  claims  to  have  been  revealed  through 
a  person  both  human  and  divine — Jesus  Christ. 

.  ,  This  moral,  religious,  living  side  evidently  addresses  itself  to  our  corresponding 
faculties,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  conscience  and  heart.  It  is  the  experimenlal  science 
itself  which  gives  us  the  power  to  show  it  in  clear  light.  Please  to  remark,  that  it 
is  not  a  question  to  be  hastily  decided.  No,  the  experiment  should  be  made  seri- 
ously. It  is  from  the  contact  of  the  soul  with  Christ,  that  the  light  will  spring, 
which  will  produce  belief,  if  there  is  harmony  between  them. 

This  contact  was  immediately  possible  for  those  who  met  him,  either  on  the  shore 
of  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret,  in  the  plains  of  Samaria,  or  under  the  jiorch  of  the  Temple. 
This  is  a  self-evident  fact.  There  never  has  been  an  apologetic  superior  to  that. 
Christian  science  has  no  other  aim  than  to  make  it  possible  to  establish,  after  such  a 
lapse  of  time,  this  contact  which  drew  the  first  disciples  to  the  feet  of  Christ.  Also, 
its  great  effort  should  be  to  put  the  true  Christ  in  the  presence  of  true  humanity, 
which  seems  to  sleep  in  the  dep^ths  of  our  souls.  The  latter  too  often  allows  only 
the  worldly  side  of  human  nature  to  appear,  which  delights  in  sin. 

The  Christian  apology  has  then  a  double  task.  It  should  first  of  all  reveal  the 
soul  to  itself  by  an  experimental  psychology  which  analyzes  the  truth  of  conscience, 
tlirows  a  light  upon  the  duality,  ttie  sorrowful  contradiction  in  which  our  moral 
nature  struggles,  and  reveals  to  it  both  its  divine  aspirations  and  its  frightful 
miseries. 

In  the  second  place,  this  apology  ought  to  present  Christ  to  mankind  by  showing 
his  claim  to  their  confidence.  This  will  establish  from  the  beginning  the  historical 
authenticity  of  the  testimony  contained  in  our  sacred  books. 

But  its  principal  task  will  be  to  revive  Christ  himself,  rather  than  his  image,  and 
to  show  those  points  which  appeal  to  mankind.  It  is  thus  that  apology  reproduces, 
as  much  as  j)ossil)le,  the  simple  way  in  which  Christian  conviction  showed  itself 
when  Christ  was  on  earth.  Then  a  brokenhearted  penitent  looked  through  his 
tears  upon  the  loving,  majestic  face  of  the  Redeemer — all  was  understood  between 
them.  To-day,  from  the  heart  of  the  sinner  revealed  to  himself,  the  same  aspiration 
.must  be  called  forth,  and  the  holy  image  of  Christ  presented  in  the  gospel  must  be 
reproduced  and  placed  before  him.  But  faith  can  result  only  from  their  contact. 
The  belief  thus  formed  answers  perfectly  to  the  laws  of  certitude,  for  it  is  an  expe- 
rience. According  to  the  remarkable  words  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  has 
laid  the  foundation  for  the  ajjologetic  doctrines  of  all  the  great  defenders  of  Chris- 
tianity, from  the  time  of  Justin  Martyr  to  that  of  Pascal  and  Vinct,  it  has  proved 
like  by  like. 

To  believe,  for  us,  is  not  to  renounce  sight;  it  is  to  open  the  eye  which  perceives 
what  is  divine,  that  by  its  proper  use  the  will  may  have  its  legitimate  and  decisive 
part,  since  the  Redeemer  is  our  living  law — godliness  realized  in  human  conditions. 

We  will  now  bring  to  a  close,  as  best  we  can,  the  famous  proceedings  so  long  in 
discussion  between  external  and  internal  proof.  The  question  is,  what  is  to  be  un- 
derstood by  the  former?  If  it  is  compared  to  the  historical  proof  which  establishes 
the  credibility  of  the  documents  by  a  reasonal^le  and  careful  criticism,  and  brings 
forward  the  originality  of  Christianity,  by  a  comparative  study  of  the  doctrines  which 
have  preceded  it  to  show  the  impossibility  of  explaining  it  by  antecedent  writers, 
the  historical  proof  is  indispensable;  the  internal  proof  which  endeavors  to  bring 
forward  xhe  relation  between  the  conscience  and  the  gospel  cannot  be  separated 
from  it. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  903 

Moreover,  the  external  proof  needs  the  internal  proof;  for  without  an  intuition 
of  the  divine,  it  cannot  distinguish  the  true  character  of  biblical  testimony.  'I'h.- 
critic  who  finds  it  human  and  ordinary  does  not  recognize  its  originality  and  woiili. 
In  this  sense  the  external  and  internal  proofs  mutually  affect  and  stiengthen  eacli 
other.  Nevertheless,  we  cannot  forget  that  the  external  proof  has  been  prcsenuil 
for  a  long  time  in  a  very  different  manner.  It  was  likened  a  few  years  ago  to  ilio 
proof  of  miracles  and  prophecy.  It  was  stated  that  the  prophets  had  predicted  the 
tiiture,  and  the  apostles  had  worked  miracles;  therefore  the  hook  written  by  tliciu 
was  the  wprd  of  Godj  further,  that  it  should  be  accepted  as  an  infallible  oracle. 
According  to  this  conception  the  belief  in  Jesus  Christ  rests  upon  a  belief  in  tlie 
authenticity  of  the  .Scriptures  established  by  niiiacle  and  prophecy. 

In  this  way  it  is  nutde  necessary  to  go  from  the  Scriptures  to  Christ,  and  not  from 
Christ  to  t:  e  Scriptures.  Yet  upon  this  point  an  amphilology  rules.  We  also  think 
that  Christ  can  be  found  "only  in  the  Scriptures,  in  the  sense  that  they  alone  make 
l.im  known,  by  right  of  original  evidence  of  his  Sjjirit.  What  we  resent  is  the  theory 
which  rests  fnith  in  Christ,  not  on  contact  with  him,  but  on  the  authority  of  the 
I5ii)le,  established  iiy  external  facts,  however  conclusive  lliey  may  appear.  1  regard 
this  apnlugetic  method  as  altogether  erroneous.  'I'he  evangelical  theology  of  our 
time,  in  its  line  of  regular  progress,  h.is  rendered  us  a  great  service  by  giving  the 
death-blow  to  this  apologetic  external  nietliod,  and  attacking  its  foundation,  whicJi 
was  a  false  idea  of  revelation. 

Most  theologians  of  the  seventeenth  century  described  revelation  as  the  super- 
natural communication  of  the  doctrines  of  God  and  man.  It  was  for  them  essen 
ti.dly  an  orthodoxy.  A  similar  theory  makes  the  book  containing  the  divine  formula 
almost  identical  with  the  revelation  itself.  It  became  the  direct  object  of  faith,  and 
signified  that  it  was  divinely  proved  by  prophecy  and  miracles.  There  has  been 
one  i^oint  gained  to-day — that  is  the  distinction  between  the  revelation  itself  and. 
its  document.  Revelation  is  a  history  and  a  person ;  the  book  which  guards  it  for 
us  is  the  Bible.  It  has  no  other  mission  than  to  make  us  know  him  who  has  said, 
^•^ I  am  the  truth.''''  In  reality,  the  hook  loses  nothing  by  this.  On  the  contrary, 
it  has  gained  what  it  seemed  to  lose. 

When  it  was  considered  as  a  code  or  catechism  fallen  from  heaven,  it  became 
cold  and  dry.  Since  it  has  been  considered  especially  a  testimony  to  the  effective 
manifestations  of  God  in  history,  and  above  all  to  the  highest — the  incarnation — it 
is  living  like  the  Christ  whose  image  is  stamped  upon  it.  The  scholasticism,  which 
finds  in  the  Bible  nothing  but  forms  that  chill  the  aspirations,  seems  to  have  put 
a  bandage  u]3un  the  eyes  of  the  disciples.  In  reading  the  Bible  they  find  Christ  un- 
real, the  /Eon  of  a  gnosis  altogether  metaphysical.  Since  a  biblical  testimony  is 
especially  needed  lo  fill  the  commission  of  the  much-loved  disciple — "This  is  what 
we  have  seen,  this  is  what  we  have  heard,  concerning  the  wot  d  of  life  :  which  our 
hands  have  touched,  that  zve  announce  to  you'''' — the  Bible  seems  to  have  received 
a  new  life;  it  is  no  longer  a  mere  book,  it  is  the  vibrating  voice  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets. 

If  it  does  not  lead  us  nearer  the  truth  by  way  of  an  outward  authcirity,  which  mnves 
us  by  the  marvellous,  as  by  a  heavy  blow,  it  is  none  the  less  clothed  with  the  highest 
authority  for  those  who  believe  in  it,  and  is  the  only  means  of  reaching  Christ, 
and  knowing  his  words,  his  works,  and  his  thoughts.  I  say  his  thoughts — of  whiclj 
the  apostlcship  is,  in  reality,  the  faithful  expression  in  its  fundamental  belief. 

It  is  from  the  Bible  that  we  learn  more  and  more  of  the  true  and  living  Christ, 
beyond  the  subtleties  of  Councils,  even  of  those  which  our  fathers  accepted  with- 
out persuasion  because  they  could  not  accomplish  everything  in  a  day.  After  hav- 
ing read  the  gospel  again,  we  cry  from  our  hearts:  O  Christ,  not  of  Nicea,  nor 
of  Chalcedon,  nor  of  Byzantium,  still  less  of  Arius,  of  Eurlvchus,  or  of  Nestorius  ;  but 
the  Christ  of  Mary  of  Bethany,  of  St.  Peter,  and  St.  John,  who  art  also  the  Christ 
of  St.  Paul,  it  is  thee  to  whom  we  would  gf>  directly,  and  whom  we  would  present 
to  the  men  of  our  generation,  saying,  Look  and  see.  This  is  better  than  to  say, 
Tolle  et  lege.  Our  ajiology  has  no  better  proof  to  present,  either  scientific  or  popu- 
lar, in  the  chair  of  the   professor  or  pastor,   before  the   literary  men  of  our  day,  or 


9o6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

in  the  pvblic  streets.     It  is  summed  up  in  this  sublime  motto  wjjich  Tholuck  has 
borrowed  from  Melancthon  : 

.    .  Fuc  ut  possim  demonstrare. 

Quantum  sit  dulce  te  amare, 
Tecum  pati,  tecum  fiere, 
Et  semper  tecum  congandere. 

III.  I  do  not  conceal  from  myself  that  the  manner  in  vihich  I  have  presented  the 
question  of  authority,  without  departing,  however,  from  the  apologetic  point  of  view, 
is  open  to  ol)jections.  There  is  no  question  that  we  belong  to  a  time  which  no 
lunger  believes  in  authority,  partly  on  account  of  the  excess  to  which  it  has  been 
pushed  in.lhe  Ultramontane  camp.  Whether  this  pleases  or  not,  it  is  true.  There  have 
been  times  when  a  whole  generation  would  instinctively  give  its  aid  to  authority ;  when 
the  Church  could  control  without  difficulty  the  young  Christians,  and  fashion,  more 
or  less,  ihe  public  opinion.  Often,  doubtless,  its  teachings  were  neglected  ;  but  when 
they  returned  to  them,  they  accepted  at  once  certain  grounds  of  belief  which  were 
identical  with  Christianity.  They  could  cease  to  be  Christians,  but  to  return  to  the 
Church  they  must  admit  certain  principles  and  facts  which  it  does  not  question. 
These  steps  were  thus  made  very  easy.  It  is  no  longer  so  at  this  day.  Hence,  the 
necessity  of  giving  prominence  to  the  proofs  which  bear  upon  truth  itself,  rather 
than  upon  its  guarantees. 

This  total  ruin  of  all  that  resembles  an  accepted  authority  arrives  at  its 
last  consequences  in  radical  philosophy.  The  great  current  of  antichristian 
thought  entirely  denies  the  moral  world;  the  idea  of  obligation  which  is  the  sub- 
stance of  conscience,  and  which  has  had,  at  least  in  former  times,  the  authority  of 
an  axiom,  is  met  at  the  outset  with  all  the  theistic  principles  of  which  it  is  the  root. 
It  is  in  view  of  this  situation  that  we  must  take  an  unmistakable  stand;  it  is  a  very 
grave  position.  We  can  attribute  it,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  grand  development  of 
natural  science  in  our  time,  or  rather  to  the  confusion  into  which  it  has  thrown  con- 
temporaneous thought.  Natural  science  has  wished  to  dissipate  everything;  we 
have  thus  arrived  at  what  is  called  Monism,  that  is  to  say,  to  a  new  kind  of  Uni- 
tarianism,  which  sees  only  the  action  of  mechanical  forces  in  the  universe.  Thus, 
we  find  ourselves  very  far  from  positivism,  which,  according  to  the  beautiful  image 
of  Littre,  stops  before  this  great  ocean  of  the  unknown,  whose  dark  waves  beat  our 
shores.  In  the  opinion  of  the  contemporaneous  materialist,  there  is  no  longer  an 
unknown.  No;  by  the  principle  of  the  transformation  and  permanence  of  forces, 
as  well  as  through  their  changes,  they  pretend  to  explain  everything,  notwithstand- 
ing they  destroy,  by  the  same  explanation,  the  moral  life — inseparable  from  liberty 
and  duty.  Not  only  is  the  idea  of  God  destroyed,  but  that  of  personality  disap- 
pears wuh  the  same  blow.  These  theories,  more  subtle  in  English  psychology, 
modified  by  the  bold  inconsistencies  of  Stuart  Mill,  coarser  and  more  glaring  in  the 
transformations  of  Heckel,  penetrate  everywhere,  through  the  writings  of  the  learned 
as  well  as  the  penny  journal.  They  are  the  glory  of  the  municipal  councillors  of 
our  great  cities,  who  dream  of  making  them  the  object  of  lay  teaching.  They  are 
frightfully  perilous  to  the  democracy,  and,  above  all,  the  most  mortal  poison  to  our 
population.  They  grant  full  indulgence  to  all  immoralities,  and,  above  all,  cause 
the  loss  of  immortal  souls. 

We  cannot  ignore  them.  The  first  duty  of  apologetics  is  to  know  them  well — 
to  possess  such  knowledge  that  the  blows  may  not  be  vain  and  hazardous.  I  can- 
not approve  too  highly  of  the  establishment  of  scientific  courses  in  our  theological 
universities,  at  least  where  they  are  not  already  introduced.  I  am  convinced  that 
the  more  information  is  spread,  the  more  easy  will  be  the  victory  over  contempora- 
neous materialism. 

The  more  I  consider  its  gigantic  efforts  to  ruin  the  belief  in  the  spiritual  world, 
the  more  I  am  persuaded  of  the  force  of  our  position  towards  each  other,  as  Chris, 
tian  spiritualists,  and  that  we  should  not  ignore  the  opening  of  the  combat  which  is 
inevitable. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  907 

I  will,  in  a  few  words,  show  what  our  plan  of  defense  should  be. 

At  first  I  will  suggest  without  urging,  because  I  think  that  I  am  breaking  through 
a  door  already  opened,  that  it  is  necessary  to  understand  that  natural  science  is  in- 
dependent of  revelation  as  long  as  the  former  does  not  depart  from  the  principle 
that  God  reveals  to  us  only  what  we  cannot  discover.  The  Bible  does  not  teach 
astronomy  nor  philosophy  nor  cosmology.  We  must  therefore  lie  careful  not  to  pro- 
nounce such  and  such  scientific  theories  to  be  incompatible  with  Christianity — even 
Darwinism,  with  the  proviso  that  it  confines  itself  to  the  domain  of  natural  facts. 

In  the  second  place,  we  must  keep  closely  to  the  experimental  method.  The  natural 
sciences  const.intly  rush  into  pure  hypothesis,  to  end  in  hazardous  conclusions.  All  the 
theories  of  transformation,  of  the  origin  of  life,  and  the  formation  of  the  spirit,  rest 
on  suppositions  and  not  on  facts.  The  explanations  which  they  give  are  more  diffi- 
cult to  understand  than  theism.  Among  the  admirable  works  which  have  been 
written  to  establish  this  fact,  I  will  mention  the  fine  book  of  M.  Janet,  on  "  Final 
Causes,"  that  on  "  TIjc  Unity  of  Mankind,"  by  M.  de  Quatrefages.  For  all  thisprelin)- 
inary  part  of  the  apologetic,  spiritual  philosophy  is  our  natural  ally.  But  we  will  not, 
on  that  account,  surrender  to  it.  We  may  suggest  that  its  folly  is  equal  to  ours — the 
creation  is  not  less  absurd  than  the  cross  in  a  pure  natural  sense.  Divine  liberty  has 
always  two  different  degrees.  Let  us  set  forth  the  insignificance  of  the  spiritualism 
whioh  is  in  the  way,  and  which  wishes  to  conceal  the  divine  liberty  which  it  acknowl- 
edges, in  the  fatal  circle  of  natural  organism,  but  at  the  same  time  let  us  guard  against 
disregarding  its  support.  Above  all  let  us  be  careful  not  to  sacrifice  our  common 
truths  to  any  particular  theological  theory.  To  compare  men  to  animals  in  order  to 
arrive  at  a  conditional  immortality,  seems  to  me  a  very  dangerous  undertaking,  and 
I  do  not  like  to  see  Hobbes,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  Bain  invoked  as  fathers  of  the 
Church,  in  the  effort  to  sustain  the  theory  of  the  annihilation  of  hardened  sinners, 
without  trying  to  solve  a  problem  so  grave. 

The  lay  discourses  of  M.  Charles  Secretan,  the  remarkable  work  of  M.  Ernest 
Naville,  published  this  year  in  the  "  Philosophical  Review,"  on  the  physical  anrl 
moral,  where  the  possibility  of  preserving  liberty,  with  the  permanence  of  force,  is 
established,  are  model  apologetics;  vigorous  and  well  informed  in  the  face  of  ol> 
jections  taken  from  the  natural  sciences.  The  apologetic  of  Ebrard  is  of  great 
value  on  this  account. 

It  is  more  than  ever  necessary  to  fortify  philosophical  studies  in  our  theological 
universities,  especially  in  what  concerns  anthropology.  The  history  of  philosophy 
has  a  great  apologetic  importance  in  showing,  by  the  rapid  succession  of  systems, 
how  far  we  can  trust  the  human  mind,  by  itself,  to  destroy  the  error.  In  reality, 
each  system  perishes  in  proportion  to  its  falseness,  it  reveals  this  dialectic  spontaneity 
of  the  reason  which  forces  each  doctrine  to  produce  all  its  consequences,  and  thus 
to  end  in  an  irresistible  redtictio  ad  absurdnin. 

The  study  of  the  history  of  phiiosopliy  prevents  our  return  to  useless  modes  of 
reasoning,  which  have  entirely  passed  away.  Since  Kant  we  are  no  longer  satisfied 
with  the  philosophy  of  Des  Cartes.  We  ought  to  oliserve  and  follow  closely  the 
decisions  of  the  critic  of  the  great  philosophy  of  Koenigsburg.  It  leads  us  elsewhere 
on  this  ground  of  true  morality,  where  we  can  more  easily  overcome  contempora- 
neous naturalism,  because  in  denying  obligation  and  substituting  Utilitarianism,  it 
comes  in  contact  with  experiences  which  no  artifice  can  destroy. 

The  history  of  Materialism  by  Lange  can  be  useful  to  us  in  establishing  what  is 
least  certain;  it  is  precisely  matter  that  we  know  only  through  the  medium  of  sen- 
sation. I  cannot  recommend  too  highly  the  profound  study  of  Maine  de  Biran,  and 
the  works  which  have  more  or  less  adopted  his  line  of  thought  in  our  French  phi- 
losophy under  the  influence  of  M.  Ravaisson. 

The  history  of  religions  also  claims  the  most  serious  study  of  the  apologist.  The 
linguist  shows  us  in  the  most  elementary  language  the  power  of  generalization 
which  implies  reason,  to  which  an  animal  can  never  reach.  Even  in  the 
grossest  superstitions. of  savages,  the  divine  instinct  is  found.  The  history  of  ])rim- 
itive  civilization,  written  in  the  sense  of  transformation  by  a  Taylor  (jr  a  Lubbock, 
makes  it  appear  in  the  depths  of  an  African  desert.    The  works  of  Max  Mullcr  have 


9o8 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


forever  taken  from  fetichism  ihe  character  of  the  primitive  religion.  The  most  reli- 
able docimients  on  the  Aryans  and  ancient  Egyjit  establish  the  fact  that  Monotheism 
is  at  the  depths  of  the  human  soul,  since  it  appears  spontaneously  in  every  clime  with- 
out being  able  for  a  long  time,  it  is  true,  to  disengage  itself  from  its  natural  symbol. 
The  history  of  the  religions  of  the  old  world  makes  us  take  the  same  evolution  towards 
the  religion  of  the  future,  as  we  discover  in  Judaism  under  a  form  purer,  because 
divinely  superintended.  It  is  thus  that  this  grand  science  is  a  magnificent  commentary 
on  the  discourse  of  Paul  at  Athens.  It  ought,  therefore,  to  occupy  an  honorable  place 
in  our  universities  of  theology.  In  o]5position  to  the  theories  of  syncretism  especially 
develo])ed  among  us  l>y  M.  Havet's  i)Ook  on  "The  Origins  of  Ciirislianity,"  which 
makes  the  latter  merely  a  mingling  of  Greek  and  Oriental  elements,  it  will  establish 
jieremptorily  its  own  character,  and  prove  that  if  it  has  ijeen  prepared  by  all  human 
history,  it  is  not  its  simple  product,  but  has  besides  a  still  higher  source. 

This,  then,  is  the  task  in  which  the  apologist  must  resolutely  engage. 

We  shall  now  touch  upon  the  question  of  the  supernatural.  It  remains  the  vital 
question.  Let  us  not  allow  it  to  l)e  put  scornfully  aside,  for  this  is  only  a  conve- 
nient way  of  refusing  to  examine  it.  Let  us  show  the  falsity  of  the  deductions 
which  are  drawn  against  it  from  the  progress  of  the  natural  sciences.  Let  us  make 
it  clear  that  the  more  science  discovers  the  order  of  nature,  the  more  she  shows 
us  the  intelligence,  the  wisdom,  the  spirit,  that  which  in  every  way  surpasses  it,  and 
consequently  that  which  has  fashioned  it,  and  is  capable  of  interposing  and  directing 
to  its  ends. 

Still  more  do  I  admire  Knc^ioq — that  is  to  say,  a  world  wisely  ordered.  Still  more 
has  the  supernatural  been  rendered  possible  in  showing  the  powerful  ordaining 
ruler  of  (he  world  ;  above  all,  if  we  admit,  even  in  the  name  of  natural  sciences, 
new  interferences  of  this  power  each  time  that  a  new  step  is  taken  in  the  ladder  of 
life.  In  my  opinion,  the  question  of  the  sujiernatural  should  be  boldly  and  cate- 
gorically stated.  We  must  not  reduce  it  to  the  simple  possibility  for  the  Creator  to 
combine  laws  unknown  to  us.  Why  hesitate  to  say  with  Rothe  that  the  first  law 
is  the  dependence  of  nature  over  against  conscience  ?  *  The  right  of  confounding  the 
supernatural  with  the  arbitrary  is  lost,  when  once  the  interference  of  God,  in  nature 
and  the  world,  serves  as  a  motive  for  the  disorder  introduced  into  the  world  by  evil. 
The  evil  below,  and  the  sovereign  power  above,  are  the  two  grand  explanations 
of  the  supernatural,  which  is  frequently  confounded  with  the  same  question  of  lib- 
erty— that  is,  with  the  essential  principle  of  the  moral  world.  It  is  to  this  height 
that  the  Christian  apologetist  should  carry  this  great  problem. 

Allow  me,  in  conclusion,  after  having  tried  to  indicate  what  should  be  the  condi- 
tions of  conteni])oraneous  apologetics  in  a  moral,  theological  and  scientific  point  of 
view,  to  report  that  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  a  Christian  life,  ur.less  we  admit 
the  famous  reasoning  of  the  Jew  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  entered  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  because  he  thought  that  a  Church  which  has  so  many  unworthy 
representatives  can  only  exist  with  a  divine  protection.  I  think  that  we  could  not 
have  much  faith  in  such  an  argument.  Let  us  show  Christ  in  the  C/itirc/i,  or  we 
will  try  in  vain  to  show  him.  We  have  already  said,  more  than  once,  that  the 
enemies  of  Christianity  have  but  one  excuse,  but  it  is  a  strong  one — the  indifferent 
Christianity  which  they  see  around  them.  Let  us  endeavor  to  make  it  more  decided. 
Our  consolation  is,  that  above  all  weaknesses  ot  argument  and  inconsistencies  of 
life,  there  is  a  direct  apology  of  God  to  the  soul.  It  is  his  prevenient  and  efficacious 
grace  which  we  believe  to  be  the  highest  manifestation  of  his  liberty  and  his  love. 

*  See  the  fine  thesis  of  Mr.  Boutroux  on  the  "  Contingencies  of  the  Laws  of  Nature." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


909 


The  following  is  the  paper  (see  page  447)  of  George  Fisch,  D.  D.,  of  Paris,  on 

RECENT  EVANGELISTIC  WORK  IN  PARIS. 

The  conquest  of  Paris  for  the  gospel  is  one  of  the  most  important  topics  which 
may  be  brought  before  a  conference  like  this.  God  used  for  the  preparation  of  this 
work  the  most  extraordinary  means.  Paris  exerts  an  immense  influence  over  the 
world.  It  is  the  capital  of  gayety,  of  pleasure,  of  taste,  of  fashion.  It  is  one  of 
the  greatest  centres  of  fine  arts,  of  literature,  and  of  science.  The  ideas  jircvnlent 
m  the  French  metropolis  radiate  with  wonderful  power.  This  grent  B.nliylon  entices 
all  nations  by  its  attractions.  Vice  is  there,  so  elegant,  so  graceful,  that  ]->eople  of 
all  tongues  come  to  drink  some  drops  from  this  enchanted  cup.  More  than  12,000 
English-speaking  Protestants  live  there,  and  the  majority  of  them  lose  soon  the  re- 
ligious habits  inherited  from  a  pious  mother.  Therefore,  to  evangelize  Paris  is  a 
work  which  concerns  the  whole  evangelical  Christendom. 

A  brief  sketch  of  its  religious  history  is  necessary,  in  order  to  make  better  under- 
stood the  nature  of  the  soil  upon  which  we  labor. 

In  the  Muldle  Ages  Paris  was,  more  than  Rome,  the  religious  centre  of  the  west 
of  Europe.  The  youth  of  all  nations  was  attracted  by  its  university.  Innumerable 
convents  covered  the  city,  and  ruled  in  it.  When  the  Reformation  appeared  it  was 
repulsed  from  Paris  with  incrediijje  cruelty.  Every  one  suspected  of  heresy  was 
burnt  alive  with  slow  fire.  Henry  IV.  did  not  think  possible  to  live  in  this  boiling 
kettle  of  fanaticism  without  joining  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  Protestants  of  his  couit 
and  suite  were  fjbliged  to  worshi])  at  Charenton,  at  the  distance  of  six  miles.  After 
the  revocation,  the  Reformed  Church  was  utterly  eradicated  from  the  city,  and  the 
few  Protestant  foreigners  who  came  there  on   business  met  in  the  S\vedi.•^h  Embassy. 

Then  came  the  eighteenth  century.  The  popish  faith  disapjieared,  and  Paris  be- 
came the  great  focus  of  infidelity.  The  terror  raged  there  from  1793  to  1795,  """"e 
than  in  any  French  town.  Every  one  suspected  of  Roman  Catholic  feelings  was 
sent  to  the  guiilotine. 

After  that  fearful  tempest  popery  tried  every  means  to  recover  its  former  influence 
over  the  Parisian  population.  It  never  succeeded  to  it.  Of  course,  there  are  ])arts 
of  the  city  where  the  Church  of  Rome  is  largely  represented,  viz.,  several  quarters 
of  the  left  banlc,  and  of  the  west  end.  In  the  centre,  the  wonien  alone  beiievt, 
whilst  their  husbands  are  totally  indifferent,  and  in  the  remaining  paits  of  Paris, 
more  than  one  million  of  people  have  no  religion  at  all,  and  hate,  from  all  their 
hearts,  the  teaching  imparted  to  them  in  their  childhood.  The  priests  are  laughed 
at,  and  exert  no  influence  whatever  over  these  masses. 

The  Parisian  working  classes  form  a  most  interesting  subject  of  observation. 
They  are  quick,  intelligent,  witty;  they  are  impulsive,  generous,  always  in  the  op- 
position, considering  it  their  task  to  protect  the  weak,  and  to  resist  injustice.  They 
like  every  theory  which  is  grand  and  lofty,  but  as  they  are  very  ignorant,  they  are 
easily  taken  by  declamatory  sentences,  and  by  great  M'ords.  They  uphold  each 
other  with  self-denving  love.  Sometimes,  if  one  of  them  is  expelled  from  his  home 
for  inability  of  paying  his  rent,  they  collect  between  themselves  the  money  which  is 
wanted  to  rcstcjre  that  family  to  its  abode.  If  parents  die,  leaving  orphans,  the 
neighboii  divide  them  between  themselves. 

Such  a  clais  of  men  is  peculiarly  apt  to  be  seduced  by  socialistic  schemes,  which 
promise  to  create  a  sort  of  paradise  on  earth.  These  plans  of  renovation  for  man- 
kind are  all  founded  upon  atheism.  It  is  heartrending  to  see  the  progress  made 
among  our  Parisians,  by  the  most  outrageous  impiety.  At  this  time  atheism  is  mak- 
ing an  immense  effort  to  get  hold  of  our  population.  Every  morning  innumerable 
newspapers,  full  of  this  venom,  appear  and  are  eagerly  read  by  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands. They  tear  to  pieces  everything  that  is  sacred — God,  the  family,  civil  society. 
God  is  called  a  ferocious  invention  of  the  human  mind.  He  is  the  arch  enemy — 
the  source  of  all  evil.  To  free  our  race  from  such  a  monster,  is  to  redeem  and  to 
save  it.  No  effort  is  too  great,  no  sacrifice  is  too  costly  for  achieving  this  glorious 
work. 


9IO  THE  PRESBYTERTAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Atheists  have  formed  lately  a  kind  of  churcli,  under  the  name  of  Society  of 
Free  Thouj^ht.  It  covers  tlie  vvhi)le  city,  and  has  branches  in  every  one  of  our 
twenty  arrondissements.  They  meet  for  iiearing  irrelij^ious  speeches  made  by  gen- 
tlemen and  ladies.  There  is  one  Miss  Auclerc,  who  is  very  prominent  by  her  elo- 
quent attacks  of  the  Supreme  Being.  On  Friday,  when  the  sincere  Roman  Catholics 
abstain  from  meat,  the  Treiihinkers  have  banquets  where  the  most  abundant  dish  is 
fiesh  llesh.  This  shows  how  much  the  Parisian  atheism  was  engendered  by  popery. 
The  only  (Jod  of  whom  they  heard  was  the  God  depicted  to  them  by  their  religion 
as  him  who  keeps  in  the  flames  of  purgatory  those  whose  relatives  are  loo  poor  to 
pay  masses  for  them,  and  who  condemns  to  hell  the  child  whose  parents  did  nol 
l)a])tize  him  in  good  time.     Such  a  God  is,  indeed,  hateful. 

This  prevalent  impiety  is  now  incarnate  in  the  municipal  council,  elected  by  the 
eighty  wards  of  Paris.  There  are  not  more  than  fifteen  out  of  these  eighty  members 
who  dare  acknowledge  the  existence  of  God.  The  only  one  who  is  bold  enough  to 
speak  out  on  this  subject  is  an  Ultramontane,  who  utters  so  much  nonsense  that  no- 
body listens  to  him.  The  great  purpose  of  the  council  is  to  eradicate  religion  from 
education.  A  book  proposed  for  the  schools,  and  where  the  word  Providence  was 
timidly  inserted,  was  rejected  for  this  only  reason.  Of  course,  many  of  our  coun- 
cillors think  better  in  the  bottom  of  their  hearts,  but  they  do  not  avow  it  by  fear  of 
their  constituents. 

Is  it  not  most  melancholy  to  see  our  working  classes  abandoned  like  sheep,  under 
the  care  of  such  shepherds?  Every  one  who  lived  among  them  during  the  siege, 
knows  the  real  worth  (jf  the  Parisians.  The  sufferings  of  hunger,  frost,  and  desti- 
tution when,  after  having  waited  for  seven  hours  belore  a  baker-shop  to  get  nine 
ounces  of  bread,  where  only  one-tenth  part  was  wheat,  mothers  found  their  baby 
wrapped,  on  their  arms,  in  a  shawl,  frozen  to  death  ;  these  horrors  were  accepted 
with  unbounded  patience.  Not  a  word  of  discouragement  was  uttered.  These  men 
felt  happy  to  endure  these  torments  for  their  dear  native  land.  If  such  a  popula- 
tion came  under  the  influence  of  the  truth,  what  wonders  would  it  not  achieve? 

Let  us  now  come  to  the  evangelistic  work  performed  in  these  masses;  and  first 
say  a  word  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Paris. 

When,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  Napoleon,  then  first  consul,  acknowledged 
and  paid  the  salary  of  the  Catholics,  the  Lutherans,  the  Reformed,  and  the  Jews,  a 
small  number  of  Protestants,  who  had  all  come  from  without,  formed  themselves 
into  two  churches:  the  Reformed,  to  whom  the  government  gave  two  old  Roman 
Catholic  jjlaces  of  worship,  and  the  Lutherans,  who  met  in  the  old  convent  of  les 
Ballcttes.  Their  number  has  grown  so  rapidly  that  it  reaches  now  75,000  people, 
including  the  English-speaking.  No  notice  is  to  be  taken  of  the  figures  given  by 
the  official  census,  made  in  such  a  way  that  two  prominent  pastors,  whose  families 
and  servants  numbered  thirty-five  Protestants,  were  put  down  as  Catholics.  The 
Protestant  churches  and  chapels  increased  with  the  same  .rapidity,  and  are  now, 
with  the  addition  of  the  evangelistic  halls,  fifty-eight  within  the  walls  and  seven- 
teen on  the  outskirts. 

The  work  of  evangelization  of  the  Roman  Catholics  was  begun  in  1830.  A  mis- 
sion was  opened  by  the  Church  Taitbout,  and  continued  by  the  Evangelical  Society 
in  the  two  vast  quarters  of  the  Faubourg  du  Temple  and  the  Faubourg  Saint  An- 
toine.  Two  missionary  churches  were  founded  with  large  schools,  which  numbered 
at  a  time  800  children.  The  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed  Church  gathered  in  large 
and  flourishing  schools,  many  hundreds  of  Roman  Catholic  children.  But  God  had 
still  Ijetter  ])lans  for  the  great  city  which  he  had  prepared  by  the  awful  trials  of  the 
siege  and  the  commune. 

At  the  end  of  the  rueek  of  fire,  as  we  named  the  seven  days  of  fight  from  house  to 
house,  when  Paris  was  retaken  by  the  Versailles  troops,  M.  MacAll,  a  Congre- 
gationalist  minister  of  England,  visited  Paris.  The  fires  which  devoured  its  edifices 
were  still  smouldering,  and  the  rivulet  of  blood  running  through  many  of  its  streets 
was  not  yet  dried.  He  went  to  Belleville,  which  had  been  the  centre  of  the  great 
insurrection.  He  passed  before  a  coffee-house,  where  a  great  many  peo])Ie  vi'ere 
drinking.     He  gave  them  a  few  tracts.    Soon  every  one  came  out  and  asked  for  these 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  911 

little  books  with  great  avidity.  M.  MacAll  at  tliis  sight  felt  a  call  of  God  to  leave 
his  Church  in  England,  in  order  lo  make  Christ  known  to  these  perishing  sinners. 
He  went  back  to  England,  and  wished  to  inquire  whether  this  work  was  possible.  He 
did  not  know  any  one  in  Paris,  but  he  found  on  tlie  Congregational  year-book  the 
name  of  the  writer  of  this  report.  lie  received  from  him  a  first  answL'r,  saying  that 
if  he  heard  from  the  Master  the  word  go,  he  might  come.  He  wrote  a  second 
time,  and  had  prayed  that  the  answer  to  this  new  inquiry  might  be  the  sign  of 
God's  will.  He  stated  the  two  objections  made  in  England  lo  his  undertaking: 
first,  that  the  Parisians  would  nevef  listen  to  his  broken  P'rench  ;  second,  that  his 
life  would  not  be  secure  in  Belleville.  His  correspondent  ans\\ered,  first,  that  if 
he  made  the  Parisians  understand  that  God  and  himself  loved  them,  he  would  be 
welcome;  and  second,  that  he  pledged  himself  for  the  safety  of  M.  MacAU's  life. 
When  he  received  this  letter,  he  remained  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  without  opening 
the  envelope,  asking  God  to  jirepare  him  to  do  his  will.  As  soon  as  he  had  read  it 
he  said,  "  I  will  go."  He  settled  himself  at  Belleville,  hired  a  little  shop  on  the 
narrow  street  '1  allien  Lacroix,  put  up  a  linnen  on  which  were  printed  these  words: 
"  To  the  anoxiers  !  Come  to  hear  a  friend,  who  will  speak  to  you  of  the  love  of 
Jesus.''  He  had  bought  sixty  straw  chairs;  they  were  soon  filled.  Then  he  opened 
liew  shops  in  other  parts  of  Paris.  The  work  grew  constantly.  Every  year  new 
rooms  were  hired,  and  as  soon  as  one  of  them  became  too  small,  it  was  replaced 
by  a  hall  three  or  four  times  larger,  which  was  immediately  filled. 

God  had  endowed  M.  MacAll  for  the  great  work  intrusted  to  him.  No  foreigner 
h*as  ever  so  well  understood  the  wants  of  the  Parisians.  Friends  from  other  nations 
bring  too  often  their  native  soil  with  them.  They  address  a  Roman  Catholic  or 
infidel  audience  as  they  would  speak  before  Protestant  Christians  at  London  or  New 
York.  They  speak  in  the  Protestant  language,  which  is  iio  more  understood  by  our 
people  than  Hindustani  or  Chinese.  All  the  terms- expressing  religions  things  are 
different.  The  way  of  reaching  the  hearts  is  not  the  same.  M.  MacAll  understood 
this.  He  knew  that  our  Parisians,  by  hatred  of  their  own  worship,  detest  any  relig- 
ious service;  therefore,  he  refused  to  hold  his  meetings  in  Protestant  churches  or 
chapels.  He  avoided  to  give  to  his  appeals  the  form  of  a  divine  service;  he  calls 
them  moral  and  religious  lectures.  There  is  no  opening  prayer,  only  a  short  word 
of  prayer  in  conclusion.  People  remain  sitting  when  this  religious  act  is  performed, 
as  well  as  during  the  singing.  M.  jMacAll  felt  that  any  act  implying  adoration 
would  be  repulsive  to  these  men  who  must  first  be  won  to  the  lielief  of  God.  There 
is  always  a  variety  of  speakers,  and  the  addresses  must  avoid  any  resemblance  with 
preaching.  Our  brother  is  displeased  when  his  orators  take  out  their  Bibles  from 
their  pocket  and  begin  by  taking  a  text.  The  amazing  success  of  the  work  proves 
that  he  is  right. 

Singing  is  one  of  the  great  powers  of  attraction  in  these  meetings.  The  songs  do 
not  resemble  those  of  a  funeral  service;  they  are  swift,  keen,  full  of  impetus.  Hun- 
dreds of  our  working  men  who  had  never  sang  anything  but  bacchic  tunes,  not  only 
join  in  these  beautiful  hymns  with  all  their  heart,  but  also  repeat  them  at  home 
during  their  daily  toil. 

When  this  work  begun,  the  Paris  police  was  very  shy.  The  great  majority  of  the 
National  Assembly  vv'as  clerical.  The  government  allowed  these  lectures  on  the 
condition  that  neither  politics  nor  controversy  against  Popery  should  be  touched 
upon.  Now,  everything  is  changed  in  France,  and  the  present  government  allows 
our  Protestant  lecturers  throughout  the  country  to  thrash  Po]-)ery  in  every  way. 
However,  M.  MacAll  thinks  that  he  must  persevere  in  fulfilling  the  condition  which 
he  first  accepted. 

The  protection  of  God  upon  this  mission  under  the  two  Jesuitical  Cabinets  of  the 
24th  of  May,  1874,  and  l6th  of  May,  1876,  was  indeed  marvellous.  The  priest- 
hood, which  was  reigning  through  the  clerical  government,  did  its  utmost  to  suppress 
these  meetings.  The  Ministers  never  yielded;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  so  fully 
impressed  with  the  excellence  of  the  sacred  work  done  by  this  mission,  that  they 
encouraged  it  constantly.  One  day  M.  MacAll  was  summoned  by  the  police  com- 
missioner of  BatignoUes.     He  went,  fearing  that  his  meeting  was  to  be  closed.     No, 


912  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

this  officer  had  called  him  to  say:  "  I  regret  to  see  that  the  hall  opened  in  my  dis- 
trict is  not  yet  full,  but  I  am  sure  that  it  will  soon  fill ;  you  must  not  i)e  discouraged." 

M.  MacAll  takes  great  care  to  have  his  halls  on  great  thoroughfares.  There  is  a 
little  band  of  young  men  who  stand  before  the  meeting  compelling  to  go  in  all  those 
who  pass  by.  Generally,  when  a  new  district  is  invaded,  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
noise.  Several  limes  the  police  had  to  interfere,  but,  after  a  few  weeks,  order  pre- 
vails, and  the  meeting  is  adopted  by  the  attendants  as  if  it  were  their  church.  In- 
stead of  spending  their  evening  in  the  theatre  or  in  the  wineshop,  they  come  to  pass 
a  peaceful  hour,  which  delights  them  and  gives  a  new  turn  to  their  life. 

The  present  number  of  the  meetings  is  thirty-five  every  week  in  twenty-four  ()lace5, 
having  5,302  seals.  About  8,000  adults  listen  there  every  week  to  the  good  tidings 
of  salvation.  During  the  year  1879,  328,838  persons  have  attended  the  halls.  In 
the  Sunday-schools  and  children's  congregations  1,726  meetings  were  held,  with  an 
attendance  of  87,739  children.  The  number  of  juvenile  meetings  was  236,  with  an 
attendance  af  97,925  young  men. 

God  provided  also  the  work  of  a  suitable  agency.  M.  MacAll  found  two  excellent 
associates,  M.  Rouilly  and  the  Rev.  Geo.  M.  Dodds,  the  son-in-law  of  the  venerated 
Dr.  Bonar.  He  has  a  few  paid  helpers,  but  the  great  majority  of  the  speakers  con- 
sists of  Parisian  laymen  and  ministers  of  all  denominations.  Our  evangelical  clergy 
found  there  an  enlargement  of  their  ministry.  All  rallied  around  him  as  one  man. 
This  work  has  become  an  Evangelical  Alliance  on  the  practical  ground.  M.  Mac- 
All  has  a  most  unsectarian  spirit,  and  he  did  a  great  deal  to  bring  the  Parisian 
Christians  together.  A  committee  was  formed  to  help  him.  Each  meeting  is  now 
under  the  superintendence  of  one  of  the  Paris  ministers,  who  conducts  there  a  Bible 
class. 

The  fruits  of  this  mission  are  abundant.  In  order  to  judge  of  the  spiritual  power 
e.xerted  by  it  we  must  look  at  the  difficulties  which  it  has  to  overcome. 

1.  The  Roman  Catholics  in  Paris  have  no  religious  notion  whatever.  They 
attended  for  one  winter  when  ten  years  old  the  so-called  catechism — the  religious 
teaching  of  the  priest.  The  little  book  which  they  learned  by  heart,  after  three 
pages  devoted  to  God,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  came  at  the  fourth  page  to  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  to  the  seven  sacraments  and  to  the  way  in  which  God  must  be 
hallowed  in  the  Eucharist,  without  letting  the  crumbs  fall  away.  They  receive  the 
confirmation  when  they  are  eleven  years  old.  From  that  time  the  boys  never  enter 
a  church.  Their  religion  consists  of  a  vague  remembrance  of  ceremonies  which 
appear  to  them  as  ludicrous.  The  great  facts  of  the  creation,  the  fall,  the  law,  are 
utterly  unknown  to  them,  or  ajjpear  to  them  clothed  in  the  usual  sarcasms  spread  by 
Voltaire  in  the  French  mind. 

2.  Their  consciences  were  distorted  by  popery.  The  notion  of  sin  is  perverted 
by  the  dogma  of  venial  sins,  by  the  idea  that  a  bit  of  meat  eaten  on  Friday  is  a  trans- 
gression equal  to  a  theft,  and  by  the  childish  conception  that  Adam  was  condemned 
to  death  for  having  eaten  one  of  our  apples.  It  requires  years  to  restore  in  their 
souls  the  majesty  of  the  moral  law. 

3.  The  third  obstacle  is  the  levity  of  the  Parisian.  From  his  childhood  his  at- 
tention was  diverted  upon  all  the  things  pleasant  and  attractive,  which  our  beau- 
tiful city  displays.  No  room  remains  in  his  mind  for  the  things  that  are  invisible. 
His  soul  is  like  a  sand  blowed  by  the  wind  in  every  direction.  He  receives  readily 
a  good  impression,  but  it  is  scattered  away  by  a  thousand  others. 

In  spite  of  these  difficulties,  the  number  of  conversions  effected  is  quite  surpris- 
ing. Hundreds  have  entered  the  narrow  way.  A  great  many  young  men  have 
thrown  away  their  profligate  habits  and  help  now  in  the  work.  One  who  confessed 
that  he  had  been  guilty  of  every  sort  of  crime,  has  now  the  care  of  a  meeting-hall. 
In  Belleville  alone  there  is  a  young  men's  meeting,  which  numbered  at  a  time  more 
than  sixty  meml^ers,  all  professing  to  seek  Christ. 

And  now  this  form  of  evangelizing  our  Roman  Catholics  spreads  over  our  whole 
territory.  God  provides  his  Church  at  every  period  with  the  kind  of  net  apjiropri- 
ated  to  the  wants  of  the  time.  The  MacAll  meetings  are  the  only  way  in  which 
the  masses  of  our  great  cities  may  be  approached.     The  mission  has  opened  halls  in 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  .     913 

Bordeaux,  Lyons,  and  olber  large  towns,  with  an  aggregate  number  of  2,080  seats. 
Meetings  of  the  same  kind  were  undertaken  l)y  others  in  Marseilles,  Toulon,  Nomes, 
Lille,  and  elsewhere. 

Oiher  Christians  also  came  after  the  siege  and  the  commune,  to  bring  the  balm 
of  the  saving  truth  to  our  wounded  and  bruised  Paris.  Among  them  we  must  men- 
tion Miss  de  Bruen,  who  built  at  Belleville  an  iron  church,  with  large  schools.  A 
daily  service  is  held  for  the  crowds  which  pass  by  in  large  numbers,  as  this  church 
is  near  the  gate  of  the  splendid  park  of  the  Battes  Chaumont.  A  missionary  physi- 
cian brings  the  work  into  contact  with  thousands  of  families  which  are  visited  by  a 
zealous  evangelist. 

The  combined  action  of  this  double  mission,  seconded  by  the  worthy  Reformed 
pastor,  M.  Robon,  has  already  changed  the  outward  appearance  of  Belleville.  'Ihis 
once  so  ill-famed  quarter  has  become  one  of  the  quietest  and  most  orderly  parts  of 
our  city. 

We  must  also  mention  here  the  admirable  work  founded  after  the  commune  by 
Madame  de  Pressense,  in  the  Chaussee  du  Maone.  It  exerts  a  blessed  iiilhience  by 
large  schools,  sewing  circles,  and  an  industrial  school.  The  good  work  of  Madame 
Dalemvnrt,  the  mission  among  the  ragpickers  of  Clichy,  and  many  others  of  the 
same  kind,  show  that  Christian  charity  is  largely  at  work  in  every  part  of  Paiis. 

Two  recent  facts  show  the  excellent  dispositions  of  our  people.  Last  spring  M. 
MacAll  hired  for  several  weeks  the  large  dancing  hall  c.illed  r Elysee  Montina) tre, 
which  may  hold  2,200  people.  It  is  haunted  by  the  worst  part  of  this  ill  f.inied  dis- 
trict. It  was  a  daring  enterprise  to  offer  to  such  a  class  of  people  the  preaching 
of  salvation.  But  the  experiment  succeeded.  In  the  beginning  there  was  some 
uproar  in  these  dense  masses,  but  since  the  third  evening  the  audience  was  atten- 
tive, earnest,  and  cheered  enthusiastically  several  of  the  speakers. 

The  Rev.  M.  Gibson,  a  well-known  Methodist  minister,  tried  another  step  not 
less  daring.  There  is  near  the  NL^deline  a  hall  devoted  to  scientific,  philosoj)hical, 
and  literary  lectures.  There  an  elite  of  three  hundred  gentlemen  and  ladies,  be- 
longing to  the  educated  classes,  meets,  in  the  week  to  hear  our  most  renowned 
lecturers.  The  general  strain  of  this  teaching  is  thoroughly  infidel.  M.  Gibson 
hired  this  hall  for  every  Sunday  evening.  Evangelical  lecturers  proclaini  there  the 
foolishness  of  the  cross.  The  audience  of  the  week  meets  around  them  in  the  same 
number.  The  hail  is  full.  The  lecturers  are  warmly  applauded.  One  of  the  favorite 
orators  there  is  M.  Reveillaud,  the  Roman  Catholic  advocate,  whose  conversion 
was  so  marvellous,  and  who  is  now  about  starting  for  America. 

I  conclude  now  by  an  earnest  appeal  lo  my  brethren  of  the  forty-nine  Presbyterian 
Churches  represented  in  this  Council.  When  a  fortress  is  the  key  of  the  enemy's 
territory,  a  good  general  understands  that  he  must  storm  it  at  any  cost.  When  Ger- 
many invaded  France,  Moltke  saw,  with  the  eye  of  genius,  that  to  take  Paris  was  to 
conquer  us.  Paris  was  impregnable.  Never  mind,  he  formed  the  gigantic  enter- 
prise of  famishing  a  city  presenting  a  line  of  defence  of  seventy  miles.  He  did  it 
with  so  much  decision  and  patience  that,  after  twenty  weeks,  the  great  capital  sur- 
rendered, and  the  war  was  at  an  end.  I  ask  now,  will  our  Christian  brethren  do 
less  for  llie  kingdom  of  their  Master?  Will  they  not  besiege  Paris  with  the  same 
energy  and  firmness  of  purpose?  Will  they  not  effect,  by  their  prayers  and  Chris- 
tian effoiis,  that  sooner  or  later  this  immense  city  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  Christ, 
and  become  an  unspeakable  blessing  for  the  world  ? 

58 


014    •  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  following  is  the  paper  (see  page  474)  of  the  Rev.  Prof.  J.  J.  Van  Oosterzee, 
I).  D.,  of  Utrecht,  on 

♦THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN   FAITH   AND   RATIONALISM  IN 
HOLLAND. 

"  The  Conflict  between  Faith  and  Rationalism  in  Holland  "  is  the  subject  on 
■which  the  General  Presbyterian  Alliance,  assembled  this  year  at  Philadelphia  {^No- 
men  sit  omen!)  desires  and  expects  a  report  from  me.  The  importance  of  the 
question  thus  raised  will  hardly  be  underrated  by  any  one  who,  with  Goethe,  re- 
gards "the  conflict  between  faith  and  unbelief"  as  affording,  "in  reality,  the  most 
profound  theme  in  the  history  of  the  world."  Nor  will  its  interest  be  diminished, 
because  the  arena  of  the  conflict  happens,  in  this  case,  to  be  one  comparatively  nar- 
row and  circumscribed.  It  will  be  recognized  that  in  the  domain  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  the  geographical  standard  is  far  from  the  highest.  Switzerland,  for  example, 
is  out  of  all  proportion  smaller  than  Russia,  yet  who  will  suppose,  on  this  account, 
that  the  former  casts  a  less  decisive  weight  into  the  scale  of  belief  and  unbelief  than 
the  latter?  Holland,  the  cratile  of  the  Reformation,  the  early  asylum  of  freedom, 
in  its  brightest  days  the  training-ground  for  the  Reformed  theology,  even  of  other 
lands;  once,  in  the  language  of  Prof.  Tholuck,  "the  Goshen  of  philological 
studies  "  for  the  exegesis  of  Scripture,  and,  to  this  day,  a  principal  seat  of  Evangel- 
ical Protestantism  in  Europe — Holland  merits  something  more  on  the  part  of  breth- 
ren at  a  distance  than  the  neglect  of  cold  indifference,  or  the  interest  of  a  cursory 
g'ance.  It  is  true  the  warfare  there  being  waged,  for  or  against  the  truth  in  Christ, 
is  substantially  the  same  as  that  maintained  in  England,  France,  Germany,  and  else- 
where, yet,  in  details,  it  displays  its  peculiar  and  national  character;  and  though 
we  confine  our  retrospect  to  a  period  of  a  little  over  the  twenty  years  last  past 
(1858-1880),  beginning  with  the  rise  of  the  so-called  Modern  Theology,  the  ma- 
terial is  still  of  sufficient  extent  and  importance  to  repay  careful  attention.  In  en- 
tering, without  further  preface,  upon  its  treatment,  be  it  only  ]-)remised  that  the  ex- 
pression "  Faith,"  as  here  employed,  is  used  not  in  the  special  ecclesiastical ^^v\%q  of 
that  term,  but  only  in  its  oecumenical  Chiistian  sense,  and  that,  in  like  manner,  by 
"  Rationalism"  is  here  implied,  in  the  general  sense,  the  radical  denial  and  oppos- 
ing of  Christianity,  in  its  claim  to  he  the  historic  revelation  of  salvation,  conferred 
by  God  in  a  supernatural  7vay,  in  the  person  and  ivork  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God  and  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Seldom,  indeed,  have  so  many  causes  conspired  to  bring  about  n  new  departure 
in  the  domain  of  the  Church  and  theology,  as  in  the  Holland  of  somewhat  more 
than  twenty  years  ago,  when  modern  rationalism  first  began  to  lift  its  head.  The 
cm-piuc philosophy,  as  expounded  by  its  talented  representative.  Prof.  C.  W.  Op- 
zoomer,  at  thf  University  of  Utrecht,  had  widely  disseminated  the  seeds  of  doubt 
with  regard  to  the  supernatural.  The  Criticism  of  the  Tiiiiingen  School,  at  first  op- 
posed, but  afterwards  warmly  espoused  by  the  Leyden  Faculty,  began  more  and 
more  to  shake  the  general  confidence  in  the  authenticity  and  credibility  of  the  bulk 
of  the  New  Testament  writings.  The  lofty  flight  of  Natural  Science,  which  looked 
down  with  proud  disdain  upon  the  simple  faith  in  Bible  and  Revelation,  opened  up 
for  many  minds  an  ever-widening  distance  between  believing  and  knowing.  The 
Evangelical  Protestant  Church,  long  divided  by  manifold  internal  conflicts,  and  less 
and  less  refreshed  by  the  warm  breath  of  an  earlier  revival,  for  many  no  longer 
afforded  the  desired  satisfaction,  and  as  a  result  the  religious  life  of  the  individual 
and  the  congregation  fell,  in  numerous  instances,  into  a  condition  of  languishing. 
The   influence,  too,   of  other  lands,  in  which  the  spirit  of  denial  evermore  loudly 


*  The  limits  assigned  to  the  extent  of  this  p^per,  by  the  esteemed  committee  of  the  Presbyterian 
Council,  at  Philadelphia,  rendered  necessary  great  conciseness  of  statement.  Compare,  therefore, 
by  way  of  supplement  and  illustration,  the  Report  on  Holland,  in  the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance  at  Basle,"  1879,  as  also  what  was  earlier  written  on  The  Gospel  History  and  Modern 
Criticism,  in  the  "  Proceedings,  etc..  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  at  New  York,"  1873,  pp.  238-249; 
cf.  pp.  734,  735- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  915 

asserted  itself — notably  in  the  person  of  W.  Lanjr,  as  of  others  in  Switzerland — was 
powerfully  felt  in  the  freedom-luving  Holland.  And,  as  regards  the  latter  country 
itself,  there  are  perhaps  few  lands  where  a  voice  which  appeals  to  the  love  of  free 
dom  in  any  province,  i^  sure  of  meeting  with  a  more  emphatic  resjwnse  than  here. 
No  wonder,  freedom  was  the  precious  fruit  of  its  former  heroic  struggle ;  freedom 
is  the  prime  condition  of  its  continued  existence.  Hut  freedom  from  Christ  (a 
Chrislo)  is  by  loo  many  confounded  with  freedom  in  Christ  (in  Christo) ;  and  in 
this  way  the  door  was  opened  for  ])ul)lic  opinion  to  express  itself,  as  a  rule,  in  favor 
of  those  who  raised  aloft  the  banner  o^  freedom,  in  whatever  negative  sense,  while 
those  who  felt  bound  to  take  their  stanil  fur  the  truth,  according  to  the  gospel  of 
the  Scriptures,  were  ordinarily  decrieti  as  intolerant  and  exclusive. 

To  no  small  extent,  in  particular,  did  the  influence  of  the  Walloon  theologians 
and  preachers — in  p;irt  kindred  spirits  with  Edmond  Scherer,  the  widely-diverging 
disciple  of  Alexandre  Vinet — at  first  contriijute  to  assure  an  easy  triumph  to  Modern 
Rationalism  in  the  Netherlands.  The  names  of  C.  Busken  Iluet,  Albert  Reville, 
Allard  Pierson,  and  others,  call  forth  distinct  associations  in  this  respect,  in  the 
mind  of  many  a  Netherlander.  Yet  we  should  be  guilty  of  an  injustice  to  these 
gifted  men  if  we  should  suppose  that  they  arose  with  the  definite  aim  of  undermin- 
ing th^  Apostolic  Christianity,  and  in  this  way  of  laying  waste  the  Church  in  which 
they  had  hitherto  ministered.  On  the  contrary,  their  watchword  was  at  first  not 
devastation,  but  rather  purifying,  nay,  paradoxical,  as  it  may  sound,  their  endeavor 
to  kindle  the  new  light,  in  ever  wider  circles,  was  stamped  with  a  certain  conserva- 
tive and  apologetic  character.  They  really  believed  themselves  able,  and,  indeed, 
under  obligation,  in  this  way,  to  attach  to  the  cause  of  Christianity  many  who  would 
otherwise  be  inevitably  lost  to  the  Church.  The  endeavor  was  made,  just  as,  e.  g., 
by  Colani,  in  France,  to  win  over  the  men  of  the  age  to  the  attendance  of  the  preach- 
ing, by  the  proclamation  of  a  Christianity  without  revelation  and  without  miracles; 
one  in  which  the  truly  human  religion  of  the  noble  Jesus  was  to  replace  the  religion 
of  Christian  tradition,  now  regarded  as  olisolete.  Only  by  slow  gradations,  and 
after  the  lapse  of  time,  did  it  become  touclungly  apparent  that  ''whosoever  denieth 
the  Son,  the  same  hath  not  the  Father;"*  and  that  he  who  rejects  the  Christian 
revelation,  will  in  the  end  forsake  the  Christian  religion;  if,  at  least,  he  possesses 
the  courage  of  consistency.  To  the  spirit  of  denial  the  wings  grew  by  degrees; 
and  only  too  great  is  the  number  of  those  who,  after  having  ventured  a  first  hesitat- 
ing step  upon  the  path  of  doubt,  have  within  a  comparatively  short  lime  descended 
with  alarming  precipitancy  into  the  gloomy  depths  of  God-abandonmenl  and  im- 
morality. 

T\\^  progress  of  the  conflict  between  faith  and  rationalism  in  Holland  within  the 
last  few  years  has  been  a  constant  advance  from  a  comparatively  timid  denial  to  an 
ever  bolder  one,  upon  an  ever-widening  platform.  That  which  was  at  first  only,  as 
it  were,  whispered  in  the  ears  of  a  few  in  the  academic  class  room,  was  anon  openly 
proclaimed  to  the  congregation  from  the  puljiit,  instilled  into  the  mind  of  a  younger 
generation,  and  finally  brought  home,  both  orally  and  in  a  printed  form,  to  the  gen- 
eral public,  alike  educated  and  uneducated.  After  the  note  of  doubt  had  been 
more  or  less  distinctly  sounded,  in  the  first  place,  with  reganl  to  the  Saviour's  visi- 
ble ascension,  the  assault  was  presently  directed  against  the  main  bulwark  of  the 
Christian  faith  of  revelation — the  bodily  resurrection  of  the  Prince  of  Life;  and 
with  astonishment  the  congregation  heard,  for  the  first  time  at  the  Piaster  festival  of 
i860,  the  miracle  of  the  Lord's  resurrection  disputed  and  denied  in  the  same  pulpit 
from  which  it  had  been  so  long  proclaimed.  Nor  was  the  ultimate  limit  reached 
yet :  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  ways  and  thoughts  of  men  separate  not  only  at 
the  empty  grave,  or  at  the  Olivet  of  Ascension,  but  even  at  Bethlehem's  manger. 
Above  the  history  of  the  miraculous  birth  was  appended,  as  in  large  letters,  the  in- 
scription, "  Cunningly  devised  fables."  The  alternative  was  presented  between  the 
Christ  of  Bethlehem  and  rabbi  Jesus  of  Nazareth;  and  by  very  many  was  resolved 
in  favor  of  the  latter.     Then  came  the  fatal  year  1864,  which,  after  the  romantic 

*  I  John  ii.  23. 


91 6  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

"  Life  of  Jesus,"  of  Ernest  Renan,  witnessed  the  appearing  of  caricatures  of  the 
life  of  Christ,  in  the  po]iuIar  elaboration  of  that  bio;^r.i]jhy  by  David  F.  Strauss,  and 
in  the  "  Charakterbild  Jumi,"  of  Dan.  Schenkel.  When,  in  1835,  the  first  edition 
of  Strauss  was  brought  out  in  Germany,  the  Dutch  translator  of  that  work  experi- 
enced the  greatest  difficulty  in  finding  a  publisher,  and  the  eventual  publisher  was 
l)randed  by  his  com]ieers  with  a  sort  of  moral  ostracism  for  his  part  in  the  matter. 
Yet,  when  Renan,  with  impure  liand,  smote  in  the  face  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels, 
the  jjublishing  houses  rivalled  each  other  in  their  eagerness  to  transfer  this  exotic 
poison-])lant  as  quickly  as  possible  to  Dutch  soil,  and  to  offer  it  at  the  lowest  price; 
the  work,  morever,  found  champions  and  encomiasts,  even  among  professors  of 
theology  and  preachers  of  the  gospel.  Many  no  longer  shrank  from  saying  that  if 
it  should  please  Strauss  (were  he  still  living)  to  visit  our  land,  he  would  be  incon- 
venienced rather  by  the  ardor  of  his  numerous  friends  than  by  the  hostility  of  his 
adversaries.  "  Lives  of  Jesus,"  composed  in  the  spirit  of  the  aliove-menlioned 
leaders,  began  now  to  issue  from  the  press,  and  to  find  a  more  or  less  extensive  class 
of  readers. 

How  much  was  left  therein  of  the  miraculous  history  of  the  evangelists  may  easily 
be  divined.  The  pruningknife  of  criticism  was  employed  by  all  sorts  of  hands  as 
an  anatomical  dissecting  knife,  and  the  maxim,  "  Faciamus  exjierimentum  in  corpore 
vili,"  put  into  practice  with  relentless  haste.  In  thus  speaking  we  do  not  deny  that 
a  great  deal  of  acumen  and  learning  was  applied  in  our  land  to  this  work  of  destruc- 
tion. The  authenticity  of  the  P'ourth  Gospel,  e.g.,  was  disputed  by  Prof.  Scholten 
(1864)  in  away  which  fully  occupied  the  hands  of  his  opponents,  and  worthily 
developed  the  method  of  negative  criticism  originated  in  other  lands.  This  conflict, 
however,  could  not  lead  to  the  desired  results,  because  the  umpires  proceeded  from 
principles  diametrically  opposed.  The  Apologetes  took  their  stand  upon  the  ground 
of  the  supernatural,  while  the  Moderns  made  more  and  more  manifest  their  adhe- 
sion to  a  naturalistic  conception.  A  war  of  extermination  was  declared,  in  particulr.r 
by  Professors  Scholten  and  Kuenen,  against  all  supernaturalism  in  the  theologicrd 
domain  ;  and  what  had  been  accomplished  by  the  former  of  thes«  with  respect  to 
the  New  Testament,  was  attempted  by  the  latter,  amidst  the  applause  of  many,  with 
regard  to  the  Old.  Kuenen's  "  Introduction  to  the  Writings  of  the  Old  Testament" 
and  his"  History  of  the  Religion  of  Israel  "  furnish  a  remarkable  instance  of  wiiat 
a  criticism  of  the  sacred  writings,  which  claims  to  be  historic,  is  able  to  effect  when 
applied  in  the  interest  of  an  a  priori  philosophic  system.  While  always  appealing 
to  the  requirements  and  laws  of  a  truly  organic  liistoriography,  which  nowhere 
admits  of  the  intervention  of  a  supernatural  agency,  the  learned  writer  succeeds  in 
giving  us  a  history  of  the  Old  Covenant,  in  which  everything — Israel's  monotheism, 
its  prophets,  even  the  expectation  of  salvation  itself — is,  to  a  certain  extent,  naturally 
explained,  while,  for  the  rest,  we  are  absolutely  forbidden  to  take  into  account  the 
supernatural  factor  in  seeking  light  upon  that  which  still  remains  unexplained  and 
inexplicable.  Even  ivith  this  new  conception  of  Israel's  religion,  no  final  stage  has 
yet  been  reached.  The  study  of  the  comparative  history  of  religions,  pursued  within 
the  last  decenniums  with  a  zeal  hitherto  unprecedented,  has  become  an  important 
lever  in  the  hands  of  that  tendency  which  may  be  here  characterized  ("sine  ira  et 
studio")  by  the  name  of  modern  rationalism.  Among  not  a  few  of  the  most  meri- 
torious exponents  of  this  science,  it  is  already  tacitly  assumed  that  between  the 
Israelitish  and  Christian  religions  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  of  heathendom  on  the 
other,  the  difference  is  not  at  all  specific,  but  only  one  of  degree;  and  that  the  origin 
of  all  religions,  without  exception,  is  to  be  satisfactorily  explained  by  the  hypothesis 
of  a  merely  gradual  development,  wherein  the  higher,  in  due  time,  proceeds  spon- 
taneously from  the  lower. 

Thus  by  degrees  the  whole  question  as  to  the  nature  and  origin  of  religion  was 
removed  from  the  province  of  theology  to  that  of  psychology,  according  to  some, 
even  of  physiology;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  intimate  bond  which  had  hitherto 
subsisted  between  theology  and  ethics  was  fatally  severed.  The  "Sancta  Theo- 
logia  "  was  degraded  to  the  lower  rank  of  science  of  religion;  the  higher  unity  of 
doctrine  and  morals  perilously  ignored;  the  "  morale  independanle  "  extolletl  as  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  917 

true,  nay,  the  highest  morality,  and  an  absolute  emancipation  pleaded  for,  not 
only  in  the  domain  of  history  and  dogma,  hut  also  of  ethics  ami  practice — an  eman- 
cipation of  which  the  baneful  fruit  for  doctrine  and  iife  was  in  a  short  time  to  be- 
come apparent.  An  incurable  dogmatophobia  acquired  in  some  places  the  character 
of  an  epidemic  disease;  the  single  ciogmn,  that  there  is  and  can  be  «(?  dogma,  super- 
seded all  others  in  the  estimation  of  those  who  were  "  well  abreast  of  the  times," 
and — but  enough:  "difficile  est  Historiam,  difficilius  vero  non  Satiram  scribere." 

The  result  of  the  attack  on  the  part  of  unbelief  upon  the  apostolic  Christianity 
and  its  confessors  has  not  failed  to  make  itself  felt  on  a  wide  scale.  At  its  rise 
modernism  exerted  a  certain  power  of  attraction  upon  many  church  members,  even 
such  as  set  store  by  the  Confession  of  the  Reformed  fathers,  because  it  seemed  at 
the  first  glance  to  afford  a  satisfaction  for  long  fell  wants.  The  modern  determin- 
ism especially  appeared  to  those  who  clung  to  the  mere  sound  of  the  words  to  be 
akin  to  the  ancient  Calvinism;  and  the  courageous  earnestness  with  which  the  new 
ideas  were  expounded  by  gifted  advocates  in  pulpit  and  class-room,  produced  in 
the  case  of  many  a  powerful  effect.  But  in  a  little  time  the  illusion  vanished,  and 
the  prospect  of  a  better  future  opened  up  upon  this  side  soon  proved  to  be  nothing 
more  than  a  delusive  Fata  Morgana.  The  endeavor  to  fill  up  the  ever  deepening 
gulf  which  yawned  between  the  two  "  tendencies,"  with  the  fragrant  but  fading 
flowers  of  [loetry  and  eloquence,  was  seen  to  be  abortive ;  it  became  daily  more  clear 
that  the  Jesus  of  Modernism  and  the  Christ  of  the  Scriptures  had  hardly  anything 
in  common  save  the  name,  and  that  Rationalism  could  only  utter  an  even  more 
decided  No  upon  almost  every  question  answered  in  the  apostolic  gospel  with  yea 
and  amen.  But  it  was  now  forever  over  with  the  false  peace  which  had  for  a  time 
held  together  the  representatives  of  the  Sic  and  the  A^on.  Some  modern  preachers 
began  to  resign  their  ministry  in  congregations  where  they  could  no  longer  feel 
themselves  at  home;  while  others,  who  obstinately  refused  to  do  so,  and  gave  utter- 
ance to  an  emphatic  "  Nous  maintiendrons,"  soon  found  themselves  'in  a  position  so 
awkward  as  to  become,  after  a  time,  unendurable  for  the  greater  and  best  part  of 
them.  The  congregations,  justly  indignant  that  their  belief  should  be  undermined 
by  their  own  teachers,  entered  protest  after  protest  against  such  an  untenable  state 
of  affairs.  They  showed,  in  almost  every  place  where  they  possessed  the  right  of 
choosing  their  own  presidents,  that  they  were  ranged  in  this  conflict  of  principles 
not  on  the  side  of  the  left,  but  on  that  of  the  ri^ht,  even  the  extreme  right;  and 
withdrew  in  face  of  this  negative  Radicalism  into  the  fortress  of  an  immovable  Con- 
servatism and  Orthodoxy.  In  nearly  every  case  where  Modernism  bore  sway,  it 
made  its  separating  and  desolating  influence  felt  in  the  Church  within  a  little  time. 
Even  by  those  who  at  first  still  continued  to  attend  the  ministrations,  the  Church  was 
very  soon  shunned  and  forsaken,  the  Lord's  Supper  neglected,  and  baptism  either 
no  longer  desired,  or  administered  and  received  as  a  meaningless  form.  The  influ- 
ence of  Modernism  acted  upon  popular  instruction  in  particular,  in  the  higher  and 
lower  schools,  with  peculiarly  fatal  effect.  The  number  of  students  in  theology  per- 
ceptibly declined,  and  the  so-called  '•  C.indidatennood  "  (dearth  of  candidates)  rose 
to  such  a  height  that  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  some  two  to  three  hundred 
pastorales  remained  vacant,  in  single  instances,  for  years  in  succession.  In  the 
smaller  Protestant  communities  also  the  modern  spirit  gave  rise  to  a  state  of  affairs 
before  unheard  of.  The  Remonstrants,  Ba]5tists  and  Lutherans  forsook  wholly,  or 
in  great  part,  the  historic  line  which  connected  them  with  the  doctrines  of  Armiiiius, 
Menno  or  Luther;  and  became,  to  an  increasing  extent,  voluntary  associations  for 
the  culture  of  a  religious  and  moral  life  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus  of  Nnzareth.  Wholly 
untrammelled  congregations  arose,  in  which  the  old  Christian  festivals  were  either 
abolished  or  else  lt)lerated,  and  observed  with  a  purely  symbolical  interpretation  no 
longer  in  the  historic  sense ;  and  the  utmost  possible  freedom  from  all  confession 
was  the  one  bond  which  held  together  for  a  time  the  ever-varying  number  of  attend- 
ants. By  means  of  popular  scientific  lectures  every  effort  was  made,  and  not  without 
success,  to  lead  the  multitude  to  apostatize  from  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  and  lo 
train  the  young  betimes  to  scoff  at  the  old  Bible.  The  state  school,  professedly 
neutral,  was,  in  very  many  cases,  a  modern  sectarian  school,  the  hot-bed  of  super- 


9i8  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ficial  unbelief  and  frivo'ous  levity,  and  the  national  mind  was  modified  in  such 
fashion  that  a  despite  before  unknown  for  eveiything  that  is  sacred  became  the  order 
of  the  day.  Without  regard  to  the  counsel  of  the  wise  king,*  "  the  ancient  land- 
marks which  the  fathers  had  set"  were  not  only  "removed,"  but  altogether  de- 
stroyed; and  a  desolating  stream  of  denial  arose,  which  threatened  to  sweep  away 
even  the  last  barriers  and  dams.  Not  Christianity  and  revelation  alone  were 
scunied,  but  religion  and  morality,  nay,  human  refinement  and  decency,  were  in 
every  way  outraged.  It  seemed  as  though  the  spirit  of  criticism  could  not  rest  until 
it  had  annihilated  its  own  object. 

Like  a  tree  which  sheds  its  sere  and  shrivelled  leaves  under  the  blasts  of  autumn, 
so  the  aged  and  venerable  tree  of  the  Church  cast  from  it  a  number  of  withered 
members  and  teachers,  to  seek  elsewhere  that  which  they  could  no  longer  find 
within  its  bosom.  The  endeavor  to  bring  about  a  formal  and  legal  exclusion  of  the 
heterogeneous  elements  in  the  ecclesiastical  domain,  was  not  crowned  witli  perfect 
success,  and  the  attempt  was  made  to  retain  as  long  as  possible  the  semblance  of 
outward  union.  The  opposing  parties  exhausted  their  efforts  in  seeking  a  7ucdtts 
vivenJi,  and  usually  ended,  however  reluctantly,  with  remaining  m  staht  quo. 
But,  whether  matter  of  rejoicing  or  regret,  this,  at  least,  is  certain  :  the  inner  sepa- 
ration of  spirits  has  long  been  complete.  Even  the  bridges  are  broken  down,  which 
formerly  served  to  keep  up  the  communication  between  the  opposite  camps,  and — • 
if  we  are  to  credit  the  bold  declarations  and  predictions  of  the  apostles  of  unbelief 
— the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  Christianity,  as  the  religion  of  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands,  will  be  no  more,  and  the  fate  reserved  for  those  Cluistiani  of  the 
nineteenth  century  who  still  survive,  as  little  enviable  as  that  which  once  overtook 
the  Pagani,  everywhere  outflanked  and  driven  into  obscurity,  in  the  Roman  empire 
of  the  fifth  century. 

In  presence  of  all  these  disquieting  manifestations  on  the  part  of  unbelief,  it  is  a 
natural,  but,  at  the  same  time,  gladdening  phenomenon,  that  a  decided  reaction  set 
in  on  the  side  of  belief.  In  opposition  to  the  modern  naturalism,  Christian  ortho- 
doxy in  due  time  raised  its  voice  in  the  field  of  science,  and  the  Church  of  the 
Lord  showed  itself  not  unmindlul  of  its  obligation  to  "give  a  reason  of  the  hope 
that  is  in  it."f  Holland,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  has  not  been  wanting  in 
vigorous  apologetes;  the  mode  of  defence  being,  as  usually  happens,  determined 
by  the  nature  of  the  attack.  The  historic  reality  and  abiding  import  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ  from  the  dead  was  brought  into  relief  on  various  sides,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  the  time;  the  certainty  and  significance  of  the  gos- 
pel record  of  miracles  circumstantially  proved  ;  the  belief  in  the  supernatural  char- 
acter of  the  Saviour's  life  was  maintained  on  all  cardinal  points,  and  the  modern  re- 
volt against  the  fourth  gospel,  in  particular,  effectually  taken  to  task.  Strauss, 
Renan,  Schenkel,  and  others  like  minded,  found  in  Holland  not  only  friends  and 
allies,  but  also  opponents  and  antagonists,  of  whom  the  influence  and  reputation  has 
extended  far  beyond  the  limits  of  Holland.  The  years  186C—1S70  were  specially 
abundant  in  more  or  less  important  contrd)utions  to  apologetic  literature.  A  com- 
plete catalogue  of  authors  and  titles  will  hardly  be  expected  here;  enough  that  the 
names  of  Doedes,  van  Oosterzee,  ter  Haar,  Hofstede  de  Groot,  Stemler,  Cramer, 
and  others,  appear  in  the  list  of  those  who,  as  men  of  science,  have  not  been 
ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  as  opportunity  presented  itself 
have,  with  good  effect,  exposed  the  arbitrary  and  capricious  method  of  the  criticism 
of  unbelief. 

In  many  places  popidar  apologetic  lectures  were  delivered  in  vindication  of  mis- 
represented truths,  and  not  without  leaving  the  desired  impression.  The  preaching 
of  the  gospel,  too,  especially  in  the  great  towns,  manifested  and  developed  in  an 
increasing  degree  an  apologetic  char.nrier;  and,  in  counteraction  of  the  influence  of 
Leyden,  the  University  of  Utrecht,  and  later  that  of  Groningen,  flourished  as  train- 
ing schools  of  future  ministers  of  the  gospel,  in  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  the 
Reformation.     Nor  were  efforts  wanting  in  defence  of  assailed  portions  of  the  Old 

*  Proverbs  xxii.  28.  f  i  Pet.  iii.  13. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  919 

Testament ;  although  it  jaust  be  confessed  this  side  of  the  beleaguered  citadel  was, 
for  want  of  adequate  forces,  ihe  least  powerfully  defended.  It  was,  moreover,  to 
be  deplored  that  the  Hague  Society  for  the  Defence  of  the  Christian  Religion,  founded 
towards  the  close  of  last  century  upon  an  orlhoilox  basi-^,  gradually  proved  itself 
more  and  more  not  the  opponent,  but  the  ally,  of  the  modern  rationalism.  The 
more  encouraging  therefore  becomes  the  fact,  that  what  was  too  greatly  lacking  in 
point  of  scientific  opposition  to  unbelief,  was  made  good,  so  far  as  possible,  on  the 
popular  and  practical  side.  As  against  the  modern  State-school,  the  cause  of  tlie 
Christian  instruction  of  the  people,  on  the  basis  of  the  Bible,  was  energetically  sup- 
ported, even  at  the  cost  of  very  considerable  pecuniary  sacrifices.  liy  means  of 
evangelization  and  foreign  missions  every  available  effort  was  made  to  rescue  the 
masses  ivinw  the  doom  of  an  utter  unchristianizing,  and  a  "Union  for  the  Promotion 
of  Christian  Literature,"  contributed  its  part  during  successive  years  to  scatter,  in 
opposition  to  so  many  tares,  the  good  seed  upon  the  wide  field  of  the  nation.  Many 
voices  were  raised  on  every  hand  against  the  growing  spirit  of  apostacy,  and  in  face 
of  increasing  resistance  the  endeavor  of  the  friends  of  truth  to  "overcome  evil  with 
good,"  in  accordance  with  the  apostle's  exhortation,*  was  still  zealously  maintained, 
and  regarded  with  favor  in  influential  quarters.  While  the  periodicals,  and  in  par- 
ticular the  journals,  were  here  as  elsewhere,  to  a  large  extent,  in  irreligious  and 
antichristian  hands,  a  number  of  daily  papers  and  weekly  or  monthly  magazines, 
which  were  now  published,  gave  forth  a  wholly  different  note,  and  in  every  way 
it  was  made  manifest  that  "  the  sect"  which  is  "everywhere  spoken  against, "j-  was 
still  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  in  a  Christian  state. 

That  which  had  been  zealously  prosecuted  in  1860-1S70  was  also,  in  general, 
continued  and  extended  in  1870-1S80,  so  fir  as  the  course  of  circumstances  per- 
mitted. If,  nevertheless,  the  scientific  and  practical  reaction  of  faith  has,  during 
these  last  years,  made  less  advance  than  the  violence  of  unbelief,  such  phenomenon, 
anything  but  cheering  as  it  is,  is,  on  more  than  one  ground,  explicable.  In  ihcjirst 
place  the  paralyzing  effect  of  growing  indifference  was  experienced  on  many  sides 
in  connection  with  the  materialistic  and  posilivistic  current  of  thought ;  the  interest 
in  theological  and  critical  questions  perceptibly  waned;  enough  was  still  written 
but  less  was  constantly  read  concerning  "the  sign  which  is  spoken  against."  The 
social  question  in  its  various  phases  replaced  ihi  theological  one  in  the  estimation 
of  many,  and  the  continued  absence  of  any  decisive  crisis,  after  the  warfare  had 
been  so  long  waged  without  essential  results,  sufficed  to  account  for  the  weapons 
dropping  from  the  weary  arm  of  many  a  combatant.  Ai^^om,  not  all  the  movements 
which  arose  in  the  jjrovince  of  theology  and  dogmatics  exerted  an  ecjuaily  favorable 
influence  upon  the  apologetic  and  polemic  labor.  The  elhical-irenic  school  (repre- 
sentatives, D.  Chanlejiie  de  la  Saussaye,  d.  1874,  and  J.  H.  Gunning,  Jun.)  which 
lays  more  stress  u|)on  the  moral  and  religious,  than  upon  the  supernatural-historical 
character  of  the  Christendom,  with  its  allies,  manifested  no  great  sympathy  for  a 
directly  apologetic  endeavor,  and  looked  for  vastly  more  good  from  the  thetic  than 
the  polemic  labor.  Finally,  the  ecclesiastical  controversy  in  favor  of  ultra  Calvin- 
ism, under  the  leadership  of  men  like  Drs.  Kuyper,  Rutgers,  Hoedemaker,  and 
others,  rose  during  the  last  years  to  a  height  which  had  not  before  been  reached. 
The  desire  for  restoring  the  Church  upon  the  historic  national  basis  of  Dordrecht 
(1618,  1619)  asserted  itself  with  growing  emiihasis,  but  at  the  same  time,  over- 
shadowed the  labor  for  the  defence  of  the  //w/V^;'^^/ Christian  belief.  The  question 
as  to  that  which  is  specially  Reformed  awakened  in  the  Christian  public  much  more 
general  interest  than  that  as  to  the  Catholic  Christian  foundation  which  underlies  all 
the  different  ecclesiastical  communities.  It  is  not  here  the  place  for  forming  a  judg- 
ment on  this  special  confessionalistic  tendency  in  itself,  much  less  for  delern)iniiig 
what  is  to  be  expecte<l  of  it  for  the  future.  But  it  will  hardly  be  denied  that  such 
movement,  legitimate  as  it  may  be,  and  to  some  extent  commendable,  could  not 
jiossibly  exert  a  favorable  influence  upon  the  conflict  of  principles  between  Natural- 
ism and  Supernaturalism.     Many  lost  sight  of  the  common  foe  in  turning  their  arms 

*  Rom.  xii.  21.  t  Acts  xxviii.  aa. 


920  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

against  brethren,  with  whom  there  was  an  agreement  as  respects  that  which  is  posi- 
tive-Christian, but  not  altogether  as  respects  that  which  is  specially  confessional. 
Thus  also  the  opposite  of  the  "  Concordia  res  parvas  crescunt"  was  witnessed;  and 
the  enemy,  although  here  and  there  sensibly  wounded,  could  derive  new  courage 
from  thinking  of  the  words  of  Malt.  xii.  25. 

If  we  would  describe  in  few  words  the  momentary  state  of  the  "Conflict"  under 
review,  we  should  perhaps  best  say  :  there  is  a  comparative  truce,  but  no  reason 
whatever  for  s])caking  of  a  real  peace,  much  less  of  decisive  victory.  On  the  con- 
trary the  well-kncJwn  saying  of  the  Reformation  age,  "  Das  interim  hat  den  Schalk 
hinter  ihm"  has  still  its  manifold  application.  On  either  side  great  words  have  been 
spoken,  sometimes  important  deeds  accomplished,  now  and  then,  also,  little  advan- 
tages gained  over  the  opponent — and  on  the  other  hand,  alas!  rankling  wounds 
inflicted  and  painful  losses  endured — but  as  a  rule  each  one  has  retained  the  same 
position  as  he  had  once  assumed;  and  Christian  Apologetics  meanwhile  has  found 
abundant  opportunity  of  learning  by  experience,  if  she  had  not  already  known  it, 
that  testifying  concerning  the  Lord  is  her  part,  but  the  personal  convincing  of  the 
truth  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  For  the  present,  during  the  lull  in  the  storm, 
each  one  entrenches  himself  in  his  own  camp,  and  acts  in  accordance  with  the  pos- 
tulates from  which  he  starts.  The  worst  is  that  each  party  take  less  and  less  cogni- 
zance of  that  which  is  advanced  against  it  by  the  other,  and  that  each  one  less  under- 
stands the  other,  because,  with  slight  exception,  they  no  longer  hear  or  read  what 
the  opposite  party  has  to  say.  Modern  Rationalism  assumes  an  air  of  triumph  over 
the  Christianity  of  the  Gospel  and  the  Church,  as  a  thing  that  has  had  its  day.  It  is 
n.)  longer  thought  worth  while  among  intelligent  people,  we  are  told,  to  speak  of 
such  things  as  revelation,  miracles,  and  answers  to  prayer,  any  more  than  of  the  mino- 
taur,  the  phoenix,  and  similar  creations  of  a  world  of  faille.  A  final  rupture  has  been 
made  with  all  tradition  ;  so  far  as  there  is  still  any  quest,  men  are  a  la  recherche  for 
the  unknown  God  and  his  service,  and,  as  it  now  seems  are  on  the  way,  under  the 
influence  of  Edward  von  Harlmann  and  like  philosophers  of  the  day,  to  conquer  for 
Buddha  the  position  which  they  can  no  longer  assign  to  Jesus.  Der  Nihilismus  ist 
das  Ende  dieser  gidnzenden  Kritik,  says  Kahnis,  "  Nihilism  is  the  upshot  of  this 
brilliant  criticism."  No  wonder  that  the  dark  shadow  of  Pessimism  spreads  more 
and  more  widely  over  the  thinking  and  life  of  many,  and  that  the  question  "  to  what 
will  this  come?" — when  literally  <?// foundations  are  overthrown — is  heard  in  tones 
of  increasing  anxiety.  If  only,  in  opposition  to  this  decided  antichristian  power, 
there  stood  a  Ciiristian  Church  with  closed  ranks,  and  the  word  of  the  Spirit  in  her 
hand,  ready,  to  the  temporary  oblivion  of  all  subordinate  differences,  to  make  war 
against  the  common  foe;  if  only  a  truly  loelieving  science  would  bring  all  its  forces 
to  bear  upon  the  one  great  point,  upon  which  more  than  ever  ail  turns,  of  resisting 
the  fierce  assault  of  the  left — bit  we  have  already  seen  how  far  we  are  removed  from 
this.  To  the  attack  of  the  serried  phalanx  hardly  any  resistance  is  offered  beyond 
that  of  a  sporadic  guerilla  warfare ;  and,  even  in  this,  ecclesiastical  party  feeling  so 
often  plays  its  odious  part,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  avoid  thinking  of  the  sor- 
rowfully severe  word  of  the  Apostle,  in  Phil.  ii.  21.  As  in  the  day  of  Jerusalem's 
destruction,  in  the  Apostolic  age,  much  greater  mischief  and  misery  is  wrought  by 
the  zealots  within  the  city  than  by  the  Romans  without. 

Nevertheless,  of  the  city  of  God  of  the  New  Testament  it  is  still  true:  "  God  is  in  the 
midst  of  her;  she  shall  not  be  moved."*  The  finnlissue  oi  xhe  coy[?i\cX  with  which  we 
are  occupied  cannot  possibly  be  foreseen  and  foretold  in  its  details  ;  in  the  main,  it  ad- 
mits of  no  doubt.  It  is  true  the  prospect  for  particular  Churches  and  ecclesiastical  socie- 
ties IS  at  present  far  from  clear,  and  for  our  part  we  can  cherish  no  brilliant  expecta- 
tions for  the  endeavor  to  restore  almost  unaltered  the  ecclesiastical  past.  But  the 
visible  Church,  even  the  best,  is  not  on  that  account  the  living  congregation  of  the  Lord, 
in  whose  experience  is  still  fulfilled  among  us  the  consolatory  promise,  "  though  they 
shall  drink  any  deadly  thing,  it  shall  not  hurt  lhem."f  A  stupefying  cup  of  doubt 
and  denial  is  going  the  round  of  the  generation  now  living,  but  the  water  of  life  still 

*  Ps.  xlvi.  5.  t  Mark  xvi.  ig. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  921 

continues  to  flow  on,  also  through  Holland's  plains,  and  to  lave  the  thirst  of  count- 
less souls.  Even  among  the  men  of  denial  two  lines  distinguish  themselves  with 
sufficient  clearness,  the  one,  that  which  runs  upwards,  the  other,  that  w  hich  niakt;s 
for  below.  With  regard  to  the  second  of  these,  it  can  already  be  foreseen  that  even 
the  very  last  point  must  yet  be  attained  :  Atheism  and  the  unbridled  license  of  the 
flesh.  We  know  indeed  from  the  Apostolic  word  that  the  great  Apostacy  must  come, 
and  that  no  testimony  in  defence  of  the  fiercely  assaulted  faith,  however  powerlul, 
can  avail  to  preserve  the  professing  Church  from  the  great  tribulation  which  awaits 
her  not  long  before  the  approachmg  end.  But  among  the  better  disposed,  whose 
countenance  though  veiled  is  turned  towards  the  everlasting  East,  begin  already  to 
be  witnessed  jjreludes  of  a  worthier  future,  and  it  is  manifest  for  many  a  one  who  is 
not  hopelessly  blinded  that  the  spirit  which  always  denies  does,  as  an  inevitable  con- 
sequence, ultimately  stand  sell-condemned.  "  Magna  est  Veritas,  et  praevalebil" 
was  for  years  the  motto  of  one  of  the  organs  of  unbelief  in  our  country  ("  Ue  Dage- 
raad");  much  more  tilting  are  these  words,  as  the  triumphant  language  of  quiet 
strength,  in  the  lips  of  those  who  in  their  own  experience  know  the  gospel  to  be  the 
power  of  Ciod  unto  salvation.  The  assurance  of  taith,  however,  far  from  dispensing 
in  any  degree  with  the  necessity  of  zeal  and  efft)rt,  calls  and  mipels  thereto  with  a 
force  such  as  nothing  else  can  exert.  For  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
Holland  everything  depends  on  the  question  whether  Christians,  and  especially  the 
ministers  of  the  Church,  understand  the  signs  of  the  limes  and  show  themselves  really 
on  a  level  with  their  vocation,  now  more  than  ever  sublime.  Not,  as  the  disputing 
scribes  and  Pharisees  in  the  days  of  Christ,  to  weary  themselves  and  the  congrega- 
tion with  things  "  which  minister  questions  rather  than  godly  edifying  which  is 
in  faith;"*  but  as  the  good  Samaritan,  in  presence  of  the  growing  misery  of  the 
age,  to  gird  themselves  for  the  labor  of  ministering  love,  and  in  the  strength  of  this 
love  to  save  what  is  still  to  be  saved,  to  bind  up  what  is  wounded,  and  to  manifest 
to  the  opponent  by  the  very  glow  of  charily  on  which  side  is  to  be  found  the  highest 
truth  and  the  inviolable  right,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  conflict  of  parties  and  of  opin- 
ions— that  is  the  great  task  to  which  the  Church  must  feel  herself  supremely  called. 
If  the  Lord  makes  us  f.tithful  to  this  vocation  His  own  word  will  be  verified  afresh: 
^^  Every  one  \}niA.  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice;"  and,  with  greater  justice  than 
this  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  will  assuredly  the  first  of  the  twentieth 
speak  of  a  truly  Christian  and  Cod-glorifying  HOLLAND. 

Utrecht,  1880.  J.  J.  VAN  OOSTERZEE. 

The  following  is  the  paper  (see  p.  729)  of  the  Rev.  Prof.  Lerov  J.  Halsey, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  on 

CHURCH  DISCH'LINE:    ITS  PROVINCE  AND  USE. 

Under  the  Presbyterian  Ecclesiastical  System,  Discipline  properly  falls  into  two 
distinct  departments,  each  having  its  own  tribunal  of  original  jurisdiction,  and  its 
own  sphere  of  administration.  The  first  relates  to  the  conduct  of  the  ministry,  and 
is  committed  to  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery  as  its  proper  tribunal.  The  second 
relates  to  the  conduct  of  the  membership,  including  elders  and  deacons,  and  is  en- 
trusted to  the  hands  of  the  Session  of  each  particular  congregation.  In  this  paper 
we  shall  confine  our  remarks  to  the  second  of  these  applications  of  Discipline,  as  it 
is  exercised  by  the  Pastor  and  Ruling  Elders  of  the  local  church  over  the  body  of 
members  committed  to  their  parochial  oversight,  and  amenable  to  their  authority. 

In  discussing  the  true  Province  and  Use  of  Church  Discipline,  three  points  must 
claim  attention,  namely: 

I.  The  Extent  and  Limitations  of  Discipline, 

II.  The  proper  Ends  to  be  secured  by  it. 

III.  The  best  .Means  of  securing  those  ends. 

The  last  will  demand  special  consideration  as  involving  many  important  practical 
questions. 

*  1  Tim.  i.  4. 


922  777^   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

I.  As  to  the  extent  to  which  discipline  is  to  be  applied,  and  the  limitations  that 
restrict  it,  it  is  sufiicient  to  say  that  the  Scriptures  are  the  ultimate  standard  of  duty, 
not  less  than  of  doctrine.  The  law  of  Christ,  therefore,  as  revealed  in  Scripture,  must 
be  the  supreme  and  final  test  of  all  Christian  conduct  and  opinion,  both  for  the  church 
member  and  the  church  office-bearer.  Hence  there  can  be  no  legitimate  exercise 
of  discipline,  except  within  the  limits  of  things  clearly  prohibited  by  the  law  of 
Christ.  All  rules  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  must  be  in  full  accordance  with  the 
supreme  law  of  Christ,  as  it  regards  things  approved  or  condemned  by  that  law; 
and  no  act  of  discipline  is  of  binding  authority  on  the  conscience  which  is  in  any- 
thing contrary  to  his  law  or  beyond  it.  This  important  principle  is  emphatically  set 
forth  in  that  memorable  declaration  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  faith  :  "  God 
alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience,  and  hath  left  it  free  from  the  doctrines  and  coni- 
rriandments  of  men,  which  are  in  anything  contrary  to  his  word,  or  beside  it,  in 
matters  of  faith  or  worship.  So  that  to  believe  such  doctrines,  or  to  obey  such 
commandments  out  of  conscience,  is  to  betray  true  liberty  of  conscience:  and  the 
requiring  of  an  implicit  faith  and  an  absolute  and  blind  obedience,  is  to  destroy 
liberty  of  conscience  and  reason  also." 

The  same  equitable  principle  is  also  fully  recognized  in  the  Presbyterian  Book  of 
Discipline.  Discipline  is  well  defined  as  the  exercise  of  that  authority  and  the  ap- 
plication of  that  system  of  laws  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  appointed  in  his 
Church.  It  has  been  appointed  for  the  removal  and  prevention  of  offences.  This 
is  its  true  scriptural  idea.  But  in  defining  what  an  offence  is,  this  authority  tellu  us 
that  "  an  offence  is  anything  in  the  principle  or  practice  of  a  church  member  which 
is  contrary  to  the  word  of  God  ;  or  which,  if  it  be  not  in  its  own  nature  sinful,  may 
tempt  others  to  sin,  or  mar  their  spiritual  edification.  Nothing,  therefore,  ought  to 
be  considered  by  any  judicatory  as  an  offence,  or  admitted  as  matter  of  accusation, 
whicli  cannot  be  proved  to  be  such  from  Scripture,  or  from  the  regulations  and 
practice  of  the  Church  founded  on  Scripture,  and  which  does  not  involve  those  evils 
which  discipline  is  intended  to  prevent." 
■  From  this  it  appears  that  there  are  two  very  different  classes  of  offences,  which 
may  subject  church  members  to  formal  discipline:  first,  those  which  involve  acts 
sinful  in  themselves,  as,  for  example,  breaches  of  the  Decalogue,  like  theft,  adultery, 
profanity;  and,  secondly,  those  which  are  contrary  to  church  order,  injurious  to 
others,  and  which  mar  the  spiritual  edification  of  the  bddy,  as,  for  example,  all 
those  indulgences  in  worldly  pleasure  and  amusement,  which,  though  not  sinlul 
per  se,  are  often  sinful  from  excess,  and  inexpedient.  On  the  first  class  there  can 
be  no  difference  of  opinion  among  Christians,  and  but  little  danger  of  a  misapplica- 
tion of  discipline.  On  the  second  there  is  always  room  for  much  caution,  and  for  a 
very  wise  discretion  in  the  administration  of  formal  discipline.  Some  evangelical 
churches  have  questioned  whether  it  is  ever  wise  to  apply  the  rules  of  a  rigid  disci- 
pline to  this  second  class  of  transgressions,  and  they  virtually  ignore  them.  As 
Presbyterians,  we  may  well  hesitate  before  we  exact  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  ruleS 
of  formal  discipline  for  acts  which  are  proved  to  be  sinful  only  by  inference,  or  are 
shown  to  be  such  merely  on  the  ground  of  inexpediency.  We  may  have  no  hesi- 
tation in  thinking  them  wrong  in  a  church  member.  But  then  it  is  not  every 
•wrong  thing  that  ought  to  be  punished  by  a  church  court  in  an  act  of  formal  dis- 
cipline. There  may  be  a  better,  though  less  formal,  way  to  reach  and  rectify  the 
wrong. 

In  fact,  our  Book  of  Discipline  wisely  cautions  the  church  tribunals  against  enter- 
taining accusations  for  offences  not  sustained  by  the  Scriptures,  or  for  which  there  is 
not  sufficient  evidence;  inasmuch  as  nothing  tends  more  to  weaken  the  authoiity  of 
all  fliscipline,  and  in  the  end  to  render  discipline  more  injurious,  than  the  original 
offence.  If  it  should  be  said  that  the  church  authorities  may  think  these  offences 
of  the  second  class  injurious  to  the  peace  and  purity  of  the  Church,  and  thcKefore 
fitting  subjects  for  its  formal  discipline,  the  ansvvfer  is,  that  the  church  tribunals  have 
no  right  to  think  that  wrong  and  actionable  which  Christ  himself  hns  not  con- 
demned. We  ought  not  to  mr\ke  n  law  binding  on  the  conscience  of  the  member 
and  subjecting  him  to  church  censures  where  the  Scriptures  lay  down  no  law.     If 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  923 

we  do,  and  sul)ject  men  to  punishment,  on  points  as  extra-judicial,  as  the  sin<jing  or 
the  not  singing  of  a  particular  form  of  praise  to  God,  then  it  is  the  Church  itself,  and 
iiol  the  individual,  who  commits  the  offence.  In  all  such  cases  discipline  is  per- 
verted from  its  tiue  intent,  and   l)ecomes  a  great  wrong. 

If  these  views  be  correct  and  scriptural,  then  we  see  clearly  what  should  be  the 
legitimate  province,  extent  and  limitations  of  church  discipline.  It  has  no  province 
whatever  outside  of  the  Scriptures,  or  outside  of  those  principles  and  duties  in  the 
life  of  a  church  member  on  which  Christ,  through  his  word,  has  uttered  a  clear  and 
certain  voice.  Points  of  doubtful  interpretation  do  not  belong  to  its  sphere.  Points 
of  merely  inferential  criminality,  or  of  merely  conventional  and  self-imi)osed  impro- 
priety and  inexpediency,  ought  not  to  be  included  within  its  law.  All  these  can  be 
best  regulated  and  rectified  by  being  left  to  the  conscience  of  the  church  member 
under  the  teaching  of  the  word  of  God  and  the  authorized  instructions  of  the  pulpit. 
While  church  discipline  must  take  cognizance  only  of  such  ofJences  as  are  clearly 
condemned  in  Scripture,  it  does  not  follow  that  every  departure  from  duty  in  a 
Christian  is  to  be  made  a  matter  ol  church  discipline.  If  so,  the  Church  would  have 
perpetual  employment  on  the  single  labor  of  disciplining  its  members,  even  the  best 
of  them.  Much  has  to  be  left  to  the  self-discipline  of  the  individual  conscience,  ac- 
cording to  the  principle  laid  down  by  St.  Paul:  "All  things  are  lawful  unto  me,  but 
all  things  are  not  expedient;  all  things  are  lawful  for  mo,  but  I  will  not  be  brought 
under  the  power  of  any."  "  If  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat 
while  the  world  standeth."  If,  however,  the  tribunals  of  the  church  should  under- 
take to  enforce  this  higher  law  of  the  individual  conscience  upon  its  members  by 
discipline,  what  then  would  become  of  the  liberty  ami  the  conscience? 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  a  too  rigid  exercise  of  discipline  may  be  pushed  to  that  ex- 
tent in  which  it  would  defeat  its  own  ends  by  destroying  the  free  and  enlightened 
action  of  the  individual  conscience,  or  else  of  bringing  that  conscience  into  a  state 
of  sullen  opposition,  and  even  of  open  defiance,  to  all  church  authority.  Where 
this  is  the  case,  the  remedy  is  certainly  worse  than  the  disease. 

Hence  we  conclude  that  while  church  discipline  is  a  good  and  necessary  thing, 
and  while  it  covers  the  whole  life  and  conduct  of  the  Christian  professor  as  long  as 
he  lives,  it  must  not  itself  create  offences  by  being  extended  to  acts  or  opinions  not 
clearly  condemned  in  the  word  of  God.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  this  unlawful 
extension  of  its  province,  and  consequent  abuse  of  its  high  function  to  the  detriment 
of  the  cause  of  Christ,  was  not  unfrequently  witnessed  in  former  times  even  in  good 
and  orthodox  churches.  Perhaps  it  is  not  wholly  unknown  in  our  own  times.  Churcli 
discipline  is  very  wide  and  very  useful  in  its  place;  but  it  has  three  impf)rtant  limi- 
tations which  should  never  be  lost  sight  of.  First,  it  should  be  restricted  to  those 
acts  and  principles  of  the  church  member  which  can  be  clearly  shown  from  the 
word  of  God  to  be  wrong;  that  is,  sinful  in  themselves  as  violations  of  God's  law, 
inconsistent  with  Christian  character,  and  injurious  to  the  peace,  purity  and  spirit- 
uality of  the  Church.  Secondly,  in  its  form  of  judicial  process  it  ought  always  to 
be  confined  to  those  cases,  even  of  flagrant  offences,  where  the  preliminary  means, 
as  enjoined  by  our  Saviour,  Matt,  xviii.  i6,  have  first  been  used  to  reclaim  the 
offender.  And,  thirdly,  it  should  in  all  cases  of  judicial  process  be  restricted 
to  those  offences  for  which  there  is  in  the  hands  of  the  session  sufficient  proof  of 
the  guilt  of  the  offender. 

II.  The  proper  ends  or  uses  of  church  discipline,  as  stated  in  our  Presbyterian 
standards,  are  the  removal  of  offences,  the  vindication  of  the  honor  of  Christ,  the 
promotion  of  the  purity  and  general  edification  of  the  Church,  and  also  the  benefit 
of  tlie  offender  himself.  This  statement  might  be  condensed  and  simplified  by 
reflucing  the  four  ends  to  two,  namely,  the  purity  of  the  Church  and  the  benefit  of 
the  offender;  because  offences  will  be  removed,  the  honor  of  Christ  be  vindicated, 
and  the  general  edification  be  best  promoted,  when  the  purity  of  the  Church  and 
.the  good  of  the  offender  are  secured  by  discipline.  The  aim  of  all  discipline  should 
be  to  do  this;  that  is,  to  maintain  on  the  one  hand  the  sjiiritual  jiuriiy  and  welfare 
of  the  whole  membership,  and  on  the  other  the  reformation  and  sulvatiuu  of  the 
offending  j)arty. 


924  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

In  discussing  this  brand)  of  the  subject,  it  is  necessary  to  advert  to  a  distinction 
which  is  not  always  sufficiently  made,  or  is  at  least  too  often  ignored.  It  is  the  two 
different  senses  in  which  the  term  discipline  may  i^e  em])loyed  :  or  rather,  the  two 
distinct  things,  each  highly  important,  which  are  covered  by  the  one  word  discipline-. 
There  are  two  different,  but  real  exercises  of  disciplinary  authority  over  every  church, 
with  which  the  pastor  and  session  are  charged.  One  is  the  narrower  and  formal 
discipline,  which  is  exercised,  after  the  offence  occurs,  for  its  rectitlcation  and  re- 
moval by  regular  process  in  the  church  court.  Thus  far,  in  the  present  paper,  we 
have  used  the  term  discipline  only  in  this  narrow,  formal,  and  official  signification. 

But  it  is  obvious  that  the  term  has  another  signification  and  a  broader  application. 
There  is  lodged  in  the  Church  tribunal,  and  exercised  by  it  a  wider  disciplinary 
authority,  which,  though  less  formal  in  its  use,  is  not  a  whit  the  less  real  and  salu- 
tary than  that  more  special  exercise  of  official  authority  which  we  may  distinguish  as 
the  discipline  of  actual  process.  Now,  it  would  be  a  most  impotent  conclusion  to  say 
there  is  no  discipline  in  a  church,  or  that  church  courts  have  lost  or  relaxed  the  reins 
of  discipline,  because  there  are  no  trials  in  the  church,  no  offenders  arraigned  on 
charges  of  delinquency  before  the  bar  of  the  session.  Complaint  is  sometimes  heard 
that  we  have  fallen  upon  sad  times,  there  is  no  longer  any  exercise  of  discipline  in 
the  Church,  and  justice  and  equity  have  fallen  in  the  street,  while  truth  cannot  enter. 

But  in  all  this  it  may  be  found  that  discipline,  so  far  from  being  a  nullity,  has  been 
only  exerting  its  best  influences  and  reaching  its  highest  ends.  The  best  remedy  for 
offences  is  to  prevent  their  occurrence.  And  the  highest  and  best  end  and  use  of 
disciplinary  authority  in  a  church,  is  when  the  general  supervision  of  the  pastor  and 
elders  is  so  complete,  so  vigilant,  so  perpetual,  and  so  judicious  over  all  its  members, 
that  no  formal  trials  will  occur,  because  none  will  be  needed.  It  is  a  legitimate  end 
of  formal  discipline  to  remove  offences  when  they  occur.  But  it  is  a  still  higher  end 
of  that  general,  silent,  informal,  yet  potential  disciplinary  authority  which  is  perpet- 
ually going  out  from  the  judgment-seat  of  a  wise  and  faithful  church  session,  to  anti- 
cipate and  prevent  all  flagrant  offences,  all  cases  which,  from  neglect  or  injudicious 
treatment,  would  be  likely  to  call  for  formal  judicial  process.  Probably  more  than 
half  the  cases  which  are  allowed  to  grow  until  they  result  in  formal  church  trials, 
might  have  been  easily  healed  up  or  jirevented  altogether,  had  there  been  a  wise, 
watchful,  and  incessant  exercise  of  this  general  supervisory  discipline. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  lamenting,  as  did  the  eminent  and  gifted  Professor  M.  Vinet, 
as  far  back  as  his  times,  that  discipline  is  no  longer  compulsory  in  the  modern  Church, 
that  it  is  a  word  without  meaning  in  our  ecclesiastical  institutions,  and  that  the  law 
of  the  Church  is  a  dead  letter,  having  no  external  sanctions  to  rest  upon,  since  its 
penalties  can  no  lynger  be  enforced,  we  shouj.d  rather  conclude  that  a  true  discipline 
is  now  but  passing  into  the  higher  and  better  stages  of  moral  suasion  and  preventive 
power.  What  can  a  formal  church  trial  do,  half  so  potential  in  sustaining  discipline, 
as  that  silent  but  uliiquitous  moral  jiower  which  goes  out  from  the  ceaseless  watch 
and  care  of  a  faithful  pastor  and  a  large  judicious  bench  of  elders,  whose  eyes  are 
over  all  the  fl;)ck,  and  whose  influence  is  backed  by  their  own  consistent  lives? 
Discipline  would  seem  to  be  not  in  a  state  of  neglect  and  decadence,  but  at  its  high- 
est perfection,  when  its  government  is  so  )iopular  and  so  respected  that  a  vast  con- 
gregation of  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  communicants  is  held  together  in  love 
and  unity  so  firmly  that  not  one  member,  in  a  course  of  years,  will  dare  to  break  the 
bond  of  common  brotherhood  by  an  offence  calling  for  judicial  piocess.  However 
it  may  be  with  the  discipline  of  the  churches  of  Great  Biitain  and  Continental  Eu- 
rope, this  is  certainly  true  of  very  many  churches  of  our  own  order  in  America. 

We  should  say,  then,  that  the  infrequency,  and  even  the  complete  cessation  of 
flagrant  cases  of  actual  disciplinary  process  before  the  church  session,  instead  of 
being  taken  as  an  indication  that  all  discipline  has  fallen  in  the  streets,  may  be  but 
the  proof  that  discipline,  in  the  broader  sense,  has  l>een  doing  its  work  effectually 
and  attaining  its  most  useful  ends  in  rendering  such  trials  needless;  and  that  the 
church  is,  in  fact,  in  a  healthful  state  of  spiritual  growth. 

"  It  mu-t  needs  lie  that  offences  come,"  said  our  Saviour.  And  when  they  do 
come,  whether  from  the  world  without  or  the  church  within,  the  appointed  guar- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  925 

dians  of  the  church  should  do  what  they  can  to  remove  the  offence,  even  though  it 
be  the  painful  duty  of  cutting  off  their  own  menil)ers.  But  there  is  higher  and 
better  work  for  a  church  to  do  than  that  of  arraigning  and  trying  its  offending  breth- 
ren. It  is  the  work  of  extending  over  and  around  its  members  that  shield  of  pro- 
tective influences,  and  that  auticipative  and  controlling  discipline,  which  will  pre- 
vent them  from  becoming  offenders,  and  thus  prevent  the  stern  necessity  of  resorting 
to  a  formal  censure.  Thus  we  should  say  that  one  great  end  of  church  discipline, 
perhaps  the  very  greatest  of  all,  is  the  removal  of  offences  by  forestalling  and  pre- 
venting them. 

In  all  this,  however,  let  us  not  be  understood  as  aiming  to  disparage  or  set  aside 
the  narrower  disci[)line  of  actual  and  formal  pmcess  before  the  church  courts.  Our 
only  aim  is  to  show  that  this  painful  duty  should  be  a  la'^t  resort,  and  that  which 
should  be  regarded  as  the  strange  work  of  the  church.  The  position  here  main- 
tained is  that  when  it  can  be  avoided,  it  shoid<l  be  avoided  :  and  that  when,  through 
the  wise  supervision  of  the  pastor  and  eldership,  and  through  what  we  call  the  anti- 
cipative  and  preventive  exercise  of  disciplinary  authority,  it  is  in  fact  prevented,  then 
all  the  true  ends  and  uses  of  discipline  are  as  effectually  secured,  and  as  satisfacto- 
rily secured,  as  though  there  had  been  ever  so  many  cases  of  actual  process  instituted 
and  issued.  Here,  if  anywhere,  is  brought  to  pass  the  old  saying,  "An  ounce  of 
prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure." 

If  the  true  ends  of  discipline  by  process  be  the  removal  of  offences,  the  vindica- 
tion of  the  law  of  Christ,  the  maintaining  of  the  puriiy  and  growth  of  (he  Church, 
and  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  offending  parly,  certainly  all  these  ends  are  fully 
reached  by  the  wider  discipline  which  forestalls  and  prevents  the  evils.  To  pre- 
vent the  evil  is  really  to  gain  the  good.  In  many  cases,  to  foresee  and  heal  a  breach 
by  wise  counsel,  is  to  save  the  offender  and  preserve  both  the  puriiy  and  peace  of 
the  church.  Siill,  it  must  always  be  clearly  understood  that  the  discipline  of  actual 
process,  whicli  may  at  any  moment  summon  a  gross  offender  before  ils  bar,  is  not 
dead.  It  is  only  held  in  reserve  for  extreme  cases,  and  as  a  last  resort.  It  is  held 
where  God  holds  his  own  rod  of  judgment  for  the  rebellious  and  incorrigible.  That 
is  its  legitimate  place,  and  there  it  will  be  felt  to  do  good. 

III.  How  can  the  ends  of  discipline  be  best  secured?  This  is  the  point  of  chief 
practical  importance.  It  is  one  on  which  our  church  tribunals  need  all  the  lights 
of  experience,  and  the  perpetual  guidance  of  that  wisdom  which  comeih  from  above. 
The  whole  theory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  a  spiritual  body  of  believers  sepa- 
r.Ued  from  the  world,  and  set  for  the  defence  and  propagation  of  the  pure  doctrine 
of  Christ,  assumes  that  a  thorough  discipline  is  needeml,  and  that  a  thorough  disci- 
pline must  be  maintained  in  all  its  congregations.  There  can  be  no  question  that 
such  is  the  requirement  both  of  the  Presbyterian  standards  and  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  Church  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth.  Its  membership  forms  a  holy 
nation,  a  royal  priesthood,  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works.  They  are  in 
the  world  but  not  of  it :  and  they  are  all  under  spiritual  discipline. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied,  however,  that  in  many  cases  more  harm  than  good  is  done 
by  a  mal-administration  of  discipline.  It  is  sometimes  so  rigidly  enforced,  so  un- 
just and  impotent  in  its  decisions,  that  the  ends  of  discipline  are  defeated  rather 
than  conserved.  The  offender,  so  far  from  being  reclaimed,  is  only  driven  from  the 
congregation,  and  his  friends  with  him.  Whole  families  have  been  known  to  quit 
the  communion  and  take  refuge  in  other  bodies,  because  of  the  too  severe  and  unjust 
treatment  of  a  single  member.  Such  cases,  when  they  occur,  not  only  weaken  the 
body,  but  bring  much  public  opprobrium  upon  the  church  and  its  mode  of  discipline. 
Facts  of  this  character  render  it  of  the  utmost  moment  that  our  Church  authorities 
should  consider  well  the  question  of  an  improved  administration  of  discipline. 

I.  On  this  branch  of  the  subject,  the  first  important  rule  to  be  insisted  on  is,  that 
which  the  Book  of  Discipline  itself  lays  down,  namely,  "  That  private  offences  ought 
not  to  be  immediately  prosecuted  before  a  church  court,  because  the  objects  of  dis- 
cipline may  be  quite  as  well,  and  in  many  cases  much  better,  attained  by  a  different 
course;  and  because  a  i)ublic  prosecution  in  such  circumstances  would  tend  unne- 
cessarily to  spread  the  knowledge  of  offences,  to  exasperate  and  harden  offenders,  to 


026  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

extend  angry  and  vexatious  litigation  :  and  thus  to  render  the  discipline  of  the 
church  more  injurious  than  the  original  offence."  Still  further,  says  the  Book,  "  No 
complaint  or  information  on  the  subject  of  personal  and  private  injuries  shall  he  ad- 
mitted, unless  those  means  of  reconciliation  and  of  privately  reclaiming  the  offender 
have  been  used,  which  are  required  by  Christ  m  Matt,  xviii.  15,  16.  And  in  case 
of  offences,  which  though  not  personal,  are  private — that  is,  known  only  to  one,  or 
a  very  few — it  is  proper  to  take  the  same  steps  as  far  as  circumstances  admit." 

Nothing  could  be  wiser,  safer,  and  more  in  accordance  with  the  prmciples  of  natu« 
ral  justice,  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  Christ,  than  these  weighty  counsels  of  our  funda- 
mental law.  It  is  lamentable  that  they  are  so  often  departed  from,  or  at  least  imper- 
fectly complied  with  in  important  cases  brought  before  our  church  tribunals.  It 
cannot  be  dotdjteti  that  these  principles,  if  honestly  and  rigidly  applied,  would  settle 
amicably  many  of  the  prosecutions  which  take  place  before  our  Sessions  and  Pres- 
byteries. It  cannot  be  doubted  that  these  equitable  maxims  of  the  law  of  Christ,  if 
fully  adhered  to  in  all  cases  of  private  and  personal  offences,  would  altogether  fore- 
stall and  prevent  many  prosecutions  which  hitherto  have  been  suffered  to  take  public 
form,  engender  animosity  and  scandal  in  the  community,  and  so  bring  reproach  and 
detriment  upon  the  Church.  If  this  venerable  book  of  Church  order  should  ever  be 
revised,  perhaps  there  could  be  no  better  amendatory  clause  added  to  these  wise  pro- 
visions than  one  which  should  make  it  an  actionable  offence  on  the  part  of  the  church 
courts  themselves,  when  they  set  aside,  or  virtually  slur  over,  this  essential  law  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.  The  peace  and  purity  of  the  Church  are  not  likely  to  be 
promoted  by  any  rigid  process  of  disciplinary  censure  which  begins  by  violating  so 
plain  a  maxim  of  the  Divine  Master  as  that  v/hich  enjoins  that  breaches  among  breth- 
ren should  be  settled  in  the  spirit  of  forbearance  and  forgiveness. 

2.  Tiie  second  practical  suggestion  which  may  here  be  made,  is  that  in  disciplinary 
investigations  and  prosecuti(jns  all  hasty  action,  all  rash  speaking,  all  personal  preju- 
dice and  pas.iion,  and  all  partisan  judgments  on  the  part  of  the  session  itself,  ought 
to  be  studiously  set  aside.  If  the  members  of  the  tri!)unal  cannot  divest  themselves 
of  such  feelings,  they  should  be  deemed  incomi^etent  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  case; 
they  should  give  way  to  more  calm  and  imjiartial  men  ;  they  should  refer  the  case  to 
a  higher  court.  It  is  better  to  have  no  investigation,  and  no  prosecu.ion,  than  to 
have  it  under  such  circumstances.  Incompetency  in  the  church  session,  by  reason 
of  prejudice,  and  of  the  inconsistent  worldly  lives  of  one  or  more  of  its  members,  is, 
no  doubt,  one  prolific  cause  of  that  insubordination  under  discipline,  and  that  public 
contempt  for  discipline,  which  is  sometimes  exhibited  in  our  congregations.  Tiie 
offending  parties  and  their  friends,  instead  of  acquiescing  in  the  condemnatory  sen- 
tence of  a  tribunal  thus  constituted,  have  been  too  often  ready  to  set  at  nought  and 
defy  its  censure,  saying,  "  Physician,  heal  thyself,"  or,  "  Thou  hypocrite,  first  cast 
out  the  beam  from  thine  own  eye." 

In  all  matters  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  we  have  no  higher  individual  authority  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  than  the  venerated  servant  of  God,  Dr.  Samuel  Miller,  who 
filled  the  chair  of  Professor  of  Church  Government  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton  for  some  half  a  century,  dating  from  its  foundation.  On  tiiis  special  point 
of  deliberation  and  caution  in  proceeding  with  a  case  of  discipline  before  the  ses- 
sion, we  can  give  no  wiser  maxims  than  in  the  following  weighty  words  from  his 
work  on  the  "  Ruling  Elder:" 

"  If  the  maintenance  of  discipline  be  all  important  to  the  interests  of  true  religion, 
it  is  a  matter  of  no  less  importance  that  it  be  conducted  with  mildness,  prudence,  and 
wisdom.  Rashness,  precipitancy,  undue  severity,  malice,  partiality,  popular  fury, 
and  attempting  to  enforce  rules  which  Christ  never  gave,  are  among  the  many  evils 
which  have  too  often  marked  the  dispensation  of  authority  in  the  Church,  and  not 
unfrequently  defeated  the  great  purpose  of  discipline.  To  conduct  it  aright  is,  un- 
doubtedly, one  of  the  most  delicate  arid  arduous  parts  of  ecclesiastical  administra- 
tion ;  requiring  all  the  piety,  judgment,  patience,  gentleness,  maturity  of  counsel, 
and  prayerfulness  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  subject." 

3.  Another  practical  suggestion  which  should  commend  itself  to  the  attention  of 
all   pastors  and   sessions,  as  well   as  to  their  congregations,  is,  that  far  more  stress 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  927 

should  be  laid  than  has  hitherto  been  laid  upon  the  exercise  of  what  we  have  here 
lienominated  the  general  informal  discipline,  that  is,  the  precautionary  and  preven- 
tive discipline  of  the  church  courts.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  this,  under  the  lead  of  an 
active  pastor  and  a  wide-awake  body  of  efficient  Rulinj;  Elders,  all  in  hearty  sym- 
jjathy  with  the  spirit  of  their  high  calling  and  their  great  work,  might  become  so 
operative  and  so  potential  over  every  lamily  and  every  member  of  a  congregation:  as 
in  time  to  render  the  further  discipline  of  trial  process  a  strange  and  uncalled-for 
thing.  Who  can  say  that  this  would  not  be  the  highest  normal  condition  of  a  church 
of  Jesus  Christ?  Would  a  church  in  a  state  of  continued  revival  all  the  year  round, 
be  likely  to  need  the  discipline  of  actual  process?  Now  it  is  the  privilege  of  a 
church,  as  it  is  of  the  individual  Christian,  to  live  in  this  revived  state;  and  there 
are  some  churches  in  the  world  which  have  been  brought  up  to  that  very 
condition. 

One  can  form  some  good  idea  of  the  practical  working  of  this  genevcil  supervision 
over  a  large  congregation  scattered  through  a  great  city,  by  reading  such  a  treatise 
as  that  of  Dr.  David  King,  of  Glasgow,  on  the  "  Ruling  Eldership  of  the  Christian 
Church."  In  this  fine  little  work  a  ]ilan  is  given,  in  detail,  for  the  districting  of  the 
whole  congregation,  assigning  to  each  member  of  a  large  session  his  particular  part 
for  visitation  and  oversight,  with  regular  monthly  meetings  of  the  eldership  for  busi- 
ness, and  another  monthly  meeting  for  devotional  purposes,  all  presided  over  by  the 
pastor.  It  is  easy  to  see  what  would  be  the  salutary  influence  and  results  of  a  plan 
like  this,  faithfully  carried  out,  from  month  to  month  and  year  after  year,  by  an  effi- 
cient eldership,  under  the  eye  of  a  faithful,  active  pastor.  A  disciplinary  authority, 
as  widespread  and  potential  as  it  is  watchful,  would  be  perpetually  going  out,  and 
exerting  its  restraining  influence  over  every  visited  family  and  every  tenderly  cared- 
for  member  of  the  body.  The  discipline,  as  loving  as  it  is  salutary,  would  be  felt  to 
be  no  hardship,  no  usurpation.  It  would,  in  fact,  be  virtually  transferred  from 
the  judgment  seat  of  the  church  tribunal  to  the  homes  and  hearts  of  the  people. 

We  might  learn  something  on  this  point  from  the  analogies  of  the  family  and  the 
school-room.  The  discipline  of  the  church  is  indeed  well  illustrated  in  the  disci- 
pline of  a  well-regulated  school,  and  of  a  well-ordered  Christian  home.  Everybody 
knows  that  in  the  school  and  the  family  the  discipline  is  not  (he  less  perfect,  but  the 
more  perfect,  when  there  ore  Init  few  if  any  displays  of  its  badges  of  authority  and 
its  vigorous  inflictions  of  punishment.  Time  was  when  it  was  otherwise,  both  in 
school-rooms  and  home  circles;  but  we  are  now  learning  a  better  way.  There  is  an 
ancient  saying,  "  Spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the  child."  We  ajiprehend  that  as  many 
children  have  been  spoiled  with  the  rod  as  without  it.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  under- 
rate the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  or  depart  from  any  precept  of  the  word  of  God.  The 
rod  has  been,  and  it  is  to  this  day,  a  very  proper  symbol  of  authority,  both  for  the 
family  and  the  school.  It  would  be  unwise  to  repudiate  it.  But  the  questionis, 
what  is  the  true  place  of  the  rod — that  is,  the  best  place  for  it?  In  former  days  i» 
was  thought  to  hold  a  very  prominent  place  in  all  schools  and  families;  and  that 
discipline  would  be  wholly  relaxed  without  it.  Its  proper  place  was  in  the  hand  of 
the  parent,  or  on  the  desk  of  the  schoolmaster,  displayed  before  the  eyes  of  a'l 
urchins,  and  on  the  bncks  of  not  a  few.  But  we  aie  coming  to  think  now  that  the 
best  place  for  the  rod  is  to  be  left  growing  on  the  tree  in  the  orchard,  fresh  and 
green,  until  it  is  needed. 

We  have  had  somewhat  the  same  idea  as  to  the  infliction  of  church  censures,  at 
least  for  the  minor  offences;  that  is,  in  all  those  cases  which  do  not  involve  deep 
criminality  as  transgressions  of  the  law  of  God.  As  the  best  ordered  Christian 
families  and  the  best  disciplined  schools  are  those  in  which  the  law  of  love  an'd 
kindness  piedominates,  rendering  little  or  no  punishment  necessary,  so  every  Chris- 
tian church  ought  to  rise  to  this  higher  plane  of  individual  self-government  without 
the  infliction  of  penalties.  And  it  is  the  province  of  a  wise  superintending  discipline 
to  bring  a  whole  body  of  CJod's  children  to  this  high  spiritual  condition. 

As  for  offenders  of  the  other  class — those  wilful  and  incorrigible  transgressors  of 
the  law  of  Christ,  who  will  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  expostulation,  and  who  cannot 
be  won  by  kindness  and  forbearance  long-continued — uj)on  their  heads  alone  let  the 


928  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

roi  of  church  censure,  and  if  need  be  of  exclusion,  fall.  Every  society  has  a  right 
to  protect  itself  against  unworthy  members.  Christ  and  his  apostles  have  clearly 
recognized  that  right  in  the  Church,  and  have  enjoined  it  as  a  duty  to  have  no  ft-l- 
lo'.vship  with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  but  rather  to  reprove  them.  St.  Paul 
said  to  the  Galatian  Church,  "  He  shall  bear  his  judgment  that  troubleth  you,  who- 
soever he  he.  I  would  that  they  were  even  cut  off  which  trouble  you."  In  his 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  he  enjoined  upon  the  Church  "  to  put  away  from 
them  the  wicked  person  who  had  been  guilty  of  grievous  sin,  and  to  deliver  such  an 
one  unto  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh."  But  even  in  these  extreme  cases, 
as  we  learn  from  the  Second  Epistle,  he  urged  moderation  and  forbearance,  and 
recommended  to  the  Church  to  forgive  and  resfore  the  repentant  offender,  lest  "  he 
should  be  swallowed  up  with  overmuch  sorrow."  The  necessity,  however,  of  a 
rigid  discij^liiie,  as  the  last  resort,  after  all  milder  Tnethods  have  failed,  ending  in  the 
excommunication  of  the  unworthy,  is  laid  down  in  positive  and  explicit  terms  by  St. 
Paul  in  the  Second  Ejiisile  to  the  Thessalonians  :  "  Now,  we  command  you,  hreth- 
len,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  withdraw  yourselves  from  every 
brother  that  walketh  disorderly  and  not  after  the  tradition  which  he  received 
of  us." 

/}..  One  more  suggestion  must  be  made.  It  is  that  more  deliberation  and  less  haste 
should  be  shown  l)y  the  church  session  in  the  admission  of  communicants  into  the 
ciiurch.  The  safest  way  to  avoid  cases  of  judicial  discipline  is  to  guard  the  entrance 
to  the  Lord's  table,  and  to  keep  out  the  materials  for  such  discipline.  It  is  at  the 
reception  of  members  that  the  evil  of  an  unconverted,  inconsistent  and  worldly  mem- 
bership begins.  If  our  pastors  and  elders  would  have  a  pure  and  spiritual  church, 
fully  consecrated  to  the  Lord's  work,  and  worthy  of  the  Lord's  table,  they  must  ex- 
amine well  the  candidates  for  admission,  and  keep  out  the  unworthy.  If  they  would 
maintain  the  discipline  of  the  body  in  all  its  high  requirements,  let  them  avoid 
lowering  it  by  hasty  admissions,  or  accommodating  it  to  suit  the  demands  of  the 
wealthy  and  the  worldly-minded. 

Here,  precisely,  is  the  baneful  root  of  the  evil.  Too  many  people,  especially  in 
seasons  of  revival  and  high  excitement,  are  brought  into  the  Church  on  the  most 
partial  examination,  and  with  little  or  no  evidence  of  a  saving  work  of  grace.  In 
the  eagerness  to  multiply  converts  and  to  swell  the  communion  roll,  they  have  been 
luirried  into  the  Church,  without  any  test  of  character  or  any  time  for  probation. 
The  result  is  a  worldly  membership,  needing  constant  watchful  care,  and  liable  at 
any  moment  to  lapse  into  worldly  sins.  Too  many  people,  again,  come  into  the 
Church  from  the  ranks  of  the  wealthy  and  the  worldly,  as  it  were  dictating  their  own 
terms  and  making  something  like  a  conscience  compromise  between  the  Church 
and  the  world.  The  result  is  not  only  a  worldly  but  a  most  unmanageable 
membership. 

Now  the  early  Church  avoided  this  rock  of  danger.  They  made  no  half-way 
covenants,  no  compromises  with  the  world,  no  concessions  to  the  rich  and  the  great. 
They  guarded  most  sacredly  the  entrance  to  the  Lord's  table.  They  preferred 
to  have  a  small  membershi|>,  pure,  spiritxal  and  consecrated  to  God,  rather  than 
to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  Church  by  large  numbers  of  the  unconverted.  But  in 
our  times,  in  the  eager  ambition  to  multiply  numbers,  our  Presbyterian  Churches 
are  rapidly  departing  from  the  old  standard  of  a  pure  and  spiritual  body,  and 
virtually  falling  into  the  practice  of  the  Methodist  six  months  probationary  member- 
ship. As  to  the  policy  of  this  new  and  hasty  method  of  receiving  members,  we  have 
nothing  here  to  say.  We  leave  it  with  those  who  like  it,  and  who  originated  it.  It 
is  enough  for  us  to  say,  that  it  is  not  Presbyterian,  and  that  it  is  wholly  inconsistent 
both  with  the  theory  and  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  If,  therefore,  our 
church  sessions  would  conserve  the  highest  interests  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
the  maintenance  of  a  pure  membership,  a  high  spiritual  discipline  and  a  steady 
growth,  unmarred  by  the  drawback  of  unworthy  members  and  judicial  prosecutions, 
let  them  return  to  the  old  custom  of  carefully  examining  and  cautiously  receiving 
all  applicants  for  membership. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  939 

The  following  is  the  paper  (see  p.  863)  of  Rev.  Leonard  Anet,  of  Brussels,  on 

ROMANISM  AND  THE  SCHOOL  QUESTION  IN  BELGIUM. 

I. — Preliminary. 

The  Politico- Religious  Character  of  Romanism  in  Belgium. 

The  revolution  of  1830  was  brought  about  by  clergy  and  "  liberals"  alike. 

The  same  spirit  governed  the  congress  which  drew  up  the  remarkable  constitution 
or  charter  of  the  kingdom. 

The  four  great  principles  of  lilierty,  which  are  the  basis  of  every  good  social  and 
political  organization,  were  inserted  clearly  in  this  charter,  to  wit :  freedom  of  wor- 
ship, freedom  of  instruction,  freedom  of  the  press,  and  freedom  of  association. 

The  constitution  forbids  the  state  to  interfere  either  in  the  nomination  or  instal- 
ment of  ministers  of  any  sect  whatever,  and  the  entire  independence  of  all  ministers 
of  religion  was  guaranteed.  But  Article  117  says:  "The  stipends  and  pensions  of 
ministers  of  religion  are  paid  by  the  state  ;  the  necessary  sums  to  meet  them  are 
annually  voted  in  the  budget."  In  consequence  of  this  the  Romish  Church  found 
itself  in  possession  of  two  privileges  which  are  not  granted  to  it  elsewhere,  the  secu- 
lar clergy  are  paid  by,  and  yet  are  entirely  independent  of,  the  state.  The  state  has 
absolutely  no  voice  in  the  nomination  of  the  clergy,  nor  in  the  relations  between  the 
superior  and  inferior  clergy,  nor  in  their  relations  with  the  Pope  and  the  Roman 
Curia. 

A  government  paying  the  clergy,  giving  them  an  official  character,  and  yet  having 
no  kind  of  control  over  them,  is  a  unique  fact. 

The  famous  bull  launched  by  Gregory  XVI.,  in  1834,  destroyed  the  harmony 
which  was  established  between  the  liberals  on  tiie  one  hand,  and  the  clergy  and 
iheir  adherents  on  the  other.  The  separation  grew  gradually  into  decided  antagon- 
ism. The  authority  of  the  high  clergy  in  business  affairs  was  enormous.  Nobody 
i  1  the  state  could  remain  in  office  without  consenting  to  follow  the  suggestions,  or 
even  the  episcopate  orders!  But  in  1847  ^^^  liberal  party  had  the  majority  in  the 
elections.  Come  into  power,  it  retained  that  power  almost  uninterruptedly  until 
June,  1870,  when,  weakened  by  divisions,  it  was  beaten  at  the  elections,  and  the 
clerical  party  resumed  the  reins  of  government.  However  submissive  the  state 
was  to  the  church,  the  latter  could  not  make  tlie  country  retrograde,  nor  repeal  the 
reforms  which  the  liberal  party  had  passed  during  its  long  term  of  office. 

But  the  proclamation  of  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility  gave  the  ultramontane 
party  unheard-of  audacity.  Their  newspapers,  organs  of  the  bishops,  demanded  the 
gradual  application  of  all  the  principles  of  the  Syllabus,  glorified  the  Inquisition,  and 
maintained  that  the  church  alone — /.  <?.,  the  clergy — had  a  right  to  perfect  liberty, 
the  rest  of  humanity  being  free  only  to  submit.  God,  or  Christ,  having  remitted  all 
authority  to  their  infallible  representative,  who  exercised  this  authority  through  sub- 
ordinates, it  follows  that  to  disobey  the  clergy  means  rebellion  against  God.  This 
doctrine  has  been  taught  for  some  years  with  great  success  in  the  University  of  Lou- 
vain  by  a  most  talented  professor  (Mons.  Periii)  who  instils  into  his  pupils  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Syllabus. 

People  have  been  led  to  recognize  as  true  Catholics  those  only  who  profess  entire 
submission  to  the  authority  of  the  Church. 

Nevertheless,  unity  is  imt  perfect;  the  clerical  party  are  divided  into  two  sections. 
One  has  at  its  head  the  most  distinguished  political  men  in  the  clerical  ranks;  they 
wish  for  moderation ;  they  do  not  appear  to  indorse  the  complete  application  of  the 
Syllahu**;  they  seem  only  to  retain  in  some  measure  the  principles  of  the  Jurist  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  viz.,  the  independence  of  civil  and  political  power  on  the  one 
hand,  and  yet  the  alisolute  authority  of  the  clergy  in  all  that  pertains  to  religion. 

But  this  section,  which  was  so  powerful  before  the  publication  of  the  Syllabus  and 
the  proclamation  of  the  Pope's  personal  infallibility,  has  gradually,  yet  rapidly,  been 
weakened.  They  are  represented  only  by  one  newspaper,  Le  Journal  de  Brux- 
elles,  of  which  public  disapprobation  has  been  more  than  once  expressed  by  the 
bishops,  and  ultramontanism  threatens  to  extinguish  this  party  altogether. 

59 


930  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  other  section,  that  is  to  say,  the  great  majority  of  the  actual  clerical  party,  is 
jjuided  by  ultramontane  principles,  and  animated  by  the  Jesuit's  spirit.  The  soul  is 
far  more  precious  than  the  body,  heavenly  interests  are  infinitely  superior  to  earihij 
ones,  and  the  latter  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  former.  These  principles  are  abso- 
lutely true,  but  behold  the  use  to  which  they  are  put,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the 
papacy  !  The  clergy,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  are  commissioned  to  guide  be- 
lievers in  the  way  of  salvation.  To  do  this  they  must  have  authority  over  body  as  well 
;iS  soul,  over  temporal  as  well  as  over  spiritual  interests,  and  this  authority  (they  say) 
(jod  has  given  them  in  the  most  absolute  manner.  The  consequence  is  evident : 
the  clergy,  inspired  by  the  pope,  must  direct  individuals,  families,  the  state — noth- 
ing, absolutely  nothing,  must  escape  their  control.  Such  is  the  full  application  of  the 
Syllabus  under  the  power  of  the  "  Deus  in  terra,"  and  these  are  the  doctrines  taught 
and  defended  by  the  newspapers  of  the  bishops,  and  the  University  of  Louvain  for 
the  last  ten  years. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  what  efforts  the  party  had  to  make  before  they  dared  to 
])ioclaim  their  principles, — to  have  in  their  hands  public  teaching  and  the  adminis- 
iralion  of  the  poor  funds,  to  multiply  convents  of  different  orders  for  all  classes  and 
both  sexes,  to  introduce  into  the  judicial  and  administrative  magistracy  men  imbued 
with  their  doctrines  and  spirits, — lastly,  to  have  laws  passed  and  to  create  institutions 
which  would  pave  the  way  for  Belgium  to  become  altogether  a  "  Capuciniere." 
But  these  efforts  met  only  with  partial  success. 

II. — The  School  Question. 

When  the  liberty  of  teaching  was  inserted  in  the  charter  of  the  country  by  the 
national  congress,  every  party  was  satisfied.  The  ultramontane  party,  led  by  the 
Jesuits,  well  knew  that  the  state  would  have  too  great  a  task  of  organization  to  per- 
iorm  to  be  able  to  give  sufficient  attention  to  the  elementary  instruction.  Therefore 
the  Jesuits  would  have  full  opportunity  to  form  the  growing  generation  after  their 
fashion. 

This  actually  happened. 

Nevertheless,  in  1842  the  houses  seriously  took  up  this  question.  They  made  a 
law  which  seemed  to  respect  the  liberty  of  conscience,  but  which  in  reality  placed 
elementary  education,  and  the  teachers,  under  the  direction  of  the  clergy.  We  may 
even  say,  that  it  placed  both  the  teaching  and  the  teacher  at  the  priesthood's  direc- 
tion everywhere  except  in  the  large  towns,  and  even  in  the  latter  the  priest's  influ- 
ence and  authority  were  considerable.  Besides,  the  clergy  had  their  own  schools 
and  colleges,  and  these  only  prospered. 

This  did  not  satisfy  the  clerical  pretensions ;  they  wished  to  abolish  secular  educa- 
tion altogether. 

The  secular  institutions  could  only  exist  by  being  decidedly  devoted  to  the  clergy 
of  the  parish.  The  instruction  of  young  girls  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  nuns. 
The  teachers  of  a  boarding-school,  or  even  of  a  sim]ile  day-school,  might  try  in  vain 
to  submit  humbly  to  the  priest,  if  the  latter  or  the  bishop  had  the  means  of  establish- 
ing a  school  or  a  boarding-school  directed  by  nuns ;  in  that  case  the  lay  institution 
must  disappear. 

In  1847,  the  liberal  party  having  returned  to  power,  understood  that  one  of  the 
most  important  points  of  its  programme  was  to  develop  primary  education,  and  to 
withdraw  it  from  the  clergy's  influence.  The  ignorance  of  the  masses  was  veiy  great ; 
both  in  the  country  and  in  cities  a  large  number  could  neither  read  nor  write. 

In  the  public  schools  the  teaching  was  very  inferior,  while  in  those  of  the  clergy 
hardly  any  instruction  was  given;  religious  formula,  signs,  and  genuflections  com- 
prised about  all  that  was  taught.  The  liberal  government  gave  a  great  impulse  to 
popular  instruction,  by  causing  large  school-lniildings  to  be  erected;  by  help- 
ing young  men  to  be  educated  in  normal  schools.  ln->truction  developed  and  ex- 
tended, people  learned  to  read  and  to  write ;  schools  of  considerable  importance 
were  established  for  young  girls  in  the  large  towns. 

In  the  course  of  twenty-three  years,  from    1S47  to  1870,  great  improvement  was 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL,  931 

made.  But  the  law  of  1842  preserved  considerable  authority  to  the  clergy,  and  an 
almost  absolute  power  over  the  choice  of  books,  over  the  teachers,  male  and  female, 
and  also  over  the  .subjects  that  were  to  be  taught.  This  situation  was  further  aggra- 
vated. In  1870  the  clerical  party  came  again  into  power.  The  liberal  party  then 
created  a  fund,  known  under  ihe  name  of  "  School  Pence,"  in  order  to  establish  free 
schools  more  particularly  fur  young  girls  of  all  classes,  and  in  most  of  these  a  supe- 
rior and  careful  education  was  given.  When  the  local  authorities  were  liberal,  they 
gave  particular  attention  to  the  development  of  these  institutions,  and  even  contributed 
generously  out  of  their  funds.  Two  years  ago,  in  1878,  the  liberal  party  gained 
an  astonishing  victory  at  the  elections,  and  resumed  the  reins  of  government :  they 
resolved  with  perfect  unanimity  to  revise  the  law  of  1842,  to  withdraw  primary  edu- 
cation and  normal  schools  from  the  direction  of  the  clergy,  and  free  the  teachers 
from  bondage.* 

A  minister  of  public  instruction  was  appointed ;  he  presented  the  houses  a  project 
for  the  revision  of  the  existing  law,  which  would  take  from  the  clergy  all  direction 
of  public-school  affairs,  and  emancipate  the  teachers  entirely  from  the  priest's  control 
and  authority.  During  a  long  and  tiresome  debate,  the  clerical  party  made  use  of 
the  most  eccentric  and  the  weakest  of  arguments,  prophesied  the  most  terrible  mis- 
fortunes and  the  revolt  of  the  country  if  the  law  were  ever  passed :  it  was,  however, 
voted  by  both  houses.  It  had  then  to  be  put  in  force.  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe 
the  struggle  which  took  place  between  the  government  and  liberals  against  the  ad- 
herents of  the  clerical  parly.  I  will  only  try  to  give  some  idea  of  the  consequences 
of  this  violent  contest. 

The  clerical  party  called  the  law  "  une  loi  de  malheur,"  and  the  public  schools 
"  Godless  schools,"  pretending  that  religion  was  to  be  excluded  from  all  teaching. 
The  liberals  protested,  and  they  inserted  in  the  law  such  clauses  as  rendered  this 
i.ccusation  groundless.  We  do  not  say  that  a  great  number  of  the  legislators  cared 
lor  any  positive  religion  whatever,  but,  be  that  as  it  may,  the  law  decreed  :  1st.  That 
special  hours  should  be  set  aside  for  religious  instruction;  2d,  that  rooms  for  that 
]iurpose  should  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  ]iriests  or  ministers  of  all  denominations; 
'}^f\^  that  parents  have  the  right  to  decide  to  which  minister,  priest,  or  rabbi  they 
wished  to  intrust  their  children's  religious  instruction. f  In  other  countries  the  clergy 
would  be  grateful  if  such  nghts  were  granted  to  them,  but  in  Belgium,  what  they  want 
is  absolute  power  over  public  and  ]5rivate  teaching.  They  did  not  dare  to  own  this ; 
they  pretended,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  was  religion  that  was  compromised  and  perse- 
cuted, and  yet  their  acts  and  conduct  prove  that  the  interests  of  religion  troubled  them 
least  of  all :  Firstly.  Thus  they  refused,  when  ordered  by  their  chiefs,  to  give  religious 
instruction  in  the  schools  ;  secondly,  teachers  of  all  grades  were  forbidden  under  threat 
of  excommunication  to  make  their  pupils  repeat  the  parochial  catechism  ;  thirdly,  all 
masters  or  teachers,  male  and  female,  who  remained  in  the  pulilic  schools  or  in 
the  municipalities' service  were  excommunicated  ipso  facto ;  fourthly,  the  scholars 
of  the  normal  schools,  their  parents,  and  the  members  of  the  scholastic  commission 
were  excommunicated.  Priests  were  authorized  to  refuse  absolution  to  the  parents 
of  children  attending  the  public  schools,  to  the  magistrates,  and  those  who  supported 
them.     Most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  kingdom  were  excommunicated. 

It  is  impossible  to  find  a  vestige  of  religious  interest  in  these  or  in  any  other  of  the 
means  employed  to  excite  opinion  against  the  law,  and  to  cause  the  downfall  of  the 
public  schools.  All  that  was  untrue  and  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  was  made 
use  of.  Discussions  in  the  newspapers  were,  and  are  still,  most  violent,  and  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  no  language  can  be  compared  to  that  of  the  clergy  and  their 
supporters  for  acrimony,  effrontery,  defamation,  and  calumny.  They  certainly  were 
not  satisfied  with  these  means.  The  bishops  and  lay  leaders  resolved  to  found  cleri- 
cal schools  in  every  jjarish,  and  to  try  every  plan  beside  excommunication  to  draw 
masters  and  scholars  to  them.  In  certain  instances  stables  and  unhealthy  cellars 
were  transformed  into  schools,  masters  and  mistresses  appointed  were  persons  who 

*  The  programme  comprised  also  important  reforms  in  "  I'enseignement  moyen." 
t  A  small  subsidy  is  granted  by  the  communes  to  the  priests  and  ministers. 


C32  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

never  had  any  instruction,  and  whose  lives  until  now  had  been  passed  in  the  most 
humble  occupations,  which  needed  little  learning  and  no  intellectual  development. 
No  doubt  there  were  some  good  teachers  which  went  over  to  the  clerical  schools ; 
some  went  to  obtain  a  good  salary  or  to  escape  persecution,  and  surely,  a  few  from 
sincere  conviction. 

The  government  and  the  provincial  authorities  and  municipalities  which  belong 
to  the  liberal  party,  displayed  much  activity,  energy  and  perseverance. 

During  a  discussion  in  the  house  in  which  the  two  parties  were  reciprocally  ac- 
cusing one  another  of  using  unjust  means  to  support  their  schools,  the  head  of  the 
clerical  party  was  incautious  enough  to  say  that  a  parliamentary  inquiry  would  be 
desirable,  so  that  properly-placed  res])onsibility  in  this  great  contest  should  be  stated. 
The  liberal  leaders  seized  the  "ball  in  rebound,"  and  demanded  that  a  parlia^ 
mentary  inquiry  should  be  made.  Then  the  clerical  party  were  so  afraid  of  it  that 
they  made  every  effort  to  prevent  it,  saying  it  would  be  despotism,  tyranny,  violation 
of  personal  liberty  ;  the  commission  which  would  make  the  inquiry  would  commit 
every  indiscretion  and  excess.  Nevertheless,  the  inquiry  was  decided  on.  The 
committee  were  named.  The  most  crafty,  the  most  violent,  and  also  the  most  hon- 
orable adversaries  of  the  law  and  of  public  schools,  were  elected  to  it.  But  not  one 
of  them  accepted,  and  they  determined  not  a  member  of  the  clerical  party  should 
sit  in  the  commission.  The  precaution  can  be  understood  ;  l)Ut  it  must  be  admitted 
that  it  was  difficult  for  this  party,  which  pretended  to  uphold  religion,  to  give  a  more 
striking  proof  of  its  culpability  and  bad  faith.  The  Romish  Church  is  founded  on 
the  most  sacrilegious  of  lies,  and  the  worst  characterized  hypocrisy,  and  she  is 
forced  to  expose  more  and  more  those  vices,  which  lead  to  and  will  bring  upon  her 
the  most  terrible  catastrophes. 

We  must  wait  a  time,  perhaps  some  years,  to  appreciate  more  completely  the 
consequences  of  the  struggle ;  meantime  we  may  state  the  following  important 
facts : 

1st.  Last  December  the  clerical  schools  had  about  one-third,  and  the  public 
schools  two-thirds  of  the  scholars  under  primary  teaching.  Since  that  time  the  cleri- 
cal schools  have  lost  many  of  their  pupils.  And  the  superior  public  schools  for 
girls  have  in  general  a  marked  success. 

2d.  There  are  few  persons  on  either  side  who  do  not  now  recognize  that  the  cam- 
paign undertaken  by  the  clerical  party  against  the  new  law  and  the  public  schools, 
has  been  hurtful  to  the  cause  of  Romanism  from  both  a  religious  and  political  point 
of  view. 

The  late  elections,  which,  according  to  the  clericals,  ought  to  have  given  a  severe 
verdict  against  the  new  law,  showed,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  liberals  had  gained 
considerable  ground  in  every  district  save  that  of  Antwerp;  the  clericals  diminished 
in  number;   the  majority  in  the  Chamber  grew  up  from  ten  to  sixteen  votes. 

3d.  It  is  evident  that  the  necessary  expenses  for  the  foundation  and  support  of  llie 
clerical  schools  exceed  the  resources  of  the  party,  great  though  they  are.  Moreover, 
the  body  of  teachers  is  to  a  great  extent  incapable.  The  public  schools  are  gen- 
erally much  better  managed,  and  they  are  consequently  gaining  ground  on  their 
opponents.  The  issue  of  this  conflict,  which  has  agitated  and  still  agitates  the 
whole  country,  the  most  insignificant  as  well  as  the  most  important  city  or  village, 
will  be  most  injurious  to  Romanism.* 

*  An  event  which  ought  to  be  mentioned  here  is,  the  break  of  the  diplomatic  relations  between  the 
Papal  Court  and  the  Belgian  government.  It  is  the  school  question  which  has  led  to  this  rupuire. 
[This  rupture  took  place  in  June,  1880.  The  Pope's  Nuncio  received  his  passport  at  the  end  of  the 
month]  When  the  liberals  came  into  power,  two  years  ago,  they  found  themselves  morally  bound 
by  their  former  promises  to  suppress  the  Belgian  embassy  at  the  Court  of  Leo  XIII. 

The  President  of  the  Ministry,  Mons.  Frere  Orban,  hesitated  :  the  law  of  1842  upon  primary  edu- 
cation was  to  be  revised  ;  every  one  knew  that  the  clergy  and  the  political  party  that  supported 
them  would  put  at  work  every  means  either  to  prevent  the  withdrawal  of  primary  teaching,  teaching 
from  the  clergy's  authority,  or  to  neutralize  the  execution  of  the  law,  should  a  law  be  passed  to  free 
the  teacher  and  the  school. 

The  infallible  Pope  could  give  orders  or  exercise  an  important  influence  on  the  bishops  to  prevent 
them  making  violent  opposition  to  the  proposals  of  th?  houses  and  government. 

To  obtain  the  intervention  of  Leo  XIII.,  concessions  h.id  to  be  made,  our  representative  was  to 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  933 

4th.  Tlie  masters  and  mistresses,  the  pupils  of  the  normal  schools,  the  magistrates 
and  many  parents,  who  had  been  excomnninicated,  seem  not  to  mind  beiny  cut  off 
from  the  communion  of  their  church.  Naturally  the  excommunication  launched 
by  the  priest  has  been  the  subject  of  many  conversations  and  discussions.  A  lari^e 
number  of  persons  who  had  never  inquired  about  the  clergy's  right  to  use  this 
power,  have  sought  for  light,  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  power  of  the 
keys  is  an  usurpation,  and  the  absolution  given  by  the  priest  is  without  value. 
■  With  regard  to  the  teachers,  the  painful  position  of  those  who  still  have  faith  in 
the  value  of  excommunication,  and  are  thus  placed  between  their  consciences  and 
the  necessity  of  gaining  daily  bread  for  their  families,  has  been  considered.  A 
member  "  of  our  Church,  the  Christian  Missionary  Church^''  addressed  a  pam- 
jihlet  to  them  (they  number  7,000  to  8,000),  the  aim  of  which  was  to  show,  by  the 
teaching  of  the  gospel,  the  vanity  of  priestly  excommunication,  and  the  abundance 
of  God's  mercy  towards  those  who  approached  him  through  Jesus  Christ.  This 
earnest  pamphlet  has  been  well  received.  At  the  same  time,  New  Testaments  have 
been  sent  to  many  thousands  of  them,  and  we  will  strive  to  do  the  same  for  the 
others. 

In  all  that  concerns  general  evangelization  we  may  look  for  good  results. 

But  we  must  not  deceive  ourselves;  unbelief  for  often  open  unbelief  takes  the 
.place  of  the  Papal  and  Roman  faith.  From  a  moral  and  Christian  point  of  view,  is 
this  a  loss?  It  is  doubtful,  to  say  the  least!  But  the  number  increases  of  those 
•who  see  the  tmie  coming  when  they  will  be  obliged  to  renounce  entirely  Romish 
.worship  and  sacraments,  and  who  ask  themselves  with  anxiety  if  they  shall  not 
become  Protestants? 

What  other  religion  can  they  adopt  ? 

The  attention  of  those  who  have  not  decidedly  given  themselves  over  to  infidelity 
is  strongly  directed  to  the  gosjiel,  and  to  those  writings  which  proclaim  the  mes».age 
of  salvation.  Doors  open  wider  and  wider  to  preaching,  and  the  missionary  work 
we  carry  on  shows  solid  progress.  Conversions  bearing  the  seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
.are  more  numerous  than  hitherto. 

The  field  whitens  more  and  more,  but  we  are  like  the  Macedonian  that  appeared 
to  St.  Paul  in  a  vision.  We  say  to  our  brethren  in  foreign  parts:  "  Come  over  and 
.help  us."   .   .  .   Paul  hastened  to  answer  the  call  !* 

remain  at  Rome,  the  Nuncio  to  remain  here.  The  head  of  the  Cabinet  insisted  on  this,  though  in 
so  doing  he  disple.ised  nearly  all  his  party. 

The  maintaining  of  these  diplomatic  relations  with  the  Holy  Chair  meant  that  the  Pope  was  to 
interpose  his  authority  to  prevent  a  violent  conflict.  The  Pope  agreed  to  do  this  ;  but  in  spile  of  his 
r  ptated  promises  one  does  not  see  that  he  has  had  any  influence  on  his  Belgian  sufiVagers.  Those 
who  really  know  the  spirit  of  the  Papal  Court  were  perfectly  convinced  it  was  playfng  a  double 
.L'ame.  Light  gradually  came,  and  it  broke  forth  from  every  side  through  divers  documents  :  the 
correspondence  of  bishops,  of  diplomatists,  etc.,  etc.  Leo  XIIL,  his  Secretary  of  State,  Cardinal 
Nina,  the  Papal  Nuncio  at  Brussels,  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Mechlin,  Primate  of  Belgium,  have 
put  in  practice  the  spirit  of  Jesuitism,  the  art  of  deceiving  with  a  cynicism  rarely  found,  save  in 
papal  diplomacy.  Pius  IX.  was  a  foolish  fanatic,  but  was  sincere;  Leo  XIII.  is  a  diplomatist 
Formerly  papal  artifice  was  successful,  owing  to  the  terrifying  authority  of  the  Roman  Court ;  in 
our  days  it  is  diflferent. 

We  must  mention  an  incident  which  has  greatly  aggravated  the  situation  of  the  superior  clergy 
and  the  papal  authorities.  Bishop  Dumont,  of  Tournay,  an  ardent  ultramontane  and  true  disciple 
of  Pius  IX. ,  would  not  act  with  the  puliticians  nor  stoop  to  the  deceits  of  the  Nuncio  and  Pope  ;  he 
was  declared  mad,  and  the  administration  of  his  important  diocese  was  taken  from  him.  After  a 
time  of  silence  and  retreat,  the  poor  bishop  wrote  letters  to  liberal  newspapers,  in  which  he  spoke 
of  the  Pope  and  some  of  his  principal  officers  as  false  servnius  of  Christ,  animated  by  a  wicked 
spirit.  He  published  his  correspondence  with  the  Bishops  of  Liege  and  Naniur,  which  showed  that 
these  bishops  had  much  esteem  and  afl"ection  for  him;  that  they  did  rot  believe  him  mad,  but  that 
he  was  the  victim  of  an  unworthy  and  shameful  plot.  One  is  struck  by  the  diabolical  spirit  which 
pervades  Rome  and  her  clergy. 

The  revelations  of  the  Bishop  of  Tournay  are  overwhelming,  and  all  the  more  so  because  what  he 
has  written  lately  shows  signs  of  healthy  reasoning,  though  not  quite  exempt  from  eccentricity. 
The  result  of  all  this  affair  seems  to  be,  on  one  hand,  that  our  Minister  of  F'oreign  Affairs  has  acted 
with  perfect  sincerity  and  noble  independence;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Nuncio  V.annutclli, 
Cardinal  Nina  and  Leo  XIII.  have  played  the  part  of  dupe-makers. 

*  The  work  pursued  by  the  Missionary  Christian  Church,  organized  according  to  the  Presbyte- 
rian principle,  is, done  entirely  among  Romanism  and  all  her  congregations  are  converts  from  Rome; 
and,  by  the  mercy  of  the  Lird,  and  in  consequence  of  the  vivifying  action  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they 
are  very  earnest  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  Go  J. 


934  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

II. 

THE  GERMAN  MEETING. 

The  Rev.  Nicholas  Gehr,  D.  D.,  a  delegate  to  the  Council  from  the  Reformetl 
Church  in  the  United  States,  has  furnished  the  following  report  of  the  meeting,  and 
made  the  translation  of  the  papers  : 

After  a  German  union  service  had  been  held  on  Sunday  evening  in  Zion's  Re- 
formed Church,  Sixth  street,  above  Girard  avenue,  a  German  business  meeting 
was  also  arranged  for  the  following  Tuesday  evening  in  Association  Hall,  Hfleenih 
and  Chestnut  streets.  The  meeting  took  place  at  the  appointed  time.  The  audi- 
ence was  quite  respectable,  and  listened  attentively  to  the  reports  of  several  German 
delegates  from  the  continent.  About  fifteen  ministers  of  various  denominations 
occupied  the  platform.  Dr.  Schaff  presided,  and  called  on  Rev.  J.  Richelsen  to 
invoke  God's  blessing;  after  which  a  German  hymn  was  sung  by  the  whole  audi- 
ence from  a  printed  programme,  specially  provided  for  the  occasion.  After  a 
prayer  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Oerter,  of  New  York,  the  presiding  officer  made  a  few 
introductoi-y  remarks,  referring  to  the  great  blessings  which  the  introduction  of  the 
printing  press  and  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  has  conferred  on  man- 
kind in  general,  and  the  German  nation  in  particular;  and  exhorting  the  Germans 
in  America  to  act  in  harmony  with  their  English  fellow-Christians  in  all  religious 
as  well  as  secular  affairs. 

Professor  Pfleiderer,  of  Kornthal,  Wurtemberg,  then  read  an  interesting  "  Report 
on  the  State  of  Religion  in  Germany,"  which  was  listened  to  with  marked  attention. 
A  translation  of  the  report  will  be  found  in  this  volume. 

After  the  singing  of  another  hymn,  Dr.  Schaff  presented  a  paper  from  Professor 
Krafft,  of  Bonn,  Germany,  on  "  The  Conflict  of  the  German  Empire  with  the  Pope." 
In  the  absence  of  its  author,  who  was  detained  on  account  of  sickness  in  his  family, 
only  the  principal  points,  according  to  a  rule  of  Council,  were  stated.  It  will, 
however,  be  found  among  the  other  essays. 

Rev.  O.  Erdman,  of  Elberfeld,  Germany,  delivered  a  free  address  on  "  Christian 
Training."  He  spoke  with  considerable  animation  and  good  effect,  pointing  out 
the  proper  mode,  means  and  objects  of  Christian  training,  interspersed  with  many 
practical  hints.  The  address,  as  written  out  by  himself,  will  be  found  in  its  proper 
place. 

The  next  speaker  was  Rev.  Fritz  Fliedner,  of  Spain,  who  scarcely  had  time 
enough  left  to  relate  a  few  incidents  connected  with  his  evangelizing  work  among  a 
superstitious  yet  redeemable  people. 

Dr.  Seybert,  from  Bloomfield,  N.  J.,  added  a  short  address  of  hearty  welcome  to 
the  foreign  delegates,  and  closed  with  prayer.  The  audience  joined  in  singing  the 
doxology,  and  was  dismissed. 

LETTER  FROM  PROFESSOR  GODET  TO  DR.  SCHAFF. 

NeufchaTEL,  September  2^d,  1880. 
Dear  Friend: — At  the  very  moment  in  which  I  am  writing  these  lines,  the 
opening  of  the  Council — the  celebration  of  the  ^L'ka6e'A<l>ia  takes  place,  and  their 
united  prayers  and  praises  ascend  to  the  throne  of  our  glorified  Redeemer.  Those 
brethren  of  the  European  continent  who  were  unable  to  travel  to  the  Western  world, 
are,  however,  with  you  in  spirit.  How  happy  I  should  feel  if  I  were  found  among 
the  former  instead  of  among  the  latter.  It  could  not  be;  it  was  impossible.  Your 
affectionate  letter  made  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind.  Again  and  again  the 
question  recurred  to  me,  How  about  the  possibility  ?  It  followed  me  even  to  the 
mountains  of  the  "Oberland,"  where  your  letter  reached  me.  But  the  answer  was 
always  the  same.  Therefore,  I  have  to  attend  your  Assembly  at  Philadelphia  in 
Neufchatel.  .  For  one  thing  I  have  to  ask  your  pardon  forthwith,  namely,  for  not 
replying  sooner,  thus  leaving  you,  perhaps,  in  doubt  as  to  my  intention.  I  now 
feel  h(jw  wrong  it  was  on  my  part,  as  it  may  have  been  important  for  you  to  know 
whether  I  would  come  or  not.     I  entreat  you  most  earnestly  to  forgive  this  very 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  935 

inexcusable  nejjiect.  It  was  a  peculiar  time  with  me,  various  matters  claiming  my 
undivided  attention.  Only  after  the  return  of  rest  did  I  fully  realize  how  unkind 
and  ungrateful  I  have  acted  by  this  delay  toward  this  supreme  invitation,  and  a 
faithful  inviting  friend. 

If  l)rotherly  love  has  received  in  Philadelphia  a  new  impulse,  then  sufficient  oi)por- 
tunity  is  here  afforded  you  to  practise  the  same  on  a  large  scale  ( Matthew  xviii.  21,  22). 

And  now,  dear  friend,  my  sinceresl  thnnks  for  all  the  kindness  bestowed  on  me 
since  we  first  met  in  Berlin.  The  Lord  who  brought  us  together  in  our  school-days, 
also  gather  us  into  his  upper  sanctuary.  I  feel  more  deeply  than  ever  the  need  of 
his  help  and  constant  presence.  I  realize  more  fully  now  than  at  any  former  period 
the  weakness  of  my  faith,  the  coldness  of  my  love,  the  deadness  of  my  hope,  and  the 
unfaithfulness  of  my  faithfulness.  It  often  seems  to  me  as  if  I  were  suspended  by  a 
single  cord  over  the  abyss.  And  so  it  is  in  reality.  But  this  cord  is  the  love  and 
mercy  of  my  God.  He,  who  is  faithful,  will  never  forsake  me.  If  it  were  other- 
wise, why  would  he  so  graciously  have  sought  me  ? 

You  have  probably  received  Vol.  II.  of  my  "Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans."  I  have  now  to  prepare  a  new  edition  of  my  St.  John;  and  then,  should 
God  grant  further  grace,  1  Corinthians  will  follow.  I  submit  it  to  his  own  good 
pleasure.     We  are  servants,  and  have  no  choice.  .   .  . 

THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  WITH  THE  POPE. 
By  Dr.  William  Krafft,  Professor  of  Church  History  in  Bonn. 

The  principle,  that  the  Church  over  against  the  State  should  be  independent,  has 
been,  since  the  accession  of  Frederick  William  IV.,  King  of  Prussia,  to  the  throne, 
in  the  year  1840,  as  consistently  carried  out  in  reference  to  the  two  publicly  recog- 
nized ecclesiastical  communions,  the  Evangelical-Protestant  and  the  Roman  Catholic, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  free  ecclesiastical  associations. 

In  reference  to  the  Evangelical  Protestant  Church,  the  king  declared  that  he 
longed  to  see  the  time  when  he  will  be  able  to  restore  the  government  of  the  Church 
transmitted  to  him  by  his  ancestors,  to  the  proper  hands.  With  this  object  in  view 
were,  since  1843,  the  different  Provincial  Synods  and  then  the  General  .Synod  of  the 
country  convened,  which,  after  the  example  of  the  apostles,  should  lay  the  founda- 
tion for  a  genuine  Church  government,  through  the  organization  of  congregations  and 
then  of  presbyteries,  from  which  the  different  grades  of  church  authorities,  namely, 
Provincial  Synods  and  a  General  Synod  for  the  whole  country,  should  hereafter  pro- 
ceed. 

In  like  manner  a  series  of  measures  was  adopted  in  reference  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church,  all  of  which  looked  to  the  abrogation  of  the  ancient  control  of  the  Stale 
over  the  Church  Free  intercourse  of  the  clergy  with  Rome  was  allowed,  and 
through  the  annulling  of  the  important //rtfd'/7<w  regiuin,  liberty  to  publish„.the  papal 
as  well  as  the  episcopal  decrees  without  hindrance,  was  granted.  The  school  affairs 
were  transferred  to  the  Catholic  clergy,  by  which  means  the  mass  of  the  Catholic 
population  came  gradually  under  the  authority  of  the  Church. 

These  measures,  so  favorable  to  the  Church,  were  adopted  at  a  time  when  the 
Romish  Church  authorities,  already  under  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  XVI.,  had 
yielded  more  and  more  to  the  influence  of  the  Jisuits.  The  higher  clergy,  instead 
of  confining  themselves  to  ecclesiastical  matters  as  heretofore,  had  already  made  seri- 
ous encroachments  upon  the  rights  of  the  State,  especially  in  regard  to  contracting 
mixed  marriages.  The  ecclesiastical  controversy  in  reference  thereto,  which  arose 
in  Cologne  in  183S,  was  still  fresh  in  memory.  Although  Frederick  William  IV. 
had,  in  a  most  noble  manner,  immediately  restored  peace  with  the  Romish  Church 
authorities  in  1840,  in  that  he  extended  pardon  to  Clemens  Augustus,  who  had  been 
forcibly  removed  from  his  archiepiscopal  see  at  Cologne,  yet,  a  close  observer  could 
not  fail  to  notice  that  the  Jesuits'  party  had  made  it  one  of  the  principal  objects  of 
their  aim  to  combat  and  subjugate  Protestant  Prussia.  For  the  accoaiplishment  of 
this  end  they  relied  upon  the  vigorous  support  of  the  ultramontane  party,  which  has 
been  organized  since  the  ecclesiastical  controversy  at  Cologne,  and  whose  adhcrtjtus 


93^  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 

have  become  more  and  more  numerous  in  the  Prussian  Rhine  provinces  acquired  in 
1815,  in  which  the  Catholic  religion  predominates.  The  measures  adopted  by  Fred- 
erick William  IV.  were  looked  upon  only  as  necessary  concessions,  and  the  old,  lung- 
forgotten,  and  obsolete  edicts  of  the  Church  in  reference  to  her  supremacy  over  the 
State,  for  opposing  anil  suppressing  of  heretical  parties,  were  again  made  available  for 
Prussia  also.  The  Syllabus  adopted  by  the  Jesuits  in  1864,  under  the  pontificate  of 
Pius  IX.,  was  to  codify  those  edicts  of  the  Church  anew  for  the  future. 

When  the  Slate  of  Prussia,  in  which  Protestantism  predominates,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Bismarck,  took  the  first  steps  in  its  victorious  career  for  the  unification  of  Ger- 
many, with  the  exclusion  of  Catholic  Austria,  in  1S66,  the  hostility  of  the  Romish 
Church  authorities  against  Prussia  increased  only  the  more.  The  noble  ecclesiastical 
liberties  which  it  had  granted  to  its  Roman  Catholic  subjects  were  now,  in  base  in- 
gratitude, designated  only  as  an  obligatory  restoration  of  the  inalienable  rights  belong- 
ing to  the  Caiholic  Church.  The  political  organs  of  Europe  in  the  service  of  Rome 
were  called  upon  to  em]jloy  all  their  powers  in  opposition  to  Prussia.  When  the 
Jesuit  party,  which  had  already  become  omnipotent,  had  eventually  reached  the  end  it 
had  been  striving  to  gain  fir  years,  and  the  Vatican  Council,  in  the  year  1870,  issued 
the  dogmatical  definition  of  the  infallibility  of  the  pope  and  the  proclamation  of  the 
papal  universal-episcopates,  then  broke  out  simultaneously  (July,  1870)  the  terrible 
war  between  France  and  Germany,  the  object  of  which  was  to  humiliate  Prussia, 
which  a  short  time  before  had  assumed  the  leadership  of  Germany.  The  great  vic- 
tory of  Prussia  and  Germany,  achieved  under  the  merciful  favor  and  protection  of 
God,  led  now  to  the  full  restoration  of  one  only  powerful  Germany,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  king  of  Prussia  as  German  Emperor. 

When,  after  great  victories  had  been  achieved,  he  who  was  proclaimed  at  Ver- 
sailles German  Emperor  (King  William  I.)  had  returned  to  Berlin,  with  the  aid  of 
his  great  statesman  Bismarck,  the  internal  arrangements  for  united  Germany  had  to 
be  entered  upon.  At  home  a  party  had  already  been  formed,  which,  under  the  as- 
sunied  title  of  "  The  Centre,"  was  determined  that  all  political  questions  should  be 
solved  solely  from  a  "  churchly,"  that  is,  a  strictly  Roman  Catholic  point  of  view. 
The  name  "  Ultramontane,"  that  is,  people  whose  native  country  lies  beyond  the 
mountains,  and  whose  head  and  ruler,  in  the  first  place,  is  the  Pope  of  Rome,  was 
no  longer  obnoxious  to  them,  as  before.  They  adopted  it  themselves,  as  an  honor- 
able title.  All  the  demands  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  upon  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment must  be  prosecuted  in  the  newly  created  political  bodies,  the  Prussian  As- 
sembly and  the  German  Diet,  through  the  energetic  intervention  of  this  party.  In  a 
short  time  it  exerted  consideralile  influence.  When  the  energetic  revived  German 
national  feeling  protested  decidedly  against  these  demands,  then  the  '*  Centre" — in 
reality  the  extreme  left — rose  up  in  pronounced  opposition  to  everything  which  the 
Prussian  and  German  national  government  from  time  to  time  proposed  for  the  con- 
solidation of  the  empire.  This  party  endeavored  more  and  more  to  thrust  itself  for- 
ward as  the  representative  of  the  whole  Catholic  j^opulation,  and  their  lying  inven- 
tiijns,  their  exaggerations  and  perversions  of  the  truth  were  scattered  among  ihe 
Catholic  people  through  the  larger  organs  of  the  press  and  the  smaller  publications 
everywhere  springing  up,  the  so-called  "  Hetzcaplane." 

Towards  such  a  systematic  hostility  of  the  "  Centre,"  the  State  authorities  dare  no 
longer  remain  passive.  It  became  the  imperative  duty  of  the  Prussian  government, 
by  way  of  self-preservation,  to  re-esiab'ish  the  former  legally  authorized  supervision 
oi  the  Slate  over  the  Church,  although  they  must  expect  thereby  to  encounter  the 
most  decided  op()osilion  of  a  population  who  had  already  been  fanaticised  in  favor 
of  the  pretended  claims  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  these  circumstances, 
however,  the  most  advisable  course  forthe  government  to  pursue  in  effecting  the  pro- 
posed restoration  was  to  restrict  itself  to  the  most  simple  and  most  essential  points. 

This  course  was  observed  in  regard  to  the  most  of  the  so-called  May-laws  of  1873 
and  1874.  In  the  Jesuit  law,  these  disturbers  of  the  religious  pence,  who  are  in  no 
wise  adapted  to  a  state  of  equal  rights,  were  exiled.  Purther,  in  the  law  for  the 
supervision  of  the  schools,  which  reinstated  the  inherent  right  of  the  State  in  regard 
to  training  and  educating  its  future  citizens.     Then,  again,  the  civil  marriage  law, 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  937 

which  ('.eclares  a  civil  marriage  contract  to  he  lerrally  valid.  The  convent  law,  which 
regulates  matters  relating  to  religious  orders.  The  old  Catholic  law,  which  secures 
to  the  old  Catholics  equal  rights  with  the  adherents  of  the  Vatican;  and  finally,  the 
law  in  regard  to  the  management  of  Church  property. 

The  laws  which  restore  the  right  of  the  State  to  e.xercise  supervision  in  cases  where 
self-preservation  seems  to  require  it,  have,  it  is  true,  called  forth  a  local  diss.Ttislac- 
tion  here  and  there ;  the  mass  of  the  people,  however,  manifested  no  opposition  to 
them. 

A  different  judgment  from  that  given  in  regard  to  these  laws,  must  be  rendered  in 
reference  to  some  others  of  the  May-laws  which  relate  to  the  education  and  appoint- 
ment of  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  the  control  of  the  vacant  dioceses.  (May  nth,  1S73, 
and  May  20th,  1874.) 

The  candidates  for  orders,  before  receiving  their  appointment,  were  to  submit  to 
an  examination  according  to  a  new  regulation,  so  that  ihose  intellectually  disqualihed, 
and  appearing  to  the  State  to  be  unserviceable,  might  be  kept  aloof  from  the  office. 
He  who  looks  more  closely  into  the  regulation  for  this  so-called  examination,  will 
See  that  a  mass  of  historical  notes,  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  witii  Cerman  litera- 
ture and  history  of  philosophy,  may  be  stored  in  the  memory,  without  a  taste  for 
science  or  a  national  sentiment  having  been  thereby  awakened  and  promoted.  That, 
in  this  law,  which  only  can  be  effective,  is  the  prohibition  of  boys'  seminaries  and  the 
academic  convents  established  by  the  bishops,  by  means  of  which  the  preparatory 
studies  and  farther  education  of  the  future  Catholic  priesthood  might  again  be  brought 
into  connection  with  the  State  institutions  and  thus  placed  in  a  more  liberal  posidon. 

The  other  law  relating  to  the  control  of  the  vacant  dioceses,  by  means  of  which 
evil-minded  persons  dangerous  to  the  State  shall  be  kept  from  the  priestly  office, 
must,  in  view  of  the  object  therel>y  contemplated,  likewise  be  regarded  as  a  failure. 
The  manager  of  a  diocese  must  take  an  oath  lately  introduced.  The  bishop  must 
report  to  the  chief  president  of  his  province  in  advance  every  nomination  to  an 
ecclesiastical  office  for  confirmation.  The  worthlessness  of  promissory  oaths,  in  the 
political  as  well  as  in  the  ecclesiastical  sphere,  is  a  fact  so  manifest  from  the  expe- 
rience of  earlier  times  that  they  should  have  been  discontinued.  The  duty  to  report 
imposed  on  the  bishop,  however  justified  it  might  appear  to  the  defenders  of  the 
Church  policy  of  the  Cultus-Minisler  P'alk  at  the  time  the  law  was  enacted,  yet  it 
failed  to  reach  the  particular  object  contemplated  by  tlie  State.  That  which  is  most 
important  for  the  Slate  is  the  right  of  protest,  and  this  it  could  have  secured,  as  is 
the  case  in  the  legislation  of  other  States,  by  the  simple  declaration  that  no  clergy- 
man can  hold  an  ecclesiastical  office  without  the  concurrence  of  the  State,  and,  so 
long  as  this  concurrence  has  not  been  obtained,  the  State  claims  the  right  to  declare 
the  clergyman  in  such  case  disqualified.  The  State  could  then  judge  of  each  ap- 
pointment separately,  and  quietly  admit  well-qualified  men,  even  when  concurrence 
on  the  part  of  the  bishop  has  not  been  obtained,  and,  in  flagrant  cases,  furnish  a 
warning  example.  The  bishops  would  then,  as  is  the  case  in  the  Southern  German 
States,  also  have  avoided  such  appointments  in  future  in  the  abstnce  of  the  duty  to 
report.  This  law  is  also  a  failure,  because  it  made  the  disposition  of  the  future  des- 
tinies of  the  clergy,  as  well  as  of  the  parishes,  dependent  exclusively  upon  the  con- 
duct of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  namely,  on  the  fulfilment  of  the  duly  to  report, 
which,  the  government  might  have  certainly  known  beforehand,  would  never  be 
complied  with.  Accordingly,  the  punishment  for  the  violation  of  this  duty  on  the 
part  of  the  bishops  fell  not  upon  them  but  upon  the  clergy  and  the  annually  increas- 
ing number  of  vacant  parishes.  Among  the  candidates  for  ihe  many  vacant  par- 
ishes are  a  large  number  of  peaceable,  law-abiding,  and  pa  riotic-minded  men;  but 
these  qualities  were  to  them  of  no  avail,  because  their  bir,hop  neglected  the  duty  of 
notification,  and  they  were  left  without  a  field  ot   labor  and  without  sujiport. 

These  laws  afforded  the  ojiposing  Church  authorities  the  desired  ojiportunity 
absolutely  to  interdict  the  performance  of  those  functions  which  the  State  had  en- 
joined upon  them,  and  to  organize  an  opposition  to  them,  either  active  or  passive, 
throughout  the  land.  The  State  was  thereby  brought  into  a  very  unfavorable  posi- 
tion, in  that  it  was  obliged  to  engage  in  continuous  prosecutions  for  the  neglect  of 


93S  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

duty  in  order  to  maintain  its  authority,  whilst  it  was  occupied  with  fruitless  efforts 
to  enforce  obedience.  The  cessation  of  worship  and  pastoral  work  in  so  many  par- 
ishes became  more  and  more  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  Stale  throughout 
the  country.  The  deposition  of  eight  bishops  and  the  consequent  vacating  of  their 
dioceses,  and  of  about  fourteen  hundred  parishes,  awakened  among  the  many  mil- 
lion of  Catholic  subjects  much  bitterness  against  the  Prussian  goverimient.  In  the 
meantime,  the  Romish  Church  authorities  looked  upon  the  interruption  and  cessa- 
tion of  worship  and  the  pastoral  work — an  interdict  in  modern  form — and  the  rude- 
ness and  lawlessness  among  the  people  arising  therefrom  with  indifference;  as  in 
former  years  such  a  state  of  things  had  repeatedly  involved  Germany  in  protracted, 
bloody,  and  devastating  civil  wars  in  order  to  maintain  its  supremacy  over  the 
country. 

From  this  wholly  objective  view  of  the  former  May-laws,  and  the  bitter  conflict 
thereby  occasioned,  we  see  in  the  new  May-law  of  the  present  year  (1880)  not  even  a 
first  step  only  towards  Canossa.  On  the  contrary,  it  furnishes  rather  evidence  of  the 
justice  of  the  position  of  the  State  over  against  the  Church.  The  serious  conse- 
quences of  the  conflict  to  the  State,  growing  out  of  the  discontirmance  of  worship 
and  pastoral  work,  which  indirectly  more  ami  more  manifested  themselves,  must  be 
averted  and  a  remedy  for  them  provided.  This  remedy  is  the  specific  object  of  the 
new  May-law,  and  it  would  betray  entire  ignorance  of  the  relations  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  Prussia  were  we  to  form  any  other  conclusion  in  regard  to  the  uiatter. 

The  Romish  ecclesiastical  authorities  themselves,  through  a  brief  of  the  24th  of 
February  of  the  present  year,  addressed  by  Leo  XIII.  to  the  former  Archbishop 
Melchers  of  Cologne,  have  already  suggested  the  substance  of  this  new  law.  The 
German  press,  influenced  by  the  "  Centre  "  parly,  felt  itself  unpleasantly  affected 
by  the  pope's  letter,  and  endeavored  to  show  that  the  concession  of  the  pope  in 
regard  to  notification  was  made  only  conditionally,  and  under  the  supposition  that 
still  greater  concessions  would  be  made  on  the  part  of  the  State.  In  the  absence 
of  such  concessions,  the  carrying  of  the  measure  into  effect  would  be  practically  im- 
possible, as  the  number  of  candidates  at  present  in  Prussia  not  disqualified  by  the 
law  of  nth  of  May,  1873,  '^  insufficient  for  the  purpose.  There  was  also  a  want 
of  officials  qualified  to  give  the  notification  and  make  the  appointments.  The  press 
friendly  to  the  government  replied  that  there  were  at  least  still  four  dioceses  in 
Prussia  with  authorized  incumbents,  and  that  in  these  dioceses  there  are  enough  of 
regularly  appointed  chaplains  and  assistant  clergymen  who  have  long  expected  to 
be  promoted  to  larger  parishes.  A  commencement  at  carrying  out  the  papal  con- 
cession might,  therefore,  be  made  without  delay.  As  soon  as  this  actual  beginning 
shall  be  made,  the  Slate  legislature  will  also  cheerfully  undertake  a  revision  of  the 
former  May-laws,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done  without  infringing  upon  the  inalienable 
rights  of  the  State.  As  such  a  revision  always  requires  time,  the  State  offered  to 
meet  the  concession  in  the  papal  brief  of  February  24th,  1880,  in  advance,  for  the 
removal  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  carrying  it  into  effect,  on  which  the  oppo- 
nents laid  great  stress.  It  was  also  expressly  stated,  that,  "  dispensations  as  far  as 
needed,"  from  some  of  the  May-laws,  would  be  granted,  especially  in  reference  to 
the  appointment  of  clergymen,  and  the  new  oath  of  allegiance  required  of  bishops 
and  their  substitutes. 

This  attitude  of  the  press  friendly  to  the  government  fully  corresponded  with  a 
resolution  of  the  Prussian  State  ministerium  of  the  17th  of  May,  1880.  The 
Romish  Church  authorities,  instead  of  meeting  these  advances  favorably,  allowed 
themselves  to  be  influenced  by  the  irreconcilable  attitude  of  the  "  Centre  "  party  and 
its  agitation  ;  construed  the  brief  of  the  24th  of  February,  in  the  sense  attached  to  it 
by  its  press,  and  maintained  that  the  proposition  was  only  hypothetically  approved, 
and  that  on  the  impracticable  condition,  that  the  essential  points  in  the  former  May- 
laws,  such  as  the  reinforcement  of  the  right  of  the  State  to  exercise  supervision  over 
the  Church,  should  be  surrendered,  and  that  the  State  on  its  part  should  entirely 
subject  itself  to  all  the  principles  of  those  canonical  rights  which  the  pope  had 
declared  could  never  be  surrendered. 

To  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  whole  German  nation,  Chancellor  Bismarck  then 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  939 

published  the  despatches  he  had  exchanged  with  the  German  Ambassador  in  Vienna. 
Prince  Reiiss,  in  reference  to  the  matters  in  hand,  who  had  previously  negotiate<l 
with  the  ])apal  Nuncio.  The  tenor  of  these  despatches  was :  "  We  are  not  going 
to  Canossa  !  " 

The  publication  of  the  more  important  despatches  did  not  follow  until  after  the 
draft  of  the  May-law  had  been  laid  before  the  diet. 

The  views  now  became  divergent.  Some  considered  it  necessary  that  the  State 
should  recall  the  new  May-law,  in  the  sense  of  the  rescjlution  of  the  State  Minis- 
terium  of  May  17th,  in  order  to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  yielding  to  the 
Church  authorities.  Others,  with  deeper  insight,  coincided  with  the  view  of  the 
government,  that  the  exercise  of  paternal  feelings  towards  those  Catholic  subjects, 
who  were  spiritually  destitute,  made  it  necessary  to  overlook  the  fickleness  and 
overbearing  attitude  of  the  Roman  Church  authorities.  The  clergy,  however,  were 
assured  that  the  government  deeply  symi)athiaed  willi  thtm  in  their  deplorable  con- 
dition, and  is  firmly  resolved  to  remove  the  evil  consequences  of  the  former  May- 
laws,  let  the  pope  say  what  he  will  in  regard  to  the  matter. 

The  State  governn>ent  was  to  proceed  of  its  own  accord  to  carry  out  uncondition- 
ally those  concessions,  to  which  it  had  on  the  I7lh  of  March,  under  certain  proposed 
conditions,  agreed.  The  chancellor  of  the  empire,  however,  was  enabled  by  the 
new  May-law,  with  its  far-reaching  concessions,  to  contradict  the  oft-repeated  and 
bitter  reproaches  of  irreconctlableness,  coming  from  the  "Centre"  party,  and  to 
evince  most  clearly  his  peaceable  disposition.  The  Prussian  Diet  also  was  then 
referred  to,  which  can  amend  or  reject  any  objeclionable  ])aragraph  of  the  projected 
law.  And  finally,  as  to  what  concerns  the  attitude  of  the  Church  authorities,  the 
pope,  ever  vacillating  from  weakness  or  insincerity,  might  renew  again  under  dif- 
lerent  circumstances  the  concession  in  his  brief  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  notification 
which  he  had  recalled. 

Acting  under  these  considerations  the  draft  of  the  new  May-law  was  repeatedly 
read,  well  matured  by  committees,,  and  thoroughly  discussed  in  the  Prussian  Diet, 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  the  House  of  I^ords.  Paragraphs  of  doubtful  expe- 
diency, especially  those  relating  to  the  possibility  of  the  return  of  the  deposed 
liishops,  were  carefully  considered  and  removed.  If  the  State  government  con- 
sidered their  return  possible,  only  on  the  condition  of  the  entire  submission  of  the 
bishops  to  the  laws  of  the  State,  the  Diet  itself  was  no  less  anxious  to  avoid  even 
the  appearance  of  having  taken  a  single  step  towards  Canossa. 


REPORT  ON  THE  PRESENT  STATE  OF  RELIGION  IN  GERMANY. 

By  Professor  J.  G.  PJlcidErer,  late  Principal  of  the  Institute  at  Kornthal. 
WHttemberg. 

Venerable  Council,  Fathers  and  Brethren: — In  complying  with  the  re- 
quest of  your  honorable  Council,  to  speak  on  the  state  of  religion  in  Germany,  I  beg 
leave,  first  of  all,  to  define  my  theme  more  closely.  It  is  utterly  impo-^sible  to  do 
full  justice  to  such  a  comprehensive  subject  within  the  short  space  of  thirty  minutes. 
I  would,  therefore,  rather  designate  it:  Some  light  and  dark  phases  of  the  present 
state  of  religion  in  Germany.  And  even  this  is  too  much.  Germany,  as  you  know, 
has  liecome  extensive,  reaching  from  the  Lake  of  Constance  to  the  North  and  the 
Baltic  Seas,  from  Lorraine  to  the  borders  of  Poland.  How  can  any  individual 
pretend  to  know  and  to  judge  correctly  the  state  of  religion  of  such  a  vast  empire 
from  personal  observation?  Coming  to  you  from  South  Germany,  and  being  more 
familiar  with  its  condition,  I  shall,  first  of  all,  briefly  describe  the  state  of  reiigifui 
of  South-Germany ;  and,  coming  from  Kornthal,  the  only  Free  Church  of  \Vuriem- 
berg,  based  on  the  principle  of  self-maintenance  and  self-government,  1  may,  per- 
haps, be  able  to  view  ecclesiastical  afiairs  with  less  bias  than  might  be  expected 
from  a  man  of  the  State-Church. 

The  present  state  of  religion  can  be  understood  only  from  (he  totality  of  religious 


940 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLL4NCE. 


and  moral  ideas  which  at  present  are  agitating  the  nations  of  Europe.     What  is  the 
character  of  our  time  in  general  ? 

The  great  majority  of  Christians  in  South-Germany  have  an  idea  that  we  have 
crossed  the  zenith  ol  history  long  ago;  yea,  that  the  whcjje  human  race  is  drifting 
toward  the  end  of  its  development.  Now,  as  in  the  progress  of  the  development 
of  the  individual  man,  the  end  approaches  the  beginning,  and  the  aged  returns  to 
the  reminiscences  of  his  childhood,  thus,  to  our  mind,  humanity  is  returning  to  the 
beginning  of  its  history. 

Afier  the  attempt  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  human  race,  to  bring  about  a  false 
and  premature  union  for  godless  purposes,  had  been  frustrated  by  God  the  Lord 
through  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  through  the  inclination  to  separate  and  con- 
stitute individual  nationalities,  so  that  each  nation,  isolated  as  it  were,  might  develop 
the  peculiar  gifts  which  God  had  granted  it  and  fulfil  its  mission  ;  and,  after  this 
disunion  of  nations  had  existed  through  many  centuries,  now  the  disposition  mani- 
fests itself  everywhere  to  gather  the  fragments  of  nations,  and  again  to  unite  discon- 
nected members;  yea,  it  seems  as  if  God  had  destinated  this  great  and  glorious 
country.  North  America,  which  you  call  your  Fatherland,  again  to  unite  the  She- 
mites,  Hamites  and  Japhetites,  and  among  these  the  Indo-Germanic  races;  the 
Romans  of  France,  Spain  and  Italy  ;  the  Celtics  of  Ireland,  Wales  and  Switzerland  ; 
the  Germans  of  the  Anglo-S.ixon  race,  and  those  of  Germany,  Austria  and  Holland  ; 
the  Slavonics  in  Bohemia,  Poland  and  Russia,  to  consolidate  them,  together  with 
the  Mongols  of  China  and  the  Negroes  of  Africa,  into  one  great  family  of  nations, 
under  the  starry  banner  of  liberty.  Politically  this  is  asserting  itself  with  us  as  a 
national  principle :  the  Germanic,  Romanic  and  Slavonic  races  are  becoming  con- 
scious of  their  common  origin,  and  instinctively  perceive  that  the  time  has  come  to 
ioin  hands  with  each  other.  In  the  sphere  of  religion  the  signature  of  the  present 
time  is  union — alliance.  Not  only  does  the  Vatican  Church  draw  the  cords  that 
encircle  the  Roman  Ovile  wider  and  lighter,  also  the  Anglican  Church  some  years 
ago  attempted  at  Bonn  on  the  Rhine  to  enter  into  a  union  with  the  Greek-Russian 
Church,  after  a  theological  warfare  of  thirty  years.  0!d  and  New  School  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  Stales  were  successfully  united  in  1869,  and 
have  become  the  main  body  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  land  ;  yea,  all  Pres- 
byterian churches  of  the  whole  world  are  this  day  assembled  in  their  representatives, 
in  this  City  of  Brotherly  Love,  as  a  General  Presbyterian  Council.  Thus  also  with 
us  in  Germany,  there  is  manifested  a  growing  consciousness  for  a  closer  union  and 
com.munion  of  all  the  believers  of  every  evangelical  denomination,  and  a  much  more 
])leas?int  relation  of  the  Lutheran  to  the  Reformed  Church  is  one  of  the  bright 
phases  within  the  panorama  of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  our  Fatherland.  No 
less  gratifying  is  the  cessation  of  the  contention  between  confessional  Lutiieranism 
and  the  positive  believing  of  the  union,  as  it  has  clearly  shown  itself  at  the  Prussian 
General  Synods  held  within  the  last  five  years.  Moreover,  those  of  you,  dear 
brethren,  who  had  the  pleasure  and  blessing  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Alliance 
held  at  Basel  in  autumn  of  the  past  year,  will  bear  me  testimony  as  to  the  sincere 
irenic.il  spirit  that  here  animated  Lutherans  and  Unionists,  Episcopalians  and  Pres- 
byterians, Methodists  and  Baptists,  Calvinists  and  Zwinglians,  adherents  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church  and  those  of  the  Independent;  and  how  we  were  united  into  blessed 
oneness  at  the  Lord's  Supper  held  at  the  venerable  cathedral  there,  and  how  our 
hearts  gave  vent  to  the  energetic  determination  and  holy  vow  :  "  We  will  all  firmly 
unite  and  be  one  as  brothers,  and  be  loyal  to  our  glorious  Head,  our  eternal  King 
and  High- Priest  Jesus  Christ."  But  whence,  now  more  than  ever,  this  longing  for 
union  ?  It  is  the  instinctive  sense,  yea,  the  firm  conviction,  that  a  decisive  struggle 
is  at  hand  ;  and  this  is  the  second  characteristic  of  the  signs  of  our  time.  Po- 
litically even  this  is  a  time  of  decision.  Long-pending,  unsolved  questions,  as  the 
German  (Schleswig-Holstein,  Alsace-Lorraine),  the  Italian,  the  Turkish  Oriental, 
have  been,  or  are  just  now  being  solved.  Much  more  are  we  approaching  a  decision 
in  the  religious  sphere. 

We  Christians  in  Germany,  dear  brethren,  meet  quite  differently  from  you  Chris- 
'  tians  in  the  United   States  the  question :  To  be  or  not  to  be,  to  conquer  or  to  be 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  941 

conquered,  Christinnity  or  heathenism,  ancient  faith  or  modern  infidelity,  eternal 
life  or  hopeless  Nirwana?  In  other  words,  has  the  gospel  a  future  in  Germany? 
will  the  State  continue  to  be  a  Christian  State?  or,  is  it  decreed  that  Church  anil 
State,  German  nationality  and  Christianity,  so  long  of  mutual  blessing  to  each  other, 
sliall  be  divorced?  It  is  true  that  this  is  an  old  conflict,  as  old  as  that  between  the 
serpent  and  him  whcj  was  to  crush  the  serpent's  head  ;  between  Christ  and  Belial ; 
between  the  Spirit  that  ever  lusteth  against  the  flesh  and  the  flesh  that  ever  contends 
against  the  S])irit.  But  a  great  change  has  taken  place  during  the  last  decades  in 
the  strategy  of  the  old  enemy,  and  the  order  of  battle  is  a  different  one.  Whilst 
Satan,  by  tlie  wonderful  victory  of  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  on  Calvary,  was  driven 
from  all  his  positions,  and  the  old  serpent  with  crushed  head  whiningly  writhed 
beneath  the  cross  of  the  God-man — who  through  his  spotless  deeds  during  his  whole 
life,  especially  by  his  suffering  and  death,  was  enabled  to  maintain  to  the  last  his 
moral  perfection  ;  therefore,  by  his  well-doing  in  a  positive  sense,  the  evil  which 
shall  according  to  God's  wonderful  decree  expend  itself,  he  has  attempted  to  save 
perchance  some  fragments — to  disturb,  to  caricature  and  to  alterate  the  stability  of 
the  newly-created  work.  After  having  uselessly  tried  his  diabolical  power  and  fierce 
enmity,  especially  in  the  persecutions  of  the  Christians  in  the  first  three  centuries, 
he  sought  to  distort  and  ruin  Christianity  in  the  garb  of  an  angel  of  light.  If  he 
had  succeeded  in  transforming  the  New  Testament  Ecclesia  into  a  State  Church, 
under  Constantine  the  Great,  so  that  henceforth  one  could  become  a  Christian 
without  even  conversion,  so  that  easily  and  quickly  a  church  for  the  masses  arose 
upon  the  soil  of  the  natural  heart  of  man,  which  through  outward  display  and  sen- 
suous attraction  decidedly  gave  assent  to  the  new  doctrine,  he  forthwith,  through  his 
own  instrumentality,  intermixed  the  divine,  spiritual  character  of  the  newly-founded 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the  natural  worldly  in  shrewd  homage,  which  worldly 
culture  and  the  innate  powers  of  the  world,  both  spiritual  and  political,  brought  to 
the  new  religion  by  way  of  accommodation.  In  the  next  centuries  followed  a  mix- 
ture of  magnitude,  namely,  the  antique-Germanic  heathenism  with  true  Christianity, 
whereby  the  places  of  Germanic  gods  were  consecrated  to  the  God  of  Christians,  the 
heathen  festivals  transformed  into  Christian  feast  and  holy  days,  myth  turned  into 
legends  of  the  saints,  and  Christianity  was  almost  lost  amid  the  rubbish  of  bigotry  and 
mysterious  Pomp  of  Cultus,  till  at  last  the  conscience-bound  monk  of  Wittenberg 
rent  his  monastic  garb,  burst  the  chains  of  papacy  and  the  fetters  of  his  con- 
science, and  again  caused  the  light  of  the  pure  gospel  to  shine  forth  unto  the  world. 
But  scarcely  had  this  new  life  shed  abroad  its  influence  throughout  Germany,  when 
he  again  knew  how  to  disfigure  and  caricature  the  new  work. 

Now  comes  a  recent  and  last  stratagem,  one  of  the  most  subtle,  and  again  one  of 
the  grossest  "  wiles  of  the  devil,"  as  St.  Paul  declares  (Eph.  vi.  Ii);  a  new  and 
powerful  ally,  with  great  mental  acuteness,  with  immense  material  resources,  held 
in  reserve  for  nearly  two  centuries,  aroused  by  a  remarkable  destiny  from  a  state  of 
non-existence  (Apoc.  xvii.),  allowed  to  enter  the  portals  of  the  citadel  of  Christi- 
anity, and  placed  on  the  arena,  full  of  the  most  bitter  enmity  against  Christianity 
and  diabolical  arrogance  to  be  the  saving  Messiah  for  the  ills  of  mankind,  in  a  religious, 
financial  and  social  respect — Judaism  ;  not  the  orthodox,  which  has  respectable 
representatives,  and  shall,  according  to  God's  word,  be  reassembled,  before  the  final 
end,  in  the  land  of  their  forefathers;  but  that  modern,  secularized  reform-Judaism, 
the  pantheistic  of  Spinoza,  and  the  atheistic  of  Heine,  Lindau,  Lassalle  and  others. 
And  this  is  the  third  characteristic  of  our  time. 

They  pursue  their  object  with  a  tenacity  peculiar  to  the  Shemitic  race.  With 
their  money  they  govern  the  world.  By  the  golden  sceptre  of  their  wealth  they  con- 
trol also  the  political  situation.  When  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  German 
Emperor  and  the  President  of  the  French  Republic  was  concluded,  Rothschild  was 
present  as  a  third  party.  They  have  almost  the  entire  press,  at  least  the  most  im- 
portant journals  in  Germany,  Austria  and  Hungary,  mean  death  to  all  genuine 
Christian  life,  or  through  the  principal  comic  journals  of  Berlin  bedaub  every  one 
who  takes  a  decided. stand  for  Christ  the  crucified,  especially  now  Court-preacher 
Stoecker,  at  Berlin,  who  had  the  courage,  like  the  celebrated  Treidschke,  Professor 


942  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  Church  History,  to  call  attention  to  the  threatening  danger  in  this  direction. 
They  have  their  Ijest  orators  in  the  German  diet  (for  instance,  Lasker,  Bamberger 
and  others),  in  our  laws,  principally  by  their  aid  hurriedly  manufactured,  in  the 
mammonism  of  the  day  a  sympathetic  ally,  in  science  prominent  repiesentatives,  in 
art,  especially  music  (Meyerbeer,  Offenbach),  novel  writing  (Auerhach,  Lindan),  and 
celebrated  heroes  in  the  theatre,  in  the  Publicistik  exceedingly  versatile  and  in- 
genious authors  in  Lassalle,  Marx  and  others,  some  of  the  most  dangerous  leaders 
of  social  democracy  as  well  as  Nihilism  (for  instance,  Weymar).  They  have  pul)- 
licly  declared,  in  their  vaunted  pride,  "Israel  is  the  priestly  people  of  the  earth, 
appointed  to  brin^^  salvation  to  the  'world.  The  lime  is  coming  ivhen  the  cross  shall 
fall,  and  the  heathens  (?'.  e..  Christians)  become  indifferent  toward  their  idols.  ' 

You  see,  dear  brethren,  here  is  no  longer  that  lukewarm  indifference  of  Laodicean 
Christians;  here  is  positive  hatred  against  Christ;  here  is  no  longer  an  intermixture 
ot  Christianity  and  the  world  ;  here  is  a  clear  and  nude  antichristianity,  with  a  steady 
and  fixed  aim  at  the  person  of  Christ,  and  the  assertion  now  publicly  expressed  (e.g., 
by  the  chief  Raijbi  Abrh.  Geiger,  of  Frankfurt),  that  the  ethics  even  of  Christianity 
liilherto  should  be  a  patchwork  copied  from  the  Jew  Hillel.  No  wonder  that 
"  Strauss'  Life  of  Christ,  edited  for  the  people,"  and  his  "Ancient  and  Modern 
Belief,"  and  Edward  V.  Hartman's  "  Philosophy  of  the  Unknown  "  and  "  Self- 
Disintegration  of  Christianity"  are  nowhere  hailed  with  greater  rejoicing  than  in 
this  camp.  Lastly,  no  wonder  that  we  find  here,  too,  the  end  returning  to  the  bc- 
gmning  of  the  circuit;  for,  as  the  Jews  have  been  the  first  antagonists  of  Christi- 
anity, so  they  will  be  the  last;  yea,  we  think  it  probable  that  the  saying  of  Dr. 
Godet,  the  venerable  Swiss  theologian,  that  this  Jewish  hatred  of  Christ  will  culmi- 
nate in  antichristianity. 

Now  allow  me,  on  this  background,  to  sketch  the  light  and  shadow  of  the  religious 
condition  of  Germany.  In  doing  this,  I  do  not  represent  the  one  or  other  parly,  but 
simply  on  the  watch-tower  of  the  word  of  God,  which  is  to  us  ail  as  the  right  light 
on  the  pathway  of  life,  so  our  only  correct  and  valid  rule  and  judge. 

In  considering  the  religious  life  of  a  people,  the  Church  is  foremost.  Germany 
has,  as  is  known,  an  established  church,  more  correctly  speaking.  State  Churches, 
with  all  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  this  system.  Speaking  of  advantages 
of  the  State  Church,  I  of  course  don't  fare  well  in  this  land  of  t'reedom,  but  fear  m-t 
that  one  laboring  thirty-three  years  in  the  free  congregation  of  Kornthal  will  unduly 
1  uid  the  praises  of  the  same.  It  so  happened  that  in  the  period  of  reformation  we 
became  an  establishment;  the  existing  state  of  things  made  it,  perhaps,  a  necessity 
that  each  government  should  organize  its  own  church,  and  in  our  monarchial  rela- 
tions it  may  have  been  the  best  form  of  organization.  At  any  rate,  we  believe,  had 
it  not  been  of  blessing  to  us,  God  would  not  have  permitted  it.  The  Holy  Spirit  is 
not  dependent  on  form  or  constitutions;  he  moves  whithersoever  he  listeth,  and 
doubtless  you  also  have  perceived  his  effectual  operations  in  our  German  churches. 
What  noble  monuments  of  testimony  to  evangelical  truth  have  proceeded  from  them 
during  the  last  three  centuries,  in  confessions  and  sermons,  in  hymns  and  prayers,  ia 
science  and  pastoral  labor! 

Nevertheless,  I  could  not  honestly  maintain  that  the  goodness  of  the  tree  is  mani- 
fested by  all  its  fruits;  in  regard  to  many  of  these,  I  must  confess  that  they  have 
emanated  from  the  State  Church,  not  on  account,  but  in  spite  of  it. 

The  condition  in  VVurtemberg,  whence  a  host  of  good  and  noble  men  have  emi- 
grated to  America,  is  on  the  whole  tolerable,  yea  liopeful.  There  is  a  consistory 
which  has  all  along  embraced  the  most  able  and  pious  men  ;  of  the  deceased  we 
may  mention  Prelate  Kapff,  and  of  those  living  Prelate  Gerok,  the  Swabian  poet. 
In  the  capital  of  the  land,  Stuttgart,  there  are  truly  pious  preachers;  there  we  have- 
mostly  crowded,  partly  overcrowded,  churches,  and  within  the  last  five  years  three 
new  churches  and  four  chapels  have  been  built ;  there  is  published  the  "  Evangelische 
Sonntagsblatt,"  115,000  subscribers,  the  "  Christenbote,"  30,000;  there  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  clergymen  semi-annually  convene  in  conference,  to  promote 
the  gospel  and  consider  the  wants  of  the  church  ;  there  are  flourishing,  besides, 
many  other  institutions,  supported  by  the  city  or  State,  for  domestic  missions,  a  pros- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  943 

perous  Rihle  and  tract  society,  a  society  for  evangelization,  which  during  this  sum- 
mer celebrated  its  fiftieth  anniversary,  a  "Deaconess"  institution,  young  men's 
Christian  association  hall  and  lodging-house  for  journeymen  ;  in  fine,  every  branch 
of  the  work  of  domestic  missions  is  here  represented.  The  flourishing  "  Gustave- 
Adolf "  Union  is  located  there.  The  twenty-first  meeting  of  the  German  Congress 
of  Domestic  Missions  was  held  there  last  year,  and  one  of  the  principal  representa- 
tives from  Northern  Germany  gave  public  testimony  that  "  a  spirit  of  joyous  faith, 
fraternal  communion  and  love  to  the  evangelical  church,  did  pervade  all  its  deliber- 
ations; "  yea,  the  Senior  of  Domestic  Missions,  Dr.  Wichern,  of  Hamburg,  declared 
thirty  years  ago  that  "  in  no  part  of  Germany  is  the  cause  of  domestic  missions  so 
well  fostered  as  in  Wurtemberg  and  its  capital."  In  fact,  notwithstanding  frivolity 
and  ungodliness  among  a  large  portion  of  the  population,  there  exists,  nevertheless, 
true  piety.  Christian  order  and  discipline,  although  since  the  new  era  of  Germany 
these  have  become  much  relaxed.  The  word  of  God  is  preached  from  most  pulpits 
by  orthodox,  partly  pious,  at  least,  well-educated  ministers,  familiar  with  philology, 
philosophy  and  theology.  ^  The  professorships  of  our  national  university  at  Tiibingen 
are  occupied  by  professors  mor«  or  less  pious. 

Finally,  I  dare  not  omit  to  state  that,  besides  the  annual  collections  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Bible  Society  and  the  Gustave-Adolph  Union,  a  considerable  amount  is  also 
contributed  for  our  orphans'  homes  and  houses  of  refuge  for  neglected  children,  for 
institutions  ot  the  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  for  epileptics  and  feeble-minded,  for  a 
Magdaleneum,  but  especially  for  the  Mission  Institutes  at  Basel,  Chrischona,  and 
that  of  the  Moravians;  also  for  the  Leipzig  Mission,  which  contributions  are  en- 
hanced by  the  consideration  that  the  1,250,000  evangelical  inhabitants  of  our  country 
are  rather  poor,  and  consist  of  mites  of  the  poor  people. 

Destined  by  the  history  of  the  Reformation  to  be  a  means  of  transition  between 
lAitheranism  pressing  from  the  north,  and  the  reformed  doctrines  extending  along  the 
southern  borders,  and  to  modify  both  types,  Wurtemberg  was  happily  in  a  position  to 
edify  itself  beyond  the  shadow  of  strict  confessionalism.  Moreover,  it  still  subsists 
on  the  intellectual  capital  of  its  ecclesiastical  fathers,  and  the  blessed  heritage  from 
former  as  well  as  recent  richly-endowed  servants  of  God  :  a  Brenz,  the  author  of  our 
catechism,  Hieber,  author  of  our  book  for  catechumens  ;  but,  above  all,  John  Albright 
Rengel,  the  great  commentator,  Oettinger,  the  iheosophist ;  also  Steinhofer,  Charles 
Henry  Rieger,  Conrad  Rieger,  Burk,  Hilier,  Michael  Ilahn,  Philip  M.  Hahn, 
Mattich,  Dann,  the  two  Hofackers,  the  two  Hcjffmans,  one  the  founder  of  the  church 
Kornthal,  the  other  a  son,  at  one  time  inspector  of  the  Basel  mission  house.  Dr. 
Barth,  of  Calw,  Zeller,  of  Beuggen,  Kolb  from  Dagersheim,  the  Professors,  Dr, 
Schmid,  Dr.  Oehler  and  Dr.  Beck;  finally,  Knapp,  Kapff,  Biumhard,  of  Boll,  and 
others. 

The  country  people  are  as  the  soil  which  God  has  given  them  to  till,  more  tena- 
cious and  ponderous,  than  light  and  volatile ;  more  intense  than  superficial ;  more 
industrious  and  frugal,  than  pleasure-seeking.  Our  so-called  "communities"  (about 
60,000  members),  partly  the  old  pietistic,  followers  of  Spener.  Bengel  and  Hilier, 
partly  the  Michaelean,  whose  origin  dates  from  the  mystical  Michael  Hahn,  whilst 
lioth  tendencies  find  their  unity  and  central  point  at  Kornthal,  still  prove  a  salt  to 
our  Church,  although  they  much  need  a  thorough  revival.  Of  this  Kornthal, 
which,  with  its  Presbyterian  constitution,  and  independent  of  the  royal  consistory 
and  deanship,  stands  most  in  sympathy  with  this  council,  much  more  might  be  said; 
but  I  forbear,  expressing  all  in  one  word:  Its  Church  is  an  apology  of  Christianity 
in  fact. 

The  state  of  the  lAitheran  Church  in  Bavaria  is  principally  conditioned  by  its 
parity,  being  placed  in  the  midst  of  a  preponderating  Roman  Catholic  population, 
[ust  for  this  reason  they  are  pressed  to  more  rigid  confessionalism,  rigid  form  of 
doctrine,  cultus  and  church  government,  a  tendency  which  has  found  its  highest  and 
most  successful  exponent  in  the  godly  Loehe,  who,  by  sending  many  young  minis- 
ters to  the  United  States,  has  materially  advanced  the  growth  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  this  country;  a  tendency  which,  however,  has  been  greatly  modified  in  an 
evangelical-biblical  sense  by  men  like  Ilarless,  who  was  an  eminent  leader  for  many 


944  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

years,  through  teachers  like  Thoniasius  and  Hoffman.  In  general,  the  testimony 
for  the  Lutheran  Church  of  Bavaria  cannot  be  withheld,  that  a  mild,  conservative 
spirit,  great  fidelity  to  its  creed,  stirring  scientific  efforts,  and  a  firm  attitude  over 
against  the  there  reigning,  very  significant  Romish  tendencies,  makes  herself  promi- 
nent, and  that  in  the  contest  against  rationalism  she  forms  a  noble  and  important 
link  in  the  line  of  the  champions  of  the  Church  in  southern  Germany. 

The  reformed  element  of  Bavaria  is  ably  represented  in  theology  by  Dr.  Ebrard, 
the  celebrated  commentator  and  writer  on  apologetics  and  dogmatics,  and  by  Dr. 
Herzog,  the  meritorious  publisher  of  the  "  Real  Encyclopaedia"  which  I  have  seen 
in  the  libraries  of  many  of  you.  Yet  the  evil  effects  of  State-Church  are  much  more 
apparent  in  Bavaria  than  in  Wurtemberg.  The  ministers,  nearly  all  orthodox 
Lutherans,  lay  too  much  stress  on  the  act  of  ordination  and  the  real  power  of  the 
sacraments,  whilst  the  people,  relying  on  the  outward  means  of  grace,  appear  to  be 
less  concerned  about  the  working  out  of  their  salvation.  The  large  cities,  especially 
where  the  population  is  prevailingly  Protestant,  in  their  religious  views  and  mode 
of  life,  are  mostly  governed  by  modern  liberalism,  which,  on  religious  questions,  is 
wholly  rationalistic,  yea,  manifests  itself  either  in  secret  or  in  outspoken  enmity 
against  Christianity.  It  will  be  of  interest  to  the  Council  to  hear  something  also  of 
the  Reformed  Church  in  Bavaria.  In  Rhenish  Bavaria,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Rhine,  exist  seven  churches  which  had  been  gathered  from  former  refugees  (since 
1688),  from  persecuted  natives  of  the  Palatinate  (since  1693),  from  Wallons,  Zwing- 
lians,  and  followers  of  Pappenheim,  and,  since  1872,  united  on  the  basis  of  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  All  these  churches  have  presbyteries  which  are  supple- 
mented partly  by  co-optation,  partly  by  the  votes  of  heads  of  families.  Their  cultus, 
corresponding  to  the  Palatinate  liturgy,  is  very  simple.  Some  use  the  hymn-book 
of  Zurich,  some  that  of  Erlangen.  In  regard  to  church  properly,  they  have  no 
freedom  of  disposition,  being  under  the  supervision  of  the  State.  Also  in  reference 
to  discipline  and  external  affairs  of  the  Church,  they  are  all  subject  to  the  direction 
of  the  Royal-Bavarian  Lutheran  Church  authorities.  The  religious  life  is,  except 
in  a  few  city  churches,  not  in  a  thriving,  yet  not  in  quite  a  forlorn,  condition.  At 
the  week-day  service  in  the  country  churches  each  family  is  represented  by  at  least 
one  of  its  members.  The  state  of  morality  exceeds  that  of  the  surrounding  Roman 
Catholic  and  Lutheran  Churches,  where  the  average  number  of  illegitimate  births 
is  as  three  to  one,  yet  it  is  depraved  and  its  elevation  difficult.  Their  lilierality, 
however,  contril)uting  for  objects  of  God's  kingdom,  church  necessities,  and  for  the 
relief  of  the  poor  is,  considering  their  means,  commendable. 

In  left  Rhenish- Bavaria,  the  so-called  Palatinate,  the  distinct  character  of  the 
Reformed  Church  no  longer  exists.  The  union,  under  control  of  vulgar  rationalism, 
has  absorbed  all  consciousness  of  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  confession.  The 
long  (1818)  existiiig  church  conflict  as  to  the  basis  of  the  union  was  so  far  decided 
in  1853,  that  the  Augsburg  confession  of  1540  should  be  adopted,  because  it  con- 
tained that  which  is  common  to  both.  Although  this  confession  legitimately  con- 
stitutes the  basis,  there  exists  heterodoxy,  and  the  extremists  of  the  "  Protestant 
Union  "  proclaim  their  own  wisdom,  as  do  also  the  hyper-orthodox  Lutherans,  with- 
out regard  to  any  confession.  Ministers  who  on  Easter  Sunday  deny  from  the  pulpit 
the  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  remain  in  office  just  as  well  as  the  orthodox, 
provided  "  the  parishes  prefer  no  charges  against  them."  The  forms  of  cultus  of  the 
Palatinate  Church  are  essentially  reformed.  The  attempts  to  introduce  liturgical 
service  were  hooted  as  Romanizing.  The  constitution  is  consistorial-presbyterinl- 
synodic.  Ministers  and  laity  are  equally  represented  in  their  synods;  the  negative 
element,  however,  is  generally  in  the  majority.  The  church-government  is,  in  the 
main,  bureaucratic ;  the  meml^ers  of  the  consistory,  which  have  been  subject  to  the 
minislerium  since  1849,  shall  be  proposed  according  to  rule  and  concurrence  of 
General  Synod  and  appointed  by  the  king.  But,  the  fact  is,  General  Synod  never 
was  consulted.  The  religious  church-life  of  the  Palatinate  is  greatly  disintegrated 
by  the  "  Protestant  Union,"  which  lately  still  counted  18,000  members.  Religious 
interest  is  at  a  low  ebb  on  the  positive  as  well  as  on  the  negative  side.  The  organ 
of  the  negative  party,  called  The  Union,  has  less  than  500  subscribers;  that  of  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  945' 

po'^itive,  Der  Kirchenhoic,  a  few  more.  Church  attendance  and  taking  part  in  the 
work  of  home  and  foreign  missions  are  very  different.  Most  of  the  churches  are 
empty  in  cities.  In  the  support  of  missions  and  reformatory  institutes  the  so-called 
"  believers"  only  take  part,  whilst  the  Gustave-Adolph  Union  is  supported  by  both 
parties.  Although  religious  life  has  been  suppressed  in  every  manner  for  centuries, 
successively  under  the  rule  of  Roman  Catholic  electors,  wicked  Protestant  princes, 
and  French  oppressors  during  the  revolution,  yet  there  are  still  found  secluded 
sDcieties  and  pious  communities,  transplanted  from  the  lower  Rhine,  cherished  by 
ihe  Moravians,  encouraged  by  Jung  Stilling,  hated  and  calumniated  by  rationalists, 
and  who  are  a  light  and  salt  to  their  vicinity.  Here,  too,  God  has  his  7,000  who 
w  i  1  not  bow  their  knees  before  Baal. 

The  religious  life  of  our  recovered  brethren  in  Alsace-Lorraine  is,  like  their 
]ioliiical  life,  in  a  state  of  transition;  it  may,  therefore,  be  justifiable  to  pass  it  by  in 
this  short  sketch. 

Concerning  Baden,  Hessia,  and  Nassau,  it  may  be  said  in  general  that,  without  a 
traditional  piety  inherited  of  their  ancestors,  they  are  quite  contented  as  to  their 
religious  wants,  more  superficial  than  profoundly  constituted,  and  easdy  satisfied  on 
account  of  their  shallow  knowledge  and  partial  culture;  influenced  at  the  same 
time  by  ministers  who  received  their  instruction  from  those  rationalistic  professors 
who,  alas,  filled  the  theological  chairs  of  Heidelberg,  Giessen,  and  Jena  too  long! 
It  is  a  notable  fact  that,  whilst  the  theological  faculty  of  Heidelberg  for  a  long  time 
had  as  many  students  as  professors,  many  theological  students  of  Baden  sought 
healthier  food  from  pious  professors  at  Tubingen,  Bonn,  Halle,  and  Leipzig.  Nor 
can  it  be  denied  that  it  is  due,  partly  to  the  influence  of  pious  teachers,  partly  to  the 
effectual  work  of  the  noble  convert  Henhoefer,  minister  of  Spoeck,  that  among  the 
350  Protestant  ministers  of  Baden  not  only  120  are  avowedly  positive  Christians, 
l)ut  also  a  luiion  was  founded  among  the  laity,  which,  for  a  long  time  superintended  ' 
by  Director  Stern,  sends  about  twenty-five  evangelists  through  the  country  who  visit 
and  strengthen  the  faith  of  the  religious  communities.  Several  asylums  for  neg- 
lected childien,  and  the  oldest  institute  for  educating  children's  nurses,  founded  by 
"  Mother"  Jolberg,  a  noble  Jewish  proselyte,  are  the  quiet  working  monuments  of 
this  spirit  of  faith. 

What  shall  I  say  of  North-Germany?  I  wish  very  much  a  more  conversant  rep- 
resentative would  supplement  my  report  on  church  affairs  of  the  larger  German 
State,  Prussia,  the  kingdom  of  Saxony  and  its  principalities,  Hanover,  Brunswick, 
Mecklenburg,  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  the  rest  of  the  petty  States  of  Germany.  I 
will  give  it  in  the  light  in  which  we  in  South-Germany  view  them. 

Here  the  evil  effects  of  State-Churchism  appear  still  more  absolute  than  in  South- 
Germany.  Within  the  last  ten  years  the  State  omnipotence,  perhaps  without  the 
will  of  its  leaders,  has  done  much  to  encourage  all  infidel  and  semi-infidel  move- 
ments, and  to  suppress  positive  Christian  enterprise.  It  is  a  constitutional  jirivilege 
that  the  District,  Provincial,  and  General  Synods  freely  discuss  their  own  affairs,  and 
13ropo>e  new  laws;  but  the  whole  synodical  fabric,  as  regards  real  church  autonomy, 
is  more  nominal  than  real  both  in  North  and  South-Germany.  Whilst  the  churches 
in  England  and  America,  which  have  presbyteries  and  synods,  govern  themselves, 
and  appoint  their  own  committees  without  any  intervention  of  the  Stnte,  which  pre- 
side over  the  church,  the  consistorial  and  presbyterial  elements  in  Prussia  are  not 
organically  united,  but  autocratically  appointed  by  the  chief  church  officers  of  the 
king,  so  that  one  cannot  say  the  Church  really  governs  itself.  Nor  can  the  synods 
of  North  or  South-Germany  enforce  any  new  law  without  the  consent  of  the  king, 
the  minister  of  worship,  and  the  chief  consistory.  The  consistories  are  called 
church  officers,  it  is  true,  but  are  de  facto  rather  State  officers,  as  the  synods  cannot 
influence  their  appointments.  But  then  no  law  of  the  Church  can  come  into  effect, 
yea,  not  even  reach  the  king  as  sutnmis  cpiscopits  of  the  Church,  if,  for  political  pur- 
poses, the  minister  of  worship  vetoes  it.  No  more  right  has  the  Church  to  exercise 
nny  decisive  influence  in  the  important  matter  of  appointing  theological  professors. 
The  chief  consistory  has  the  right  of  sanction,  the  synod  claims  it,  but  has  not  yet 
obtained  the  same. 
60 


946 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


Therewith  a  second  evil  is  connectetl.  As  much  as  we  acknowledge  that  it  is 
the  earnest  wi-h  (f  well-disposed  churcii  authorities,  that  the  religimis  life  of  the 
Church  shoi.Id  be  led  in  channels  regulated  by  law  and  all  agitation  and  excesses 
prevented,  yet  we  dare  not  deny  that,  in  view  of  the  constitution  of  human  nature 
and  power  of  habit,  the  governing  of  everything  according  to  prescribed  laws  im- 
])ercci)tibly  leads  to  hureaucraticisni^  and  the  old  customary  officiating  of  the  clergy 
culminates  in  mechanism  and  indifference.  The  natural  consequence  of  this  is  that 
all  real  Christian  life  diminishes.  D.iasters  of  mediocracv  and  opportunity  are 
reared  that  care  more  for  the  world  than  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  instead  of 
being  fearless  witnesses  for  Christ,  to  all  considerations  in  regard  to  salary,  the 
favor  of  superiors,  a  comfortable  parish,  and  the  dignity  of  the  pastoral  office  have 
the  jireponderance.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  even  in  the  positive  tendency  of 
Christians,  \vhere  stress  is  laid  on  creeds  and  confessions,  anil  undue  reliance  in  the 
power  of  princes  and  the  world,  an  externalizing,  perhap-s  even  a  Romanizing,  more 
frequently  a  legal  tendency,  which  in  church  and  theology  is  devoicl  of  freedom  may 
easily  funl  access;  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  many  follow  the  prevailing  posi- 
tive current,  indifferent  to  consequence  and  stability  of  character.  "  Tolerance 
only,"  tolerance  towar<l  Catholics,  even  though  they  mock  us;  toward  the  Jews, 
although  they  attack  our  religion  ;  towartl  positive  infidels  even,  only  so  that  tlicir 
poison  is  offered  untler  the  guise  of  science — this  is  the  watchword  which  many 
princes  repeatedly  proclaim  by  their  subordinate  church  authorities.  "Only  no 
revivals"  that  would  be  Methodistic,  seems  to  be  the  watchword  of  church  authori- 
ties. It  seems  very  desirable  to  them  that  the  stagnant  waters  should  remain  un- 
disturbed. 

There  is  a  third  point  connected  with  this,  viz.:  the  want  of  voluntary  giving  that 
springs  from  a  fresh  pulsating  life.  The  willingness  to  bring  sacrifices  of  personr.l 
effort,  of  time  and  means  to  the  Church,  as  it  manifests  itself  so  astoundingly  in 
England  and  in  America,  is  yet  little  developed  among  us,  especially  in  North,  E:vt, 
and  South-CJermany.  A  noticeable  exception — -hanks  to  the  presbyterial-synodic  de- 
velopment of  the  German  pros  inces  during  three  hundred  centuries — is  the  \vestern 
part  of  Germany,  the  Rhinelands  and  Westphalia.  You  will,  no  doubt,  be  glad  to 
hear,  dear  brethren,  that  there  the  majority  of  pastors  are  elected  by  representatives 
of  the  Churches,  and  in  a  great  measure  supported  by  their  own  congregations.  In 
other  respects  things  are  dilTerent.  Whilst  with  you  voluntaryism  opens  the  ]iur~e 
for  church  purposes,  the  establishment  closes  it,  being  long  accustomed  to  receive 
its  eniire  support  from  the  government  as  it  did  formerly  from  their  funded  church 
estates.  In  Prussia  a  Mission  and  Bible  Society  m;iy  be  restricted  and  harmeri  by 
the  will  of  the  chief  president,  who  frequently  is  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  without 
whose  consent  no  ]irovincial  collections  can  be  raised.  Now,  if  such  a  one  is  averse 
to  the  Mission  and  Bible  cause,  or  on  political  ground  is  afraid  that  funds  necessary 
for  the  relief  of  the  poor  in  his  own  land  might  be  diverted,  he  can  if  he  chooses 
prevent  a  provincial  collection  and  thus  hinder  the  Mission  and  Bible  Societies  in 
their  operations.  The  proper  standard  of  giving  in  proportion  to  our  ability  we  have 
not  lost,  because  we  never  had  it.  Compared  with  the  great  lilierality  of  the  Eng- 
lish, Scotch,  and  Americans,  all  that  the  State  Church  of  Germany  is  doing  for  the 
Bible  and  Mission  cause  is  a  minimum. 

It  is,  indeed,  said  that  you  are  rich  and  we  are  poor,  but  we  too  readily  forget  the 
words  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive;  "  and,  again, 
"  Whatsoever  ye  have  done  to  the  least  of  these,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  The 
regular  and  systematic  collection  of  many,  even  small  contributions  from  persons 
of  more  limited  means,  practised  elsewhere,  with  so  much  energy,  is  yet  too  little 
known  among  us;  nor  even  the  wholesome  self-discipline  of  voluntary,  systematic 
laying  by  a  certain  ])ercentage  of  all  income,  for  benevolent  objects,  in  which  ehiefiy 
consists,  as  Dr.  Christlieb,  in  his  valuable  "  Review  of  Mission,"  has  well  re- 
marked, the  secret  of  the  great  liberality  of  those  lands  in  which  the  English  lan- 
guage is  spoken. 

Surely,  Germany  will  yet  come  to  consciousness,  that  religion  thrives  best  in  the 
pure  atmosj)here  of   liberty,  and   that   the  Cluuch   has  both   power  and  ability  to 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  947 

maintain  itself  much  bettor  than  civil  power  or  nolice  force  can  do  it;  that,  r.lthriioh 
the  system  of  self-maintenance  ileniands  great  sacrifices,  yet  it  ]iio(luces  energetic 
and  devoted  ministers,  and_niakes  the  laity  conscious  of  their  res|ioi)sil)iIity,  i)esuits 
creating  a  personal  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  whole  Church.  Much  might  yet  he 
said,  not  only  concerning  our  Church,  but  the  churches,  namely,  how  deserted  they 
are  in  many  places,  in  the  cities  as  well  as  in  the  country;  also  concerning  the  need 
of  more  churches  in  large  cities  and  their  suburbs,  such  as  Berlin,  Hamburg,  and 
others,  where  parishes,  numbering  from  fifty  to  seventy  thousand  souls,  are  served 
by  comparatively  too  few  ministers;  concerning  Sabbath  observance,  or  rather 
Sabbath  desecration,  as  in  the  case  of  Wurtemberg,  for  instance,  where,  on  the 
principal  feast  and  holidays,  such  as  Easter,  Pentecost,  etc.,  there  are  run,  besides 
the  regular  railroad  trains,  many  extra  ones,  so  that  every  opportunity  may  be  had  to 
spend  the  Lord's  day  as  a  day  of  sensual  plea.-;ure,  whilst  in  many  States  of  North 
America  not  a  single  train  is  allowed  to  depart  before  7  p.  M.  Mucii  niii^ht  like- 
wise be  said  about  our  universities,  where  infidel  professors  of  other  than  ilieologi- 
cal  faculties  are  permitted  to  ridicule,  without  a  blush,  the  old  Hiljle  faith;  where 
many  theological  professors,  from  a  morbid  desire  for  new-fangled  notions,  under- 
mine the  foundations  of  the  Church,  and  try  to  dissolve  everything  into  historical 
detail — investigations  of  things  lying  within  the  periphery,  whilst  the  centre  of 
Christianity,  the  substance  of  our  faith,  dissolves  under  their  hands;  where  many, 
instead  of  teaching  the  objective  doctrine  of  Holy  Scripture,  consider  themselves 
privileged  to  dish  up  their  own  subjective  ideas;  where  many  are  bent  only 
on  the  advancement  of  science,  without  caring  for  the  Church  and  its  practical 
wants;  al)out  our  students  with  their  eccentric  notions  of  honor,  their  duels,  and 
their  bacchanalian  revelries,  and  how,  with  many,  the  poesy  of  their  youth  is  en- 
gulfed by  the  prose  of  bread-and-butter  science;  and  how,  in  a  few  years,  many  be- 
come civil  officers,  teachers  of  language,  lawyers,  and  physicians;  godless,  haviiio- 
lost  their  God  in  the  gymnasium,  and  learned  to  scoff  him  in  the  university,  they 
feel  no  religious  neetis,  are  seldom  seen  at  church,  more  frequently,  however,  at  the 
tavern;  about  the  want  of  theologians,  which  has  its  reasons  not  only  in  the  meagre 
salary,  but  generally  in  the  materialism  eudaemonism,  especially  in  the  unbelief  of 
many  teachers  of  the  gymnasii,  and  the  distracted  condition  of  our  theology;  about 
the  gymnasii  and  the  public  schools,  in  which  the  Falk  system,  contrary  to  his  inten- 
tion, because  it  allied  itself  for  the  most  part  with  the  free-thinking  liberalism  of  the 
Prussian  Chamber  of  Deputies,  aided  materially  to  unfetter  and  encourage  all  anti- 
christian  tendencies  among  the  professors,  down  to  the  seminaries  for  teachers  and 
public  school  teachers,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  bring  them  in  a  most  glaring  contrast 
with  the  spirit  of  faith,  which,  for  nearly  half  a  century,  the  regulations  of  the  pub- 
lic schools  tried  to  inculcate,  and  enhanced  the  repression  of  religious  instruction 
of  a  positive  character,  and  render  education  in  the  faith  and  to  the  faith  more 
difficult. 

Moreover,  much  might  be  said  concerning  the  state  of  religion  as  it  pertains  to 
the  family,  public  and  social  life;  how  scarce  has  become  family  worship,  and  how 
neglected  the  Lord's  table;  how  Christian  family  life  is  made  impracticable,  through 
the  haliitual  lounging  of  the  fathers  at  the  taverns;  how,  in  many  homes,  not  only 
the  Bible  has  become  a  neglected  book,  init  also  many  good  German  classics  are 
banished  by  other  light  and  ephemeral  stuff,  such  as  may  be  found  in  the  "  Garten- 
laube,"  and  in  the  "  Kladderadatch,"  and  in  obscene  novels,  in  the  all-prevailing 
Jewish  press,  and  in  popularized  expositions  of  so-called  sciences,  especially  natural 
sciences,  wherein  half  truths  or  false  hypotheses  are  presented  to  the  people  as  un- 
deniable facts;  yea,  how  even  the  reports  of  the  stage  continually  lament  the  alarm- 
ing emptyness  of  the  theatres  when  classic  dramas,  of  such  authors  as  Goethe  and 
Schiller,  are  produced;  whilst  they  are  crowded  during  the  performance  of  trivial 
French  Opretlas.  No  wonder,  then,  that  the  very  foundations  of  our  Christian  civil 
life,  the  oath,  the  family,  reverential  fear  of  God,  his  name,  his  day,  and  his  book, 
the  faith  in  eternity,  retribution  and  eternal  judgment,  reverence  to  parents,  teachers, 
an(1  masters,  submission  to  those  in  auiiiority,  even  to  the  king  and  emperor,  and 
lastly  the  dread  of  harming  the  person  and  the  property  of  their  fellow-men,  fidelity, 


948 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


chastity,  and  decency,  are  more  and  more  Ijecoming  a  rarity,  and  that  indifference 
toward  vital  Christianity,  mammonism,  and  materialism,  pervade  every  strata  of  so- 
ciety, and  that  enthusiasm  for  the  fine  arts  is  paralyzed,  whilst  it  is  increasing  for 
the  coarser  naturalistic  painting.  No  wonder  that  the  conception  of  civil  virtue 
and  true  manliness  is  enervated,  and  that  in  the  national  conventions  Christian 
minorities  are  suppressed,  and  that  the  rapidly  manufactured  laws  of  our  national 
legislature  are  based  upon  false  humanitarianism  and  liberalism,  instead  of  positive 
Christianity. 

The  consequences  of  this  antichristian  system  crystallize  themselves,  at  present,  in 
three  forms,  their  point  of  uniiy  being  negation;  in  the  religious  aspect  the  conse- 
quence is  the  "  Protestanten-Verein,"  in  the  ecclesiastic-political,  the  so-called 
"  Cultur-kampf,"  and  in  a  social  aspect  the  consequence  is  the  social  democracy. 

The  rationalism  of  the  last  century  is  revived  in  a  new  revised,  but  more  danger- 
ous form  in  the  "  Protestanten-Verein."  Its  essence  is  freedom  yr(7w  faith,  instead 
of  freedom  in  the  faith;  its  tendency  is  by  absolute  liberty  in  leaching  to  press  for- 
ward to  the  analyzation  of  the  last  basis,  and  to  a  spiritualistic  volalization,  of  even 
the  last  inalienable  principles,  to  obtain  for  their  new  faith,  i.  e.,  intidcliiy,  equal 
rights  with  the  old  faith  of  Christianity,  and  to  make  the  testimony  of  truth  depend- 
ent npon  an  accidental  majority  of  the  community. 

The  "  Cultur-kampf"  is  in  fact  only  a  continuation  of  the  ancient  contention  be- 
tween the  two  swords,  sacerdotalism  and  imperialism.  The  truth  is,  that  Prussia 
demanded  that  only,  which  long  since  was  conceded  by  the  Pope  as  a  state  right  to 
Wurtemberg,  and  many  other  smaller  States  of  Germany.  But  after  the  declara- 
tion of  the  papal  infallibility — greatly  alarming,  as  is  well  known,  the  noblest  and 
most  intelligent  non-Jesuitic  minded  bishops  of  Germany — brought  about  by  the  pre- 
ponderance of  Jesuitical  policy,  had  crowned  the  Pope's  pretended  omnipotence,  a 
collision  with  the  state,  also  striving  for  omnipotence,  became  a  question  of  time  only. 
Bismarck,  the  great  Chancellor,  ventured  this  great  battle  against  ultramontanism 
and  Jesuitism,  but  that  this  warfare  turned  out  so  hurtful  to  the  Evangelical  Church, 
without  his  will  and  foresiglit,  circumstanced  liy  the  fact,  that  the  chief  champion  of 
the  same  in  the  Prussian  camp  was  the  irreligious  liberalism.  In  consequence  of 
this  it  has  become,  instead  of  a  justified,  yet  untimely  struggle  against  the  arrogations 
of  the  Vatican  Church,  a  struggle  against  Christianity  in  general,  and  has  done 
much  toward  making  it  ineffectual  in  its  true  Biblical  nature.  Therefore,  not  only 
is  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  affected,  whose  system  is  still  inviolate,  whilst  the 
religious  life  of  the  people  has  been  awfully  wounded,  but  also  the  Evangelical 
Church,  especially  through  the  civil  marriage  laws,  which  viewed  from  a  political 
point  of  view,  may  be  justified,  as  it  is  seen  to  exist  with  you  in  Norlh  America, 
without  harming  religion,  because  of  the  religious  consciousness  which  is  so  general 
and  deep-i-ooted  in  the  national  life  oi  your  people;  yet,  with  a  people  in  which 
Christianity  has  ceased  to  be  the  substance  of  its  spiritual  life,  as  it  does  with  us,  it 
has  mightily  aided,  in  the  present  period,  the  existing  inclination  to  circumvent 
Christianity.* 

The  inevitable  conclusion  of  atheism  having  condensed  itself  into  materialism, 
after  having  previously  found  its  scientific  substructure  in  Darwinism,  is  social 
democracy.  Here  unite  all  powers  of  Hell,  even  to  the  very  attempt  to  overthrow 
the  foundations  of  society,  religion,  state,  education,  property  and  family,  thus  en- 
dangering the  very  existence  of  the  state,  and  necessitating  exceptional  laws  to  cover 
the  yawning  abyss. 

I  shall  close,  however,  dear  brethren,  having  already  outdone  your  patience.  But 
I  close  not  with  the  pessimistic  despondency  that  throws  itself  headlong  into  bot- 
tomless Nirvvana;  but  with  the  manly  courage  of  a  Christian,  with  the  helmet  of 
hope  upon  his  head,  and  in  his  heart  the  indestructible  faith  that  God  still  reigns, 
that  Jesus  Christ,  who  hitherto  has   chosen   our  German   nation  as  a  piilar  of  his 

*  It  is,  moreover,  but  proper  to  mention  that  the  Prussian  Cultus-minister  Falk  was  willing  to 
allow  ministers  the  civil  official  status,  but  the  confessionals,  and  the  so-called  positive  Unionmen  in 
the  province  of  Saxony,  raised  an  agitation  against  it. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  949 

truth,  yet  rules  in  the  midst  of  his  saints.  There  are  yet  more  than  seven  thou- 
sand, yea,  more  than  seven  hundred  thousand,  Germans  who  have  not  bowed  their 
knees  before  Baal.  Still  many  pious  souls  may  be  seen  to  assemble  themselves,  not 
only  Sundays,  but  on  several  days  through  the  week,  to  study  the  word  of  God. 
The  silent  waters  of  Siloa  still  gently  flow,  unmolested  and  unforbidden,  refreshing 
languishing  souls.  We  still  have  a  pious  Emperor  who,  in  his  public  profession  of 
evangelical  faith,  in  his  reverence  of  God,  in  his  Christian  life,  is  a  shining  light 
to  his  people,  promoting,  together  with  his  august  consort,  every  work  of  Christian 
charity.  We  still  have  rulers  and  princes,  also  governors  and  state  officers,  who 
with  Christian  fidelity  seek  to  hold  and  to  save  what  may  yet  be  saved.  Already 
signs  appear  among  the  German  people  of  far  greater  decision,  having  formed  and 
shapen  itself  withm  the  last  few  years.  Falk,  the  minister  of  worship  in  Prussia, 
had  to  vacate  for  a  man  of  more  positive  faith.  In  consequence  of  changed  circum- 
stances, the  study  of  theology  is  increasing;  the  simultaneousness  of  the  schools, 
behind  which  infidelity  tried  to  strengthen  its  position,  is  prohiliited,  and  the  Chris- 
tian character  of  public  schools  preliminarily  rescued.  The  Protestant  Union  has 
lost  some  of  its  credit  and  power,  and  was  obliged  recently  to  acknowledge  the 
necessity  of  a  defined  doctrinal  basis;  for  it  must  be  conceded  tliat  some  of  its 
members  are  also  earnest  religious  people — inquiring  souls,  who  still  move  in  the 
common  religious  element.  The  Culture  contest  has,  for  the  present,  been  brought 
to  a  stand-still,  and  those  laws  which  are  detrimental  are  eliminated.  The  conter- 
ence  of  last  year,  held  at  Bern,  has  essentially  aided  the  sanctificalion  of  thf  Sabbath. 

If  we  add  to  these  the  undisturbed  and  blessed  meeting  of  the  Alliance  at  Basel, 
in  the  month  of  September  of  last  year,  in  which  an  unusual  number  of  divines  and 
l.iynien  were  in  attendance  for  the  first  time,  hard-stamped  Lutherans  ;  and  further- 
more, the  absolutely  positive  attitude  of  the  General  Synod  in  Berlin  last  October 
{120  against  40),  on  questions  that  made  it  important  to  maintain  the  standpoint  of 
Bible  faith,  and  to  be  firm  on  the  foundation  of  Bible  confessions.  The  gnjwing 
consciousness,  especially  in  Rhineland  and  Westphalia,  concerning  the  necessity  (jf 
greater  church  independence  in  all  internal  questions,  over  against  the  guardianship 
of  the  state:  the  interest  in  foreign  missions,  encouraged  Ijy  the  address  of  Dr. 
Christlieb  at  the  Basel  Alliance,  which  has  already  been  translated  into  the  English, 
French,  Swedish  and  Holland  language,  the  declaration  of  the  General  Synod  that 
henceforth  there  should  be  held,  nt  least  once  a  year,  one  mission  sermon  and  a  col- 
lection in  behalf  of  foreign  missions  in  every  evangelical  church  in  Prussia;  the 
scientific  treatment  of  mission  questions,  even  at  seme  German  universities;  the 
flourishing  introduction  of  mission  literature,  especially  the  "mission  periodical" 
of  Warneck,  Christlieb,  Grundemann,  and  others,  and  the  oldest  magazine  of  Basel ; 
the  sprouting  of  new  blossoms  and  fruits  upon  the  tree  of  home  mission  ;  the  grow- 
ing work  of  free-will  evangelization;  the  great  effort  and  activity  of  Bible  houses, 
of  which  we  have  twenty-five  in  Germany,  the  receipts  of  which  were,  in  the  pre- 
vious year,  125,000  marks:  since  its  organization  distributed  17,902,627  Bibles; 
further,  the  Christian  Tract  Societies,  the  Gustave-Adolph  Society ;  the  growing 
interest  in  Sunday  schools,  which  came  to  us  from  your  country  ;  the  flourishing  of 
free-will  teacher-institutes  in  Beuggen,  Tempelhof,  Lichtenstein,  and  many  in 
Prussia;  further  the  more  veiled  appearance  of  infidelity  in  the  pulpits:  sometimes, 
nevertheless,  only  the  old  formulas  of  faith  are  apologetically  retained;  finally,  a 
number  of  conversions  in  Rhineland  and  Westphalia,  especially  in  the  Siegener 
land — all  these  and  many  other  things  which  prosper  quietly,  as,  for  instance,  the 
work  of  Rev.  Blumhardt  in  Boll,  are  they  not  glorious  signs  that,  as  the  dominion 
of  Sitan,  so  also  the  kingdom  of  Christ  are  being  perfected  to  full  bloom,  and  the 
decision  of  both  spheres  are  he  ng  concluded  in  hitherto  unexpected  dimensions? 

If  we  remember  that  the  Lortl  God,  also  through  your  assistance,  dear  American 
brethren,  has  opened  Africa,  and  that  the  missionaries  follow  immediately  the  foot- 
steps of  the  explorers;  how  in  our  days  the  news  of  salvation  in  Christ  is  carried  to 
the  remotest  nations — lift  up  your  heads,  for  your  redemption  draweth  nigh — soon, 
we  hope,  he  who  sat  on  a  white  horse,  will  come  in  all  his  glory  and  majesty  with 
hi--  saints  and  angels  (Rev.  xix.  11-16),  the  faithful  and  true,  whose  eyes  were  as  a 


950  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

flame  of  fire,  on  whose  head  were  many  crowns — the  crown  of  the  high-priest  and 
that  of  the  king,  and  the  crown  of  the  victor — clothed  in  a  vesture  dipped  in  hlood, 
to  smite  the  nations  with  the  sharp  sword  of  his  mouth,  and  pierce  the  very  heart  of 
heathenized  Christianity,  and  with  the  iron  sceptre  of  his  right  hand  overcome  the 
last  enemy — the  anti-Christian  captain,  the  embodied  arch-tiend  of  his  parish.  He 
liath  on  his  vestuie  a  name  written  :  '^ King  of  Kings,  attd  Lord  of  Lords."  He  is 
()ur  Faith,  our  Lcjve,  and  our  Hope. 

ADDRESS  ON  THE  TRAINING  OF  CHILDREN  IN  THE  FAMILY. 

By   Pastor  O.  Erdmann,  of  Elberfeld,  Inspector  of  the  Evangelical   Society  for 

Germany. 

Theologians,  philosophers  and  political  socialists  are  unanimous  in  recognizing 
the  family  as  the  oldest  and  largest  institute  of  God,  and  as  the  religion  out  of 
which  human  society  grows.  Fidelity,  love,  devotion,  obedience,  are  the  most  pow- 
erful and  indestiuciiljlc  fundamentals  of  all  human  welfare.  That  nation  is  the 
happiest  whose  (.nnilies  are  the  oldest  imitation  of  the  Scriptural  ideal  of  the  vigor 
and  soundness  ot  the  home-life.  With  the  most  excellent  men,  in  the  hearts  of 
whom  God  would  prepare  a  rich  treasure,  the  love  of  a  father  and  a  mother  has 
avi'akened  and  preserved  the  noble  germ.  Rome  under  the  consuls  had  illustrious 
women  and  heroic  citizens  because  ol  her  vigorous  and  well-ordered  family-life;  the 
degenerated  Rome  under  the  emperors  knew  neither  patriotism  nor  morality  Ijecause 
of  the  profanation  of  her  homes  by  unlimited  divorces  and  by  the  desolate  polygamy. 

The  purity  and  vitality  of  the  old  German  homes  and  the  high  place  which  was 
assigned  in  them  to  women  greatly  struck  and  terrified  the  licentious  Romans,  and 
filled  a  Tacitus  with  admiration.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  inclined  to  under- 
rate the  family-lile,  so  that  you  often  see  on  the  cupola  pictures  of  Italian  Churches 
Ijefore  the  throne  of  God — monks  and  hermits,  but  never  a  family,  a  man,  a  wife  or 
children;  whereas,  the  old  evangelical  painters  transfer  the  scenes  of  the  life  of  ihq 
Saviour  and  of  his  disciples  to  ihe  midst  of  the  German  home.  But  the  inheritance 
of  the  forefathers  and  the  Reformation,  the  pure,  Christian  family,  has  come  with 
many  to  the  low  level  of  selfishness  and  worldiiness,  and  is  in  great  danger  to  lose 
its  beneficial  nifiuence  upon  the  moral  and  religious  character  of  the  nations.  Our 
subject.  The  Training  of  Children  in  the  Family,  is,  therefore,  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance for  all  parents  and  all  friends  of  th-.-ir  people.  I  propose  to  show  that,  and 
how  children  are  to  be  trained  for  real  happiness,  for  obedience  and  for  love. 

I.  Children  are  one  of  the  most  precious  pledges  of  God's  love,  and  a  source  of 
happiness  for  the  jiarents.  Brenz,  the  Reformer  of  the  Church  in  Wurtemberg 
exclaims  :  "  To  move  in  the  midst  of  children  is  to  be  in  the  midst  of  angels,"  which 
teachers  in  their  schools  and  mothers  in  the  nursery  will,  I  am  sure,  not  always 
accept.  Novalis  says,  "Where  there  are  children,  there  is  the  golden  age;"  and 
John  Moultree  sings  of  his  little  son  ; 

"A  playfellow  is  he  to  all;  and  yet, 
With  cheerful  tone. 
He'll  sing  his  little  song  of  love, 
/  When  left  to  sport  alone. 

His  presence  is  like  sunshine  sent 

To  gladden  home  and  hearth  ; 
To  comfort  us  in  all  our  griefs, 
And  sweeten  all  our  mirth." 

Because  children  are  a  source  of  joy,  the  proverb  is  true :  "  Keep  sus  par  s 
from  any  man  who  does  not  like  music  and  children  ;  "  and  the  old  German  legend 
can  be  explained,  that  women  who  desired  to  get  no  children,  got  hundred  at 
once. 

Children  have  their  sorrows,  and  their  tears  flow  often  very  freely ;  but  in  some 
way  it  can  be  said  of  them  what  is  spoken  of  the  happiness  of  truly  believing  Chris- 
tians : 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  951 

"There  are  in  this  loud  and  stunning  tide 

Of  human  care  and  crime, 
With  whom  the  melodies  abide 

Ot  the  everhxstinij  chime; 
Who  carry  music  in  their  heart. 
Thro'  dusky  lane  and  wranj^linc;  mart. 
Plying  their  daily  task  with  busier  feet. 
Because  their  secret  souls  a  holy  strain  repeat." 

Children  can  easily  afford  to  sing,  to  spring,  to  laugh,  to  play  and  to  reinice. 
Woe  to  us  if  we  stunt  or  poison  i)y  our  sins  th-is  well  of  mirth  in  their  hearts.  From 
our  younger  children  we  must  keep  aloof  our  sorrows,  not  tcj  disturb  their  happiness. 
Something  of  the  joy  of  the  paradise  clings  to  them  still;  but,  nevertheless,  they 
must  l)e  trained  for  real  and  lasting  happiness.  Our  children  are  not  angels,  but 
our  flesh  and  our  bone,  and  heirs  of  our  sinful  natuie.  Wdfulness,  envy,  dsobedi- 
euce  defile  the  fountain  of  their  happiness,  and  the  afflictions  and  the  (iisillusions  of  life 
threaten  to  dry  it  up.  The  joy  and  the  play  of  children  have  their  time.  Parents 
hinder  their  children  from  becoming  truly  happy  by  fulfilling  all  thtir  wishes,  by 
overloading  them  with  plnythings  and  jiresents,  by  not  restraining  them  from  doubt- 
ful joys,  and  by  leading  them  themselves  into  worldly  pleasures.  By  the  restriction 
is  known  the  master.  Not  many  joys,  but  much  joy  we  must  procure  for  our  chil- 
dren. We  must  accustom  them  to  find  pleasure  in  earnest  work,  and  to  enjoy  a 
sound  recreation  after  the  day's  labor. 

To  keep  the.-xi  hack  Irom  d(nil)tfu!  friends  and  dangerous  pleasures  outside  the 
house,  we  must  make  for  them  our  home  as  attractive  as  possible,  and  must  use  them 
to  noble,  snul-elevating  enjoyments.  In  a  really  happy  family  children  learn  to 
remain  happy  and  to  become  truly  hapijy.  They  bask  daily  in  the  love  of  the  father, 
and  particularly  of  the  mother.  The  peaceful  humor  ainl  l.nughter  of  a  mind  at  (jne 
with  God  makes  the  arduous  task  light.  In  the  evening  the  reading  of  good  books, 
or  a  cheerful,  confidential  conversation,  binds  together  the  members  of  the  family. 
Grandfather  and  grandmother  open  tlie  treasures  of  their  interesting  experiences, 
and  noble  family  music  refreshes  the  mind  and  gives  it  an  ideal  turn.  On  .Sundays 
the  little  children  sit  on  their  mothers'  knees,  listen  with  open  mouth  to  the  liible- 
stories  which  she  tells  them,  and  pore  over  the  picture-books  which  help  to  set  in 
full  play  to  the  beauteous  charm  of  the  Bible.  In  the  walks  the  children  learn  to 
admire  the  wonderful  works  of  the  Lord.  In  the  living  streams  of  the  word  of  God 
all  find,  even  in  the  hottest  days  of  affliction,  a  new  strength,  and  in  the  roughest, 
storm-stricken  sea  the  haven  of  peace  is  never  lost  sight  of.  Self-will  and  egotism 
get  sHbdued  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord.  The  love  of  the  father  and  the  mother  is  sanc- 
tified by  their  common  love  to  the  Saviour;  peace  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  house, 
and  one  serves  the  other.  Daily  prayer  unites  all  before  God's  throne;  for  his  daily 
help  he  is  jjraised  by  all.  In  birthdays  and  on  the  festival  days  of  the  year,  jiar- 
ticularly  on  the  ha])pv  Christmas  day,  love  casts  its  ruddiest  hue  over  old  and  young. 
The  presence  of  God  is  often  realized,  and  his  grace  is  the  never-ebbing  sea  which 
supports  parents  and  children.  All  that  is  noble,  pure,  beautiful,  lovely  and  true  is 
cultivated. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  such  a  family  is  a  school  of  hap])iness  for  the  children. 
Christian  faith  and  Christian  love  make  youth  fresh,  sunny,  hopeful,  really  happy. 
A  Christian  household  is  with  Shakespeare  a  pattern  of  celestial  peace,  and  of  it  is 
perfectly  true  what  Keble  sings : 

"  Sweet  is  the  smile  of  home,  the  mutual  look, 
Wlien  hearts  are  of  each  other  sure  ; 
Sweet  all  the  joys  that  crowd  the  household  nook, 
The  haunt  of  all  affections  ])ure." 

Who  wants  to  see  his  children  really  happy  must  lead  them  early  to  Christ  and 
to  the  treasury  of  his  word. 
.     11.  The  Christian  family  trains  children  for  real  happiness,  and,  we  add,  to  sin- 


952  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 

cere  obedience.     What  A.  Vinet  said   forty  years  af;o,   "  Obedience   does  not  find  a 
])lace  in  the  programme  of  our  time,"  is  perfectly  irue  in  our  generation. 

In  the  higher  classes  as  well  as  in  the  lower  strata  of  the  nations,  the  spirit  of  re- 
action against  human  and  divine  institutions  lias  gained  much  ground.  In  Germany 
tlie  number  of  young  convicts  has  increased  at  a  very  rapid  rate,  and  the  many  for- 
bidden associations,  which  have  lately  been  discovered  in  our  higher  schools,  have 
shown  what  a  bad  spirit  has  taken  hold  of  many  pupils  of  the  upper  classes  of  our 
gynmasii  and  similar  institutions. 

Without  the  discipline  in  the  family,  tlie  result  of  which  is  obedience,  we  scarcely 
can  expect  any  essential  improvement  in  this  respect.  Perfect  and  immediate  obedi- 
ence is  a  cornerstone  in  the  house.  It  loses  its  strength;  it  totters,  and  is  in 
some  danger  to  fall  down,  if  the  weakness  or  vanity  of  parents,  and  especially  of  the 
mother,  the  dissension  between  father  and  mother,  the  indifference  of  the  father  who 
leaves  all  the  education  of  the  children  on  the  shoulders  of  the  mother,  and  the  ab- 
surd belief  that  the  children  will  do  well  if  let  alone,  make  a  Christian  discipline, 
and  consequently  the  full  and  prompt  obedience  of  the  children,  impossible. 

He  who  has  had  some  opportunity  of  observing  children  can  quickly  see  that  the 
inclination  to  do  wrong  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  children,  and  not  alone 
implanted  by  bad  outside  influences. 

"Of  fathers  who  excuse  themselves  from  educating  their  children  by  the  pretext, 
they  had  no  time  for  that,"  says  Professor  Riehl,  of  Munich,  in  his  very  interesting 
book  on  "The  Family,"  "he  who  frcmi  the  beginning  declares  he  has  no  time  for 
educating  his  children  should  be  forbidden  to  marry."  Through  the  authority  of 
parents,  something  of  the  glory  and  majesty  of  God's  authority  shines  into  the  chil- 
dren's heart,  and  in  the  measure  God's  word  corroborates  the  commandments  of 
parents,  antl  the  unanimous  will  of  father  and  mother  is  strengthened  by  firm  regu- 
lations and  customs  of  the  house;  children  will  readily  sul)mit  themselves  to  the 
wishes  of  their  ]iarents,  and  will  be  thankful  to  them  for  having  taught  them  to 
obey.  Happy  are  the  children  who  have  learnt  to  know  and  to  obey  in  .he  will  of 
their  jiarents  the  will  of  God  ! 

Riehl  is  therefore  right  in  asserting  that  fathers  who  give  up  daily  prayer  and 
daily  Scripture  reading  in  the  family  services  abandon  voluntarily  one  of  the 
proudest  attributes  of  their  position  in  the  house,  because  more  honor,  rank,  and  sov- 
ereignty is  lodged  in  it  than  in  a  rich  collection  of  titles  and  orders. 

It  is  of  some  importance  to  show  to  the  children  their  duty  not  always  with 
the  cold,  rigid,  unrelenting  face  of  stern  commands  and  terrifying  threatenings, 
but  with  the  kindly,  encouraging  look  of  jiromise  and  hope.  To  show  our 
children  the  way  of  duty  as  the  sure  path  to  a  noble  and  blessed  life  makes  not 
timid  and  pusillanimous  but  cheerlul  children  and  strong  and  high-minded  men  and 
women. 

It  is  not  safe  and  practical  to  forbid  and  to  punish  too  much,  and  to  circumscribe 
the  child's  path  on  every  ]iart.  It  leaves  the  conscience  undeveloped,  imbitters  the 
heart,  provokes  disobedience,  blunts  the  sense  of  honor,  violates  the  manliness  of 
the  character,  and  causes  young  people  as  soon  as  they  have  left  the  paternal  home 
to  plunge  headlong,  without  discrimination  and  moderation,  into  those  dangerous 
])leasures,  which  they  had  learnt  t<^  despise,  if  more  freedom  of  motion  within  a  cer- 
tain s]ihere  had  been  allowed,  and  the  exercise  of  temperance  and  se!f-contr(jl  had 
become  more  natural  to  them. 

But  earnest  discipline  can  with  no  child  be  spared;  many  desires  must  be  denied, 
many  ways  must  be  shut  up,  and  even  with  the  best  child  the  rod  cannot  be  at  all 
kept  out  of  sight.  From  bad  associates  they  must  be  restrained  ;  their  reading  of 
books  must  be  vv'atched  over,  lest  their  imagination  might  be  irritated  and  poisoned, 
and  lest  they  might  neglect  their  work. 

The  doctrines  which  find  our  ciiildren  in  their  books  get  insulated  on  their  hearts, 
and  become  a  seed  either  of  lilessings  or  of  corruption.  Every  age  must  have  suit- 
able books,  which,  read  in  time,  leaves  a  great  impression. 

The  best  English  novelists,  tnun  Robinson  Crusoe  down  to  Mr.  Trollope,  teach 
sound  morals,  and  in  Germany  we  have  many  authors  and  authoresses  whose  books 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  953 

can  be  read  aloud  in  the  family  circle.     I  mention  only  Gotthelf,  Stceber,  Glen- 
brecht,  Fries,  Frommel,  Mrs.  Nathusius,  and  Mrs.  Wilclerimith. 

We  must  imitate  God  in  the  education  of  his  children  if  we  want  to  train  our 
children  to  be  obedient.  Parents  who  omit  to  leave  in  the  consciences  of  their  chil- 
dren s<jme  impression  of  the  immutability  and  sanctity  of  God's  will,  by  ne^leci- 
ing  earnest  discipline,  must  expect  to  be  punished  by  the  sins  of  their  own  (  ff- 
sprino;. 

.  To  our  great  humiliation,  we  are  reminded  of  our  own  transgressions  by  the  sins 
of  our  children,  as  we  see  in  David's  example,  when  Absalom  revolted  against  him 
and  destruction  entered  into  his  family.  Ere  we  admonish  or  punish  our  children 
we  have  to  humble  ourselves  before  God  and  to  ask  his  forgiveness.  We  have  to 
be  careful  lest  a  bad  custom  of  ours  or  of  our  house  renders  inefficient  all  our  ad- 
monitions. Our  example,  our  manners,  and  the  spirit  of  our  homes  are  much  more 
powerful  than  our  words  to  train  our  children  for  upright  obedience,  not  only  to 
our  will,  but  to  God's  will.  We  must  be  obedient  to  Gud  if  we  will  expect  obedi- 
ence from  our  children. 

What  pious  parents  have  done  is  not  easily  forgotten.  In  God's  time  it  revives 
and  gets  a  power  of  salvation.  The  rule  is  that  the  discipline  of  parents  brings 
early  fruit.  The  children's  conscience  awakes;  they  see  they  have  sinned;  feel 
something  of  the  bad  inclinations  of  their  heart,  and  long  for  consolation,  love,  and 
pardon.  Such  times  affjrd  op])ortunities  of  giving  the  children  a  deejier  insight 
into  the  nature  of  sin,  to  teach  them  to  flee  from  it  as  from  a  serpent,  and  to  seek 
protection  and  forgiveness  with  Christ. 

Children  wlio  have  learnt  obedience  become  conscientious  pupils,  good  laborers, 
true  friends,  loyal  citizens,  consistent  characters,  humble  disciples  of  Christ,  cour- 
ageous confessors  of  their  faith — if  needs  be,  martyrs  and  occasional  heroes,  and  are 
thus  a  blessing,  not  only  for  thousand  generations  of  their  own  family,  but  for  their 
nations  and  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  the  history  of  the  world  and  of  the  Church 
shows  on  every  page. 

Our  time  wants  full-grown,  really  manly  men  who  cannot  be  deceived  by  human 
pass-words  and  human  honors,  but  obey  the  word  of  God  and  try  to  honor  him  ; 
who  stand  boldly  for  their  convictions  and  for  their  faith,  and  cannot  be  forced 
away  from  the  way  of  duty  and  true  honor.  Our  time  wants  loving,  self-denying 
women,  who  do  not  aspire  to  exercise  political  rights  and  to  move  the  large  wheels 
of  the  outside  world,  but  who,  without  expecting  praise  and  much  recognition,  with 
much  patience  and  with  the  sacrifice  of  many  natural  and  reasonable  desires  have 
set  their  heart  upon  silently  serving  in  the  home,  upon  keeping  the  flame  of  love 
and  piety  burning  on  the  altar  of  the  family,  and  upon  making  others  happy.  Such 
men  and  women  are  born  and  educated  in  the  school  of  earnest  Christian  disci]3line 
and  humble,  willing  obedience  to  the  parents  on  earth  and  to  their  Father  in 
heaven. 

III.  How  indispensable  ever  this  is  to  produce  obedience  by  the  discipline  of 
the  law;  to  awake  love  by  "iove  is  still  a  higher  aim  for  the  training  in  the  family. 
What  is  impossible  to  the  law  love  can  do.  The  love  of  the  parents  and  the  love 
of  God  can  really  overcome  the  self  will  of  the  children,  make  them  truly  joyful, 
and  create  some  enthusiasm  for  the  true,  the  good,  the  noble  and  the  divine.  In 
the  school  of  love  they  learn  to  love  the  parents,  the  afflicted,  God  and  the  Saviour, 
and  to  feel  in  such  love  something  of  heavenly  bliss.  In  the  State  justice,  in  the 
family  love,  the  all-moving  and  all-preserving  power. 

There  are  fathers,  and  some  mothers,  who  carry  outside  the  roses  and  inside  the 
thorns,  and  who  leave  amiability  outside  at  the  threshold  of  their  own  house; 
they  spread  like  icebergs  the  atmosphere  of  the  winter,  and  the  children's  liberty, 
joy  and  laughter,  seem  to  freeze  to  death  in  their  presence.  For  the  whole  life  it  is 
a  great  loss  if  children  cannot  rej»ice  in  their  fathers'  and  mothers'  love,  and  if 
each  stirring  germ  of  ccnfidence  and  reverence  is  stifled  by  an  icy  chill  from  their 
own  i)arents. 

The  Rev.  Baldwin  Brown,  of  London,  in  his  fine  book,  "The  Home  Life  in  its 
Divine  Idea,'  is  right  in  saying:    "Love  is  their  sunlight;   they  ask  for  nothing 


954  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

than  to  hask  in  it.  There  is  no  glow  for  them  when  that  sun  in  the  liome  is  un- 
veiled. The  only  patent  of  precedence  you  can  get  them  to  recoj^nize  i^  the  mark 
of  goodness,  gentleness  and  nobleness,  which  (iod's  elect  ones  bear,  and  which  none 
see  so  swiftly  as  a  child."  Mr.  Jolni  Sumrt  Mill's  autobiography  slii.ws  that  one- 
sided intellectual  education  has  l)ad  consequences  for  the  character,  ihe  life  and  its 
efficiency,  in  leaving  undeveloped  the  aspirations  of  the  heart  which  longs  for  love 
nnd  lor  Ciod,  In  the  mercUess,  intellectual  forcing  he  was  subjected  to,  love  was 
not  merely  ignored — it  was  repressed.  His  cheerless  boyhood  had  no  friends;  his 
mother  is  not  once  named  ;  his  father  appears  as  a  restless,  an  inexorable,  a  grim 
machine  for  stimulating  thought  or  for  enforcing  discipline.  Above  all,  he  who 
is  the  one  object  of  love  (he  who  made  the  human  henrt,  and  who  has,  alone,  the 
key  to  its  most  intimate  secrets,  he)  is  ignored,  of  set  purpose,  as  an  hy|')()thetical 
being  of  some  sort,  whose  existence  could  not  be  scientifically  verified,  and  therefore 
lay  outside  the  range  of  practical  considerations. 

It  is  perhaps  one  of  the  characteristics  of  our  time,  at  least  it  is  so  in  Germany, 
that  intellectual  education  is  too  much  valued  and  too  exclusively  aimed  at  in  the 
higher  schools.  Fiir  this  deficiency  the  family  has  to  make  up  in  fostering  the 
moial  and  religious  training  of  the  heart  by  love  and  for  awakening  love.  The  love 
of  a  father  is  indispensable.  He  supports  and  shelters  the  family;  he  gives  the 
children,  by  his  discipline,  an  impression  of  the  sanctity  of  the  will  of  God;  he 
daily  ministers  to  his  home  by  Scripture-reading  and  praying;  he  is  a  counsellor  of 
the  elder  sons,  helps  them  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  the  world  and  to  have  a  good 
start  in  life.  With  many  people,  especially  with  many  men,  the  love  of  their  fathers 
is  forever  imprinted  in  their  heart,  character  and  life.  Yet  Madame  de  Stael  is 
right  in  asserting,  "  Love  is  only  a  by-actim  in  the  life  of  men  ;  but  it  is  the  whole 
full  history  of  the  life  of  women."  In  all  nations  many  authors  could  be  named 
who  praise  with  enthusiasm  and  thankfulness  the  love  of  mothers.  I  mention 
only  Riehl,  the  historian,  Ch.irles  Raumer,  Boquenil  Goltz,  in  his  lovely  book 
of  childhood.  Count  Ageiior  de  Gasparin,  in  his  book,  "C.  Famille,  ses  Devoirs; 
ses  Joies  et  ses  Douleurs,"  Naville,  of  French  Switzerland,  in  his  small  l)ut  at- 
tractive book,  "  Duty,  two  lectures  for  women."  They  all  agree  in  attributing,  under 
God,  to  mothers  the  best  jiart  of  their  education,  the  best  influence  on  their  charac- 
ters and  the  happiest  recollections  of  their  young  years.  James  Montgomery,  in  the 
poem,  "A  Mother's  Love,"  sings: 

"That  mother's  love,  how  sweet  the  name! 

What  was  that  mother's  love  ? 
The  noblest,  purest,  lenderest  flame. 

That  kindles  from  above; 
Within  a  heart  of  earthly  mould. 
As  much  of  heaven  as  heart  can  hold, 
Nor  through  eternity  grows  cold, 

This  was  that  mother's  love." 

William  Cowper  glorifies  his  mother: 

"  —  the  record  fair 
That  mem'ry  keeps  of  all  thy  kindness  there 
Still  outlives  many  a  storm,  that  has  effac'd 
A  thousand  other  storms  less  deeply  trac'd." 

And  your  own  Beecher  says,  in  one  of  his  genial  sermons :  "  I  think  that  the  most 
wonderful  book  th  it  could  be  written  would  be  a  book  in  which  an  angel  should 
write  all  the  thoughts  that  pass  through  a  faithful  mother's  mind  from  the  time  that 
she  first  hears  the  cry  of  her  child,  and  knows  ;  hat  it  is  born  into  the  woild,  and 
rejoices  in  the  midst  of  her  prief — from  tiic  uK>ment  of  her  absorption,  or  annihila- 
tion, pouring  herself  into  the  child.  Her  wonderful  gladness  of  fatigue,  her  unwil- 
lingness to  divide  her  care  with  any,  her  heroic  sacrifice  of  all  that  is  brightest  and 
best  in  life,  with  no  prospect  of  remuneration  except  the  satisfaction  which  she  feels 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


955 


in  serving  that  little  mute  and  helpless  child — these  are  past  description.  Behold 
her  in  a  little  cottage,  with  no  great  wealth,  with,  it  may  be,  only  a  moderate  com- 
petency, with  no  witness,  with  none  to  piaise,  and,  for  the  most  of  the  hours  of  the 
clay,  with  no  companionship  but  a  little  i^abe,  and  a  babe  that  cannot  sing  to  her, 
but  can  only  cry  to  worry  her — that  cannot  even  look  at  her  and  know  her.  No 
sound  of  music  greets  her  ear.  There  is  nothing  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  her  life 
except  this  little  one.  It  is  her  joy  to  lake  her  babe,  sick  or  well,  night  and  day, 
and  bear  it  in  motherly  arms." 

In  inquiring  how  the  love  of  parents,  the  love  of  a  mother,  can  awake  love  to 
God,  to  themselves  and  to  the  afflicted,  in  the  hearts  of  the  children,  we  have  to 
take  the  veil  from  the  holy  of  holiest  of  family  life.  No  Christian  father  should 
forego  the  privilege  to  lead  daily,  as  the  rightful  domestic  chaplain,  the  prayers  of 
his  family,  and  t(j  show  the  members  of  his  household  daily,  and  especially  on  Sun- 
days, the  pearls  of  the  Scriptures.  This  lalior  of  love  pays  best.  Such  minutes  can- 
not be  forgotten  by  the  children,  whose  pious  father,  in  all  sincerity  and  with  the 
accent  of  love  and  earnestness,  after  his  tlay-work  or  on  Sunday,  gathered  his  chil- 
dren around  him  and  explained  to  them  the  mysteries  of  divine  love.  The  Sunday, 
the  day  of  the  united  family  and  of  warmer  love,  affords  the  best  opportunity  of  opening 
that  delightful  spiritual  picture  book,  the  Bible,  to  the  understanding  of  the  chddren. 
By  doing  that,  and  by  using  the  Sabbath  not  for  exciting  and  often  enervating  jileas- 
ure,  but  for  spiritual  recreation,  for  the  edification  and  sanctifica'.ion  of  the  soul  in 
the  presence  of  God,  for  the  deepening  and  ghjrification  of  the  family,  we  accustom 
our  children  to  the  blessings  of  the  Sunday,  contrilnite  much  to  the  right  observance 
of  the  Lord's  day,  and  help  to  avert  from  our  nation  the  dangers  which  result  from 
an  unscriptural  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  day.  Take  care,  you  fathers,  lest  you  with- 
draw yourselves  too  much  from  the  duties  of  educating  your  children  in  expecting 
too  much  from  the  school  and  in  laying  too  much  on  the  shoulders  of  the  mothers! 
It  is  an  irre])arable  loss  if  the  father  does  not  help  and  supplement  the  training-work 
of  the  mother. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  mother,  by  her  being  in  the  still  home  safer  from  the 
spirit  of  the  age  than  the  father  on  the  noisy  market  of  the  world,  and  by  her  being 
nearer  to  the  line  of  faith  and  prayer,  is  the  most  excellent  teacher  of  piety,  if  she 
knows  the  Lord,  and,  we  must  add,  of  godlessness,  if  she  is  alienated  from  God. 
The  rule  is  that  we  learn  to  pray  from  our  mothers.  There  is,  you  know  perhaps, 
the  excellent  picture,  Dante  and  Beatrice,  by  Ary  Scheffer.  Beatrice  looks  heaven- 
ward, whereas  the  eyes  of  Dante  are  fixed  on  her,  and  follow  her  *o  higher  regions. 
That  is  an  emblem  of  the  ennobling  influence  of  all  pure  love;  that  is,  above  all,  a 
symbol  of  a  praying  mother,  who,  by  prayerfully  looking  to  the  up]ier  sanctuary, 
directs  the  eyes  of  their  child  lo  the  living  fountain  of  all  love  and  all  light.  Oh, 
mothers,  mothers,  don't  neglect  the  ])rivilege  to  pray  for  and  with  your  children! 

From  the  jirayers  of  their  motiiers,  children  get  the  first  notions  and  impressions 
of  God's  love;  these  are  deepened  and  strengthened  by  their  gradual  introduction 
into  the  word  of  God.  The  narrative  of  the  biblical  stories  h.is  here  to  take  the  first 
place.  They  have  the  greatest  attraction  for  the  mind  of  a  child.  In  the  most  in- 
tuitive form  they  contain  a  treasure  of  the  profoundest  truth  and  the  most  important 
moral  principles  of  education;  they  sharpen  the  conscience,  show  the  disobedience 
to  God  to  be  the  source  of  perdition,  and  inculcate  on  the  hearts  of  children  deeply 
the  thought  of  the  love  of  God  to  all  penitent  and  afflicted.  The  purest  morality 
and  the  fullest  truth,  while  set  in  rules  and  forms,  would  tire  and  leave  untouched 
the  children's  mind,  are  taught  by  glorious  examples,  and,  as  it  were,  by  living 
pictures,  which  leave  in  the  life  of  the  child  and  the  man  an  imperishable  trail  of 
light,  if  a  mother's  love  has  illustrated  iiy  sim]5le  words  these  most  instructive  and 
most  attractive  children's  stories.  Here  passes  ihe  child  through  a  school  of  truth, 
in  which  he  learns  lo  hate  lying,  perhaps  the  most  dangerous  sin  of  the  young,  and 
finds  and  knows  to  love  a  truthful  guide  through  the  labyrinth  of  life.  For  the 
whole  life  much  is  gained,  if  our  children  begin  to  find  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  foun- 
tains of  life,  light  and  love,  and  if  they  begin  to  see  tiiat  they  can  draw  and  refresh 
themselves  from  them,  and  that  they  can  find  in  ihem  counsel,  consolation  and  com- 
fort in  all  conditions  of  life. 


956  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Baldwin  Brown  guards  in  his  book,  "  The  Home  Life,"  against  making  the  Bible  a 
weary  task-book,  which  is  cut  up  into  portions  and  labelled  with  morals.  "  Chil- 
dren would  read  it  gladly,"  he  says,  "and  suck  in  its  lessons  ar^  the  glow  of  a  sum- 
mer noon,  if  we  would  leave  them  alone  to  pore  over  it  as  a  history.  If  we  would 
but  let  our  little  ones  bring  their  fresh  young  appetites  to  bear  thus  upon  it,  they 
would  have  thai  lodged  within  them  which  would  unlock  for  them  the  inner  mean- 
ing of  all  the  histories  which  they  may  be  called  upon  to  study — the  key,  in  a  wortl, 
to  the  universal  history  of  men.  Oh  !  we  of  little  faith,"  he  exclaims,  "  why  cannot 
we  trust  his  book  to  his  own  method,  and  let  the  light  and  the  life  with  which  he 
has  freely  charged  it,  glow  and  quicken  through  the  world  !  What  the  Bible  su- 
premely wants  is  freedom.  The  Bible  is  God's  book  to  the  child,  precisely  in  the 
manner  in  which  his  sympathy  is  drawn  forth  to  it,  as  presenting  some  outward 
image  of  his  inner  life,  if  he  finds  the  key  there  which  unlocks  the  wards  of  his 
experience  ;  if  he  finds  the  truth  there  which  casts  a  flood  of  light  on  the  dark,  and 
a  dew  of  comfort  on  the  sad  passages  of  his  life,  the  Bible  has  found  the  child,  not 
the  child  the  Bible,  and  that  finding  never  fails.  If  you  can  connect  the  outer  world 
in  the  book  with  the  inner  word  in  the  life,  and  teach  your  child  to  seek  it,  not  for 
formal  lessons,  not  for  knowledge  of  sacred  things  only,  not  for  Sunday-reading,  but 
fi3r  real  light  in  real  darkness,  real  comfort  in  real  sorrow,  real  help  in  real  need, 
you  have  made  the  Bible  the  man  of  his  counsel  until  death.  You  have  rendered 
his  belief  of  the  Bil)le  absolutely  proof  against  every  effort  of  the  adversary  to  under- 
mine it.  A  thousand  orators  may  assail  its  most  sacred  passages,  it  troubles  him 
not ;  for  him  its  light  shines  on,  because  it  is  God's  light,  unshorn  of  a  single 
beam." 

The  living  centre  and  the  heart  of  the  Bible  is  Christ.  The  more  we  find,  even 
in  the  Old  Testament  everywhere,  way-marks  and  teachers  to  Christ  and  light 
traces  from  his  light,  the  better  we  understand  ihe  Holy  Scriptures.  The  commu- 
nion of  the  child  with  Christ,  the  God-man,  the  only  perfect  revealer  of  the  glorious 
love-nature  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of  young  and  old,  must  always  be  the  highest 
aim  of  our  training  in  the  family.  The  children  have  some  natural  qualities  which 
render  them  willing  and  fit  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Because  something 
of  the  light  of  paradise  sticks  to  them,  they  feel  attracted  by  the  light  which  is  re- 
vealed in  Christ,  and  it  is  a  general  experience,  where  Sunday-schools  are  opened 
and  Sunday-school  teachers  in  a  kindly  way  tell  something  of  Jesus,  neither  in  town 
nor  in  the  country  children  tail  to  come,  and  they  are  fond  of  coming  and  listening 
to  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Children  discover,  by  instinctive  feeling,  real  love  to  them, 
and  nobody  can  love  them  more  than  Christ.  Children  born  in  the  midst  of 
Christendom  are  very  early  touched  by  the  light  of  Christ,  which  lighteth  in  some 
way  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world  ;  they  live  even  in  dark  ]:ilaces  in  a  more 
luminous  atmosphere  than  the  children  of  the  heathen.  In  the  first  stirring  of  the 
conscience,  in  the  fir^rt  struggling  against  sin  and  in  the  first  longing  for  the  good 
and  for  love,  this  light  reveals  itself  and  offers  us  an  efficient  help  in  our  training- 
work.  To  this  is  to  be  added  that  the  l^ord  has  entered  into  a  closer  communion 
with  the  little  ones  dedicated  to  him  by  baptism,  and  that  he  is  therefore  willing  to 
impart  to  them  the  germ  of  faith  and  of  the  new  life  of  regeneration.  Though 
Count  Zinzendorf  testifies  that  the  representation  of  the  love  of  Christ  is  more 
powerful  with  the  baptized  than  with  unbaptized  children,  only  in  a  truly  Christian 
family  can  the  blessi)ig  of  baptism  be  developed  in  the  real  life  of  personal  faith 
ami  scriptural  regeneration.  It  is  a  great  consolation  for  Christian  parents  that 
Christ  has  loved  and  blessed  the  little  ones  and  that  St.  Paul  calls  the  children  of 
only  one  believing  parent  holy.  Personal  faith  and  Christian  life  cannot  be  trans- 
mitted from  parents  to  children  by  birth.  Even  the  children  of  believing  parents 
must  learn  to  believe  and  must  be  converted;  but  some  germs  of  light,  life  and 
sanctification  get  transferred,  not  only  by  the  education  and  the  example  of  the 
jiarents,  but  by  birth,  and  the  children  of  such  parerts  have  a  great  advantage  over 
those  wiio  unhappily  have  no  Christian  parents.  Oh  !  that  we  could  render  Christ's 
name  the  loveliest  for  our  children,  that  we  could  teach  them  to  accept  and  expect 
all  good  things  from  his  hands,  and  to  consider  him  as  the  best  and  always  true 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  957 

friend.  It  is  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  impress  the  image  of  Christ  as  their 
nearest  and  dearest  relative  on  the  heart  of  the  young.  Baldwin  Brown  calls  the 
drawing  forth  and  instructing  the  consciousness  that  Christ  is  with  and  in  the  child, 
the  fundamental  principle  of  a  Christian  education. 

Such  prayerful  training,  which  wisely  and  patiently  surrounds  the  children  with 
the  light  of  the  word  and  of  Christ,  opens  and  enlarges  their  hearts  by  internal  in- 
fluences for  receiving  and  giving  love  lo  God  and  men,  to  parents  and  relatives,  to 
the  poor  and  the  forsaken  ones,  and  makes  ihem  useful  instruments  for  promoting 
God's  kingdom  and  helping  the  sufferers.  God  uses  the  training  of  children  as  one 
of  the  most  useful  means  for  educating  the  jjarents.  Perhaps  nothing  is  so  humili- 
ating and  forces  us  so  often  to  seek  God's  help  on  our  knees  as  the  experience, 
that  not  only  all  our  love,  but  God's  love,  seems  to  be  lost  on  our  children.  Never- 
theless it  is  a  fact,  which  can  be  proved  by  the  history  of  the  Waldensian  and  the 
Moravian  Churches,  that  the  most  Christians  owe  their  faith,  under  God,  in  the 
first  place  to  their  parents;  that  in  revival  times,  as  I  have  found  it  repeatedly  in 
the  home-mission  fields  of  the  Evangelical  Society  for  Germany,  whose  Inspector 
I  am.  mostly  young  men,  and  particularly  children  of  believing  people,  seek 
and  find  the  Lord,  and  after  much  aimless  vi'andering  in  the  world,  per- 
haps on  the  last  sick-bed  or  on  the  death-bed,  lay  hold  of  Christ  as  their  only 
refuge.  It  is  much  to  be  complained  that  children,  and  especially  sons  of  Chris- 
tian parents,  so  often  do  not  follow  the  footsteps  of  their  fathers  and  mothers.  Per- 
haps we  have  worked  too  much  out  of  door  and  not  enough  within  our  family,  too 
much  for  other  and  too  little  for  our  own  children,  too  much  for  their  success  in  the 
world  and  not  sufficiently  for  their  eternal  welfare,  have  endeavored  to  hoard  treas- 
ures for  them  and  have  too  much  neglected  their  education  into  the  image  of  Christ. 
The  highest  duty  which  we  have  to  fulfil,  besides  the  salvation  of  our  own  soul,  is 
the  education  of  our  children,  the  nurslings  of  Christ.  To  employ  for  this  duty  all 
our  powers  is  the  highest  patriotism.  Let  us  not  lose  in  such  a  work  of  love  our 
patience  and  hope,  let  us  continue  in  bringing  our  children  hefi^re  the  Lord  and  ex- 
pecting success  from  him  in  training  them  lor  happiness,  obedience  and  love,  and 
tlie  fruit  shall  not  fail.     We  encourage  each  other  with  Alfred  Vaughan's  words  : 

"  Let  us  toil  on  ;  the  work  we  leave  behind  us. 

Though  incomplete,  God's  hand  will  yet  embalm, 
And  use  it  some  way ;  and  the  news  will  find  us 
In  heaven  above,  and  sweeten  endless  calm  !  " 


LETTER  FROM  THE  HUNGARIAN  CHURCH. 

Salutatory  adilress  to  the  Second  General  Council  of  the  Presbyterian  Alliance  at 
Philadelphia : 

Honored,  and  Dear  Brethren  : 

The  "General  Convent"  of  the  five  superintendencies  of  the  Hungarian  Re- 
formed Church,  convened  at  Budagrest  fur  the  work  of  a  national  synod,  sends, 
through  this  letter,  its  fraternal  fervent  salutation  to  you,  being  hindered  by 
many  difficulties  to  fulfil  its  ardent  desire  to  send  its  delegates,  who  should  testify 
personally  the  reality  of  the  common  feeling  with  you. 

We  feel  ourselves  very  touched  on  thinking  of  the  great  historical  fact,  that  the 
Reformed  Churches  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean,  maintaining  the  Presbyterian  gov- 
ernment form,  are  able  to  come  together  by  the  means  of  their  representatives,  and 
hold  conferences  u])on  topics  regarding  vital  principles  and  imjiortant  day-questions; 
and  at  the  same  time  to  make  visible,  that,  notwithstanding  the  language,  the  na- 
tional and  geographical  severing  walls,  separating  us  externally,  we  are  one, 
agreeing  internally  according  to  the  life-giving  elements  of  the  guspel  and  evan- 
gelical liberty. 

Let  the  brethren  in  faith  and  principles,  assembled  in  the  ancient  and  esteemed 
ceiitre  of  the  Free  States  accept  fraternity,  when  the  Hungarian  followers  of  the 
Reformation  originated  from  the  free  land  of  the  Helvetic  algres,  who  during  three 


f}58  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

centuries  and  their  tempests  have  been  weakened  hut  not  put  down,  show  and  ex- 
press their  sympathy  with  you,  their  faithfuhiess  to  the  gospel  and  their  saintly  will 
of  [iro^ressiiiiT  u])()n  the  Eternal  Rock. 

May  the  abundant  lilessings  of  the  grace  of  God  follow  your  meetings  and  works 
aiming  to  extend  and  build  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ! 

Budagrest,  Septemi)er   i6th,  i88o.     Count   Emeric   Degenfeld,  Chief  Curator  of 
the  Superintendency  i^eyond  Tisza  as  President  of  the  General  Convent. 

Paul  T6r6k,  Superintendens. 


LETTER  FROM  THE  PERTH  CONFERENCE. 

To  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Council,  Philadelphia: 

Perth,  September  i6th,  1880. 
Dear  Brethren  in  the  Lord: 

Chrisiians  in  various  parts  of  Scotland,  England,  and  Ireland,  who  are  accus- 
tomed annually  to  meet  here  in  conference  for  waiting  on  the  Lord  in  prayer  and 
meditation  on  the  Scriptures,  have  heard  that  you  are  about  to  assemble  in  Philadel- 
phia. We  join  in  special  supplication  that  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,  may  be  amongst  you  in  all  your  meetings  and  till  you  with  his  H<ily  Spirit, 
and  enable  you  to  glorify  his  great  name.  We  also  send  you  our  cordial  greetings. 
By  order  of  the  Conference. 

W.  E.  Malcolm,  Chairman. 
Jas.  Gibson,  M.  A.  |  Joint 
James  Madee.         j  Secretaries 


NOTE  TO  DR.  BOMBERGER'S  PAPER. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Bomberger  appended  the  following  note  to  the  proof  of  his  paper 
(p.  553),  which  he  revised.  As,  however,  the  plates  were  cast  and  the  pages  fol- 
lowing made  up  before  it  was  received,  it  could  not  be  inserted.  It  is  therefore 
given  here  : 

Supplementary  Note. — In  sujiport  of  the  position  taken  in  this  paper  against  bap- 
tismal regeneration,  both  in  the  Romish  and  modern  pantheistic  sense,  the  following 
citations  are  appended  as  decisive: 

"  From  what  has  now  been  said,  we  may  readily  see  how  vain  is  the  exposition 
of  those  who  make  the  communion  of  saints  to  consist  in  subsistence  of  Christ's 
body  in  and  with  our  bodies.  This  opinion  is  refuted  by  the  oft-repeated  compari- 
son of  the  head  and  the  members,  which,  although  they  are  united  in  the  closest 
manner,  nevertheless,  subsist  without  any  mi.\ture  or  confusion."  I^Ursinus,^.on\vi\. 
on  Heidelb.  Catech.,  Ques.  55.) 

"  The  human  nature  of  Christ  is  subsistent,  incommunicible,  individual,  intelli- 
gent."     [Ursinics,  F".ng.  trans.,  p.  130.) 

God  "  does  not  exhibit  or  confirm  anything  by  the  sacraments  different  from  what 
he  promises  in  his  word.  Whoever,  therefore,  seeks  anything  in  the  sacraments 
which  God  has  not  promised  in  his  word,  idolizes  them."      (Ibid.,  p.  352.) 

"  The  chief  end  of  baptism  is  the  confirmation  of  our  faith,  or  a  solemn  declara- 
tion by  which  Christ  testifies  that  he  washes  us  with  his  blood  and  Spirit,  and  con- 
fers u]5on  us  remission  of  sins  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  regenerates  and  sanctifies 
us  unto  eternal  life."  "  To  be  washed  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ  is  to  be  regenerated 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  consists  in  a  change  of  evil  inclinations  into  those  which 
are  good,  etc."  (Ibid.,  pp.  358,  360.  To  the  same  effect  see  whet  Oleviamis  says 
in  his  De  Subst.  Foed,  p.  321,  etc.,  and  the  quotations  in  Heppe,  pp.  329-342,  etc.) 

"  Credimus  veram  banc  fidem  per  auditum  verbi  Dei  et  Spiritus  Sancti  opera- 
tionem  in  nobis  productam  nos  regenerare  ac  veluti  novos  homines  afificere  ut  quos 
ad  novam  vitani  vivendam  excitet  et  a  peccati  servitute  liberos  reddat."  (Conf. 
Belgica,  Art.  XXIV.) 

See  also  Cliamock  on  Regen.,  ed.  published  by  the  Presbyterian  Board,  pp.  103- 
125;  Owen  (the  Leighton  publications'  ed.,  Philadelphia,  1862),  vol.  III.,  pp.  207- 
317,  etc. ;  and  Schaff^s  Lange  on  John,  pp.  67-69,  and  pp.  123-136. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  959 

III. 
STATISTICAL    REPORTS. 

(These  returns  are  in  some  cases  only  proximate.) 

DIVISION  I.— THE  CONTINENT  OF  EUROPE. 

Austria. 

Evangelical  Reforvicd  Church  in  Bohemia  :* — 4  presbyteries  or  classes  (the 
moderator  is  called  "senior");  I  Provincial  Synod  (ihe  moderator  is  called 
"  SLiperintenfient)  ;  47  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  6  separate  congregations 
connected  with,  these  ;  7  stations  supplied  by  preachers  orotherwis,;  55  ministers 
on  the  roll  of  the  church;  55  in  actual  service;  593  ruling  elders ;  46,078  com- 
municants;  67,192  persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers;  i  theological  college  or 
school;  only  i  professor  is  a  member  of  our  church,  ail  the  others  are  Lutherans; 
6  students  ;  15  Sunday-schools  (we  have  44  public  schools  connected  with  the  church, 
and  supported  by  the  same  with  48  teachers). 

Imperial  Royal  Consistory  of  the  Helvetic  Confession,  Reformed  Church  of 
Aforavia  :\ — 2  presl)yteries  or  seniorati ;  22  charges  entitled  to  liave  ministers;  4 
separate  congregations  connected  with  these;  24  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church; 
23  in  actual  service;  46  deacons  or  officials  having  chaige  of  temporalities;  26,550 
communicants  ;  41,120  persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers  ;  3  students  of  divinity  ; 
6  Sunday-schools;   7  Bible  or  senior  classes;   20  teachers. 

National  Synod  of  the  Reformed  and  Evangelical  Church  of  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession of  Hungary  : — 56  presbyteries  (called  seniorati) ;  5  provincial  synods  (called 
superiniendential  assemblies);  composed  of  ministers  and  elders  in  equal  num- 
bers; 1,992  charges  entitletl  to  have  ministers ;  1,992  separate  congregations  con- 
nected with  these  ;  1,300  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise  (filial  churche'-)  ; 
2,049  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church;  2,049  '"  actual  service;  19,920  ruliiif 
elders  (about)  ;  3,984  deacons  or  officials  having  charge  of  tem])(>ralities  ;  291  pro- 
bationers or  licentiates;  1,913,032  persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers  ;  5  colleges 
or  schools;  18  professors  of  divinity;  25  lecturers  or  other  teachers;  320  students  of 
divinity.  Eacii  congregation  has  a  day-school  which  serves  also  as  a  .Sunday- 
school. 

Belgium. 

Union  of  Evangelical  Cofigregations.  Synod  of  the  Afissionary  Christian 
Church  : — 3  presbyteries  or  classes;  composed  of  ministers,  an  elder  from  each  con- 
gregation and  the  members  of  the  Managing  Committee;  20charges  entitled  to  have 
ministers;  3  separate  congregations  connected  with  these;  5  stations  su]i]i!ied  by 
preachers  or  otherwise  ;  18  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church  ;  18  in  actual  service; 
99  ruling  eklers;  125  deacons  or  (officials  having  charge  of  temporalities;  50,000 
persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers;  32  Sunday-schools  ;    136  teachers. 

France. 

Synod  of  the  Union  of  Evangelical  Congregations  : — 5  conferences  or  classes  ;  51 

*The  Supreme  Court  is  called  officially  "  The  Imperial  an-^I  Royal  Evangelical  Ecclesiastical 
Council  of  the  Augustine  and  Helvetic  Confession  in  Vienna."  The  president  is  a  layman  ;  this 
Council  is  subordinate  to  the  State  Department  of  Religion  and  Education,  and  though  having  great 
power  in  the  Church,  the  Church  has  no  voice  in  the  appointment  of  its  members,  all  of  whom  are 
appointed  by  the  Emperor. 

t  Congregations  locally  connected  form  a  Senioratus  or  Tractus  (Presbytery),  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  senior,  with  whom  is  associated  a  curator  or  business  agent,  and  the  older  of  the  minis- 
ters. The  Superintendential  Assembly  nr  Provincial  Synod  consists  of  the  superintendent,  the  busi- 
ness agent,  the  deputy  superintendent,  the  seniors  and  business  agents,  and  4  delegates,  2  ministers 
and  2  de.icons  from  the  seniorati  within  its  bounds.  This  meets  every  third  year  and  is  presided 
over  by  ihe  superintendents.  The  German-Austrian  Reformed  Church,  and  the  Reformed  Church 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  form  one  General  Assembly  meeting  every  sixth  year  in  Vienna,  along 
with  which  the  perp'tual  office-holders  form  the  Imperial  Consistory.  Ordinances  and  laws  passed 
by  the  Provincial  or  General  SynoJ  are  not  binding  until  they  have  been  submitted  to  the  monarchy 
and  received  the  royal  approbation. 


560  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church  ;  280  elders  and  deacons;  6  probationers  or  licen- 
tiates; 3,700  communicants;  60  Sunday-schools. 

Germany. 

Old  Reforvied' Church  of  Bentheivi  and  East  Friesland : — I  presbytery;  com- 
posed of  I  minister  and  i  elder  from  each  congregation,  meeting  twice  each  year; 
9  congregations;  4  ordained  ministers;  36  eiders  ;  24  deacons ;  i  theological  teacher, 
and  4  divinity  students. 

Free  Evafigelical  Church  of  Germany : — i  presbytery;  3  congregations,  2  in 
Silesia  and  i  in  Bohemia;  7  stations;  3  ministers  in  charge;  II  elders;  7  deacons; 
350  communicants;  6  Sunday-schools,  and  38  teachers. 

Italy. 

Synod  of  the  IValdensian  Church: — 8  presbyteries  or  classes;  composed  of  all 
the  ministers  of  the  church  and  2  deputies  freely  chosen  by  each  of  the  congrega- 
tions of  the  Valleys;  17  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  39  separate  congrega- 
tions connected  with  the  mission  field  ;  32  stations  suiiplied  by  preachers  or  other- 
wise;  58  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church  ;  178  ruling  ilders;  148  deacons  or 
officials  having  charge  of  temporalities ;  12  probationers  or  licentiates;  14,771  com- 
municants ;  I  college  or  school  ;  3  professors  of  divinity  ;  19  students  of  divinity  in 
Florence  and  3  abroad;  107  Sunday-schools;  67  Bible  or  senior  classes;  400 
teachers. 

General  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of  Italy  : — No  presbyteries  or  classes;  no 
provincial  synods;  from  I  to  3  deputies  from  each  church;  33  charges  entitled  to 
have  ministers;  30  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise;  25  ministers  on  the 
roll  of  the  church;  25  in  actual  service;  40  ruling  elders;  65  deacons  or  officials 
having  charge  of  temporalities;  no  probatic-ners  or  licentiates;  1,800  communicants; 
probal)ly  about  10,000  persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers;  no  missionaries  labor- 
ing abroad;  I  college  or  school;  2  professors  of  divinity;  5  lecturers  or  other 
teachers;  18  students  of  divinity;  20  Sunday-schools,  with  600  to  700  children  ;  28 
teachers. 

Netherlands. 

Synod  of  the  Hefonned  Church  of  Holland: — 44  presbyteries  or  classes;  10 
provincial  synods;  composed  of  24  members,  elected  by  the  provincial  courts,  and  13 
ministers  and  6  elders,  representing  the  provinces,  elected  for  three  years;  1,347 
congregations;  1, 610  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church  ;  2,12-3,679  ]iersons  to  whom 
the  church  ministers;  the  church  appoints  2  theological  professors  in  each  of  the  3 
national  universities;  120  students  of  divinity;  Sunday-schools  are  not  directly  con- 
nected with  church. 

General  Synod  of  the  Christiatt  Reformed  [Free)  Church  of  Holland : — 40 
presbyteries  or  classes  ;  10  provincial  synods  ;  composed  of  20  ministers  and  20  elders, 
every  provincial  synod  naming  2  ministers  and  2  elders;  275  charges  entitled  to 
have  ministers;  20  separate  congregations  connected  with  these;  25  stations  supplied 
by  preachers  or  otherwise;  275  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church,  beside  9 
emeriti;  275  in  actual  service;  800  ruling  elders;  1,100  deacons  or  officials  having 
charge  of  tem]ioralities;  23  prf)bationers  or  licentiates  ;  25,000  communicants  ;  120,000 
persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers;  2  missionaries  laboring  in  Batavia,  with 
helpers;  i  theological  college;  4  professors  of  divinity;  2  lecturers  or  other  teachers 
(one  of  these  is  also  professor  of  divinity  or  ordained  minister) ;  86  students  of 
divinity;  number  of  Sunday-schools  not  oflficially  known;  Bible  or  senior  classes  are 
well  acknowledged  and  directed  by  ministers,  with  1,000  members;  the  teachers  are 
students  of  the  theological  scliool. 

Switzerland. 

National  Evajtgelical  Reformed  Church  in  the  Canto7i  de  Vai:d : — 209  ministers 
on  the  roll  of  the  Church;  154  in  actual  service;  936  ruling  elders;  no  probation- 
ers or  licentiates;  i  college  or  school ;  5  professors  of  divinity;  17  students  of 
divinity. 

Synod  of  the  Free  Church  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud : — Synod   consists  of  pastors  in 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  961 

charge  and  delegates  from  congregations,  either  elders  or  ministers,  with  the  theo- 
logical professors  of  39  charges  ;  9  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise;  131 
ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church;  46  in  actual  service;  161  ruling  elders;  5  licen- 
tiates;  3,840  coninumicants ;  2  missionaries  laboring  abroad;  I  college  or  school ; 
5  professors  of  divinity;  4  lecturers  or  other  teachers ;  45  students  of  divinity ;  107 
Sunday-schools;   6,050  scholars. 

Synod  of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Neuchatel,  independent  of  the  State  : — Com- 
posed of  the  pastors  and  lay  members  appointed  by  churches;  42  ministers  on  the 
roll  of  the  ch  irch  ;  32  in  actual  service;  213  ruling  elders;  3,297  communicants ; 
I  college  or  school ;  4  professors  of  divinity ;  3  lecturers  or  other  teachers;  20  stu- 
dents of  divinity. 

DIVISION   II.— THE    UNITED    KINGDOM. 

The  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  England: — 10  presbyteries;  com- 
posed ot  the  ministers  of  all  sanctioned  charges,  the  professors  of  theol'jgy,  the 
ministerial  missionaries,  an  elder  from  each  session,  and  the  general  secretarv,  being 
a  minister;  266  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  10  stations  supplied  by  preachers 
or  otherwise;  258  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church  ;  1,490  ruling  elders;  585  dea- 
cons, 1,987  managers;  54,135  communicants;  12  missionaries  laboring  in  China; 
I  theological  college  or  school;  3  professors  of  divinity  ;  i  lecturer  or  other  teacher; 
20  students  of  divinity;   256  Sunday-schools;   5,768  teachers  [these  statistics  are  for 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland:  36  presbyteries  and 
I  Indian  presbytery;  5  provincial  synods;  assembly  composed  of  all  the  ministers 
and  assistant  ministers  of  congregations,  assembly's  professors,  being  ministers,  and 
ordained  missionaries  and  chaplains  in  the  service  of  the  Church  ;  558  charges  entitled 
to  have  ministers  ;  1 16  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise  ;  632  ministers  on 
the  roll  of  the  church;  598  in  actual  service  (ministers  and  professors);  2,097  ruling 
elders;  6,983  deacons  or  officers  havingcharge  of  temporalities  (excludmgclders  who 
are  members  of  Diaconate) ;  32  probationers  and  9  licentiates ;  104,769  communi- 
cants; 79,214  families,  or  over  396,070  persons  to  whom  the  Church  mini.sters;  13 
missionaries  sent  to  colonies  during  the  last  five  years;  2  theological  colleges  or 
schools;  9  professors  of  divinity ;  6  lecturers  or  other  teachers;  52  sturlenis  of  di- 
vinity; 1,052  Sunday-schools;  usually  I  Bible  or  senior  class  to  each  congregation; 
8,440  teachers. 

The  iynad  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland: — 4  presbyteries; 
I  synod,  composed  of  all  ordained  ministers  in  regular  standing,  with  a  ruling  elder 
from  each  session;  33  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  7  stations  supplied  by 
preachers  or  otherwise;  31  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church;  29  in  actual  service; 
190  ruling  elders;  262  deacons  or  officers  having  charge  of  tem|)oralities ;  2  proba- 
tioners or  licentiates;  4,438  communicants;  9,000  persons  to  whom  the  church  min- 
isters; 4  ndssionaries  laboring  abroad;  i  theological  college  or  school;  2  professors 
of  divinity;  7  students  of  divinity;  30  Sunday-schools;  163  Bible  or  senior  classes; 
241  teachers. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  : — 84  presbyteries;  16  provincial 
synods;  for  regulations  see  foot-note*;  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers  (1,263 
parishes,  135  unendowed  churches);  about  1,420  congregations  connected  with 
these  ;  134  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  olherwise  ;  1,530  ministers  on  the  roll 
of  the  Church  (of  which  50  are  government  and  army  chai)lains)  ;  1,480  in  actual 
service;  in  1877  returns  frt)m  920  congregations  gave  4.905  elders,  39S  deacons; 
219  probationers  or  licentiates;   515,786  communicants;  i,Soo,ooo  persons  to  whom 

*  The  General  Assembly  consists  of  247  ministers  and  178  elders,  and  is  composed  as  follows: 
Presbyteries  of  fewer  than  12  parishes  send  2  ministers  and  i  elder;  presbyteries  of  fewer  than  18 
parishes  send  3  ministers  and  i  elder;  presbyteries  of  fewer  than  24  p;;rishes  send  4  ministers  and  2 
el  lers  ;  presbyteries  of  fewer  than  30  parishes  send  5  ministers  and  2  aiders  ;  presbyti.ries  of  fuwer 
than  36  parishes  send  6  ministers  and  3  tlders  ;  presbyteries  of  f  jwer  than  42  parishes  send  7  minis- 
ters and  3  elders  ;  presbyteries  of  fewer  than  48  parishes  send  S  ministers  and  4  1  Idirs  ;  presbyteries 
nf  fewer  than  54  parishes  send  g  ministers  and  4  elders;  and  a!l  above,  10  ministers  and  5  elders. 
In  addition  to  the  above,  an  elder  is  sent  from  each  Royal  Kiirgh,  elected  by  the  M.'gisirates  aud 
'I'own  Council,  and  from  each  national  university  elected  by  the  Seuutus, 

6t 


962  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  Church  minister';  (usual  estimate);  66  missionaries  laboring  abroad  (see  foot- 
note*);  4  theological  colleges  or  schools  ;  16  professors  of  divinity  ;  about  190  stu- 
dents of  divinity;  1,961  Sunday-schools;  185,796  scholars  ;  at  least  i  Bible  or  senior 
class  in  each  of  994  parishes  ;    1,736  teachers. 

The  General  Assevihly  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  : — 78  presbyteries,  of  which 
3  are  in  India,  i  in  Africa,  and  i  in  Italy  ;  16  provincial  synods  ;  i  assembly  composed 
of  one-third  of  the  ministers  of  the  Church  and  an  equal  number  of  elders,  who  are 
elected  annually  by  the  presbyteries — the  presbyteries  of  India  and  Africa  send  1 
minister  and  i  elder  each  ;  1,005  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers  ;  38  stations  sup- 
plied by  preachers  or  otherwise;  1,060  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  Church;  1,001  m 
actual  service;  about  6,000  ruling  elders;  about  6,000  deacons  or  officers  having 
charge  of  temporalities;  44  probationers  or  licentiates;  number  of  communicants 
estimated  at  300,000;  36  missionaries  laboring  abroad;  3  theological  colleges  or 
schools;  15  professors  ot  divinity;  3  lecturers  or  other  teachers;  233  students  of 
divinity;  1,950  Sunday-schools;  1,187  Bible  or  senior  classes;  17,669  teachers. 

The  Synod  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland : — 37  presbyteries, 
of  which  4  are  in  Jamaica,  I  in  Caffraria,  i  in  Old  Calabar,  and  i  in  India;  i  syn<5(i 
composed  of  all  ministers  having  charges,  and  i  elder,  from  each  church,  5  profes- 
sors and  2  secretaries;  593  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  600  ministers  on  the 
roll  of  the  Church;  5,000  ruling  elders;  61  probationers  or  licentiates ;  183,221  com- 
municants; 2  theological  colleges  or  schools;  6  professors  of  divinity;  I  lecturer  or 
other  teacher;  loS  studentsof  divinity  ;  880  Bible  or  senior  classes;  1 1,243  teachers, 
90,000  scholars,  22,787  Bible-class  students. 

The  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland : — 2  presbyteries  ; 
synod  composed  of  all  the  ministers  and  a  representative  elder  from  each  congre- 
gation ;  9  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  4  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or 
otherwise;  8  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  Church;  Sin  actual  service;  70  ruling 
elders;  loO  deacons  or  officers  having  charge  of  temporalities;  no  probationers  or 
licentiates  at  present;  1,197  communicants;  2,760  persons  to  whom  the  Churcli 
ministers;  I  missionary  laboring  abroad;  6  Sunday-schools;  10  Bible  or  senior 
classes;  66  teachers. 

The  Synod  of  the  United  Original  Secession  Church: — 6  presbyteries;  i  synod 
composed  of  a  minister  and  elder  from  each  session  ;  38  charges  entitled  to  have 
ministers;  2  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise;  32  ministers  on  the  roll  of 
the  Church  ;  32  in  actual  service;  2  probationers  or  licentiates;  about  5,450  com- 
municants; about  15,000  persons  to  whom  the  Church  ministers;  i  missionary  laljor- 
ing  abroad;  I  theological  college  or  school;  2  professors  of  divinity;  4  students  of 
divinity. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Calvinistic  Methodist  Church  in  England  and 
Wales : — 24  presbyteries;  i  assembly  composed  of  delegates  from  presbyteries  or 
monthly  meetings,  as  usually  called  in  this  Church,  2  ministers  and  2  deacons  form- 
ing the  delegation  from  the  Welsh  presbyteries,  and  I  minister  and  i  deacon  from 
the  English;  591  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  Church;  591  in  actual  service;  4,113 
ruling  elders  (l)oth  offices  are  held  by  the  same  person  in  the  Church);  329  proba- 
tioners or  licentiates;  118.036  communicants;  275,282  persons  to  whom  the  church 
ministers;  8  missionaries  laboring  abroad ;  2  theoiot,Mcal  colleges  or  schools;  2  pro- 
fessors of  divinity;  3  lecturers  or  other  teachers;  76  students  of  divinity;  1,319  Sun- 
day-schools; Bible  or  senior  classes  not  known  ;  21,605  teachers  ;  1 15,159  scholars 
on  register, 

DIVISION  III.— UNITED  STATES. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  : 
—177  presbyteries;  38  provincial  synods;  5,489  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers; 
5,044  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  Church;  294  probationers,  or  licentiates;  578,671 
communicants;  12  theolo^^ical  colleges;  about  45  professors;  631,952  Sabbath- 
school  pupils. 

*  Fnreisn  fid-Is,  13  ;  colonies,  47  ;  Jewish,  6  ;  in  addition  to  which  many  have  gone  to  Australia, 
Vew  Zealand,  Canada,  etc. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  963 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States : — 66 
presbyteries;  12  provincial  synods;  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  ministers  and 
ruling  elders,  chosen  by  the  presbyteries,  every  presbytery  is  entitled  to  I  minister 
and  I  elder,  and  if  the  presiiytery  consist  of  more  than  20  ministers  it  is  entitled 
to  send  4  delegates;  1,892  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  1,019  ministers  "''' 
the  roll  of  the  Church;  5,901  ruling  elders;  3,770  deacons  or  officers  having  charge 
of  temporalities;  103  jirobationers  or  licentiates ;  116,755  eommunicants ;  23  mis- 
sionaries laboring  abroad  ;  2  theological  colleges  or  schools ;  10  professors  of  divinity  ; 
92  students  of  divinity;  1,044  Sunday-schools;  Bible  or  senior  classes  not  reported 
separately ;   9,392  teachers. 

The  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church  iti  America  : — 33  classes  or  presby- 
teries ;  4  particular  synods;  I  general  synod,  composed  of  3  ministers  and  3  elders 
from  each  classis,  nominated  by  the  classes  and  appointed  by  the  particular  synods; 
510  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  530  ministers  on  the  rt)ll  of  the  church; 
500  in  actual  service;  2,000  ruling  elders;  usually  the  same  number  of  deacons  as 
elders;  only  5  probationers  or  licentiates;  80,208  communicants  ;  cannot  tell  number 
of  persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers;  24  missionaries  laboring  abroad  ;  2  theo- 
logical colleges  or  schools ;  4  professors  of  divinity;  34  students  of  divinity;  645 
Sunday-schools;  cannot  tell  the  number  of  teachers,  Bible  or  senior  classes. 

The  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States  : — No  rejiort. 

7 he  General  Assembly  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  .Vorth  America  : — 59 
presbyteries;  655  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  694  ministers  on  the  roll  of 
the  church;  50  licentiates;  82,119  communicants;  760  Sabbath-schools;  8,327 
teachers;   83,126  scholars ;   2  theological  seminaries. 

The  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  : — 5  pres- 
byteries; I  General  Synod,  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  ministers  and 
ruling  elders,  delegated  by  the  jiresbyteries  according  to  a  certain  ratio;  48  charges 
entitled  to  have  ministers;  31  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church  ;  30  in  actual 
service;  about  240  ruling  elders;  about  300  deacons  or  officials  having  charge 
of  temporalities  ;  5  probationers  or  licentiates  ;  6,500  communicants  ;  8,000  persons 
to  whom  the  church  ministers;  I  theological  college  or  school ;  2  professors  of 
divinity;  2  teachers  of  elocution ;  7  students  of  divinity;  47  Sunday-schools;  about 
90  Bible  or  senior  classes  ;  from  500  to  600  teachers. 

The  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  : — 10  presbyteries; 
III  ministers;  1 16  congregations ;  533  elders;  324  deacons;  10,473  communicants'; 
1,087  Salibath-school  teachers;  10,097  scholars;  i  theological  seminary;  2  profes- 
sors ;  21  students. 

Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South  : — 10  presbyteries;  I  synod;  all  ordained 
ministers  are  entitled  to  a  seat,  each  ministerial  charge  is  entitled  to  i  ruling  eider; 
85  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church;  nearly  all  in  actual  service;  6  probationers 
or  licentiates;  6,741  communicants;  i  missionary  laboring  abroad;  i  theological 
college  or  school;  3  professors  of  divinity;  8  students  of  divinity;  377  teachers 
and  3,197  scholars. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Welsh  Cahinistic  ]\fethodist  [or  Presbyterian)  Church 
in  America  : — 16  presbyteries;  5  provincial  synods;  137  charges  entitled  to  hnve 
ministers;  100  ministers  on  the  roll  of  tlie  church  ;  21  licentiates;  412  elders  and 
deacons;  11,000  communicants;  11,676  Sunday-school  scholars. 

DIVISION    IV.— BRITISH    COLONIES  AND  DEPENDENCIES. 

Africa. 

Dutch  Reformed  Church  of  the  Orange  Free  State. — 4  presbyteries  or  classes ;  23 
charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  17  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church;  17  in  ac- 
tual service;  91  ruling  elders;  182  deacons  or  officials  having  charge  of  temporali- 
ties; 17,898  communicants;  46,067  persons  to  whom  the  church  ministers;  I  mis- 
sionary laboring  abroad  ;   i  professor  of  divinity. 

Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  South  Africa  : — No  report. 

America — North. 
The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada: — 35  presbyteries; 


964  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

4  provincial  synods  and  I  presbytery  with  synodical  jrawers ;  assembly  composed 
of  a  fourth  of  the  whole  number  of  ministers  on  the  rolls  of  the  several  presbyteries 
with  an  equal  number  of  acting  elders;  740  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  1,350 
separate  congregations  connected  with  these;  213  separate  mission  fields,  including 
538  preaching  stations,  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise  ;  704  ministers  on  the  roll 
of  the  church  ;  659  in  actual  service  ;  about  5,000  ruling  elders  ;  probably  7,000  dea- 
cons or  officials  having  charge  of  temporalities;  50  probationers  or  licentiates; 
125,000  communicants;  14  missionaries  laboring  abroad ;  6  theological  colleges  or 
schools  and  an  arts  college;  II  professors  of  divinity;  119  students  of  divinity; 
90,000  scholars  in  Sunday-schools  and  Bible  classes;  9,000  teachers. 

Asia. 
Presbytery  of  Ceylon: — I  presbytery;  composed  of  ministers  and  a  representa- 
tive elder  from  each  kirk  session,  under  General  Assembly  act  nnent  colonial 
churches;  9  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  21  separate  congregations  connected 
with  these;  2  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise;  6  ministers  on  the  roll  of 
the  church;  6  in  actual  service;  22  ruling  elders;  17  deacons  or  officials  having 
charge  of  temporalities;  1,120  communicants;  3,100  persons  to  whom  the  church 
ministers;   9  Sunday-schools;  4  Bible  or  senior  classes;  41  teachers. 

Australasia. 

Synod  of  Eastern  Australia  : — No  report. 

The  Geiteral  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  South  Wales  : — 7  pres. 
byteries;  assembly  composed  of  all  ministers  holding  settled  charges  or  theological 
professorships,  together  with  one  elder  from  each  session  ;  68  charges  entitled  to 
have  ministers;  63  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church  (9  without  charges  at  present); 
63  in  actual  service;  159  ruling  elders;  576  deacons  or  officials  having  charge  of 
temporalities;  3  probationers  or  licentiates;  4,300  communicants;  11,000  persons  to 
whom  the  church  ministers;  3  professors  of  divinity  who  are  ministers  in  charges; 
lOO  Sunday-schools;  621  Bible  or  senior  classes;   778  teachers  and  6,So2  children. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Queensland: — 3  presbyte- 
ries; assembly  composed  of  all  ministers  in  a  settled  charge  and  an  elder  from  each 
session;  26  charges  entitled  to  have  ministers;  30  separate  congregations  connected 
with  these ;  9  stations  supplied  by  preachers  or  otherwise ;  23  ministers  on  the  roll 
of  the  church  ;  21  in  actual  service  ;  86  ruling  elders  ;  100  deacons  or  officials  having 
charge  of  temporalities  ;  1,800  communicants  ;  8,000  persons  to  whom  the  church 
ministers;  I  theological  college  or  school  and  2  professors  of  divinity  (relation  to 
the  church  under  consideration) ;  8  students  of  divinity;  28  Sunday-schools;  about 
6  Bible  or  senior  classes;   208  teachers. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Victoria: — II  presbyteries; 
I  assembly  composed  of  all  ministers  who  are  jiastors  of  congregations,  of  emeriti 
ministers  and  of  ruling  elders — I  from  each  session  ;  155  charges  entitled  to  have 
ministers;  264  separate  congregations  connected  with  these;  25  stations  supplied 
by  preachers  or  otherwise;  130  ministers  on  the  roll  of  the  church;  156  in  actual 
service;  420  ruling  elders;  for  number  of  deacons  or  officials  see  foot-note*;  2  pro- 
,bationers  or  licentiates;  16,000  communicants;  5  missionaries  and  3  catechists 
laboring  abroad  (see  notef) ;  i  theological  college  or  school;  4  professors  of  divinity 
a^iting  provisionally;  10  students  of  divinity;  284  Sunday-schools;  about  50  Bible 
or  senior  classes;  2,400  teachers;  26,000  children. 

New  Zealand. 
The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Otago  and  Southland : — No  report. 
The  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  Zealand  : — No  report. 

New  Hebrides. 
New  Hebrides  Mission  : — No  report. 

♦Management  of  congregations  is  committed  to  a  Board  consisting  of  ministers,  elders,  and  3 
committee  elected  by  the  congregation, 

t2  ordained  and  i  lay  missionary  in  the  New  Hebrides;  i  working  among  the  Aborigines  and  i 
among  the  Chinese  in  Victoria. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  965 

IV.— THE  CREEDS. 
REPORT  of  the  Scottish  Sub- Committee  on  Creeds  and  Formulas 
OF  Subscription  to  tlie  General  Presbyterian  Council,  to  be 
held  at  Philadelphia  in  1880. 

On  4th  July,  1S77,  the   First  Genernl   Presljyterian   Council,  held  al  Erlinlmrgh, 
appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  a  Report  for  the  next  Council  in  l8So,  showing 
ill  point  of  fact — 
\st.   What  are  the  existing  Creeds  or  Confessions  of  Churches  composing  this  Alliance, 

and  zuhat  have  been  their  previous  Creeds  and  Confessions,  with  any  modifica- 

tio'is  of  these,  and  the  dales  and  occasions  of  the  same,  from  the  Reformation 

to  the  present  day. 
2d.   What  are  the  existing  Forviulas  of  Subscription,  if  any,  and  what  have  been 

the  previous  formulas  of  subscription  used  in   these  Churches  in  connection 

with  their  Creeds  and  Confessions. 
3d.   How  far  has  individual  adherence  to  these  Creeds  by  subscription,  or  otherxoise, 

been  required  from  ministers,  elders,   or  other  office-bearers  respectively,   and 

also  from  the  private  members  of  the  same. 

And  the  Council  authorized  the  Committee  to  correspond  with  members  of  the 
several  Churches  throughout  the  world  who  may  he  able  to  give  information,  and 
they  enjoined  the  Committee  in  submitting  their  report  not  to  accompany  it  either 
with  any  comparative  estimate  of  these  Creeds  and  Regulations,  or  with  any  critical 
remarks  upon  their  respective  value,  expediency,  or  efficiency. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Committee,  on  gih  July,  1877,  the  following  gentlemen 
were  appointed  a  Siib-Committee  to  ascertain  "the  facts  called  for  ia  the  Remit,"  in 
so  far  as  regards  Scotland : 

The  Rev.  Professor  Mitchell,  St.  Andrews — Convener, 

The  Rev.  Professor  Candiish,  Glasgow. 

The  Rev.  Professor  Calderwood,  Edinburgh. 

James  Mitciiell,  Escp,  LL.  D.,  Glasgow. 

Alexander  Taylor  Innes,  Esq.,  Advocate,  Edinburgh. 

David  Laing,  Esq.,  LL.  D.,  Edinburgh. 

Mr.  Laing's  death,  on  iSth  Octo.ber,  1878,  deprived  the  Committee  of  the  con- 
tinued assistance  of  one  whose  services  during  a  long  and  laborious  life,  both  as 
editor  of  the  collected  works  of  John  Knox  and  of  the  Letters  and  Journals  of 
Robert  Baillie,  and  as  adviser  and  helper  in  many  other  important  literary  under- 
takings, had  been  of  the  highest  benefit  to  the  whole  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the 
means  of  casting  much  fresh  light  on  the  most  interesting  periods  of  its  history.  It 
is  a  satisfaction  to  them,  however,  to  be  able  to  report  that  the  text  of  the  Answers 
furnished  in  regard  to  the  Church  to  which  he  belonged  had  been  drafted,  and  sub- 
mitted to,  and  approved  of  by  him  in  the  spring  of  1878,  and  that  some  even  of  the 
notes  are  founded  on  conteni|:)orary  pamphlets  supplied  by  him.  On  2d  June,  1879, 
T.  G.  Murray,  Esq.,  W.  .S.,  was,  with  consent  of  Dr.  Schaff  and  the  American  Com- 
mittee, elected  in  room  of  Mr.  Laing. 

The  Sub-Commiitee  have  held  at  least  eight  meetings.  At  one  of  the  first  of 
these,  the  difficulty  presented  itself  that  while  most  of  the  Presl)ylerian  Churches  in 
Scotland  look  back  generally  to  the  same  past  history,  and  find  in  that  history  the 
same  Creeds  and  other  documents,  they  might  be  expected,  according  to  their  difi'cr- 
ent  stand-points,  to  take  slightly  different  views  of  them,  and  of  their  relations  to 
them.  It  was  feared  that  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Scottish  sub-committee 
summarily  to  harmonize  these  views  might  not,  on  the  one  hand,  lend  to  the  har- 
mony desired,  while,  on  the  otiier,  it  might  withdraw  from  the  view  of  the  Council 
some  of  the  materials  for  its  conclusions.     In  view  of  this  difficulty,  it  was  resolved 


966  THE  FRESBY2  BRIAN  ALLIANCE. 

thnt  the  memliers  of  the  SuhCommittee  connected  with  ench  of  the  three  largest 
Presliyteriiin  bodies — tlie  Church  uf  Scoiland,  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the 
United  Presbyterian  (Church — should  be  asketi  to  send  in  to  the  Convener  separate 
papers  in  answer  lo  the  Queries  proposed  by  the  Council,  in  so  far  as  relates  to  the 
Cluirciies  to  which  they  respectively  belong.  These  papers  have  accordingly  l)een 
prepared  and  printed,  and  are  transmitted  herewith  as  the  main  part  of  this  report. 

The  Sui)-Conimittee  also  requested  and  have  printed  and  transmitted  herewith 
Answers  to  the  Queries  returned  by  the  two  other  Presliyterian  Churches,  which 
sent  delegates  to  the  Council,  viz.,  the  United  Original  Secession  CJiureh  and  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  (other  than  that  recently  united  with  the  Free 
Church).  The  Answers  of  these  Churches  show  no  new  Creed  or  modification  of 
Creed,  but  they  indicate  variations  in  the  formula  or  mode  of  adherence  to  the 
Creed  on  the  part  of  the  office-bearers,  and  of  the  ordinary  members  of  the  Church. 
The  Subcommittee  have  found  it  especially  necessary  in  the  case  of  Scotland  to 
adhere  to  the  distinction  between  doctrinal  Creeds  or  Confessions  (which  is  what 
the  Remit  by  the  Council  appears  to  contemplate),  and  those  explanations  of  the 
Creeds  and  applications  of  the  doctrine  which,  in  the  case  of  all  the  Scottish  Churclies, 
have  been  made,  sometimes  in  a  judicial  and  sometimes  in  a  declaratory  form,  and 
which,  especially  under  the  name  of  "Testimonies,"  extend  far  beyond  the  possi- 
ble limits  of  this  return,  as  they  are  outside  the  scope  of  ihe  Remit. 

It  is  only  necessary  further  to  state  that  the  Answi-rs  to  the  Queries  and  the  Ab- 
stracts thereof,  do  not  claim  any  ecclesiastical  authority  or  sanction  ;  that  the  mem- 
bers connected  with  each  Church  are  alone  responsible  for  the  Answers  and  Ab- 
stracts made  in  regard  to  that  Church  ;  and  that  no  Church  is  to  be  held  as  acqui- 
escing in  th*?  accuracy  of  the  hisioric;d  statements  and  claims  contained  in  the 
various  Declaratory  Acts  and  Testimonies  of  the  Churches  other  than  its  own. 


ABSTRACT   OF   ANSWERS   AS   TO   THE  SEVERAL 
CHURCHES   IN  SCOTLAND. 

I.— CHURCH    OF    SCOTLAND. 

Answer  to  Query  First. 

a.  Existing  Creed  ; — The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith. 

b.  Previous  Creeds  : — I.   Creeds  having  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  recognition  :— 

I.  The  Scottish  Confession  of  1560,  the  principal  Confession  of  the  Church 
till  1647.  2.  The  Second  or  sulisidiary  Confession  of  1581,  enlarged  in  1638 
into  the  "  National  Confession  and  Covenant."  H.  Creeds  having  only  eccle- 
siastical recognition  : — i.  The  Aj)ostles'  Creed;  2.  Exposition  of  do.  in  Bap- 
tismal Service ;  3.  Confession  of  the  English  Church  at  Geneva. 

c.  Modifications  of  these  Creeds : — None,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term. 

To  Query  Second. 

n.  Existing  Formulas  of  Subscription  : — I.  The  Formula  of  1694,  at  first  appointed 
for  Ministers  and  Preachers,  and  now  subscribed  l)y  Elders.  2.  The  Formula 
of  171 1  (with  relative  Questions),  now  subscribed  by  Ministers  and  Preachers. 
The  Formula  of  1 707,  ajipointed  for  Professors  and  Teachers,  and  still  sub- 
scribed by  Professors  of  Divinity. 

h.  Previous  Formulas  of  Subscription  : — Simple  Suliscription  to  Confessions  running 
in  the  direct  form — Piofessio  Fidei,  "  Godly  Bnnds,"  and  other  local  f  )rmulas 
before  15S1 — The  opening  paragrapli  of  the  .Second  Confession  or  National 
Covenant,  expressing  adherence  to  the  First  Confession  in  all  points,  chief 
form  of  subscri])tion  to  it  from  1 581  onwards— Profession  of  adherence  to  doc- 
trine, etc.,  of  Church  in  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  and  local  formulas  of 
Covenanting  times — Simple  Subscription  to  Westminster  Confession  in  terms 
of  Act  vii.  Assembly  1690. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  967 

To  Query  Third. 

a.  Individual  adherence  to  the  Creed  appears  to  have  been  required  from  early  times, 

not  only  of  Ministers  and  Elders,  but  also  of  ordinary  members,  down  to  the 
Revolution,  formally  relaxed  in  171 1  to  those  from  abroad  coming  to  reside  in 
Scotland,  and  gradually  to  others,  though,  in  connection  with  Baptism,  a  refer- 
ence more  or  less  general  to  the  Confession  long  continued  to  be  made;  more 
general  forms  of  profession  sent  down  by  Assembly  to  all  Ministers  in  1S71. 

b.  General  adherence  or  profession  of  faith  in  accordance  with   Church's  teaching 

all  that  is  now  required  ;  no  special  form  appointed,  but  certain  great  and  fun- 
damental doctrines  specified  in  Acts  of  Assembly. 

II.— FREE   CHURCH   OF  SCOTLAND, 
Answer  to  Query  First. 

a.  Existing  Creed: — The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  from  the  year  1647. 
Modifications  of  Existing   Creed: — The   Acts  of  Assembly  of    1647  and  1846, 

confirmed  in  1876,  when  the  larger  section  of  the  Relorir.ed  Presbyterian 
Church  united  with  the  Free  Church. 

b.  Previous  Creeds: — The  Scottish  Confession,  from  1560  to  1647. 
Modifications  of  Previous  Creeds  : — 

In  the  Church  of  Scotland,  none,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term. 

In  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Creed  from   1690  to  1876  was  the 

Westminster  Confession  and  Catechisms,  with  modification  of  the  Act  1647. 

and  as  received  and  approved  in  Testimonies,  176 1  and  1837. 

To  Query  Spxond. 

a.  Existing   Formula : — For   Ministers,   Elders,  and  Deacons : — The  Formula  of 

1846,  with  relative  questions. 

b.  Previous  Formulas  : — 

(«.)   For  the  Scottish  Confession  of  1560 — 

Simple  subscription  to  the  Confession  itself,  or  adhering  to  the  Covenant. 
(/a)    For  the  Westminster  Confession — 

In  the  Church  of  Scotland,  simple  subscription  or  adherence  as  before, 
and  subsequently  the  formula  of  1694  for  Elders,  and  of  1711  for 
Ministers. 
In  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  subscription  to  questions  of 
formula  till  1820,  thence  till  1S76  only  oral  questions,  which  were 
modified  in  1870. 

To  Query  Third. 

a.  At  Present  : — 

Fur  Office-bearers,  personal  adherence  to  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession 
in  terms  of  Subscription- Formula,  etc.,  is  required;  but  for  private  mem- 
bers a  "confession  of  faith  in  accordance  with  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
.Standards  "  is  enough. 

b.  In  the  Past : — 

In  the  Church  of  Scotland,  personal  adherence  to  all  the  doctrine  of  the  Con- 
fession was  recpiired  in  the  Covenanting  times  from  all  members  of  the 
Church;  but  not  aj^parently  as  a  test  or  condition  of  entering  it  or  be- 
coming members. 

In  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  of  Faith  and  Cntechisms,  as  founded  on  and  agreeaiile  to 
the  Word  of  God,  was  required,  not  only  of  ofiice-bearers,  but  of  private 
members;  but  in  1872  Questions  were  sanctioned,  referring  applicants  for 
admission  to  the  Communion  to  the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism. 


968 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 


III.— UNITED   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH. 
Answer  to  Query  First. 

a.  Existing  Creeds  : — The  Westminster  Confession  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Cat- 

echisms. 

b.  Modifications  of  Existing  Creed  : — The  United  Presbyterian  Church  in  her  Basis 

of  Union  allowed  exception  to  be  taken  to  the  .Subordinate  Standards  on  one 
important  subject,  by  declaring  that  she  did  not  approve  of  anything  in  these  doc- 
uments which  teaches,  or  maybe  supposed  to  te;  ch,  compulsory  or  jiersecuting 
and  intolerant  principles  in  religion  ;  and  by  Declaratory  Act  passed  in  May 
last  has  given  forth  an  authorized  explanation  in  regard  to  other  subjects  in  the 
said  Standards,  respecting  which  it  has  been  found  desirable  to  set  forth  more 
clearly  and  fully  the  view  which  the  Synod  takes  of  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture.    See  "  Declaratory  Act,  adopted  May,  1879." 

c.  Previous    Creeds: — The  Westminster   Confession  and  Larger  and    Shorter  Cat- 

echisms have  been,  from  the  origin  of  the  Secession  Church,  the  accepted  Creed  ; 
but  in  1797  the  Associate  (Burgher)  Synod  adopted  a  Preamble  to  the  Formula  to 
the  following  effect : — ''  Whereas  some  parts  of  the  Standard  books  haVe  been  in- 
terpreted as  favoring  compulsory  measures  in  religion,  the  Synod  hereby  declare 
that  they  do  not  require  an  approbation  of  any  such  principle  from  any  candidate 
for  licence  or  ordination."  This  declaration  was  in  substance  accepted,  on 
occasion  of  subsequent  unions,  by  all  the  divisions  of  the  Secession  so  uniting, 

d.  Modifications  of  Previous  Creeds: — The   Relief  Church,  in  an  early  part  of  it.s 

history,  used  the  formula  of  1711,  as  in  use  in  the  Esinblished  Church,  but  in 
1S23  adopted  a  formula  professing  the  doctrine  of  the  Westminster  Confession, 
with  an  exception  as  to  the  power  of  the  Civil  Magistrate. 

To  Query  Second. 

Existing  Formulas: — For  Preachers,  Ministers,  Missionaries,  and  Elders,  the  ap- 
propriate formula  is  given  (the  Answer  and  Promise  of  Subscription  being 
minuted).  The  form  of  Question  2  of  the  formula  is  now,  under  the  Declara- 
tory Act,  to  be  that  given  at  the  close  of  the  Declaratory  Act. 

Previous  Formulas  : — The  previous  formulas  of  this  Church,  and  of  each  of  the 
bodies  composing  it,  in  connection  with  their  Creeds,  are  contained  in  the 
Answers  to  the  Second  question  of  the  several  T'ormulas  of  Adherence  which 
are  given  at  length. 

To  Query  Third. 

Ofifice-bearers  are  admitted  upon  acceptance  of,  and  promise  of  subscription  to,  the 
ff)rmula;  and  private  members  are  admitted  upon  "  a  credible  profession  of  the 
faith  of  Christ,  as  held  by  the  Church,"  with  a  corresponding  character  of 
dejiortment.  A  "  Summary  of  Principles"  was  issued  in  1855,  and  is  used  as 
a  help  for  those  asking  admission  into  membership,  to  which  is  appended  a 
series  of  questions  which  may  be  proposed  at  admission.  Previous  Practice. — 
A  "Summary  of  Principles"  was  agreed  to  by  the  United  Associate  .Synod  in 
1820  as  a  Directory  in  the  admission  of  members.  Earliest  practice  of  Asso- 
ciate Synod  is  stated  in  "  Re-exhiliition  of  Testimony,"  p.  xv.  note;  that  of 
Relief  Church  in  Smith's  "  Historical  Sketches." 

IV.— SYNOD   OF  UNITED   ORIGINAL   SECEDERS. 

Answer  to  Query  First. 

a.  Existing  Creeds : — Along  with  Testimony,  the  Westminster  Standards,  as  received 
and  raiifiefl  liy  Church  of  Scotland  as  standards  of  covenanted  uniformity  for 
the  three  kingdoms. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  969 

h.  Previous  Creeds: — Testimony  of  1736. 

{.  Modifications  of  Creed: — None.  Testimony  of  1827  and  1842  maintains  the 
prmciples  of  the  Second  Reformation. 

To  Query  Second. 

a.  Existing  Formulas  : — Formula  of  Questions  for  Ministers,  Elders,  and  Probation- 

ers at  end  of  Testimony,  of  which  those  relating  to  doctrine  are  given. 

b.  Previous  Formulas  : — The  same  as  existing  ones. 

To  Query  Third. 

Assent  to  Testimony  a  term  of  fellowship,  ministerial  and  Christian.  Ministers, 
Eiders  and  Proi)ationers,  af.er  answennir  qiie;>ti()ns  in  formula,  declare  they  are 
willing  to  subscribe  Standards  when  called  so  to  do.  Private  members,  in  sig- 
nifying adherence  to  the  Standards,  are  oidy  required  to  do  this  in  so  far  as 
they  understand  them.  The  origin.il  law  and  practice  of  the  Secession  is 
embodied  in  Act  of  Associate  Presbytery  given  in  Appendix. 

v.— REFORMED    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH   OF  SCOTLAND. 
Answer  to  Query  First. 

a.  Existing    Creeds: — Westminster    Confession    and    Catechisms,    and    the    Testi- 

mony of  the  Church,  published   1837-39. 

b.  Previous    Creeds. — "  Infjimatory    Vindication''    emitted    in     1687;    Testimony 

emitted  by  the  Reformed  Presbytery  in  1761. 

c.  Modifications  of  Creeds  : — Merely  in  form,  in  the  way  of  applying  the  recognized 

principles  of  the  Church  to  altered  circumstances  in  the  community. 

To  Query  Second. 

a.  Existing   Formulas: — Formula    for    applicants    for   Church   membership,   called 

"Terms  of  Communion."  Formulas  of  questions  for  ministers,  probationers, 
and  elders  as  contained  in  the  Book  of  Discipline,  the  first  ten  of  which  are 
given. 

b.  Previous  Formulas: — None;  but  the  present  fourth  term  of  communion,  prior  to 

1822,  included  special  reference  to  the  renovation  of  the  Covenants  at  Auchin- 
saugh  in  17 12,  whereas  the  present  fourth  term  includes  the  general  state- 
ment, "  the  duty  of  a  minority  adhering  to  these  vows  {?'.  e.  the  covenants) 
when  the  nation  has  cast  them  off." 

To  Query  Third. 
Members  as  well  as  office-bearers  give  their  assent  to  the  Terms  of  Communion. 


Answers  to  the  Queries  of  the  General  Presbyteriari  Cou7jcil  regarding 
Creeds  and  Confessions,  in  so  far  as  relates  to  Scotland. 

No.    I.— CHURCH    OF   SCOTLAND. 

Query  L — What  are  the  existins^  Creeds  or  Confessions  of  this  Church?  and  what 
have  been  its  previous  Creeds  and  Confessions,  loith  any  modfuations  oj  these, 
and  the  dates  and  occasions  0/  the  same  from  the  Refonnation  to  the  present  day  ? 

Answer. 

(rt.)   Tlie  existing  Creed  or  Confession  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  is  that  Confes- 

.sion  of  Faith   which,  in  the   years   1645-6,  was  agreed   upon   by  the   Assembly  of 

Divines  at  Westminster,  with  the  assistance  of  Commissioners  from  the  Church  of 

Scotland.     This,  on  27th  August,  1647,  was,  with  certain  explanations,  approved  by 


970  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  General  As-^embly  of  the  Church,*  as  being  "most  agreeable  to  the  Word Ot 
God,  and  in  nothing  contrary  to  the  received  doctrine  of  this  Church,"  and  accepted 
"  for  their  \>\x\.  "  as  a  common  Confession  of  Faitii  for  the  three  kingdoms, 
and  along  w'lh  the  Assembly's  Act  of  Approbation  was  ratified  in  1649  liy  the 
Estates  of  the  Scottish  FirHament,  and  ordained  i>y  lliem  "  to  be  recorded,  pui>- 
lished,  and  practised. "f  Notwithstanding  tiie  general  Act  rescissory  of  1661,  which 
swept  away  the  legislative  enactments  of  the  Covenanting  Parliament,  a  certain 
degree  of  deference,  according  to  Bishop  Burnet  and  other  trustworthy  autliorities, 
contmued  to  be  shown  to  the  Westminster  Confession  under  the  restored  Episco- 
pacy ;  \  and  editions  of  it,  as  well  as  of  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and  of  the 
new  version  of  the  Psalms,  approved  and  adopted  in  1650,  were  allowed  to  be 
printed  in  Scotland.  On  the  restoration  of  Presl)ytery  in  1690,  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession was  ratified  anew  by  the  Scottish  Parliament  "  as  the  public  and  avowed 
confession  of  this  Cluirch,  containing  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Reformed  Churches,"  \  and  by  an  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  same  year,  it 
was  appointed  to  be  subscribed  by  "  all  probationers  licensed  to  preach,  all  intrants  into 
the  ministry,  and  all  other  ministers  and  elders  received  into  communion  .  .".  in 
Church  government."  II  The  Act  of  Parliament  of  1690  was  ratified  anew  in  1693,11 
ag:iin  in  1701,**  and  finally  in  1706,-j-f  by  the  Act  of  Security,  which  was  inserted  in 
the  Act  and  Treaty  uniting  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  declared  to 
be  an  essential  condition  thereof. 

(/'.)  The  following  Creeds  and  Confessions  may  fairly  claim  to  be  comprehended 
under  the  second  division  of  this  Qaery  : — 

I.   Confessions  which  have  had  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  sanction. 

1.  "  The  Confession  of  tlie  Faith  and  Doctrine  beleved  and  professed  by  the  Prot- 
estantis  of  the  realme  of  Scotland,  exhibited  to  the  estatis  of  the  same  in  Parliament, 
and  by  their  public  votes  authorised  as  a  doctrine  founded  upon  the  infallible  Word 
of  God."  This  is  the  Scottish  Confession  strictly  so  called,  and  unquestionalily  the 
principal  Confession  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Scotland  from  1560  till  1647.  It 
was  drawn  up  at  the  request  of  the  Parliament  of  1560  by  Knox,  Spottiswoode, 
Dougla^,  Wynram,  Rowe,  and  Willock,  and  was  adopted  l)y  the  same,  before  any 
General  Assembly  existed  to  give  its  fi>rmal  sanction  to  it.  W  It  was  translated  into 
Latin  by  Patrick  Adamson,  and  published  at  St.  Andrews  in  1572.  Another  Latin 
version  of  it  was  inserted  in  the  Harrrionia  Confessioniim.  It  was  approved  and  rati- 
fied by  Act  of  Parliament  in  1560,  and  again  in  1567,  as  also  by  various  Acts  of  later 
Parliaments.  From  the  fact  that  these  acts  stand  unrepealed,  as  well  as  frsm  tiie 
terms  in  which  the  Westminster  Confession  was  adopted  in  1647  by  the  General 
Assembly,  the  Scottish  Confession  is  held  by  many  W  not  yet  to  have  lost  its  author- 
ity, or  to  have  been  formally  abrogated  as  one  of  the  Church's  symbolical  books.  But 
from  the  use  made  of  it  in  the  notorious  Test  Act  of  16S1,  it  had  possibly  some- 
what lost  favor  among  Presbyterians  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

2,  "The  Second  Confession  of  Faith,"  commonly  called  the  King's  Confession, 
also  the  Negative  Confession,  and  finally,  after  certain  explanations  or  additions 
made  in  1638  and  1639,  the  National  Covenant.  ||||  It  was  subscribed  by  the  king 
and  nobility  in  1 580-1  ;  and  the  same  year,  in  a  proclamation  issued  by  the  king  in 

*  "  Petcrkin's  Records  of  the  Kirk,"  p.  47=;. 

+  Act  usually  prefixed  to  Scotch  editions  of  the  Confession,  along  with  Act  of  Assembly. 

i  S;e  introduction  to  "  Minutes  of  Westminster  Assembly,  p.  419. 

I  Act  V.  Parliament,  1690.  ||  Act  VII.  Assembly,  1690.  If  Act  XXII.  Parliament,  1693. 

**Act  III.  Pailiament,  1701.         tfAct  VI.  Parliament,  1706. 

It  Imprinted  at  Edinburgh  by  Robert  Lekprevick,  1561.  A  very  accurate  text  of  this  Confession  is 
given  by  Mr.  Laing,  in  his  edition  of  "  Knox's  History,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  95-120.  It  corresponds  in  its 
gjner.il  features  with  the  other  Confessions  of  the  Reformed  Churches  which  had  previously  appeared  ; 
and  in  various  important  sentences  it  coincides  almost  verbally  with  one  or  other  of  the  Confessions 
of  the  Genevan  Church,  or  with  the  earlier  editions  (1556  and  1539)  of  the  Institutes  of  Calvin.  See 
''Brit,  and  For.  Evan.  Review  "  far  January,  1872,  pp.  92-96. 

'0,  Edward  Irving's  testimony  to  this  has  of  late  been  often  quoted.  That  of  the  Marrowmen  in 
the  last  century  is  hardly  less  notable. 

nil  "  It  is  no  new  cause  to  us.  It  is  almost  sixty  years  old  ;  it  is  no  less  since  this  same  Confession 
was  [first]  subscribed  and  sworn  to.  And  it  has  been  still  in  use  yearly  to  be  subscribed  and  sworn 
to  in  some  parts  among  some  in  this  land  to  this  day.  And  I  think  it  would  have  been  so  in  all  th« 
parts  of  this  land  if  men  had  dreamt  of  what  was  coming  upon  us." — "  Henderson's  Sermons,"  p.  aa 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL,  571 

Council,  it  was  ordered  to  l)e  generally  subscribed.  By  the  first  Assembly  thereafter 
it  was  recognizefl  as  "  ane  ircw  and  Christian  confession,  to  lie  agreit  unto  Ijy  sucli 
as  trewly  profess  Chri:,t  and  his  Irew  religion,  and  the  tenor  thereijf  to  be  followit  out 
as  the  samin  is  laid  out  in  tlie  said  proclamation  ;"  and  l>y  the  next,  ministers  were 
enjoined  without  further  delay,  to  carry  out  the  tenor  of  the  proclamation.  It  was 
subscribed  generally  and  with  great  enthusiasm  at  that  time,  again  in  1590,  and  attain  in 
1596,  and  less  generally  in  1604,  and  again,  and  with  still  greater  enthusiasm  and  uni- 
versality, in  163S,  and  subsequently  in  the  Covenanting  times,  and  it  was,  in  fact,  the 
c'lartjr  of  the  second  Reformation.  It  contained  in  (^yeniio  an  express  assent  to  the 
Positive  Confession  of  1560,  and  embodied  or  expanded  forms  of  renouncing  Poiiish 
errirwhich  hid  beeu  in  use  since  1559, and  from  1580-1  onwards  it  replaced  them.* 
Thus,  as  both  Caldervvood  and  Woilrow  allow,  "  this  Confession  is  an  api^endix  to 
the  first  Confession,  and  comprehendeth  it  iu  a  general  clause  in  the  beginning,  and  so 
both  are  ITut  one,  and  he  that  subscribeth  the  one  subscribelh  the  other,  and  llierefore 
our  Confession  is  not  wholly  negative,  but  partly  affirmative,  partly  negative. "f 
II.  Creeds,  expositions  thereof,  and  Confessions  inserted  in  the  B.)ok  of  Common 
Order,  which,  in  the  First  Hook  of  Disci|)line,  is  recognized  as  the  Book  of 
otir  Common  Order,  in  1562  and  1564  was  more  explicitly  sanctioned  by  the 
General  Assembly,  an<l  continued  in  authority  till  1645. 

1.  The  creed  comuionly  called  the  Apostles'  Creed  held  a  recognized  place  in 
the  services  of  the  Cliurch  of  Scotland,  while  these  were  regulated  by  the  Book  of 
Common  Order.  It  held  a  place  in  the  ordinary  services  as  the  confession  of  the 
faith  of  the  assembled  worshippers.  It  was  introduced  also  in  the  form  fir  the  ad- 
ministration of  baptism  as  the  sum  of  that  faith  which^  the  parent  professed  and 
engaged  to  teach  to  his  child. J 

2.  From  1564,  when  the  Book  of  Common  Order  was  enlarged  and  formally 
sanctioned  by  the  Assembly,  an  authoritative  exposition  of  the  Creed  was  inserted, 
to  be  read  in  the  baptismal  service  by  the  minister.  It  was  both  in  form  and  in 
reality  a  Confession  of  Faith,  being  an  abridgment  of  the  "  Professio  Fidei  Catho- 
licre"  of  Valerandus  Pollanus.§  This  had  been  signed  not  only  by  the  mmister, 
doctor,  and  elders  of  the  congregation  of  French  Refugees  at  Frankfort,  but  also  by 
the  minister  and  representatives  of  the  English  and  Scottish  exiles  there,  with  whom 
Knox  was  for  a  time  associated,  and  from  among  whom  the  nucleus  of  his  Genevan 
congregation  was  obtained.  The  abridgment  of  it  continued  to  hold  its  place  in 
subsequent  authorized  editions  of  the  Book  of  Common  Order. 

3.  Another  exposition  of  the  Ap :)stles'  Creed  is,  "  The  Confession  of  our  Faith 
which  are  assembled  in  the  English  congregation  at  Geneva."||  It  appeared  in  the 
earliest  edition  of  the  Book  of  Common  Order  along  with  the  prayer  used  on  the 
occasion  of  the  first  assembly  of  that  Church,  and  the  adoiition  of  its  Confession  and 
Church  constitution.  In  the  edition  of  1564  it  is  said  to  have  been  "received  and 
approved  by  the  Church  of  Scotland."  After  that  dale  it  continued  to  lie  printed  in 
the  various  editions  of  the  book,  and  to  be  appended,  at  least  occasionally,  to  Bibles, 
Psalm-books,  and  even  (-itrnnge  to  say)  to  English  Prayer-books,  with  a  few  prayers 
from  the  same  source,  till  after  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II. 

In  the  edition  of  Knox's  book  pul)!ished  at  Geneva  in  1561,^  and  possibly  in  that 
printed  in  Scotland  in  1562,  there  is  also  inserted  an  independent  formulary,  entitled, 
"  The  Forme  of  the  Confessi(Mi  of  Faith  whereunto  all  [such]  subscribe  as  are  re- 
ceived to  be  Scholars  in  the  University  of  Geneva,  and  it  is  very  profitable  for  all 
towns,  parishes,  and  congregations  to  discern  the  true  Christians  from  Anabaptists, 

*  A<i  late  as  i6"7. — Eccl.  Rec.  Aberdeen. 

t  "  C.ildcrwood,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  502-505  ;  vol.  viii.  p.  33  ;  "  Wodrow's  Correspondence,"  vol.  iii.  pp. 
78,  8s,  etc. 

J  Though  not  now  used  in  the  worship  of  the  Church,  this  Cre'd  is  still  annexed  to  th-  Shorter 
Catechism  "  as  a  hriif  sum  of  thi- Cliristi.m  faith  asjre^able  to  th.- word  of  God  and  anciently  re- 
ceived of  the  Ciiiirch^s  of  Christ."  The  use  of  it  in  baptism  also  has  of  late  been  revived  in  the 
Church  (p.  21). 

?  Liturgia  Sacra,  seu  RItus  Ministcrii  in  Ecclesia  Pcrcgrinorum  F'rancofordiae  ad  Moeaum.  Ad- 
dita  est  Siimma  Doctrinsc.  seu  Fidei  Professio  ejusdem  ecclesia;. 

\  "  Knox's  Works,"  Laing's  edition,  vol.  iv.  pp.  169,  170,  etc. 

y  I6id.  vol.  vi.  p.  293. 


972  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Libertines,  Arians,  Papists,  and  other  heretics."  But  this  was  not  inserted  in  sub- 
sequent editions  of  the  book,  nor  has  it  received  a  place  in  Dunlop's  or  the  other 
collections  of  Cunfessinns,  etc.,  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.* 

Besides  these  "  forms  of  sound  words,"  the  following  also  seem  deserving  of  no- 
tice in  such  a  statement  as  this : 

1.  "The  Confescion  of  the  fayth  of  the  Sweserlandes,"  "  transl.nted  out  of  laten 
by  George  Wsherf ,  a  Scotchman,  who  was  burned  in  Scotland  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1546."  This  is  supposed  to  have  been  printed  in  London  in  1548,  possibly  for  the 
use  of  his  followers  in  Scotland.  It  is  the  earlier  Helvetic  Confession,  and  con- 
tains the  clauses  at  the  end  said  to  be  wanting  in  all  printed  Latin  and  German  edi- 
tions:  "  It  is  not  our  mind  to  prescribe  by  these  briefe  chapters  a  certayne  rule  of 
the  faythe  to  all  churches  and  congregations,  for  we  know  no  other  rule  of  fayth 
but  the  Holy  Scripture,"  etc. 

2.  The  later  Helvetic  Confession  of  1566,  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  para- 
graph relating  to  holidays,  was  approved  in  a  special  Convention  or  Assembly  held 
at  St.  Andrews  J  in  the  month  of  September  in  the  same  year,  and  confirmed  by  the 
signatures  of  the  members  of  that  Assembly.  It  was  translated  from  the  Latin  by 
Robert  Pont,  and  in  an  Assembly  held  at  Edinburgh  in  December,  1566,  the  trans- 
lation was  ordered  to  be  published,  with  a  note  expressing  the  approbation  of  the 
Church  and  the  limitation  appended  to  it.  Mr.  Laing  doulits  if  this  order  was  ever 
actually  carried  out.  Subscription  to  it  was  never  afterwards  given  or  required,  but 
it  was  occasionally  appealed  to  in  the  controversies  with  the  king  as  a  confession 
approved  liy  the  Church.^  An  English  translation  of  it  was  published  in  the  "  Har- 
mony of  Protestant  Confessions  "  in  1586  at  Cambridge. 

3.  The  Confession  penned  by  Mr.  John  Hall  and  Mr.  John  Adamson  in  1616,  and 
directed  by  the  Assembly  (afterwards  annulled)  of  that  year  to  be  revised  by  Cowjier, 
of  Galloway,  Howie,  of  Si.  Mary's  College,  St.  Andrew's,  Forbes,  of  Corse,  George 
Hay,  and  VVilliam  Struthers.||  This  probably  was  the  shorter  and  simpler  form  of 
confession  which  the  Assembly  of  1616  designed  to  be  subscribed  by  students  enter- 
ing the  University.  But  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  ever  came  into  general  use,  or 
was  ever  printed  till,  in  our  own  day,  the  larger  form  of  Calderwood's  "  History" 
was  pulilished  by  tiie  Wodrow  Society.  It  is  as  thoroughly  Calvinistic  in  its  teach- 
ing as  the  Westminster  Confession. 

(f.)  There  have  been  no  viodijications  of  these  Creeds  or  Confessions  in  any  proper 
sense  of  that  term.  The  Confession  of  1560  had  an  explnnntory  preface  prefi.xed, 
and  the  Confession  of  1647  has  generally  printed  before  it  an  adopting  and  explan- 
atory Act  of  the  Assembly  of  that  year;  but  no  clause  has  been  taken  away  nor 
added  since  it  was  adopted. 

The  Catechisms  at  various  times  sanctioned  or  allowed  by  the  Church  of  Scotland 
have  been  Calvin's  Catechism,^  the   Heidelberg  or  Palatinate  Catechism,  Craig's 

*  It  was  subscribed  by  those  Scottish  students  who  went  to  study  at  Geneva,  and  thnt  not  always 
as  a  mere  matter  of  routine.  The  following  entry,  pre(i.\ed  in  the  Rector's  Book  of  Clcneva  to  the 
name  of  Joannes  Skeneus,  the  well-known  Scottish  lawyer,  shows  how  warmly  he  u.-l.^  attached  to 
the  doctrine  set  forth  in  this  and  other  Genevan  formularies  :  "  Hoc  meo  scripto  confit^or  et  palam 
profiteor  me  veram  ac  sinceram  Christi  religionem,  qua;  hodie  in  hac  civitate  pradicatur,  ex  animo 
amplecti,  papisticam  superstitionem  ca;terasque  ha;reses,  quae  ex  diametro  ejus  puritati  repugnant, 
detestari,  ac  fidei  confessionem  in  quam  secundum  leges,  publici  scholastici  jurare  tenentur  Sacris 
Scripturis  consentaneam  esse  ;  prout  latius  in  catechesi  hujus  ecclesiae  explicatur.  Cui,  ut  ex  animo 
subscribo,  ita  etiam  chirographo  meo  eandem  hanc  meam  confessionem  confirmare  volui.  " — 
[Pages  1-19.] 

\  Wishart.     Confession  reprinted  in  vol.  i.  of  the  Miscellany  of  the  Wodrow  Society. 

i  "  In  your  little  book  was  most  faithfully,  holily,  piously,  and  indeed  divinely  explained  what- 
ever we  have  been  constantly  teaching  these  eight  years."  In  fine,  after  excepting  the  statement  on 
holidays,  they  say,  "  Cetera  omnia  docemus,  probamus  et  libentissime  amplectimur."  The  letter 
is  given  in  full  in  vol.  vi.  p.  544  of  Laing's  "  Knox,"  also  in  the  Zurich  Letters  of  the  Parker 
Society. 

g  Calderwood's  "  History,"  vo,l.  iv.  p.  237;  Melville's  "  Diary,"  p.  154. 

\  Calderwood's  "  History,"  Wodrow  edition,  vol.  vii.  p.  233-242. 

11  Thereto  is  appended"  The  manner  to  examine  children,"  etc.  This  in  its  first  French  form  was 
simply  a  brief  series  of  interrogatories  addressed  to  catechumens  being  admitted  into  the  church. 
In  its  enlarged  forms  of  1562  and  1565  it  may  have  been  used  as  a  catechism.  Whether  it  or  the 
'*  Summula  Catechismi  "  of  Simpson,  or  the  "  Parvus  Catechismus  "  of  Pont,  is  the  little  catechism 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  973 

Catechism,  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  prepared  by  the  Assembly  of 
Divines  at  Westminster,  and  adopted  by  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  1648.* 

QuKRY  II. —  What  are  the  existing  fortmdas  of  subscription,  if  any,  and  what  have 
been  the  previous  formttlas  of  subscription  used  in  this  Church  in  connection 
with  its  Creeds  and  Confessions  ? 

Answer. 

(f7.)  As  already  stated,  the  Scottish  Parliament  in  1690  ratified  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  (ieneral  Assembly  of  the  same  year  appointed  it  to  be 
subscribed.  In  1693  the  Parliament  further  enacted  "that  no  person  be  admitted 
or  continued  for  hereafter  a  minister  or  preacher  within  the  Church  unless  that  he 
.  .  .  subscribe  the  Coyfession  of  Faith,  .  .  .  declaring  the  same  to  be  the  con- 
fession of  his  faith,  and  that  he  owns  the  doctrine  therein  contained  to  be  the  true 
doctrine  which  he  will  constantly  adhere  to."  The  first  Assembly  that  met  there- 
after, in  accordance  with  this  enactment,  appointed  the  following  formula  to  be  sub- 
scribed by  those  received  by  their  Commission  into  ministerial  conmiunion  [i.  e., 
former  episcopal  incumbents),  as  well  as  by  "expectants"  or  preachers  admitted 
into  the  ministry: — -j- 

"  I  ...  do  sincerely  own  and  declare  the  above  Confession  of  Faith,  ap]iroven 
by  former  General  Assemblies  of  this  Church,  and  ratified  by  law  in  the  year  1690, 
to  be  the  confession  of  my  faith,  and  that  I  own  the  doctrine  therein  contained  to 
be  the  true  doctrine  which  I  will  constantly  adhere  to:  As  likewise  that  I  own  and 
acknowledge  Presbyterian  church  government  of  this  Church,  now  settled  by  biw, 
by  Kirk-session<,  Presbyteries,  Provincial  Synods,  and  General  Assemblies  to  be  the 
only  government  of  this  Church,  and  that  I  will  submit  thereto,  concur  therewith, 
and  never  endeavor,  directly  nor  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion  thereof,  and 
that  I  shall  observe  uniformity  of  worship  and  of  the  administration  of  all  ]->ublic 
ordinances  within  this  Church  as  the  same  are  at  present  performed  and  allowed." 

In  I70d|  the  General  Assembly  appointed  that  all  ministers  and  ruling  elders  be- 
longing to  this  National  Church  should  subscribe  the  Confession  of  Faith  as  the  con- 
fession of  their  faith  according  to  the  Act  of  Assembly,  1690,  and  the  above  formula 
of  1694;  and  in  1704  it  further  appointed  that  all  commissions  to  ministers  and 
ruling  elders  from  presbyteries,  universities,  and  royal  burghs  to  subsequent  assem- 
blies should  bear  that  they  have  subscribed  the  Confession  of  Faith  according  to  ihe 
same  formula. §  Ruling  elders  continue  to  subscribe  this  fortnula,  and  must  instruct 
that  they  have  done  so  before  they  can  claim  to  sit  and  vote  in  the  General  Assembly. 

In  171 1  (when  the  Church  became  seriously  alarmed  about  designs  said  to  be  en- 
tertained for  the  subversion  of  her  constitution)  the  General  Assembly  appointed 
the  following  somewhat  stricter  formula,  to  be  signed  by  all  probationers  when 
licensed,  and  ministers  when  ordained  or  admitted  :  || 

"  I  ...  do  hereby  declare  that  I  do  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doc- 
trine contained  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by  the  General  Assemblies  of 
this  National  Church,  and  ratified  by  law  in  the  year  1690,  and  frequently  confirmed 
by  diverse  acts  of  Parliament  since  that  time,  to  be  the  truths  of  God,  and  I  do  own 

of  Act  Assembly  1^,92  depends  mainly  on  whether  the  true  reading  of  the  Act  is  lectors'  or  doctors' 
{:'.  e.,  commoa  or  grammar)  schools. 

*  "  Records  of  the  Kirk,"  pp.  496,  498. 

t  Act  XI.  Assembly,  1694.  Probably  it  was  in  the  interval  between  1690  and  1694  that  the  formula 
originated  that  has  sometimes  been  accepted  by  very  lenient  presbyteries  in  much  later  times.  "  I 
.  .  .  subscribe  and  will  adhere  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Doctrine  therein  contained,  as  founded 
on  and  consonant  to  the  Holy  Scriptures."  Subscription  to  this  formula  has  been  accepted  from 
more  than  one  honored  minister  still  living.  In  1807  it  appears  there  was  returned  to  the  General 
Assembly  a  gentleman  who,  though  he  had  been  a  minister  of  the  Church  for  thirty  years,  had  not 
subscribed  any  formula.     He  was  admitted  to  his  seat  on  signing  the  formula  of  1694. 

I  Act  XI.  Assembly,  1700.  Act  X.  of  same  Assembly  required  schoolmasters  also,  and  chaplains, 
governors,  and  pedagogues  to  subscribe  the  Confession. 

3  Act  VI.  Assembly,  1704. 

I  Act  X.  Assembly,  1711. 


974  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  same  as  the  confession  of  my  faith  :  As  likewise  I  do  own  the  purity  of  worship 
];resently  authorized  and  practised  in  this  Church,  and  also  the  Presbyterian  govern- 
ment and  discipline  now  so  happily  established  therein,  which  doctrine,  worship, 
and  church-government,  I  am  persuaded,  are  founded  on  the  word  of  God,  and 
agieeable  thereto :  And  I  promise  that,  through  the  grace  of  God,  I  shall  firmly  and 
constantly  adhere  to  the  same,  and,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  shall  in  my  station 
assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  said  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government 
of  this  Church  by  Kirk-sessions,  Presbyteries,  Provincial  Synods,  and  General  As- 
semblies; and  that  1  shall,  in  my  practice,  conform  myself  to  the  said  worship,  and 
submit  to  the  said  discipline  and  government,  and  never  endeavor,  directly  nor  in- 
directly, the  prejudice  or  subversion  of  the  same;  and  I  promise  that  I  shall  follow 
no  divisive  course  from  the  present  establishment  in  this  Church  :  Renouncing  all 
doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever  contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the  said 
doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  or  government  of  this  Church,"* 

By  the  Act  of  Security,  which  ratified  anew  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  Presby- 
terian Government  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  it  was  also  provided  that  in  all  time 
coining  "no  Professors,  Principals,  Regents,  Masters,  or  others  bearing  office  in  any 
university,  college,  or  school  wiihiii  the  kingdom,  be  capable  or  be  admitted  or  al- 
lowed to  continue  in  the  exercise  of  their  said  functions,  but  such  as,"  inter  alia, 
"  do  and  shall  acknowledge  and  profess  and  shall  subscribe  to  the  aforesaid  Con- 
fession of  Faith  as  the  confession  of  their  faith,  and  that  they  will  practise  and 
conform  themselves  to  the  worship  presently  in  use  in  this  Church,  and  submit 
themselves  to  the  government  and  discipline  thereof,  and  never  endeavor,  directly 
or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion  of  the  same."  This  was  repealed,  in  so 
far  as  concerns  the  Professors  of  the  I,ay  Chairs,  in  1853,  and  in  so  far  as  concerns 
schoolmasters  in  1861  ;  but  the  following  formula,  in  terms  of  the  Act  of  Security, 
still  continues  to  be  subscribed  by  the  theological  professors:  "I  .  .  .  do  in- 
genuously profess  and  declare  that  I  do  own  the  foregoing  Confession  of  Faith  as  the 
confession  of  my  faith,  and  that  I  will  practise  and  conform  myself  thereto,  and  to 
the  worship  presently  in  use  in  this  Church,  as  now  esinblished  by  law,  and  submit 
myself  to  the  government  and  discipline  thereof,  and  never  endeavor,  directly  or 
indirectly,  the  subversion  or  prejudice  of  the  same;  and  in  testimony  of  my  sincerity 
in  these  premises,  I  have  subscribed  these  presents  judicially  before  the  Presbytery 
of  this         day  of  ." 

{b.)  The  following  formulas  of  subscription  or  adherence  have  been  more  or  less 
used  in  early  times  in  the  Church,  though  some  seem  to  have  had  only  local  and 
temporary  sanction  : 

I.  Those  plainly  implied  in  the  very  form  into  which  all  the  earlier  Confessions 
are  cast :  "  I  believe  and  confess,"  etc.,  "  We  confess  and  acknowledge,"  and  such 
like  expressions  at  the  commencement,  and  also  introducing  all  the  more  important 

*  Satisfactory  answers  must  also  be  given  to  tbe  following  amongst  other  questions  : 

(rt.)  On  the  part  of  every  one  ordained  or  admitted  a  minister — "  I.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 
"  II.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  ihe  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
approven  by  the  General  Assemblies  of  this  Church,  and  ratified  by  law  in  the  ytar  1690,  to  be 
founded  upon  the  word  of  God  ;  and  do  you  acknowledge  the  same  as  the  confession  of  your  faith  ; 
and  will  you  firmly  and  constantly  adhere  thereto,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  assert,  main- 
tain, and  defend  the  same,  and  the  purity  of  worship  as  presently  practised  in  this  National  Church," 
etc.  ?  "III.  Do  you  disown  all  Popish,  Arian,  Socinian,  Arminian,  Bourignian,  and  other  doctrines, 
tenets,  and  opinions  contrary  to  and  inconsistent  with  the  aforesaid  Confession  of  Faith  ?  " 

U>  ^  On  the  part  of  every  probationer  licensed  to  preach — "  I.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  (he 
O'd  aid  New  Testaments  to  be  the  word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners?  "  II.  Do 
you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assemblies  of  this  National  Church,  and  ratified  by  law  in  the  year  1690,  and  frequently  con- 
firmed by  diverse  Acts  of  Parliament  since  that  time,  to  be  the  truths  of  God  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  do  you  own  the  whole  doctrine  therein  contained  as  the 
confession  of  your  faith  ?  " 

(f.)  The  question  usually  put  to  elders,  in  terms  of  the  older  formula  required  to  be  signed  by 
them,  is  in  the  following  form  (approven  in  Act  v.  Assembly,  1863)  :  "  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  de- 
clare the  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by  former  General  Assemblies  of  this  Church,  and  ratified 
by  law  in  the  year  1690,  to  be  the  confession  of  your  faith  ;  and  do  you  own  the  doctrine  therein 
contained  to  be  the  true  doctrine  which  you  will  constantly  adhere  to?" 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  975 

articles,  so  fliat  no  separate  formula  but  simple  acceptance  or  subscription  was  re- 
quired to  testify  asseiu  to  them.  Besides,  in  the  case  of  the  Scottish  Confession  of 
1560,  a  more  explicit  formula  of  adherence  stems  to  be  contained  in  the  preface 
prefixed  to  it,  and  particularly  in  the  followin<i  sentence  of  it:  "  Seeing  that  of  the 
infinite  goodness  of  our  (jod  .  .  .  we  have  obtained  some  rest  and  liberty,  we  could 
not  but  set  forth  this  brief  and  plain  confession  of  such  doctrine  as  is  proponed  unto 
t<s,  and  as  we  believe  and  profess,  partly  for  satisfaction  of  our  brethren,  .  .  .  and 
partly  for  the  stopping  of  the  mouths  of  impudent  blasphemers,"  accompanied,  how- 
ever, with  the  noble  protestation,  "that  if  any  man  will  note  in  this  our  Confession 
any  article  or  sentence  repugning  to  God's  holy  word,  it  would  please  him  of  liis 
gentleness  and  for  Christian  charity's  sake  to  admonish  us  of  the  same  in  writing, 
and  we  of  our  honor  and  fidelity  do  promise  him  satisfaction  from  the  mouth  of  Gud 
(that  is  from  his  Holy  Scriptures),  or  else  reformation  of  that  which  he  shall  prove 
to  be  amiss."  Nor  can  we  be  altogether  certain  that  besides  these  a  separate  formula 
of  adherence  did  not  come  to  be  generally  used  in  connection  with  this  Confession. 
In  1569  we  find  the  following  proposed  by  the  Regent  Murray  and  the  Superintend- 
ent of  Angus  to  the  Professors  of  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  of  whose  disobedience 
the  Church  had  complained  :* 

"  We  whose  names  are  underwritten  do  ratify  and  approve  from  our  very  hearts 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  together  with  all  other  Acts  concerning  our  religion  given 
forth  in  the  Parliaments  holden  at  Etlinburgh  the  24th  August,  1560,  and  the  151I1 
day  of  December,  1567;  and  joyne  ourselves  as  members  to  the  true  kirk  of  Christ, 
whose  visible  face  is  described  in  the  said  Acts,  and  shall  in  time  coming  be  jiartici- 
pant  of  the  sacraments  now  most  faithfully  and  publicly  ministered  in  the  said  kirk, 
and  submit  us  to  tiie  jurisdiction  and  discipline  thereof."! 

2.  That  contained  in  the  "  Professio  Fidei"  of  the  Church  of  the  Foreigners  at 
Frankfort,  and  signed  by  certain  representatives  of  Knox's  congregation  there  in 
name  of  the  whole,  may  claim  lobe  mentioned,  at  least  as  showing  the  opinions  and 
early  practice  of  our  great  Reformer  and  his  friends,  though  the  formula,  in  the  exact 
form  it  then  bore,  did  not  come  into  use  in  Scotland.  The  first  part  applies  to  or- 
dinary members  of  the  Church,  and  resembles  the  last  sentence  quoted  from  the 
Confession  of  1581  on  p.  11.  It  is  as  follows: — "  Haec  fides  est  mea,  in  qua  nie 
cum  ista  ecclesia  puto  consentire  et  admitti  postulo,  tanquam  membrum  Christi,  pol- 
licens  omnem  obedientiam  erga  universam  ecclesiasticam  disciplinam  verbo  Dei  con- 
sonam,  reliquamque  docirinam  fidei  ac  religionis  verae."  The  rest  of  this  formula 
will  be  found  below,  and  closely  coincides  with  forms  of  renouncing  popery  often 
used  in  Scotland  in  early  times. 

3.  The  "godly  bands,"  covenants,  or  deeds  of  association  under  which  the  Re- 
formed party  in  Scotland  as  a  whole,  and  the  earliest  congregations  erected  in  con- 
nection with  it,  were  incorporated,  as  the  following,  probably  prepared  under  the 
direction  of  Knox  himself,  engrossed  in  the  Session  Rect)rds  of  St.  Andrews  in 
1559,  and  published  in  vol.  iii.  part  ii.  p.  21 1  of  the  Miscellany  of  the  Maitland 
Club  :— 

"  We  quhais  names  are  underwritten  joines  us  in  all  thinges  conforme  to  the  gen- 
erall  band  maid  betuix  the  Lordis  and  Baronis  of  Congregatioun  at  Edinburgh,  the 
xiii  day  of  Julii,  anno,  etc.,  1 5 59,  to  the  Congregatioun  and  memberis  to  assist  in 
mutuall  support  with  the  said  Congregatioun,  with  our  bodies,  geir,  and  force,  for 
maynteyning  of  the  trew  religion  of  Christe  and  downe  putting  of  all  super- 
stitioun  and  idolatrie,  conforme  to  the  said  band,  quherof  the  tennor  followis  and 
is  this: — We  quhais  names  are  underwri;tin,  quhilkes  hes  subscrivit  thir  presenter 
with  our  handis,  hafend  respect  to  our  dewties  in  setting  fordwart  the  glorie  of  God, 
and  knawand  alswa  that  we  are  commandit  to  joine  ourselfis  togiddir  as  memberis 
of  ane  bodie  for  the  furtherance  of  the  samyn,  Dois  in  the  name  of  Christe  Jesus 
unite  ourselfs,  that  we  in  ane  mynde  and  ane  spirit  may  endivour  us  with  our  haill 
power  and  diligence  to  walk  fordwart  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  laboring  to  destroy 
and  put  downe  all  idolatrie,  abhominationes,  superstitiones,  and  quhatsomever  thing 

*  Caldfcrwood,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  491,  492.  t  Akin  to  Burgess  Oath  of  that  day. 


976 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


dois  exalte  the  self  agninsl  llie  majestic  of  our  God,  and  maynteyn  and  set  up  the 
trew  relij^ion  of  Christe  his  word  and  sacramentis,  and  alswa  assist  and  defend  the 
Irew  ministers  thereof.  And  as  we  be  sones  of  ane  father,  pnrttnkeris  of  ane  Spirite, 
and  heyris  of  ane  kingdome,  swa  sail  we  maist  hartiie,  fayihfullie,  and  irewlie  con- 
cur togidder  nocht  only  in  the  matteris  of  religioun,  hot  sail  iykewise  at  our  utter 
poweris,  to  the  waring  of  our  labouris,  substance,  and  lyves,  assist,  defend,  and  mayn- 
teyne  every  ane  ane  othir  against  quliatsomever  that  troubles,  jieisewes,  or  invades 
us  or  ony  ane  of  us  in  our  lyves,  lantlis,  gudeis,  heretageis,  officis,  benefices,  pensiones, 
or  uthir  thinges  quhatsumever,  presently  in  our  possessiones,  or  quhilkis  justlie  we 
possessit  at  the  beginning  of  thir  present  troubiis  {ox  the  religioun,  or  ony  uther  causis 
pretendit  upon  religioun,  or  persewit  under  pretence  of  the  samyne.  And  for  ob- 
serving of  the  premisses,  we  bind  and  oblis  ourselfis  in  the  presence  of  our  God, 
and  of  his  sone  Jesus  Christe,  calling  for  the  Holy  Spirite  to  strength  us  to  perform 
the  samyne.  At  Edinburgh,  the  xiii  of  Juiii,  the  yeir  of  God  i'"v'=  fiftyenine  yeirs. 
Quhilk  band  we  approve  in  all  poinltis,  and  adjoynis  ourselfis  for  mutuall  defence 
to  the  haill  adheraris  thereto." 

4.  Those  found  in  old  ecclesiastical  records  published  in  whole  or  in  part  by  the 
Bannatyne,  Maitland,  Abbotsford,  and  Spalding  Clubs,  and  chiefly  required  to  be 
subscribed  or  assented  to  by  persons  coming  over  from  ttie  Pojiish  to  the  Reformed 
Cluirch,  and  especially  by  those  desiring  to  be  admitted  to  the  ministry,  or  to  make 
such  confession  of  the  Reformed  Faith  and  adherence  to  the  Reformed  Church  as 
would  entitle  them,  though  not  acting  as  ministers,  to  retain  their  benefices,  and  to 
claim  the  benefit  of  the  proviso  attached  to  the  First  Book  of  Discipline  by  the 
noblemen  who  subscribed  it.  One  of  the  most  detailed  of  these,  probably  read  in 
the  presence  of  Knox  himself  at  St.  Andrews,  is  given  in  Principal  Lee's  "Lectures 
on  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,"  vol.  i.  p.  107.  A  shorter  one,  also  used 
at  St.  Andrews,  is  subjoined.  Its  close  resemblance  to  that  given  alongside,  from 
the  closing  sentences  of  the  *'  Profe.ssio  P'idei  "  of  the  Church  of  the  Foreigners  al 
Frankfort,  will  be  at  once  apparent. 


"  Insuper  Papne,  tanquam  Antichristo 
Romano,  renuncio  ac  doctrinae  ijisius  et 
religioni  universae,  nominatim  de  Iran- 
substanliatione  panis  in  Eucharistia,  de 
Sanctorum  invocatione,  fiducia  justiciae 
propriae  operum  seu  allerius  cujuscunque 
quam  Christi,  libero  arbilrio,  purgatorio 
el  satisfactione  ulla  pro  peccatis  alia  prae- 
ter  Christi  sanguinem,  ac  denique  de 
omni  cultura  imagmum  et  caeteris  ejus- 
modi  inventis  humanis,  quaecunque  ip- 
sius  religione  et  doctrina  continentur." 


"  Item,  we  hartiie  renunce  the  Pape, 
quhae  is  the  verray  Anlichriste  and  suj)- 
pressour  of  Godis  glorie,  with  all  dia- 
liolic  invenlioneis,  as  be  Purgatorio,  the 
Mess,  Invocatioun  of  Sanctis,  and  ])rayaris 
to  them,  worschi]"iping  of  images,  l>rny- 
eris  in  strange  language,  and  multiplying 
of  them  to  certain  numer,  and  all  cere- 
monies usit  in  papistrie,  as  be  hallowinjj 
of  cnn<lellis,  watter,  salt,  and  bread,  with 
all  'heir  conjurations:  And  finalie,  all 
authoritie  as  weil  of  the  wicked  Paip  as 
utheris  that  supresis  Goddis  law  and 
Rtfippis  his  word  and  ]ilanelie  maynteynis 
Idol;itf)rs  and  Idolatrie,  with  all  laws  and 
traditiones,  inventionis  of  men,  made  to 
bind  and  thrall  mennis  consciences  ;  and 
promiseis  in  tyme  coming  to  assist  in 
word  and  vvaik  with  unfenyeit  mynde 
this  congregatioune  efter  our  pownr,  and 
never  to  contaminate  ourselfis  with  the 
forsaidis  idolairie  and  superstitiones  ne- 
ther for  ]irofit  nor  feer."  See  "  Miscel- 
lany of  Maitland  Club,"  vol.  iii.  p.  217. 


5.  The  following  sentences  of  the  Second  Confession  of  Faith  or  National  Cove- 
nant, so  largely  signed  in  1581,   1590,  1596  and  again  in   1638,  and  onwards  till 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  977 

the  very  close  of  the  Covennnting  period,  and  which  from  1581  appears*  to  have 
been  signed  by  ministers  at  their  aihnission.  These,  as  already  stated,  must  be  re- 
garded as  both  a  profession  of  faith  and  a  formuLi  of  adherence  to  the  larger  Con- 
fession therein  referred  to,  and  they  had  the  sanction  of  the  Assembly. 

"  We,  all  and  every  one  of  us,  .  .  .  believe  with  our  hearts,  confess  with  our 
mouths,  subscrive  with  our  hands,  and  constantlie  affiime  before  God  and  the  whole 
world,  that  this  only  is  the  true  Christian  faith  and  religioun,  plea^ing  God  and 
bringing  salvation  to  man,  which  is  now,  by  the  mercie  of  God,  revealed  to  the 
world  by  the  preaching  of  the  blessed  Evangell,  and  is  receaved,  beleeved,  and  de- 
fended by  nianie  and  sindrie  notai)le  kirks  and  realmcs,  but  cheefelie  by  the  Kirk 
of  Scotland,  the  King's  Majestic  and  three  estats  of  this  realme,  as  God's  eternall 
truthe  and  only  ground  of  our  salvatioun  ;  as  more  partirttlarlie  is  expressed  in  the 
Confession  of  oitr  faith  stahlished  and  ptiblictlie  confirnted  by  sindrie  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  now  of  a  long  time  hath  iieen  openlie  professed  by  the  King's  Majestie 
and  whole  bodie  of  this  realm,  buth  in  burgh  and  land.  7o  the  ivhich  confessiotin 
and  forme  of  religioun  we  willinglie  agree  in  our  conscienres  IN  ALL  POINTS,  aj  unto 
Gods  undoubted  truthe  and  veritie  grounded  onlie  upon  his  written  word.  .  .  .  this 
true  reformed  Kiik;  to  the  'uihieh  we  join  ourselves  willinglie  in  doctrine,  faith,  reli- 
gion, discipline,  and  use  of  the  holy  sacraments,  as  lively  members  of  the  same, 
piomising  and  swearing  by  the  great  name  of  the  Lord  our  GOD  that  we  shall  con- 
tinue in  the  obedience  of  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  this  Kirk,  and  shall  defend 
the  same  ...  all  the  days  of  our  lives." 

This  profession  of  faith  and  formula  of  adherence  to  the  older  Scottish  Confession 
certainly  continued  to  be  used  in  the  case  of  ministers  and  elders,  as  well  as  of  ordi- 
nary members  of  the  Church,  thi4r)ugh  the  whole  of  the  Covenanting  times.  After 
1643  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  was  also  subscribed,  and,  as  it  contained  in 
gremio  a  resolution  to  aim  at  the  nearest  possible  conjunction  of  the  Churches  of  the 
three  kingdoms  in  one  Confession  of  Faith,  etc.,  subscription  to  it,  after  that  Con- 
lession  was  completed  and  accepted,  may  have  been  legitimately  held,  as  Wodrow 
argues,  to  imply  subscription  to  the  new  Confession.  It  is  not  unlikely,  however, 
that  some  special  formula  of  adherence  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
i)esides  that  implied  in  subscription  to  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  would 
come  into  use  after  1649,  though,  from  the  imperfect  state  of  the  Church  records  of 
that  time,  it  may  be  very  difficult  now  to  trace  it  out.  Students,  who  were  only 
bound  by  the  same  Acts,  had  to  make  subscriptions  at  graduation  as  well  as  at 
matriculation.  The  following  was  regularly  signed  by  the  Masters  of  Arts  in  the 
University  of  St.  Andrews  from  1654  to  1660  inclusive  (the  clause  enclosed  in 
brackets  being  first  inserted  in  1656)  : — 

"  Nos  ingenui  juvenes  laurea  (iit  vocant)  magisterii  jam  decorandi  quorum^nomina 
subsequuniur,  ultro,  ex  animo  et  sincere  profitemur  Christianam  religionem  reforma- 
tam  prout  ea  in  Ecclesia  Scoticana  quoad  doctrinam,  cultum,  regimen  et  disciplinam 
feliciter  stabilita  est  [in  utr*que  foedere,  confessione  fidei,  et  catechesibus  ecclesia- 
rum  Britannicarum]  sancteque  promittimus,  elevata  ad  Jehovam  Deum  celsissimum 
manu,  nos  in  eadem  religione,  quamdiu  vixerimus,  Dei  gratia  perpetuo  permansuros, 
Quodsi  astutia  et  fraudii)us  Satanae,  hominumve  imposturis  aut  blanditiis  aut  ullis 
hostium  minis  aut  terriculamentis  secus  evenerit  (quod  omen  Deus  pro  sua  dementia 
avertat)  abjuratae  fidei,  detestabilis  perfidiae,  ac  perjuriae  execrabilis  notam  indebilem 
non  recusamus." 

In  1642  the  formula  ran — "  Nos,  etc.,  profitemur  capita  religionis  Christianaequae 
conlinentur  Confessione  Fidei  Scoticana  adeoque  in  illam  ipsam  confessionem  in 
nationali  synodo  Glascuensi  anno  1638  explicatnm ;  "  and  in  1645  the  further  clause 
was  added,  "  Necnon  in  foedus  solemne  pro  religione  et  pace  in  tribus  regnis,  Scotia, 
Anglia  et  Hibernia  initum,"  for  which,  in  1654,  the  formula  above  given  was  sub- 
stituted.    Similar  formulas  were  certainly  used  in  the  Universities  of  Glasgow  and 


62 


♦Calderwood's  "  History,"  vol.  vi.,  pp.  522,  528. 


978  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Aberdeen.*  Accordin;:;  to  the  Westminster  Directory  for  Ordination,  a  cmdidtite 
presenting  a  certificate  that  he  hatl  tal^en  such  subscriptions  as  the  above  would  seem 
lo  have  been  admissible  to  the  ministry  wiihout  formal  renewal  of  them ;  but  by  Act 
XVI II.  Parliament  1640,  and  Act  of  Assembly  1643,  ministers  at  their  admission 
were  expressly  required  to  swear  and  subscribe  the  Confession  of  Faith  or  National 
Covenant,  and  the  presbytery  records  show  that  this  practice  was  kept  up  at  St. 
Andrews  during  the  wht)le  of  the  Covenanting  period.  Even  officers  in  the  army 
appear  in  1650  to  have  been  required  to  express  by  oath  or  subscription  their  adhe- 
rence to  the  doctrine,  government,  worship,  and  discipline  of  the  Church. 

Query  III. — How  far  has  individual  adherence  to  these  Creeds,  by  subscription  or 
other7vise,  been  required  from  the  Ministers,  Elders,  or  other  Office-bearers 
respectively,  and  aiso  from  the  private  Members  of  the  same  ? 

Answer. 

The  reply  to  this  query  has  of  necessity,  to  a  considerable  extent,  been  already 
anticipated  in  what  has  been  said  in  reply  to  the  second.  The  vanious  formulas  and 
extracts  from  Confessions- there  adduced  appear  to  show  that  from  the  first  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  Scotland  deemed  herself  warrante<l  to  require  of  her  ministers 
and  other  office-bearers,  and  even  of  her  ordinary  members,  adherence  to  her  creed 
in  more  or  less  definite  terms,  either  by  subscription  or  express  verbal  assent,  or  at 
least  by  tacit  acquiescence.  With  respect  to  ministers,  ihe  case  is  clear  and  indis- 
putable. The  Scottish  Parliaments  of  1560  and  1567,  which  ratified  the  Confession 
of  Faith  (No.  3),  declared  "the  ministeris  of  the  blissede  Euangel  of  Jesus  Chryst, 
quhome  Cod  of  his  mercie  hes  now  raisit  up  amanges  us,  or  heirelter  sail  raiss,  agre- 
ing  with  thaim  that  now  levis  in  doctrine  and  administratioun  of  the  sacramenlis, 
and  the  people  of  this  reaime  that  professis  Jesus  Christ  as  he  is  now  offerit  in  his 
Evangell,  and  do  communicat  with  his  haly  sacramenlis,  as  in  the  reformit  kirkis  of 
this  reaime  [they]  ar  publictlie  administrat,  according  to  the  Confessioun  of  the 
Faithe,  to  be  the  only  trew  and  haly  kirk  of  Jesus  Christ  within  this  reaime."  And 
they  decerned  and  declared  "that  all  and  sindrie  quha  alher  gaynesayis  the  word  of 
the  Evangell  ressauit  and  apprevit  as  the  heidcs  of  the  Confessioun  of  the  Faythe, 
professit  in  Parliament  of  befoir  in  the  yeir  1560,  ...  or  that  refusis  the  participa- 
tioune  of  the  haly  sacramentis  as  they  are  now  ministrat,  to  be  na  membris  of  the 
saide  kirke  .  .  .  and  trew  religioune,  sa  lang  as  they  keep  thame  selffis  sa  devydit 
from  the  sncietie  of  Christis  body."  This  declaration  was  re-affirmcd  in  1579,  and 
again  confirmed  by  the  Acts  1581  and  1592,!  which  are  regarded  as  still  ratifying 
the  constitution  and  guaranteeing  the  liberties  of  the  Church. 

In  accordance  with  this,  the  First  Book  of  Discipline  J  provides  that  each  min- 
ister before  his  admission,  shall  be  examined  by  the  ministers  and  elders  "in  all  the 
chief  points  that  now  be  in  controversy  between  us  and  the  Papists,  Anabaptists, 
Arians,  and  other  such  enemies  of  the  Christian  religioun,"  and  if  approved  by 
them  shall  then  be  sent  to  the  church  where  he  is  to  serve,  that  there  in  open  audi- 
ence of  the  flock,  he  may  in  diverse  sermons  "give  confession  of  his  faith  in  the 
article  of  justification,  of  the  office  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  of  the  number,  effect,  and 
use  of  the  sacraments,  and,  finally,  in  the  -tvhole  religion  which  heretofore  hath  been 
corrupted  by  the  Papists^  In  Assembly  1562,  order  was  taken  that  unity  of  doc- 
trine be  retained  among  ministers;  and  then  was  originated  that  system  of  annua! 
or  semi-annual  trial — censure,  as  it  was  termed — of  the  doctrine  and  lives  of  the 
ministers,  which  continued  in  general  use  at  least  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  In  1565  the  following  article,  with  several  others,  was  presented  by  the 
Assembly  to  the  Queen:  "That  none  be  permitted  to  have  charge  of  schools, 
colleges,  or  universities,  or  yet  privately  or  publicly  to  instruct  the  youth,  but  such 
as  shall  be  tried  by  the  superintendents  or  visitors  of  the  Church,  sound  and  able  in 

*  "  Munimenta  Universitatis  Glascuensis,'  vol.  !i.,  rp.  45,  456 ;  "  Fasti  Aberdonenses,"  p.  501. 
The  National  Covenant  at  least  was  subscribed  in  Edinburgh. 

t  These  Acts  are  given  at  length  in  Peterkin's  "  Booke  of  the  Universall  Kirk,"  and  have  been 
recently  published  in  a  collected  form. 

J  Chap.  III.  §  3,  Appendix  I.  and  II. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  979 

doctrine,  and  admitted  by  them  to  their  charges."  It  was  also  presented  to  Parlia- 
ment in  1567,  and  an  Act  was  passed  that  all  schools,  universities,  and  coliej,'es 
should  be  "  reformed,  and  none  permitted  nor  admitted  to  have  charge  and  care 
thereof  in  time  coming,  nor  to  instruct  the  youth,  privately  or  openly,  but  such  as 
shall  be  tried  by  the  superintendents  or  visitors  of  the  kirk."  It  was  under  this 
Act  that  the  visitation  of  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  was  made;  and  the  formula 
given  on  page  9  was  proposed  for  the  acceptance  of  its  masters.*  And  from  that 
time  onward  to  our  own  day,  teachers  and  professors,  as  well  as  ministers,  had  to 
satisfy  the  Church  as  to  their  soundness  in  the  faith.  Among  the  articles  "  proponit " 
to  the  same  Parliament,  with  the  approbation  of  the  Assembly,  was  the  followin" : 
"  Further,  we  crave  that  no  persons  reclaiming 'to  the  religion,  or  that  do  not  profess 
it  7vilh  us  in  all  points,  be  permitted  to  enjoy  benefice  or  profit  whatsoever  under  the 
title  of  ecclesiastical  function,  notwithstanding  title,  possession,  or  intrusion  whatso- 
ever they  have  had,  or  may  claim  to  have,  by  the  Pope,  that  Roman  Antichrist. "f 
This  was  not  granted  till  the  Parliament  of  1572-3,  when  it  was  enacted  "that 
every  person  who  shall  pretend  to  be  a  minister  of  God's  word  and  sacraments,  and 
who  presently  does  or  shall  pretend  to  have  and  bruik  any  benefice  .  .  .  shall  give 
his  assent  and  subscribe  the  Articles  of  Religion  contained  in  the  Acts  of  our  Sover- 
eign Lord^s  Parliament,  and  give  his  oath  for  acknowledging  and  recognoscing  of 
our  Sovereign  Lord  and  his  authority,  and  shall  bring  a  testimonial  in  writing  there- 
upon."J  At  the  same  lime,  and  apparently  also  at  the  desire  of  the  Church, 
another  Act  was  passed,  to  the  effect  that,  seeing  the  cause  of  God's  true  religion, 
and  his  Highness'  authority  are  so  joined  that  the  hurt  of  the  one  is  common  to  both, 
it  is  ordained  that  none  shall  be  reputed  as  loyal  and  faithful  subjects  to  the  king 
"  who  shall  not  give  their  confession  and  make  their  profession  of  the  said  true 
religion ;  "  and  that  all  such  as  make  profession  thereof,  and  yet  have  made  defec- 
tion from  their  due  obedience  to  our  Sovereign  Lord,  shall  be  admonished  by  the 
ministers  of  the  kirk  to  return  thereto,  and  if  they  fail  therein,  shall  be  excommu- 
nicated ;  and  that  always,  before  such  as  have  made  defection  be  received  to  our 
Sovereign  Lord's  mercy,  they  shall  '^ gi7.'e  the  confession  of  their  faith  OF  NEW,  and 
promise  to  continue  in  the  confession  of  the  true  religion  in  time  coming." 

The  words  "  OF  new  "  are  important.  They  seem  to  show  that  such  confession 
was  not  then  demanded  for  the  first  time  of  those  who  belonged  to  the  Reformed 
Church,  and  encourage  the  supposition  that  what,  according  to  the  English  Ambas- 
sador, was  done  in  1561  in  Edinburgh  on  occasion  of  the  dispensation  of  the  com- 
munion, was  at  that  time  not  an  unusual  practice.  "  The  communion  was  mynes- 
erat  here  upon  Sondaye  last ;  I  assure  your  honour  with  great  decencie  and  verie 
good  order.  There  luere  none  admitted  but  suche  as  made  open  protestation 
of  their  belief,  examined  and  admitted  by  the  mynesteres  and  deacons  to 
the  number  of  xiii"  and  odd."§  This  was  but  a  natural  result  of  the  practice 
originated  by  the  signature  of  the  "godly  bands"  already  referred  to;  and  it  is 
enjoined  by  the  directions  of  the  First  Book  of  Discipline  that,  once  a  year  at  least, 
every  master  and  mistress  of  a  household  come  themselves  and  their  family,  so  many 
as  be  come  to  the  years  of  maturity,  before  the  minister  and  the  elders,  and  give  con- 
fession of  their  faith.  The  meetings,  which,  in  accordance  with  this  injunction, 
appear  to  have  been  pretty  regularly  held  before  the  administration  of  the  com- 
munion, even  down  to  the  Covenanting  times,  were  not  for  examination  as  to  mere 
knowledge,  but  also  for  profession||  of  faith,  so  far  at  least  as  the  chief  articles  of  the 
Reformed  doctrine  were  concerned,^  whether  express  acknowledgment  of  the  Con- 

*  It  was  under  it  also  that  Ninian  Dalziell  was  deprived  of  his  office  as  master  of  the  Grammar 
School  of  Dumfries  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1579 — Peterkin's  "  Booke  of  the  Universall  Kirk," 
p.  188.     Even  under  the  Act  of  1560  recusant  teachers  had  been  deprived. 

+  "  Booke  of  the  Universall  Kirk,"  p.  84. 

j  Act  III.  Pari.  1572  ;  Act  IV.  Pari.   1572 ;  Thomson's  "  Acts,"  vol.  iii.  p.  72. 

i "Knox's  Works,"  vol.  vi.  p.  122 
Profiteri  fidem,  non  recitare  verba  catechismi. — Calderwood. 
II"  The  knowledge  of  God's  law  and  commandments,  the  use  and   office  of  the  same,  the  chief 
articles  of  the  Belief,  the  right  form  to  pray  unto  God,  the  number,  use  and  effect  of  the  sacraments, 
the  true  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  his  offices  and  natures,  and  such  other  points  without  the 


98o  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  ALL  LANCE. 

fession  of  1560  were  required  or  no.*  The  propriety  of  requi  ing  such  a  profession  is 
maintained  by  Calderwood  in  a  reniari<able  passaije  of  his  "Altare  Damascenum," 
where  after  combating  the  Anglican  interpretation  of  Hebrews  vi.  i,  etc.,  he  says: — 
"Admitto  jam  interpretationem  istam  tertiani  .  .  .  et  tamen  dico  non  favere  Ponti- 
ficiae  aut  Anglicanae  Confirmationi  sed  potius  Eclesiis  Reformatis  illis,  quae  ad  rem 
ipsam  propius  accedunt  nempe  neminem  admittentes  extraneum  in  gremium  Ecclesiae 
aut  ad  sacram  Coenam,  a!a-s,o^<ifidei  professione  solenni,  examinatione,  foederis  pac- 
tione,  et  precibus  Ecclesiae,  et  ubi  quid  desideratur  restitui  optamus." — Page  353, 
ed.  1623. 

So  much  for  these  particular  words  of  the  Act  of  Parliament.  The  Act,  as  a 
whole,  is  more  important  still,  as  in  the  first  Assembly  held  thereafter  (March, 
1572-3)  superintendents  and  commissioners  were  mstructed  to  put  it  in  execution 
against  all  Papists  within  their  provmces  if,  within  eight  days  after  admonition,  they 
did  not  subscribe  and  give  their  oath  according  to  the  Act.  In  the  Assembly  held  in 
March,  1574-5,  bishops,  superintendents  and  ministers,  in  all  parts  were  instructed 
to  admonish  such  as  were  Papists,  and  had,  since  the  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed, 
made  confession  of  their  faith,  and  yet  had  not  participated  in  the  Lord's  Supper, 
that  they  should  participate  in  the  sacrament  with  the  rest  of  the  congregation,  under 
pain  of  being  held  as  relapsed  and  excommunicated.  Proceedings  under  the  Act 
were  also  taken  in  various  subsequent  Assemblies  in  1 578,  1579,  1580,  or  up  to  the 
time  when  the  King's  Confession  was  issued,  and  commandment  given  to  the  minis- 
ters to  proceed  against  all  who  would  not  acknowledge  and  subscribe  the  same. 
This,  as  has  been  explained  at  page  3,  the  Assemblies  of  1581  enjoined  to  be  done 
without  delay,  and  after  that  year  subscription  to  it  was  frequently  renewed  in  par- 
ticular districts,  as  well  as  more  generally  throughout  the  land. 

The  evidence  that  the  first  Act,  dealing  with  those  who  had  been  or  should  be 
admitted  to  ecclesiastical  benefices,  was  carried  out  not  only  in  the  case  of  Papists, 
who  till  then  had  been  allowed  to  remain  in  quiet  possession  of  two-thirds  of  the 
produce  of  their  benefices,  but  also  in  the  case  of  the  ministers  of  the  Reformed 
Church  preferred  to  benefices  from  the  time  of  its  passing,  is  almost  quite  as  strong. 
It  had  been  asked  for  by  the  Church.  It,  as  well  as  the  other,  was  founded  on  by 
her  in  that  claim  and  charter  of  rights — the  enlarged  National  Covenant  of  1638. 
As  already  stated,  the  subscription  it  required  was  given  by  ministers  at  their  admis- 
sion almost  from  the  time  it  passed. f  In  the  oldest  collection  of  ecclesiastical  forms 
and  styles,  we  find  that  the  form  provided  for  admission  and  collation  of  a  minister 
exjiressly  narrates, J  that  cojtfession  of  kis  faith  had  been  received,  as  well  as  his  oath 
for  acknowledging  of  our  Sovereign  Lord's  authority,  both  of  which  were  required 
by  the  said  Act,  and  the  latter  by  it  alone.  Both  are  directed  to  be  required  in  the 
oldest  forms  of  presentation  extant  after  1572.^ 

The  history  from  the  issuing  of  the  King's  Confession  has  been  fully  given  under 
the  answers  to  former  queries,  and  appears  unquestionably  to  warrant  the  conclu- 
sion that  from  that  time  onwards  to  our  own  day,  the  ministers  of  the  Church  have 
been  required  by  subscription  to  testify  their  individual  adherence  to  her  creed,  in 
terms  more  or  less  definite. 

The  case  of  the  elders  from  the  first  seems  to  be  determined  by  the  fact  that  they 
were  required  to  be  men  of  "  best  knowledge  in  God's  word  and  cleanest  life;" 
that  they,  as  well  as  the  ministers,  were  subject  to  privy  censure  in  doctrine  as  well 
as  life;  and  that  they  were  required  to  "take  heed  to"  the  doctrine  as  well  as  the 
life  of  their  pastor.  From  1 581,  they,  as  well  as  ordinary  church  members,  had  to 
sign  the  Second  Confession  of  Faith,  which  implied  also  assent  to  the  First  and 
larger  Confession.     The  Westminster  Assembly  desired  that  they  be  "  men  of  good 

knowledge  whereof  neither  any  man  deserves  to  be  called  a  Christian  neither  ought  any  to  be  admitted 
to  the  participation  of  the  Lord's  Table." — Ch.  vii.  "  First  Book  of  Discipline." 

*  The  Covenant  had,  by  Act,  1648,  to  be  taken  before  first  communion. 

t  "  We  have  already  acknowledged  his  Majesty's  authority,  by  subscription  to  the  King's  Confes- 
sion on  our  admission  to  the  ministry."—"  Calderwood's  History,"  vol.  iv.  p.  528;  vi.  pp.  522,  528. 

t  "  Miscellany  of  Wodrow  Society,"  p.  530. 

\  "  Principal  Lee's  History,"  vol.  ii.  p.  386. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  981 

understanding  in  matters  of  religion,  sound  in  the  faiths  In  1690  and  1700,  sub- 
scription was  more  explicitly  required  of  them,  and  ever  since  it  has  continued  to  he 
so,  thoui^h  the  formula  to  which  iheir  assent  is  given  was  left  unchanged  in  1711, 
when  that  for  ministers  and  probationers  was  made  more  strict. 

The  case  as  to  ordinary  members  of  the  Church  may  not  be  deemed  by  some* 
(deservedly  held  in  high  esteem)  so  clear,  nor  early  practice  regarding  it  so  uni- 
lormly  consistent;  yet  evidence  that  such  adherence  was  required  in  a  general  way, 
even  from  them,  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  is  by  no  mean's 
scanty,  now  that  the  pul)lications  of  various  Antiquarian  and  Historical  Clubs  have 
made  us  more  fully  acquainted  with  those  times.  Several  of  the  early  Acts  of  Par- 
liament and  Assembly  include  them;  so  does  the  National  Covenant.  Such  adhe- 
rence had  been  demanded  of  the  members  of  the  churches  at  Frankfort  and  Geneva, 
with  which  Knox  was  associated!  when  on  the  Continent,  though  waived  by  him  on 
one  occasion.  It  was  demanded  of  the  ordinary  members  of  the  Church  of  Geneva, 
over  which  Calvin  presided.  J  It  was  demanded  in  the  Church  of  the  Foreigners  in 
London,  whose  usages  were  so  largely  adopted  by  our  Reformer.  It  was  demanded 
also  of  the  ordinary  members  of  the  Dutch^  and  French||  Churches,  with  which  the 
Church  of  Scotland  long  maintained  friendly  intercourse.  It  was  demanded  in  the 
Directory  of  Cartwright,][  which  was  largely  founded  on  the  teaching  of  Knox  and 
Calvin.  In  the  Church  of  Basle  the  Confession  was  read  over  annually  before  the 
congregation,  at  the  ante-communion  service  on  the  day  before  Maundy-Thursday, 
and  the  people  reminded  of  their  oath  to  abide  by  it.** 

The  earlier  Confessions  above  referred  to  are  all  in  fact,  as  has  been  already  men- 
tioned, confessions  of  the  body  of  church  members.  And  from  the  injunction  of  one 
of  them,  "  Ne  quis  suffragium  ferat  nisi  qui  fidem  antea  sit  professus,"  and  the  Acts 
of  1560  on  to  those  of  the  Covenanting  Assemblies  and  Parliaments,  ordaining, 
"under  pain  of  censure,  that  all  the  masters  of  universities,  colleges,  and  schools,  all 
scholars  at  the  passing  of  their  degrees,  all  persons  suspect  of  Papistry  or  any  other 
error,  and  finally,  all  (he  meinbeis  of  this  kirk  and  kingdom  subscribe, ^^  the  obliga- 
tion lay  on  them  as  well  as  on  the  office-bearers.  Even  down  to  the  stern  Acts  of 
the  post-Revolution  Assemblies  in  1696  and  1710,  applying  not  only  to  ministers, 
but  also  to  "  other  members  of  the  Church,"  and  the  Act  of  171 1,  requiring  converts 
from  Popery  to  sign  the  Confession  of  Faith  as  the  confession  of  their  faith,  the 
course  of  ecclesiastical  legislation  seems  to  have  tended  in  the  same  direction. ff 
Probably  the  earliest  Act  formally  relaxing  the  old  usage  was  that  passed  in  171  i.J;}: 

*Dunlop,a  distinguished  ornament  of  the  Church,  in  1719  maintained  that  only  office-bearers 
were  by  express  Acts  boimd  to  the  Confession.  But  great  objection  was  taken  to  his  able  preface  to 
the  Confession  by  many  of  his  brethren,  who  differed  from  him  in  the  matter:  and  he  himself  admits 
that  the  practice  in  his  day  was  as  it  is  stated  on  p.  ig.  Only  a  few  years  before,  the  Presbytery  of 
Elgin  and  Synod  of  Moray  had  made  it  matter  of  charge  against  one  of  their  number  that  he  did  not, 
in  administering  baptism,  "  mention  the  Confession  of  Faith  publicly  in  his  church." 

t  See  what  is  said  before  of  their  Confessions,  pp.  2,  3,  8,  10." 

t  Their  Confession  is  given,  and  the  circumstances  attending  the  making  it  described  in  the  new 
edition  of"  Calvin's  Works,"  vol.  v.,  pp.  xlii.,  and  357,  358. 

\"  Form  of  Church  Government  in  the  Low  Countries,"  p.  15. 

II  Quick's  "  Synodicon,"  vol.  i.,  p.  xxxv..  Canon  xxxi. 

\  Lorimer's  edition  of"  Directory  of  Church  Government  of  Elizabethan  Presbyterians." 

**  Hagenbach's  "  Geschichte  der  erstcn  Basler  Confession,"  p.  52. 

tt  From  the  "Annals  and  Statistics  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,"  it  appears  that  if  not 
from  the  Covenanting  times,  at  least  from  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  there  was  a  regu- 
lar organization  of  praying  societies  in  various  districts  of  the  country.  The  rules  of  the  St.  An- 
drews Society  in  1717,  as  given  in  the  "  Original  Secession  Magazine  "  for  January,  1879,  show 
that  the  members  were  required  individually  to  "  own  the  true  Christian  religion  reformed  and 
founded  upon  the  word  of  God,  and  summed  up  in  our  Confession  and  Catechism." 

11  Act  XI.,  Assembly  1706,  recommends  "  to  the  several  ministers  within  this  National  Church  to 
take  as  strict  trial  as  can  be  of  such  .is  they  admit  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  especially  before  their  first 
admission  thereto,  and  that  they  diligently  instruct  them  particularly  as  to  the  Covenant  of  Grace 
and  the  nature  and  ends  of  that  ordinance  as  a  seal  thereof,  and  charge  upon  their  consciences  the 
obligations  they  lie  under  from  their  baptismal  covenant,  and  seriously  exhort  them  to  renew  the 
same."  Various  Acts  of  Assembly  recommend  punctual  observance  of  the  practice  of  preaching 
catechetical  doctrine,  that  the  people  may  be  well  instructed  in  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion, 
and  Act  VIIL,  Assembly  1720,  directs  "  that  in  these  their  catechetical  sermons  they  more  espe- 
cially insist  upon  the  great  and  fundamental  truths  accordina;  to  our  Confession  of  Faith  and  Cate- 
chisms, such  as  that  of  the  Being  and  Providence  of  God  and  the  divine  authority  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 


982 


THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


It  earnestly  recommended  to  ministers  that  those  educated  in  other  Protestant 
churches,  who  had  come  to  reside  in  this  country,  and  desired  lo  join  in  communion 
with  this  Church,  should  be  tenderly  dealt  with,  and  expressly  allowed  them  to  re- 
ceive sealing  ordinances  for  themselves  and  their  children  on  their  professing  their 
faith  in  Christ  and  obedience  to  him,  and  engaging  to  bring  up  their  children  in  the 
fear  of  God  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the  Protestant  religion.  The 
practice  from  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  seems  almost  as  explicitly  to 
have  connected  the  profession  of  faith  with  the  administration  of  Baptism  as  with 
admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  although  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Directory  for  the  administration  of  Baptism  would  hardly  seem  to  us  to  wanant 
this.*  The  General  Assembly  of  1649  h'*'^  ordained  ministers  and  kirk-sessions  10 
"take  course"  that  in  every  house  where  there  is  one  that  can  read,  there  be  at 
least  one  copy  of  the  Shorter  and  Larger  Catechisms,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  and 
Directory  for  Family  Worship;  and  possiblyj-  it  was  in  connection  with  this  Act  that 
the  practice  grew  up  of  requiring  of  parents,  when  they  received  baptism  for  their 
children,  to  assent  in  some  form  or  other  to  the  Catechisms  and  Confession  of  Faith, 
and  even  to  the  Covenants.  Renwick  charged  it  as  a  defection  of  his  indulged 
brethren  that  they  had  forborne  to  name  the  Covenants  in  the  engagements  they  re- 
quired of  parents  on  such  occasions,  and  the  Episcopal  ministers  say  that  naming 
them  or  the  Confession  was  one  main  distinction  between  them  and  Piesbyterians.J 

This  practice  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  came  to  be  more  or  less  gener- 
ally exchanged  for  the  milder  form  which  continued  in  use  to  our  own  times — 
requiring  assent  to  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Word  of  God,  an  excellent  sum- 
mary of  which,  the  minister  was  careful  to  add,  may  be  found  in  the  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Church.  As  late,  however,  as 
1802,  in  the  "Scotch  Minister's  Assistant,"  printed  at  Inverness,  the  following 
stronger  form  of  interrogatory  is  the  only  one  given :  "  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  contain  the  mind  and  will  of  God,  and  that  the 
Confession  and  Catechisms  of  this  national  Church  are  agreeable  to  and  founded 
upon  the  Holy  Scri[)lures,  and  are  you  sincerely  desirous  that  your  child  should  be 
baptized  in  this  faith  ?"      Both  these  forms  have  now  fallen  into  desuetude. 

In  1869  the  following  overture  was  laid  before  the  General  Assembly: — 
"  Whereas  it  is  desirable  that  members  of  the  Church,  when  called  upon  to  make 
professions  of  faith,  and  to  come  under  solemn  obligations,  as  in  the  case  of  parents 
actin^j  as  sponsoi^s  in  the  sacrament  of  Baptism,  should  know  beforehand  what  pro- 
fessions and  promises  are  to  be  exacted  from  them,  and  also  that  there  should  be,  as 
far  as  possible,  uniformity  in  such  matters  throughout  the  Church,  it  is  humbly  over- 
tured  to  the  Venerable  the  General  Assembly  to  take  this  matter  into  consideration, 

tares,  the  necessary  doctrine  of  the  ever-blessed  Trinity  in  the  Unity  of  the  Godhead,  particularly 
of  th,;  eternal  deity  of  our  Lord  an<l  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  satisfaction  to  divine  justice 
made  by  him  who  is  our  only  propitiation,  of  reg;neration  by  efficacious  grace,  of  free  justification 
through  our  blessed  Surety,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  received  by  faith  alone,  and  of  the  necessity  of  a 
holy  life." 

*  But  in  the  National  Covenant  or  Confession,  which  was  then  equally  authoritative  with  the  new 
standards,  they  had  a  very  strict  definition  of  what  was  "  the  only  true  Christian  faith  and  religion  ;" 
and  in  the  Form  for  the  administration  of  Baptism,  which  had  been  long  current  among  them,  they 
had  both  a  Creed  and  an  authoritative  exposition  of  it. 

fOr  piissibly  when,  at  the  request  of  the  Scottish  General  Assembly,  the  Westminster  Divines 
and  the  English  Parliament  agreed  (see  Minutes  of  Houses  of  Commons  and  Lords  for  5th  March, 
1644-5)  to  strike  out  of  the  Westminster  Directory  the  three  interrogatories  it  had  originally  con- 
tained, they  were  entitled,  if  not  bound,  under  their  Act  of  1645  regarding  the  Directory  for  Public 
Worship,  to  revert  to  the  usage  sanctioned  by  old  Acts  of  Assembly,  and  especially  the  Act  of  As- 
>embly  1602,  whereby  only  parents  who  gave  "a  Christian  confession  of  their  faith"  were  to  have 
their  children  baptized.  This  Act,  at  the  time  it  was  passed,  was  probably  interpreted  as  meaning 
nothing  more  than  compliance  with  the  requirements  of  the  Book  of  Common  Order.  But  by  1639 
the  Christian  confession  referred  to  in  the  Act  came  naturally  to  be  identified  with  that  particular 
Confession  and  Covenant  which  it  was  then  imperative  on  all  members  of  the  Church  to  subscribe, 
.IS  after  the  Revolution  it  naturally  was  with  that  one  which  was  then  "  the  public  and  avowed  Con- 
fession "  of  the  Church.  Even  in  England  brief  articles  were  adopted  in  1648,  ignorance  of  which 
excluded  from  communion. 

J  Crookshank's  "  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  410,  Preface  to  "Case  of  Suffer- 
ing [Episcopal]  Church  of  Scotland,"  and  other  contemporary  pamphlets. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  983 

and,  if  they  see  fit,  to  refer  it  to  tlie  Committee  on  Aids  to  Devotion,  with  instruc- 
tions to  report  to  next  General  Assembly."  'Ihc  overture,  as  desired,  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Aids  to  Devotion,  of  which  tiie  late  Dr.  Crawford  was  Con- 
vener, and  on  a  report  presented  by  that  Committee,  ihe  Assembly  of  1870  earnestly 
recommended  all  ministers  to  frame  their  baptismal  adiiresses  and  exhortations 
according  to  the  method  set  forth  in  the  •'  Directory  for  the  Public  Worship  of 
God,"  "and  enjoined  them  to  confine  the  exercise  of  tlieir  discretion  in  exacting 
baptismal  professions  within  those  just  and  reasonable  limits  which  the  Directory  pre- 
scribes." The  General  Assembly  further  "  instructed  the  Committee  to  renew  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  with  reference  to  cases  of  adult  as  well  as  infant  liaptism  ; 
and  also  to  prepare  a  form  consistently  with  the  rules  in  the  Directory  in  which  the 
professions  and  engagements  of  Christian  parents  may  be  expressed,  and  to  submit 
such  form  to  the  consideration  of  next  General  Assembly." 

In  ol)edience  to  these  instructions,  the  Committee  prepared  and  reported  to  the 
Assembly  of  187 1  two  forms  of  address  to  Christian  parents  when  presenting  their 
children  for  baptism,  and  one  form  of  address  to  an  adult  desiring  to  be  baptizeil. 
The  Assembly,  without  pronouncing  any  opinion  on  these  forms,  appointed  a 
copy  of  the  report  containing  them  to  be  sent  to  every  minister  of  the  Cliurch.  The 
following  are  the  portions  of  the  addresses  which  have  reference  to  doctrines  to  be 
believed  : 

I.  "  In  presenting  this  child  for  baptism,  you  declare  your  faith  in  the  only  living 
and  true  God,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  in  whose  name  he  is  to  be  baptized : 
you  confess  the  fallen  and  sinful  condition  in  which  he  and  all  flesh  are  born  into 
the  world,  and  testify  your  desire  that  he  should  be  saved  from  it  by  the  purifying 
virtue  of  the  blood  and  spirit  of  Christ :  you  bring  him  to  be  solemnly  received  into 
the  visible  Church,  trusting  that  hexw-xy  be  savingly  engrafted  into  Christ,  made  par- 
taker of  all  the  benefits  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  finally  received  into  the 
Church  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven :  and  you  acknowledge  the  obligation  thereby 
laid  upon  him  to  renounce  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and  to  yield  himself 
up  to  the  service  of  his  God  and  Saviour." 

II.  "So  soon  as  this  child  shall  be  able  to  receive  instruction,  it  will  be  your 
duty  to  teach  him  the  doctrines  of  that  holy  faith  into  which  he  is  now  to  be  baptized, 
whereof  '  a  brief  sum,  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  anciently  received  in  the 
Churches  of  Christ,'  is  set  forth  in  the  Creed,  wherein  we  say,  '  I  believe  in  God, 
the  Father  Almighty,  etc' 

"  Is  this  the  faith  wherein  you  believe,  and  will  instruct  this  child?" 

III.  Forasmuch,  then,  as  you  are  desirous  of  receiving  this  holy  Sacrament,  it  is 
necessary  that  you  sincerely  give  answer  before  God  and  His  Church  to  the  questions 
I  have  now  to  ask. 

"  Do  you  heartily  receive  the  doctrines  of  that  holy  faith  into  which  you  are  to  be 
baptized,  of  which  a  brief  sum,  agreeable  to  the  Woixl  of  God,  and  anciently 
received  in  the  Churches  of  Christ,  is  set  forth  in  the  Creed,  wherein  we  say,  '  I 
believe  in  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  etc.?' 

"These  articles  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Word  of 
God,  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  you  believe,  and 
in  this  faith  you  desire  to  be  baptized.      Do  you  not  ? 

"  Do  you  receive  and  rest  on  Christ  alone  for  salvation  as  He  is  offered  to  you  in 
the  Gospel;  and  is  it  your  earnest  desire  to  be  washed,  and  justified,  and  sanctified 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God  ? 

"  Do  you,  with  heartfelt  sorrow  for  your  sins,  renounce  the  devil,  the  world,  and 
the  flesh,  and  giving  yourself  up  entirely  to  the  Lord,  do  you  promise,  in  humble 
dependence  on  Mis  grace,  to  honour  and  serve  Him  all  the  days  of  your  life?  " 

Since  the   Revolution,  no  Act  of  the   Legislature  has  imposed   subscription  *  of 

*  In  1695,  however,  the  Scottish  Parliament  enacted,  "that  whosoever  hereafter  shall,  in  their 
writing  or  discourse,  deny,  impugn  or  qiiarrol,  argue  or  reason  against  the  being  of  God  or  any  of 
the  persons  of  the  blessed  Trinity,  or  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  or  the  providence  of  God  in  the  government  of  the  world,  shall  fur  the  first  fault  be 
punished  with  imprisonment,  ay  and  until  they  give  public  satisfaction  in  sackcloth  to  the  congrega- 
tion within  which  the  scandal  was  committed." 


984  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  Confession  on  any  individually,  save  on  ministers,  preachers,  professors,  and 
teachers.  And  probably,  save  in  the  early  years  of  the  eit;hteenth  century,  the 
Church  did  not  mean  mure  i)y  her  Acts  as  to  others*  than  to  require  a  general  ad- 
herence to  her  creeds- — ■"  the  heads,"  as  they  are  termed  in  the  Act  of  1560,  "of 
the  Confession  of  P'aith,"  or,  as  in  Act  1711,  "the  principles  of  the  Protestant 
religion," — a  profession  in  accordance  with  her  teaching  up  to  the  measure  of  the 
candidate's  knowledge,  and  an  honest  "  minting  "  after  further  attainments.  She 
never  failed  to  distinguish  between  defiant  contradictors  and  those  able  to  yield  only 
a  general  or  partial  assent,  but  willing  to  abide  in  her  communion,  wait  on  her 
teaching,  and  seek  from  God  further  light  and  guidance.  She  had,  in  her  First 
Book  of  Discipline,  defined  lieresy  to  mean  pernicious  doctrine  plainly  taught  and 
oi)stinately  defended  against  the  foundations  and  principles  of  our  faith.  Her  rep- 
resL-niatives  at  Westminster  had  assented  to  the  statement,  "  Such  errors  as  subvert 
the  fliith,  or  any  other  eirors  which  overthrow  the  power  of  godliness,  if  the  party, 
who  holds  them  spread  them  .  ,  .  those  being  publicly  known  to  the  just  scandal 
of  the  Church,  the  sentence  of  excommunication  shall  proceed."  "  But  the  persons 
who  hold  other  errors  in  judgment  about  points  wherein  learned  and  godly  men 
possibly  may  and  do  differ  .  .  .  we  do  not  decern  to  be  such  against  whom  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  for  these  causes  should  be  denounced."  f  And  while, 
no  doubt,  she  would  liave  indorsed  the  affirmation  of  these  Commissioners :  "  For 
us,  as  upon  the  one  ]5art  we  not  only  conceive  that  no  ninn  attaineth  to  [so]  full 
assurance  of  faith  in  any  matter  of  religion  but  he  may  receive  increase  of  his  faith, 
and  therefore  should  always  have  his  mind  open  and  ready  to  receive  more  light 
from  the  Word  and  Sjiirit  of  God  .  .  .  yet  God  for])id  that  we  should  never  come 
to  any  certainty  of  persuasion,  or  that  we  should  ever  be  learning  and  never  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  ;  we  ought  to  be  resolute  and  immoveable  in  so  far  as 
we  have  attained  ;  and  this  we  take  to  be  the  ground,  as  of  other  practices,  so  also  of 
covenants  and  oaths,  both  assertory  and  ]iromissory,  in  matters  of  religion."  \  Yet  not 
a  few  of  her  best  defenders  would  probably,  then  as  now,  have  acquiesced  in  the 
conclusion  of  Rutherford,  "  Because  Confessions  are  to  be  believed  in  so  far  as  they 
are  agreeable  to  God's  Word,  and  lay  upon  us  an  obligation  secondary  only,  yet  are 
they  not  so  loo^e  as  that  we  may  leap  from  points  of  faith  and  make  the  doctrine  of 
faith  arena  f^iadia/oria,  a  fencing  field  for  gamesters  and  fencers.  The  material 
object  of  our  faith  ;  and  the  primary  ground  and  foundation  thereof,  may  be  very 
well,  and  is,  God's  Word ;  secondary  is  preaching,  confessions,  creeds,  symbols 
which  are  not  sej-ie  et  ordine  scriplurae ;  and  yet  have  we  certainty  of  divine  faith 
in  these  things,  because  the  formal  object  is,  because  God  so  sailh  in  His  Scripture, 
and  we  believe  these  with  certainty  of  divine  faith,  under  this  reduplication,  because 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  these  quoad  sensunt  in  true  meaning,  though  not  in  ilia  serie 
et  ordine."  ^ 

*  In  the  very  next  year,  the  General  Assembly  passed  their  Act  "  against  the  atheistical  opinions 
of  the  Deists,  and  for  establishing  the  Confession  of  Faith,"  wherein  they  enjoin  ministers,  when 
occasion  calls,  "  to  detect  the  abominableness  of  the  tenets  of  those  men,  such  as  the  denying  of 
all  revealed  religion  and  the  grand  mysteries  of  the  Gospel,  viz.,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the 
incarnation  of  the  Messiah,  His  satisfaction  to  justice,  salvation  through  Him,  justification  by  His 
imputed  righteousness  to  them  who  believe  on  His  name,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and,  in  a 
word,  the  certainty  and  authority  of  Scripture  revelation,"  and  require  ministers  to  "  deal  seriously 
with  the  seduced  and  such  as  are  mostly  in  hazard  to  be  perverted,  but  especially  with  seducers  and 
impostors,  that,  after  sufficient  instruction  and  admonition,  these  be  proceeded  against,  as  scanda- 
lous and  heretical  apostates  used  to  be  ;  and  in  'general  the  Assembly  doth  discharge  all  ministers 
and  other  members  of  this  Church  to  publish  or  vent,  either  by  speaking,  writing,  printing,  teaching 
or  preaching,  any  doctrine,  tenet,  or  opinion,  contrary  unto  or  inconsistent  with  the  Confession  of 
Faith  of  this  Church,  or  any  article,  part  or  proposition  therein,  and  appoint  that  all  such  as  con- 
travene this  Act,  or  any  part  thereof,  be  censured  by  the  Church  according  to  their  demerit." 

t  Directory  for  Church  Government  and  Excommunication,  drawn  up  by  the  Westminster 
Assembly. 

t "  Reformation  of  Church  Government  in  Scotland  cleared,"  etc.,  by  Commissioners  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Church  of  Scotland  now  in  London,  p.  5. 

J  Rutherford's  "  Due  Right  of  Presbyteries,"  p.  139. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  985 

No.  II.   FREE   CHURCH    OF   SCOTLAND. 

Query  I. —  What  arc  the  existing  Creeds  or  Confessions  of  this  Church  ?  and  what 
have  been  its  previous  Creeds  and  Confessions,  'cuith  any  modifications  of  these, 
and  the  dates  and  occasions  of  the  same,  from  the  Reformation  to  tlie  present  day  ? 

Answer  I. — [a.')  The  existin;^  creed  or  Confession  of  the  Free  Church  of  Sco:- 
land  is  the  "  Conlession  of  Faith  agreed  upon  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  sitting  at 
Westminster,  v.itli  the  assistance  of  Commissioners  from  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,"* 
which  is  described  in  the  forms  of  adherence  as  "  approven  by  former  General  Assem- 
blies of  this  Church  ;  "  the  reference  in  these  words  being  in  accordance  with  the 
Free  Church's  claim  to  continuity  as  the  Church  of  Scotlantl,  especially  to  the 
Assembly  of  1647,  which  expressly  approved  the  Confession,  and  to  those  of  1648 
and  1649,  which  virtually  repeated  that  approval.  The  Act  of  Assembly  of  27th 
August,  1647,  accepted  the  Confession  only  with  certain  express  declarations  and 
provisions;  and  the  Act  of  the  Free  Church  Assembly  of  1st  June,  1846,  when 
amending  the  formula  of  adherence,  also  makes  a  declaration  as  to  the  Church's 
understanding  of  certain  parts  of  the  Confession.  The  existing  Creed  of  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland  is  therefore  the  Westminster  Confession  under  the  following 
declarations : 

1647.  "  But  lest  our  intention  and  meaning  be  in  some  particulars  misunderstood, 
it  is  hereby  expressly  declared  and  provided,  That  the  not  mentioning  in  this 
Confession  the  several  sorts  of  ecclesiastical  officers  and  assemblies  shall  be  no 
prejudice  to  the  truth  of  Christ  in  these  particulars,  to  be  expressed  fully  in  the 
Directory  of  Government.  It  is  further  declared.  That  the  Assembly  understandeth 
some  parts  of  the  second  article  of  the  thirty-one  chapter,  only  of  kirks  not  settled 
or  constituted  in  point  of  government ;  And  that  although,  in  such  kirks,  a  synod 
of  ministers  and  other  fit  persons  may  be  called  by  the  Magistrate's  authority  and 
nomination,  without  any  other  call,  to  consult  and  advise  with,  about  matters  of 
religion  ;  and  although  likewise  the  Ministers  of  Christ,  without  delegation  from 
their  churches,  may  of  themselves,  and  by  virtue  of  their  office,  meet  together 
synodically  in  such  kirks  not  yet  constituted,  yet  neither  of  these  ought  to  be  done 
in  kirks  constituted  and  settled;  it  being  always  free  to  the  Magistrate  to  advise 
with  synods  of  ministers  and  ruling  elders,  meeting  upon  delegation  from  their 
Churches,  either  ordinarily  or  being  indicted  by  his  authority,  occasionally  and /;<? 
re  nata  ;  it  being  also  free  to  assemble  together  synodically,  as  well  a?,  pro  re  nata 
as  at  the  ordinary  times,  upon  delegation  from  the  churches  by  the  intrinsical  power 
received  from  Christ,  as  often  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  Church  so 
to  assemble,  in  case  the  Magistrate,  to  the  detriment  of  the  Church,  withhold  or 
deny  his  consent ;  the  necessity  of  occasional  assemblies  being  first  remonstrate 
unto  him  by  humble  supplication." 
1846.  "And  the  General  Assembly,  in  passing  this  act,  think  it  right  to  declare  that 
while  the  Church  firmly  maintains  the  same  scriptural  principles  as  to  the  duties 
of  nations  and  their  rulers  in  reference  to  true  religion,  and  the  Church  of  Christ, 
for  which  she  lias  hitherto  contended,  she  disclaims  intolerant  or  persecuting 
principles,  and  does  not  regard  her  Confession  of  Faith,  or  any  portion  thereof, 
when  fairly  interi^reted,  as  favoring  intolerance  or  persecution,  or  consider  that 
lier  office-bearers,  by  subscribing  it,  profess  any  principles  inconsistent  with  liberty 
of  conscience  and  the  right  of  private  judgment." 

The  authority  of  these  declarations,  as  interpreting  the  formula  of  adherence  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith  in  the  Free  Church  of  .Scotland,  is  confirmed  by  the  express 
recognition  of  them  in  the  Act  of  Union  with  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church, 
25th  May,  1876. 

{b.)  The  only  previous  Creed  of  this  Church  since  the  Reformation  was  "  the  Con- 
fession of  the  Faith  and  Doctrine  believed  and  professed  by  the  Protestants  of  the 
Realm  of  Scotland"  [Confessio  Scoticana),  adopted  by  the  Church,  and  ratified  by, 
the  Estates  of  the  kingdom  in  1560.     It  continued  to  be  the  Creed  of  the  Church 

*  This  is  the  title  by  which  it  is  designated  in  the  Act  of  Assembly,  1647.  That  prcfi-vcd  to  the 
authonz>.d  edition;,  of  it  be^i.is  us  above,  but  is  fuller. 


986 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


of  Scotland  till  27th  August,  1647,  when,  as  before  mentioned,  the  Westminster 
Confession  was  adopted  as  "  most  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  in  nothing 
contrary  to  the  received  doctrine,  worship,  discipline  and  government  oi  this  Kirk." 
There  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  "  modification  "  of  this  Creed  in  the  sense  of 
the  question  put  to  the  Committee.  The  National  Covenant  of  1580  is  indeed  called, 
by  analternaiive  title,  "  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  ;  "*  but  it  only 
contains  a  positive  adherence  to  the  "  faith  and  religion  "  expressed  in  the  "  Con- 
fession of  our  Faith"  of  1560,  and  then  goes  on  to  protest  negatively  against  certain 
errors  opposed  thereto.  These  Confessions  alone  were  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term 
adopted  by  the  Church  as  its  own  ;  but  several  others,  which  are  mentioned  in  the 
answers  to  this  cjuestion  in  regard  to  the  Established  Church  ol  Scotland,  were 
approved  for  various  purposes  at  different  dates.  Further,  the  National  Covenant 
and  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  are  not  in  the  proper  sense  Creeds  or  Confessions 
of  Faith,  and  have  not  been  regarded  as  such  by  either  of  the  two  bodies  whose 
union  in  1876  makes  up  the  existing  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  The  view  of  the 
F"ree  Church  before  that  union  on  this  subject,  and  as  to  its  standards  generally,  is 
given  in  the  Act  and  Declaration  of  the  General  Assemby,  2lst  May,  1851,  prefixed 
by  authority  of  that  Assembly  to  "  a  volume  containing  the  Subordinate  Standards 
and  other  authoritative  documents  of  this  Church;  "  and  the  said  Act  is  referred  to 
as  part  of  this  report.  The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  which  united  with  the 
Free  Church  in  1876,  the  united  body  taking  the  name  of  the  latter,  has,  ever  since 
its  separation  from  the  Established  Church  in  1690,  held  the  Westminster  Confession 
and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  but  only  as  accepted  by  the  Church  of  Scotland 
in  1647,  and  as  the  same  are  received  and  approved  by  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church  in  its  authorized  Testmiony,  to  be  the  only  creed  or  proper  Confession  of 
Faith  of  the  Church  ;  though  it  has  given  the  greatest  weight  to  the  Covenants  and 
other  Testimonies  issued  by  the  Church  of  Scotland  and  by  itself  while  in  a  condi- 
tion of  separation.  The  doctrinal  part  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church's  Testi- 
mony, adopted  by  its  Synod,  15th  May,  1837,  contains  the  following  statement 
(chap.  XV.,  end)  :  "  The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  organized  on  an 
adherence  to  the  principles  of  the  Protestant  Presbyterian  Covenanted  Church  of 
Scotland.  These  principles  have  been  exhibited  in  the  Covenants,  Westminster  Con- 
fession, Catechisms,  the  form  of  Presbyterian  Church  Government,  the  Directory  for 
Worship,  and  in  the  Testimonies  of  the  Martyrs;  and  we  believe  them  to  be  substan 
tially  founded  on  the  Bible.  When  we  specify  these  writings,  we  are  not  pledged  to 
defend  every  sentiment  or  expression  to  be  found  in  them.  We  have  given  a  dec- 
laration of  the  scriptural  principles  to  which  we  adhere.  And  while  we  have 
endeavored  to  give  the  reason  of  our  faith  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  we  cheerfully 
refer  to  the  Testimonies  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  proof  that  these  principles 
have  been  embraced  by  her,  and  of  our  approbation  of  her  zeal  and  fidelity."  And 
in  the  historical  part  of  the  Testimony  published  in  1839,  there  is  the  following 
explanation  of  the  sense  in  which  the  Confession  is  understood  (Period  II L 
chap.  5) : 

"  We  shall  only  add  here,  that  as  some  have,  from  ignorance  or  from  more  unworthy 
causes,  reproached  us  as  holding  persecuting  principles,  we  meet  the  charge  with  a 
calm  but  firm  denial.  We  do  not  indeed  exalt  conscience  to  be  a  rival  of  the  Most 
High,  nor  recognize  those  presumptuous  claims  for  it,  which  tend  to  abrogate  His 
authority.  But  we  distinctly  teach  that  God  only  is  the  Lord  of  conscience;  and 
that  to  have  recourse  to  a  system  of  pains  and  penalties,  to  employ  civil  coercion  of 
any  kind,  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  men  to  renounce  an  erroneous  creed,  or  to 
espouse  and  profess  a  sound  scriptural  one,  is  incompatible  with  the  nature  of  true 
religion,  and  must  ever  prove  ineft'ectual  in  practice." 

Then  follows  an  explanation  of  two  passages  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  (Chap. 
XX.  sect.  4,  and  Chap,  xxiii.  sect.  3),  which  have  been  supposed  to  teach  persecuting 
principles. 

*  This  is  its  most  proper  title  until  1638,  when  it  was  signed  with  additions,  which  gave  it  more  dis- 
tinctly the  form  of  a  Covenant.  It  is  also  known  .by  the  names  of  the  King's  Confession  and  the 
Negative  Confession. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  987 

The  first  formal  Testimony  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  was  published 
in  1761,  and  an  acknowleilginent  of  this  document  was  thenceforward  required  as  a 
term  of  ministerial  and  Christian  communion  in  the  Church  ;  not  however  as  a  Creed 
superseding  or  supplementing  the  Westminster  Confession,  but  as  a  testimony  ex- 
plaining, vindicating,  and  recommending  its  principles.*  A  new  exhii>ition  of  the 
principles  of  the  Church  was  made  by  the  adoption,  in  1837,  of  the  Doctrinal  pari, 
and  in  1S39  of  the  Historical  part  of  the  Testimony  in  a  form  deemed  suitable  to 
that  time. 

Query  II. —  What  are  the  existing  formulas  of  subscription,  if  any,  and  what  have 
been  the  previous  formulas  of  subscription  used  in  this  Church  in  connection  with 
its  Creeds  and  Confessions  ? 

Answer  II. — (<?.)  The  existing  form  of  adherence  to  the  Confession  used  in 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  consists  of  satisfactory  answers  to  the  following  ques- 
tions ; — 

(i.)   For  Riders  and  Deacons. 

1.  Do  you  iielieve  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  declare  the  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by  former 
General  Assemblies  of  this  Church,  to  be  the  confession  of  your  faith;  and  do  you 
own  the  doctrine  therein  contained  to  be  the  true  doctrine,  which  you  will  constantly 
adhere  to  ? 

(ii.)   For  Probationers. 

1.  Same  as  under  (i.). 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  approven  by  former  General  Assemblies  of  this  Church,  to  be  the  truths  of 
God  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments ;  and  do  you  own 
the  whole  doctrine  therein  contained  as  the  confession  of  your  faith? 

(iii.)   For  Ministers. 

1.  Same  as  under  (i.). 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  approven  by  former  General  Assemblies  of  this  Church,  to  be  founded 
upon  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  do  you  acknowledge  the  same  as  the  confession  of 
your  faith ;  and  will  you  firmly  and  constantly  adhere  thereto,  and  to  the  utmost  of 
your  power  assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  same,  and  the  purity  of  worship  as 
presently  practised  in  this  Church  ? 

3.  Do  you  disown  all  Popish,  Arian,  Socinian,  Arminian,  Erastian.f  and  other 
doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever,  contrary  to  and  inconsistent  with  the 
aforesaid  Confession  of  Faith  ? 

Followed  by  subscription  of  the  following  formula,  which  is  the  same  for  all : — 
"  I, — ,  do  hereby  declare  that  I  do  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine 
contained  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by  former  General  Assemblies  of 
this  Church,  to  be  the  truths  of  God,  and  I  do  own  the  same  as  the  confession  of 
my  faith;  as  likewise  I  do  own  the  purity  of  worship  j^resently  authorized  and  prac- 
tised in  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  also  the  Presbyterian  government  and 
discipline  thereof;  which  doctrine,  worship,  and  Church  government,  I  am  per- 
suaded, are  founded  on  the  Word  of  God,  and  agreeable  thereto:  I  also  a]:)prove 
of  the  general  principles  respecting  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church,  and  her  subjec- 
tion to  Christ  as  her  only  Head,  which  are  contained  in  the  Claim  of  Right  and  in 
the  Protest  referred  to  in  the  questions  already  put  to  me;  and  I  promise  that, 
through  the  grace  of  God,  I  shall  firmly  and  constantly  adhere  to  the  same,  and  to 
the  utmost  of  my  power  shall  in  my  station,  assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  said 
doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  this  Church,  by  Kirk-sessions,  Pres- 
byteries, Provincial  Synods,  and  General  Assemblies,  together  with  the  liberty  and 

♦See  Historical  part  of  the  Testimony,  Period  iv.  chap.  4,  p.  206,  ed.  1839. 

+  The  word  "  Erastian  "  in  this  question  was  substituted  for  "  Bourignian  "  by  the  Interim  Act  of 
Assembly  1844,  made  a  standing  law  of  the  Church  in  1846. 


988  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

exclusive  jurisdiction  thereof;  and  that  I  shall,  in  my  practice,  conform  myself  to 
the  said  worship,  and  submit  to  the  said  discipline,  government,  and  exclusive  juris- 
diction, and  not  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  suln'ersion  of  the 
same ;  and  I  promi'^e  that  I  shall  follow  no  divisive  course  from  the  doctrine,  wor- 
ship, discipline,  government,  and  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  this  Church,  renouncing 
all  doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever,  contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the 
said  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  government,  or  jurisdiction  of  the  same." 

These  forms  have  been  the  standing  law  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  since 
1846;  but  the  questions  were  used  under  Interim  Acts  of  Assembly  from  1844, 
though  the  formula  was  first  adopted  in  1846. 

{b.)  As  to  previous  forms,  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  anything  exactly 
corresponding  to  the  formula  of  subscription  in  connection  with  the  Scottish  Confes- 
sion of  1560.  As  that  Confession  runs  throughout  in  the  first  person,  "  We  con- 
fess," etc.,  it  could  be  subscribed  directly  without  any  explanatory  formula;*  but 
the  National  Covenant  or  Confession  of  1580  was  the  form  in  which  it  was  usually 
subscribed  after  that  date.  Subscription  to  this,f  and  afterwards  also  to  the  .Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  (1643),  seems  to  have  been  the  only  prescribed  form  of  ad- 
herence to  the  Scottish  Confession,  and  to  the  Westminster  Confession  from  1647  til. 
1690.  Various  forms  of  subscription  were,  however,  used  locally  in  Universities, 
Presbyteries,  etc.,  without  any  express  law  or  authority  from  the  Assembly.  Ex- 
amples of  these  are  given  in  the  answer  to  this  question  in  regard  to  the  Established 
Church  of  Scotland. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1690  required  all  probationers,  elders,  and  ministers 
"  to  subscribe  their  approbation  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by  former  Gen- 
eral Assemblies  of  this  Church,  and  ratified  in  the  second  session  of  the  current 
Parliament;  "  and  the  Absembly  of  1694  appointed  the  following  formula  of  sub- 
scription : — 

"  I,  — ,  do  sincerely  own  and  declare  the  above  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by 
former  General  Assenililies  of  this  Church,  and  ratified  by  law  in  the  year  1690,  to 
be  the  confession  of  my  faith;  and  that  I  own  the  doctrine  therein  contained  to  be 
the  true  doctrine,  which  I  will  constantly  adhere  to,"  etc.     See  p.  6. 

This  continued  to  be  the  formula  fur  ministers  and  probationers  till  1711,  when 
the  General  Assembly  appointed  the  following  questions : — 

(i.)   For  Probationers. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  approven  by  the  General  Assemblies  of  this  National  Church,  and  ratified  by 
law  in  the  year  1690,  and  frequently  confirmed  by  divers  Acts  of  Parliament  since 
that  time,  to  be  the  truths  of  God  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament ;  and  do  you  own  the  whole  doctrine  therein  contained  to  be  the  confes- 
sion of  your  faith  ? 

(ii.)   For  Ministers. 

1.  Same  as  i.  under  (i.). 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  approven  by  the  General  Assemblies  of  this  National  Church,  and 
ratified  by  law  in  the  year  1690,  to  be  founded  upon  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  do  you 
acknowledge  the  same  as  the  confession  of  your  faith,  and  will  you  firmly  and  con- 
stantly adhere  thereto,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  assert,  maintain,  and  defend 
the  same,  and  the  j^iurity  of  worship  as  presently  practised  in  this  National  Church 
and  asserted  in  Act  15,  Assembly  1707? 

3.  Do  you  disown  all   Popish,  Arian,  Socinian,  Arminian,  Bourignian  and  other 

*The  Act  of  Parliament  1572,  c.  46,  required  every  minister  to  give  his  assent  and  subscribe  the 
Articles  of  Religion,  /'.  e.  the  Scottish  Confession,  without  any  mtntion  of  a  formula. 

t  By  Act  of  Assembly,  8th  August,  1643,  s"  ministers  on  their  admission  were  required  to  subscribe 
the  Covenant;  and  this  seems  to  have  been  held  to  require  also  subscription  to  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant  afterwards  adopted,  which  implicitly  contained  an  approval  of  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession as  part  of  the  covenanted  uniformity. — See  Wodrow's  Correspondence^  vol.  iii.,  p.  84. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  989 

doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever  contrary  to  and  inconsistent  with  tho 
foresaid  Confession  of  Faith? 

And  the  following  formula  to  he  suhscribed  by  both  : — 

"  I,  — ,  do  hereby  declare.  That  I  do  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doc- 
trine contained  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  approven  by  the  General  Assemblies  of 
this  National  Church,  and  ratified  by  law  in  the  year  1690,  and  frequently  confirmed 
by  divers  Acts  of  Parliament  since  that  time,  to  be  the  truths  of  God,  and  I  do  own 
the  same  as  the  confession  of  my  faith,"  etc.     See  p.  6. 

The  formula  of  1694  continued  to  be  subscribed  by  elders,  but  was  superseded  in 
1S46  for  the  Free  Church  by  that  already  given.  The  formula  of  171 1,  for  proba- 
tioners and  ministers,  also  continued  in  use  till  that  of  1846  was  adopted  in  the  Free 
Church. 

In  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  the  previous  forms  of  adherence  have  been 
by  subscription  up  to  the  year  1820,  since  which  time  oral  and  public  assent  has 
been  exacted  in  the  Courts  of  the  Church  on  every  occasion  of  licence  given  to  a 
probationer  or  ordination  to  a  minister.  Originally  the  questions  were  similar  to 
those  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,*  but  in  1870  they  were  slightly  modified,  and  ex- 
pressed in  the  following  terms: — 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  believe  and  own  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  agreed  upon  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines 
at  Westminster,  as  the  same  are  received  and  approved  by  this  Church  in  its  author- 
ized Testimony,  to  be  founded  upon  and  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  do  you 
own  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  as  the  confession  of  your  faith  ? 

Query  III. — How  far  has  individual  adherence  to  these  Creeds,  by  subscription  or 
otherivise,  been  required  from  the  Ministers,  Elders,  or  other  Office-bearers  re- 
spectively, and  also  from  the  private  Members  of  the  savie  ? 

Answer  III. — [a.)  From  probationers  on  receiving  licence,  and  from  deacons, 
elders,  and  ministers,  on  their  admission  to  their  respective  offices  in  any  congrega- 
tion, there  is  required  by  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  an  expression  of  personal 
adherence  to  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  in  terms  of  the  formula 
given  above,  which  must  be  subscribed  by  them. 

In  regard  to  private  members  it  is  held  as  a  general  principle,  that  among  the 
qualifications  necessary  for  their  admission  is  ♦'  a  confession  of  faith  in  accordance 
with  the  Word  of  God  and  the  Standards  of  the  Church,"  as  well  as  "  a  competent 
knowledge  of  religious  truth. "f  The  various  Catechisms  that  have  been  at  different 
limes  in  use  have  been  intended  as  means  for  the  instruction  and  examination  of 
ajiplicanls  for  Church  membership;];  and  since  1648  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Cate- 
chisms of  the  Westminster  Assembly  have  been  sanctioned  for  that  purpose,  and  are 
recognized  by  the  Free  Church  of  .Scotland  in  the  Act  and  Declaration  of  1851. 
But  no  form  of  personal  adherence  to  any  body  of  doctrine  is  required  or  recom- 
mended to  be  asked  of  ])rivate  members;  and  it  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  Sessions 
to  judge  of  the  amount  of  knowledge  and  profession  of  faith  sufficient  in  each  case 
to  warrant  admission  to  the  Church. 

(1:^.)  As  to  the  past,  individual  adherence  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Confession  has 
been  recjuired  of  ministers  in  ter-ms  of  the  various  formulas  given  above:  from  1690 
onwards  also  of  elders;  and  in  the  Free  Church  from  1846,  of  deacons  as  well. 
From  1581  onwards  that  personal  adherence  to  the  Confession  that  is  implied  in 

*  See  Appendix,  p.  02,  where  the  doctrinal  and  other  questions  in  use  as  far  back  as  1743  are  printed. 

t"  The  Practice  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  in  her  several  Courts,"  p.  16  (Edinburgh,  1871). 
See  also  "The  Sum  of  the  First  Book  of  Discipline,"  \  xiil. 

J  Thus  Craig's  Catechism  is  entitled  "Ane  form  of  examination  before  the  Communion,"  and  as 
such  was  allowed  by  the  Assembly  of  1592,  in  place  of  wh.Tt  was  called  the  Little  Catechism,  printed 
at  the  end  of  Calvin's  Catechism,  and  entitled,  "  The  Maner  to  examine  children  before  they  be 
admitted  to  the  Supper  of  the  Lord." 


^9o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE 

the  National  Covenant  was  required  of  all  members  of  the  Church,  and  from  1643 
onwards  that  implied  in  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant.  But  it  was  not  with  a 
special  view  to  the  Confession  that  these  subscriptions  were  required,  and  they  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  intended  to  supersede  those  general  principles  as  to  the 
knowledge  and  profession  required  of  communicants  contained  in  the  First  Book  of 
Discipline  and  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  ;  which  defines  the  visible  Church  to  consist 
of  "  all  those  throughout  the  world  who  profess  the  true  religion,  together  with  their 
cliildren"  (ch.  xxv.,  \  2);  declares  that  those  who  profess  laith  in,  and  obedience 
to  Christ,  and  also  the  infants  of  one  or  both  believing  parents  are  to  be  baptized 
(ch.  xxviii.,  \  4) ;  and  that  only  ignorant  and  ungodly  persons  are  not  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  tlie  Lord's  table  (ch.  xxix.,  \  8). 

In  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  individual  adherence  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith  has  always  been  required  of  all  office  bearers.  That  Church 
has  also  held  the  principles  of  the  National  Covenants  to  be  binding,  and  acknowl- 
edged as  such  by  all  her  members.  Among  the  terms  of  communion  as  laid  down 
in  1761  and  modified  in  1S22,  are  the  following,  which  were  at  the  latter  date  left 
unchanged  : — 

"  I.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to 
be  the  Word  of  God  and  the  alone  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

"  2.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms, 
Larger  and  Shorter,  to  be  founded  upon,  and  agreeable  to,  the  Word  of  God." 

Li  May,  1872,  the  following,  among  other  questions,*  was  sanctioned  by  the 
Synod  as  one  that  may  be  proposed  to  applicants  for  admission  to  the  full  commu- 
nion of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland. 

"3.  Do  you  approve  and  accept,  as  founded  upon,  and  agreeable  to,  the  Word 
of  God,  the  views  of  truth  and  duty  set  forth  in  the  doctrinal  Standards  of  this  Church, 
and  more  particularly  in  the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism  ?  " 

It  is  said  at  the  end  of  the  Explanation  and  Defence  of  the  Terms  of  Communion 
of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  published  in  1806: — "  We  wish  a  distinction 
between  persons  holding,  proclaiming,  and  propagating  sentiments  in  religion  oppo- 
site to  those  which  are  recognized  by  our  terms,  and  persons  who  may  be  compara- 
tively ignorant,  or  have  private  views  of  their  own,  but  are  willing  to  be  further 
instructed.  T*he  former  must  be  positively  debarred  from  Church  fellowship; 
whereas  milder  treatment  is  due  to  the  latter." 

APPENDIX. 

[Answers  as  to  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland}) 

Act  and  Declaration  anent  the  publication  of  the  subordinate  standards  and  other 
authoritative  documents  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 

At  Edindurgh  the  31V  day  of  May,  1851  years.     Sess.  19. 

Which  day  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  being  met  and 
duly  constituted, 

Inter  alia,  The  General  Assembly,  on  considering  the  report  of  the  committee  to 
which  this  matter  was  referred  at  a  previous  diet,  unanimously  agreed  to  sanction, 
as  they  hereby  sanction,  the  publication  of  a  volume  containing  the  Subordinate 
Standards,  and  other  authoritative  documents  of  this  Church.  And  with  the  view  of 
directing  attention  to  "  all  the  way  by  which  the  Lord  has  led  us,"  as  well  as  to  the 
testimony  which  He  has  honoured  this  Church  to  bear  for  the  whole  truth  of  God 
regarding  His  Church,  and  His  glory  therein,  the  General  Assembly  did,  and  hereby 
do  adopt  the  following  Act  and  Declaration  : — 

When  it  pleased  Almighty  God,  in  his  great  and  undeserved  mercy,  to  reform  this 
Church  from  Popery  i)y  presbyters,  it  was  given  to  the  Ret'ormers,  amid  many  troubles, 
to  construct  and  model  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  in  doctrine,  worship,  disciji- 
line  and  government,  according  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  not  according  to  the  will 

*  These  questions  are  only  optional,  were  so  before  the  union  with  the  Free  Church,  and  are  now 
only  occasionally  used. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  99 1 

of  earthly  rulers.  Our  fathers,  accordingly,  in  singleness  of  eye  and  simplicity  of 
heart,  without  regard  to  the  favour  or  the  fear  of  man,  so  applied  themselves  to 
the  work  to  which  they  were  called,  that  they  were  enabled,  with  remarkable  una- 
nimity, to  settle  it  upon  the  basis  whicii,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  lias  continued 
unaltered  down  to  the  present  time. 

Of  this  settlement,  besides  that  profession  of  the  evangelical  faith  which  is  com- 
mon to  all  the  Cluirches  of  the  Reformation,  the  peculiar  and  essential  features  are  : 
— I.  The  government  of  the  Church  by  presbyters  alone,  or  by  that  order  of  men  which 
is  indicated  in  the  New  Testament  indiscriminately  by  the  terms  presbyters  and  bishops 
or  overseers  —  Tr/ieafihTepni  and  knioKonoi  and,  II.  The  subjection  of  the  Church, 
in  all  things  spiritual,  to  Christ  as  her  only  Head,  and  to  his  Word  as  her  only  rule. 

Fro(u  the  beginning  these  principles  have  been  held  as  fundamental  by  I  he 
Reformed  Church  of  Scotland;  and  as  such  they  were  recognized  in  her  earliest 
standards, — the  First  and  Second  Books  of  Discipline, — ndopted  by  her  own  inde- 
pendent authority,  before  the  full  sanction  either  of  the  Crown  or  of  the  Parliament 
was  given  to  the  Reformation  which  God  had  accomplished  on  her  behalf.  For 
these  principles,  the  ministers  and  members  of  this  Church,  as  well  as  the  nobles, 
gentlemen,  and  burgesses  of  the  land,  from  the  first  united  in  contending;  and  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  in  the  course  of  these  early  struggles, — as  in  1580  when  the 
National  Covenant  was  signed,* — our  reforming  ancestors  bound  themselves  one  to 
another,  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  to  maintain  and  defend  them  against  all  adversaries. 

Farther  :  while  this  Church  has  ever  held  that  she  possesses  an  independent  and 
exclusive  jurisdiction  or  power  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters,  "  which  flows  directly 
from  God  and  the  Mediator,  Jesus  Christ,  and  is  spiritual,  not  having  a  tem- 
poral head  on  earth,  but  only  Christ,  the  only  King  and  Governor  of  his  Church," 
she  has,  at  the  same  time,  always  strenuously  advocated  the  doctrine  taught  in  Holy 
Scripture,  that  nations  and  their  rulers  are  bound  to  own  the  truth  of  God,  and  to 
advance  the  kingdom  of  His  Son.  And  accordingly,  with  unfeigned  thankfulness, 
did  she  acknowledge  the  good  hand  of  the  Lord,  when  after  prolonged  contests  with 
the  enemies  of  the  Reformation, — and,  in  particular,  with  certain  parties  who  sought 
not  only  to  uphold  a  form  of  Prelatic  government  in  the  Church,  but  to  establish  the 
supremacy  of  the  Crown  in  all  causes,  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical,  as  well  as  civil  and 
temporal, — a  national  recognition  and  solemn  sanction  of  her  constitution,  as  it  had 
been  settled  by  her  own  authority,  according  to  the  Word  of  God,  was  at  last 
obtained  ; —  first,  in  the  Act  of  Parliament,  1567,  and  again,  more  completely,  in  the 
Act  of  Parliament,  1592, — then  and  since  regarded  by  her  as  the  great  constitutional 
charter  of  her  Presiiyterian  government  and  freedom. 

Thus  the  first  Reformation  was  accomplished. 

But  before  a  generation  had  elapsed,  a  sad  change  for  the  worse  took  place. 
Through  defection  in  the  Church,  and  tyrannical  invasion  of  her  independence  by  the 
civil  power,  the  Presbyterian  polity  and  government  were  overturned,  and  manifold 
abuses  and  corruptions  in  discipline  and  worship  were  insidiously  introduced.  A 
second  Reformation  accordingly  became  necessary. 

And  here  again,  it  pleased  Almighty  God,  as  in  that  former  Reformation  of  the 
Church  from  Popery  by  presbyters,  to  give  to  our  fathers  light  and  grace;  so  that, 
taking  His  Word  as  their  only  rule,  and  owning  His  Son  as  their  only  King  in  Zion, 
they  were  enabled  not  only  to  restore  the  constitution  of  the  Church  as  it  had  stood 
when  her  first  Reformation  seemed  to  be  completed,  but  to  aim  also  at  carrying  out 
more  fully  the  great  essential  principles  of  that  constitution,  and  securing  more  effec- 
tually than  before  the  prevalence  of  these  principles  over  all  the  land,  as  well  as 
their  permanency  through  all  coming  ages. 

In  seeking  this  noble  end,  our  fathers  were  again  led,  for  their  mutual  security,  as 
well  as  for  the  commending  of  so  righteous  a  cause  to  Him  by  whom  it  was  com- 
mitted to  them,  to  have  recourse  to  the  solemnity  of  a  holy  confederation. 

The  National  Covenant  was  renewed  at  the  beginning  of  the  contendings  for  this 
second  Reformation,  with  an  extension  of  its  weighty  protests  and  censures,  to  meet 
whatever  new  fruit  the  old  stock  of  Prelatic  and  Erastian  usurpation  had  been  bear- 

*  National  Covenant,  etc. 


992  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ing.  And  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  was  afterwards  entered  into,  in  concert 
with  England  and  Ireland, "  for  the  reformation  and  defence  of  religion,  the  honour 
and  happiness  ot  the  king,  and  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  three  kingdoms  ;  "  and, 
in  particular,  for  "  endeavouring  to  bring  the  Churches  of  God  in  the  three  kingdoms 
to  the  nearest  conjunction  and  uniformity  in  religion,  conlession  of  faith,  form  of 
Church  government,  directory  for  worship,  and  catechising."* 

Thus  religiously  bound  and  pledged  to  God  and  to  one  another,  our  fathers  were 
enabled  to  effect  the  reformation  of  this  Church  from  Prelacy,  even  as  their  fathers 
in  like  manner  effected  its  reformation  from  Popery.  In  the  ever-memorable  As- 
seml)ly  held  at  Glasgow  in  1638,  as  well  as  in  subsequent  Asseml^lies,  it  was  declared 
that  "  all  Episcopacy  different  from  that  of  a  pastor  over  a  particular  flock  was  ab- 
jured in  this  Kirk;  "  and  provision  was  made  accordingly  for  its  complete  removal, 
and  for  the  settlement  of  Church  government  and  order  upon  the  former  Presbyterian 
footing. 

In  all  this  work  of  pulling  down  and  building  up,  the  independent  spiritual  juris- 
diction of  the  Church,  flowing  immediately  from  Christ,  her  only  Head,  was  not  only 
earnestly  asserted,  but  practically  exercised.  For  the  whole  work  was  begun  and 
carried  on  without  warrant  of  the  civil  power.  And  it  was  only  after  much  con- 
tending, and  with  not  a  little  hesitation,  that  the  civil  power  began  to  interpose  its 
authority  in  the  years  1639  and  1641,  to  support  and  sanction  what  the  Church  had, 
by  the  exercise  of  her  own  inherent  jurisdiction,  already  done. 

Thereafter,  for  the  lietter  prosecution  of  the  work  on  hand,  and  in  the  face  of  the 
manifest  purpose  of  the  king  and  his  adherents  to  crush  it  altogether,  this  Church, 
by  commissioners  duly  named  by  the  General  Assembly,  took  part  in  the  Assembly 
of  Divines  which  met  at  Westminster  in  1643.  And  having  in  view  the  uniformity 
contemplated  in  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  she  consented  to  adopt  the  Con- 
fession of  Faiiii,  Catechisms,  Directory  for  Public  Worship,  and  Form  of  Church 
Government  agreed  upon  by  the  said  Assembly  of  Divines. 

These  several  formularies,  as  ratified,  with  certain  explanations,  by  divers  Acts  of 
Assembly  in  the  years  1645,  1646,  and  particularly  in  1647,  this  Church  sontinues 
till  this  day  to  acknowledge  as  her  subordinate  standards  of  doctrine,  worship,  and 
government; — with  this  difference,  however,  as  regards  the  authority  ascribed  to 
them,  that  while  the  Confession  of  Faithf  contains  the  creed  to  which,  as  to  a  con- 
fession of  his  own  faith,  every  office-bearer  in  the  Church  must  testify  in  solemn  forni 
his  personal  adherence; — and  while  the  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,;};  are  sanc- 
tioned as  directories  for  catechising ; — the  Directory  for  Public  Worship,  the  Form 
of  Church  Government,  and  the  Directory  for  Family  Worship,^  are  of  the  nature 
of  regulations,  rather  than  ot  tests,  to  be  enforced  by  the  Church  like  her  other  laws, 
but  not  to  be  imposed  by  subscription  upon  her  ministers  and  elders.  These  docu- 
ments, then,  together  with  a  practical  application  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Confession, 
in  the  Sum  of  Saving  Knowledge, ||  a  valuable  treatise,  which  though  without  any 
express  Act  of  Assembly,  has  for  ages  had  its  pljce  among  them, — have,  ever  since 
the  era  of  the  second  Reformation,  constituted  the  authorized  and  authoritative  sym- 
bolic books  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked  here  in  connection  with  these  proceedings,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  to  be  owned  as  a  signal  instance  of  the  Divine  favour,  that  when  the 
civil  dissensions  and  wars — all  of  which  this  Church  unfeignedly  deprecated  and 
deplored — issued  in  a  brief  interval  of  quiet,  and  when  the  Parliament  of  Scotland 
was  at  last  moved  to  own  the  Reformation  work  of  God  in  the  land,  this  Church  ob- 
tained a  ratification  of  her  spiritual  liberties  much  more  full  and  ample  than  had  ever 
previously  been  granted.  This  appeared,  as  in  other  thitigs,  so  especially  in  the 
matter  of  presentation  to  benefices,  with  appointment  to  the  oversight  of  souls.  In 
that  matter,  this  Reformed  Church  had  from  the  beginning  maintained  a  testimony 
and  contest  against  the   right  of  patronage,  as  inconsistent  with  "  the  order  which 

*  Solemn  League,  etc.  §  Directories,  with  relative  Acts  of  Assembly. 

I  Confession,  with  relative  Act  of  Assembly.  ||  Sum  of  Saving  Knowledge. 

Ihid. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  993 

God's  Word  craves."  And  now,  both  the  Parliament  and  the  Church  being  free  to 
act  according  to  the  will  of  Gjd,  and  professing  to  be  guided  Ijy  Mis  Word,  it  was 
enacted,  by  the  Parliament  in  1649,  that  ministers  should  be  settled  "  upon  the  suit 
and  calling,  or  with  the  consent  of  the  congregation;"  and  the  Assembly,  in  the 
same  year,  laid  down  wholesome  rules  and  regulations  for  securing  the  orderly  call- 
ing of  pastors  by  the  congregations  of  the  Church,  with  due  regard  at  once  to  the 
spiritual  privileges  of  the  people,  and  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  those  appointed  to 
bear  office  among  them  \\\  the  Lord. 

Thus,  by  God's  grace,  in  this  second  Reformation,  wrought  out  by  our  fathers  amid 
many  perils  and  persecutions,  this  Church  was  honoured  of  God  to  vindicate  and 
carry  out  the  great  fundamental  principles  of  her  constitution — the  government  of 
the  Church  by  presbyters  alone;  her  inherent  spiritual  jurisdiction  derived  from  her 
great  and  only  Head ;  and  the  right  of  congregations  to  call  their  own  pastors. 

And  thus  the  second  Reformation  seemed  to  be  happily  accomplished  and  se- 
cured;  and  the  Church  and  nation  of  Scotland  abjured  Prelacy,  as  they  had  formerly 
abjured  Popery. 

That  the  men  whom  God  raised  up  for  this  great  work  proved  themselves  to  be 
fallible  in  several  of  their  proceedings,  does  not  detract  from  our  conviction  that  the 
work  itself  was  the  work  of  God.  The  principles  of  religious  liberty  not  being  so 
thoroughly  understood  in  that  age  as  they  are  now,  it  is  not  surprising,  however  much 
it  is  to  be  lamented,  that  our  fathers  should  have  given  some  occasion  to  the  charge 
of  intolerance  in  the  laws  enacted,  though  seldom  enforced,  with  a  view  to  inflict 
civil  penalties  for  offences  partly,  if  not  entirely,  religious.  It  is  to  be  confessed, 
also,  that  in  prosecuting  their  great  work  in  circumstances  of  unparalleled  difficulty, 
instances  were  not  wanting  of  an  undue  commingling  of  religion  with  the  passing 
politics  of  the  day,  and  an  undue  reliance  on  an  arm  of  flesh  for  the  furtherance  01 
the  cause  of  God.  These  defects  some  of  the  worthiest  and  ablest  of  the  actors  in 
that  great  crisis  lived  to  deplore ;  and  to  such  causes  may  be  traced,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, the  bitter  animosities  that  too  speedily  ensued  between  the  parties  of  the  Reso- 
lutioners  and  the  Protesters — in  consequence  of  which  the  Church  of  Scotland  was 
found  divided  against  herself  at  the  very  time  when  union  was  most  essential,  and 
at  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  was  thrown  helpless  and  fettered  into  the  furnace 
of  a  bitter  and  unrelenting  persecution. 

But  notwithstanding  these  evidences  of  the  hand  of  man  in  the  transactions  con- 
nected with  the  second  Reformation,  we  would  grievously  err  and  sin  were  we  not 
to  recognize,  in  the  substance  of  what  was  then  done,  the  hand  and  Spirit  of  God  ; 
and  were  we  not  to  discern  in  it  such  an  adaptation  to  the  exigencies  of  the  times, 
and  such  an  amount  of  conformity  to  the  Divine  mind  and  will,  as  must  ever  be 
held  to  give  to  the  attainments  then  made  by  this  Church  and  nation  a  peculiar  force 
of  obligation,  and  to  aggravate  not  a  little  the  guilt  of  subsequent  shortcomings  and 
defections. 

Passing  over  the  dark  period  of  the  closing  years  of  the  Stuart  dynasty,  and  de- 
scending along  the  line  of  history  to  the  era  of  the  glorious  Revolution,  we  find 
the  Church,  which  had  been  twice  before  brought  out  of  great  troubles  in  her  con- 
tendings  against  Popery  and  Prelacy,  once  again  rescued  from  the  oppression  of 
arbitrary  power,  and  lifting  her  head  as  the  free  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland. 
The  bloody  Acts  of  the  preceding  time  were  repealed;  on  the  petition  of  the  min- 
isters and  professors  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  the  civil  sanction  was  given  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith  ;  Presbyterial  Church  government  was  re-established  iti  the  hands 
of  those  who  had  been  ejected  by  Prelacy  in  1661 ;  and  to  the  wonder  of  many,  and 
the  confusion  of  her  enemies,  this  Church  rose  from  her  ashes,  and  was  recognized 
as  the  same  Church  which,  whether  in  freedom  or  in  bondage — whether  under  the 
shade  of  royal  favour,  or  hunted  as  a  partridge  on  the  mountains — could  trace  its 
unbroken  identity  downwards  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  Reformation. 

That  the  "  Revolution  Settlement,"  by  which  the  liberties  of  the  Church  were 
secured,  under  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary,  was  in  all  respects  satisfactory,  has 
never  been  maintained  by  this  Church.  On  the  contrary,  various  circumstances  may 
be  pointed  out  as  hindering  the  Church  from  realizing  fully  the  attainments  that  had 

(^7> 


994  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

been  reached  during  the  second  Reformation.  Not  only  were  the  three  kingdoms 
of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  unprepared  for  prosecuting  the  work  of  "  refor- 
mation and  uniformity  in  religion,"  to  which  they  had  pledged  themselves;  but  even 
in  Scotland  itself  the  reluctant  concessions  of  statesmen  were  limited  to  what  a 
people,  worn  out  by  long  and  heavy  tribulation,  were  barely  willing  to  accept  as  a 
relief,  and  did  not  thoroughly  undo  the  mischief  of  an  age  of  misrule. 

Thus,  for  instance,  in  the  civil  sanction  then  given  to  Presbytery,  the  Parliament 
of  1690,  overlooking  altogether  the  higher  attainments  of  the  second  Reformation, 
went  back  at  once  to  the  Act  1592,  and  based  its  legislation  upon  that  Act  alone,  as 
being  the  original  charier  of  the  Presbyterian  Establishment.  Accordingly,  it  left 
unrepealed  the  infamous  "Act  Rescissory"  of  King  Charles,  by  which  all  that  the 
Church  had  done,  and  all  that  the  State  had  done  for  her,  in  the  interval  between 
1638  and  the  Restoration,  had  been  stigmatized  as  treasonable  and  rebellious.  Thus 
the  Revolution  Settlement  failed  in  adequately  acknowledging  the  Lord's  work  done 
formerly  in  the  land;  and  it  was,  besides,  in  several  matters  of  practical  legislation, 
very  generally  considered  by  our  fathers  at  the  time  to  be  defective  and  unsatisfac- 
tory. Some,  and  these  not  the  least  worthy,  even  went  so  far  as  to  refuse  all  sub- 
mission to  it.  But  for  the  most  part,  our  fathers,  smarting  from  the  fresh  wounds  of 
anti-Christian  oppression,  weary  of  strife,  and  anxious  for  rest  and  peace,  either 
thankfully  accepted,  or  at  least  acquiesced  in  it;  in  the  hope  of  being  able  practi- 
cally to  effect  under  it  the  gieat  ends  which  the  Church  had  all  along,  in  all  her  for- 
mer contendings,  regarded  as  indispensable. 

For  it  would  be  in  a  high  degree  ungrateful  to  overlook  the  signal  and  seasonable 
benefits  which  the  Revolution  Settlement  really  did  confer  upon  the  Church,  as  well 
as  upon  the  nation.  Not  only  did  it  put  an  end  to  the  cruel  persecution  by  which 
the  best  blood  of  Scotland  had  been  shed  in  the  field,  on  the  hillside,  and  on  the 
scaffold  ;  not  only  did  it  reinstate  in  their  several  parishes  the  pastors  who  had  been 
unrighteously  cast  out  in  the  reign  of  the  second  Charles,  and  set  up  again  the  plat- 
form of  the  Presbyterian  government ;  but  by  reviving  and  re-enacting  the  Statute 
of  1592,  the  original  charter  and  foundation  of  Presbytery,  it  recognized  as  an  ina- 
lienable part  of  the  constitution  of  this  country  the  establishment  of  the  Presbyterian 
Chuich.  It  secured  also  effectually,  as  was  then  universally  believed,  the  exclusive 
spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  Church,  and  her  independence  in  spiritual  matters  of  all 
civil  control.  And  by  the  arrangements  which  it  sanctioned  for  the  filling  up  of 
vacant  charges,  it  abolished  those  rights  of  patronage  which  had  been  reserved  in 
1592,*  and  made  provision  for  enforcing  the  fundamental  principle  of  this  Church, 
that  "  no  pastor  shall  be  intruded  into  a  congregation  contrary  to  the  will  of  the 
people."  On  all  these  grounds,  the  Church  was  well  entitled  to  rejoice  in  the  deliv- 
erance wrought  out  for  her  in  16S8  and  1690;  to  thank  God  for  it,  and  take  courage  ; 
and  to  cherish  the  warm  and  sanguine  expectation  of  rea]iing  now  the  fruit  of  her 
struggles  and  her  trials,  in  a  career  of  undisturbed,  united,  and  successful  exertion 
for  the  glory  of  her  great  Head,  the  good  of  the  land,  and  the  saving  of  many 
souls. 

How  far  that  expectation  might  have  been  fulfilled,  if  faith  had  been  kept  with 
the  Church  and  people  of  Scotland  by  the  British  Parliament,  according  to  the  terms 
of  the  Revolution  Settlement,  subsequently  ratified  by  the  Treaty  of  Union  between 
Scotland  and  England — and  if  the  Church  had  received  grace  to  continue  faithful 
to  her  principles — is  a  question  which  can  now  be  little  more  than  matter  of  s]iecu- 
lation  and  conjecture.  For  the  breach  made  upon  her  constitution  by  the  restora- 
tion of  patronage  in  171 1 — a  measure  passed  against  her  own  earnest  remonstrance 
and  protest — concurring  with  that  unhappy  declension  from  sound  doctrine  and 
spiritual  life  which  began  to  visit  this  as  well  as  other  Churches  of  the  Reformation 
during  the  early  period  of  the  last  century — not  to  speak  of  the  leaven  of  unsound 
principle  transmitted  from  the  too  easy  admission  at  the  Revolution  of  the  Prelatic 
curates  into  the  Presbyterian  Church,  without  any  evidence  of  their  sincere  attach- 
ment to  its  doctrines;  these  things  led  to  abuses  in  the  administration  of  the  Church's 

*  Act  7th  June,  i6go. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  995 

discipline  and  government,  such  as,  to  a  large  extent,  prevented  the  Revolution  Set- 
tlement from  obtaining  a  full  and  fair  trial. 

The  abuses  to  which  we  refer  regarded  matters  of  vital  import,  such  as  the  tolera- 
tion of  heresy  and  immorality;  ihe  tyrannical  exercise  of  Church  power  over 
brethren,  with  the  unjust  denial  of  the  right  of  protest  fwr  the  exoneration  of  indi- 
vidual consciences;  the  arbitrary  enforcing  of  the  law  of  patronage  by  corrupt  Pres- 
byteries and  Assemblies,  ncting  upon  their  own  discretion,  and  wiih  no  compul- 
sion from  any  civil  authority ;  the  grievous  oppression  of  congregations,  by  the 
forcible  intrusion  of  ministers  into  parishes  against  the  will  of  the  people,  and 
other  proceedings  of  a  similar  kind;  in  consequence  of  which,  not  only  were  multi- 
tuiles  of  godly  ministers  and  people  compelled,  for  conscience'  sake,  to  withdraw 
from  her  communion,  and  to  form  themselves  into  separate  ecclesiatical  societies, 
l)ut  the  Church  itself  from  which  tliey  seceded  was  fouiul  willing — though  always, 
blessed  be  God  !  with  a  protesting  minority  in  her  courts — to  make  a  ])ractical  surren- 
der of  the- most  important  and  distinctive  principles  of  her  ancient  Presbyterian  polity. 

Hence  it  happened,  that  when,  in  the  good  providence  of  God,  and  through  the 
gracious  working  of  His  good  Spirit,  this  Church  once  more,  for  the  third  time,  was 
led  to  take  up  the  work  of  the  Reformation — entering,  though,  alas!  with  much 
shortcoming,  into  the  labours  of  our  fathers,  by  whom  she  had  been  reformed  from 
Popery  and  Prelacy — she  encountered,  as  was  most  natural,  no  small  measure  of  the 
same  opposition  with  which  they  had  been  obliged  to  contend,  from  a  formidable 
l)ody  of  her  own  ministers  and  members,  ns  well  as  from  the  civil  power;  whose 
aid  was  called  in  to  coerce  and  control  the  Ciiurch  courts  in  the  exercise  of  their 
spiritual  functions,  and,  through  them,  to  crush  the  liberties  of  congregations  in  the 
calling  of  ministers  to  be  over  them  in  the  Lord. 

For  it  ought  to  be  on  record  to  coming  ages,  that  this  Church  began  the  work  of 
reformation,  on  this  third  great  occasion  in  her  history,  in  1834,  by  refusing  to  allow 
any  pastor  to  be  intruded  upon  a  reclaiming  congregation. 

At  the  same  time,  also,  while  thus  securing  such  a  protection  to  her  congregations, 
this  Church  resolved  to  give  practical  effect  to  another  fundamental  principle  of  her 
I'resbyterian  polity  which  had  lieen  grievously  violated — the  principle,  namely,  that 
"  the  pastor,  as  such,  hath  a  ruling  power  over  the  flock  ;  "  or,  in  other  words,  that 
all  ordained  pastors  are  equally  entitled  to  rule,  as  well  as  to  teach  and  minister,  in 
Christ's  house.  This,  accordingly,  the  Church  did,  in  an  Act  of  Assembly,  1834, 
recognizing  all  pastors  of  congregations  as  members  of  her  Church  judicatories, 
and  assigning  to  each,  along  with  the  elders  of  his  congregation,  the  administration 
of  discipline  among  his  own  flock,  and  the  oversighj;  of  souls,  in  whatever  local  or 
territorial  district  the  Church  might  be  pleased  to  place  under  his  spiritual  care. 

It  was  in  carrying  out  these  measures  of  indispensable  practical  reform,  adopted 
in  1834,  that  the  Church  was  visited  with  the  interference  of  the  courts  of  civil  law, 
in  those  various  forms  of  unconstitutional  aggression  upon,  and  invasion  of,  her 
sacred  functions  as  a  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  owning  no  head  on  earth  but 
only  Christ,  which  are  set  forth  at  large  in  the  Claim,  Declaration,  and  Protest, 
adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1842,  and  laid  before  her  Majesty,  and  before 
the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  in  the  course  of  the  year  thereafter.  * 

These  manifold  invasions  of  her  spiritual  juiisdiotion  by  the  courts  of  civil  law, 
this  Church  received  grace  steadfastly  to  resist,  at  the  expense  of  much  loss,  obloquy, 
and  suffering,  borne  by  her  faithful  ministers  and  people. 

But  this  was  not  all  ;  for  she  was  enabled  also,  during  all  her  harassing  and  pain- 
ful contendings,  to  carry  forward  still  further  the  work  of  revival  throughout  her 
borders,  as  well  as  to  lift  up  a  still  more  decided  testimony  for  the  jnirity  ami 
liberty  of  Christ's  house — His  Church  on  earth — especially  in  the  explicit  condem- 
nation which  the  General  Assembly  in  1842  passed  of  the  entire  system  of  patronage, 
as  a  grievance  to  be  utterly  abolished.  And,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  she  wns 
not  left  without  manifest  tokens  of  the  Divine  countenance  and  favour — such  as,  in 
like  circumstances,  had  been  vouchsafed  in  former  times — in  the  remarkable  jiouring 
out  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  not  a  few  portions  of  the  chosen  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 

♦Claim,  etc. 


996  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Among  other  tokens  for  good,  as  the  Church  humbly  consirlered  them,  it  maybe 
mentioned  as  one  of  the  most  gratifying,  that  a  beginning  was  made,  during  this 
reforming  period,  of  the  work  of  reunion  among  the  true-hearted  branches  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland.  Overtures  towards  a  junction  with  the  Church  of 
Scotland  having  been  made  by  a  highly  esteemed  body  of  those  whose  fathers  had 
seceded  from  it,  and  ample  deliberations  having  taken  place  on  both  sides,  the  end 
in  view  was  happily  and  harmoniously  attained  in  the  year  1839,  when  the  General 
Assembly,  with  the  consent  of  the  Presbyteries  of  the  Church,  passed  an  Act  to  the 
following  effect : 

"  Whereas  proposals  have  been  made  by  the  Associate  Synod  for  a  re-union  with 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  a  considerable  number  of  overtures  have  been  sent  at 
the  same  time  to  the  General  Assembly  from  the  Synods  and  Presbyteries  of  the 
Church  favourable  to  that  object ;  and  it  has  been  ascertained  l)y  a  committee  of  the 
General  Assembly,  that  the  course  of  study  required  for  a  long  time  past  of  students 
in  divinity  in  connection  with  said  Synod,  is  quite  satisfactory,  and  that  their  minis- 
ters and  elders  do  firmly  adhere  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larger 
and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and  other  standards  of  our  Church  :  and  whereas  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Associate  Synod  do  heartily  concur  with  us  in  holding  the  great  princi- 
ple of  an  ecclesiastical  establishment,  and  the  duty  of  acknowledging  God  in  our 
national  as  well  as  our  individual  capacity;  and  we,  on  the  other  hand,  do  heartily 
concur  with  the  members  of  the  Associate  Synod  in  confessing  the  great  obligation 
under  which  we  lie  to  our  forefathers  in  the  year  1638,  and  several  years  of  that  cen- 
tury immediately  following,  nnd  the  duty,  in  particular  circumstances,  of  uniting  to- 
gether in  public  solemn  engagement  in  defence  of  the  Church,  and  its  doctrine,  dis- 
cipline, and  form  of  worship  and  government :  and  whereas  our  brethren  of  the 
Associate  Synod  have  declared  their  willingness,  in  the  event  of  a  re-union,  to  sub- 
mit to  all  the  laws  and  judicatories  of  this  Church,  reserving  only  to  themselves  the 
right  which  the  members  of  the  Established  Church  enjoy  of  endeavouring  to  correct, 
in  a  lawful  manner,  what  may  appear  to  them  to  be  faulty  in  its  constitution  and 
government, — the  General  Asseml)ly,  with  the  consent  of  the  Presbyteries  of  this 
Church,  enact  and  ordain  that  all  the  ministers  of  the  Associate  Synod,  and  their 
congregations  in  Scotland,  desirous  of  being  admitted  into  connection  and  full  com- 
munion with  the  Church  of  Scotland,  be  received  accordingly." 

This  step  was  hailed  with  lively  satisfaction  by  the  supporters  of  the  old  hereditary 
principles  of  the  Scottish  Reformation,  as  not  only  a  testimony  to  the  returning  faith- 
fulness with  which  these  principles  were  now  maintained,  but  a  pledge  and  presage 
also  of  other  movements  of  a  similar  kind  which  might  be  exjjected  to  follow,  as  the 
work  of  reformation  and  revival  went  on  :  thus  holding  out  the  hope  of  this  Church 
being  honoured  to  be  successful  in  healing  the  breaches  of  Zion  as  well  as  rebuilding 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 

Thus,  with  much  cause  to  sing  of  mercy  as  well  as  of  judgment,  the  Church  for 
ten  years  continued  to  testify,  to  contend,  and  to  labour,  in  the  great  and  good  cause. 
But  as  time  rolled  on,  and  the  causes  of  collision  between  the  ecclesiastical  and  the 
civil  courts  became  more  embarrassing,  it  was  apparent  to  all  that  an  emergency  was 
at  hand,  such  as  would  call  for  the  utmost  wisdom  of  counsel  as  well  as  the  firmest 
energy  of  action. 

All  along,  indeed,  while  the  contendings  of  this  third  Reformation  period  were 
going  forward,  not  only  did  "  they  that  feared  the  Lord  speak  often  one  to  another," 
but  most  solemn  consultations  of  the  brethren  were  held  at  every  step,  with  much 
earnest  prayer,  and  many  affecting  pledges  of  mutual  fidelity  to  one  another  and  to 
God.  And  as  the  crisis  manifestly  drew  near,  the  whole  body  of  those  ministers  of 
this  Church  by  whom  the  contest  was  maintained  met  together  in  convocation,  in 
November,  1842,  being  convened  by  a  large  number  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church, 
and,  after  a  sermon  preached  by  the  late  lamented  Dr.  Chalmers,  continued  in  de- 
liberation for  several  successive  days,  spending  a  large  portion  of  the  time  in  united 
supplication  for  the  guidance  and  grace  of  God  ;  and  did  not  separate  till,  with  one 
mind  and  one  heart,  they  were  enabled  to  announce,  in  resolutions  having,  in  the 
circumstances,  all  the  force  of  the  most   impressive  vows  and  obligations,  their  final 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  997 

purpose,  at  all  hazards,  to  maintain  uncompromised  the  spiritual  liberty  and  jurisdic- 
tion of  this  Church.  And  this  they  resolved  to  do,  not  l)y  jirolonged  resistance  to 
the  civil  courts  should  the  Cnjwn  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  refuse  the  redress 
craved  in  the  above-mentioned  Claim  of  Rights,  but  by  publicly  renouncing  the 
benefits  of  the  National  Establishment, — under  protest  that  it  is  her  being  Free,  and 
not  her  being  Established,  that  constitutes  the  real  historical  and  hereditary  identity 
of  the  Reformed  National  Church  of  Scotland. 

The  Claim  of  Rights  adopted  by  the  Cieneral  Assembly  in  1842,  having  been 
denied  and  disallowed,  first  by  Her  Majesty's  Government,  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
the  Moderator  by  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department,  and  thereafter 
by  the  Commons'  House  of  Parliament,  in  a  vote  taken  on  the  7th  March,  1S43,  ^"d 
carried  agauist  a  large  majority  of  the  memliers  representing  Scotland;  it  became 
apparent  that  the  system  of  patronage, — to  which  tiris  Church,  although  viewing  it 
as  a  grievance,  had  submitted,  under  the  impression  that  the  right  was  restricted  to 
the  disposal  of  the  benefice,  while  the  Church  was  left  free  in  the  matter  of  admis- 
sion to  the  cure  of  souls, — must  be  held,  as  now  interpreted  and  maintained  by  the 
fupreme  power  of  the  State,  to  be  altogether  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
liberties  of  the  people  of  Christ;  and  that  this  Church,  therefore,  in  that,  as  well  as 
in  other  departments  of  her  administration,  had  no  choice  or  alternative  but  submis- 
sion in  things  spiritual  to  civil  control,  or  separation  from  the  State  and  from  the 
benefits  of  the  Establishment.  Holding  firmly  to  the  last,  as  she  holds  still,  and, 
through  God's  grace,  will  ever  hold,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  civil  rulers  to  recognize 
the  truth  of  God,  according  to  his  Word,  and  to  promote  and  support  the  kingdom 
of  Christ,  without  assuming  any  jurisdiction  in  it,  or  any  power  over  it;  and  deeply 
sensible,  moreover,  of  the  advantages  resulting  to  the  community  at  large,  and  es- 
jiecially  to  its  more  destitute  portions,  from  the  public  endowment  of  pastoral  charges 
among  them;  this  Church  ct)uld  not  contemplate  without  anxiety  and  alarm  the 
jirospect  of  losing  for  herself  important  means  of  general  usefulness, — leaving  the 
whole  machinery  of  the  Establishment  in  the  hands  of  parties  who  could  retain  it 
only  by  the  sacrifice  of  her  fundamental  principles, — and  seeing  large  masses  of  the 
people  deprived  of  the  advantage  of  having  the  services  of  a  gospel  ministry  provided 
for  them  independently  of  their  own  resources.  But  her  path  was  made  plain  before 
her.  For  the  system  of  civil  interference  in  matters  spiritual  being  still  persevered  in, 
so  as  to  affect  materially  the  very  constitution  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  elec- 
tion of  commissioners  from  the  Presbyteries  to  that  supreme  court,  it  became  the  duty 
of  those  of  the  said  commissioners  who  were  faithful  to  the  crown  of  Christ, — and 
who  formed  decidedly  the  major  part  of  the  members  chosen  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  Church, — to  protest,*  in  presence  of  Her  Majesty's  representative,  on  the  i8th 
of  May,  1843,  against  the  meeting  then  convened  being  held  to  be  a  free  and  lawful 
Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

Under  which  protest,  and  in  the  terms  thereof,  the  said  commissioners  withdrew 
to  another  place  of  meeting,  where,  on  the  same  day,  and  with  concurrence  of  all 
ihe  ministers  and  elders  adhering  to  them,  they  proceeded  to  constitute,  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the  Church  on  earth,  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  to  take  measures  for  the 
establishment  of  the  Church  apart  from  the  State  in  the  land. 

How  signally  God  opened  ior  her,  in  her  new  j^osition,  both  a  door  of  utterance 
and  a  door  of  entrance,  not  only  in  this,  but  in  other  countries  also — how  mercifully 
He  disappointed  all  her  fears,  and  procured  for  her,  acceptance  among  the  people — 
how  wonderfully  He  disposed  all  hearts  so  as  to  continue  to  her  the  means  of  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  both  at  home  and  abroad — how  graciously  He  cheered  her,  by 
giving  to  her  the  signal  privilege  of  finding  all  her  missionaries,  to  the  Jews  and 
the  Gentiles,  true  to  herself  and  to  her  principles  in  the  hour  of  trial ;  and  in  general, 
how  large  a  measure  of  prosperity  and  peace  He  was  pleased  to  grant  to  her — though 
with  some  severe  persecution  and  oppression  in  certain  quarters — this  Church  cannot 
but  most  devoutly  acknowledge  :  mourning  bitterly,  as  she  must  at  the  same  lime  do, 

*  Protest,  etc. 


998  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

over  many  shortcomings  and  sins,  and  lamenting  the  little  spiritual  fruit  of  awak- 
ening and  revival  that  has  accompanied  the  Lord's  hountilul  and  wonderful  dealing 
with  her.  In  deep  humiliation,  therefore,  but  at  the  same  time  in  the  holy  boldness 
of  faiih  unfeigned,  she  would  still  seek  to  retain  and  occupy  the  position  which  tlie 
foregoing  summary  of  her  history  assigns  to  her;  hund)ly  claiming  to  be  identified 
with  the  Church  of  Scotland,  which  solemnly  bound  herself  to  the  Reformation  from 
Popery,  and  again  similarly  pledged  herself  to  the  Reformation  from  Prelacy;  de- 
ploring past  shortcomings  from  the  principles  and  work  of  these  Reformations,  as 
well  as  past  secessions  from  her  own  communion,  occasioned  by  tyranny  and  cor- 
ruption in  her  councils;  and  finally,  resolved  and  determined,  as  in  the  sight  and  by 
the  help  of  God,  to  prosecute  the  ends  contemplated  from  the  beginning  in  all  the 
acts  and  deeds  of  her  reforming  fathers,  until  the  errors  which  they  renounced  shall 
have  disappeared  from  the  land,  and  the  true  system  which  they  upheld  shall  be 
so  universally  received,  that  the  whole  people,  rightly  instructed  in  the  faith,  shall 
unite  to  glorify  God  the  Father  in  the  full  acknowledgment  of  the  kingdom  of  His 
Son,  our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  to  whose  name  be  praise  for  ever 
and  ever.     Amen. 

Extracted  from  the  Records  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland  by 

Thomas  Pitcairn,  )    ^.,   t-    /   c    >    ^  a 

■r.  r^  \    LI.  liccl.  ocoi.  J, 10. 

Patrick  Clason,    j 


No.   III. 

Answers  as  to  the  Creeds  or  Co?j/essions  and  Forjmiicz  of  the  United 
Presby'IERIan  Church  aiid  of  the  Churches  composing  that  Church, 
and  as  to  any  modifications  of  them  which  have  been  made  in  these 
Churc/ies  respectivciy,  to  the  Questions  on  these  subjects  remitted  on 
the  i,th  of  July,  1877,  by  the  first  General  Presbyterian  Council  to  a 
Committee  of  their  number. 

Following  the  order  prescribed  by  the  questions,  this  answer  will  be  presented  in 
two  sections,  the  first  relating  to  the  existing  Church,  the  second  to  the  Churches 
which  are  included  and  embodied  in  that  Church. 

Section  First. 

Preamble. — The  United  Presbyterian  Church  was  formed  in  the  year  1847  '^y  ^ 
union  then  entered  into  between  the  United  Associate  Synod  of  the  Secession 
Church  and  the  Synod  of  the  Relief  Church.  That  union  was  formed  by  a  mutual 
agreement,  perfected  at  a  joint  meeting  of  the  Synods  of  the  two  Churches  held 
within  Tanfield  Hall,  Canonmills,  Edinburgh,  on  the  13th  day  of  May,  1847,  upon 
the  basis  of  certain  articles  to  which  the  Churches  had  separately  assented.  Of  that 
basis,  which  forms  the  constitution  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  the  following 
is  a  copy  : 

1.  That  the  Word  of  God,  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments, is  the  only  rule  of  Faith  and  Practice. 

2.  That  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Cate- 
chisms, are  the  confession  and  catechisms  of  this  Church,  and  contain  the  authorised 
exhibition  of  the  sense  in  which  we  understand  the  Holy  Scriptures;  it  being 
always  understood  that  we  do  not  approve  of  anything  in  these  documents  which 
teaches,  or  may  be  supposed  to  teach,  compulsory  or  persecuting  and  intolerant  prin- 
ciples in  religion. 

3.  That  Presbyterian  Government,  without  any  superiority  of  office  to  that  of  a 
teaching  presbyter,  and  in  a  due  subordination  of  church  courts,  which  is  founded  on 
and  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  is  the  government  of  this  Church. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  999 

4.  That  the  ordinances  of  worship  shall  be  administered  in  the  United  Church  as 
they  have  been  in  Iwth  l)odies  of  which  it  is  formed  ;  and  that  the  Westminster 
Directory  of  Worship  continue  to  be  regarded  as  a  compilation  of  excellent  rules. 

5.  That  the  term  of  membership  is  a  credible  profession  of  the  faith  of  Christ  as 
held  by  this  Church — a  ]3rofession  made  with  intelligence,  and  justified  by  a  corre- 
sponding character  and  deportment. 

6.  That  with  regard  to  those  Ministers  and  Sessions  who  may  think  that  the  2d  sec- 
tion of  the  26tli  chapterof  the  Confession  of  Faith  authorizes  free  communion — that  is, 
not  loose  or  indiscriminate  communion,  but  the  occasional  admission  to  fellowship  in 
the  Lord's  Supper,  of  perscins  respecting  whose  Christian  character  satisfactory  evi- 
dence has  been  obtained,  though  belonging  to  other  religious  denominations — they 
shall  enjoy  in  the  united  body  what  they  enjoyed  in  their  separate  conmiunions — the 
right  of  acting  on  their  conscientious  convictions. 

7.  That  the  election  of  office-bearers  of  this  Church,  in  its  several  congregations, 
belongs,  by  the  authority  of  Christ,  exclusively  to  the  members  in  full  communion. 

8.  That  this  Church  solemnly  recognizes  the  obligation  to  hold  forth,  as  well  as 
to  hold  fast,  the  doctrine  and  law  of  Christ,  and  to  make  exertions  for  the  universal 
diffusion  of  the  blessings  of  his  Gospel  at  home  and  abroad. 

9.  That  as  the  Lord  hath  ordained  that  they  who  preach  the  Gospel  should  live 
of  the  Gospel — that  they  who  are  taught  in  the  Word  should  communicate  to  him 
that  teacheth  in  all  good  things — that  they  who  are  strong  should  help  the  weak — 
and  that,  having  freely  received,  thus  they  should  freely  give  the  Gospel  to  those 
who  are  destitute  of  it — this  Church  asserts  the  obligation  and  the  privilege  of  its 
members,  influenced  by  regard  to  the  authority  of  Christ,  to  support  and  extend,  by 
voluntary  contribution,  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel. 

10.  That  the  respective  bodies  of  which  this  Church  is  composed,  without  re- 
quiring from  each  other  any  approval  of  the  steps  of  procedure  l)y  their  fathers,  or 
interfering  with  the  rights  of  private  judgment  in  reference  to  these,  unite  in  regarding 
as  still  valid  the  reasons  on  which  they  have  hitherto  maintained  their  state  of  seces- 
sion and  separation  from  the  Judicatories  of  the  Established  Church,  as  expressed 
in  the  authorized  documents  of  the  respective  bodies,  and  in  maintaining  the  law- 
fulness and  obligation  of  separation  from  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  which  dangerous 
error  is  tolerated,  or  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  or  the  rights  of  her  ministers  or 
members  are  disregarded. 

The  United  Church,  in  their  present  most  solemn  circumstances,  join  in  expres- 
sing their  grateful  acknowledgment  to  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  for  the 
measure  of  spiritual  good  which  He  has  accomplished  by  them  in  their  se])arale 
state — their  deep  sense  of  the  many  imperfections  and  sins  which  have  marked  their 
ecclesiastical  management — and  their  determined  resolution,  in  dependence  on  the 
promised  grace  of  their  Lord,  to  apply  more  faithfully  the  great  principles  of  church 
fellowship — to  be  more  watchful  in  reference  to  admission  and  discipline,  that  the 
purity  and  efficiency  of  our  congregations  may  be  promoted,  and  the  great  end  of 
our  existence  as  a  collective  body  may  be  answered  with  respect  to  all  within  its 
pale,  and  to  all  without  it,  whether  members  of  other  denominations,  or  the  world 
lying  in  wickedness.  And  in  fine,  the  United  Church  regard,  with  a  feeling  of 
brotherhood,  all  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ,  and  shall  endeavour  to  maintain  the 
unity  of  the  whole  body  of  Christ,  by  a  readiness  to  co-operate  with  all  its  members 
in  all  things  in  which  they  are  agreed. 

L — Qiiesiion  First.  According  to  this  constitution  the  present  creed  or  confession 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  is  embodied  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  as  containing  the  authorized  exhibi- 
tion of  the  sense  in  which  the  Church  understands  the  Holy  Scriptures,  subject  to 
the  qualification  that  the  Church  docs  not  approve  of  anything  in  these  Standards 
which  teaches  or  may  be  supposed  to  teach  compulsory  or  persecuting  and  intolerant 
principlfs  in  religion. 

IL — Question  Second.  The  prescribed  Formulte  of  admission  on  the  Licensing 
of  Probationers,  the  Ordination  of  Ministers,  of  Missionaries,  and  of  Elders  respec- 
tively, are  as  follows  : — 


looo  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

(a) — Formula  for  Preachers  at  Licence. 

1.  Do  you  believe  ihe  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  ? 

2.  Do  you  aclcnovvledge  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms,  as  an  exhiiiilion  of  the  sense  in  which  you  understand  the  Holy 
Scriptures;  it  being  understood  that  you  are  not  required  to  approve  of  anything  in 
these  documents  which  teaches,  or  is  supposed  to  teach,  compulsory  or  persecuting 
and  intolerant  principles  in  religion? 

3.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the 
Church,  has  therein  appointed  a  government  distinct  from,  and  not  subordinate  to, 
civil  government?  And  do  you  acknowledge  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government, 
as  authorized  and  acted  on  in  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on,  and  agreeable  to,  the 
Word  of  God  ? 

4.  Do  you  approve  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  Basis  of  Union;  and  while  cherishing  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  towards 
all  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ,  do  you  engage  to  seek  the  purity,  edification, 
peace,  and  extension  of  this  Church  ? 

5.  Are  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  desire  to 
save  souls,  and  not  worldly  interests  or  expectations,  so  far  as  you  know  your  own 
heart,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  for  desiring  to  enter  into  the  office 
of  the  Holy  Ministry? 

6.  Is  it  your  resolution,  in  the  strength  of  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  a 
Probationer  for  the  Ministry  in  connection  with  this  Church,  to  preach  the  Gospel 
faithfully,  not  shunning  to  declare  all  the  counsel  of  God,  and  to  visit  and  comfort 
the  afflicted,  as  far  as  you  have  opportunity? 

7.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  live  a 
holy  and  circumspect  life,  to  rule  well  your  own  house,  and  faithfully,  diligently,  and 
cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  work  of  a  Probationer  for  the  office  of 
the  Ministry  ? 

8.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself  in  the  Lord,  to  the  authority  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  this  Church,  and  of  its  several  Presbyteries  under  whose  inspection 
you  may  be  called  to  labour? 

9.  And  all  these  things  you  profess  and  promise,  through  grace,  as  you  shall  be 
answerable  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  all  His  saints,  and  as  you 
would  be  found  in  that  happy  company? 

(b.) — Formula  for  Ministers  at  Ordination. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice? 

2.  Do  you  acknowledge  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms,  as  an  exhii)ition  of  the  sense  in  which  you  understand  the  Holy 
Scriptures;  it  iieing  understood  that  you  are  not  required  to  approve  of  anything  in 
these  documents  which  teaches,  or  is  supposed  to  teach,  compulsory  or  persecuting 
and-intolerant  prhiciples  in  religion? 

3.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  L(jrd  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the 
Church,  has  therein  appointed  a  government  distinct  from,  and  not  suliordinate  to, 
civil  government?  And  do  you  acknowledge  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government, 
as  authorized  and  acted  on  in  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on,  and  agreeable  to,  the 
W.rd  of  God? 

4.  Do  you  approve  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  as 
exhii)ited  in  the  Basis  of  Union  ;  and,  while  cherishing  a  spirit  of  brotherhood 
towards  all  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ,  do  you  engage  to  seek  the  purity,  edi- 
hcation,  peace,  and  extension  of  this  Church  ? 

5.  Are  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  desire  to 
save  souls,  and  not  worldly  interests  or  expectations,  so  far  as  you  know  your  own 
heart,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  office  of  the  Holy 
Ministry  ? 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  looi 

6.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  by  yourself  or  others,  to  obtain  the  Call 
of  this  Church  ? 

[  The  Afembers  of  ike  Church  being  requested  to  stand  up,  let  this  question  be 

put  to  them  : 

Do  you,  the   Members  of  this  Church,  testify  your  adherence  to  tlie  Call  which 

you  have  given  to  Mr.  A.  B.  to  be  your  Minister?  and  do  you  receive  him  with  all 

gladness,  and  promise  to  provide  for  him  suitable  maintenance,  and  to  give  him  all 

due  respect,  sui^jection,  and  encouragement  in  the  Lord  ? 

An  opportunity  zuill  here  be  given  to  the  Members  of  the  Church  of  signifying 
their  assent  to  this,  by  holding  up  their  right  hand.'\ 

7.  Do  you  adhere  to  your  acceptance  of  the  Call  to  become  Minister  of  this 
Church  ? 

8.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  live  a 
holy  and  circumspect  life,  to  rule  well  your  own  house,  and  faithfully,  diligently,  and 
cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial  work  toUhe  edifying  of  the 
body  of  Christ  ? 

9.  Do  you  promise  to  give  conscientious  attendance  on  the  Courts  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church,  to  be  subject  to  them  in  the  Lord,  to  take  a  due  interest  in 
their  proceedings,  and  to  study  the  things  which  make  for  peace  ? 

10.  And  all  these  things  you  profess  and  promise,  through  grace,  as  you  shall  be 
answerable  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  all  His  saints,  and  as  you 
would  be  found  in  that  happy  company  ? 

(c.) — Formula  for  Missionaries  at  Ordination. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice? 

2.  Do  you  acknowledge  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms,  as  an  exhibition  of  the  sense  in  which  you  understand  the  Holy 
Scriptures;  it  being  understood  that  you  are  not  required  to  approve  of  anything  in 
these  documents  which  teaches,  or  is  supposed  to  teach,  compulsory  or  persecuting 
and  intolerant  principles  in  religion  ? 

3.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the 
Church,  has  therein  appointed  a  government  distinct  from,  and  not  subordinate  to, 
civil  government?  And  do  you  acknowledge  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government, 
as  authorized  and  acted  on  in  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on,  and  agreeable  to,  the 
Word  of  God  ? 

4.  Do  you  approve  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  as 
exhibited  in  the  Basis  of  Union  ;  and,  while  cherishing  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  towards 
all  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ,  do  you  engage  to  seek  the  purity,  edification, 
jieace,  and  extension  of  this  Church  ? 

5.  Are  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  desire  to 
save  souls,  and  not  worldly  interests  or  expectations,  so  far  as  you  know  your  own 
heart,  your  great  motives  iand  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  office  of  the  Holy 
Ministry  ? 

6.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  live  a 
holy  and  circumspect  life,  to  rule  well  your  own  house,  and  faithfully,  diligently,  and 
cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial  work  to  the  edifying  of  the 
body  of  Christ  ? 

7.  Do  you  devote  yourself  to  the  office  of  a  Missionary  of  this  Church,  engaging 
in  this  solemn  undertaking  with  a  deep  sense  of  the  responsibilities  of  one  to  whom 
this  grace  is  given,  of  preaching  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ;  and  in  this 
anluous  work  of  turning  men  from  darkness  to  light  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  to 
God,  do  you  resolve  to  endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  that,  when 
the  Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear,  you  may  receive  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadcth  not 
away  ? 

8.  And  all  these  things  you  profess  and  promise,  through  grace,  as  you  shall 
be  answL'ral>le  at  the  coming  (»f  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  all  His  saints,  and  as  you 
would  be  found  in  that  huppy  company? 


I002  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

(d.) — Fonnula  for  Elders  at  Ihcir  Ordination. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice? 

2.  Do  you  acknowledge  the  Westniiu'^ti.-r  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms,  as  an  exhibition  of  tiie  sense  in  which  you  understand  the  Iloly 
Scriptures;  it  being  understood  that  you  are  not  required  to  approve  of  anything  in 
these  documents  which  teaches,  or  is  supposed  to  teach,  compulsory  or  persecuting 
and  intolerant  principles  in  religion  ? 

3.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the 
Church,  has  therein  appointed  a  government  distinct  from,  and  not  subordinate  to, 
civil  government?  And  do  you  acknowledge  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government, 
as  authorized  and  acted  on  in  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on,  and  agreeable  to,  the 
Word  of  God  ? 

4.  Do  you  approve  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  as 
exhibited  in  the  Basis  of  Union  ;  and,  while  cherishing  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  towards 
all  the  faiihlul  toUowers  of  Christ,  do  you  engage  to  seek  the  purity,  edification, 
peace,  and  extension  of  this  Church  ? 

5.  Are  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  desire  to 
save  souls,  and  not  worldly  interests  or  expectations,  as  far  as  you  know  your  own 
heart,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  office  of  Ruling 
Elder? 

6.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  by  yourself  or  others,  to  obtain  the  Call 
of  this  Church  ? 

7.  Do  you  adhere  to  your  acceptance  of  the  Call  to  become  Ruling  Elder  of  this 
Church  ? 

8.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  perform 
with  diligence  and  faithfulness  the  duties  of  a  Ruling  Elder,  watching  over  the 
flock  of  which  you  are  called  to  be  an  overseer,  in  all  things  showing  yourself  a  pat- 
tern f)f  good  works,  and  giving  a  conscientious  attendance  upon  the  iVIeetings  of  the 
Session,  and  also  of  Superior  Courts,  when  called  to  sit  as  a  member  in  them  ? 

9.  And  all  these  things  you  profess  and  promise,  through  grace,  as  you  shall  be 
answerable  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  all  His  saints,  and  as  you 
would  be  found  in  that  happy  company  ? 

The  following  Declaratory  Act  bearing  upon  the  acceptance  of  the  creed  was 
passed  by  the  Synod  in  May,  1879 : — 

Declaratory  Act,  adopted  May,  1879. 
Whereas,  the  formula  in  which  the  Subordinate  Standards  of  this  Church  are 
accepted  requires  assent  to  them  as  an  exhibition  of  the  sense  m  which  the  Scriptures 
are  understood  :  Whereas  these  Standards,  being  of  human  composition,  are  neces- 
sarily imperfect,  and  the  Church  has  already  allowed  exception  to  be  taken  to  their 
teaching  or  supposed  teaching,  on  one  important  subject :  And  whereas  there  are 
other  subjects  in  regard  to  which  it  has  been  found  desirable  to  set  forth  more 
fully  and  clearly  the  view  which  the  Synod  takes  of  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture: 
Therefore  the  Synod  hereby  declares  as  follows  : 

1.  That  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  redemption  as  taught  in  the  Standards,  and 
in  consistency  therewith,  the  love  of  God  to  all  mankind,  His  gift  of  His  Son  to  be 
the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  the  free  offer  of  salvation  to  men 
without  distinction  on  the  ground  of  Christ's  perfect  sacrifice,  are  matters  which 
have  been  and  continue  to  be  regarded  by  this  Church  as  vital  in  the  system  of 
Gospel  truth,  and  to  which  due  prominence  ought  ever  to  be  given. 

2.  That  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  decrees,  including  the  doctrine  of  election  to 
eternal  life,  is  held  in  connection  and  harmony  with  the  truth  that  God  is  not  willing 
that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repentance,  and  that  He  has 
provided  a  salvation  sufficient  for  all,  adapted  to  all,  and  offered  to  all  in  the  Gospel ; 
and  also  with  the  responsibility  of  every  man  for  his  Healing  with  the  free  and  unre- 
stricted offer  of  eternal  life. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1003 

3.  That  the  doctrine  of  man's  total  depravity,  and  of  his  loss  of  "  all  ability  of  will 
to  any  spiritual  ^ood  accompanying  salvation,"  is  not  held  as  implying;  sucli  a  con- 
dition of  man's  nature  as  would  affect  his  responsibility  under  the  law  of  God  and 
the  Gospel  of  Christ,  or  thai  he  does  not  experience  the  strivings  and  restrainin;^ 
influences  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  or  that  he  cannot  perform  actions  in  any  sense  good  ; 
although  actions  which  do  not  spring  from  a  renewed  heart  are  not  spiritually  good 
or  holy — such  as  accompany  salvation. 

4.  That  while  none  are  saved  except  through  the  mediation  of  Christ,  and  by  the 
grace  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  who  worketh  when,  and  where,  and  how  it  jileaselh  him  ; 
while  the  duty  of  sending  the  gospel  to  the  heathen,  who  are  sunk  in  ignorance, 
sin,  and  misery,  is  clear  and  imperative;  and  while  the  outward  and  ordinary  means 
of  salvation  for  those  capable  of  being  called  by  the  Word  are  the  ordinances  of  the 
gospel:  in  accepting  the  Standards,  it  is  not  required  to  be  held  that  any  who  die  in 
infancy  are  lost,  or  that  God  may  not  extend  his  grace  to  any  who  are  without  the 
pale  of  ordinary  means,  as  it  may  seem  good  in  his  sight. 

5.  That  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Civil  Magistrate,  and  his  authority  and 
duty  in  the  sphere  of  religion,  as  taught  in  the  Standards,  this  Church  holds  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the  Church,  and  "  Head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church,  which  is  his  body;"  disapproves  of  all  compulsory  or  perse- 
cuting and  intolerant  principles  in  religion  ;  and  declares,  as  hitherto,  that  she  does 
not  require  approval  of  anything  in  her  Standards  that  teaches,  or  may  be  supposed 
to  teach,  such  principles. 

6.  That  Christ  has  laid  it  as  a  permanent  and  universal  obligation  upon  his 
Church  at  once  to  maintain  her  own  ordinances  and  to  "  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature;  "  and  has  ordained  that  his  people  provide  by  their  free-will  offerings  for 
the  fulfilment  of  this  obligation. 

7.  That,  in  accordance  with  the  practice  hitherto  observed  in  this  Church,  liberty 
of  opinion  is  allowed  on  such  points  in  the  Standards,  not  entering  into  the  sub- 
stance of  the  faith,  as  the  interjMetation  of  the  "six  days"  in  the  Mosaic  account  of 
the  creation  :  the  Church  guarding  against  the  abuse  of  this  liberty  to  the  injury  of 
its  unity  and  peace. 

The  second  question  of  the  Formula  shall  henceforth  be  read  as  follows : — "  Do 
you  acknowledge  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms  as  an  exhii)ition  of  the  sense  in  which  you  understand  the  Holy  Scri])- 
tures  :  this  acknowledgment  being  made  in  view  of  the  explanations  contained  in  liie 
Declaratory  Act  of  Synod  thereanent  ?  " 

in. —  Question  Third.  Individual  adherence  to  the  Creed  is  uniformly  required 
from  ministers,  missionaries,  and  elders,  as  the  case  may  be,  on  ordination,  by  pub- 
lic assent  in  response  to  each  question  in  the  appropriate  formula  i7!  foio  o^  \.\\q  Pres- 
bytery, and  of  the  congregation  or  audience,  and  sometimes  also  by  a  promise  uf 
sul>scription,  if  required,  to  the  formula  when  the  elected  takes  his  place  as  an  office- 
bearer; the  promise  being  minuted  in  the  record  of  their  proceedings  kept  by  the 
Presbytery  or  Session. 

The  admission  of  private  members  to  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  is  on  principle 
and  as  a  rule  left  to  the  minister  and  session  of  each  congregation.  The  following 
is  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  Siivimary  of  Principles,  which,  without  having  been 
formally  prescribed  by  the  Synod,  is  circulated  among  applicants  for  admission  to 
the  Church  : — 

Of  the  Rule  of  Faith  and  Duty —  The  Holy  Scriptures. 

The  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  proved  to  be  the  word  of  God 
by  miracles,  by  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  by  the  excellence  of  the  truths  which  they 
contain,  by  the  harmony  of  all  their  parts,  and  by  the  blessed  effects  which  they 
produce. 

These  inspired  books  teach  us  "  what  man  is  to  believe  concerning  God,  and  what 
duty  God  requires  of  man;"  and  nothing  is  of  authority  in  religion  except  what  is 
either  taught  in  them  in  express  terms,  or  may  be  deduced  from  them  by  necessary 
inference. 


I004  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

\\.     Of  God. 

There  is  one  God,  the  only  living  and  true  God,  a  spirit,  infinite,  eternal,  inde- 
pendent, and  unchangeable  in  his  lieing,  and  in  his  power,  knowledge,  wisdom, 
holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth;  the  creator,  preserver,  proprietor,  and  gover- 
nor of  all  things:  and  the  sole  object  of  worship. 

In  the  Godhead  there  are  three  persons, — the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost, — in  essence  one,  and  in  all  divine  perfections  equal,  but  each  possessing  a 
distinct  personality  indicated  by  appropriate  personal  names  and  acts. 

\  2.      Of  the  Purpose  of  God. 
God,  in  the  exercise  of  his  holy,  wise,  and  sovereign  will,  and  for  the  manifesta- 
tion of  his  own  perfections,  formed,  in  eternity,  the  plan  according  to  which  all 
things  come  to  pass ;  "  yet  so  as  thereby  neither  is  God  the  author  of  sin,  nor  is  vio- 
lence offered  to  the  will  of  the  creatures." 

I  3.      Of  the   Works  of  God. 
This  plan  God  executes  in  creation,  in  which  he  makes  all  things  very  good,  and 
in  providence,  in  which  he  upholds  and  governs  them,  according  to  his  good  pleasure. 
§  4.      Of  the  Aloral  Government  of  God. 
All  the  creatures  of  God   are  governed   by  him,  according  to  laws  suited  to  their 
nature.     Intelligent  creatures  are  subject  to  his  moral  law,  which  is  "  holy,  just,  and 
good,"  and  which  they  cannot  break  without  being  guilty  of  sin,  and  becoming  lia- 
ble to  punishment. 

\  5.      Of  Man  in  his  Original  Condition,  and  of  his  Fall  fr 0711  it. 

Our  first  parents  were  created  with  a  holy  nature  and  in  a  happy  condition.  In 
this  state  of  innocence  they  were  placed  under  the  dispensation  commonly  called  the 
Covenant  of  Works.  As  the  test  of  their  obedience,  they  were  forbidden  to  eat  of 
the  fruit  of  the  "  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,"  and  in  case  of  disobedience 
they  were  threatened  with  death,  comprehending  not  merely  the  separation  of  soul 
and  body,  but  the  separation  of  both  from  the  favour  and  enjoyment  of  God.  They 
•were  fully  capable  of  yielding  perfect  obedience,  but  abusing  their  freedom  of  will, 
through  the  temptation  of  the  I3evi],  they  ate  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  thus  forfeited 
the  blessings  implied  in  the  Covenant,  incurred  its  penalty,  and  became  guilty, 
depraved,  and  miserable. 

I  6.      Of  the  State  of  Man  since  the  Fall. 

As  in  the  Covenant  Adam  was  constituted  the  head  and  representative  of  the 
entire  race,  all  his  natural  posterity  come  into  the  world  subject  to  the  penal  con- 
sequences of  his  sin,  destitute  of  holiness,  and  with  depraved  dispositions;  and  as 
soon  as  they  are  capable  of  using  their  moral  faculties,  they  by  actual  transgression 
increase  their  guilt  and  depravity,  and  make  themselves  liable  to  heavier  punish- 
ment :  so  that,  if  divine  mercy  do  not  interpose,  they  must,  after  suffering  the  miseries 
of  this  life,  die  under  the  curse,  and  endure  the  pains  of  hell  to  all  eternity. 

?  7.      Of  the  Method  of  Salvation. 
Divine  mercy  has  interposed,  and  abundant  provision  has  been  made  for  the  sal- 
vation of  fallen  man. 

(l.)  How  Salvation  is  procured. 
God  foreseeing  the  fall  of  man,  in  sovereign  mercy,  from  all  eternity,  purposed  to 
save  a  portion  of  the  lost  race,  and  formed  an  arrangement,  commonly  called  the 
Covenant  of  Grace,  whereby  sin  might  be  atoned  for,  salvation  freely  offered  to  sin- 
ners, and  that  salvation  secured  to  all  who  had  been  the  objects  of  his  electing  love. 
Yox  these  ends  the  Son  of  God  was  constituted  the  Mediator  between  God  and  man, 
the  Covenant  Head  of  his  chosen  people,  and  the  "  Saviour  of  the  world."  When 
the  appointed  time  arrived,  he  took  into  union  with  his  own  divine  person  a  perfect 
■  human  nature,  and  became  Man,  being  conceived  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  the  womb  of  a  virgin,  and  born  of  her,  yet  without  sin.     Being  made  under  the 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


1005 


law  which  man  had  broken,  he  yielded  perfect  obedience  to  it,  and,  so  far  as  was 
consistent  with  his  absohile  hohness,  endured  its  penahy  both  in  his  life  of  suffering 
and  in  his  aeath  upon  the  cross.  The  dignity  of  his  person  rendered  his  obedience 
unto  death  infinitely  meritorious,  and  thus  a  fit  ground  on  which  all  who  believe  on 
his  name  are  justified  and  receive  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  the  glory  of  God's  righteous- 
ness as  well  as  of  his  grace. 

In  testimony  of  the  acceptance  of  the  Saviour's  work  by  the  Father,  he  was  raised 
from  the  dead,  and  received  up  into  Heaven,  where,  in  virtue  of  his  sacrifice,  he,  as 
the  Great  High  Priest,  makes  intercession  for  his  people,  and,  as  L.ord  of  all,  rules 
the  Church  and  the  world.  At  the  time  appointed  he  will  come  again  to  the  earth 
to  raise  the  dead,  judge  the  world,  and  make  his  people  perfectly  happy  with  him- 
self in  heaven  forever. 

(2.)   How  Salvation  is  applied. 

In  the  Gospel  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  exhibited  as  the  Saviour  of  sinners;  salva- 
tion is  offered  through  his  all-sufficient  atonement,  to  men  without  exception  ;  and 
all  are  commanded  to  believe  the  divine  testimony,  and  accept  of  the  proffered  sal- 
vation. But  it  is  only  when  the  sinner,  by  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit — who  is 
promised  to  all  who  ask  him — and  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Word,  has  been 
convinced  of  his  sin  and  misery,  and  has  had  his  mind  enlightened  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ,  and  his  will  renewed,  that  he,  through  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  re- 
ceives Jesus  Christ  as  his  own  Saviour,  and  so  enters  on  the  enjoyment  of  the  salva- 
tion procured  by  him,  and  made  known  in  the  gospel. 

United  to  Christ  by  faith,  the  believer  has  a  personal  interest  in  Ilis  righteousness, 
and  is  pardoned,  and  accepted  as  righteous  by  God;  and  the  work  of  sanctificaii(jn 
begun  in  conversion  is  carried  on  by  the  continued  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
through  faith,  so  that  the  believer  is  preserved,  strengthened,  and  comforted,  till  he 
is  prepared  for  heaven. 

At  death  the  souls  of  believei-s  are  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  depart  to  be  with 
Christ.  Their  blessedness  shall  be  completed  at  the  last  day,  when  their  souls  shall 
be  reunited  to  their  bodies,  then  raised  incorruptible ;  and  after  being  in  the  general 
judgment  acquitted,  and  acknowledged  as  the  saved  of  the  Lord,  they  shall  be 
taken  to  heaven,  where  they  shall  be  perfectly  "  blessed  in  the  full  enjoying  of  God 
to  all  eternity." 

They  who  reject  the  salvation  presented  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ  greatly  aggravate 
their  sin  by  this  rejection,  and  expose  themselves  to  severer  punishment  than  those 
who  have  never  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  hearing  it. 

\  8.    Of  the  Means  of  Salvation. 
The  means  of  obtaining  possession   of  this  salvation    thus   procured,   and   thus 
applied,  are  partly  internal  and  partly  external. 

(i.)    Of  the  Internal  Means  of  Salvation. 

The  internal  means  of  salvation  are  exercises  of  the  mind  and  heart,  produced  by 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Word.  Tiicyare 
chiefly  these  two:  Faith  in  Christ — a  crediting  of  the  testimony  of  God  concern- 
ing His  Son,  whereby  the  sinner  receives  Him  as  He  is  freely  offered  in  the  Gospel 
— trusting  in  Hirn  as  his  Saviour,  and  submitting  to  Him  as  his  Lord;  and 
REPENTANCE  TOWARDS  GoD,  whereby  the  sinner,  believing  in  Christ  Jesus,  turns 
from  sin  to  God,  with  hatred  of  sin,  and  purpose  of  new  obedience. 

The  blessings  of  salvation  are  obtained  by  men,  not  on  the  ground  of  faith  and 
repentance  as  the  meritorious  cause  or  proper  condition,  but  through  their  instru- 
mentality as  fit  and  appointed  means;  so  that  those  who  continue  unbelieving  and 
impenitent  necessarily  shut  themselves  out  from  any  part  in  this  salvation. 

(2.)    Of  the  External  Afeans  of  Salvation. 

The  external  means  of  salvation  are  the  Word  read  or  preached,  prayer,  and  other 
divinely  instituted  ordinances  of  religion. 

In  the  Word  is  presented  the  truth  with  its  evidence,  whereby,  through  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  Ghost,  faith  is  produced,  and  the  blessings  of  salvation  are  thus 
communicated. 


ioo6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  blessings  of  salvation  which  by  the  Word  are  made  known,  offered  to  all  and 
communicated  to  those  who  believe,  are  to  be  sought  and  expected  in  the  exercise 
of  l)ciitving,  fervent,  persevering  Prayer. 

The  uilicr  ordinances  of  God  are  intended  and  fitted  to  serve  the  same  ends. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  week, — which  is  called  the  Lord's  Day,  in  commemoration 
of  the  resurrecti(.)n  of  Christ — the  continuance,  under  the  Christian  dispensation,  of 
the  Sabbatical  institution  appointed  at  the  creation  and  confirmed  at  Sinai, — Chris- 
tians are  to  come  together  to  observe  the  ordinances  of  public  worship;  and  are  to 
ilevote  the  whole  day  to  religious  exercises,  "  except  so  much  as  is  to  be  taken  up  in 
the  works  of  necessity  and  mercy." 

These  ordinances  of  pubHc  worship  are  the  teaching  of  Christian  truth,  the  offer- 
ing up  of  prayers  and  praises  to  God  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  "  the  fellow- 
ship" or  communication  of  their  property  by  the  members  of  the  church,  as  God  has 
prospered  them,  for  maintaining  and  extending  the  cause  of  Christ. 

Besides  these  ordinances,  there  are  two  emblematical  institutions  usually  termed 
.Sacraments, — Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  In  these,  by  outward  signs,  spirit- 
ual truths  are  represented  and  confirmed — the  fundamental  principles  of  Christianity 
and  their  evidence  are  brought  before  the  mind  ;  and  thus,  "  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
and  the  working  of  His  Spirit,"  spiritual  benefit  is  conferred  on  "  those  who  by  faith 
receive  them." 

In  Baptism  the  application  of  water  to  the  body  symbolizes  the  truth — "  that  men 
are  purified  from  sin — freed  from  guilt  and  depravity,  by  the  atonement  of  Christ  and 
the  influence  of  the  Holy  Sjiirit,"  and  the  person  baptized  is  recognized  as  connected 
with  the  Visible  Church.  The  ordinance  is  to  be  administered  to  unba|)lized  adults 
on  their  making  a  credible  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ,  and  their  obedience  to 
Him  ;  and  to  the  infants  of  such  as  are  members  of  the  church. 

In  the  Lord's  Suiter,  by  the  distribution  and  use  of  bread  broken  and  wine 
poured  out,  are  represented  and  confirmed  the  truths, — "  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God,  in  human  nature,  suffered  and  died  in  the  room  of  men,  to  obtain  their  par- 
don and  salvation — that  in  the  faith  of  these  truths  men  enjoy  the  benefits  procured 
by  His  death — that  all  who  believe  are  united  in  a  holy  fellowship,  and  bound  to 
yield  implicit  obedience  to  all  Christ's  laws;  "  and  the  believing  participants  of  "  the 
bread"  and  of  "  the  cup"  have  communion  with  Christ,  and  partake  of  the  benefits 
of  His  salvation,  "  to  their  spiritual  nourishment  and  growth  in  grace."  The  Lord's 
Supper  is  therefore  to  be  observed  by  believers  as  a  memorial  of  Christ's  sacrificial 
death,  as  a  public  profession  of  their  faith  in  Him  and  subjection  to  His  authority, 
and  as  an  expression  of  the  communion  which  they  have  with  Him  and  with  one 
another.  As  it  must  be  profaned  if  observed  in  ignorance  and  unbelief,  or  in  the 
allowed  practice  of  sin,  serious  self-examination  ought  to  precede  the  service,  and  it 
ought  to  be  performed  in  the  exercise  of  faith,  love,  repentance,  and  self-dedication 
to  God. 

All  these  ordinances  are  appointed  in  connection  with  the  Church;  which  is  not 
only  thus  the  means  of  salvation  to  those  within  its  pale,  but  by  being  appointed  to 
proclaim  the  Gospel  to  all  who  will  listen  to  it,  is  the  grand  means  of  salvation  to 
the  unbelieving  world. 

\  9.    Of  the  CJntrch. 

The  Visible  Church  of  Christ  consists  of  all  those  who  make  an  intelligent  and 
credible  profession  of  faith  in  Him  and  obedience  to  Him,  and  their  infant  children. 
It  is  a  spiritual  society,  or  kingdom,  of  which  He  is  the  only  King  and  Head,  and 
is  distinct  from  earthly  kingdoms,  and  not  dependent  on  them  for  authority  or 
support. 

The  design  of  the  Church  is  the  advancement  of  the  glory  of  Christ,  by  the  main- 
tenance and  extension  of  His  cause,  in  the  edification  of  her  members,  and  the  con- 
version of  the  world. 

A  particular  Church  consists  of  those  \\\\o  are  so  united  in  their  views  in  regard 
to  doctrine  and  order  as  to  admit  of  their  co-operating  for  these  objects. 

No  one  should  be  retained  as  a  member  of  such  a  society  who  does  not  act  agree- 
ably to  his  profession. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1007 

The  church  rulers, — called  pastors,  or  bishops  (/.  e.  overseers),  or  elders, — are  to 
he  chosen  by  llie  members,  and  are  appointed  by  Jesus  Christ  to  watch  over  the 
]varity  of  the  society — to  instruct  the  members  in  His  doctrine  and  law — to  superin- 
tend their  conduct,  and  to  take  care  that  the  ordinances  be  regularly  administered. 
Of  these  elders,  all  equally  rule,  but  some  also  "  labour  in  word  and  doctrine." 

Church  Government  by  elders — regularly  chosen  and  ordained — assembled  in  ses- 
sions, presbvteries,  and  synods,  in  due  subordination,  is  fiunded  upon,  and  agreea- 
ble to,  the  Word  of  God ;  and  practical  subjection  to  this  government  is  required 
from  all  the  members  of  this  Church. 

The  following  are  the  questions  which  may  be  addressed  to  those  admitted  to 
membership : 

1.  Do  you  acknowledge  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the 
Word  of  God,  and  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice? 

2.  Do  you  believe  in  God — in  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  God  ? 

3.  Do  you  acknowledge  yourselves  to  be  by  nature  guilty,  depraved,  and  helpless, 
nnd  do  you  believe  that  salvation  is  only  from  the  grace  of  God,  through  the  obedience 
unto  death  of  His  Son,  and  the  sanctifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 

4.  Do  you  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  as  your  Saviour,  own  Him  as  your  Lord,  and 
engage,  in  dependence  on  the  promised  aids  of  His  Spirit,  to  observe  His  ordinances 
and  to  obey  His  laws? 

5.  Do  you,  so  far  as  your  knowledge  extends,  approve,  as  agreeable  to  the  Word 
of  God,  of  the  views  of  Divine  truth  and  duty  held  by  this  Church,  and  of  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  its  constitution  and  order  are  founded  ? 

6.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  to  the  Session  of  this  congregation  as  over  you  in  the 
Lord,  to  contribute  according  to  your  ability  for  the  support  and  extension  of  the 
Gospel,  and  to  study  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  Congregation,  and  by  a  holy  life 
to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour  ? 

Section  Second. 

Ansivers  relating  to  the  Churches  included  and  embodied  in  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church. 

Preamble. — Some  account  of  the  origin  of  these  churches,  and  of  the  formal 
changes  which  they  have  undergone,  appearing  necessary  to  understand  the  answers 
to  be  made  in  regard  to  them  respectively,  and  the  epochs  to  which  the  answers 
apply,  such  account  is  now  given. 

These  churches  had  their  origin  in  a  secession  from  the  party  then  prevailing  in 
the  judicatories  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  made  in  the  year  1733  by  four  min- 
isters of  that  church,  on  account  of  certain  proceedings  which  had  taken  place  in 
the  General  Assembly.  These  ministers  were  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  of  .Stir- 
ling, the  Rev.  William  Wilson  of  Perth,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Moncrieff  of  Abernethy, 
and  the  Rev.  James  Fisher  of  Kinclaven. 

The  moving  cause  of  their  secession  was  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  in  regard  to  a  proposal  which  came  before  them  at  their 
meeting  in  May,  1731,  in  the  form  of  an  overture  "  concerning  the  method  of  plant- 
ing vacant  churches,"  whereby  owners  of  land  in  the  parish  were  to  he  admitted, 
along  with  the  elders  of  the  congregation,  to  the  privilege  of  choosing  the  ministers 
of  vacant  parishes.  When  the  overture  came  up  for  consideration  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  May,  1732,  thirty-one  presbyteries  of  the  Church  were  found  to  have 
reported  their  opinion  against  the  measure,  and  at  the  same  time  there  were  pre- 
sented to  the  .\ssembly  representations  signed  by  forty-two  ministers,  of  whom  the 
above-named  ministers  were  four,  and  1700  of  the  Christian  people,  respectively, 
remonstrating  against  the  overture  and  against  abuses  which  they  considered  had 
arisen  in  the  exercise  of  patronage  in  relation  to  the  settlement  of  ministers  in  par- 
isHes,  and  to  other  matters  of  administration.  The  Assembly  refused  to  hear  these 
representations,  and,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  offered,  passed  the  overture  into 
a  standing  law  of  the  Church — refusing   to  restrict  the  constituency  to  resident 


ioo8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

heritors,  or  to  such  as  were  communicants,  and  declining  to  enter  upon  their  record 
a  dissent  from  the  Act  and  a  protest  against  it  made  by  several  ministers  and  elders 
who  were  members  of  Assembly.  In  a  discourse  preached  by  Mr.  Erskine  at  llie 
opening  of  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Perth  and  Stirling  (October,  1732),  he  tes- 
tified against  the  Act  and  other  evil  practices  which  he  thought  prevailed  in  the 
Church  Judicatories,  especially  in  the  violent  settlement  of  ministers  under  the  law 
of  Patronage ;  and  for  this  discourse  he  was  judged  censurable.  Against  the  deci- 
sion to  censure,  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Fisher,  with  ten  other  ministers,  protested,  and 
appealed  to  the  next  Assembly.  That  Assembly  (held  in  May,  1733)  approved  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Synod,  and  ordered  Mr.  Erskine  to  be  lebuked  and  admon- 
ished by  the  Moderator  at  their  bar,  and  that  was  done  accordingly.  Whereupon  Mr. 
Erskine  declared  that  he  could  not  submit  to  the  censure  ;  and  handing  in  a  paper  of 
protest  signed  by  himself,  with  subjoined  minutes  of  concurrence  by  Mr.  Wilson  and 
Mr.  Moncrieff  and  by  Mr.  Fisher,  he  withdrew  from  the  Assembly.  The  dissen- 
tients were  summoned  by  the  officer  of  Court  to  appear  before  ,lhe  Assembly  the 
next  day;  and  a  committee  was  immediately  appointed  to  deal  with  them.  It  re- 
ported their  resolution  to  adhere  to  their  paper  and  protest,  and  the  Assembly,  with- 
out hearing  them,  forthwith  passed  a  resolution,  ordaining  the  four  brethren  to  ap- 
pear before  the  Commission  in  August,  and  then  show  sorrow  for  their  conduct  and 
misbehavior  in  offering  to  protest,  and  in  giving  in  the  paper  subscribed  by  them,  and 
that  they  retract  the  same.  In  case  of  their  non-appearance,  and  not  showing  sor- 
row and  retracting,  the  Commission  was  empowered  and  appointed  to  suspend  said 
brethren,  or  such  of  them  as  should  not  obey,  from  the  exercise  of  their  ministry. 
And  further,  in  case  the  said  brethren  should  be  suspended  by  the  said  Commission, 
and  they  should  act  contrary  to  the  sentence  of  suspension,  the  Commission  was  ap- 
pointed at  their  meeting  in  November,  or  any  subsequent  meeting,  to  proceed  to  a 
higher  censure.  Upon  intimation  of  this  sentence,  the  four  brethren  offered  a  joir.t 
complaint  and  declaration ;  but  the  Assembly  would  not  hear  it,  and  it  was  left  on 
their  table.  To  the  Commission,  at  its  meeting  in  August,  a  representation  and 
appeal  was  presented  by  Mr.  Erskine  and  Mr.  Fisher  against  the  sentence  of  the 
Synod  of  Perth  and  Stirling,  and  another  by  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Moncrieff  as  pro- 
testers against  that  sentence.  These  representations  contained  declarations  of  the 
principles  they  held,  their  reasons  for  adhering  to  their  protest  made  at  last  Assem- 
bly, and  protestations  against  any  censure  or  invasion  upon  their  ministerial  labours 
or  charges,  and  that  it  should  be  lawful  for  them  to  exercise  their  ministry  as  hereto- 
fore, in  regard  that  they  were  not  convicted  of  departing  from  any  of  the  received 
principles  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  or  of  counteracting  their  ordination  vows  ami 
engagements.  The  representations  thus  made  were  supported  by  the  presbyteries 
to  which  the  brethren  belonged,  and  by  the  magistrates  of  Stirling  and  Perth.  But 
the  Commission  refused  to  listen  to  any  of  them,  and  pronounced  a  sentence  of  sus- 
pension against  the  four  protesters  from  the  exercise  of  their  ministerial  function  and 
all  the  parts  thereof.  The  intimation  of  that  sentence  was  met  by  a  protestation 
taken  by  them  before  the  Court,  for  themselves  and  all  other  ministers,  elders,  and 
memi)ers  of  the  Church  of  .Scotland,  and  of  all  of  their  respective  congregations  who 
should  adhere.  That  protestation  bore  that  the  sentence  was  in  itself  null  and  void, 
and  that  it  should  be  lawful  and  warrantable  for  them  to  exercise  their  ministry  as 
theretofore,  and  as  if  no  such  censure  had  been  inflicted  ;  and  that  if,  in  consequence 
of  the  sentence,  any  other  minister  or  probationer  should  exercise  any  part  of  their 
pastoral  work,  the  same  should  be  held  and  reputed  as  a  violent  intrusion  u])on  their 
ministerial  labours.  Some  elders  from  the  respective  sessions  of  these  brethren  gave 
in  protestation  against  the  sentence,  and  testified  their  adherence  to  their  ministers. 
Cited  to  appear  iiefore  the  Commission  in  November,  they  appeared  under  protest 
against  their  appearance  being  held  or  construed  as  a  falling  from  the  declaration 
which  they  had  emitted,  and  the  protestations  they  had  entered  both  before  and 
after  the  executing  of  the  sentence  of  suspension  against  them  by  the  Commission 
of  August,  and  their  adherence  to  both.  To  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Com- 
mission to  deal  with  them,  they  admitted  that  they  had  exercised  all  the  parts  of 
their  ministerial  office  as  if  they  had  been  under  no  such  sentence.     But  the  Com- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


1009 


mission,  notwithstanding  several  memorials  presented  by  several  Synod-;,  and  by  two 
Presbyteries,  decided  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Moderator  "  to  proceed  immediately 
to  inflict  a  higher  censure  upon  the  four  suspended  ministers."  From  this  decision 
several  ministers  and  elders,  members  of  tiie  Commission,  dissented,  and  against  it 
two  ministers,  viz.,  Mr.  Ralph  Eiskine  and  Mr.  Thomas  Mair  of  Orwell,  who  were 
not  members,  lodged  a  declaration  and  protest  against  the  jiroceedings  of  the  As- 
sembly and  Commission  in  the  case  of  the  four  brethren,  and  a  declaration  of  ad- 
herence to  them  in  that  cause.  Another  committee  for  dealing  was  appointed,  with 
the  result  of  reporting  a  declared  resolution  to  continue  of  the  same  mind  as  for- 
merly;  the  mode  of  censure  was  settled  by  vote  against  a  sentence  of  deposition, 
and  in  favour  of  a  modified  deprivation,  which  was  passed  on  the  16th  November, 
1732,  to  the  effect  of  "  loosing  the  relation  of  the  said  four  ministers  to  their  several 
charges."  This,  the  final  sentence  of  the  Commission  against  the  four  protesters, 
was  in  the  following  terms: — 

"The  Commission  of  the  General  Assembly  did,  and  hereby  do,  loose  the  rela- 
tion of  Mr.  Ebenezer  Erskine,  minister  at  Stirling,  Mr.  \Villi;ini  Wilson,  minister  at 
Perth,  Mr.  Alexander  Moncrieff,  minister  at  Abernethy,  and  Mr.  James  Fisher,  min- 
ister at  Kinclaven,  to  their  said  respective  charges ;  and  do  declare  them  no  longer 
ministers  of  this  Church;  and  do  hereby  prohibit  all  ministers  of  this  Church  to 
employ  them  or  any  of  them  in  any  ministerial  function.  And  the  Conimission  do 
declare  the  churches  of  the  said  Mr.  Erskine,  Mr.  Wilson,  Mr.  Moncrieff,  and  Mr. 
Fisher,  vacant,  from  and  after  the  date  of  this  sentence.  And  appoints  that  letters 
from  the  Moderator  and  extracts  of  this  sentence  be  sent  to  the  several  Presbyteries 
within  whose  bounds  the  said  ministers  have  had  their  charges,  appointing  them,  as 
they  are  hereby  appointed,  to  cause  intimate  this  sentence  in. the  foresaid  several 
churches,  now  tleclared  vacant,  anytime  betwixt  and  the  first  of  January  next.  And 
also  that  notice  of  this  sentence  be  sent  by  letters  from  the  Moderator  of  this  Com- 
mission to  the  Magistrates  of  Perth  and  Stirling,  to  the  Sheriff-principal  of  Perth,  and 
IJailie  of  the  regality  of  Abernethy." 

Af^ainst  the  sentence  seven  ministers  protested,  and  when  it  was  intimated  to  the 
four  ministers,  they  read  and  gave  in  a  protestation,  of  which,  as  being  the  key-note 
of  what  became  the  Secession  Church  of  Scotland,  a  copy  is  added,  viz. 

Edinburgh,  A^croemhei-  i6t/t,  1733. 
"  We  do  hereby  adhere  to  the  protestation  formerly  entered  before  this  Court,  both 
at  their  last  meeting  in  August,  and  when  we  appeared  first  before  this  meeting. 
.\nd  further,  we  do  protest  in  our  own  name,  and  in  name  of  all  and  every  one  in 
our  respective  congregations  adhering  to  us,  that,  notwithstanding  of  this  sentence 
]iassed  against  us,  our  pastoral  relation  shall  be  held  and  reputed  firm  and  valid. 
And  likewise  we  do  protest,  that  notwithstanding  of  our  being  cast  out  from  minis- 
terial communion  with  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland,  we  still  hold  communion 
with  all  and  every  one  who  desire  with  us  to  adhere  to  the  principles  of  the  true 
Presbyterian  covenanted  Church  of  Scotland,  in  her  doctrine,  worship,  government, 
and  discipline,  and  particularly  with  everyone  who  is  groaning  under  the  evils, and 
who  is  affected  with  the  grievances  v/e  have  been  complaining  of,  who  are,  in  their 
several  spheres,  wrestling  against  the  same.  But  in  regard  the  prevailing  party  m 
this  Established  Church  who  have  now  cast  us  out  from  ministerial  communion  with 
them,  are  carrying  on  a  course  of  defection  from  our  reformed  and  covenanted 
]irinciples,  and  particularly  are  suppressing  ministerial  freedom  and  faithfulness  in 
testifying  against  the  present  backslidings  of  the  Church,  and  inflicting  censures 
upon  niTnisters  for  witnessing,  by  protestations  and  otherwise,  against  the  same: 
Therefore  we  do,  for  these  and  many  other  weighty  reasons,  to  be  laid  open  in  due 
time,  protest  that  we  are  obliged  to  make  a  secession  from  them,  and  that  we  can 
have' no  ministerial  communion  with  them  till  ihey  see  their  sins  and  mistakes,  and 
amend  them.  And  in  like  manner  we  do  protest,  that  it  shall  be  lawful  and  war- 
rantable for  us  to  exercise  the  keys  of  doctrine,  discipline,  and  government,  accord- 
in>T  to  the  W'ord  of  God  and  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  principles  and  conslitu- 
64 


loio  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tions  of  the  Covenanted  Church  of  Scotland,  as  if  no  such  censure  had  been  passed 
upon  us:  upon  all  which  we  take  instruments.  And  we  hereby  appeal  unto  the 
first  free,  faitliful,  and  reforming  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

(Signed)  Ebenezer  Erskine. 

William  Wilson. 
Alexr.  Moncrieff. 
James  Fisher." 

Upon  the  6th  of  the  following  month  (December,  1733)  the  four  brethren  met  at 
Gairney  Bridge,  near  the  county  town  of  Kinross;  and  after  having  spent  the  greater 
part  of  the  day  in  prayer  and  conference,  they  constituted  themselves  into  a  Pres- 
bytery, afterwards  known  as  "  The  Associate  Presbytery."  This  step  they  took  "  in 
conformity  to  their  present  situation,  and  in  consequence  of  their  late  protestation 
before  the  Commission,  and  also  that  they  might  be  in  a  condition  and  capacity  to 
exercise  all  the  parts  of  their  pastoral  office;  that  they  might  have  a  more  S]')ecinl 
claim  to  the  promise  of  the  Divine  i^resence  among  them;  that  they  might  maintain 
))roper  order  among  themselves,  distinguishing  themselves  from  those  of  the  sec- 
tarian and  independent  way  ;  that  they  might  be  in  a  better  capacity  for  afiording 
help  and  relief  to  the  oppressed  heritage  of  God  through  the  land ;  and  that  they 
might  endeavour  to  lift  up  -a.  judicial  as  well  as  a  doctrinal  testimony  for  Scotland's 
covenanted  Reform  ilion,  and  against  the  present  declinings  and  backslidmgs  from 
the  same." 

In  May,  1734,  there  was  prepared  and  issued  by  a  committee  of  their  number,  a 
"Testimony  to  the  Doctrine,  Worship,  Government,  and  Discipline  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland;  or  reasons  by  the  four  brethren  for  their  protestation  before  the  Commission 
of  the  General  Assembly,  November,  1733;  "which  Testimony  was  afterwards  ap- 
proved by  the  Presbytery  as  their  testimony,  and  its  publication  was  commended  as 
seasonable.  This  volume  was  called  the  First  or  Extrajudicial  Testimony.  Along  with 
three  more  technical  Testimonies  which  had  preceded  it  (entitled  "The  True  State 
of  the  Process,"  "  The  Representation,"  "  The  Review  of  the  Narrative  of  Proce- 
dure emitted  by  a  Committee  of  the  General  Assemlily's  Commission  "),  that  Tes- 
timony stt  forth,  more  fully  and  articulately  than  hid  been  done  in  the  prbtest  aljove 
quoted,  the  evils  which  the  Seceders  regarded  as  existing  in  the  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  the  Church  ;  and  these  seem  to  have  multiplied,  or  to  have  unfolded 
themselves  after  the  separation,  so  that  when  the  General  Assembly,  at  their  meeting 
in  May,  1734,  not  only  rescinded,  inter  alia,  the  Act  of  1732,  but  passed  an  Act  em- 
powering the  Synod  of  Perth  and  Stirling  to  restore  the  brethren  to  their  respective 
ministerial  charges  without  farther  inquiry,  and  when  the  said  Synod  had,  in  pur- 
suance of  that  authority,  in  the  following  July,  "taken  off  the  sentences  pronounced 
by  the  Commission  of  1733  against  the  four  brethren,  and  restored  them  to  minis- 
terial conrjmunion  with  the  Church,"  yet  for  reasons  which  they  published  in  1735, 
they  refused  to  accede  to  the  Judicatories  of  the  Church,  submitting  at  the  same  time 
certain  preliminaries  of  reform,  which  they  deemed  essential  to  their  harmony  with 
the  Church. 

The  Seceders  obtained  ministerial  accession  to  their  number,  and  in  December, 
1736,  enacted,  as  the  result  of  many  deliberations,  a  "  fudicial  Testimony,"  giving  an 
historical  account  of  what  they  reckoned  the  defections  of  the  Church,  of  existing  evils 
against  which  they  testified,  and  of  the  doctrines  and  principles  which  they  held  and 
upon  which  they  acted.  This  Testimony  was  published  in  March,  1737.  Before  its 
publication,  the  Rev.  Ralph  Erskine,  of  Dunfermline,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Mair,  of 
()rwell,had  adjoined  themselves  to  the  Seceders;  and  in  the  following  September  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Nairn,  of  AbbotshalI,as  the  Rev.  James  Thomson,  minister  at  Burntis- 
land, did  in  the  following  June.  Notwithstanding  these  accessions,  the  brethren 
found  themselves  unable  to  answer  the  a]->plications  made  to  them  for  ministerial  ser- 
vice, and  resolved  to  license  some  young  men  to  take  part  with  them  in  the  work, 
and  adopted  a  formula  of  questions  on  licence,  which,  with  two  additions,  was  to  be 
used   on   the  ordination  of  ministers.     This   formula  is  quoted   iti   the  Appendix.* 

*  See  Appendix  A  (n  2). 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  loii 

Pursuant  to  an  Act  of  1738,  llie  Commission  of  the  Assembly  issued  a  Libel  against 
the  members  of  the  Associate  Presbytery,  now  eight  in  number,  chargmg  their  seces- 
sion and  the  Judicial  Testimony  as  censurable  offences,  and  citing  the  Seceders  to 
appearand  answer  to  the  Assembly  of  1739.  This  was  met  by  an  Act  of  Declinature, 
i6th  May,  1739,  disowning  the  Court  as  not  lawful  or  legally  constituted,  and  all 
authority  and  jurisdiction  overthrown  for  the  reasons  therein  stated.  That  Assembly 
referred  the  cause  to  the  ensuing  Assembly,  1740,  with  a  recommendation  "to  inflict 
the  sentence  of  deposition  without  farther  delay  upon  such  of  the  defenders  as  should 
not  in  the  interval,  either  in  presence  of  the  Commission  or  of  the  Assembly,  retract 
the  Act  of  Declinature  and  return  to  their  duty  and  submission  to  the  Church."  No 
retractation  was  made,  and  the  Assembly  of  1740  "  deposed  them  from  the  office  of 
the  holy  ministry,  and  prohibited  and  discharged  them  to  exercise  the  same  or  any 
part  thereof  within  the  Church  in  all  time  coming."  Up  till  this  period  Ebenezer 
Erskine,  of  Stirling,  and  William  Wilson,  of  Perth,  continued  to  minister  in  their 
charges ;  but  soon  after  the  sentence  of  deposition,  and  in  pursuance  of  it,  they  were 
debarred  by  the  civil  powers  from  entering  their  churches,  and  they  proceeded  to 
preach  in  the  open  air.  Some  of  the  other  Seceders  were  more  leniently  treated,  and 
allowed  to  remain  in  their  charges.  But  all  at  length  abdicated  their  position,  and 
proceeded,  in  1744,  to  form  themselves  into  a  Synod.  This  was  done  at  a  meeting 
of  all  the  brethren,  held  at  Stirling  in  March,  1745,  when  they  took  the  title  of  the 
Associate  Synod. 

Division  in  the  Associate  Synod. 

In  the  same  year  (1745)  a  controversy  arose  in  the  Synod  respecting  the  meaning 
of  a  clause  which  had  been  introduced  into  the  oath  required  of  burgesses  on  their 
election  to  office  in  the  chief  towns  of  Scotland  ;  the  consistency  of  that  oath  with  the 
))rinciples  of  the  Secession  ;  and  the  consequent  lawfulness  of  members  of  the  Asso- 
ciate Church  taking  the  oath.  This  question  was  keenly  debated  in  that  and  the 
two  following  Synods;  the  difference  was  found  to  be  irreconcilable,  and  terminated 
m  a  separation  of  the  members  into  two  parlies,  and  the  formation,  in  1747,  of  each 
jiarty  and  their  followers  into  two  .Synods — the  one  which  accepted  the  oath  retain- 
ing the  original  name  of  the  l>ody  (the  Associate),  popularly  called  the  "  Burgher," 
Synod — the  other,  which  condemned  the  oath,  somewhat  larger  in  number  of  minis- 
ters and  Congregations,  assuming  the  title  of  "  General  Associate,"  and  commonly 
called  the"Antiburgher"  .Synod.  The  separation  continued  till  the  year  1S20,  when 
it  issued  in  a  reunion,  to  be  afterwards  mentioned.  Towards  the  end  of  last  century, 
secessions  took  place  from  each  of  the  bodies,  arising  from  difference  of  opinion 
occurring  in  each  Synod  as  to  the  extent  of  the  right  of  the  Civil  Magistrate  circa 
sacra.  But  as  none  of  the  sub-Seceders  returned  to  the  parent  Church,  it  does  not 
fall  within  the  province  of  this  paper  to  advert  to  their  creeds,  although  it  may  serve 
the  purpose  of  completeness  thus  to  notice  the  fact. 

Church  of  Relief. 

Next  in  order  of  time  to  the  two  bodies  of  the  Secession,  the  Church  of  Relief 
arose.  It  originated  in  a  disputed  settlement  in  the  parish  of  Inverkeithing.  That 
settlement,  and  the  exercise  of  patronage  in  regard  to  it,  were  opposed  by  several 
members  of  the  Presbytery  of  Dunfermline,  by  whom  the  settlement  was  earnestly 
resisted  in  their  own  Presbytery,  together  with  the  action  in  support  of  it  proposed 
to  be  taken.  These  ministers,  six  in  number,  on  the  22d  May,  1752,  memorialized 
the  General  Assembly  against  these  proceedings;  but  the  Court  adhered  to  them, 
and  resolved  that  one  of  the  memorialists  should  be  deposed.  The  vote,  taken  next 
day,  fell  upon  the  Rev.  Thomas  Gillespie,  minister  of  Carnock,  and  he  was  accord- 
ingly deposed  from  the  office  of  the  holy  ministry.  He  began  to  preach  in  the  open 
air;  and  adhering  to  his  position  against  endeavours  to  recall  and  reconcile  him  to 
the  Church,  he  was  finally  excluded  from  it.  Others  gradually  joining  themselves 
to  him,  congregations  were  organized,  and  a  Presbytery  of  Relief  was  formed  in 
1761,  and  afterwards  a  Synod,  and  so  continued  till  the  Union  of  1847. 


I  o  1 2  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  AL  L  lANCE. 

Reunion  of  the  two  Branches  of  the  Associate  Synod. 
The  two  main  branches  of  the  Secession  were  reunited  on  the  8th  September, 
1820.  This  event  was  the  result  of  a  general  desire  among  the  members  of  each 
body,  expressed  in  numerous  petitions  to  the  respective  Synods,  and  was  favoured  by 
a  recent  legislative  abolition  of  the  clause  in  the  Burgess  Oath  which  had  occasioned 
the  separation.  The  movement  for  union  began  in  1818,  and  not  only  continued, 
but  increased  in  influence  and  strength,  until,  as  the  result  of  repeated  and  earnest 
deliberations,  a  basis  of  union  was  agreed  upon,  and  the  union  was  consummated, 
at  a  joint  meeting  of  both  Synods,  in  the  Church  of  Bristo  Street,  Edinburgh,  where 
the  separation  of  1747  had  taken  place.  From  the  union  there  dissented  seven 
ministers,  who,  it  is  believed,  were  ultimately  for  the  most  part  merged  in  one  or 
other  of  the  two  bodies  of  dissentients  from  the  previously  existing  bodies  of  Sece- 
ders.  The  name  or  title  of  the  United  Synod  was  "  The  United  Associate  Synod 
of  the  Secession  Church." 

Formation  of  United  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  united  body  continued  to  maintain  its  separate  position  until  the  year  1847, 
■when,  on  the  15th  September,  and  as  the  result  of  a  previous  tendency  of  ihouglit 
and  feeling  in  both  bodies,  and  of  deliberate  consideration,  the  Churches  of  the 
Secession  and  Relief  were  united  on  the  basis  before  quoted. 

Having  thus  sketched  the  origin  of  the  different  Churches  comprised  in  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church,  there  will  now  be  given  answers  to  the  questions  in 
respect  to  them  severally. 

Questions  I.  and  II. 

The  Creeds  or  Confession,  of  these  Churches  are  set  forth  in  their  respective  for- 
mulse,  described  in  Appendix  A,  as  follows: — 

(rt.)  The  "  ordination  vows,"  or  formula  of  questions  settled  by  the  Associate 
Pre-.bytery  soon  after  the  publication  of  the  Judicial  Testimony  in  1737,  for  being 
put  at  the  ordination  of  Ministers  and  Elders,  and  the  licensing  of  young  men  to 
preach  the  gospel. 

Acts  were  passed  by  the  Associate  Presbytery  on  23d  December,  1743,  14th  Feb- 
ruary, 1744,  and  15th  February,  1744,  for  renewing  their  obligation  to  observe  and 
fulfil  their  parts  of  the  National  Covenant,  and  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant ;  but  it  appears  from  a  note  subjoined  to  ttie  republication  of  them  in  1770,  that 
they  had  not  been  generally  observed  by  the  people,  or  at  least  none  had  been  sub- 
jected to  discipline  for  non-observance.     Gib's  Display,  vol.  i.,  p.  253. 

((7  2.)  Formula  for  licensing  Preachers,  and  at  the  ordination  of  Ministers, 
adopted  in  1737. 

[p.')  Formula  adopted  by  the  Antiburgher  Synod,  after  the  separation  of  1747, — 
the  above  (a.)  with  two  additional  questions  given  in  the  Appendix.  See  full  Form 
in  the  Narrative  and  Testimony  enacted  by  the  Synod  on  1st  May,  1804,  p.  249 
et  seq. 

{b  2.)  The  Burgher  Synod  in  1781  made  some  change  in  certain  of  the  ques- 
tions of  the  Formula  of  the  Associate  Synod,  with  a  view  to  make  it  more  plain 
and  uniform,  and  directed  the  approved  formula  to  be  inserted  in  the  minutes  of 
each  Presbytery  and  Session,  so  as  to  prevent  divergence.  M'Kerrow,  p.  562. 
A  copy  is  given  in  the  Appendix  {b  2.),  together  with  a  preamble  adojiled  by  the 
Synod  to  the  same  Formula  in  April,  1797.  M'Kerrow,  p.  591.  Minutes  of 
Synod. 

(r.)  The  Formula  for  the  ordination  of  Ministers  in  the  Relief  Church  taken 
from  Regulations  by  the  Synod  of  that  Church,  ])rinted  in  1836,  pp.  28  and  29. 

(</.)  The  basis  of  Union  and  the  Formula  for  the  ordination  of  Ministers,  agreed 
upon  and  adopted  by  the  Synod  of  the  United  Associate  Secession  Church  in  the 
year  1820. 

The  adjustment  of  a  formula  for  the  licensing  of  Preachers  and  ordination  of 
Elders  was  left  in  the  meantime  to  the  several  presbyteries.  A  Summary  of  Prin- 
ciples as  a  Directory  for  the  admission  of  private  members  was  adopted,  the  doc- 
trinal part  of  which  is  given  on  pp.  81,  82. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1013 

Question  III. 
There  seems  no  room  to  douht  that   these  formulae  and   that  Directory  were  ac- 
cepted and  observed  throughout  the  Church. 

APPENDIX   A. 
( 7<5  Answers  to  Uniteit  Presbyterian  Church.') 

a.  Formulae  of  1737. — For  Ministers,  Probationers,  and  Eiders. 

Question  I. — Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to 
lie  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  failh  and  manners? 

Question  II. — Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained 
in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  compiled  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  who  met  at 
Westminster,  with  Commissioners  from  the  Church  of  Scotland,  as  the  said  Coii- 
lession  was  received  and  approved  by  an  Act  of  Assembly  1647,  Session  23;  and 
likewise  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  com- 
piled by  the  said  Westminster  Assembly,  to  be  founded  upon  the  Word  of  God: 
And  do  you  acknowledge  the  said  Confession  as  the  confession  of  your  faith : 
And  will  you  through  grace  firmly  and  constantly  adhere  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
said  Confession  and  Catechisms,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  assert,  maintain, 
and  defend  the  same  against  all  Deistical,  Popish,  Arian,  Socinian,  Arminian, 
Neonomian,  Antinomian,  and  other  doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever, 
contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms,  and  particu- 
larly against  the  many  gross  and  dangerous  errors  vented  and  maintained  by 
Messrs..  Simson  and  Campbell,  which  are  specified  and  condemned  in  the  Judici.il 
Act  and  Testimony  emitted  by  the  Associate  Presbytery  (now  the  Associate  .Synod)  ?- 

Question  III. — Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  alone  King 
and  Head  of  his  Church,  hath  appointed  a  particular  form  of  government  to  take 
place  therein, — distinct  from  Civil  Government,  and  not  subordinate  to  the  same; 
and  that  Presbyterial  Church-government,  without  any  superiority  of  office  above 
a  teaching  Presbyter,  in  the  due  subordination  of  judicatories  (such  as  of  Kirk 
Sessions  10  Presbyteries,  of  Presbyteries  to  Provincial  Synods,  and  of  Provincial 
Synods  to  General  Assemblies),  is  the  only  form  of  government  laid  down  and 
appointed  by  the  Lord  Christ  in  his  Word,  to  continue  in  his  Church  to  the  end 
of  the  world  unalterable  ;  which  accordingly  has  been  owned  and  received  by  the 
Church  of  Scotland  as  the  only  governmeiu  of  Divine  institution  and  appointment, 
as  is  evident  from  the  Covenants,  National  and  Solemn  League,  which  this  Church 
and  land  have  sworn  and  come  uuder  to  the  Most  High  God,  and  from  many  of 
her  public  acts  and  constitutions,  particularly  from  the  Second  Book  of  Discipline, 
and  the  propositions  concerning  Church  government,  as  the  said  propositions  were 
received  and  approved  by  an  Act  of  Assembly  1645,  Session  16:  And  do  you 
promise  to  submit  to  the  said  government  and  discipline,  and  never  to  endeavour, 
directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion  thereof;  but  that  you  will  to  the 
utmost  of  your  power  in  your  station,  during  all  the  days  of  your  life,  maintain, 
support,  and  defend  the  same,  together  with  the  purity  of  worship  received  and 
practised  in  this  Church,  against  all  Erastian,  Prelatic,  Sectarian,  or  other  tenets, 
opinions,  or  forms  of  worship  and  government  whatsoever,  contrary  to  or  incon- 
sistent with  the  s.Tid  covenanted  worship,  government,  and  discipline,  sworn  to 
in  our  Covenants,  National  and  Solemn  League  ? 

Question  IV. — Do  you  own  and  acknowledge  the  perpetual  obligation  of  the 
National  Covenant  frequently  sworn  and  subscribed  by  ])ersons  of  all  ranks  in  this 
kingdom;  and  particularly,  as  explained  by  the  General  Assembly  163S,  to  abjure 
the  hierarchy  and  the  five  articles  of  Perth  :  Do  you  likewise  own  and  acknowledge 
the  perpetual  obligation  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  for  maintaining  aivl 
carrying  on  a  work  of  reformation  in  the  three  kingdoms,  sworn  and  subscribed  by 
all  ranks  in  Scotland  and  England  in  the  year  1643;  and  particularly  as  renewed  in 


*  The  enclosed  :;ddition  was  made  on  erection  of  Synod.  March,  1745. 


TOI4  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Scotland,  with  an  Acknowledgment  of  Sins  and  an  Engagement  to  Duties,  in  ihe 
year  1648;  And  do  you  promise,  through  grace,  to  adhere  to  these  Covenants,  and 
ill  your  station  to  prosecute  the  ends  of  them  ? 

QuEbTiON  V. — Do  you  approve  of  the  Act,  Declaration,  and  Testimony  for  the 
Doctrine,  Worship,  Discipline,  and  Government  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  enacted 
and  emitted  by  the  Associate  Presbytery;  And  do  you  in  your  judgment  disapprove 
of  the  several  steps  of  defection,  both  in  former  and  present  times,  c<)ndemned  in 
the  said  Act  as  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  the 
National  Covenant  of  Scotland,  and  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  of  the  three 
nations  ? 

Question  VI. — {For  Ministers  and  Probationers.')  Do  you  promise  that  you 
will  submit  yourself  willingly  and  humbly,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  unto  the  ad- 
monitions of  the  brethren  of  this  Presbytery,  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  and 
to  be  subject  to  them  in  the  Lord  (and  to  the  other  Presbyteries  of  the  Association, 
and  the  Associate  Synod,  as  the  Lord  in  His  providence  shall  cast  your  lot*) :  And 
do  you  promise  that  you  will  maintain  the  spiritual  unity  and  peace  of,  and  that  you 
will  follow  no  divisive  course  from  the  reformed  and  covenanted  Church  of  Scot- 
land, either  by  falling  in  with  the  defections  of  the  times,  or  by  giving  yourself  up 
to  a  detestable  indifferency  and  neutrality  in  the  foresaid  covenanted  cause;  and 
this  yuu  promise,  through  grace,  notwithstanding  of  whatever  trouble  or  persecution 
vou  may  meet  with  in  essaying  the  faithful  discharge  of  your  duty  herein  ? 

{Con.  for  Elders.)  Do  you  promise  that  you  will  submit  yourself  willingly  and 
humbly,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  unto  the  admonitions  of  the  brethren  of  the  Ses- 
sion in  this  congregation  :  And  do  you  promise  that  you  will  maintain  the  spiritual 
unity  and  peace  of,  and  that  you  will  follow  no  divisive  course  from  the  reformed 
and  covenanted  Church  of  Scotland  :  either  by  falling  in  with  the  defections  of  the 
times,  or  by  giving  yourself  up  to  a  detestable  indifferency  and  neutrality  in  the  fore- 
said covenaiued  cause;  and  this  you  promise,  through  grace,  notwithstanding  of 
whatsoever  trouble  or  persecution  you  may  meet  with  in  essaying  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  your  duty  herein  ? 

Question  VIL — (For  Ministers.)  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  and  glory  of 
God,  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  being  instrumental  in  edifying  and 
saving  souls,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  function  of 
the  holy  Ministry;  and  not  any  selfish  views,  or  worldly  designs  or  interest? 

[For  Probationers).  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  love  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  being  instrumental  in  edifying  and  saving  souls, 
vour  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  accept  of  licence  to  preach  the  Gospel 
as  a  Probationer  for  the  holy  Ministry;  and  not  any  selfish  views,  or  worldly  designs 
or  interest  ? 

[For  Elders.)  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  love  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  being  instrumental  in  the  edificalion  of  His  body,  your 
great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  office  of  Eldership  in  this  con- 
gregation ;  and  not  any  selfish  views,  or  worldly  designs  or  interest? 

Question  VIIL — [For  Ministers.)  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  either 
by  yourself  or  others,  in  procuring  this  call  to  the  Ministry? 

[For  Elders.)  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  either  by  yourself  or  others, 
in  procuring  your  call  to  the  office  of  Eldership  in  this  congregation  ? 

Question  IX. — For  Mitiisters.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of 
our  Lord  and  Master  Jesus  Christ,  to  rule  well  your  own  family  (if  it  shall  please 
the  Lord  to  give  you  one);  and  to  live  an  holy  and  circumspect  life,  following  after 
righteousness,  godliness,  faith,  love,  patience,  meekness :  And  do  you  engage,  in 
the  strength  of  the  same  grace,  faithfully,  diligently,  and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all 
the  parts  of  the  ministerial  work,  to  the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ? 

{For  Probationers.)  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  our  Lord  and 
Master  Jesus  Christ,  to  live  an  holy  and  circumspect  life,  following  after  righteous- 
ness, godliness,  faith,  love,  patience,  meekness;  and  to  preach  the  Gospel,  wher- 


*  Added  at  erection  of  S^'nod. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1015 

ever  you  shall  be  called,  faithfully  and  honestly, — not  with  the  enticing  woixU  of 
man's  wisdom,  hut  in  the  purity  and  simplicity  thereof,  not  ceasing  to  declare  the 
whole  counsel  of  God  ; — as  also  to  catechise  the  people,  and  visil  the  sick,  as  you 
shall  have  access  and  opportunity  ;  And  to  perform  whatever  other  duties  are  incum- 
bent on  you  from  the  Word  of  God,  as  a  Probationer  for  the  holy  Ministry,  in  order  to 
the  convincing  and  reclaiming  of  sinners,  and  the  edifying  and  building  up  of  the 
body  of  Christ  ? 

{For  Elders.)  Do  you  engage  (each  of  you),  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  our 
Loid  and  Master  Jesus  Christ,  to  rule  well  your  own  family  (if  it  shall  please  the 
Lord  to  give  you  one);  and  to  live  an  holy  and  circumspect  life,  following  after 
rigiiteousness,  godliness,  faith,  love,  patience,  meekness? 

Question  X.—[For  Ministers.)  Do  you  accept  of,  and  close  with,  the  call  to  be 
Pastor  of  this  Associate  Congregation,  and  promise,  through  grace,  to  perform  all 
the  duties  of  a  faithful  Minister  of  the  GospeP among  this  people, — in  preaching  the 
Gospel  among  them,  not  with  the  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  the  purity 
and  simplicity  thereof,  not  ceasing  to  declare  unto  them  the  whole  counsel  of  God; 
as  also  in  catechising,  exhorting  Irom  house  to  house,  visiting  the  sick;  And  per- 
forming whatever  other  duties  or  means  are  incumbent  on  you  from  the  Word  of 
God,  as  a  failhlul  Minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  convincing  and  reclaiming  of 
sinners,  and  for  the  edifying  and  building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ? 

{For  Fillers.)  Do  you  accept  of,  and  close  with,  your  call  to  the  office  of  Elder- 
ship in  this  congregation  :  And  do  you  engage,  through  grace,  diligently  and  cheer- 
fully to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  office  ol  the  Eldership,  as  to  whatever  duties 
or  means  are  incumbent  upon,  and  competent  unto  you,  in  that  office,  for  the  edify- 
ing and  building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ  in  this  congregation  ? 

And  all  these  things  you  promise  and  engage  unto,  through  grace,  as  you  will  be 
answerable  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Chiist  with  all  His  saints,  and  as  you 
would  desire  to  be  found  among  that  happy  company  at  His  glorious  appearing? 

(«  2.) — Formula  of  Questions  to  he  put  to  Canilidates  for  Licence,  iTyj. 

L  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  Goil,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners  ? 

TL  Do  you  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  as  received  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  1647, 
and  in  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms;  and  will  you  maintain  and  defend  the 
same  against  all  contrary  errors,  and  particularly  against  the  errors  of  Professors 
Simson  and  Campbell  ? 

in.  Do  you  believe  that  Christ  has  appointed  a  particular  form  of  government  in 
His  Church,  and  that  this  form  of  government  is  not  Prelatic  or  Congregational^  but 
l-'resbyterial,  consisting  in  a  subordination  of  Sessions  to  Presbyteries,  of  I'resbyicries 
to  Synods,  of  Synods  to  General  Assemblies;  and  will  you  maintain  and  defenii  tlic- 
same,  together  with  the  purity  of  worship  received  and  practised  in  this  Church, 
against  all  Prelatic,  Erastian,  and  Sectarian  errors? 

IV.  Do  you  own  the  binding  obligation  of  the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland, 
particularly  as  explained  in  1638,  to  abjure  Prelacy  and  the  five  articles  of  Perth; 
and  of  the  Solemn  League  of  the  three  kingdoms,  particularly  as  renewed  in  Scot- 
land in  164S,  with  an  acknowledgment  of  sins;  and  will  you  study  to  prosecute  the 
ends  thereof  ? 

V.  Do  you  approve  of  the  Act  and  Testimony  emitted  by  the  Associate  Presby- 
tery as  a  testimony  for  truth,  and  against  defections  therefrom  in  former  and  present 
times;  and  do  you,  in  your  judgment,  condemn  the  several  stejis  of  defection  con- 
demned therein  ? 

VL  Do  you  promise,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  to  be  subject  to  the  admonilioMh 
of  your  brethren  in  the  Lord,  and  to  the  Associate  Presbyteries,  and  to  follow  the 
peace  of  the  Church  together  with  your  brethren,  and  to  follow  no  divisive  cour.se 
from  the  Covenanted  Church  of  Scotland ;  and  that  you  will  not  give  yourself  up 
to  detestable  neutrality  with  respect  thereto,  whatever  danger  or  suffering  you  may 
be  exposed  to  on  that  account  ? 


ioi6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

VII.  Are  love  to  Christ,  and  a  desire  to  be  useful  in  edifying  the  souls  of  men, 
your  chief  motives  in  entering  on  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ministry,  and  no  worldly 
motive  whatever  ? 

The  three  following  questions  were  afterwards  added  to  the  Formula,  with  a  view 
to  their  being  put  to  Ministers  at  their  ordination  : 

VIII.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods  for  procuring  the  call  from  this  congre- 
gation ? 

IX.  Do  you  engage  to  rule  your  own  family  well,  and  to  live  an  exemplary  life 
before  the  llock  of  Christ  ? 

X.  Do  you  accept  of,  and  close  with,  the  call  from  this  Associate  Congregation, 
and  engage  to  perform  the  duties  of  a  faithful  pastor  among  them  in  preaching  the 
Gospel,  not  with  the  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  in  catechising,  and  in 
visiting  the  same  from  house  to  house  \ 

((J.) — Formula  for  Ministers,    Probationers,    and  Elders,   adopted  by  the    General 
Associate  [Antiburgher)  Synod  after  separation  of  1747. 

Questions  I.  to  X.  given  in  [a)  supra. 

XI.  Are  you  satisfied  with,  and  do  you  purpose  to  adhere  unto  and  maintain  the 
principles  about  the  present  Civil  Government,  which  are  declared  and  maintained 
in  the  Associate  Presliytery's  answers  to  Mr.  Nairn's  reasons  of  dissent,  with  the 
defence  thereto  subjoined  ? 

XII.  Do  you  acknowledge  and  promise  subjection  to  this  Presbytery  in  subordi- 
nation to  the  Associate  Synod  [as  to  Elders  it  runs  :  the  Session  of  this  Congrega- 
tion, in  subordination  to  ihe  Associate  Presbytery  of  and  to  the  Associate 
Synod],  as  presently  constituted  in  a  way  of  testifying  against  the  sinful  manage- 
ment of  the  prevailing  party  in  the  Synod,  at  some  of  the  first  diets  of  their  meeting 
at  Edinburgh  in  April,  1747;  or  other  Presbyteries  in  that  subordination,  as  yi>\\ 
shall  be  regularly  called  [this  clause  is  omitted  as  to  Elders]  ;  and  do  you  approve 
of,  and  purpose  to  adhere  unto  and  maintain  the  said  testimony,  in  your  station  and 
capatity ;  and  do  you  approve  of,  and  purpose  to  adhere  unto  and  maintain,  the. 
sentence  of  Synod  in  April,  1746,  concerning  the  religious  clause  of  some  Burgess 
oaths,  and  that  in  opposition  to  all  tenets  and  practices  to  the  contrary? 

{b  2.) — Formula  as  adopted  by  the  Associate  [Burgher)  .Synod  on  T,d  May,  1781. 

[Received  the  reports  of  the  several  Presbyteries  concerning  the  proposed  abbre- 
viation of  the  second,  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  questions  of  the  Formula  for  Licence 
and  Ordinations.  Read  said  questions  abridged  along  with  those  of  the  original 
form,  and  after  delil^enite  reasoning  upon  them  one  by  one,  the  Synod,  without 
intending  the  smallest  deviation  from  any  part  of  their  former  professed  adherence 
to  the  principles  or  practices  of  religion — or  from  their  professed  thankfulness  ti> 
God  for  His  singular  favours  to  our  Church  or  nation — or  their  niourning  over,  and 
testimony  against  the  several  backslidings  from  our  attained  to  and  covenanted 
Reformation  in  present  or  former  times,  but  in  order  to  render  them  more  plain  and 
uniform  in  the  several  Presbyteries,  agreed  to  them  as  they  now  stand  in  the  subse- 
quent Formula,  a  copy  of  which  is  hereby  appointed  to  be  inserted  in  the  Minutes 
of  every  Presbytery  and  Session  under  our  inspection,  in  order  to  prevent  all  diver- 
sity for  the  future.]  * 

QuES.  I. — Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be 
the  Word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

QUES.  II. — Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  compiled  by  the  Assembly  of 
Divines  that  met  at  Westminster,  with  Commissioners  from  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
as  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  were  received  and  approven  by  the  Acts  of 
the  General  Assembly  1647  and  1648,  to  be  founded  on  the  Word  of  God,  and  do 
you  acknowledge  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms  are  the  confession  of  your 
faith  :  and  that  you  resolve  through  Divine  Grace  firmly  and  constantly  to  adhere  to 

'  *  Extract  from  Minutes  of  Synod  approving  of  this  Formula. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1017 

the  doctrine  contained  in  said  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  and  to  assert, 
maintain,  and  defend  it  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  against  all  errors  and  opinions 
contrary  to  it  ? 

QUES.  III. — Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  alone  King  and 
Head  iif  His  Church,  hath  therein  appointed  a  particular  form  of  government  and 
discipline  distinct  from,  and  not  subordinate  to,  the  Civil  Government;  and  that 
Presbyterinl  Government  without  any  superiority  of  office  above  a  teaching  Presbyter 
in  a  due  subordination  of  Church  Judicatures,  as  of  Kirk-Sessions  to  Presbyteries, 
and  of  Presbyteries  to  Synods,  is  the  only  form  of  government  delivered  and  ap- 
pointed by  the  Lord  Christ  in  His  Word  to  continue  unalterable,  till  the  end  of  the 
world  ?  And  do  you  promise  to  submit  to  the  said  government  and  discipline,  and 
never  directly  or  indirectly  to  endeavour  the  prejudice  or  subversion  of  it,  but  to 
maintain,  support,  and  defend  it  in  your  station  all  the  days  of  your  life,  together 
with  the  purity  of  worship  received  and  practised  in  this  Church  of  Scotland  against 
all  Erastian,  Prelatic,  Independent,  Sectarian,  and  other  tenets  or  forms  of  govern- 
ment, discipline,  or  worship  contrary  thereto? 

QuES.  IV. — Do  you  acknowledge  the  perpetual  obligation  of  the  National  Covenant 
of  Scotland,  particularly  as  explained  in  1638,  to  abjure  Prelacy  and  the  five  Articles 
of  Perth — and  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant?  And  do  you  acknowledge 
that  public  covenanting  is  a  moral  duty  under  the  New  Testament  dispensation  to 
be  performed  when  God  in  His  providence  calls  to  it? 

QUES.  V. — Do  you  approve  of  the  Act,  Declaration,  and  Testimony  published  iiy 
the  Associate  Presiiytery,  and  maintained  by  the  Associate  Synod,  for  the  Doctrine, 
Worship,  Government,  and  Discipline  of  the  House  of  God  as  a  necessary  and 
seasonable  appearance  for  Reformation  in  a  State  of  Secession  from  the  Judicatures 
of  the  Established  Church?  And  do  you,  through  grace,  resolve  to  prosecute  the 
ends  of  said  Testimony  by  maintaining  and  defending  the  truths  of  God  therein 
asserted,  in  opposition  to  every  contrary  error  and  corruption,  and  particularly  those 
errors  that  were  vented  by  Professors  Simson  and  Campbell  ? 

QuES.  VI. — Do  you  promise  that  you  will  submit  yourself  willingly  and  humbly  in 
the  spirit  of  meekness  to  the  admonitions  of  the  brethren  of  this  Presiiytery,  agree- 
able to  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  be  subject  to  them  in  the  Lord,  and  to  the  other 
Presbyteries  of  the  Association,  and  to  the  Associate  Synod,  as  the  Lord  in  His 
]irovidence  shall  cast  your  lot?  And  do  you  promise  that  you  will  follow  no  divisive 
course  from  the  Reformed  and  Covenanted  Church  of  Scotland,  either  by  falling  in 
with  the  defections  of  the  times,  or  giving  up  yourself  to  a  detestable  indifference 
and  neutrality  in  the  aforesaid  Covenanted  Cause ;  and  this  you  promise,  through 
grace,  notwithstanding  whatever  trouble  or  persecution  you  may  meet  with  in 
essaying  the  faithful  discharge  of  your  duty  herein  ? 

Qu£S.  VII. — Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  desire  of  being  instrumental  in  edifying  and  saving  souls,  your  great 
motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  functions  of  the  Holy  Ministry,  and 
ivoi  any  selfish  views  or  worldly  designs  or  interest? 

QuES.  VIII. — Have  you  used  any  undue  methods  either  by  yourself  or  others  in 
procuring  this  call  to  the  ministry? 

QUE-S.  IX. — Do  you  engage  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  our  Lord  and  M.aster 
Jesus  Christ  to  rule  well  your  own  family  (if  it  please  the  Lord  to  give  you  one), 
and  to  live  in  holy  and  circumspect  life,  following  after  righteousness,  godliness, 
faith,  love,  patience,  and  meekness?  And  do  you  eng.nge,  in  the  strength  of  the 
same  grace,  faithfully,  diligently,  and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the 
ministerial  work  to  the  edification  of  the  Body  of  Christ? 

QuES.  X. — Do  you  accept  of,  and  close  with,  the  call  to  be  pastor  of  this  Associ- 
ate Congregation,  and  promise,  through  grace,  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  a  faith- 
ful minister  of  the  gospel  among  this  peo]>le,  in  preaching  the  gospel  among  them, 
not  with  the  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  the  purity  and  simplicity 
thereof,  not  ceasing  to  declare  unto  them  the  whole  counsel  of  God:  As  also  in 
catechising,  exhorting  from  house  to  house,  visiting  the  sick,  and  performing  what- 
ever other  duties  or  means  are  incumlient  on  you  from  the  Word  of  God  as  a  faith- 


xoi8  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

fill  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  convincing  and  reclaiming  of  sinners,  and  the 
edifying  and  building  up  the  Body  of  Christ? 

And  all  these  things  you  promise  and  engage  unto,  through  grace,  as  you  will  he 
answeral)le  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all  his  Saints  :  and  as  you 
would  desire  to  be  found  among  that  happy  company  at  his  glorious  appearing? 
[b  3.) — Preamble  prefixed  to  the  above  Formula  in  Aptil,  1797. 

Preamble. — Whereas  some  parts  of  the  Standard-books  of  this  Synod  have  been 
interpreted  as  favouring  compulsory  measures  in  religion,  the  Synod  hereby  declare, 
That  they  do  not  require  an  approbation  of  any  such  principle  from  any  candidate 
for  license  or  ordination  :  And  whereas  a  controversy  has  arisen  among  us,  respect- 
ing the  nature  and  kind  of  the  obligation  of  our  Solemn  Covenants  on  posterity, 
whether  it  be  entirely  of  the  same  kind  upon  us  as  upon  our  ancestors  who  swore 
them,  the  Synod  hereby  declares.  That  while  they  hold  the  obligations  of  our  Sol- 
emn Covenants  upon  posterity,  they  do  not  interfere  with  that  controversy  which 
haih  arisen  respecting  the  nature  and  kind  of  it:  And  recommend  it  to  all  their 
memliers  to  suppress  that  controversy,  as  tending  to  gender  strife  rather  than  godly 
edifying. 

(<■.) — Formula  for  the  admission  of  Ministers  into  the  Relief  Church,  taken  from 
'■'■Regulations  of  Relief  Synod,  adopted  1832  ,•  "  second  edition,  printed  in  1836, 
p.  28/  but  believed  to  have  been  in  use  from  1823. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  own,  and  will  you  adhere  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  as  founded  on  and  consistent  with  the  Word  of  God,  except  in  so  far 
as  said  Confession  recognizes  the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  to  interfere  in  relig- 
ious concerns  ? 

3.  Do  you  likewise  own,  and  will  you  adhere  to  the  Presbyterian  worship,  gov- 
ernment and  discipline  of  the  Relief  Church,  as  founded  on  and  agreeable  to  the 
Word  of  God  ? 

4.  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  saving 
souls,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  on  the  functions  of  the 
Holy  Ministry  ? 

5.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter, to  rule  well  your  own  family,  to  live  a  holy  ancl  circumspect  lil'e,  and  faithfully, 
diligently,  and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial  work  to  the 
edification  of  the  body  of  Christ? 

6.  Do  you  regard  Patronage  as  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  Christian  people, 
and  do  you  engage  to  maintain  and  defend  their  liberties  against  all  encroachment? 

7.  Do  you  accept  of,  and  close  with,  the  call  of  this  congregation  to  be  their  pas- 
tor; and  do  you  promise,  through  grace,  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  a  faithful  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  among  them  ? 

8.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  either  by  yourself  or  others,  to  obtain  the 
call  of  this  congregation  ? 

9.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself  in  the  Lord,  willingly,  humbly,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  meekness,  to  the  admonitions  of  your  brethren  in  the  ministry;  and,  accord- 
ing^ to  your  power,  to  maintain  the  unity  and  peace  of  the  Relief  Church,  notwitii- 
standing  whatever  trouble  or  persecution  may  arise  ? 

id.) — Basis  of  Union  and  Formula  for  Ordination  of  Ministers  of  the  United  Asso- 
ciate Synod  of  the  Secession  Church. 
Basis  {agreed  upon  ?>th  September,  1820). 
Without  interfering  with  the  right  of  private  judgment  respecting  the  grounds  of 
separation,  both  parties  shall  carefully  abstain   from  agitating  in  future  the  questions 
which  occasioned  it;    anci  with  regard   to  the   Burgess  Oath,  both  Synods   agree   to 
use  what  may  appear  to  them  the  most  proper   means   for  obtaining,  in  those  towns 
where  it  may  still  exist,  the  abolition  of  that  religious  clause  which  occasioned  the 
original  strife. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1019 

Art.  I.  We  hold  the  Word  of  God,  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners. 

Art.  II.  We  retain  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms,  as  the  confession  of  our  faith,  expressive  of  the  sense  in  which 
we  understand  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  being  always  understood  however,  that  we  do 
not  approve  or  require  an  apurf)liation  of  anything  in  those  books,  or  in  anv  other, 
which  teaches,  or  may  be  thought  to  teach,  compulsory  or  persecuting  and  intolerant 
principles  in  matters  of  religion. 

Art.  III.  The  Presbyterian  form  of  church  government,  without  any  superiority 
of  office  to  that  of  a  teaching  presbyter,  and  in  a  due  subordination  of  church  judica- 
tories, being  the  only  form  of  government  which  we  acknowledge  as  founded  upon, 
and  agreeable  to,  the  Word  of  God,  shall  be  the  government  of  the  United  Church; 
and  the  Directory  as  heretofore,  shall  be  retained  as  a  compilation  of  excellent  rules. 

Art.  IV.  We  consider  as  valid  those  reasons  of  secession  from  the  prevading 
party  in  the  judicatories  of  the  Established  Church,  which  are  stated  in  the  Testi- 
mony that  was  ap|)roved  and  published  by  the  Associate  Presbytery;  particularly 
the  sufferance  of  error  without  adequate  censure, — the  settling  of  ministers  by  patron- 
age even  in  reclaiming  congregations, — the  neglect  or  relaxation  of  discipline, — the 
restraint  of  ministerial  freedom  in  testifying  against  mal-administration, — and  the 
refusal  of  that  jjarty  to  be  reclaimed. 

.\nd  we  find  the  grounds  of  secession  from  the  judicatories  of  the  Established 
Church  in  some  respects  increased,  instead  of  being  diminished. 

Art.  V.  We  cherish  an  unfeigned  veneration  for  our  reforming  ancestors,  and  a 
deep  sense  of  the  inestimable  value  of  the  benefits  which  accrue  to  us  from  their 
noble  and  successful  efforts  in  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty : — We  approve 
of  the  method  adopted  by  them  for  mutual  excitement  and  encouragement,  by  sol- 
emn confederation  and  vows  to  God  :  we  acknowledge  that  we  are  under  high  obli- 
gations to  maintain  and  prosecute  the  work  of  reformation  begun,  and  to  a  great 
extent  carried  on  by  them:  and  we  assert  that  public  religious  vowing  or  covenant- 
ing is  a  moral  duty,  to  be  j^ractised  when  the  circumstances  of  Providence  require 
it; — but  as  the  duty  from  its  nature  is  occasional,  not  stated,  and  as  there  is,  and 
may  be,  a  diversity  of  sentiment  respecting  the  seasonablencss  of  it,  we  agree  that 
while  no  obstruction  shall  be  thrown  in  the  way,  but  every  scriptural  facility  shall 
be  afforded  to  those  who  have  clearness  to  proceed  in  it,  yet  its  observance  shall  not 
be  required  of  any  in  order  to  Church  Communion. 

Art.  VI.  A  formula  shall  be  made  up  from  the  formulas  already  existing,  suited 
to  the  United  Secession  Church. 

Note. — That  it  be  recommended  to  the  United  Synod  to  prepare,  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, a  more  detailed  view  of  the  above  Articles  as  the  Testimony  of  the  United 
Church;  containing  the  substance  of  the  Judicial  Act  and  Testimony,  the  Act  con- 
cerning the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  and  the  Answers  to  Nairn's  Reasons  of  Dissent. 

Formula  for  Ordination  of  Ministers  [^agreed  upon  \yh  September,  1820),  t/ie  ad- 
justment of  a  Formula  for  the  case  of  Preachers  and  Elders  being  tiieaniohile 
left  to  Presbyteries. 

QUES.  I.— Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be 
the  Word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  failh  and  manners? 

QuES.  II. — Do  you  acknowledge  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  with  the 
Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  as  the  confession  of  your  faith,  expressive  of  the 
sense  in  which  you  understand  the  Scriptures;  and  do  you  resolve,  through  Divine 
grace,  firmly  and  constantly  to  adhere  to  the  doctrine  contained  in  the  said  Confes- 
sion and  Catechism,  and  to  assert  and  defend  it  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  against 
all  contrary  errors ;  it  being  always  understood  that  you  are  not  required  to  approve 
of  anything  in  these  books  which  teaches,  or  may  be  supposed  to  teach,  compulsory 
or  persecuting  and  intolerant  principles  in  religion? 

QuES.  III. — Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  King  and 
Head  of  his  Church,  has  appointed  therein  a  form  of  government  and  discipline  dis- 
tinct from,  and  not  subordinate  to,  civil  government ;  and  is  the  Presbyterian  form 


I020  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  government,  without  any  superiority  of  office  above  that  of  a  teaching  presbyter, 
and  in  a  due  subordination  of  Church  judicatories,  the  only  form  of  Church  govern- 
ment which  you  acknowledge  as  founded  upon,  and  agreeable  to,  the  Word  of  God  ? 
And  do  you  promise  to  submit  to  the  said  government  and  discipline,  and  that  you 
will  not  attempt  the  prejudice  or  subversion  of  it;  but  to  the  utnuist  of  your  power, 
in  your  station,  maintain,  support,  and  defend  the  said  government  and  discipline, 
together  with  the  purity  of  worship  received  and  practised  in  this  Church? 

QUES.  IV. — Are  you  persuaded  that  public  religious  vowing  or  covenanting  is  a 
moral  duty,  to  be  practised  when  the  circumstances  of  Providence  require  it?  Do 
you  approve  of  the  method  adopted  by  our  reforming  ancestors,  for  mutual  excite- 
ment and  encouragement,  by  solemn  confederation  and  vows  to  God  ;  and  do  you 
acknowledge  that  we  are  under  high  obligations  to  maintain  and  prosecute  the  work 
of  reformation  begun,  and  to  a  great  extent  carried  on,  by  them  ? 

QuES.  V. — Do  you  consider  as  still  valid  those  reasons  of  secession  from  the  judi- 
catories of  the  Established  Church  which  are  stated  in  the  Testimonies  emitted  by 
the  Secession  Church,  viz.:  The  sufferance  of  error  without  adequate  censure;  the 
infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  Christian  people  in  the  choice  and  settlement  of 
their  ministers  under  the  law  of  Patronage;  the  neglect  or  relaxation  of  discipline; 
the  restraint  of  ministerial  freedom  in  opposing  mal-administration  ;  and  the  refus.nl 
of  the  prevailing  party  to  be  reclaimed?  And  do  you,  through  grace,  resolve  to 
prosecute  the  design  of  the  Secession  ? 

QUES.  VI. — Do  you  promise  that  you  will  submit  yourself,  willing'y  and  humbly, 
in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  to  the  admonitions  of  the  brethren  of  this  Presbytery, 
agreeably  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  to  be  subject  to  them  in  the  Lord,  and  to  the 
other  Presbyteries  of  the  Association,  and  to  the  United  Associate  Synod  of  the 
Secession  Church,  as  the  Lord  in  his  Providence  shall  cast  your  lot  ? 

QuES.  VII. — Are  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  desire 
of  saving  souls,  and  not  worldly  designs  or  interests,  as  far  as  you  know  your  own 
heart,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  functions  of  the 
Holy  Ministry? 

QuES.  VIII. — Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  either  by  yourself  or  others,  to 
procure  this  call? 

QUES.  IX. — Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord 
and  Master,  to  rule  well  your  own  house;  to  live  a  holy  and  circumspect  life;  and 
faithfully,  diligently,  and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial  work, 
to  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ? 

QuES.  X. — Do  you  accept  of  the  call  to  be  pastor  of  this  Associate  Congregation, 
and  promise,  through  grace,  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  a  faithful  minister  among 
this  people,  in  preaching  the  gospel  among  them,  "  not  with  the  enticing  words  ot 
man's  wisdom,"  but  in  its  purity  and  simplicity,  "  not  shunning  to  declare  all  the 
counsel  of  God  ;  "  as  also  in  catechising,  exhorting  from  house  to  house,  visiting  the 
sick,  and  performing  whatever  other  duties  are  incumbent  on  you  from  the  Word 
of  God,  as  a  faithful  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  convincing  and  converting  sinners, 
and  for  edifying  the  Church  of  the  living  God? 

QuES.  XL — And  all  these  things  you  profess  and  promise,  through  grace,  as 
you  shall  be  answerable  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  all  his  saints, 
and  as  you  woujd  be  found  in  that  happy  company  at  his  second  coming  ? 

APPENDIX    B. 

(  To  answers  as  to  United  Presbyterian  Church.') 

As  to  Modification  of  Creeds. 

The  compiler  has  been  unable  to  find  any  deed  of  the  Synod  of  any  of  the 
Churches  enacting  any  modification  of  its  Creed  as  before  stated,  except  those  re- 
ferred to  under  {«.)  I.  and  II.  There  are  to  be  found  several  declarations  of  the 
Churches  in  regard  to  doctrine,  but  these  are  of  the  nature  of  defences  or  explana- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1021 

tions,  and  are  not  strictly  modifications.  The  most  of  them,  however,  happen  to  have 
been  lately  put  into  print  for  a  different  purpose,  and  a  condensed  statement  of  them, 
with  some  recent  additions,  is  given  in  this  Appendix. 

DECLARATORY   FINDINGS   OF   THE   SEVERAL   CHURCHES   ON 
MATTERS   OF   DOCTRINE. 

(a.) — yndicial  Act,  Declaration,  and   Testimony  of  the  Associate  Presbyteiy,  passed 
December,  ll^d, published  March,  1737. 

Assertory  Part. 
Section   I. — Concerning  Doctrine. 

I.  LIKEAS  ^t  preshytei y  did,  and  hereby  do  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — 
That  tlie  light  of  nature  and  the  works  of  creation  antl  providence,  without  the  aid 
of  tradition  or  revelation,  shew  that  there  is  a  God ;  who  liath  lordship  and  sover- 
eignty over  all;  as  also,  that  thereby  his  wisdom,  power  and  goodness  are  so  far 
manifested,  that  all  men  are  left  inexcusable:  According  to  the  doctrine  held  forth 
from  the  word  of  God  in  our  Confession  of  Faith  [chap.  i.  s.  i.,  chap.  xxi.  s.  i.]. 
And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  contrary  principles  and  tenets,  that  are 
maintained  by  Mr.  Campbell,  the  Socinians,  and  others. 

II.  In  like  manner  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  the  Word  of 
God  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  is  not  only  a  suffi- 
cient rule,  or  the  principal  rule, — but  that  it  is  the  only  rule  to  direct  us,  how  we 
ought  to  glorify  God  and  enjoy  Him  ; — and  that  "the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, for  which  it  ought  to  be  believed  and  obeyed,  dependeth  not  upon  the  testimony 
of  any  man  or  church, — but  wholly  upon  God  (who  is  truth  itself),  the  Author 
thereof;  and  therefore  it  is  to  be  received,  l)ecause  it  is  the  Word  of  God ;  " — And 
that  "the  supreme  Judge,  by  which  all  controversies  of  religion  are  to  be  deter- 
mined,— and  all  decrees  of  councils,  ojiinions  of  ancient  writers,  doctrines  of  men, 
and  private  spirits  are  to  be  examined,— and  in  whose  sentence  we  are  to  rest;  can 
be  no  other  but  the  Holy  Spirit  sjieaking  in  the  Scripture:"  according  to  Confes- 
sion [chap.  i.  s.  4,  10]  ;  and  the  answer  to  the  third  question  in  the  Larger  and  the 
second  question  in  the  Shorter  Catechism, — with  the  Scriptures  cited.  And  they 
hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  Deistical,  Socinian,  and  Popish  errors, — contrary  to, 
or  inconsistent  herewiih. 

III.  Likewise  they  hereby  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  by  ineffable,  incomprehensible,  and  necessary 
generation,  is  JEHOVAH,  the  most  high  God,  self-existent  and  independent :  And 
that  He  is  necessarily  existent;  and  that  the  terms,  necessary  existence,  supreme 
Deity,  and  the  title  of  the  07ily  true  God,  cannot  be  taken  in  a  sense  that  includes 
the  personal  property  of  the  Father;  but  belong  to  the  Son  and  Noly  Ghost  equally 
with  the  Father:  And  that  the  three  jiersons  of  the  adorable  Trinity  are  numerically 
C)ne  in  substance  or  essence,  equal  in  power  and  in  glory:  According  to  the  doc- 
trine held  forth  from  the  Word  of  God  in  our  Confession  [chap.  ii.  s.  3]  ;  and  the 
answer  to  the  question  in  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechism, — Ho-w  many  persons 
are  there  in  the  Godhead ?  and  the  answer  to  the  question  in  the  Larger  Catechism, 
—  No-u  doth  it  appear  that  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost  are  God  equal  with  the 
Father?  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  contrary  principles  vented  by 
Mr.  Simson  ;  and  all  other  Arian,  Socinian,  and  Sabellian  tenets, — contrary  to  the 
above  doctrine,  or  inconsistent  therewith. 

IV.  Also  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  God  has,  from  all  eter- 
nity, by  the  most  wise  and  holy  counsel  of  His  own  will,  freely  and  unchangeably 
decreed  and  ordained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass  in  time:  And  |)articularly,  that  he 
hath  predestinated  some  of  mankind  unto  eternal  life,  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world  was  laid, — and  according  to  His  eternal  and  immutable  purpose,  and  the 
counsel  and  good  pleasure  of  His  own  will  alienariy  ; — and  that  they  who  are  thus 
predotinated,  are'  chosen  unto  everlasting  glory  out  of  His  mere  free  grace  and 
love ;  without  any  foresight  of  faith,  good  works, — or  perseverance  in  either  of  them  j 


I02  2  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

or  any  other  thing  in  them,  as  conditions  or  causes  niovint;  Him  thereto:  And  all  to 
the  ]3raise  of  His  glorious  grace:  acctirding  to  the  doctrine  held  forth  from  the 
Scriptures  S^Conf.  chap.  iii.  s.  i,  5].  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  con- 
trary principles,  contained  in  the  Assembly's  Catechism  revised ;  and  all  other  Pe- 
lagian and  Arininian  errors,  inconsistent  herewith. 

V.  Likewise  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That,  when  God  created 
man.  He  entered  into  a  covenant  with  him;  wherein  life  was  promised,  upon  con- 
dition of  his  perfect  and  personal  obedience;  and  that  in  this  covenant  (commonly 
called  the  covenant  of  works),  Xhejirst  Adam  stood  in  the  capacity  of  ?\. pub/ic  cov- 
enant-head and  representative  unto  all  his  posterity  :  and  that,  by  reason  of  his 
breach  of  this  covenant,  all  mankind  descending  from  him  by  ordinary  generation  — 
sinned  in  him  their  head  and  representative;  and  fell  with  him  in  his  first  transgres- 
sion: And  that  his  sin  is  truly  and  justly  imputed  to  them  every  one:  And  that, 
upon  account  of  this  sin  imputed, — all  infants  descending  from  Adam  by  ordinary 
generation,  want  that  original  righteousness  wherewith  Adam  was  created;  and  are 
by  nature  children  of  wrath  ; — according  to  Conf.  [chap.  vi.  s.  3,  4,  6,  ciinp.  vii.  s.  2]  ; 
ana  Larg.  Cat.  [^cjuest.  20,  22,  25,  27],  Short.  Cat.  \^quest.  12,  16]  ;  and  the  Scriptures 
cited.  And  they  hereby  j-eject  and  condemn  ail  contrary  tenets  maint;uncd  by  Mr. 
Simson,An([  the  Reviser  of  the  Assembly's  Catechism;  and  all  other  principles  con- 
trary to,  or  inconsistent  herewith. 

VI.  Likewise  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  man,  by  his  fall  into 
a  state  of  sin,  is  wholly  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins ;  and  hath  wholly  lost  all  ability 
of  will  to  any  spiritual  good  accompanying  salvation  :  and  that  man,  in  a  natural 
state,  being  enmity  against  God  and  averse  from  all  spiritual  good,— is  not  able  by 
his  own  strength  to  convert  himself,  or  prepare  himself  thereto;  and  consequently, 
that  there  is  no  necessary  nor  certain  connection,  either  in  the  nature  of  things  or 
by  any  divine  promise, — between  the  morally  serious  endeavours  of  man  in  a  nat- 
ural state,  and  the  obtaining  special  or  saving  grace: — According  to  the  doctrine 
held  forth  from  the  Scriptures,  Conf.  [chap.  ix.  s.  3,  chap.  x.  s.  2,  3].  And  they 
hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  opposite  princijiles  maintained  by  Mr.  Simson  ;  and 
all  ^;-/«/«/rt«  errors  inconsistent  herewith.  Notwitiistnnding  they  rtw^r/,  That  it  is 
the  duty  of  all,  and  every  one,  to  give  diligent  attendance  upon  the  ordinances  of 
divine  institution  and  appointment;  particularly  the  reading  and  hearing  of  ihe 
Word,  and  prayer;  these  being  the  ordinary  means  by  which  converting  and  quick- 
ening grace  is  communicated,  to  such  as  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins; — according 
to  Larg.  Cat.  \^quest.  153,  155]  ;   and  Short.  Cat.  \jjuest.  85  and  88]. 

VIL  Also  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  the  light  of  nature  is  not 
sufficient  to  give  that  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  will,  which  is  necessary  to  sal- 
vation :  and  therefore  they  who  do  not  profess  the  Christian  religion  cannot  be  saved; 
lie  they  never  so  diligent  to  frame  their  lives  according  to  the  light  of  nature  and 
the  law  of  that  religion  they  do  profess: — According  to  Conf.  [chap.  i.  s.  i,  chap. 
X.  s.  4];  Larg.  Cat.  \^quest.  60].  And  they  condemn  all  Socinian  or  othei-  tenets 
inconsistent  therewith,  in  the  foresaid  Catechism  revised;  And  particularly  Mr. 
Simson^s  erroneous  doctrine,  concerning  an  obscure  revelation  and  offer  of  grace 
made  to  all  without  the  Church;  and  Mr.  CampbelPs  erroneous  opinion; — that  the 
laws  of  nature  are  in  themselves  a  certain  and  sufficient  rule  to  direct  rational  minds 
to  happiness ;  and  that  our  observing  of  these  laws  is  the  great  mean  and  instrument 
of  our  real  and  lasting  felicity. 

VHL  Further,  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  the  second  Person 
of  the  adorable  Trinity  did,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  assume  the  human  nature  into  a 
personal  union  with  his  divine;  that  he  took  to  him  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable 
soul,  being  conceived  by  the  ]iovver  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin 
Mary, — and  lif)rn  of  her,  yet  without  sin;  and  that  he  is  very  God  and  very  man,  in 
two  distinct  natures,  and  one  person  for  ever;  according  to  Co7tf  [chap.  viii.  s.  2], 
and  the  Scriptures  cited.  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condenm  all  A^estoi-ian  and 
Sabellian  princijjles  and  tenets,  contrary  to  or  inconsistent  herewith  ;  whether  vented 
in  the  foresaid  Catechism  revised,  or  other  erroneous  treatises  of  that  kind. 

IX.   Further,  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  the   eternal   Son  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1023 

Tiod,  who  was  made  manifest  hi  the  Jlesh,  did,  in  our  nature,  as  the  second  Adam, 
tiie  public  head  and  representative  of  elect  sinners,  and  the  undertaking  surety  for 
them,  yield  a  perfect  obedience  to  the  law  as  a  covenant  of  works,  in  the  room  and 
stead  of  elect  sinners;  and  that  in  their  room  and  stead  alone, — he  bore  the  whole 
<>f  that  punishment  threatened  in  the  law,  and  incurred  by  the  breach  of  it;  and 
tliat,  in  his  sufferings  unto  death,, he  substituted  himself  in  the  room  of  sinners,  and 
endured  that  curse,  bore  that  wrath,  and  died  that  death  which  is  the  wages  and 
just  desert  of  every  sin,  and  which  the  sinner  himself  should  have  unriergone:  and 
that  the  sufferings  of  the  Son  of  God  in  our  nature  were  a  true,  proper,  and  expia- 
tory sacrifice;  and  a  proper,  real,  and  complete  satisfaction  unto  the  justice  of  God 
for  sin  : — According  to  Conf.  [chap.  viii.  s.  i,  4,  5,  chap.  xi.  s.  3]  ;  Larg.  Cat.  \^quest. 
71I. — f^nd  the  Scriptures  cited.  And  they  hereby  ;r/'ifr/ and  condemn  ^\\  opposite 
principles  held  forth  in  the  foresaid  Catechism  ;  and  all  other  Aniiinian  and  Bax- 
terian  tenets,  contrary  to,  or  inconsistent  therewith. 

X.  Also  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  the  obedience  of  Christ  in 
his  life,  and  his  sufferings  unto  death  (commonly  called  his  active  and  passive  olie- 
dience), — is  that  perfect  and  complete  righteousness,  on  the  account  of  which  alone 
a  sinner  is  justified  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  and  that  it  is  upon  the  account  of  this  right- 
eousness imputed,  that  sin  is  pardoned, — and  that  the  persons  of  any  are  accepted 
as  righteous  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  and  that  this  righieousness  imputed,  is  the  only 
foundation  and  ground  of  a  sinner's  right  and  title  unto  eternal  life:  And  although 
the  grace  of  faith  be  tiie  instrument  whereby  we  receive  and  apply  Christ  and  his 
righteousness,  yet  neither  faith,  gospel-repentance,  nor  our  sincere  obedience, — 
either  all  of  them  together,  or  any  of  them  separately, — are  our  justifying  righteous- 
ness in  the  sight  of  God,  or  the  ground  of  our  acceptance,  or  of  our  right  and  title 
unto  eternal  life: — according  to  Conf.  [chap.  xi.  s.  i],  Larg.  Cat.  [quest.  73];  and 
the  Scriptures  cited.  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  opposite  principles 
containetl  in  the  foresaid  Catechism;  and  all  other  Popish,  Arminian,  ox  Baxterian 
tenets,  contrary  to,  or  inconsistent  herewith. 

XI.  Also  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  any  want  of  conformity 
to  the  righteous  and  holy  law  of  God  is  a  sin,  as  well  as  all  actual  and  voluntary 
transgressions  of  the  law  \^Conf.  chap.  vi.  s.  4,  6.  Larg.  Cat.  quest.  24.  Short. 
Cat.  quest.  14]  :  And  that  every  sin  dolh,  in  its  own  nature,  deserve  the  wrath  and 
curse  of  God, — both  in  this  life  and  that  which  is  to  come ;  according  to  Co7if.  [chap. 
XV.  s.  4]  and  Larg.  Cat.  [^qtiest.  151;]  ;  And  consequently,  that  the  original  corrup- 
tion and  depravation  of  our  nature  is  a  damnable  sin  \^Conf.  chap.  vi.  s.  6];  and 
that  sinning  and  suffering  will  be  the  misery  of  the  damned  in  hell  through  eternity. 
And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  contrary  princi])les  contained  either  in  the 
foresaid  Catechism  revised,  or  maintained  and  defended  by  Mr.  Simson ;  and  all 
other  contrary  Pelagian  and  Arminian  tenets  whatsoever. 

XIL  Likewise  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  the  supreme  and 
only  standard,  measure,  and  rule  of  all  virtuous  and  religious  actions, — is  the  right- 
eous and  holy  will  and  law  of  God;  and  not  our  own  self-interest  and  pleasure: 
According  to  the  doctrine  held  forth  from  the  Word,  Cotif.  [chap.  i.  s.  2]  ;  Larg. 
Cat.  \jjiiest.  3]  ;  Short.  Cat.  \_quest.  2].  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all 
contrary  principles  and  tenets,  maintained  by  Mr.  Campbell zmA  others. 

XIII.  Also,  they  hereby  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert, — That  although  all 
that  believe  in  Jesus  are  delivered  from  the  moral  law  as  a  covenant  of  works,  so 
as  thereijy  they  are  neither  justified  nor  condemned  ;  yet  they  are  under  perpetual  and 
indissolvable  obligations  to  conform  themselves  to  the  moral  law  as  a  rule  of  their 
obedience,  not  only  because  of  blessings  and  benefits  which  they  have  received,  but 
from  the  authority  of  God  as  he  is  JEHOVAH,  the  Great  Lawgiver;  whose  per- 
fections are  infinitely  glorious  and  excellent,  and  whose  dominion  is  over  all ;  ac- 
cording to  Conf.  [chap.  xix.  s.  5,  6].  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  con- 
trary principles  held  forth  in  the  foresaid  Catechism,  and  all  other  Antinomian 
princi|^les  and  tenets  inconsistent  herewith. 

XIV.  Further,  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert — That  God  hath  all  life, 
glory,  goodness,  and  blessedness  in  and  of  himself,  and  is  alone  in  and  unto  him- 


I024  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

self  All-sufficient;  not  standing  in  need  of  creatures  which  he  hath  made,  nor 
deriving  any  glory  from  them,  but  only  manifesting  his  own  glory  in,  by,  unto,  and 
upon  them:  And  that  he  hath  most  sovereign  dominion  over  them;  to  do  by  them, 
for  them,  or  upon  them,  whatsoever  himself  pleaseth  :  And  that  any  rewards  that  he 
has  promised  to  any  of  his  creatures  are  free  and  voluntary;  and  that  in  all  their 
obedience,  worship,  and  service,  they  can  neither  profit  him,  nor  be  any  way  advan- 
tageous unto  him  :  According  t<j  the  doctrine  held  forth  from  the  Word  of  God, 
Conf.  [chap.  ii.  s.  2.,  chap.  vii.  s.  i].  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all 
contrary  principles  and  tenets,  maintained  by  Mr.  Campbell  z.w^  others. 

XV.  In  like  manner,  they  hereby  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert — That  the 
principal  and  leading  motive,  and  spring  of  true  love  to  God,  or  of  acceptable  obe- 
dience and  service  unto  him,  is  not  our  own  self-interest,  or  our  own  happiness  and 
felicity — though  the  same  is  by  divine  condescension  inseparably  connected  there- 
with ;  but  that  the  leading  motive  of  all  true  love  to  God,  is  the  supereminent  and 
glorious  perfections  and  excellencies  of  his  nature — as  they  shine  forth  and  are 
manifested  in  the  person  of  him  who  is  IMMANUEL,  God  with  us;  and  that  all 
who  truly  love  God,  do  love  him  chiefly  for  himself:  As  also,  that  all  acceptable 
obedience  and  service  unto  him — is  primarily  and  chiefly  influenced  from  a  regard 
unto  the  authority  of  God  in  Christ,  expressed  in  his  holy  law;  and  proceeds  from 
a  principle  of  faith  in  our  T.ord  Je^us  Christ:  And  that  the  principal  and  chief  end 
of  all  such  obedience  is,  that  Grjd  may  be  honoured  and  glorified  in  our  bodies  and 
spirits,  which  are  his:  And  consequently,  all  that  obedience  and  service  to  God  that 
is  principally  influenced,  and  primarily  sjirings  from  one's  self-interest,  advantage, 
or  applause,  or  from  fear  of  punishment  or  the  hope  of  a  reward — is  legal,  mer- 
cenary, and  servile;  and  moves  in  no  higher  sphere  than  what  men  in  a  natural 
state  may  attain  unto :  According  to  the  doctrine  held  forth  from  the  scriptures. 
Conf.  [chap.  xvi.  s.  2,  7]  ;  Larg.  and  Short.  Cat.  S^quest.  l].  And  they  hereby 
reject  and  condemn  all  contrary  errors  maintained  by  Mr.  Sivison  and  Mr.  Campbell, 
as  having  a  direct  tendency  to  make  all  our  acts  of  obedience  and  worship  servile 
and  mercenary;  and  so  to  destroy  and  overturn  the  specific  ditlerence  that  is 
between  common  and  saving  grace  ;  or  between  the  obedience  of  the  temporary, 
and  the  obedience  of  the  sound  believer;  and  to  establish  only  a  gradual  difference 
between  common  grace  in  the  one,  and  saving  grace  in  the  other, — which  is  a  gross 
error  of  Mr.  Baxter,  and  of  the  Arminians,  and  others. 

XVI.  In  like  manner,  they  acknowledge,  declare,  and  assert — That  all  such  as 
have  saving  faith,  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  as  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  :  and  that 
the  apostles  and  disciples  of  our  Lord,  in  the  days  of  his  humiliation,  did  acknowl- 
edge, believe  in,  and  worship  their  Lord  and  Master  as  the  true  promised  Messiah, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God,  the  only-begotten  of  the  fi'ather;  and  expected  from  him 
spiritual  and  eternal  life  and  salvation  :  and  that  all  who  truly  believe  in  the  Lor<l 
Jesus  can  neither  totally  nor  finally  fall  away  from  a  state  of  grace:  and  that  the 
faith  of  the  apostles  and  disciples  of  our  I,ord  did  not  fail  in  the  interval  of  time 
between  his  death  and  resurrection;  and  therefore,  whatever  clouds  and  doubts  they 
were  under,  they  were  never  so  far  left  as  to  conclude  that  their  Lord  and  Master 
was  a  downright  deceiver  and  impostor:  according  to  Conf.  [chap.  viii.  S.  I,  chap, 
xiv.  S.  2,  chap.  xvii.  s.  I,  3]  ;  Larg.  Cat.  [^z/«/.  72]  ;  Short.  Cat.  \(jiiest.  86] — and 
scriptures  cited.  And  they  hereby  reject  and  condemn  all  contrary  principles  and 
tenets  maintained  by  Mr.  Campbell,  or  contained  in  the  foresaid  Catechism  Revised ; 
and  all  other  principles  and  tenets  inconsistent  herewith. 

(3.) — The  Act  of  the  Associate  Presbytery  concerning  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  passed 
at  Edinburgh,  the  21st  day  of  October,  1742. 

Section  I. — Concerning  the  Injury  done  to  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  by  the  As- 
sembly, 17 17. 

Section  II. — Concerning  the  Injuries  done  to  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  by  the 
Assemblies  1720  and  1722. 

Article  I. — Of  the  Injury  done  to  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  under  the  Head  u( 
Universal  Atonement  and  Pardon. 


:^p^lOND    GJ^NERAL    council.  1035 

Artici.k  II. — or  the  Injury  done  to  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  concerninT  ihe 
Nature  (  f  Faith. 

Article  III. — Of  the  Injury  done  to  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  under  the  Odious 
Title  of  "  Holiness  not  necessary  to  Salvation." 

Article  IV  — Of  the  Injury  done  to  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  under  the  Head  of 
Pear  of  Punishment  and  Hope  of  Reward — not  allowed  to  be  Motives  of  a 
Beiiever's  Obedience. 

Article  V. — Of  the  Injury  done  to  the  Doctrine  of  Grace,  under  this  Head, 
Tnat  the  Believer  is  not  under  the  Law  ns  a  Rrde  of  Life. 

Article  VI. — Of  the  Injury  done  to  the  Dndrine  of  Grace,  under  the  Head  of 
(whai  the  .As-^emlily  calls)  The  Six  Antinnmi.m  L.T-idoxes. 

Section  III. — A  view  of  Evangelical  Suhjeciiun,  and  Obedience  to  the  Moral 
Law. 

Article  I. — Concerning  the  Obligation  of  Obedience  unto  the  Law. 

Article  II. — Concerning  the  Evangelical  Grounds  ol   Obedience  to  the  Law. 

Article  HI. — The  Connection  betwixt  God's  Covenant  of  Grace  and  our  Cov- 
enant Duties,  and  the  influence  the  one  has  upon  the  other. 

(c.) — Act  of  the  Associate  Synod  {commonly  called  Anti- Burgher)  at  Edinhierf^^li, 
l8//i  April,  1754/  containing  an  assertion  of  some  Gospel-truths,  in  opposition 
io  Arminian  errors  upon  the  head  of  Universal  Hedemption. 

I.  That,  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  became  the  federal 
Head  and  Representative  of  those  <?«/)' among  mankind-sinners  whom  God  hath  out 
of  his  mere  good  pleasure  from  all  eternity  elected  unto  everlasting  life;  and  for 
them  only,  he  was  made  an  undertaking  Surety. 

II.  Tliat  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  redeemed  none  others  by  his  death,  but  the 
elect  only  :  Because /or  them  only  he  was  made  under  the  law,  made  sin,  and  mnde 
a  curse;  being  substituted  only  in  their  law-room  and  stead, — and  having  only  their 
iniquities  laid  upon  him,  or  imputed  unto  him, — so  that  he  did  bear  only  their  sins  ; 
for  them  only  he  laid  down  his  life,  and  was  crucified  :  For  their  sins  only  he  made 
satisfaction  to  divine  Justice;  for ///i-w  only  he  fulfilled  all  righteousness;  in  their 
stead  ox\\y  w'Tis,  his  obedience  and  satisfaction  accepted  ;  and /cir ///iv«  only  he  pur- 
chased redemption,  with  all  other  benefits  of  the  covenant  of  grace. 

HI.  Th.it  there  is  but  one  special  redemption,  by  the  death  of  Christ,  for  all  the 
objects  thereof;  as  he  died  in  one  and  the  same  respect,  for  all  those  for  whom  he  in 
any  respect  died  :  Or,  he  died  out  of  \.\\q  greatest  special  love,  for  all  in  whose  room 
hs  laid  down  his  life;  with  an  intention  of  having  //;^w  ^?//  effectually  redeemed 
and  saved,  unto  the  glory  of  free  grace. 

IV.  That  the  Intercession  of  Clirist  is  infallibly  of  the  same  extent,  in  res]Dect  of 
its  objects,  with  the  atonement  and  satisfaction  made  in  his  death  :  So  that  he  ac- 
tually and  effectually  makes  intercession  for  all  those  for  «-hom  he  laid  down  his 
life,  or  for  whom  he  hath  purchased  redemption  ;  that  it  may  be  fully  applied  to 
them  in  due  season. 

V.  That  the  death  of  Christ,  as  it  is  stated  in  the  Covenant  of  Grace, — hath  a 
necessary,  inseparable,  certain  and  infallible  connection  with,  and  efficacy  for  the 
actual  and  complete  salvation  of  all  those  for  whom  he  died  :  So  that  redemption  is 
certainly  applied  and  effectually  communicated  to  all  those  for  whom  Christ  purchased 
the  same;  all  in  whose  stead  he  died  being,  in  due  season,  effectually  called, — ^justi- 
fied, adopted,  sanctified  and  glorified. 

VI.  That  Christ  and  the  benefits  of  his  purchase  cannot  be  divided ;  neither  can 
these  benefits  be  divided,  one  from  another  : — Wherefore  we  are  made  partakers  of 
the  redemption  purchased  by  Christ,  or  of  the  benefits  procured  by  liis  dealli, — onlv 
througli  tlie  effectual  application  thereof  to  us  by  his  HoLY  SriRiT,  working  faith  in 
us;  and  thereby  uniting  us  to  Christ,  in  our  effectual  calling:  And  whoever  ilo 
actively  receive  and  enjoy  any  l>enefils'o(  liis  jnuchase,  as  they  do  it  only  in  the  way 
of  enjoying  himself;  so  they  will  all  be  brought  forward,  in  due  time,  to  the  full  en- 
joying of  himself  and  rt//  his  benefits  forever:  And  whatever  things  are  actively 
received  or  used  any  otherwise  than  by  faith,  in  a  state  of  union  with  Christ, — are 
7iot  to  be  reckoned  among  the  benefits  purchased  by  his  death. 


ro26  THE   PRESBYTLRIAN  ALLIANCE. 

VII.  Tliat  whereas  there  is  zi. general,  free  and  unlimited  offer  of  Christ,  and  sal- 
vation through  him,  iiy  the  gospel,  unto  sinners  of  mankintl  ns  such, — (upon  the 
foundation  of  the  intrinsic  sufficiency  of  the  death  of  Christ,  his  relation  of  a  kins- 
man-redeemer to  mankind-sinners  as  such  and  the  promise  of  eternal  life  through 
him  to  mankind-sinners  as  such  in  the  gospel) ;  with  an  interposal  of  divine  author- 
ity in  the  gos]iel  call,  immediately  requiring  all  the  hearers  thereof  to  receive  and 
rest  upon  Christ  alone  for  salvation,  as  he  is  freely  offered  to  them  in  the  gos]iel  ; — 
and  whereas  all  the  hearers  of  the  gospel  are  thus  privileged  with  an  equal,  full  and 
immediate  ivarranl  to  make  a  ]5artii-ular  a|iplication  of  Christ,  with  all  his  redemp- 
tion and  salvation,  severally  unto  themselves,  by  a  true  and  lively  faith  :  So  the  gos- 
pel offer  and  call,  containing  the  warrant  of  faith,  cannot  require  or  infer  any  ?/;//- 
z'^rj'fl/ atonement  and  redemption  as  to  purchase;  but  are  altogether  consistent  with 
and  conjorined  unto  the  scripture-doctrme  o^  particular  redemption,  which  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  six  preceding  articles: — Because  our  LloRD  Jesus  Christ,  in  the 
glorious  constitution  of  his  person  as  Goil-inan,  hnmanuel,  God  with  us, — doth 
stand  in  an  equal  or  undistinguished  relation  of  a  kinsman-redeemer,  to  mankind- 
sinners  as  such  :  And  because  his  mediatory  offices,  in  the  true  and  glorious  nature 
thereof,  do  stand  in  an  equal  or  undistinguished  relation  of  a  kinsman-redeemer,  to 
mankind  sinners  as  such  :  And  because  his  mediatory  offices,  in  the  true  and  glorious 
nature  thereof,  do  stand  in  an  equal  or  undistinguished  relation  and  suitableness — to 
the  case  and  need  of  mankind-sinners  as  such  :  And  because  the  atonement  and 
righteousness  of  Christ,  are  in  themselves  of  a  justice-satisfying  and  law-magnifying 
nature;  containing  the  utmost  oi  wiiat  law  and  justice  can  require,  for  repairing  the 
whole  breach  of  the  covenant  of  works  and  fulfilling  the  same, — in  order  to  the  justi- 
fication of  mankind-sinners  as  such,  who  are  warranted  to  betake  themselves  thereto 
by  faith  :  And  because  in  tiie  case  of  a  sinner's  justification,  law  and  justice  have  no 
respect  to  God's  sovereign  counsel  about  what  persons  belong  to  the  election  of 
grace, — tor  whom  only  Christ  was  employed  to  make  satisfaction  and  fulfil  all  right- 
eousness, and  for  whom  alone  he  intentionally  did  so;  or,  which  is  materially  the 
same  thing,  they  have  7/0  respect  to  the  particular  objective  destination  or  intention 
of  Christ's  satisfaction  and  righteousness,  in  the  transaction  of  the  new  covenant,  ns 
any  way  belonging  to  \.\\e pleadableness  thereof  at  the  bar  of  Law  and  Justice: — but 
they  {viz.  Law  and  Justice)  have  a  rc^jiect  only  urito  the  justice-satisfying  and  hiw- 
magnifying  nature  oi  this  atonement  and  riglitemisness  ;  in  liehalf  oi  every  sinner 
who  is  found  betaking  himself  thereunto  by  faith  upon  the  divine  warrant, — as  ihe 
same  is  unto  all  and  upon  all  them  that  believe,  without  any  difference  :  And  becnu>e, 
therefore,  the  formal  ground  and  reason  of  faith — doth  nowise  lie  in  any  particular 
objective  destination  of  Christ's  satisfaction  and  riphteonsness,  or  in  any  particular 
objective  intention  wherewith  he  made  and  fulfilled  the  same; — but  it  wholly  lies  in 
the  glorious  person  and  the  offices  of  Christ,  with  his  satisfaction  and  righteousness, 
as  freely  and  equally  set  forth  by  the  gospel  unto  all  the  hearers  thereof;  with  the 
Lord's  gracious  call  and  command,  for  each  of  them  to  come  over  by  faith  unto  this 
glorious  foundation, — and  with  absolute  promises  of  justification  and  eternal  li'^e 
through  Christ  to  mankind-sinners  as  such  in  the  gospel,  the  possession  of  which 
blessings  is  to  be  certainly  obtained  in  this  way  of  believing. 

Note. — The  three  foregoing  Acts  are  taken  from  Gib's  "  Display  of  the  Secession  Testimony." 

{d.) — Summary  of  Principles  agreed  upon  by  the  United  Associate  Synod  of  the 
Secession  Church,  September  14,  1820. 

"The  Synod  agreed.  That  this  Paper  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  compendious  Exhibi- 
tion of  our  Principles,  and  as  a  Directory  for  the  admission  of  Members,  who  are  to 
be  considered  as  acceding  to  the  principles  contained  in  this  Summary,  according  to 
the  measure  of  their  knowledge." 

DOCTRINAL   TRUTHS. 

Of  the  Scriptures. 
The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  vi-hich  are  proved  to  be  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1027 

Word  of  God  by  miracles; — the  fulfilment  of  prophecy; — the  excellency  of  the 
truths  which  they  contain  ; — and  the  blessed  effects  which  they  produce  ; — are  the 
only  rule  of  Faith  and  Practice. 

Of  God. 
There  is  only  One  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  everywhere  present,  independent,  eternal, 
infinite  in  knowledge,  power,  holiness,  goodness,  and  every  oilier  perfection. — In 
the  Godhead  there  are  Three  Persons,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  are  one  in  essence,  and,  as  Persons,  are  equal  in  power  and  glory. 

Of  the  Decrees  of  God  and  the  Execution  of  them. 

God  hath  from  eternity,  for  his  own  glory,  unalterably  decreed  everything  which 
comes  to  pass; — and  this  plan  of  his  works  he  executes  in  Creation,  in  which  he 
made  all  things  very  good  ; — and  in  Providence,  in  which  he  upholds  and  governs 
everything  according  to  his  pleasure. 

Of  Man^s  Original  and  Fallen  Slate. 
The  first  man  was  created  in  a  state  of  perfect  holiness  and  happiness;  but  by  the 
breach  of  the  Covenant  of  Works,  which  God  had  made  with  him  for  himself  and 
his  natural  posterity,  he  broufjht  himself  and  them  into  a  state  of  sin  and  misery. — 
111  their  fallen  condition  mankind  are  guilty  before  God;  and  their  whole  nature  is 
depraved; — so  that,  in  this  state,  they  are  not  oidy  incapable  of  jierf'irming  actions 
acceptable  to  God,  but  they  are  also  liaiile  to  jiresent  and  eternal  punishment; — nor 
have  they  any  ability  to  deliver  themselves  from  this  condition. 

Of  Redemption. 

God  having,  in  sovereign  love,  before  the  world  began,  chosen  some  of  the  human 
vxce  to  eternal  life,  through  sanclification  of  the  Spirit  and  belief  of  the  truth,  did 
enter  into  a  Covenant  of  Grace  with  his  Son  for  their  salvation. 

The  Son  of  God  having  taken  the  human  nature,  free  from  sin,  into  union  with 
his  Divine  Person,  and  being  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  in  that  nature,  was  thus 
jirepared  to  finish  the  work  which  the  Father  had  given  him  to  do. 

Having,  as  the  surety  of  his  people,  been  made  under  the  law,  he  perfectly  obeyed 
its  precepts  and  endured  its  curse.  'I'he  dignity  of  his  person  gave  such  value  to 
hi-;  work,  that  their  iniquities  were  expiated,  and  eternal  life  obtained  for  them. 

U|ion  the  third  day  after  his  death,  he  rose  again  from  the  dead,  and  afterwards 
ascended  to  heaven,  where  he  intercerles  for  his  people. — receives  for  himself  glory 
and  joy — exercises  the  power  delivered  to  him  by  the  Father  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Church; — and  at  the  last  day  he  shall  descend  to  judge  the  world. 

Of  the  Application  of  Redemption. 

The  Salvation  obtained  by  the  Son  of  God  is  presented,  as  the  gift  of  heaven,  to 
all  who  hear  the  gospel; — and  the  ordinances  of  religion  are  the  external  means  by 
which  it  is  applied  to  the  soul. 

These  are  rendered  effectual  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  regeneration,  by  whom  the 
sinner  is  enlightened  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, — is  persuaded  and  enabled  to 
receive  the  testimony  of  God  in  the  gospel, — and  is  made  spiritually  alive  to  God  in 
holiness. 

When  by  faith  man  receives  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  is  united  to  him,  having  an  in- 
terest in  his  imputed  righteousness,  he  is  pardoned, — accepted, — and  made  an  heir 
of  heaven. 

The  work  of  holiness  begun  in  regeneration  is  carried  on  by  continued  communi- 
cations of  Divine  Grace,  by  which  the  believer  is  preserved,  strengthened,  and  com- 
forted, till  he  is  prepared  for  being  removed  to  heaven. 

At  death,  the  souls  of  believers  are  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and  enter  into  glory. 
— Their  blessedness  shall  be  completed  at  the  last  day,  when  their  bodies  shall  be 
raised  incorruptible;  and,  after  being  judge<i,  they  shall  be  taken  to  heaven,  where 
they  shall  be  perfectly  happy  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  God  through  eternity. 


J028  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Of  the  Conditioti  of  Unbelievers. 
They  who  will  not  by  faith  receive  the  Lord  Jp:sus  the  Saviour,  but  continue  in 
unbelief  and  disobedience,  increase  the  depravity  and  wretchedness  of  their  natural 
condition,  and  aggravate  their  future  punishment: — at  death,  their  souls  shall  de- 
part to  the  place  of  torment; — they  shall  afterwards  rise  to  shame  and  contempt, 
they  shall  be  condemned  in  the  judgment,  and  they  shall  be  driven  away  into  ever- 
lasting misery. 

Excerpt  from  the  aforesaid  Sutnniary  of  Principles  on  the  Reasons  of  Secession. 
The  "  Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity"  teaches,  "That  God  in  the  gospel  makes  a 
gift  of  the  Saviour  to  mankind  sinners,  as  such,  warranting  every  one  who  hears 
the  gospel  to  believe  in  him  for  salvation  ; — That  believers  are  entirely  freed  from 
the  law  as  a  covenant  of  works; — That  good  works  are  not  to  be  performed  by  be- 
lievers, that  they  may  obtain  salvation  by  them." — In  the  unqualified  condemnation 
of  these  principles,  the  General  Assembly  materially  condemned  some  of  the  most 
important  doctrines  of  the  gospel;  such  as  the  unlimited  extent  of  the  gospel  call, 
and  the  free  grace  of  God  in  the  salvation  of  sinners. 

(e.) — Act  of  the  United  Associate  Synod  on  the  Extent  of  the  Atonement,  passed  at 
Glasgoiv,  2%th  April,  1830,  according  to  the  subjoined  Extract  from  the  Alin- 
utes  of  said  Synod. 

Glasgow,  28///  April,  1833. 

The  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  an  admonition  as  to  the  mode  of  treating 
the  suljject  of  the  Extent  of  the  Atonement  gave  in  a  draft  of  such  admonition; 
which  was  read,  and,  after  a  few  alterations,  was  adopted,  as  follows  : 

While  the  Synod  reflect  with  much  gratitude  to  God  on  the  purity  of  Doctrine 
which  he  hath  hitherto  maintained  in  our  Church,  and  which  they  regard  as  its 
stability  and  glory,  they  feel  themselves  called  on  by  the  excitement  produced  by 
the  cause  which  was  decided  by  the  Synod  at  the  third  Sederunt  of  this  meeting, 
and  especially  by  the  speculations  prevalent  in  some  quarters  at  present,  respecting 
the  extent  of  the  atonement  by  the  deatli  of  Christ,  to  bring  forward  the  doctrine 
of  our  standards  on  that  subject,  and  to  enjoin  a  rigid  adherence  to  it.  In  these 
standards  it  is  clearly  and  distinctly  stated — "  That  as  God  hath  appointed  the  elect 
to  glory,  so  hath  he  by  the  eternal  and  most  free  purpose  of  his  love,  fore-ordained 
all  the  means  thereunto.  Wherefore  they  who  are  elected,  being  fallen  in  Adam 
and  redeemed  by  Christ,  are  effectually  called  unto  faith  in  Christ,  l)y  his  Spirit 
working  in  due  season,  are  justified,  adopted,  STnctified,  and  kept  by  his  power 
through  faith  unto  salvation.  Neither  are  any  other  redeemed  by  Christ,  effectually 
called,  justified,  adopted,  sanctified  and  saved,  but  the  elect  only.  To  all  them  for 
whom  Christ  halh  purchased  redemption  he  doth  certainly  apply  and  communicate 
the  same,  making  intercession  for  them  and  revealing  to  them  in  and  by  his  wcjid 
the  mysteries  of  Salvation,  effectually  persuading  them  by  Mis  Spirit  to  believe 
and  obey,  and  governing  them  by  his  word  and  Spirit." — But  as  from  a  misconcep- 
tion of  the  phraseology  of  Scriplure,  a  false  liberality  or  affectation  of  accuracy  in 
language,  and  of  simplicity  in  their  views  of  divine  truth,  as  if  the  mysterious 
scheme  of  Salvation  could  be  disencumbered  of  all  difficulties,  many  assert  and 
maintain  that  Christ  made  atonement  for  all  men,  and  thus  infringe  the  sovereignty 
of  Divine  grace,  and  encourage  the  presumption  of  the  sinner,  the  Synod  enjoin  all 
ministers  and  preachers  to  be  on  their  guard  against  introducing  discussions  in  their 
ministrations,  or  employing  language,  which  may  seem  to  oppose  the  doctrine  of  par- 
ticular redemption,  or  that  Christ  in  making  atonement  for  sin  was  substituted  in  the 
room  of  the  elect  only — and  which  may  unsettle  the  minds  of  the  ]5e()i)le  on  this 
point,  or  give  occasion  to  members  of  other  Churches  to  suspect  the  purity  of  our 
faith.  They  call  on  them  in  the  solemn  language  of  Paul  to  Timothy,  "  to  show 
uncorruptness  in  doctrine,  gravity,  sincerity,  sound  sj^eech  that  cannot  be  condemned, 
that  he  that  ijs  of  the  contrary  part  may  be  ashamed,  having  no  evil  thing  to  say  of 
them." 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1029 

The  Synod  likewise  enjoin  Presbyteries  to  co-operate  with  our  Professors  of 
riieolotjy  in  watching  over  the  religious  ]irinciples  of  our  Students,  and  to  take 
heed  that  they  be  not  tainted  with  any  of  the  unsound  and  dangerous  speculations 
of  the  present  day. 

And  whereas  "  the  Gospel  call  as  addressed  by  God  to  sinners  of  mankind  as 
such,  founded  on  the  all-sufficienl  virtue  of  the  death  of  Christ  for  the  salvation  of 
guilty  men  without  exception — on  God's  gift  of  his  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
on  him  might  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life,  and  on  his  command  to  all  to 
whom  it  comes  to  believe  in  the  name  of  his  Son  whom  he  hath  sent,  is  also  clearly 
taught  in  our  standards,"  the  Synod  recommended  it  to  Ministers  and  Preachers  to 
use  increasing  earnestness  in  urging  their  hearers  to  repent  and  believe  the  Gospel, 
and  ill  pointing  out  the  criminality  as  well  as  the  danger  of  the  unbelief  that  neglects 
the  great  Salvation  ;  and  while  they  do  so,  that  they  be  careful  to  stir  up  those  who 
profess  to  be  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  their  Saviour, 
by  the  humility  of  their  spirits  and  by  the  holiness  of  their  lives. 

(f.) — Act  of  United  Associate  Synod  on  Doctrinal  Errors  Condemned  by  them, 
passed  at  Edinbtiri:;h,  nth  May,  1 842,  according  to  the  subjoined  Extracts 
front.  Minutes  of  said  Synod. 

Edinburgh,  nth  May,  1842, 
"The  Synod  met  according  to  adjournment,  and  was  constituted,  etc." 

"The  Synod  then  agreed  that  a  statement  of  the  Doctrinal  Errors  condemned  by 
them  be  printed,  and  5,000  copies  of  it  circulated  throughout  our  Chuicli,  and  that 
it  be  read  from  all  our  pulpits  before  the  first  Salibath  of  July,  and  in  all  our  Pres- 
byteries, at  as  early  a  Meeting  and  as  full  a  Sederunt  as  possible. 

"  The  Statement   to  be  in   the  following  form,  viz. :  " 

The  Committee  appointed  to  draw  up  a  Statement  on  Doctrinal  Errors,  gave  in 
their  Report,  which,  after  due  consideration,  and  with  some  amendments,  the  Synod 
adopted,  and  resolve  to  declare  as  follows: 

I.  The  Synod  condemn  the  assertion,  that  although  all  men  are  by  nature  in  a 
fallen  and  depraved  condition,  yet  no  man  is  by  nature  in  a  state  of  condemnation 
merely  in  consequence  of  Adam's  fir-t  sin. 

II.  The  Synod  condemn  the  assertion  that  Christ  in  dying  had  no  special  love  to 
his  people. 

III.  The  Synod  condemn  the  assertion,  that  though  the  atonement  of  Christ  has 
a  general  reference,  and  opens  a  door  of  mercy  to  all,  yet  it  secures  salvation  to 
none. 

IV.  The  Synod  condemn  the  assertion,  that  all  the  ends  to  be  effected  by  the 
atonement  were  not  necessarily  and  simultaneously  present  to  the  Divine  mind  in 
the  appointment  of  the  Redeemer  to  die  for  sinners,  and  that  all  these  ends  were 
not  present  to  the  mind  of  the  Son  in  making  the  atonement,  nor  infallibly  secured 
by  it. 

V.  The  Synod  condemn  the  assertion,  that  saving  faith  is  nothing  more  than  an 
individual's  belief  that  Christ  died  for  him,  as  he  died  for  all  other  men,  and  that 
this  belief  is  always  accompanied  with  assurance  of  eternal  salvation, 

VI.  The  Synod  condemn  the  assertion,  that  prayer  cannot  be  acceptably  offered 
up  except  by  persons  who  are  assured  that  tiiey  are  in  a  state  of  grace. 

VII.  The  Synod  condemn  the  assertion,  tiiat  in  urging  upon  a  sinner  the  duty  of 
repentance,  it  is  wrong  to  direct  his  attention  at  this  stage  to  the  promised  aid  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  and  that  hi^  thinking  directly  on  this  subject  is  fitted  to  perplex  and 
injure,  rather  than  to  benefit  him. 

VIII.  The  Svnod  condemn  the  assertion,  that  the  enlightening  and  renewing  in- 
fluence of  the  Divine  Spirit  is  not  necessary  to  a  sinner's  believing  to  the  saving  of 
his  soul. 


I030  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

(;^.) — Finding  of  the  United  Associate  Synod  on  the  subject  of  Divisions  i?i  Senti- 
ment on  Doctrinal  Points  agitated  in  the  Church,  as  agreed  to  at  Edinburgh, 
bth  October,  1 843,  according  to  following  Extract  from  Minutes  of  Synod  of 
that  date. 

Report  of  Committee  of  whole  House,  bth  October,  1843. 

"That  the  CDmii'.ittee  having  spent  various  sittings  in  full,  free,  and  brotherly 
conference  on  the  matters  brought  before  them  l)y  the  Overture,  particularly  on  the 
subject  of  the  atonement  of  our  Saviour,  were  tlelighted  to  fintl  that,  on  explanation, 
supposed  diversities  of  sentiment,  in  a  great  measure,  disappeared,  and  that  scrip- 
tural harmony  prevailed  among  the  brethren  ;  that,  in  particular,  on  the  two  aspects 
of  the  atonement,  there  was  entire  harmcMiy ;  namely,  that  in  making  the  atonement, 
the  Saviour  bore  special  covenant  relations  to  tlie  elect,  had  a  special  love  to  them, 
and  infallibly  secured  their  everlasting  salvation;  and  that  his  obedience  unto  the 
death  afforded  such  a  satisfaction  to  the  justice  of  God,  as  that  on  the  ground  of  it, 
in  consistency  with  his  character  and  law,  the  door  of  mercy  is  opened  to  all  men, 
and  a  free  and  full  salvation  is  presented  for  their  acceptance. — The  Committee 
being  of  opinion  that  the  misunderstanding  has  mainly  arisen  from  the  use  of  am- 
biguous language,  such  as  '  universal  atonement,'  and  '  limited  atonement ; '  recom- 
mend that  ministers  and  preachers  abstain  from  such  phraseology,  and  from  all  ex- 
pressions that  may  seem  opposed  either  to  the  special  relations  of  the  atonement  on 
the  one  hand,  or  its  general  relations  on  the  other." 

"  The  Synod  resumed  its  sitting, — the  Moderator  taking  the  chair, — when  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  was  adopted." 

(h.) — Resolutions  passed  by  Synod  on  },Oth  and  '^\sf  fuly,  1S45,  cw  questions  of  Doc- 
trine raised  by  proceedings  against  Dr.  fohn  Brown. 

"  That  the  Synod  find  that  no  evidence  has  been  adduced  showing  that  Dr.  Brown 
has  taught  any  sentiments  on  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  inconsistent  with  the  Scri]>- 
tures  or  the  Subordinate  Standards  of  this  Church;  and  that  the  Synod  express  its 
satisfaction  with  the  exposition  which  Dr.  Brown  has  given  of  the  sentiments  which 
he  has  all  along  held,  and  now  holds,  as  contained  in  the  following  terms,  viz.: — • 
That  in  consequence  of  the  peculiar  constitution  under  which  man  was  originally 
placed,  commonly  called  the  covenant  of  works,  on  Adam  violating  this  constitution, 
his  sin  became  by  imputation  the  sin  of  all  mankind,  and  his  fall  their  fall;  that  by 
this  fall,  the  race,  the  whole  race,  every  individual  of  the  race,  was  brought  into  a 
state  of  sin  and  misery:  a  state  of  sin — of  original  and  actual  guilt  and  depravity; 
and  a  state  of  misery, — of  exclusion  from  the  Divine  fellowship,  exposure  to  the 
Divine  wrath  and  curse,  and  liability  to  all  the  miseries  of  this  life,  to  death  itself, 
and  to  the  pains  of  hell  for  ever.  In  consequence  of  the  first  sin  of  the  first  man, 
every  individual  of  the  human  race,  without  reference  to  his  own  personal  violation 
of  the  Divine  law,  is  treated  as  if  he  were  a  sinner,  and  so  soon  as  his  powers  of 
moral  thought,  feeling,  and  action  unfold  themselves,  thniks  and  feels  and  acts 
■wrong;  and  so  deep  is  this  guilt,  and  so  thorough  this  depravity,  that  pardon,  and 
sanctitication,  and  eternal  life  can  only  be  obtained  from  God  in  the  exercise  of  sov- 
ereign mercy,  through  the  atonement  of  Christ,  and  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

"  The  Synod  find  that  Dr.  Brown  expressly  rejects  the  Arminian  doctrine  of  uni- 
versal redemption,  and  hi^lds  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformers,  of  our  Standards,  and 
of  the  decisions  of  this  Synod  on  the  subject;  that  the  death  of  Christ,  viewed  in 
connection  with  covenant  engagements,  secures  the  salvation  of  the  elect  only,  but 
that  a  foundation  has  been  laid  in  his  death  for  a  full,  sincere,  and  consistent  offer 
of  the  Gospel  to  all  mankind." 

Attthorities. 

I.  The  Present  Truth;  a  Display  of  the  Secession  Testimony,  by  Adam  Gib, 
Minister  in  Edinburgh,  in  2  vols.     Edinburgh,  1774. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  103 1 

2.  A  re-exhil)ilion  of  ihe  Testimony  hy  the  Associate  Synod,  I'.dopted  3d  Septem- 
ber, 1778,  printed  1779.* 

3.  Narrative  and  'lestimony  enacted  by  the  General  Associate  Synod  on  1st  M..v, 
1804,  jirinted  same  year. 

4.  Kules  of  the  Relief  Synod,  with  proceedings,  printed  1S36. 

5.  Declaration  and  Testimonies  ul  the  United  Associate  Synod.  Editions  1826, 
1S27,  1S28. 

6.  iMuuites  of  the  United  Associate  Synod,  1820  to  1840. 

7.  History  of  the  Secession  Church,  by  the  Rev.  John  M'Kerrow,  printed  in  184I. 

8.  I  listory  of  tlie  Relief  Church,  liy  Rev.  Gavin  Struthers,  D.D.,  printed  in  1843. 

9.  Annals  and  Stai.i>tics  of  the  United  Tresbyterian  Church,  by  the  Rev.  William 
Mackelvie,  D.  D.,  printed  in  1873. 

10.  Rules  and  Forms  of  I'rocedure  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church.  Edition 
1876. 

No.  IV. 

Answers  to  Queries  of  General  Presbyterian  Council  on  Creeds  and 
Confessions,  in  so  far  as  relates  to  the  Synod  of  United  Original 
Seceders. 

Carluick,  Lanarkshire,  30//^  March,  1878. 

In  reply  to  the  remit  of  the  Committee  of  the  General  Presbyterian  Council,  as 
transmitted  by  A.  Taylor  Innes,  Esq.,  I  bej^ — 

I.  To  send  copy  of  Tosiimony  of  Synod  of  United  Orij^inal  Seceders,  which  is 
a  term  "  of  fellowship,  ministerial  ami  Chri'-ti.nn,  in  their  body." 

The  first  Testimony  of  the  Synod  was  published  in  1736.  The  Testimony  I  have 
sent  was  published  m  1827.  It  is,  as  y(ai  will  see  at  i>a<;e  4,  line  18  fiom  top,  an 
attempt  to  apply  "the  principles  of  that  (first)  Testimony  to  evils  which  have  arisen 
since  it  was  coriipiled,  or  to  the  new  shape  winch  former  evils  have  recently  as- 
sumed." 

In  1747  the  Synod  divided  into  two  denominations,  called  Pnrgher  and  Anti- 
burgher.f  In  1842  the  Synods  adhering  to  the  original  principles  of  the  denomi- 
nation were  re-united.  The  part  of  the  Testimony  referring  to  that  dispute  was 
then  removed. 

11.  To  state  that,  along  with  the  Testimony,  the  Creed  of  the  Synod — adopted  in 
1736 — consists  of  the  five  Westminster  Standards,  viz.:  the  Westminster  Confession, 
Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  Propositions  concerning  Church  government,  and 
the  Directory  for  Public  Worship,  as  these  were  received  and  ratified  by  the  Church 
of  Scotland  as  standards  of  covenanted  uniformity  for  the  Churches  of  the  three 
kingdoms.  In  the  Testimony,  page  4, fine  8  from  Dottom.  we  say,  "  Our  object  is  to 
decTare  our  adherence  to,  and  bear  our  testimony  for,  the  principles  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  as  exhibited  from  the  Word  of  God  in  her  Confession  of  Faith  and  other 
formularies  drawn  up,  to  be  the  suliordinate  standards  of  union  and  uniformity  in 
the  Churches  of  Hritain  and  Ireland." 

III.  The  Formula  of  Questions  to  be  jnit  to  ministers,  etc.,  is  printed  at  the  end 
of  the  Testimony,  and  those  questions  relating  to  doctrine  are  given  in  Appendix  A. 

The  Formula  with  the  exception  of  the  last  question,  was  adopted  by  tlie  Asso- 
ciate Presbytery  in  1737.  The  last  question  was  added  in  1747,  and  in  1S71  the 
Synod  declared  that  that  question  amounted  substantially  to  nothing  more  than  what 
is  stated  regarding  the  present  civil  government  under  paragraph  4lh,  sect.  9th  of 
the  historical  part  of  Testimony,  pp.  60-64. 

IV.  Subscription  de  f<tcto  is  not  required  ;  but  the  minister  or  licentiate,  after  an- 


*  Sec  also  Brown's  "  Historical  Account  of  the  Rise  .ind  Progress  of  the  Secession,"  and  Smith's 
"Historical  Sl<etchcs  of  the  Relief  Church,"  1773.  ,,      ,        j.   .  ,    ,         ,     ■  r     •     . 

t  In  1799  the  liiirijher.  anl  in  18.  6  the  Antil.iiri^her.  Svnod  further  divided  c.nch  into  two  distinct 
denominations  on  tlie  question  of  the  extent  of  tli--  M.iijistrate's  power,  t/>r.«  sacra. 


I032  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

swering  the  questions  of  the  Formula,  emits  a  declaration,  wliicli  is  niiiiuled  in  the 
Records  of  the  Presbytery,  that  he  is  willing  to  do  so  when  required. 

V.  Private  members,  in  signifying  their  adherence  to  the  Standards,  are  only 
required  to  do  so  in  so  far  as  they  understand  them. 

Carluke,  Lanarkshire.  Thomas  IIohart,  Minister. 

To  Dr.  Mitchell,  St.  Andre-cvs. 

APPENDIX  A. 

Formula  of  Qmstions  to  be  put  at  the  Ordination  of  Ministers  and  Elders,  and  at 
the  Licensing  of  Probationers  [frstfve  are  given). 

I.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

II.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  compiled  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  who  met  at  Westminster, 
with  Commissioners  from  the  Church  of  Scotland,- — as  the  said  Confession  was  re- 
ceived and  approved  by  ihj  Assembly  of  that  Church  in  the  year  1647  ;  and  likewise 
the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  I  he  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  compiled  by 
the  said  Weslminster  Assembly, — to  be  founded  upon  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  do  you 
acknowledge  the  said  Confession  as  the  confession  of  your  faith  ;  and  will  you, 
through  grace,  lirmly  and  constantly  adhere  to,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  as- 
sert, maintain,  and  defend  the  doctrine  of  the  said  Confession  and  Caiechisms, 
against  all  Deistical,  Popish,  Arian,  Socinian,  Arminian,  Neonomian,  Anlinomian, 
and  other  doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever,  contrary  to,  or  inconsistent 
with  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms? 

III.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  alone  King  and  Head  of 
His  Church,  hath  appointed  a  particular  form  of  government  to  take  place  tlierein — 
distinct  from  civil  government,  and  not  subordinate  to  the  same;  and  that  presby- 
terial  Church  government,  witho.it  any  superiority  of  office  above  a  teaching  presby- 
ter, in  due  subordination  of  judicatories  (such  as  of  Kirk-sessions  to  Presl)yteries,  of 
Presbyteries  to  Provincial  Synods,  and  ol  Provincial  Synods  to  Genei^al  Assemblies), 
is  the  only  form  of  government  laid  down  and  appointed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
in  His  Word,  to  continue  in  His  Church  to  the  end  of  the  world  unalterable, — 
which  accordingly  has  been  owned  ami  received  by«lhe  Church  of  Scotland  as  the 
only  government  of  divine  institution  and  appointment,  as  is  evident  from  the 
Second  Book  of  Discipline,  and  from  the  Propositions  concerning  Church  govern- 
ment, as  the  said  Propositions  were  received  and  ajjproved  by  an  Act  of  Assembly 
1645,  session  16;  and  do  you  jiromise  to  submit  to  the  said  government  and  dis- 
cipline, and  never  to  emleavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion 
thereof;  but  that  you  will,  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  in  your  station,  during  all 
the  days  of  your  life,  maintain,  support,  aad  defend  the  same,  together  with  the 
purity  of  worship  received  and  practised  in  this  Church,  against  all  Erastian,  Pre- 
latic,  Sectarian,  or  other  tenets,  opinions,  or  forms  of  worship  and  government  what- 
soever, contrary  to,  or  inconsistent  with,  the  said  worship,  government,  and  discipline, 
.sworn  to  in  our  Covenants,  National  and  .Solemn  League  ? 

IV.  Do  you  own  and  acknowledge  the  morality  of  public  covenanting?  And  do 
you  own  and  acknowledge  the  perpetual  obligation  of  the  National  Covenant,  fre- 
quently sworn  by  persons  of  all  ranks  in  Scotland,  and  ]:iarticularly  as  explained  bv 
the  General  Assembly,  163S,  to  abjure  the  hierarchy  and  five  articles  of  I'ertli  ;  and 
also  the  jierpctual  obligation  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  for  maimaining 
and  carrying  on  a  work  of  reformation  in  the  three  kingdoms,  sworn  and  subscribed 
by  all  ranks  in  Scotland  and  England  in  the  year  1643,  and  ]iarticu!arly  as  rene\\ed 
in  Scotland  in  the  year  1648;  and  do  you  promise,  through  grace,  to  adhere  to  these 
covenants,  and  according  to  your  station  and  opportunities,  to  prosecute  the  ends  of 
them;  and  do  you  likewise  acknowledge  that  the  renewing  of  tliese  Covenants  in 
a  bond  suited  to  our  circumstances  is  acluty  seasonable  at  the  present  time? 

V.  Do  you  approve  of  the  Testimoriy  enacted  and  emitted  by  the  Associate 
Synod  of  Original  Seceders  as  a  suitable  and  seasonable  testimony  for  the  doctrine, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1033 

worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Scotland;  and  do 
you,  in  your  judgment,  disrpprove  of  the  several  steps  of  defection,  both  in  former 
and  present  times,  condemiicd  in  the  said  Testimony,  as  contrary  to  the  Word  of 
God,  the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  our  Solemn  Covenants? 

APPENDIX  B. 

Act  of  the  Associate  Presbytery  anent  the  terms  of  Ministerial  and  Christian 

Communion. 

"  The  Presbytery,  being  engaged  in  an  attempt  to  revive  religious  reformation, 
judged  that  they  were  called  u]3on  to  revive  the  practice  of  religious  covenanting,  by 
which  the  reformation  of  religion  in  Scotland  had  formerly  been  both  introduced 
and  sanctioned."  In  December,  1743,  they  renewed  the  Covenants  in  a  bond  suited 
ti)  their  present  circumstances. 

In  the  Spring  of  1744,  the  Presbytery  unanimously  adopted  the  following  Act 
anent  terms  of  communion,  not  in  the  way  of  making  covenant  renovation  "  the 
term  of  Communion  exclusively  of,  or  preferably  to  others,  but  as  the  general  and 
seasonable  form  of  avouching  all  the  principles  and  duties  of  our  holy  religion  :  "  * 

At  Edinburgh,  Febrtiary  14,  1744. 

The  Presbytery,  considering  the  grievous  and  growing  course  of  defection  by  the 
present  generation  of  these  lands  from  the  truths,  cause,  and  institution  of  Christ 
revealed  in  His  Holy  Word,  and  maintained  in  our  Reformation  standards;  as  also 
the  dreadful  prevalence  of  Latitndinarian  principles  for  uniting  persons  of  all  de- 
nominations in  Church  communion,  to  the  overthrow  of  the  government  of  Christ's 
house  and  the  manifest  prejudice  of  all  His  precious  truths:  And,  considering  like- 
ways  the  many  loud  calls  at  this  day,  on  the  foresaid  and  other  accounts,  to  stale  more 
expressly  tlie  terms  of  Ministerial  and  Christian  Commnnion.  agreeable  to  the  Word 
of  God,  the  principles  of  this  Church,  and  the  duty  of  the  Lord's  remnant  in  these 
lands:  Therefore,  for  these  and  other  weiglity  reasons,  the  Presbytery  did,  and 
hereby  do  agree,  resolve,  and  determine  that  the  renozafiott  of  the  N'ational  Covenant 
(/Scotland,  «;/^//'//(?  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  of  the  three  Nations  in  the  manner 
tiow  agreed  tipon  and  proposed  by  the  Presbytery,  shall  be  the  term  of  Ministerial 
Communion  with  this  Presbytery,  and  likeways  of  Christian  Communion  in  the 
admission  of  people  to  sealing  ordinances,  secluding  therefrom  all  opposers,  con- 
temners, and  slighters  of  the  said  renovation  uf  our  Solemn  Covenant:  And,  more- 
over, as  the  Presbytery  judge  that  much  tenderness  and  lenity  is  to  be  used  with  the 
weakest  of  Christ's  flock.  Mho  are  lying  open  to  light,  and  minting  to  come  forward 
in  the  said  cause,  that  they  may  not  be  at  first  instance  secluded  from  sealing  ordi- 
nances, so  they  agree  that  all  such  are  to  be  secluded,  who,  after  deliberate  pains 
taken  for  their  information,  with  all  due  meekness  and  patience,  shall  be  found  by 
the  session  or  superior  judicatories  they  are  in  subjection  unto,  to  be  neglecters  and 
shifters  of  this  important  moral  duty,  or  not  to  be  themselves  in  the  due  use  of  means 
for  light  and  satisfaction  thereanent.  Extracted, 

John  Potts,  Pr.  Cls. 
No.  V. 

Answers  to  Queries  of  General  Presbyterian  Council  on  Creeds  and  Confessions  in 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church. 

R.  P.  Manse,  Loanhead,  \bth  April,  187S. 

My  Dear  Sir  :   I  regret  that  Mr.  Innes's  letter  has  been  overlooked  by  me. 

I  think  the  simplest  way  of  answering  the  three  fptestions — as  far  as  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  is  concerned — is  to  state  to  you  in  full  the  terms 
of  Ministerial  and  Christian  Communion  agreed  upon  by  the  Reformed  Synod. 
These  terms,  I  may  say,  have  been  essentially  the  same  from  the  beginning  ol  her 
history,  but  were  put  into  their  present  form  in  1761,  with  a  variation  on  No.  4 
in  1822. 


*  Gib's  "  Display  of  the  Secession  Testimony. 


1034  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

1.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  Scri]itiires  of  the  Old  and  New  Testamaits  to 
be  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  alone  infaUii)le  rule  of  faith  and  ])ractice. 

2.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms, 
Larger  and  Shorter,  to  Jje  founded   upon  and  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God. 

3.  The  owning  of  the  Divine  right  and  original  of  Presbyterian  Church  govern- 
ment. 

4.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  perpetual  obligation  of  our  Covenants,  National 
and  Solemn  League.  And  in  consistency  with  this,  the  duty  of  a  minority  adhering 
to  these  vows  when  the  nation  has  cast  them  off;  and  under  the  impression  of 
solemn  covenant  obligations,  following  our  worthy  ancestors  in  endeavouring  faith- 
fully to  maintain  and  diffuse  the  principles  of  the  Reformation. 

5.  The  owning  of  all  the  Scriptural  Testimonies  and  earnest  contendings  of 
Christ's  faithful  witnesses;  whether  martyrs  under  the  late  persecution,  or  such  as 
have  succeeded  them  in  maintaining  the  same  cause;  and  especially  of  the  Judicial 
Act,  Declaration,  and  Testimony  emitted  i)y  the  Reformed  Synod. 

6.  Practically  adorning  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour,  by  walking  in  all  his 
commandments  and  ordinances  blamelessly. 

I  have  here  given  you  the  terms  in  full,  and  to  these  terms  all  the  members  of  the 
Church,  as  well  as  office-bearers,  give  their  assent.  You  will  gather  from  the  fore- 
going tiiat  our  documentary  Creeds  *  or  Confessions  are — The  Confession  of  Faith, 
the  Testimony  of  the  Church,  in  which  Scripture  truth  is  applied  to  present  circum- 
stances, and  the  Covenants. 

If  there  be  any  further  information  desired  which  I  can  give,  I  will  be  glad  to 
give  it.     I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  very  sincerely  yours, 

John  M'Donald. 

Rev.  Dr.  Mitchell,  St.  Andrews. 

APPENDIX   C. 

Formula  of  Questions  to  he  put  at  the  Ordination  of  Ministers,  the  Licensing  of 
Probationers,  and  Ordination  of  Ruling  Elders  in  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Chitrch. 

(l.)  At  the  Ordination  of  Ministers. 

I.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

II.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  agreed  upon  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at 
Westminster,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Commissioners  from  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
to  be  the  truths  of  God  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments? 
Do  you  own  the  whole  doctrine  contained  therein  as  the  confession  of  your  faith? 

IIL  Do  you  sincerely  own  the  purity  of  worship  authorized  by  the  Church  of 
Scotland?  And  do  you  also  own  the  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline  of 
the  said  Church?  and  are  you  persuaded  that  the  said  doctrine,  worship,  discipline, 
and  government  are  founded  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  agreeable  thereto? 

IV.  Do  vou  promise  that,  through  the  grace  of  God,  you  will  firmly  and  con- 
stantly adhere  to,  and  in  your  station,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  assert,  main- 
tain, and  defend  the  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  by  Kirk-sessions,  Presbyteries,  Provincial  Synods,  and  General  Assem- 
blies, in  due  subordination  one  to  another? 

V.  Do  vou  promise  that  in  your  practice  you  will  conform  yourself  to  the  said 
worship,  and  submit  yourself  to  the  said  discipline  and  government,  and  shall  never 
endeavour,  directly  nor  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion  of  the  same? 

VI.  Do  you  ]iromise  that  you  shall  follow  no  divisive  courses  from  the  doctrine, 
worship,  government,  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  ? 

VII.  Do   you  renounce  Popery,  Pielacy,  Erastianism,  Arianism,  Arminianism, 

♦The  questions  relating  to  doctrine  are  given  in  Appendix. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1035 

Antinomianism,  Independency,  and  all  doctrines,  tenets,  or  opinions  whatsoever 
contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland? 

VIII.  Do  you  adhere  to  the  Covenants,  National  and  Solemn  League,  and  to  the 
Acts  of  Assemblies  from  the  year  1638  to  1649,  ratifying  and  approving  the  work 
of  reformation  during  that  period  ? 

IX.  Do  you  own,  concerning  the  Martyrs  in  the  late  times,  that  is,  during  tiie 
tyranny  of  Charles  II.  and  James  VII.,  that  their  sufferings  were  for  hearing  a  tes- 
timony to  Christ  and  his  truths;  or  that  the  cause  for  which  they  sulfered  was  agree- 
able to  the  Word  of  God  and  our  solemn  national  engagements? 

X.  Do  you  heartily  approve  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod's  Judicial  Act 
and  Testimony,  lately  published,  judging  the  same  founded  upon  the  Word  of  Cod, 
and  agreeable  to  the  covenanted  principles  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Scotland  ; 
and  to  the  faithful  testimonies  of  such  as  sealed  the  s.ime  with  their  blood  ?  and  do 
you  promise,  in  the  strength  of  grace,  to  abide  by  and  defend  the  same  in  y'>ur  prac- 
tice and  doctrine  all  the  days  of  your  life  ? 

(2.)  At  the  Licensing  of  Probationers. 

In  addition  to  the  questions  above  quoted,  the  following,  among  others,  fs  put  at 
the  licensing  of  Probationers; — 

Do  you  promise  that  you  will  maintain  the  spiritual  unity  and  ]5eace  of,  and  that 
you  will  follow  no  divisive  course  fnam,  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scot- 
land, either  liy  falling  in  with  the  defection  of  the  times,  or  by  giving  yourself  up 
to  a  detestable  indifferency  and  neutrality  in  the  covenanted  cause;  and  thif  you 
promise,  through  grace,  notwithstanding  whatever  trouble  or  persecution  you  may 
meet  with,  on  essaying  the  faithful  discharge  of  your  duty  ? 

(3.)    Questions  put  at  the  Ordination  of  Kuling  Elders. 

I.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  W'^rd 
of  God.  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners  ? 

II.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contnined  in  the  Con- 
fession of  F:iith,  cnnipilcd  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westiiiinster.-as  the  said 
Confession  was  received  and  approven  l)y  the  Act  of  Assembly  1647,  session  23? 
Likewise  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catecliisms,  to  be 
founded  upon  the  Word  of  God  ?  And  do  you  acknowledge  the  said  Confession  to 
be  the  confession  of  your  fiith  ?  And  will  you,  through  grace,  fii  nily  and  constantly 
adhere  to  the  doctrine  of  the  said  Confession  and  Catechisms,  and  to  the  utmost  of 
your  power  assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  same  against  all  doctrines  and  opinions 
whatsoever  contrary  to,  and  inconsistent  with,  the  said  Confession  and  Catechi'^ms  ? 

III.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  alone  King  of  his  Church, 
hath  appointed  a  particular  form  of  goveinnient  to  take  place  therein,  distinct  from 
civil  government,  and  not  subordinate  to  the  same,  and  that  Presbyterial  Church 
government,  without  any  superiority  of  office  above  a  teaching  presbyter,  in  the  due 
subordination  of  judicatories,  viz.,  of  Kirk-sessions  to  Presbyteries,  of  Presbyteries  to 
Provincial  Synods,  and  of  Provincial  Synods  to  General  Assemblies,  is  the  only  form 
of  government  laid  down  and  appointed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his  Word,  to 
continue  in  liis  Church  to  the  ^'.ni\  of  the  world  unalterable,  which  accordingly  has 
been  owned  and  received  by  the  Church  of  Scotland  as  the  onlv  government  of 
divine  institution  and  ap]X)intment  ?  And  ynu  promise  to  submit  to  the  same  gov- 
ernment and  discipline,  and  never  to  endenvour,  directly  or  indirectly,  tlie  prejudice 
f>r  subversion  thereof,  but  that  you  will,  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  in  your  station, 
during  all  the  days  of  your  life,  maintain,  sujijiort,  and  defend  the  s;ime,  together 
with  the  purity  of  worshi]!  received  and  practised  in  the  said  Church,  against  all 
Erastian,  Prelatic,  .Sectarian,  or  other  tenets,  opinions,  or  forms  of  worshi))  and  gov- 
ernment whatsoever  contrary  to,  or  inconsistent  with,  the  said  covenanled  worship, 
government,  and  discipline  sworn  to  and  owned  in  our  Covenants,  National  and 
Solemn  League  ? 

IV.  Do  you  own  and  acknowledge  the  jierpetual  obligation  of  the  National  Cove- 


1036  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

nant,  frequently  sworn  and  subscribed  by  persons  of  all  ranks  in  the  kingdoms,  and 
]wriicularly  as  explained  l)y  the  General  Assembly  163S?  Do  you  likewise  own 
and  acknowledge  the  perpetual  obligation  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  Iwr 
maintaining  and  carrying  on  a  work  of  reformation  in  the  three  kingdoms,  sworn 
and  subscribed  by  all  ranks  in  Scotland,  England,  and  Ireland,  anno  1648.''  y  iid 
do  you  promise,  through  grace,  to  adhere  to  those  Covenants,  and  in  your  place  an(l 
station  to  prosecute  the  ends  of  them,  whatsoever  trouble  you  may  meet  with  for  ihe 
sam  e  ? 

V.  Do  you  adhere  to  all  the  faithful  contendings  and  testimonies  of  our  late 
worthy  martyrs,  particularly  those  of  Messrs.  Cargill,  Cameron,  and  Renwick,  who 
suffered  for  their  adherence  to  truth,  and  to  all  the  other  fiiiihful  testimonies  of  the 
united  Societies  of  Dissenters,  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  our  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Covenants,  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and  Directory  for  Worship? 

VL  Do  you  own  and  approve  of  the  judicial  Act,  Declaration,  and  Testimony, 
asserting,  maintaining,  and  vindicating  the  whole  of  our  covenanted  Reformaiion 
attained  unto  by  this  Church  and  land  in  the  purest  times,  published  by  the  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland  ? 

VIL  Do  you  promise  that  you  will  submit  yourselves  willingly,  and  in  the  spirit 
of  meekness,  unto  the  admonitions  of  your  brethren  of  the  session  in  this  congrega- 
tion, and  consequently  subject  yourself  to  the  Reformed  Presbytery  according  to  the 
Word  of  God,  and  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  government  of  the  Reformed 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  our  Covenants,  National  and  Solemn  League?  Do  you 
promise  that  you  will  maintain  the  spiritual  unity  and  ]">eace  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  and  that  you  will  follow  no  divisive  courses  from  the  covenanted  establish- 
ment of  the  said  Church,  either  by  falling  in  with  the  defections  of  the  times,  or 
by  giving  up  yourselves  to  a  detestable  neutrality  and  indifference  to  the  cove- 
nanted cause  ? 

Answers  to  the  Queries  of  the  Ge/tcrai  Presbyterian  Coimcil  regarding 
Creeds  and  Formulas  of  Subscription,  in  so  far  as  relates  to  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  Ireland  and  the  British  Colonies. 

[Owing  to  the  lamented  death  of  the  late  Principal  Lorimer,  the  revered  Con- 
vener of  the  British  Section  of  the  Committee  on  Creeds  and  Formulas  of  Subscrip- 
tion, it  has  devolved  on  me  to  collect  and  arrange  these  Returns.  The  Answers  as 
to  the  English  Presbyterian  Church  have  been  furnished  by  the  Rev.  J.  Oswald 
Dykes,  D.  D.,  London  ;  those  as  to  the  Calvinistic  Methodists  of  Wales  by  the 
Rev.  Owen  Thomas,  D.  D.,  Liverpool ;  those  as  to  the  Lish  Presbyterian  CInirch 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Knox,  Belfast;  and  those  as  to  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Ireland  by  the  Rev.  Josias  Chancellor,  Belfast.  Those  relating  to  the  Churches 
in  the  Australasian  Colonies  have  been  collected  and  arranged  by  the  Rev.  A.  J. 
Campbell,  Geelong.  Those  relating  to  the  Church  in  the  British  Dominion  in 
America,  so  far  as  not  here  given,  have  been  sent  direct  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Matthews, 
New  York. — Alex.  F.  Mitchell,  Convener  of  Scottish  Committee. 

No.  I.— PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

Query  I. —  H/hat  are  the  existing  Creeds  or  Confessions  of  tJiis  Church  ?  and  what 
have  been  its  previous  Creeds  and  Confessions,  with  any  modifications  of  these, 
and  the  dates  and  occasions  of  the  same  from  the  Reformation  to  the  prescnc 
day  ? 

ANSWER. 

(rt:.)  The  present  subordinate  Standards  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  England, 
as  laid  down  in  the  Basis  of  Union  ado]ited  in  the  year  1876,  when  the  former 
Presbyterian  Church  in  England,  and  the  English  congregations  of  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Church  united  into  one  body,  are  "  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith 
and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,"  prepared  by  the  "  Assembly  of  Divines," 
and  presented  to  Parliament  in  the  years  1646,  1647,  and  1648. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1037 

(3.)  It  does  not  appear  that  orthodox  Presbyterians  in  Entrland  have  ever  recog- 
nized ecclesiastically  any  other  subordinate  Standards  than  those  of  ihe  Westminster 
Asseml)ly  ;  hut  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  Toleration  Act  in  the  year  1689, 
many  Presbyterian  ministers  were  willing  to  recognize  the  Subscription  to  ihe  Doc- 
trinal Articles  of  the  Church  of  England  required  by  that  Act,  as  affording  an  ade- 
quate security  for  soundness  in  the  faith. 

Query  II. —  What  arc  the  cxistin^:^  formulas  of  subscription,  if  any,  and  -what  have 
been  the  previons  formulas  of  subscription  used  in  this  Church  in  connection  with 
its  Creeds  and  Confessions  ? 

Answer. 

(<2.)  The  existing  method  of  subscription  consists  in  returning  a  satisfactory 
answer  to  the  following  questions  appointed  to  be  put : 

(l.)  To  Ministers  and  Elders:  "  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  doctrine 
of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  as  in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  Holy 
Scripture;  and  do  you  consent  to  the  said  Confession  as  the  Standard  ])y  which 
your  teaching  [/o'-  Elders  read  'the  public  teaching']  in  this  Church  shall  be 
judged;  it  being  understood  in  reference  to  the  teachings  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith  regarding  the  duty  of  Civil  Rulers,  that — while  holding  the  subjection  of  such 
■rulers,  in  their  own  province,  to  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — you  are  not 
required  to  accept  anything  in  that  document  which  favours  or  may  be  regarded  as 
favouring  intolerance   or  persecution  ?  " 

{2.)  To  Deacons  :  "  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  as  in  accordance  with 
Holy  Scripture,  the  system  of  evangelical  doctrine  taught  in  this  Church,  and  con- 
tained in  the  Westmin-^ter  Confession  of  Faith?" 

(b.')  Formulas  of  subscription  to  the  Confession  do  not  appear  to  have  been  in 
use  among  English  Presbyterians  during  the  seventeenth  or  eighteenth  centuries. 
The  following  sketch  will  indicate  the  leading  facts  on  this  subject: 

(l.)  The  Westminster  Assembly  in  its  "  Directory  for  the  Ordination  of  Ministers  " 
which  was  ratified  by  Parliament  previous  to  the  preparation  of  the  Confession,  had 
contented  itself  with  this  general  direction:  "The  minister  who  hath  preached  shall, 
in  the  face  of  the  congregation,  demand  of  him  who  is  now  to  be  ordained  con- 
cerning ills  fxith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  his  persuasion  of  the  truth  of  the  reformed 
religion  according  to  the  Scripture." 

(2.)  In  December,  1647,  the  Presbyterian  ministers  in  London,  at  a  meeting  in 
Zion  College,  voluntarily  issued  a  declaration,  in  which  they,  "  touch-ing  malteis  of 
faith,  declare  their  assent  to  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Confession  of  Faith,  and 
heartily  desire  it  may  receive  the  sanction  of  authority,  as  the  joint  Confession  of  the 
three  Kingdoms."  This  document  received  the  concurrence  of  several  hundrctl 
ministers  in  the  provinces. 

(3.)  On  the  22d  of  March,  164S,  the  doctrinal  portions  of  the  Assembly's  Confes- 
sion were  approved  by  both  Houses  of  Parliament  under  the  title  of  "  Articles  of 
Relio^ion  ;  "  but  it  does  not  seem  that  subscription  to  it  by  any  formula  was  even  then 
imposed  upon  the  ministry. 

(4.)  The  extant  minutes  of  Classes  show  that  during  the  seventeenth  century  (in 
Dr.  M'Crie's  words)  it  does  not  "appear  to  have  been  the  practice  of  the  English 
Presbyterians  to  exact  from  ministerial  candidates  a  subscription  or  fi)rir.ula  of  assent 
to  the  Confession  of  Faith  or  other  Westminster  Standards.  In  i)!ace  of  this  was 
substituted  the  personal  confession  of  the  candidate." — [Annals  of  English  Presl>y- 
A'r/,  p.  223.) 

(5.)  In  1719,  when  Arianism  began  to  appear  among  Nonconformists,  and  a  con- 
troversy aro-e  as  to  the  expediency  of  subscribing  some  article  of  faith  on  the  ques- 
tion of  our  Lord's  divinity,  the  majority  of  the  non-subscribing  party  at  the  famous 
meelin"  in  Salter's  Hall  was  largely  com]iosed  of  Presbyterians,  many  of  whom  de- 
clined to  subscribe,  not  in  consequence  of  their  divergence  from  the  orthodox  doc- 
trine, but  because  they  objected  to  the  imposition  of  a  test. 

(6.)   Formulas  of  subscription  in  fact  never  appear  to  have  come  into  use  among 


1038  THE  FRESBYTEIilAxV  ALLIANCE. 

English  Presbyterians  until  they  were  introduced  from  the  Church  of  Scotland,  after 
Presbytery  begnn  to  revive  in  Eni^land  nbout  the  end  of  the  last  or  early  in  the 
present  century.  The  "  classes  "  which  in  the  North  of  England  lingered  on  till 
that  period  do  not  seem  to  have  known  anything  of  the  sort.  But  in  the  Minutes 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Newcastle,  it  is  recorded  that  in  the  year  1755,  when  Arianism 
had  c(jme  to  threaten  the  congregations  of  that  "  classis,"  they  adopted  the  following 
"  Rules  for  orderly  jiroceedings  :  " — 

•'  I.  That  we  will  study  to  cultivate  a  good  understanding  amongst  ourselves  by 
promoting  each  other's  peace  and  the  common  interest  of  religion  in  our  several  con- 
gregations, readily  embracing  brotherly  advice. 

"  II.  As  Lifiilelity,  Error,  and  Profaneness  (with  the  deepest  concern  we  mention 
it)  seem  to  l)e  on  the  growing  hand,  we  disclaim  Deism,  the  Arian,  Socinian,  Ar- 
minian,  Antinomian,  Pelagian,  and  Sabellian  Errors  and  Heresies  as  such,  and  re- 
solve upon  all  ]iroper  occasions  to  give  our  testimony  against  them. 

"  III.  And  whereas  Confessions  of  Faiih  and  Creeds  are  unreasonably  run  down, 
we  are  determined  iiy  the  grace  of  God  to  make  iiis  Holy  Word,  and  Confessions 
thereunto  agreeable,  the  Standards  of  our  Faith  or  religious  principles,  and  the  Rule 
of  our  practice. 

"  IV.  We  also  in  all  publick  affairs  relating  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  both  licens- 
ing of  young  men  to  preach  the  gospel  and  ordaining  of  ministers,  resolve  to  act  in 
concert  with  one  another  in  an  orderly  and  brotherly  way. 

"V.  Wlioever  of  the  Protestant  Dissenting  Ministers  will  join  us  in  this  manner, 
and  according  to  the  peaceable  intent  of  this  our  Declaration,  we  will  be  glad  of 
their  assistance  and  Cfincurrence." 

It  will  be  observed  that  while  a  declaration  of  orthodox  belief  on  the  doctrine 
under  dispute  is  clearly  emitted,  the  reference  to  "Confessions"  agreeable  to  Holy 
Scriptuie  is  of  the  vaguest  possible  character,  while  the  Westminster  Standards  are 
not  so  much  as  named. 

(7.)  In  1784,  the  Newcastle  Presbytery  adopted  the  following  "  Formula  "  and 
relative  "  Rules,"  but  it  is  singular  that  eighteen  years  later,  in  1802,  the  rule  re- 
quiring subscription  to  this  formula  was  rescinded,  showing  how  far  the  idea  of  sub- 
scription was  from  being  fully  accepted  at  any  time  durmg  last  century: — 

"We,  the  Dissenting  Ministers  of  the  Newcastle  Class,  do  own  and  believe  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  the  only  infalli- 
ble rule  of  faith  and  practice,  we  lielieve  in  original  sin,  and  that  the  only  way  of 
mercy  is  by  Grace,  through  a  Mediator,  who  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Clirisi,  both  God  and 
Man  in  one  Person,  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God  through 
Him,  and  as  these  and  all  the  other  doctrines  which  we  believe  and  profess  are 
clearly  comprehentled,  and  shortly  and  distinctly  summed  up  in  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  we  heartily  acknowledge  it  to  be  the  Confession  of  our  Faith, 
and  this  we  the  rather  do,  as  Arians,  Socinians,  Arminians,  etc.,  have  always  re- 
course to  Scripture,  and  wrest  it  to  support  their  own  erroneous  Tenets,  whereas  we 
are  convinced  that  the  Westminster  Confession  gives  us  a  view  of  these  doctrines  as 
most  agreeable  to  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his  Holy  Word. 

"And  therefore  we  promise  (through  grace)  to  maintain  them,  both  in  our  pro- 
fession and  preaching,  and  we  consider  the  said  Confession  as  a  proper  Directory 
for  Worship  and  Discipline,  as  far  as  our  situation  and  circumstances  will  admit,  by 
Vestries  or  Sessions,  Classes  or  Presbyteries,  and  a  Synod  if  attainable.  And  we 
promise  to  follow  no  divisive  courses  from  the  said  Confession  and  Presbyterian  form 
of  worship,  renouncing  and  disclaiming  all  doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  incon- 
sistent with  and  contrary  thereto.     As  witness  our  hands. 

Rui.es. 

"As  every  society  has  a  right  of  making  rules  and  regulations  for  the  direction  of 
their  own  conduct,  so  this  Class  think  it  highly  necessary  that  the  following  be  con- 
sented to  and  acquiesced  in  by  all  its  members,  that  either  are  or  shall  be  admitted 
members  of  it  : — 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1039 

"Rule  1st.  That  no  person  ordained  or  unonlained  shall  be  admitted  a  member 
of  this  Class  imtil  he  subscribe  the  aixjve  I-'orimila. 

"  Rule  2d.  Thai  we  will  ordain  none  to  a  charge  in  our  bounds  unless  they  have 
been  either  licensed  by  the  Churcli  of  ScotJanri,  or  have  jjot  a  rej^ular  education  in 
Enj^iand,  and  have  been  licensed  by  some  regular  Presbyterian  Class."  [With 
others  not  ijearinj  on  Creed.] 

(S.)  Ministers  who,  late  in  last  century  or  early  in  the  present,  came  from  Scot- 
land to  take  charge  of  orthodox  Presbyterian  congregations  in  ili<  South,  were 
Usually  ordained  before  they  came  by  Scottish  Presliyteries.  Graduallv,  as  English 
Presl)yteries  were  revived  or  more  fully  organized  under  this  influence  from  Scotland, 
the  formula  of  subscription  em]iloyed  in  tb.e  Church  of  Scotland  crejit  into  use  here 
also.  For  example,  it  was  formally  adopted  by  the  Presliytery  of  Newcastle  in  the 
year  1824.  Beiore  the  year  1836,  when  the  revived  Presbyteries  began  to  draw 
together  into  a  Synod,  it  is  probable  that  nearly  every  one  of  them  had  adopted  it 
in  practice. 

(9.)  In  May,  1836,  the  Synod  of  the  Presliyterian  Church  in  England  was  for- 
mally constituted  by  a  convention  of  ministers  and  elders,  members  of  the  two  Pres- 
byteries of  Lancashire  and  the  Norlh-West  of  England.  Its  first  act  was  to  "  adopt 
in  the  fullest  and  most  unqualified  manner  the  Westminster  Standards,  as  received 
by  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  doctrine,  discipline,  government  and  worship."  From 
that  date  down  to  the  year  1844,  the  formula  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  though  not 
imposed  by  any  statute,  remained  in  universal  use  at  the  ordination  and  induction 
of  ministers  and  elders.  In  the  admission  of  other  Presbyteries  to  the  Synod,  care 
was  also  taken  that  their  ministers  should  sign  or  have  signed  the  "  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Formula." 

(10.)  In  1844,  the  Synod  adopted  the  following  formulae,  which  continued  to  be 
obligatory  until  the  Union  in  1876,  when  they  vvere  replaced  by  those  given  under 
(rt.),  viz.  : — For  Ministers — "  I,  subscribing  this  with  my  own  hand,  do  hereby  de- 
clare that  I  do  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  as  apjiroved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  in  the  year  1647,  to  be  the  truths  of  God,  and  I  do  own  the  same  as  the 
confession  of  my  faith,"  etc.  For  Elders  and  Deacon^ — "  I,  subscribing  my  name 
hereto,  do  sincerely  own  and  declare  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  as  ap- 
proved Iiy  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  1647,  to  be  the  con- 
fession of  my  f.iiih  ;  and  I  own  the  doctrine  therein  contained  to  be  the  true  doc- 
trine, which  I  will  constantly  adhere  to,"  etc. 

(l  I.) — To  these  formulae  the  following  declaration  was  prefixed  by  the  Synod  of 
1861  : — "The  Synod  think  it  right  to  (leclare  that,  while  this  Church  firmly  main- 
tains the  same  scripture  principles  as  to  the  duties  of  nations  and  their  rulers  in 
reference  to  true  religion  and  the  Church  of  Christ,  for  which  we  have  hitherto  con- 
tended, we  disclaim  intolerant  and  persecutmg  principles,  and  do  not  regard  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  or  any  portion  thereof,  when  fairly  interpreted,  as  favouring 
intolerance  or  persecution,  or  consider  that  our  office-bearers,  by  subscribing  it,  pro- 
fess any  ]3iinciples  inconsistent  witii  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  rights  of^  private 
judgment.'' 

These  facts  exhaust  the  history  of  this  Cnurch  in  reference  to  subscription,  in  so 
far  as  that  portion  of  it  is  concerned  which  down  to  1876  was  known  as  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  England.  W^th  reference  to  the  other  portion,  its  history  of  the 
fpiestion  is  comprised  in  that  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which,  till  that 
date,  it  formed  a  part. 

Query  III. — How  far  has  indii'idual  adherence  to  these  Creeds,  by  subscription  or 
oihertvise,  been  required  from  the  Ministers,  Elders,  or  other  Offce-bearers 
respectively,  and  also  from  the  private  Members  of  the  same  ? 

Answkr. 

(«.)  So  far  as  ministers,  elders,  and  deacons  are  concerned,  they  are  required  to 


I040  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ex]iress  their  adherence  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Confession  of  Faith   in   the  ter-ms 
cited  un.ler  Query  II. 

{b.)  The  Church  has  never  required  any  express  acceptance  of  the  Creed  by  her 
private  members,  nor  determined  how  far  they  are  at  liberty  to  hold  beliefs  at  vari- 
ance with  it.  It  is  L'ft  to  the  discretion  of  the  several  sessions  to  ascertain  the 
Christian  knowledge  and  soundness  in  the  Cliristian  faith  of  those  whom  they  admit 
tu  the  sacraments  of  the  Church. 

No.  II.— CALVINISTIC  METHODISTS  OF  WALES, 

Othenvise  called  IVclsh  Presbyterians. 

Answicr  to  Query  I. 

(rt.)  The  "Confession  of  Faith"  of  the  Calvinistic  Methodists  in  Wales  was 
finally  ado]ited  in  the  year  1823,  at  their  Associations  held  that  year  at  Aberystwyth 
in  South  Wales,  and  at  Bala  in  North  Wales.  It  was  brought  out,  in  Welsh,  in  a 
small  volume  pul)lished  by  the  Synod,  anfi  called  The  History,  Constitution,  Rules 
of  Discipline,  and  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Calvinistic  J\/etkodists  in  Wales,  of 
which  there  have  since  been  published  some  ten  or  twelve  editicjns.  An  English 
translation  of  it,  undertaken  by  a  gentleman  on  his  own  resjjonsilulity,  appeared  in 
the  year  1S27,  of  which  three  or  four  editions  were  afterwaids  pulilished.  In  the 
year  1876,  a  new  edition  of  the  Welsh  work  was  brought  out,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  for  that  purpose,  em- 
bodying, in  an  appendix,  some  changes  and  explanations  on  some  things  that  had, 
since  the  original  publication,  been  agreed  upon  by  the  Quarterly  Associations  or 
Synods  of  North  and  South  Wales,  and  iiy  the  General  AsseniMy.  Of  this  ntw  edition 
and  authorized  translation,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Charles  Edwards,  M.  A., 
Princii)al  of  the  University  College,  Aberystwyth,  was  jiublished  in  1877  by  the 
General  Assembly.  The  "  Confession  "  consists  of  forty-four  Articles,  carefully 
drawn  up,  and  agreeing  substantially  with  those  of  the  Westminster  Confession. 

[b.)  Previous  to  the  year  1823,  the  Calvinistic  Methodists  had  no  lormal  Confes- 
sion. At  the  Quarterly  Association  held  at  l?ala,  June  16,  17,  1801,  certain  Rules 
and  Regulations  were  agreed  upon  with  reference  to  the  qualifications  deemed 
requisite  in  those  who  should  be  admitted  members  of  our  churches,  as  well  as 
respecting  the  conduct  expected  of  them  as  such,  and  the  discipline  to  be  exercised 
"towards  them  in  cases  of  transgression.  These  "Rules  of  Discipline"  are  those 
still  in  force  among  us.  They  were  first  pulilished  under  the  editorial  care  of  the 
late  Rev.  Thomas  Charles,  B.  A.,  Bala.  This  was  some  sixty-five  years  after  the 
formation  of  the  Connection  in  Wales.  In  the  Introduction  10  these  Rules,  as  then 
published,  there  is  a  reference  made  to  the  form  of  doctrine  embraced  by  the  Con- 
nexion, and  we  read  thus  :  "  As  to  our  views  of  doctrine,  we  entirely  agree  with 
the  Doctrinal  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  only  that,  with  all  humility,  we 
desire  in  that  union,  to  take  advantage  of  the  full  liberty  granted  unto  us  by  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  our  country  to  use  all  scriptural  means  to  extend  our  knowl- 
edge of  God,  and  of  Ilim  whom  He  hath  sent,  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  so  doing  to 
build  ourselves  up  in  the  most  holy  faith."  Again  :  "  To  bring  these  lemarks  to  con- 
clusion :  since  v,-e  are,  as  a  body,  altogether  of  the  same  views  as  the  Established 
Church  in  her  Doctrinal  Articles,  and  that  we  can  find  no-words  better  adapted  or 
more  scriptural  to  declare  them  and  to  pCit  them  fortli,  than  those  used  there  by  our 
old  and  renowned  Reformers,  we  do  not  see  that  there  is  any  necessity  for  a  more 
special  publication  of  our  views  respecting  points  of  doctrine."  In  a  note,  the 
Articles  i,  2,  4,  5,  6,  7,  9,  10,  II,  13,  15,  17,  18,  19,  25,  27,  28,  31,  38,  39  of  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  are  referred  to  as  Doctrinal  Articles;  and  in  an  appendix, 
Articles  i,  2,  9,  II,  12,  and  17  are  quoted  at  length,  as  a  specimen  of  what  they 
especially  regarded  as  essential  to  the  Gosjiel.  Previous  to  the  year  1823,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  we  had  no  Confession  of  Faith  other  than  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  a  clause  was  always  inserted  in  the  deeds  of  the  chapels  then  erected, 
that  they  were  to  be  used  (mly  to  promote  the  views  set  forth  in  the  Doctrinal  Arti- 
cles of  the  Cliuich  of  England,  Calvinistically  explained. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1041 

It  was  against  mucli  opposition,  and  at  first  opposition  on  the  part  of  a  few  of  'Jk- 
wisest  and  most  influciuial  in  llie  Connexion,  tliat  a  new  Confession  of  Faiili.  en 
rather  a  new  expression  of  their  doctrinal  views,  was  rescjlved  upon  by  them. 
However,  at  last,  at  the  Associations  already  referred  to,  it  was  passed  without  a 
dissentient  voice,  and  it  is  now  {generally  if  nut  universally  accej)ted  hy  the  whole 
Connexion.  Owing  t<i  long  controversies  in  the  Principality  on  points  relating  to 
Calvinism  and  Arminianism,  especially  with  reference  to  the  extent  of  the  Atone- 
ment, great  uneasiness  prevailed  in  the  minds  of  many  at  the  too  particular  and 
limited  view  supposed  to  be  taken  in  Article  l8  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  esjiecially 
at  the  words  in  brackets  (and  those  only).  But  at  the  General  Assembly  held  at' 
I'ortmadock  in  1875,  '^  ^^''^^  resolved  to  call  attention  to  the  corresponding  truth 
concerning  the  infmite  sufficiency  of  the  Atonement,  in  words  agreed  u]ion  at  an 
Association  at  Bala,  June,  1S09,  and  always  maintained  by  the  vencraljle  founders  as 
well  as  the  most  eminent  ministers  in  the  Connection  : — "  None  will  perish 
because  of  insufficiency  in  the  atonement,  but  all  because  they  will  not  come  unto 
Christ  to  be  saved,  and  those  men  will  have  no  excuse  for  their  neglect  of  Christ."    . 

Answkr  to  Qu kry  II. 

No  subscription  is  required  excepting  from  those  who  go  abroad  as  Missionaries;- 
Those  ordained  for  the  home  service  give  a  public  statement  of  their  views  and  make 
a  solemn  declaration  of  their  intention  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  Connexion,  and 
to  set  their  faces  against  all  unprofitable  and  contentious  disputes  that  tend  to  gender 
strifes.  Previous  to  this  statement  and  declaration  at  the  time  of  ordination,  the 
candidate  must  have  satisfied  the  church  of  which  he  was  a  member  of  the  correct- 
ness of  his  doctrinal  views  before  he  can  have  permission  to  commence  pieaching. 
He  is  to  be  examined  again  by  the  Monthly  Meeting  or  Presbytery,  and  ajiproved 
bv  them  ere  he  can  be  received  as  a  probationer;  and  must  again  satisfy  the  exam- 
iners in  a  special  examination,  before  he  is  eligible  to  be  proposed  for  the  final  ex- 
amination, that  takes  place  on  the  day  and  as  a  part  of  the  service  of  ordination. 

Answer  to  Query  III. 

Elders  and  Deacons  are  examined  with  reference  to  their  adherence  to  the  Con- 
fession, though  the  examination  is  much  less  strict  and  formal  than  that  to  be  under; 
"one  by  Ministers.  With  reference  to  private  members,  all  that  is  recjuiied  as  to^ 
doctrine  is,  "That  they  hold  no  opinion  or  views  which  are  contrary  to  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  Christianity;  for  instance,  that  they  do  not  deny  the  doctrine  of. 
the  Trinity,  etc.,  etc."     (Rule  iv.) 

No.  III.— IRISH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

1,  The  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  is  a  branch  of  ihe  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the- 
ministers  who  constituted  its  first  Presbytery  in  1642  had  all  subscribed  the  old' 
Scottish  Confession  of  Faith.  When  the  Church  of  Scotland  adojited  the  West- 
minster  Confession,  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  did  so  too,  and  this  symbol  has. 
been  ever  since  its  recognized  Creed. 

2.  The  present  formula  of  subscription  is  : — "  I  believe  the  Westminster  Confession, 
of  Faith,  as  described  in  the  book  of  the  cf)nstitution  and  discipline  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  Ireland  (chap.  2,  section  3),  to  be  founded  on  and  agreeable  to  ilie  , 
Word  of  God,  and  as  such  I  acknowledge  it  as  the  confession  of  my  faith."  In' 
chapter  2,  section  3,  here  referred  to,  the  following  passage  occurs: — "  The  Con- 
fession is  to  be  received  as  a]iproved  by  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  her  Act  of  1647, 
and  with  the  declaration  that  in  the  judgment  of  this  Church  subscription  to  the 
Confession  does  not  imply  the  belief  that  the  civil  magistrate  has  any  right  to  require 
or  enforce,  by  civil  penalties,  adherence  to  ecclesiastical  formularies  or  conformity 
in  religious  worship."  The  formula  of  subscription  to  the  old  Scottish  Confession 
was  the  same  as  that  used  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  so  was  the  original  for-- 
mula  of  subscription  to  the  Westminster  Confession  ;  but  during  the  eighteenth  cen- 

66 


1042  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tury  various  forms  were  used,  and  at  length  in  several   Presbyteries  subscription  fell 
into  desuetude. 

3.  All  ministers  and  elders  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  are  now  required  to 
subscribe  according  to  the  formula  above  quoted,  but  sub-^criplion  is  not  required 
from  ordinary  church-members. 

No.  IV.— REFORMED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH   IN   IRELAND. 

1.  The  existing  Creeds  and  Confesi-ions  of  lliis  Cluircli  nre  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith  and  Catechisms  Larger  and  Shorter.  A'so  the  testimony  of  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland  ado])ted  and  publislied  in  1868. 

The  Westminster  Confession  and  Catechisms  have  been  always  the  Creed  of  this 
Church. 

Before  the  Revolution  members  were  required  to  acknowledge,  in  addition  to  the 
Confessifin,  the  Covenanted  Reformation  as  established  in  Scotland  and  the  Testi- 
monies issued  against  Po])ery,  Prelacy,  the  Erastian  Su|.remacy  and  Sectarianism. 

In  1712  the  Covenants,  National  and  Solemn  Le;igue  and  Covenant,  were  re- 
newed at  Auchinsaugh  in  adaptation  to  the  circumst;inces  of  a  minority  in  the  land, 
and  from  that  time  the  acknowleilgment  of  that  Renovation  was  a  term  of  com- 
munion. 

In  1761  a  testimony  was  published  called  the  Judicial  Act,  Declaration  and  Tes- 
timony of  the  Reformed  Presbytery,  and  from  that  time  it  was  acknowledged  as  the 
'J'estimony  of  tlie  Church. 

In  October,  1 863,  the  Covenants  were  renewed  by  the  Synod  in  Ireland  at  Der- 
vock  in  County  Antrim,  and  thereafter  the  reference  to  the  Auchinsaugh  Renova- 
tion was  dro|))5ed  frcmi  the  Fourth  Term  of  Communion,  and  a  more  general  exjires- 
sion  was  inserted,  as  may  he  seen  in  the  subjoined  formula  for  ordination. 

In  1868  a  shorter  Testimony,  having  special  reference  to  the  history  and  position 
of  the  Church  in  Ireland,  was  adopted  and  published,  and  is  still  in  use.  It  is 
called  "The  Testimony  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland." 

2.  The  existing  formulas  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  formerly  in  use, 
namely : — 

"  Do  you  believe  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith 
as  received  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  the  year  1647, 
and  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  to  be  founded  on  and  agreeable  to  the  Word 
of  God  ;  and  as  such  do  you  acknowledge  them  to  be  the  confession  of  your  faith  ?  " 

"  Do  you  acknowledge  the  obligation  of  the  Covenants,  National  and  Solemn 
league,  and  the  obligation  arising  from  the  renovation  of  these  Covenants  by  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church?" 

"  Dii  you  npjjrove  of  and  acknowledge  the  testimony  of  the  Reformed  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  and  engage  to  adhere  to  and  defend  the  same  as  (jod  may  give  yoa 
opportunity  ?  " 

3.  These  formulas  are  answered  in  the  affirmative  by  all  office-bearers  of  the 
Chinch,  ministers,  elders,  and  deacons,  before  ordination.  They  are  subscribed  by 
rniiii-.teis  immediately  after  ordination.  Private  members  of  the  Church  give  their 
f.irm^il  assent,  after  examination,  to  the  Terms  of  Comnnini(m,  Nos.  II.  IV.  V..  of 
which  are  substantinlly  the  same  as  the  above  questions.  They  also  acknowledge 
llit-se  terms  on  obtaining  tokens  of  admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  on  obtnining 
bn])iism  to  their  children.  Applicants  for  membership  are  asked  before  giving 
nssent  to  the  Terms  of  Communion,  if  they  have  read  the  Confession  nnd  the  Testi- 
mony, and  nre  exnmined  on  some  leailing  doctrines  contnined  in  them. 

Belfast,  24M  June,  1879.  Josias  A.  Chanceixor. 

No.  v.— PRESBVrERIAN  CHURCHES  IN   AUSTRALASIA. 

Geelong,  Victoria,  13///  May,  1879. 
Rkv.  and  Dear  Sir: — As  Sub-Co»vener  of  the  (}eneral    Presbyterian  Councils 
Committee  on  Creeds  and  Confessions  for  the  Australasian   Colonies,  I  beg  to  for- 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1043 

•ward  to  you  the  information  which  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  in  regard  to  the  For- 
mularies which  are  in  use  in  the  (.'hurclies  of  lliese  Colonies. 

If  any  further  information  is  desired  I  siiall  he  f^lad  to  furnish  it. 

In  deference  to  the  wishes  of  the  Council,  I  have  abstained  from  offering  any 
opinion  as  to  the  state  of  feeling  in  our  Churches  with  regard  to  these  Staiulards, 
and  liave  confined  myself  to  a  statement  of  facts. — I  am  respectfully  and  sincerely 
yours,  A.  J.  Campijell. 

ANALYSIS  OF  MATTERS  CONTAINED  IN  THE  BASIS  OF  UNION. 

(i.  Victoria;  2.  Queensland;  3.  South  Australia;  4.  New  South  Wales; 
AND  5.  New  Zealand.) 

1.  The  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  the  only  rule  of  Faith  and  Prac- 

tice asserted  by  II.,  III.,  IV.,  V. 

2.  The  Westminster  Confession  (ff). 

The  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  (b). 
The  Form  of  I'resbyterian  Church  Government  (c), 
The  Directory  for  I'uljlic  Worship  ((/),  and 

The  .Second    Book  of   Discijiline   (c),  are  adopted  by  all  the  Churches  as 
fi)llows : — 
By  I.  as  standards  and  formularies. 
11.  as  subordmate  standards. 

III.  (rt)  and   (/')  as  subordinate  standards,  and   (f)  {(I')  (f*)  as  containinjf 

excellent  suggestions,  and  worthy  of  careful  consideration. 

IV.  as  subordinate  standards,  with  this  explanation,  that  while   (<?)  is  tn 

be   regarded  as  a  creed  and  (b)  as  a  directory  for  catechising,  (r), 
(^Z),  and  (e)  are  to  be  regarded  as  regulations,  not  as  tests. 
V.  (ff)  and   [Ji)  as  subordinate  standards,  and  (r),  {d),  and  (f)  in  so  far 
as  they  are  ajiplicable  to  the  circumstances  of  the  Church. 
The  first  Book  of  Discipline  is  adopted  by  V.  in  the  same  way  as  the  second. 

3.  Subscription  to  these  Standards  not  to  be  held  as  countenancing  persecuting  prii4- 

ciples  or  invading  rights  of  jirivate  judgment. 

Adopted  by  all  the  Churches. 

4.  Responsibility  of  nations  and  rulers  to  God. 

Recognized   by  V. 

5.  Spiritual  independence  in  relation  to  civil  magistrate. 

Asserted  by  I.,  II.,  and  by  III.,  IV.,  V.  very  emphatically. 

6.  Supreme  jurisdiction  in  matters  spiritual  over  ministers  and  members.    ' 

Claimed  by  all  the  Churches. 

7.  Ministers  and  preachers  to  be  received  from  all  other  I'resbyterian  Churches. 

Assented  to  by  all. 

I.  Victoria. 
Adopted  J  eh  April,  1859. 

I.  That  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larger  and  Shorter  CatechismS, 
the  Form  of  Presbyterian  Church  Government,  the  Directory  for  Public  Worship, 
and  the  Second  Book  of  Diseipline,  be  the  Standards  and  Formularies  of  this 
Church. 

II.  That  inasmuch  as  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  doctrines  con- 
tained in  these  standards  relative  to  the  power  and  duty  of  the  civil  magislrate  in 
matters  of  religion,  the  ofRce-bearers  of  this  Church  in  subscribing  these  standards 
and  formularies,  are  not  to  be  held  as  countenancing  any  persecuting  or  intolerant 
principles,  or  as  professing  any  views  in  reference  to  the  power  and  duty  of  the 
civil  magistrate,  inconsistent  with  the  liberty  of  personal  conscience  or  the  rights  of 
])rivate  judgment. 

III.  That  this  Church  asserts  for  itself  a  separate  and  independent  character  and 
position  as  a  Church,  possesses  supreme  jurisdiction  over  its  subordinate  judicatories, 
congregations,  and   people,  and  will  receive  all   ministers  and  preachers  from   ollict 


1044  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Presbyterian  Churches,  applying  for  admission,  who  shall  thereupon  become  subject 
to  its  authority  alone. 

2.  Queensland. 

Aif opted  2^lh  November,  1 863. 

I.  That  the  Word  of  God  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
tament is  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  |)r.ictice. 

II.  That  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms, 
the  form  of  Presbyterian  Church  Government,  the  Directory  for  Public  Worship, 
and  the  Second  Book  of  Discipline,  are  the  subordinate  standards  and  formularies 
of  this  Church. 

III.  Th.it  masmuch  as  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  doctrines 
contained  in  these  .Standards,  relative  to  the  power  and  duty  of  the  civil  magistrate 
in  matters  of  religion,  the  office-bearers  of  this  Church,  in  subsciibing  these  stan- 
dards and  formularies,  are  not  to  be  held  as  countenancing  any  persecuting  or  intol- 
erant ]:)rmciples,  or  as  professing  any  views  in  reference  to  the  power  and  duly  of 
the  civil  magistrate,  inconsistent  with  the  liberty  of  personal  conscience,  or  the  right 
of  private  judgment. 

.■IV.  That  this  Church  asserts  for  itself  a  separate  and  independent  character  and 
position,  possesses  supreme  jurisdiction  over  its  sui)or(linate  judicatories,  congrega- 
tions, and  people,  and  will  receive  ministers  and  |)reacher.->  from  other  Presbyterian 
Ciiurches  applying  for  admission  on  an  equal  footing,  who  shall  thereupon  become 
s-ubject  to  its  authority  alone. 

3.  South  Australia. 

Adopted  lot/i  May,  1865. 

I.  That  the  designation  of  the  United  Church  shall  be  "  The  Presbyterian  Church 
of  South  Australia." 

II.  That  the  Word  of  God,  as  contained  in  the  Scri]itiires  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  is  held  by  this  Church  as  the  supreme  and  only  authoritative  rule  of 
fauh  ami  piactice. 

III.  That  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  L':irger  and  Shorter  Cat- 
echisms are  the  subordinate  standards  of  this  Church,  but  that  in  ado|-)ting  these 
standards  this  Church  is  not  to  be  held  as  a])]iroving  of  anything  in  them  which 
may  be  supposed  to  countenance  ]5ersecuting  or  intolerant  principles,  or  to  deny  or 
invade  (he  right  of  private  judgment. 

IV.  That  by  Christ's  ap[Kiintment  the  Church  is  spiritually  independent,  and  is 
not  subordinate  in  its  own  province  and  in  the  administration  of  its  own  affairs  to 
•he  jurisdiction  or  authoritative  interference  of  the  civil  power. 

V.  That  this  Church  asserts  for  itself  a  sejiirate  and  independent  position  in  rela- 
tion to  other  Churches ;  and  that  its  highest  Court  shall  possess  sujireme  and  final 
jurisdiction  over  its  inferior  judicatories,  officebearers,  and  members;  and  that  it 
shall  receive  ministers  and  probationers  fiom  other  Presbyterian  Churches  applying 
for  admission  on  their  affording  satisfactoiy  evidence  of  their  qualifications  and  elig- 
ibility, and  subscribing  the  formula  in  accordance  with  these  articles. 

Note. — That  the  form  of  Presbyterian  Church  Government,  and  the  Directory  for  Public  Wor- 
ship, are  regarded  by  this  Church  as  containinj;  excellent  snggestions  on  the  points  discussed,  and 
hence  as  worthy  of  \.\\i  careful  considerations  of  ministers  and  ofifice-holders. 

4.  New.  South  Wales. 

,1  Adopted  September,  1S65. 

■  I.  That  the  designation  of  the  United  Church  shall  be  "  The  Presbyterian  Church 
of  New  .South  Wales;"  and  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Church  shall  be  desig- 
nated "  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  South  Wales." 
II.  That  the  Word  of  God,  as  containecl  in  the  .Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  is  held  by  this  Church  as  the  supreme  and  only  authoritative  rule  of 
faith  and  practice, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1045 

III.  That  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larcjer  and  Shorter  Cate- 
chisms, the  form  of  Presbyterian  Chmchgovernmeiit,  the  Directory  for  the  Public 
Worship  of  (iod,  and  the  Second  Book  of  Discipline,  are  the  subordinate  standards 
of  the  Ciiurch. 

The  subordinate  standards  above  enumerated  are  received  with  the  following  ex- 
planations:— 

1.  That  while  the  Confession  of  Faith  contains  the  Creed  to  which,  as  to  a  con- 
fession of  his  own  faith,  every  office-bearer  in  the  church  must  testify  in  solemn 
form  his  personal  adherence,  and  while  the  catechisms  are  sanctioned  as  directcri« 
for  catechisinor,  the  Directory  for  Tuliiic  Worship,  the  Form  of  Church  (Government, 
and  the  second  Book  of  Discipline  are  of  the  nature  of  regulations  rather  than  tests, 
and  are  not  to  be  imposed  i)y  subscriinion  upon  ministers  und  elders. 

2.  That  in  adopting  these  standards  this  Church  is  not  to  be  held  as  countenancing 
persecuting  or  intolerant  principles,  or  any  denial  or  inv.asion  of  the  rights  of  priv.ote 
judgment. 

3.  That  by  Christ's  appointment,  the  Church  is  spiritually  independent,  and  is  nol 
subject,  in  its  own  province,  and  in  the  administration  of  its  own  affairs  to  the  juris- 
diction or  authoritative  interference  of  the  civil  power. 

IV.  That  the  Church  asserts  for  itself  a  separate  and  independent  position  in  re- 
lation to  other  churches;  and  that  its  highest  court  shall  possess  supreme  and  linal 
jurisdiction  over  its  inferior  juilicatories,  office-bearers,  and  memliers. 

V.  That  this  Church  shall  receive  ministers  and  probationers  from  other  Presby- 
terian Churches  applying  for  admission  on  their  affording  satisfactory  evidence  of 
their  qualifications  and  eligibility,  and  subscribing  the  Formula, 

5.  New  Zealand.  •, 

Adopted  zdth  November,   1 862. 

Preamble. — We,  the  undersigned  Ministers  and  Elders  of  the  Preshyterian  Churc'h 
of  Otago,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Auckland,  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Wellington,  and  the  several  otlier  undersigned  ministers  and  elders  in  New  Zea- 
land, believing  that  it  would  be  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  the 
cause  of  Christ,  that  we  should  unite  and  form  one  Church,  do  hereby  agree  so  to 
unite  under  the  name  and  title  of  the  Preshyterian  Church  of  New  Zealand,  and 
resolve  that  the  following  be  adopted  as  the  "  basis  of  union." 

I.  That  the  Word  of  God,  as  contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  Ney 
Testaments,  is  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  the  only  certam 
standard  by  which  all  matters  of  doctrine,  worship,  government,  and  discipline  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  are  to  be  decided. 

II.  That  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms 
are  adopted  as  the  subordinate  standards  of  this  Church;  as  also  the  Directory  for 
Public  Worship,  the  form  of  Presbyterian  Government,  and  the  First  and  Secontl 
Books  of  Discipline,  in  so  far  as  these  latter  are  applicable  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  Church. 

In  reference  to  these  subordinate  standards,  this  Church  thinks  it  right  to  declare:-^ 
(l.)  That  inasmuch  as  the  doctrines  therein  contained,  relative  to  the  power  "of 
the  civil  magistrate,  are  liable  to  a  difference  of  interpretation,  her  office-bearers  in' 
subscribing  her  standards  are  not  to  be  held  as  countenancing  persecuting  or  intoler- 
ant principles,  or  as  professing  any  views  inconsistent  with  liberty  of  conscience^ 
and  the  right  of  private  judgment.  ' 

(2.)  That  this  Church,  while  recognising  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  iff 
his  own  province,  and  the  great  principle  of  the  responsibility  of  nations  and  rulers 
to  God,  asserts  for  herself  a  distinct  and  independeiil  character  and  jiosition  ;  claims;" 
as  vested  in  her  supreme  courts,  supreme  and  exclusive  jurisdiction  in  matters  s|)irit- 
ual  over  all  her  office-bearers,  congregations,  and  peo])le;  and  declares  that  no' 
s[)iritual  privileges  enjoyed  by  her  office-bearers  and  members  is  subject  to  the  con- 
trol or  interference  of  any  body  foreign  to  herself.  • '   •' 


I046  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Formula  signed  by  Ministers  and  Elders  at  their  Ordination  or  Admission,  and  by 
Probationers  on  receiving  Licence  in  Presbyterian  Church  of  Victoria. 

I,  A.  B.,  do  hereby  declare  that  I  acknowledge  and  approve  of  the  Articles  of 
Union  adopted  by  this  Church  on  the  7th  April,  1859,  as  the  basis  of  its  Constitu- 
Uon,and  that  1  do  cordially  accept  the  same — these  Articles  being  as  follows  (see 
page  107). 

I  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Standards  of  this  Church 
as  an  exhibition  of  the  sense  in  which  I  understand  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  ac- 
knowledge it  as  a  confession  of  my  faiih;  as  likewise  I  own  the  purity  of  worship 
presently  practised  in  this  Church  and  the  I'resbyterian  government  thereof,  which 
doctrine,  worship,  and  government  I  am  persuaded  are  founded  on  the  Word  of 
God,  and  agreeable  thereto ;  and  I  promise  that  through  the  grace  of  God  I  shall 
firmly  and  constantly  adhere  to  the  same,  and  \.o  the  utmost  of  my  power  shall,  iij 
my  station,  assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  said  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and 
government  of  this  Church,  by  Sessions,  Presbyteries,  and  General  Assemblies;  and 
that  r  shall  in  my  practice  conform  to  the  said  worship  and  submit  to  the  said  dis- 
cipline and  government,  and  I  promise  that  1  shall  follow  no  divisive  courses  from 
that  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  or  government  of  this  Church. 

N.  B. — The  formulas  subscribed  in  the  various  Churches  are  understood  to  be 
identical  with  the  above. 

Notes  on  the  preceding  Documents. 

1.  The  somewhat  unusual  character  which  all  the  Formularies  of  the  Australasian 
Churches  bear  arises  from  the  fact  that,  previous  to  1859,  each  of  these  bodies  ex- 
isted, in  a  state  of  subdivision — the  Established  Church,  the  Free  Church,  and  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  being  represented  in  each  of  them.  'I'lie 
Basis  of  Union,  in  every  case,  was  formed  so  as  to  cover  a  difference  of  belief  on  the 
yobmtary  question  and  the  power  of  the  Civil  Magistrate. 

2.  In  New  South  Wales  a  small  number  of  ministers  (4)  did  not  see  their  way 
to'-join  the  United  Church.  They  constituted  themselves  a  Church  under  the  title 
of"  The  Synod  of  Eastern  Australia."  They  claim  to  be  connected  with  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  were  represented  in  the  Council.  Their  Formula  (I  believe) 
is  similar  to  that  of  the  Free  Church. 

3.  The  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  Zealand,  after  the  Union,  found  it  expedient 
for  the  better  working  of  the  cause  to  divide  themselves  into  two  bodies.  The 
Chucch  of  the  Northern  Island  retains  the  title  of  the  "  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nevy 
■Zealand;"  that  of  the  Middle  Island  is  called  the  "Presbyterian  Church  of  Otagp 
and  Southland." 

4.  Neither  the  South  Australian  nor  the  Tasmanian  Churches  were  represented 
in  the  Council.  The  South  Australian  Formulary  has  however  been  given  here,  as 
it  differs  slightly  from  the  others. 

In  Tasmania  there  has  been  no  reconstrudion  of  the  Churches,  which  are  branches 
of  the  Established  and  Free  Churches  of  Scotland,  and  follow  their  Laws  and 
Usages. 

5.  The  Synod  of  the  Missionary  Church  of  the  New  Hebrides  was  represented  at 
the  Council.  The  eleven  missionaries  who  Constitute  the  Synod  belong  to  six 
different  Presbyterian  Churches.  They  have  organized  themselves  for  practical 
purposes,  but  have  not  adopted  any  symbols  of  their  own. 

6.  Since  these  various  Unions  were  accomplished  there  has  been  no  change  in 
any  of  the  Bases  of  Union  or  the  Formulas  of  Subscription. 

•7.  In  November,  1876,  the  following  overture  was  presented  to  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Victoria  :  — 

"  Whereas  the  office-bearers  of  this  Church  are  required  to  subscribe  to  a  greater 
number  of  Standards  and  Formularies  than  those  of  other  and  older  Presbyterian 
Churches ;  and  whereas  it  is  desirable  that  such  a  state  of  things  should  not  continue, 
it  is  hereby  overtured  to  the  Venerable  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  lo;; 

Church  of  Victoria  that  a  committee  consistiiitr  of  .  .  .  he  appointed  In  con~iilir 
and  re])ort  on  the  followinj);  questions,  viz.  (I.)  Whether  the  Second  Hook  ol  l>i-(.i- 
pline  siiould  not  be  excised  from  the  Standards  of  our  Church;  (2.)  Whether  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  practice  of  older  and  Larimer  l'iesi)ylerian  Chiiiche>,  the  subscrip- 
tion refpiired  should  not  be  conlined  to  the  Confession  of  I'aith,  acconijxinied  l>v  a 
{generally  expressed  n]i|iroval  of  the  other  subordinate  Standaids  enumeinted  in  our 
present  Formula;  (3.)  Whether  the  Confession  of  Faiih  itseli  might  not  and  ought 
not  to  be  modified." 

When  the  motion  for  the  adoption  of  this  overture  was  made,  tlie  following  amend- 
ments were  proposeil : — 

1.  "  'liial  a  Ciomniittee  be  appointed  to  consider — (i.)  Whether  the  Second  Book 
of  Discipline  should  not  lie  exciseil  from  the  Standards  ol  this  Ciuirch  ;  (2.)  Wliether 
in  accordance  with  the  practice  of  older  and  larger  Presbyterian  Churches,  the  sub- 
scri]ition  required  should  not  i)e  confined  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  accompanied  liy 
a  generally  expressed  apprtiva!  of  the  other  subordinate  Standards  enumerated  in 
the  present  fornuila;  (3.)  That  the  Committee  be  instructed  to  report  on  these  mat- 
ters to  next  Assembly;  (4.)  That  the  Committee  be  instructed  to  prepare  a  Memo- 
rial to  the  General  Council  of  Presbyterian  Churches,  asking  their  advice  in  regard 
to  the  modification  of  the  Westminster  Confession." 

2.  "  That  it  is  not  expedient  at  present  to  entertain  the  questions  whicli  are  opened 
up  iiy  the  Presbytery  of  lialiarat." 

3.  "That  the  overture  be  remitted  to  a  Committee  consisting  of  ...  .  willi  in- 
structi<ins  to  consider  the  expediency  of  excluding  from  the  first  article  of  Union  the 
Second  Book  of  Discipline,  and  the  revision  of  the  other  Standards  in  that  article, 
with  the  view  of  adapting  their  form  and  phraseology  to  the  present  time,  and 
further  to  consider  the  revision  of  the  other  articles  of  Union,  with  the  view  of  mak- 
ing their  terms  more  explicit  and  definite." 

4.  "  That  it  is  of  most  pressing  urgency  to  adopt  a  short  Formulary  for  subscrip- 
tion by  those  who  are  elected  to  the  office  of  the  eldership,  and  that  the  ]neparntion 
of  such  Formulary  be  remitted  to  a  Committee  to  report  to  the  Commission  in  May 
next." 

5.  "  That  this  Assembly  approve  of  the  Preamble  and  Sections  I.  and  II.  of  the 
overture,  but  are  not  prepared  to  consider  any  changes  in  the  Confession  itself,  at 
least  till  those  who  introduced  the  overture  specify  the  modifications  thejfc desire." 

The  first  amendment  was  carried,  but  the  committee  njipointed  under  that  reso- 
lution of  the  Asseml)ly  did  not  prepare  any  memorial  to  be  submitted  to  the  Gen- 
eral Council,  and  the  Committee  was  discharged  by  the  Assembly  1877. 

QUESTIONS  TO  BE  PUT  TO  OFFICE-BEARERS. 

[Reprinted from  Minutes  of  Synod  1S44.) 
I.  Questions  put  to  Elders  before  Ordination. 

Question  ist. — Do  you  own  the  Confession  of  Faith,  as  received  and  explained 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  the  year  Sixteen  Hundn-d 
and  Forty-seven,  to  be  the  Confession  of  your  Faith — and  do  you  own  the  doctrine 
therein  contained  to  be  the  true  doctrine,  which  you  will  constantly  adhere  to? 

2(1. — Do  you  own  and  acknowledge  the  Presbyterian  Church  Government  of  this 
Church,  by  Kirk-Sessions,  Presbyteries,  and  Synods,  to  be  the  only  Government  (.( 
this  Church — ind  do  you  engage  to  submit  thereto,  concur  therewith,  and  never 
endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion  thereof? 

3d. — Do  you  promise  to  observe  uniformity  of  W'orship,  and  of  the  admini-tm- 
tion  of  all  public  ordinances  within  this  Church,  as  the  same  are  at  present  per- 
formed and  allowed  ? 

II.  Questions  put  to  Probationers  before  they  are  licensed. 
1st.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to  be  the  word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 


I048  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

2d.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession  bf 
Faith,  as  approved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  the  year 
1647,10  be  tile  truth  of  Gud  coiuained  m  the  Scripiures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments; and  do  you  own  the  wiiole  doctrn.e  tUerem  contained  as  the  confession  of 
your  laith  ? 

3d.  Do  you  sincerely  own  the  purity  of  worship  presently  authorised  and  prac- 
tised in  this  Presbyterian  Ciiurch;  and  are  you  persuaded  that  the  said  doctrine, 
worship,  discipline,  and  Ciuirch-jjovernnient  are  founded  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  agreeable  thereto  ? 

4th.  Do  you  [)romise  that,  throui^h  the  grace  of  God,  you  will  firmly  and  con- 
stantly atlhere  to,  and  in  your  station  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  asseit,  maintain, 
and  defend  the  said  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline,  and  the  goveinnienl  of  this 
Church,  by  Kirk  Sessions,  Presl>yteries,  and  Synods? 

'  5tli.  Do  you  promise  that  in  your  practice  you  will  conform  yourself  to  the  said 
worship,  and  submit  yourself  to  the  said  discipline  and  .government  of  this  Churcli, 
and  shall  never  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion  of  the 
same  ? 

6th.  Do  you  promise  that  you  shall  follow  no  divisive  courses  from  this  Presby- 
terian Church  ? 

71I1.  Do  you  renounce  all  doctrines,  tenets,  or  opinions  whatsoever,  contrary  to, 
or  inconsistent  with,  the  said  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  this 
Church? 

8lh.  Do  you  promise  that  you  shall  subject  yourself  to  the  several  judicatories  of 
this  Church?     Are  you  willing  to  subscribe  to  those  things? 

III. — Questions  put  to  Ministers  uefore  Orimnation. 

1st.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testanients  to  be  the 
■word  of  Gud,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  ami  manners? 

'  2d.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  lielieve  the  whole  doctrines  contained  in  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  as  approved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  tlie  Church  of  Scotland 
in  the  year  1647,  to  be  founded  upon  the  word  (jf  God;  and  do  you  acknowledge 
the  same  as  the  Confession  of  your  Faith;  and  will  you  firmly  and  constantly  adhere 
thereto,  a»d  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  same,  and 
the  purity  of  worship,  as  presently  practised  in  this  Presl)yterian  Church? 

3d.  Do  you  disown  all  Popish,  Arian,  Socinian,  Arminian,  Eiastian,  and  other 
doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatever,  contrary  to,  and  inconsistent  with,  the 
aforesaid  Confession  of  Faith  ? 

4th.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline  of  this 
Church  are  founded  upon  the  word  of  God,  and  agreeable  thereto;  and  do  you 
promise  to  submit  to  said  government  and  discipline,  and  to  concur  with  the  same, 
and  never  to  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion  thereof, 
but  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  in  your  station,  to  maintain,  support,  and  defend 
the  said  discipiine  and  Presbyterian  government  by  Kirk-Sessions,  Presbyteries,  an<l 
Synods,  during  all  the  ilays  of  your  life? 

5ih.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself,  willingly  and  humbly,  in  the  spirit  of 
meekness,  unto  the  admonitions  of  the  ijrethren  of  this  Presbytery,  and  to  be  sub- 
ject to  them,  and  all  other  Presbyteries  and  superior  judicatories  of  this  Church 
where  Ciod  in  f  lis  providence  shall  cast  your  lot ;  and  tiial,  according  to  your  power, 
you  shall  maintain  the  unity  and  peace  of  this  Church  against  error  and  schism,  not- 
withstanding whatsoever  trouble  or  persecution  may  arise,  and  that  you  shall  follow 
no  divisive  courses  from  the  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  this 
Presbyterian  Church  ? 

6th.  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  sav- 
ing souls,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  functions  of 
the  holy  ministry,  and  not  worldly  designs  and  interests? 

7ih.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  either  by  yourself  or  others,  in  procur- 
ing this  call  ? 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL  1049 

8th.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Master,  to  rule 
well  your  own  family,  to  live  a  holy  and  circumspect  life,  anil  faithfully,  diligently, 
and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  uiinistcrial  woik,  to  the  edilication 
of  the  body  of  Christ  ? 

9th.  Do  you  accept  of  and  close  with  the  call  to  be  the  Pastor  of  this  congrega- 
tion, and  promise  through  grace  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  a  faithlul  Minister  of 
the  Gospel  among  this  people  ? 

No.  VI.— PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES  IN  DOMINION  OF  CANADA. 

Presbyterian  Church  of  Nova  Scotia. 

Grounds  of  Union  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nova  Scotia, 

Fortnally  adopted  Jtdy  3,  1817. 

I.  The  following  formulary  of  questions  shall  be  put  to,  and  shall  be  satisfactorily 
answered  by,  all  who  are  ordamed  to  the  office  of  the  ministry  in  the  United 
Church  : — 

1.  Do  you  believe  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  the 
Word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  failh  and  practice? 

2.  Do  you  believe  that  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion of  Failh  and  Catechisms,  as  received  by  this  Church,'^  is  a  scriptural  exhibition 
of  'divine  truth  ?  and  do  you  engage,  according  to  your  station,  to  profess  and  main- 
tain it  in  the  Church  ? 

3.  Do  you  believe  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  King  and  Head  of  the 
('hurch,  and  that  he  has  revealed  in  Scripture  those  principles  according  to  which 
it  is  to  be  ruled  ? 

4.  Do  you  believe  that  the  Presbyterial  form  of  government,  as  maintained  in  this 
Church,f  is  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  ?  and  do  you  promise  to  maintain  it 
doctrinally  and  practically,  to  adhere  to  its  disciplines,  both  as  a  member  of  the 
Church  and  as  a  minister  of  Christ? 

5.  Do  you  engage  to  maintain  the  spiritual  unity  of  the  Church  in  its  doctrine  and 
government,  worship,  and  discipline?  and  do  you  solemnly  pledge  yourself,  in  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Church,  never  to  propagate  any  contra- 
dictory principle,  nor  introduce  any  contrary  practice,  among  those  intrusted  to  your 
charge,  nor  in  any  other- public  way,  till  you  have  regularly  acquainted  your  brethren 
in  the  ministry  with  the  alteration  of  your  views,  and  till  these  views  have  been  dis- 
cussed, and  the  general  sentiments  of  the  Church  ascertained? 

6.  Is  love  to  God  and  to  the  souls  of  men  your  principal  inducement  to  enter  into 
the  office  of  the  holy  ministry? 

7.  Can  you,  with  a  safe  conscience,  declare  that  you  have  used  no  improper 
means  to  p'rocure  a  call  to  the  ministry  in  this  congregation  ? 

8.  Do  you  accept  the  call  to  the  pastoral  office  over  this  jieople  ?  and  do  you 
solemnly  engage  to  conduct  yourself  as  a  faithful  minister  of  the  Gospel  among 
them,  and  afso,  wherever  Providence  affords  you  an  opportunity,  keeping  carefully 
in  view  that  this  congregation  and  the  Church  at  large  be  by  your  labours  assisted 
in  the  attainment  of  higher  degrees  of  Christian  improvement? 


*  This  Church  receives  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  p'aiih  and 
Catechisms,  except  that  part  of  it  which  respects  the  magistrate's  power  in  matters  of  religion. 
Thev  cive  no  decision  as  to  the  doctrine  taught  in  these  words,  Conf.  Ch.  xxiii.  Sect.  3  :— "  Yet  he 
hath  authority  and  it  is  his  duty,  to  take  order  that  unity  and  peace  be  preserved  in  the  Church 
that  the  truth  of  God  be  kept  pure  and  entire,  that  all  blasphemies  and  heresies  be  suppressed,  all 
corruptions  and  abuses  in  worship  and  discipline  prevented  or  reformed,  and  all  the  crdii.anccs  of 
God  duly  settled,  administered,  and  observed.  For  the  better  effecting  whereof  he  hath  power  to 
call  Synods  to  be  present  at  them."  And  they  deny  the  doctrine  laught  in  these  words,  ;/7rf««— 
"And  to  provide  that  whatsoever  is  transacteil  in  them  be  according  to  the  mind  of  God.  And 
thev  hold  that  Church  rulers  have  authority,  ex  rj/'uio.  to  meet  for  government  and  discipline,  when- 
soever the  circumstances  of  the  Church  require  it,  anything  in  Conf.  Ch.  xxxi.  Sect.  2,  notwith- 

**  ^"xh^  Church  holds  that  the  substance  of  Presbyterial  government  consists  in  the  equality  ol 
Church  rulers  and  subordination  of  Church  courts. 


I050  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

9.  Do  you  promise  to  exemplify  the  excellence  of  Christian  doctrine  by  the  con- 
scientioiH  performance  of  the  duties  of  a  holy  life,  corresponding  with  your  station 
in  the  Church  and  your  relations  to  society  ? 

10.  Do  you  declare  that  you  are  cordially  attached  to  the  civil  authorities  by 
which  this  Province  is  ruled  ?  and  do  you  promise,  according  to  your  station,  to  give 
those  proofs  of  loyalty  which  Divine  authority  enjoins  upon  subjects  towards  their 
rulers? 

11.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself,  in  the  Lord,  to  the  authority  of  this  Pns- 
bytery,  in  sul)ordination  to  superior  courts? 

And  all  these  you  profess  to  believe,  and  jiroinise  through  grace  to  iierforni,  as  you 
musi  answer  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  He  comes  with   all  His  saint-.? 

IL  I'ulilic  covenanting  with  God,  is  explicitly  recognized  as  a  Scriptural  means 
for  the  preservation  and  advancement  of  Christian  purity,  not  to  be  neglected  when 
edific.ition  requires  it. 

HL  The  observance  of  public  fasts,  appointed  by  civil  authority,  shall  be  left  a 
matter  of  forbearance. — James  Robson,  Synod  Clerk. 

The  Synod  first  constituted  at  Truro,  Nova  Scotia,  July  3,  1817.  There  were 
three  Presbyteries — Truro,  Pictou,  and  Halifax — nineteen  ministers.  Two  or  three 
of  these  were  licentiates  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  Two,  I  ihii.k,  were  brought 
up  in  the  Congregational  body.  The  others  were  from  the  two  jjranches  into  which 
the  Secession  Church  had  divided. 

Halifax,  AW'cmbcr  z\,  1878. 

Rev.  Dr.  Snodgrass,  My  Dear  Doctor:  T  have  just  noticed  that  my  time  for 
replying  to  your  letter  of  inquiry  res]iecting  Creeds  and  Formularies  is  nearly  up, 
and  that  I  must  therefore  write  without  delay.  You  say  that  I  need  not  send  any 
document  or  information  respecting  bodies  entering  the  present  tenure.  I  will 
therefore  commence  far  back  and  stop  when  I  come  down  to  the  ejioch  mentioned. 
First  I  enclose  No.  I.,  being  the  Basis  of  Union  of  the  first  Synod  formed  in 
Nova  Scotia,  and  called  the  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nova  Scotia,  the 
idea  of  those  fonning  the  Synod  being  that  one  independent  Church  should  lie 
formed  embracing  licentiates  from  the  different  Presbyterian  bodies  in  Scotland. 

Their  Creed  is  set  forth  in  the  formula  of  questions  which  I  send  with  the 
appended  notes. 

IL  Next  in  order  is  the  Synod  in  connection  with  the  Church  of  Scotland. 
Respecting  that  I  have  sent  your  letter  to  Dr,  Pollok,  requesting  him  to  procure 
and  send  you  the  information  requested. 

III.  The  Free  Church  Synod  was  formed  in  Pictou  in  July,  1844,  by  the  Disrup- 
tion of  the  Synod  in  connection  with  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  called  "  The 
Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nova  Scotia  adhering  to  the  Westminster 
Standards."  The  name  was  subsequently  changed  to  "The  Synod  of  the  Free 
Church  of  Nova  Scotia." 

Its  Creed  was  set  forth  in  the  questions  put  to  office-bearers  which  I  also  enclose, 
marked  No.  2. 

IV.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Lower  Provinces  was  formed  by  a  union  of 
Nos.  I.  and  III.  on  October  4,  i860. 

In  P.  C.  L.  P.  there  were  .  .  42  ministers. 

Free  Church  of  Nova  Scotia,       .  .  36         " 

The  name  of  "Nova  Scotia"  was  dropped  and  "Lower  Provinces"  taken 
because  Prince  Edward  Island  was  not  in  Nova  Scotia  and  contained  twelve  min- 
isters, and  a-;  an  invitation  to  the  brethren  in  New  Brunswick  to  come  in. 

V.  The  Presi)yterian  Synod  of  New  Brunswick  united  with  the  P.  C.  L.  P.  under 
the  same  name  and  on  the  same  basis  as  the  union  of  i860. 

This  union  look  place  in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  and  in  St.  David's  Church, 
on  the  2d  Jidy,  1866. 

Ministers  in  Synod  of  New  Brunswick,     ...  18 

P.  C.  L.  P.,  .  .  .  95 

TotaL    .  .  .  113 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  1051 

This  was  the  P.  C.  L.  P.  up  to  the  date  of  union  in    Montreal    in  June,  1875. 
1  submit,  thirdly,  the  Blue  lioolc  of  P.  C.  L.  P.  containing: 

I.   Bases  of  Union  of  i860  and  of  1S66.     See  Blue-Book  sent 

herewith,  ......  Page   131 

II.  Formula  for  the  subscription  of  Ministers,  .  .  ,  133 

III.  Questions  put  to  Ministers  before  ordination,  .  .  .  I42 

IV.  Questions  put  to   Missionaries   before  ordination  or  l)efore 

designation,  .......  144 

V.  Questions  put  to  Probationers  jjefore  they  are  licensed,        '  .  .  141 

VI.   Questions  put  to  EUlers  and  Deacons  belcMc  ordination,         .  .  140 

VII.   Formula  for  the  admission  of  Members,  .  .  .  •  '35 

The  Questions  in  your  slip  are  all  answered  by  the  information  furnished,  except 
the  third. 

Iloio  far  has  individual  adherence  to  these  Creeds,  by  subicriptipu  or  otheiwise,  been 
required  from  A/inisters,  Elders,  or  other  Off  ce  bearers  respectively,  and  also 
from  the  private  Metitbers  of  the  same  ? 

Reply. 

1.  Adherence  was  expressed  by  solemn  assent  to  the  questions  given  in  public 
before  the  congregation  by  all  ministers,  elders,  and  deacons,  and  by  probationers 
before  the  presbytery  at  Licensure. 

2.  Members  declared  their  readiness  to  sign  the  formula,  page  133. 

3.  Assent  to  the  questions  provided  and  a  readiness  to  sign  the  formula  were  not 
dispensed  with,  but  ]nit  into  practice. 

4.  The  assent  to  the  P'ornnila  No.  VI.,  page  135,  by  private  persons  joining  the 
Church  was  rather  recommended  than  re<iuired,  and  was  not  practised  by  all.  Min- 
isters and  sessions  were  left  to  decide  wheiher  they  deemed  it  for  edification  or  not, 
and  to  act  on  their  convictions. 

I  think  this  is  about  all  that  I  can  do  for  you.  If  Dr.  Pollok  will  give  you  a  few 
notes  I  think  you  will  be  fairly  posted. — P.  G.  M'Gregok. 

Presbyterian  Church  of  Canada  in  connection  with  the  Church  of 

Scotland. 

Questions  put  to  Ministers  at  Ordination,  up  to  1S72. 

1.  Do  ynu  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  ihe  word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  foith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doctrine  contained  in  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  approved  by  the  General  Assemblies  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and 
ratified  by  law  in  the  year  1690,  to  be  founded  ujwn  the  word  of  (iod,  and  agreeable 
thereto;  and  do  you  acknowledge  the  same  as  the  Confession  of  your  Faith;  and 
will  you  firmly  and  constantly  adhere  thereto,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  as- 
sert, maintain,  and  defend  the  same,  and  the  purity  of  worship,  as  presently  practised 
in  this  Church  ? 

3.  Do  you  disown  all  Popish,  Arians  Socinian,  Arminian,  and  other  doctrines, 
tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever,  contrary  to,  and  inconsistent  with,  the  aforesaid 
Confession  of  Faith  ? 

4.  Are  you  persuaded  th;it  the  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline  of  this 
Church  are  founded  upon  the  word  of  God,  and  agreeable  thereto;-  and  do  you 
promise  to  submit  to  the  said  government  and  discipline,  and  to  concur  with  the 
same,  and  never  to  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion 
thereof,  but  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  in  your  station,  to  maintain,  support  and 
defend  the  said  discipline  and  Presbyterian  government  by  Kirk-Sessio«s,  Provincial 
Synods,  and  General  Assemblies,  during  all  the  days  of  your  life? 

5.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself,  willingly  and  humbly,  in  the  spirit  of 
meekness,  unto  the  admonitions  of  the  brethren  of  this   Presbytery,  and  to  be  sub- 


I052  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

ject  to  them,  ami  all  other  Presbyteries  and  superior  judicatories  of  the  Church, 
where  God  in  his  providence  shall  cast  your  lot;  and  thai,  according  to  your  power, 
you  shad  niainiain  the  unity  and  peace  of  this  Cluuxh  against  errt>r  and  schism,  not- 
withstanding whatsoever  trouble  or  persecution  may  arise,  and  that  you  shall  follow- 
no  divisive  course  Irom  the  present  established  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and 
government  of  tliis  Church? 

6.  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  saving 
Souls,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  funciion  of  the 
lioly  ministry,  and  not  worldly  designs  and  interests  ? 

7.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  by  yourself  or  others,  in  procuring  this 
call? 

8.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Master, 
to  rule  we!!  your  own  family,  to  live  a  holy  and  circumspect  life,  and  faithfully,  dili- 
gently, and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial  woil';,  to  the  edi- 
iicalion  of  the  body  of  Christ? 

9.  Do  you  accept  of  and  close  with  the  call  to  be  Pastor  of  this  congregation,  and 
promise  through  grace  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  a  faithfid  Minister  of  the  Gospel 
among  this  people  ? 

10.  Do  you  assent  to  the  following  Act  of  the  Synod  of  this  Church : — 

"  ^A7^f ;-ifrtj,  This  Synod  has  always  from  its  first  establishment,  possessed  a  free 
and  supreme  jurisdiction  over  all  the  congregations  and  ministers  in  connection 
therewith;  and  although  the  independence  and  freedom  of  this  Synod,  in  regard  to 
ail  things  spiritual,  cannot  be  called  in  question,  but  has  been  repeatedly  and  in 
most  explicit  terms  affirmed.  Yet  as  in  jiresent  circumstances  it  is  expedient  that 
this  independence  be  asserted  and  declared  by  a  special  act : 

"  It  is  therefore  hereby  declared.  That  this  Synod  has  always  claimed  and  pos- 
sessed, does  now  possess,  and  ought  always  in  all  time  coming,  to  liave  and  exercise 
a  perfectly  free,  lull,  final,  supreme,  and  uncontrolled  power  of  jurisdiction,  dis- 
cipline, and  government  in  regatd  to  all  matters  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual,  over  all 
the  ministers,  elders,  church-members,  and  congregations  under  its  care,  without  the 
right  of  review,  appeal,  complaint,  or  reference  by  or  to  any  other  court  or  courts 
whatsoever,  in  any  form,  or  under  any  pretence ;  and  that  in  all  cases  that  may 
come  before  it  for  judgment,  the  decisions  and  deliverances  of  this  Synod  shall  be 
final.  And  this  Synod  further  declares  that  if  any  encroacliment  on  this  supreme 
power  and  authority  shall  be  attem]ited  or  threatened,  by  any  person  or  persons, 
court  or  courts  whatsoever,  then  this  Synod,  and  each  and  every  member  thereof, 
shall  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  resist  and  oppose  the  same.  And  whereas  the 
words  in  the  designation  of  the  Synod,  'in  connection  with  the  Church  of  Scotland,' 
have  been  misunclerstood  or  misrepresented  l)y  many  persons,  it  is  heieby  declared, 
that  the  said  words  imply  no  right  of  jurisdiction  or  control  in  any  form  whatever, 
by  the  Church  of  Scotland  over  this  .Synod,  but  denote  merely  the  connection  of 
origin,  identity  of  standards,  and  ministerial  and  church  communion." 

Questions  as  amended,  June  i2tit,  1S72. 
For  License. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  word 
of  God,  and  the  supreme  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  believe  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  subordinate  standard 
of  this  church,  to  be  founded  on  the  word  of  God  and  agreeable  thereto,  and  will 
you  adhere  thereto  in  your  teaching? 

3.  Do  you  own  the  purity  of  worship  practised  in  this  Church,  and  do  you  prom- 
ise to  conform  to  the  same? 

4.  Do  you  believe  the  government  of  tins  Clnirch  by  Kirk-Sessions,  Presbyteries, 
Synods,  and  General  Assemblies,  to  be  founded  on  the  word  of  God  and  agreeable 
thereto  ? 

5.  Do  you  engage  in  dependence  on  the  aid  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  faithfully  and 
diligently  to  preacn  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  you  shall  have  opportunity? 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1053 

6.  Do  you  promise,  through  the  grace  of  God,  to  lead  a  holy  and  circumspect 
life  ? 

Fornittla. 

I  do  hereby  declare  that  I  believe  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  sub- 
ordinate standard  of  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on  the  word  of  (Jod  and  agreeable 
thereto,  and  I  engage  as  a  Preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  adhere  to  the  same ;  that  I  own 
the  purity  of  worshiji  practised  in  this  Church,  and  I  promise  lo  observe  all  jmblic 
ordinances  as  they  are  authorized  ;  that  1  believe  the  government  of  this  Church  by 
Kirk-Sessions,  I'resbyteries,  Synods,  and  General  Assemblies  to  be  founde<l  on  the 
word  of  God  and  agreeable  thereto,  and  I  engage  as  a  Preacher  of  the  Gospel  to 
conform  to  the  same. 

QtlESTIONS    FOR    ORDINATION. 

1.  As  for  License. — Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments to  he  the  word  of  God,  and  the  supreme  rule  of  failh  and  manners? 

2.  As  for  License. — Do  you  believe  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Failh,  the 
subordinate  standard  of  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on  the  word  of  God  and  agree- 
able thereto,  and  will  you  adhere  thereto  \\\  your  teaching? 

3.  As  for  License  zuilh  the  added  Clause. — Do  you  own  the  purity  of  worship 
practised  in  this  Church,  and  do  you  engage  to  conform  to  the  same,  and  to  observe 
all  public  ordinances  as  they  are  authorized  ? 

4.  As  for  License  with  the  added  Clause. — Do  you  believe  the  government  of  this 
Church  by  Kirk-Sessions,  Presbyteries,  Synods,  and  General  Assemblies  to  be  ftumded 
on  the  word  of  God,  and  agreeable  thereto;  and  do  you  engage,  as  a  Minister  of 
this  Church,  to  conform  to  the  same? 

5.  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  saving 
souls,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  holy  ministry  ? 

6.  Do  you  engage  in  dependence  on  the  aid  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  diligLiiiIy  to 
instruct  the  people  committed  to  your  charge,  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures;  duly  to 
administer  the  Sacraments  according  to  Christ's  institution,  and  faitlifully  to  dis- 
charge all  other  parts  of  the  ministerial  work? 

7.  Will  you  be  ddigent  in  prayer,  in  the  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  in 
such  studies  as  help  to  the  knowledge  of  the  same,  that  you  mny  be  able  thereby  lo 
teach  wholesome  doctrine,  and  to  withstand  and  convince  the  gainsayers? 

8.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  to  the  admoni- 
tions of  the  brethren  of  this  Presbytery,  and  to  be  subject  to  ihem,  and  to  the  su- 
perior judicatories  of  this  Church,  and  to  maintain,  according  to  your  power,  the 
unity  and  peace  of  this  Church  against  error  and  schism? 

9.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Master,  to  lead 
a  holy  and  circumspect  life,  so  that  you  may  be  an  example  to  the  flock? 

10.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  either  by  yourself  or  others,  in  procuring 
this  call? 

11.  Do  you  accept  and  close  with  the  call  to  be  the  Pastor  of  this  congregation, 
and  promise  through  grace  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  a  faithful  Minister  of  the 
Gospel  among  this  people  ? 

Formula. 

I  hereby  declare  that  I  believe  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  the  subor- 
dinate standard  of  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on  the  word  of  God,  and  agreeable 
thereto,  and  I  engage  as  a  Minister  of  this  Church  to  adhere  lo  the  same;  that  I 
own  the  purity  of  worship  practised  in  this  Church,  and  I  promise  to  observe  all 
public  ordinances  as  they  are  authorized;  that  I  believe  the  government  of  this 
Church  by  Kirk-Sessions,  Presbyteries,  Synods,  and  General  Assemblies  lo  be 
founded  on  the  word  of  God,  and  agreeable  thereto,  and  I  engage  as  a  Minister  of 
this  Church  to  conform  to  the  same;  and  I  promise,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  discharge  diligently  and  faithfully  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial 
work,  to  the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ. 


10S4  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Questions  appointed  to  he  put  to  Ministers  ami  Offiee-i>earers,  ani 
FoRMUL^':  appointed  to  be  signed  by  tiie  follojving  Uiurches  : 

I.  Prksryterian  Church  of  Canada. 
1.  Canada  Presijyterian  Church. 
3.  i'resbytkrian  cliurch  in  canada. 

Presbyterian  Chttrch  of  Canada. — This  Church  was  organized  in  1844,  hy  separa- 
tion from  "  Pre-sbylcriaii  Church  of  Canada,  in  conneciion  wilh  ihc  Church  of 
Scotlanil." 

Canada  Preshylerian  Church. — Tliis  Church  \va«  formed  in  1S61,  by  the  union 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Canada  and  the  United  Presljyterian  Church  in 
Canada. 

Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada. — This  Church  was  formed  in  I875,  ^^X  ''^^  union 
of  the  Presliyierian  Church  in  Canada,  in  connection  with  the  Church  of  .Scotland, 
the  Canada  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Presliyterinn  Church  of  the  Lower  Provinces, 
and  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Maritime  Provinces  in  connection  wilh  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  OF  CANADA. 
Questions  to  be  put  to  a  Minister  at  his  Ordination. 

1.  Do  you  l)elieve  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  wrrd 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  l)elieve  the  whf)le  doctrine  contained  in  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  approved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  the 
year  1647,  to  be  founded  upon  the  word  of  God  ;  and  do  you  ncknowled<;e  the 
same  as  the  Confession  of  your  Faith;  and  will  you  firmly  and  constantly  adhert- 
thereto,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  same  and 
the  purity  of  worshiji  as  presently  practised  in  this  Church  ? 

3.  Do  you  disown  all  Popish,  Arian,  Socinian,  Arminian,  Erastian,  and  other 
doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions  whatsoever,  contrary  to,  or  inconsistent  with  the  foic- 
said  Confession  of  Faith? 

4.  Believing,  as  you  declare,  that  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  King  and  Head  of  the  Church, 
lialh  therein  appointed  a  government  in  the  hand  of  Church  officers,  distinct  from 
the  civil  magistrate,  are  you  resolved  to  maintain,  and  that  at  all  hazard,  that  in  the 
administration  of  spiritual  things,  the  Church  is  bound  to  act  ministerially  under 
Christ,  her  Head,  as  responsible  in  such  administration  to  him  alone;  while,  in  all 
things  secular  and  civil,  her  officers  and  members  are  subject  to  the  laws  and  rules 
that  govern  civil  society? 

5.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline  of  this 
Church  are  founded  upon  the  word  of  Clod,  and  agreeable  thereto,  and  do  you 
promise  to  submit  to  the  same  government  and  discipline,  and  to  concur  with  the 
same,  and  never  to  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  jirejudice  or  subversion 
thereof;  but  to  the  utmost  of  your  power  in  your  station,  to  maintain,  support,  and 
defend  the  said  discipline  and  Presbyterian  government  by  .Sessions,  Presbyteries, 
and  .Synods,  during  all  the  days  of  your  life? 

6.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  pastoral  relation  can  be  legitimately  founded  only 
on  the  free  choice  and  consent  of  the  people  ? 

7.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself,  willingly  and  humlily,  in  the  spirit  of 
meekness,  unto  the  admonitions  of  the  brethren  of  this  Presbytery,  and  to  be  sub- 
ject to  them  and  all  other  Presbyteries  and  the  supeiior  judicatory  of  this  Church. 
where  God  in  His  providence  shall  cast  yfiur  lot;  and  that,  according  to  your 
power,  you  will  maintain  the  unity  and  peace  of  this  <7hurch  against  error  and 
schism,  notwithstanding  of  whatever  trouble  or  persecution  m.-iy  arise,  and  that  you 
shall  follow  no  divisive  courses  from  the  present  doctrine,  worship,  discipline,  and 
government  of  this  Church  ? 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1055 

8.  Are  not  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  saving 
souls,  your  t;reat  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  tlie  function  of  the 
holy  ministry,  and  not  worldly  designs  and  interests? 

9.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  by  yourself  or  others,  in  procuring  this 
call  ? 

10.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter, 10  rule  well  your  own  family,  to  live  a  holy  and  circumspect  life,  and  faithfully, 
dilijjenijy,  and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial  work,  to  the 
edifiiation  of  the  body  of  Clirist? 

11.  Do  you  accept  of  and  close  with  the  call  to  be  jiastor  of  this  Church,  and 
]ironiise  through  grace  to  perform  ail  the  duties  of  a  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel 
among  this  people  ? 

Questions  to  be  fid  to  a  Probatione)-. 

Nos.  I,  2,  3,  4,  5  1^1(1  6  the  same  as  the  foregoing. 

7.  Do  you  jironiise  that  you  will  subject  yourself  to  the  several  judicatories  of  this 
C'hurch,  and  are  you  willing  to  subscribe  to  these  things? 

Questions  to  be  put  to  an  Elder. 

Nos.  I,  2,  3,  4,  5  'ii'l  6  the  same  as  the  foregoing. 

7.  Do  you  accept  of  the  office  of  an  Elder  of  this  Church,  and  promise  through 
grace,  faithlully,  diligently,  and  cheerfully,  to  discharge  the  duties  thereof? 

Questions  to  be  put  to  a  Deacon. 

Nos.  I,  2,  3,  4,  5  and  6  the  same  as  the  foregoing. 

7.  Do  3'ou  accept  of  the  <jffice  of  a  Deacon  of  this  Church,  and  promise  through 
grace,  faithfully,  diligently,  and  cheerfully,  to  discharge  the  duties  thereof 

Formula. 

To  be  signed  by  Ministers,  Elders,  Deacons,  and  Probationers. 

I, ,  do  hereby  declare  that  I  do  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole  doc- 

trihe  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  as  approved  by  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  in  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-seven,  to  lie  the  truths 
of  (.od,  and  I  do  own  the  j^urity  of  worship  presently  authorized  and  practised  in 
this  Church,  and  also  the  Presbyterian  Government  and  Discipline  thereof;  which 
Doctrine,  Worship,  and  Church  (jovernment  I  am  persuaded  are  founded  upon  the 
Word  of  (J'ld,  anil  agrccal)le  thereto;  and  I  ]iromise  that,  through  the  grace  of  GofI, 
I  shall  firmly  and  constantly  adhere  to  the  same,  and  to  the  utmost  of  iw  ]K)wer, 
shali,  in  my  station,  assert,  maintain,  and  defend  the  said  Doctrine,  Worship,  Disci- 
pline, and  Government  of  this  Church  by  Sessions,  Pres!)yleries,  and  Synods;  that 
I  shall,  in  my  practice,  conform  myself  to  the  said  Worship,  and  subnnt  to  the  same 
Discipline  and  Government,  and  never  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice 
or  subversion  of  the  same ;  and  I  promise  that  I  shall  follow  no  divisive  course  frum 
the  present  order  in  the  Church  :  renouncing  all  doctrines,  tenets,  and  o])iiiions 
whatsoever  contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the  said  Doctrine,  Worship,  Discipline, 
or  Government  of  this  Church. 

CANADA    PRESBYTERIAN    CIIUKCII. 

Questions  to  be  put  to  a  Minister  at  his  Ordination. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  .Scriptures  of  the  Old  ni>d  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manner^- ? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  \\hole  iloctrine  contained  in  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  ap])roved  by  this  Church  in  terms  of  the  Articles  of  Union,  to  be 
founded  upon  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  do  y<ni  acknowledge  the  same  as  the  Confes- 
sion of  vour  faith;  and  will  you  firmly  .-ind  constantly  adhere  thereto,  and  to  the 
utmost  of  vour  power,  assert,  maintain,  ur.A  dffcn<l  the  same,  and  the  purity  of 
worshi]i,  as  jiresently  practised  in  this  Church  ? 


1056  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

3.  Arc  you  ]iersundccl  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  King  and  Mead  of  the 
Church,  has  therein  appointed  a  government  distinct  from,  and  not  subordinate  to, 
liiat  ol  the  civil  magistrate ;  and  that  the  civil  magistrate  does  not  possess  jurisdic- 
tion or  authoritative  control  over  the  regulation  of  the  affairs  of  Christ's  Church? 

4.  Do  you  acknowledge  the  Presbyterian  form  of  government,  as  authorized  and 
acted  on  in  this  Church,  to  be  founded  on  and  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  anrl 
do  you  promise  to  submit  to  the  said  government  and  discipline,  and  to  concur 
with  the  same,  and  not  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice  or  subversion 
thereof,  but  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  in  your  station,  to  assert,  maintain,  and 
defend  the  same  discipline  and  Presbyterian  government  by  Church  Sessions,  Pres- 
byteries, Synods  and  Assemblies? 

5.  Do  you  promise  to  give  a  conscientious  attendance  on  the  Courts  of  this  Church, 
to  submit  yourself  v\illingly  and  humbly,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  unto  the  admon- 
itions of  the  brethren  of  this  Presbytery,  and  to  be  subject  to  them,  and  all  other 
Presbyteries,  and  the  superior  judicatories  of  this  Church,  where  God  in  His  provi- 
dence shall  cast  your  lot;  and  that,  according  to  your  power,  you  will  maintain  the 
unity  and  peace  of  this  Church  against  error  and  schism,  whatever  trouble  or  perse- 
cution may  arise,  and  that  you  will  follow  no  divisive  course  from  the  present  doc- 
trine, worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  this  Church? 

,  6.  Are  not  zeal  for  ihe  honour  of  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of  saving 
souls,  your  great  motives  and  chief  inducements  to  enter  into  the  functions  of  the 
holy  ministry,  and  not  worldly  designs  and  interests? 

7.  Do  you  engage  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord  and 
Master,  to  rule  well  your  own  family,  to  live  a  holy  and  circumspect  life,  and  faith- 
fully, diligently,  and  cheerfully  to  discharge  all  the  parts  of  the  ministerial  work,  to 
tlie  edilication  of  the  body  of  Christ  ? 

8.  Have  you  used  any  undue  methods,  either  by  yourself  or  others,  in  procuring 
this  call  ?_ 

9.  Do  you  adhere  to  your  acceptance  of  the  call,  to  become  Minister  of  this 
Church  ? 

10.  All  these  things  you  profess  and  promise,  through  grace,  as  you  shall  be 
answerable  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  his  saints,  and  as  you  would 
be  found  in  that  happy  company? 

Questions  to  be  put  to  a  Student  on  being  Licensed. 

Nos.  I,  2,  3  the  same  as  the  foregoing. 

4.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself  in  the  Lord  to  the  authority  of  the  several 
judicatories  of  this  Church,  and  to  the  Presbytery  within  whose  bounds  you  may  be 
called  upon  to  labour? 

5,  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  Divine  grace,  to  live  a  holy  and  circumspect 
life,  and  faithfully,  diligently,  and  cheerfully  to  perform  all  the  parts  of  the  work 
of  a  probationei"  for  the  office  of  ihe  Ministry?  ' 

Questions  to  be  put  to  an  Elder  at  Ordination. 

Nos.  I,  2,  3  the  same  as  the  foregoing. 

4.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  of  ihe  grace  that  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  to  perform 
with  diligence  and  faithfulness  the  duties  of  a  ruling  Elder,  watching  over  the  flock 
of  which  you  are  called  to  be  overseer,  in  all  things  showing  yourself  a  pattern  of 
good  works? 

Questions  to  be  ptit  to  a  Deacon  at  Ordination. 

Nos.  I,  2,  3  the  same  as  the  foregoing. 

4,  Do  you  accept  the  office  of  a  Deacon  of  this  Church,  and  promise,  through 
grace,  faithfully  and  cheerfully  to  discharge  the  duties  thereof? 

Forvntla. 
To  be  signed  by  Ministers,  Probationers,  Elders,  and  Deacon-^ : 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1057 

I> ,  (I0  hereby  declnie  that   I  do  sincerely  own  and  believe  the  whole 

doctrine  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  P'aith  as  approved  by  this 
Church,  in  terms  of  the  Articles  of  Union,  to  be  the  truth  of  God  ;  and  I  do  own 
the  purity  of  worship  presently  authorized  and  practised  in  this  Church,  and  also 
the  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline  thereof;  which  doctrine,  worship,  and 
Church  government  I  am  pt-rsuaded  are  founded  upon  the  Word  of  God  and  agreeable 
thereto;  and  I  promise  that,  through  the  grace  of  God,  I  shall  firmly  and  constantly 
adhere  to  the  same,  and  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  shall,  in  my  station,  assert, 
maintain,  and  defend  the  said  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline  of  this  Church,  and 
the  government  thereof  by  Sessions,  Presbyteries,  Synods,  and  Assemblies ;  that  I 
shall,  in  my  practice,  conform  myself  to  the  said  worship,  and  sulmiit  to  the  said 
discipline  and  government,  and  not  endeavour,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  prejudice 
or  subversion  of  the  same;  and  I  promise  that  I  shall  follow  no  divisive  course  from 
the  present  order  in  the  Church:  renouncing  all  doctrines,  tenets,  and  opinions 
whatsoever,  contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with,  the  said  doctrines,  worship,  discipline, 
or  government  of  this  Church. 

N.  B. — In  the  Articles  of  Union  between  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Canada  and  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada,  by  the  union  of  which  churches,  in  l86r, 
the  Canada  Presbyterian  Church  was  formed,  the  following  was  agreed  to  with  ref- 
erence to  the  suliordinate  standards: 

"Of  the  subordinate  standards.  That  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
with  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  are  received  by  this  Church  as  her  subor- 
dinate standards. 

"  But  whereas,  certain  sections  of  the  said  Confession  of  Faith,  which  treat  of  the 
power  or  duty  of  the  civil  magistrate,  have  been  objected  to,  as  teaching  principles 
adverse  both  to  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  religious  matters,  and  to  the  prerog- 
ative which  Christ   has  vested  in  his  Church,  it  is  to  i)e  understood  : 

"■^  First,  That  no  i  iterpretation  or  reception  of  these  sections  is  held  bv  this  Church 
which  would  interfere  with  the  fullest  forbearance  as  to  any  difference  of  opinion 
which  may  prevail  on  the  question  of  the  endowment  of  the  Church  by  the  State. 

"  Secoini,  That  no  interpretation  or  reception  of  these  sections  is  required  by  this 
Church,  which  would  accord  to  the  State  any  authority  to  violate  the  liberty  of  con- 
science and  right  of  private  judgment,  which  are  asserted  in  chapter  twentieth, 
.section  second,  of  the  Confession  ;  and,  in  accordance  with  the  statements  nf  which 
this  Church  holds  that  every  jierson  ought  to  be  at  full  liberty  to  search  the  Scrip- 
tures for  him'^elf,  and  to  follow  out  what  he  conscientiously  believes  to  be  the 
teaching  of  Scripture,  without  let  or  hindrance,  providetl  that  no  one  is  to  be 
allowed  under  the  pretext  of  following  the  dictates  of  conscience  to  interfere  with 
the  peace  and  good  order  of  society. 

"  7 hird.  That  no  interpretation  or  reception  of  these  sections  is  required  by  this 
Church,  which  would  admit  of  any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  State  wiih 
the  spiritual  independence  of  the  Church,  as  set  forth  in  chapter  thirtieth  of  the 
Confession." 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  CANADA. 

Questions  to  be  put  to  Ministers  at  Ordination  or  Induction. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  believe  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  as  adopted  by  this  Church 
in  the  Basis  of  Union,  to  be  founded  on  and  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  in 
vour  teaching  will  you  faithfully  adhere  thereto? 

3.  Do  you  believe  the  Government  of  this  Church  hy  Sessions,  Presbvteries, 
Synods,  and  General  Assemblies,  to  be  founded  on  and  agreeable  to  the  Word  of 
God,  and  do  you  engage  as  a  Minister  of  this  Church  to  maintain  and  defend  the 
same  ? 

4.  Do  you  own  the  purity  of  worship  at  present  authorized  by  this  Church,  and 
will  you  conform  thereto? 

5.  Do  you  promise  to  give  a  dutiful  attendance  in  the  Courts  of  this  Church,  to 

67 


to58  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

submit  yourself  in  the  spirit  of  meekness  to  the  admonitions  of  this  Presbytery,  to  he 
subject  to  it,  and  the  superior  judicatories,  to  follow  no  divisive  course,  but  main- 
tain according  to  your  power  the  unity  and  peace  of  tlie  Church  ? 

6.  Are  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God,  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  desire  of 
saving  souls,  so  far  as  you  know  your  own  heart,  your  great  motives  and  chief  in- 
ducements to  enter  the  office  of  the  ministry? 

7.  Have  you  directly  or  indirectly  used  any  undue  means  to  procure  this  call  ? 

8.  DiD  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  live  a 
holy  and  circumspect  life,  to  rule  well  your  own  house,  and  faithfully  and  diligently 
to  discharge  all  the  duties  of  the  Ministry  to  the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ  ? 

Questions  to  he  put  to  Candidates  for  Licetise  to  preach  the  Gospel. 

Nor.  I,  2,  3,  4  as  above. 

5.  Do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  live  a 
holy  and  circumspect  life,  and  faithfully  to  preach  the  gospel  as  you  have  oppor- 
tunity ? 

6.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself  in  the  Lord  to  the  several  judicatories  of 
this  Church  ? 

Questions  to  be  put  to  Elders  before  Ordination. 

Nos.  I,  2,  3,  4  as  above,  omitting  "  in  your  teaching"  in  No.  2,  and  substituting 
in  No.  3  "  Ruling  Elder"  for  "  Minister." 

5.  In  accepting  the  office  of  Elder,  do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  faithfully  and  diligently  to  perform  the  duties  thereof; 
watching  over  the  flock  of  which  you  are  called  to  be  an  overseer,  and  in  all  things 
showing  yourself  to  be  a  pattern  of  good  works  ? 

Questions  to  be  put  to  Deacons  before  Ordination. 
Nos.  1,  2,  3,  4  as  above   (mutatis  mutandis). 

5.  In  accepting  the  office  of  Deacon,  do  you  engage,  in  the  strength  and  grace  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  faithfully  and  diligently  to  perform  the  duties  thereof? 

Formula  to  be  signed  by  all  Office-bearers. 

"  I  hereby  declare  that  I  believe  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  as  adopted 
by  this  Church,  in  the  Basis  of  Union,  and  the  government  of  the  Church  hy 
Sessions,  Presbyteries,  Synods,  and  Ceneral  Assemblies,  to  be  founded  on  and 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God;  that  I  own  the  purity  of  worship  at  present  author- 
ized by  this  Church;  and  that  I  engage  to  adhere  faithfully  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
said  Confession,  to  maintain  and  defend  the  said  government,  to  conform  to  the 
said  worship,  and  to  submit  to  the  discipline  of  this  Church,  and  to  follow  no  di- 
visive course  from  the  present  order  established  therein." 

N.  B. — The  second  article  in  the  Basis  of  Union  referring  to  the  subordinate  stan- 
dards of  the  Church  is  as  follows;  "The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  shall 
form  the  subordinate  standard  of  this  Church  ;  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms 
shall  be  adopted  by  the  Church,  and  appointed  to  be  used  for  the  instruction  of  the 
people  ;  it  being  distinctly  understood  that  nothing  contained  in  the  aforesaid  C<jn- 
fession  or  Catechisms,  regarding  the  power  and  duty  of  the  civil  magistrate,  shall 
be  held  to  sanction  any  principles  or  views  inconsistent  with  full  liberty  of  con- 
science in  matters  of  religion." 

It  should  be  stated  that  in  all  the  churches  above  mentioned.  Ministers  and  office- 
bearers were  required  either  to  sign  the  Formula  or  to  promise  to  sign  when  judi- 
cially called  upon  to  do  so. 

THE   PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   THE    UNITED    STATES  OF 

AMERICA. 

About  the  year  1705,  several  ministers  that  had  come  from  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  of  Great  Britain,  but  were  just  then,  though  residing  in  the  Colonies, 
holding  no  ecclesiastical  connection  with  them,  formed  themselves  into  a  Presbytery 
--the  first  on  American  soil.     As  these  brethren  knew  distinctly  each  other's  views, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1059 

at  first  little  necessity  for  any  formal  declaration  of  their  doctrinal  position,  but  when 
Arianism  appeared  among  the  British  Churches  and  ministers  from  these  churches 
were  coming  over  to  America,  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  judged  it  needful  to  lake 
some  action,  and  in  1729  passed  a  resolution  commonly  known  as  the  "Adopting 
Act,"  in  which  occurs  the  following  language: 

*'  Being  willing  to  receive  one  another  as  Christ  has  received  us,  to  the  glory  of 
God,  and  admit  to  fellowship  in  sacred  ordinances  all  such  as  we  have  grounds  to 
believe  Christ  will  at  last  admit  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  yet  we  are  undoubtedly 
obliged  to  take  care  that  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  be  kept  pure  and  un- 
corrupt  among  us,  and  so  handed  down  to  our  posterity.  And  do  {sic)  therefore 
agree  that  all  the  ministers  of  this  Synod,  or  that  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  into 
this  Synod,  shall  declare  their  agreement  in  and  approbation  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  West- 
minster, as  being,  in  all  the  essential  and  necessary  articles,  good  forms  of  solind 
words  and  systems  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  do  also  adopt  the  said  confession  and 
citechisms  as  the  Confession  of  our  Faith.  And  we  do  also  agree,  that  all  the 
Presbyteries  within  our  bounds  shall  always  take  care  not  to  admit  any  candidate  of 
the  ministry  into  the  exercise  of  the  sacred  function,  but  what  declares  his  agreement 
in  opinion  virith  all  the  essential  and  necessary  articles  of  said  confession,  either  by 
subscribing  the  said  Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  or  by  a  verbal  declaration 
of  their  assent  thereto,  as  such  minister  or  candidate  shall  think  best." 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  the  above  resolution  was  passed,  the  minis- 
ters of  the  Synod  who  were  then  present,  with  one  exception,  "  unanimously  agreed 
in  declaring  the  said  confession  and  catecb.isms  to  be  the  confession  of  their  faith, 
excepting  only  some  clauses  in  the  twentieth  and  twenty-tiiird  chapters,  concerning 
which  clauses  the  Synod  do  unanimously  declare  that  they  do  not  receive  those  ar- 
ticles in  any  such  sense  as  to  sn[)pose  the  civil  magistrate  hath  a  controlling  power 
over  Synods  with  respect  to  the  exercise  of  their  ministerial  authority,  or  power  to 
persecute  any  for  their  religion,  or  in  any  sense  contrary  to  the  Protestant  succession 
to  tlie  throne  of  Great  Britain." 

During  the  same  meeting  in  reply  to  an  enquiry  as  to  the  judgment  of  the  Synod 
respecting  the  directory  of  Church  government  prepared  also  by  the  Westminster 
Divines,  the  following  answer  was  returned  : 

"  The  Synod  do  unanimously  acknowledge  and  declare,  that  they  judge  the  di- 
rectory for  worship,  discipline,  and  government  of  this  Church,  commonly  annexed 
to  the  Westminster  Confession,  to  be  agreeable  in  substance  to  the  word  of  God,  and 
founded  thereon,  and  therefore  do  earnestly  recommend  the  same  to  all  their  mem- 
bers, to  be  by  them  observed  as  near  as  circumstances  will  allow  and  Christian  pru- 
dence direct." 

Some  dissatisfaction  having  been  expressed  as  to  the  wording  of  the  resolution 
about  candidates  for  Licensure,  during  their  next  meeting  in  1730,  the  Synod  de- 
clared that  they  untlerstood  the  clauses  referring  to  these  in  such  a  sense  as  to  oblige 
them  to  receive  and  adopt  the  confession  and  catechisms  at  their  admission,  in  the 
same  manner  and  as  fully  as  did  the  members  of  the  Synod  that  were  then  present. 

So  desirous  were  the  Synod  of  protecting  themselves  against  "  false  brethren  un- 
awares brought  in,"  that  in  1734,  it  ordered, — "That  the  Synod  make  a  particular 
enquiry  during  the  time  of  meeting  every  year,  whether  such  ministers  as  have  been 
received  as  members  since  the  foregoing  meeting  of  the  Synod,  have  adojited'  or 
have  been  required  by  the  Synod,  or  by  the  respective  Presbyteries,  to  adopt  the 
Westminster  Confession  and  Catechisms  with  the  Directory,  according  to  the  Acts 
of  the  Synod  made  some  years  since  for  that  ]')urpose,  and  that  also  the  report  made 
to  the  Synod  in  answer  to  such  enquiry  be  recorded  on  our  minutes." 

In  the  following  year  (1735)  the  Synod  ordered  "That  each  Presbytery  have  the 
whole  Adopting  Act  inserted  in  their  Presbytery  book." 

In  1736,  the  Synod  received  a  "supplication"  from  a  number  of  the  members 
of  the  Church  complaining  that  certain  fears  were  abroad,  occasioned  by  the  lan- 
guage used  in  reference  to  the  receiving  or  adopting  the  confession.  To  remove 
all  such  uneasiness,  the  Synod  declared  "that  the  Synod  have  adopted  and  still  do 


i66o  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

a<lhere  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  Catechisms,  and  Directory  without  the  least 
variation  or  alteration,"  concluding  as  follows: 

"  We  hope  and  desire  that  this  our  Synodical  declaration  and  explication  may 
satisfy  all  our  people,  as  to  our  firm  attachment  to  our  old  received  doctrines  con- 
tained in  said  Confession,  without  the  least  variation  or  alteration,  and  that  they 
will  lay  aside  their  jealousies  that  have  been  entertained  through  occasion  of  the 
above  hinted  expressions  and  declarations,  as  groundless." 

In  1741,  the  Synod  divided  into  the  two  Synods  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
remaining  separate  until  1758.  By  that  time  a  satisfactory  understanding  as  to 
each  other's  sentiments  had  been  reached,  so  that  in  uniting,  it  was  on  a  basis  in 
which  there  are  the  following  sections; 

"  I.  Both  Synods  having  always  approved  and  received  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  and  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  as  an  orthodox  and  excellent  sys- 
tem of  Christian  doctrine  founded  on  the  word  of  God,  we  do  still  receive  the  same 
as  the  Confession  of  our  Faith,  and  also  adhere  to  the  plan  of  worship,  government, 
and  discipline  contained  in  the  Westminster  Directory,  strictly  enjoining  it  on  all  our 
members  and  probationers  for  the  ministry,  that  they  preach  and  teach  according  to 
the  form  of  sound  words  in  said  Confession  and  Catechisms,  and  avoid  and  opj)ose 
all  errors  contrary  thereto." 

VI.  That  no  Presbytery  shall  license  or  ordain  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  any 
candidate,  until  he  declare  his  acceptance  of  the  Westminster  Confession  and  Cate- 
chisms as  the  Confession  of  his  Faith,  and  promise  subjection  "  to  the  Presbyterian 
plan  of  government  in  the  Westminster  Directory." 

In  1786,  the  United  Synod  in  a  reply  to  an  enquiry  addressed  to  it  by  the  Dutch 
Church,  declared : 

"The  Synod  of  Nev;  York  and  Philadelphia  adopt,  according  to  the  known  and 
established  meaning  of  the  terms,  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  as  the  Con- 
fession of  their  Faith." 

In  1787,  in  view  of  the  approaching  change  of  the  Church  from  a  Synod  to  a 
General  Assembly,  the  Synod  ordered  a  thorough  revision  of  the  standards,  altering 
the  articles  excepted  to  in  the  Adopting  Act  and  making  such  amendments  as  were 
found  to  be  necessary.  The  book  as  thus  revised  and  amended  was,  in  the  follow- 
incT  year,  finally  adopted  and  ratified  as  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  America,  and  has  remained  in  use  and  unaltered  since  that  date.  At  no  time 
nor  under  any  circumstances  can  it  now  be  altered  unless  two-thirds  of  the  Presby- 
teries of  the  Church  agree  on  doing  so. 

The  final  deliverance  of  the  Synod  on  the  question  as  to  what  constitutes  the 
"standards"  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  is  in  the  following  terms: 

"The  Synod  having  now  revised  and  corrected  the  draught  of  a  Directory  for 
worship,  did  approve  and  ratify  the  same,  and  do  hereby  a|ipoint  the  said  Directory, 
as  ni)W  amended,  to  be  the  Directory  for  the  worship  of  God  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America.  They  also  took  into  consideratii>n  the 
Westminster  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms,  and  having  made  a  small  amendment 
of  the  Larger — removing  the  words,  'tolerating  a  false  religion,'  from  the  au'^wer 
to  Question  109 — did  approve,  and  do  hereby  approve  and  ratify  the  said  Catechisms, 
as  now  agreed  on,  as  the  Catechisms  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  said  United 
States.  And  the  Synod  order,  that  the  said  Directory  and  Catechisms  be  printed 
and  bound  up  in  the  same  volume  with  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  form  of 
government  and  discipline,  and  that  the  whole  be  considered  as  the  standard  of  our 
doctrine,  government,  discipline,  and  worship,  agreeably  to  the  resolutions  of  the 
Synod  at  their  present  sessions." 

How  thoroughly  the  Assembly  adhered  to  the  position  thus  avowed  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  when  in  1848,  a  Presbytery  asked  whether,  when  ministers  and 
other  officers  are  ordained  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  give  an  affirmative  an- 
swer to  the  question,  "  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  of  this 
Church  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrines  taught  in  the  Holy  Scripture?"  are 
such  ministers  and  officers  to  be  understood  as  embr.Tcing  and  assenting  to  the  doc- 
trines, principles,  precepts,  and   statements   contained    in   the    Larger  and   Shorter 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1061 

Citechisms  in  the  same  unqualified  sense  in  which  they  are  undersfond  to  embrace 
and  assent  to  the  doctrines,  principles,  precepts,  and  statements  contnined  in  oiher 
parts  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  ?  To  which  enquiry,  tJie  Assembly  ordered  an 
affirmative  answer  to  be  given. 

II.  The  Formula  of  Questions  addressed  to  candidates  for  license  is  as  follows: 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  word 
of  God,  and  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  this  Church  as 
containing  the  system  of  doctrine  tauj^ht  in  the  Holy  Scriptures? 

3.  Do  you  promise  to  study  the  peace,  unity,  and  purity  of  the  Church? 

4.  Do  you  promise  to  submit  yourself  in  the  Lord,  to  the  government  of  this 
Presbytery  or  of  any  other  Presbytery  in  the  bounds  of  which  you  may  be  called  ? 

Having  satisfactorily  answered  the  questions  of  the  formula,  a  certificate  of  li- 
censure is  given  to  the  applicant,  in  which  the  fact  is  distinctly  stated  that  he  has 
adopted  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  ths  Church. 

The  first  and  second  questions,  as  given  above,  are  addressed  to  licentiates  also, 
previous  to  their  ordination,  with  ihe  addition  of  a  third  one  as  follows: 

Do  you  sincerely  approve  of  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  these  United  States? 

And  the  same  three  questions  are  addressed  to  elders  when  they  are  about  to  be 
ordained. 

Princeton,  N.  J.,  September  "jth,  1880. 

Dear  Brother  Mathews:  I  think  the  report  you  have  drawn  up  is  excellent  as 
far  as  it  goes.  In  order  to  set  forth  all  the  facts  of  the  case  I  would  add  the  fol- 
lowing two  particulars  : 

I.  In  1869,  the  two  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  known  as  Old  School 
and  New  School,  by  an  affirmative  vote  of  nenrly  all  the  Presljyteries  of  both  bodies, 
were  united  on  the  following  basis:  "The  Reunion  shall  be  effected  on  the  doc- 
trinal and  ecclesiastical  ba^is  of  our  common  standards;  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  shall  be  acknowledged  to  be  the  inspired  Word  of  God,  and 
the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice;  the  Confession  of  Faith  shall  continue 
to  be  sincerely  received  and  adopted  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrines  taught  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  the  Government  and  Disci]iline  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States,  shall  be  approved  as  containing  the  principles  and 
rules  of  our  polity." 

II.  In  our  Seminaries  (this  is  certainly  true  of  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York  city,  of  Princeton,  and  of  the  Western  Theological  Seminary,  Allegheny 
City,  Pennsylvania.  I  believe  it  to  be  true  also  of  Auburn  and  Chicago)  professors 
are  required  at  their  installation,  and  in  some  instances  every  third  year  of  their 
continuance  in  office,  to  take  a  more  stringent  engagement  to  the  doctrinal  standards 
of  the  Church,  than  the  pastors  are.  In  Princeton  and  Allegheny  the  professors  sub- 
scribe the  following  formula,  and  that  used  in  the  other  seminaries  is  virtually  iden- 
tical with  it:  "  In  the  presence  of  God  and  of  the  Directors  of  this  Seminary,  I  do 
solemnly  and  ex  niiimo  adopt,  receive,  and  subscribe  the  Confession  of  Failh  and  Cate- 
chisms of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  Slates  of  America  as  the  confession 
of  my  faith,  or  as  a  summary  and  just  exhibition  of  that  system  of  doctrine  and 
religious  belief  which  is  contained  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  therein  revealed  by  God 
to  man  for  his  salvation;  and  I  do  solemnly  ^jr  anivio  profess  to  receive  tlie  form 
of  government  of  said  Church  as  agreeable  to  the  inspired  oracles  And  I  do 
solemnly  promise  and  engage  not  to  inculcate,  teach,  or  insinuate:  anything  that 
shall  appear  to  me  to  contradict  or  contravene,  either  directly  or  implietlly,  any- 
thing taught  in  said  Confession  of  Failh  or  Catechisms,  nor  to  oppose  any  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  Church  government  while  I  continue  a  Professor  in  this 
Seminary." 

The  above  facts  are  part  of  the  history  of  the  case,  and  are  necessary  to  make  out 
the  whole  truth. 

The  formula  our  pastors  subscribe  to  at  their  ordination  is  less  stringent  than  that 
in  use  in  the  Churches  of  Scotland.     It  is  therefore  necessary,  in  oriier  to  exhibit 


io62  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE, 

ihe  whole  truth  as  to  the  relation  of  our  Church  to  the  standards,  that  the  formula 
imposed  upon  the  professors  should  also  be  given. 

The  formula  subscribed  by  the  professors  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New- 
York  city,  is  as  follows  ; 

"  I  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word  of 
God,  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice;  and  I  do  now,  in  the  presence  of 
God  and  the  Directors  of  this  Seminary,  solemnly  and  sincerely  receive  and  adopt 
the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  I  do  also,  in  like  manner,  ajiprove  of  the  Presbyterian  form 
of  government ;  and  I  do  solemnly  promise  that  I  will  not  teach  or  inculcate  anything 
which  shall  appear  to  me  to  be  subversive  of  the  said  system  of  doctrine,  or  of  the 
principles  of  said  form  of  government,  so  long  as  I  shall  continue  to  be  a  professor 
in  this  Seminary."  Yours  sincerely,  A.  A.  HoDGE. 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  ' 

This  Church  was  organized  separately  in  l86l.  Up  to  that  year,  its  members  had 
formed  part  of  the  "  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  Slates  of  America,"  and  held 
till   that  date  the  position  of  that  Church  in  all  matters  of  doctrine  and  discipline. 

In  answer,  more  sijecifically,  to  the  questions  of  the  Committee  on  Creeds  and 
'Confessions,  we  reply: 

I.  This  Chuich  receives  and  adheres  to  the  Westminster  Confession  as  originally 
issued,  except  so  far  as  altered  by  the  Church  in  the  United  Slates  of  America  down 
to  1861. 

II.  The  questions  addressed  to  Candidates  for  licensure,  or  ordination  to  ministers, 
and  to  elders,  and  deacons,  are  the  same  as  in  the  Northern  Presbyterian  Chur/.h. 

III.  In  the  Book  of  Church  Older,  adopted  m  1879,  form  of  government,  chap. 
4,  section  4,  article  5,  is  the  following  provision  : 

"The  Presbytery  shall  cause  to  be  transcribed  in  some  convenient  part  of  the 
Book  of  Records,  the  obligations  required  of  ministers  at  their  ordination,  which 
shall  be  subscribed  by  all  admitted  to  membership  in  the  following  form,  viz.  :  '  I, 
A.  B.,  do  ex  aiti?no,  receive,  and  subscribe  the  above  obligation,  as  a  just  and  true 
exhibition  of  my  faith  and  principles,  and  do  resolve  and  promise  to  exercise  my 
ministry  in  conlonnily  thereunto.'  " 

IV.  An  adoption  of  the  "  Confession  "  is  not  required  of  private  members.  They 
are  required  to  give  "credible  evidence"  of  faith  in  Christ,  together  with  a  correct 
walk  and  conversation. 

UNITED    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   OF   NORTH    AMERICA. 

The  following  is  submitted  by  the  subscriber,  a  delegate  from  the  United  Presby- 
terian Church  of  North  America  to  the  Presbyterian  Council  that  met  in  Edinburj^h, 
July  2,  1877,  as  his  report  to  the  Committee  on  Creeds  and  Confessions  appointed 
by  said  Council ; 

"The  United  Presbyterian  Church  f>f  North  America"  is  the  result  of  a  union 
formed  in  the  year  1858  betv\'een  "the  Associate  Presbyterian  Church  of  North 
America"  and  "the  Associate  Reformed  Church  in  North  America." 

The  highest  court  of  the  Associate  Presbyterian  Church  at  the  lime  of  the  afore- 
said union  was  "The  Associate  Synod  of  Norlh  America." 

The  standards  of  this  Church  at  that  time  were  those  which  had  been  previously 
adopted  by  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania.  These  standards  consistecl 
of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  a  "declaration  and  testimony  for  the 
doctrine  and  order  of  the  Church  of  Christ."  This  "  Testimony,"  as  it  was  com- 
monly called,  wns  adopted  by  the  "Associate  Presbytery"  at  Pequea,  Pennsylvania, 
on  the  25th  of  August,  1784. 

The  following  extract  from  nn  "Act  of  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania, 
concerning  the  admission  of  Church-members  to  Communion,  passed  at  Philadel- 
phia, April  28,  1791,"  will  indicate  the  view  of  that  Presbytery  as  to  the  binding 
obligation  of  the  Standards  of  the  Associate  Presbyterian  Church  upon  its  members  : 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


1063 


1.  "  That  in  congregations  where  there  is  a  session,  none  ought  to  be  admitted  to 
Communion  but  by  the  session  constituted. 

2.  "  That  the  profession  of  the  faith  required  of  those  who  desire  communion 
with  us  shall  be  an  adherence  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms,  form  of  Presbyterial  Church  Government,  and  Directory  for  the 
Public  Worship  of  God,  as  these  are  received  and  witnessed  for  i)y  us  in  our  Dec- 
laration and  Testimony;  and  also  that  they  profess  their  ajiprobation  of  the  said 
Declaration  and  Testimony  for  the  Doctrine  and  Order  of  the  Church  of  Christ." 

The  "formula  of  questions  to  be  put  to  ministers  and  elders  at  their  ordination," 
and  "judicially  approved  at  Philadelphia,  November  4,  1784,"  indicates  the  obliga- 
tions assumed  by  these  persons.     We  extract  the  following: 

QUES.  I.  P)o  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be 
the  Word  of  Ciod,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  ? 

QuES.  2.  Do  you  believe  and  acknowle  Ige  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  and  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  agreed  upon  by  the  Assembly  of 
Divines  at  Westminster,  with  commissioners  from  the  Church  of  Scotland  ;  as  these 
are  received  in  the  Declaration  and  Testimony,  published  in  the  year  1784,  by  the 
Associate  Presbytery  of  Pennsylvania,  now  the  Associate  Synod  of  North  America, 
to  be  the  doctrine  taught  in  the  Word  of  God;  and  are  you  resolved,  through  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  maintain  this,  as  the  confession  of  your  faith, 
against  all  contrary  opinions? 

QuES.  3.  Do  you  acknowledge  Presbyterial  Church  Government  to  be  of  divine 
institution  ?  etc. 

QuES.  4.  Do  you  adhere  to  the  Declaration  and  Testimony  of  the  Associate 
Synod  of  North  America,  for  the  Doctrine  and  Order  of  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  etc. 

The  other  ecclesiastical  organization  that  entered  into  the  union  that  formed  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America,  in  the  year  1858,  was  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  in  North  America.  The  following  Act  passed  by  the  Associate 
Reformed  Synod,  May  31,  1799,  indicates  the  creed  of  that  Church,  and  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  received  : 

"  The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  with,  the  Catechisms,  Larger  and 
Shorter,  having  been  formerly  received  by  this  Synod,  with  a  reservation  for  future 
discussion  of  the  doctrine  respecting  the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  in  matters  of 
religion;  and  the  said  doctrine  being  now  modified  in  a  manner  more  agreeable  to 
the  Word  of  God,  to  the  nature  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  to  the  principles  of 
civil  society,  the  Synod  do  explicitly  receive  the  aforesaid  confession  and  catechisms, 
with  the  doctrine  concerning  the  civil  m.ngistrale,  as  now  stated  in  the  twentieth, 
twenty-third,  and  thirty-first  chapters  of  the  Confession,  as  the  system  of  doctrine 
which  is  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Chiist  him- 
self i^eing  the  chief  corner-stone ;  and  the  Synod  do  hereby  declare,  that  the  afore- 
said confession  and  catechisms,  as  herein  received,  contain  the  true  and  genuine 
doctrine  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  ;  and  that  no  tenet  contrary  thereto,  or 
to  any  part  thereof,  shall  be  countenanced  in  this  Church." 

The  following  extract  from  the  formula  of  questions  proposed  to  ministers,  ruling 
elders  and  deacons,  indicates  the  obligations  assumed  by  these  persons  : 

Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  he  the  Word 
of  the  living  God;  the  perfect  and  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  to  which  in'thing 
is  to  he  arlded,  and  Irom  which  nothing  is  to  be  taken,  at  any  time,  or  upon  any 
pretext,  whether  of  new  revelations  of  ihe  Sjiirit  or  traditions  of  men?  Do  you 
receive  the  doctrine  of  this  Church,  contained  in  her  confession  and  catechisms,  as 
founded  on  the  Word  of  God,  and  as  the  expression  of  your  own  faith?  And  do 
you  resolve  to  adhere  thereto,  in  opposition  to  all  deistical,  popish,  Artan,  Socinian, 
Arminian,  Neonomian,  and  sectarian  errors,  and  all  other  opinions  which  are  contrary 
to  sound  doctrine  and  the  power  of  godliness?  Do  you  approve  the  form  of  Pres- 
bvterial  (Church  government,  and  the  directories  for  worship,  received  by  this 
Church,  as  agreeable  to,  and  founded  on  the  Word  of  God  ?  And  do  you  resolve 
to  maintain  and  observe  them  accordingly? 

In  the  union  of  the  two  aforementioned  churches,  thereby  constituting  the  United 


io64  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Presliyterian  Church  of  North  America,  a  statement  touching  the  power  of  the  civil 
magistrate,  circa  sacra,  was  agreetl  upon  with  the  understanding  that  it  would  be 
re^'arded  as  containing  the  doi trine  of  the  Church,  and  that  said  statement  should  be 
published  in  a  column  parnl.e;  with  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith. 

In  addition  to  the  Confess:o;i  of  Faith  the  two  aforementioned  churches,  through 
their  highest  judicatories,  adopted,  as  a  basis  of  union,  eighteen  detiarations,  with 
their  respective  arguments  and  illuslrations,  on  the  following  subjects,  namely: 
The  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  ;  The  Eternal  Sonship  of  Christ ;  The  Cov- 
enant of  Works;  The  Fall  of  Man  and  His  Present  Inability;  Tiie  Nature  and 
Extent  of  the  Atonement;  Imputed  Righteousness;  The  Gospel  Offer;  Saving 
Faith;  Evangelical  Repentance;  The  Peliever's  Deliverance  from  the  Law  as  a 
Covenant;  The  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  The  Headship  of  Christ;  The  Supre- 
macy of  Ciod's  Law;  Slaveholding;  Secret  Societies;  Communion;  Covenanting; 
P.iahnody. 

On  the  day  preceding  the  consummation  of  the  union,  in  Pittsburgh,  May  25, 
1S58,  the  Associate  Synod,  and  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod  declared,  in  adi)i)ting 
the  testimony  containing  the  aforementioned  declarations,  that  "  it  is  understood  that 
the  testimony  submitted  to  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church 
by  the  Associate  Synod,  was  proposed  and  accepted  as  a  term  of  Communion,  on 
the  adoption  of  which  the  union  of  the  two  churches  is  to  be  consummated,"  and 
also  that  "  it  is  agreed  between  the  two  churches  that  the  forbearance  in  love  which 
is  required  by  the  Law  of  God,  be  exercised  toward  any  brethren  who  may  not  be 
able  fully  to  subscribe  to  the  standards  of  the  United  Church,  while  they  do  not 
determinedly  oppf)se  them,  but  follow  the  things  which  make  for  peace,  and  things 
wherewith  one  may  edify  another." 

The  following  is  one  of  the  questions  which,  according  to  the  book  of  "The 
Government  and  Discipline  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America," 
is  to  be  put  to  applicants  for  membership  in  said  Church,  namely: 

2.  "  Do  you  profess  your  adherence  to  the  doctrine  received  by  this  Church  as  set 
forth  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  and  declarations 
of  the  testimony;  and  do  you  approve  of  the  form  of  Government  and  Directory 
for  worship  adopted  by  this  Church,  so  far  as  you  have  been  enabled  to  understand 
them,  as  agreeai)le  to  and  founded  on  the  Word  of  God  ?  " 

The  two  following  questions  prescribed  by  the  same  book,  indicate  the  obliga- 
tion assumed  by  candidates  for  ordination  in  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of 
North  America,  namely  : 

2.  "  Do  you  believe  and  acknowledge  the  doctrines  professed  by  this  Church, 
contained  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  and  the  dec- 
larations of  the  testimony,  as  agreeable  to,  and  founded  on  the  Word  of  God;  and 
are  you  resolved,  through  divine  grace,  to  maintain  and  adhere  to  the  same  against 
all  opjiosing  errors  ? 

3.  "  Do  you  approve  the  Presbyterial  form  of  Church  Government,  and  the  Direc- 
tory for  Worship,  received  by  this  Church,  as  agreeable  to,  and  founded  on  the  Word 
of  God  ;  and  are  you  resolved,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  maintain  and  defend 
them?" 

The  I'ollowing  is  the  last  paragraph  of  the  introduction  to  the  testimony,  namely  : 
"An  adherence  to  the  Westminster  Standards  before  referred  to,  and  to  the 
declarations  contained  in  the  following  testimony,  will  be  required  of  those  seeking 
communion  with  us.  An  assent  to  the  argumentation  and  illustration  under  each 
declaration,  cannot  with  propriety  be  demanded  as  a  term  of  communion,  but  these 
parts  may  be  useful  as  a  guide  to  the  meaning  of  the  declaration." 

It  is  believed  that  the  foregoing  contains  everything  of  importance  bearing  ou 
the  question:  What  are  the  standards  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North 
America,  and  how  are  these  standards  recognized  and  received  by  said  Ciiurch? 

Respectfully  submitted,  J.  T.  Cooper. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1065 

TERMS    OF    ECCLESIASTICAL   COMMUNION    IN   THE    REFORMED 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

I.  An  acknowledgment  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be 
the  Word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners. 

II.  An  acknowledgment  that  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  and  the  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  are  agreeable  unto,  and  founded 
upon,  the  Scriptures. 

III.  An  acknowledgment  of  the  divine  right  of  one  unalterable  form  of  Church 
Government  and  manner  of  worship;  a:id  that  these  are,  for  substance,  justly 
exhibited  in  that  form  of  Church  Government,  and  the  Directory  for  Worship  agreed 
upon  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  as  they  were  received  by  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

IV.  An  acknowledgment  of  public  covenanting  as  an  ordinance  of  God  to  be 
observed  by  churches  and  nations;  and  of  the  peij)etual  obligalion  of  public  cov- 
enants; and  of  the  obligation  upon  this  Church  of  the  covenant  entered  into  in 
1 87 1,  in  which  are  embodied  the  engngemenis  of  the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland, 
and  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  so  far  as  applicable  in  this  land. 

V.  An  approbation  ot  the  taithful  conlendings  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus,  and  of 
the  present  reformed  covenanted  churches  in  Britain  and  Ireland,  against  paganism, 
popery,  and  prelacy,  and  against  immoral  constitutions  of  civil  goveinment,  together 
with  all  Erastian  tolerations  and  persecutions  which  flow  therefrom,  as  containing  a 
noble  example  for  us  and  our  posterity  to  follow,  in  contending  for  all  divine  truth, 
and  in  testifying  against  all  contrary  evils,  which  may  exist  in  the  corrupt  constitu- 
tions of  either  Church  or  State. 

VI.  An  approbation  of  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Declaration  and  Testimony 
of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  North  America;  in  defence  of  truth,  and 
in  opposition  to  error. 

These,  together  with  due  subordination  in  the  Lord  to  the  authority  of  the  Synod 
of  the  Refuimed  Presbyterian  Church  in  North  America,  and  a  regular  life  and  con- 
versation, form  the  bonds  of  our  ecclesiastical  union. 

— Book  of  Discipline  of  R.  P.  Church,  Ed.  1879,/.  1 13. 

Formula  of  Queries  to  be  put  to  Ruling  Eldkrs  at  Ordination;  and 
also  to  be  put  to  ministers  at  their  ordination,  with  the  appro- 
priate accommod.\tions  to  their  office. 

1.  Do  you  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners? 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  own  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  and  the  Catechisms,  Larger  and  Shorter,  as  these  were  received  by  the 
Church  of  .Scotland  ? 

3.  Are  you  persuaded  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  King  and  Head  of  the 
Church,  hath  instituted  one  unalterable  form  of  Church  Government,  distinct  from, 
and  independent  of,  civil  government,  and  that  it  is  exclusively  Presbyterian  ? 

4.  Do  you  acknowledge  the  morality  of  solemn  covenanting,  both  personal  and 
social,  private  and  pul)lic,  in  New  Testament  limes,  and  that  such  moral  covenants, 
whether  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  as  recognized  posterity,  are  binding  upon  those  repre- 
sented in  the  taking  of  them  as  well  as  upon  the  actual  covenanters? 

5.  Do  you  believe  that  the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland,  and  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  of  Scotland,  England,  and  Ireland,  were  entered  into  agree- 
ably to  this  permanent  institution,  and,  from  the  unity  of  the  Christian  Church,  that 
these  engatrements,  divested  of  anything  peculiar  to  the  British  Isles,  are  still  binding 
upon  the  Reformed  Church  in  every  land  ? 

6.  Do  you  ap|)rove  of  the  Declaration  and  Testimony  of  the  Reformed  Presby- 
terian Church  in  North  America,  and  the  faithful  contendings  of  the  confessors 
and  martyrs  of  Jesus  in  former  ages  against  )wganism,  popery,  and  prelacy;  an<l  also 
of  the  tesiimoiiy  of  tlic  Refoimed  Covenanted  Church  in  Britain  and  Ireland,  in  be- 
half of  all  the  attainments  of  the  reformation? 


io66  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

7.  So  far  as  you  can  know  your  own  heart,  is  it  the  glory  of  God  and  edification 
of  the  Churcli,  and  not  any  selfish  of)ject,  that  moves  you  to  undertake  the  sacred 
office  of  Ruling  Elder? 

8.  Do  you  promise,  in  the  strength  of  divine  grace,  to  rule  well  your  own  house; 
to  live  a  holy  and  exemplary  life ;  to  watch  faithfully  over  the  members  of  this 
Church  ;  to  exhort  with  meekness  and  long  suffering ;  to  visit  the  sick  and  the  afflicicd  ; 
and  to  attend  punctually  the  meetings  of  the  session,  and  of  the  superior  judicatories, 
when  called  thereunto,  judging  faithfully  in  the  house  of  C>od  ? 

9.  Do  you  promise  subjection  to  this  Session,  and  to  the  superior  judicatories  ot 
this  Church  in  the  Lord,  and  engage  to  follow  no  divisive  courses  from  the  doctrine 
and  order  which  the  Church  has  solemnly  recognized  and  adopted ;  and  do  you 
further  promise  to  submit  to  all  that  brotherly  admonition  which  your  brethren  may 
tender  to  you  in  the  Lord? — Book  of  Discipline  of  R.  P.  Church,  Ed.  1879, />.  1 17. 

After  the  ordination,  "  the  candidates  are  called  up,  when  the  newly  ordained 
officer  signs  the  Terms  of  Communion  in  constituted  court." 

— Book  of  Discipline  of  R.  P.  Church,  Ed.  1879,/.  107. 

REFORMED    (DUTCH)    CHURCH    IN   AMERICA. 

I.  The  doctrinal  standards  of  the  "  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  America,"  con- 
sist of: 

1.  The  Belgic  Confession  of  1561. 

2.  The  Heidelberg  Catechism,  1563. 

3.  The  Canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht,  1618,  1619. 

The  requirements  of  the  Church  in  reference  to  formulas  of  subscription  are  the 
following  : 

In  reference  to  Licensure :  (Art.  II.,  sec.  4, "  Constitution  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  America.") 

"Whoever,  upon  examination,  shall  be  approved  by  the  Classis,  must,  before  he 
is  licensed,  attest  his  adherence  to  the  doctrines  cf  the  gospel,  by  subscribing  the 
following  formula,  viz. : 

"  We,  the  underwritten,  testify,  that  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  and  the  Confession 
of  the  Netherland  Churches,  as  also  the  Canons  of  the  National  Synod  of  Dor- 
drecht, held  in  the  years  1618  and  1619,  are  fully  conformable  to  the  Word  of  God. 
We  promise,  moreover,  that,  as  far  as  we  are  able,  we  will,  with  all  faithfulness, 
teach  and  defend,  both  in  public  and  private,  the  doctrines  established  in  the  stand- 
ards aforesaid.  And,  should  ever  any  part  of  these  doctrines  appear  to  us  dubious, 
we  will  not  divulge  the  same  to  any  of  the  people,  nor  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
Church  or  of  any  community,  until  we  first  communicate  our  sentiments  to  the 
ecclesiastical  judicatories  under  which  we  stand  and  subject  ourselves  to  the  counsel 
and  sentence  of  the  same." 

Section  5.  After  subscribing  the  aforesaid  formula,  the  candidate  shall  be  entitled 
to  a  certificate  or  testimonial  signed  by  the  president  of  classis,  before  whom  the 
examination  is  held,  containing  a  license  to  preach  the  gospel;  which  license 
may,  for  cause,  be  revoked   by  the  classis. 

In  reference  to  ordination,  sec.  10 :  upon  giving  satisfaction  in  this  examination, 
the  candidate  shall  subscribe  the  following  formula  : 

"  We,  the  underwritten,  ministers  of  the  Word  of  God,  residing  within  the  bounds 
of  the  classis  of  N.  and  M.,  do  hereby  sincerely  and  in  good  conscience  before  the 
Lord,  declare  by  this  our  subscri[ition,  that  we  heartily  believe  and  are  persuaded 
that  all  the  articles  and  points  of  doctrine  contained  in  the  Confession  and  Catechism 
of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church,  together  with  the  explanation  of  some  points  of 
the  aforesaid  doctrine  made  in  the  National  Synod  held  at  Dordrecht  in  the  year 
1619,  do  fully  agree  with  the  Word  of  God.  We  promise,  therefore,  diligently  to 
teach  and  faithfully  to  defend  the  aforesaid  doctrine,  without  either  directly  or  in- 
directly contradicting  the  same  by  our  public  j^reaching  or  writings.  We  declare, 
moreover,  that  we  not  only  reject  all  errors  that  militate  against  this  doctrine,  and 
particularly  those  which  are  condemned  in  the  above-mentioned  Synod,  but  that 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  \-i<>i, 

we  are  disposed  to  refute  and  contradict  them,  and  to  exert  ourselves  in  keeping  the 
Church  pure  from  such  errors.  And  if,  herealier,  any  difficulties  or  different  sen- 
timents respecting  the  aforesaid  doctrine  shoukl  arise  in  our  minds,  we  promise  that 
we  will  neither  publicly  nor  jirivately  propose,  teach  or  defend  the  same,  either  by 
preaching  or  writing,  until  we  have  first  revealed  such  sentiment  to  the  classis,  that 
the  same  may  be  there  examined;  being  ready,  always  cheerfully  to  submit  to  the 
judgment  of  the  classis,  under  the  penalty,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  be  ipso  facto  sus- 
pended from  our  office.  And  farther,  if  at  any  time,  the  consistory  or  classis,  upon 
sufficient  grounds  of  su-picioii,  and  to  preserve  the  uniformity  and  purity  of  doctrine, 
may  deem  it  proper  to  require  of  us  a  further  explanation  of  our  sentiments  respecting 
any  particular  article  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Catechism,  or  the  explanatiuii 
of  the  National  Synod,  we  do  hereby  promise  to  be  always  willing  and  ready  to 
comply  with  such  requisition  under  the  penalty  above  mentioned,  re>erving,  how- 
ever, to  ourselves  tiie  right  of  appeal,  whenever  we  shall  conceive  ourselves 
aggrieved  by  the  sentence  of  the  consistory,  the  classis,  or  particular  Synod  ;  and, 
until  a  decision  is  made  upon  such  appeal,  we  will  acquiesce  in  the  determination  and 
judgment  already  passed. 

Formula  of  Questions  proposed  at  Ordination. 

1.  Dost  thou  feel  in  thy  heart  that  thou  art  lawfully  called  of  God's  Church,  and 
therefore  of  God  himself,  to  this  holy  ministry? 

2.  Dost  thou  believe  the  Books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to  be  the  only 
Word  of  God,  and  the  perfect  doctrine  unto  salvation ;  and  dost  thou  reject  all  doc- 
trines repugnant  thereto? 

(The  statement  in  reference  to  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States  should 
appear  here.  It  is  not,  however,  among  the  papers  that  have  come  into  the  hands 
of  the  Editors,  nor  have  they  been  able  to  secure  it.  It  is  understood  that  none  was 
furnished  to  the  Committee.) 

THE  WELSH  CALVINISTIC    METHODIST  (OR    PRESBYTERIAN) 

CHURCH. 

Utica,  N.  Y.,  June  8,  iSSo. 
Rev.  G.  D.  Mathews,  I).  D. : 

Dear  Brother:  In  reply  to  your  inquiries,  1  beg  to  state,  1st,  that  the  existing 
Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist,  or  Presbyterian,*  Church  in 
this  country,  is  the  one  adopted  at  the  organizniion  of  our  Church  by  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Charles,  B.  A.  Bala,  North  Wales,  in  iSll.  It  was  composed  by  him,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Revs.  Thomas  Jones,  Denbigh,  John  Eiias,  of  Anglesea, 
North  Wales,  and  Ebenezer  Morris,  of  Canligan,  South  Wales.  It  was  formed,  I 
should  presume,  after  the  model  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  ap- 
proved of  unanimously  by  a  General  Synod  of  the  Church.  No  modification  what- 
ever has  been  effected  in  point  of  doctrine  since  its  adoption,  and  only  one  or  two 
changes  in  point  of  discipline,  with  respect  to  intermarnage  between  our  members 
and  non-professors,  which  has  been  modified  from  expulsion  to  a  milder  chastise- 
ment. Also  in  connection  with  obstirtate  debtors  in  the  Church,  allowing  our  mem- 
bers  to  enter  an  action  against  them  in  a  civil  court. 

2d.  All  our  ministers  previous  to  and  at  their  ordination  (always  solemnized  in 
our  Synods)  are  required  to  subscribe  to  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline  as  contained  in 
our  Confession  of  Faith,  and  pledge  their  adherence  to  them.  This  answer  covers 
the  third  infpiiry,  with  the  exception  of  church  meml)eiship,  which  is  founded  on 
the  assent  of  the  applicant  to  our  Creed,  and  that  at  the  meeting  of  the  members. 

Yours  fraternally, 

William  Roherts. 


♦  Added  to  our  name  in  the  General  Assembly  held  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  in  1870. 


io68  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

THE  REFORMED  CHURCHES  OF  FRANCE. 

The  Reformed  Frencli  Churches  may  lie  divided  into  two  classes :  First.  The 
National  Church,  united  to  the  State  which  supports  it  and  maintains  its  ministers. 
Second.  The  churches  independent  of  the  State. 

I.    The  Reformed  Church   United  to  the  State. 

First  Question. — What  is  the  form  of  Confession  of  this  Church? 
There  has  been  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  France  but  one  historical  Confession 
of  Faith,  formerly  recognized  by  all  the  reformed  churches,  namely :  the  Gallic  Con- 
fession, called  "  La  Rocheile,"  the  joint  work  of  Calvin  and  Chaudien.  It  was 
adopted  as  the  doctrinal  standard  of  these  churches  in  their  first  national  synod, 
which  met  at  Paris  in  May,  1559,  and  afterwards  revised  and  confirmed  by  the 
seventh  synod,  assembled  at  La  Rocheile  under  the  presidency  of  Theodore  Beza,  in 
1 57 1.  This  Confession,  which  is  composed  of  forty  articles,  is  so  well  known  and 
so  easy  to  understand,  that  we  do  not  consider  it  necessary  to  relate  its  origin  or 
explain  its  contents.  It  is  known  to  reproduce  failiifully  the  Calvinistic  doctrine 
(see  Article  9,  on  Total  Depravity,  and  Articles  12  and  21,  on  Predestination),  and 
it  recognizes  in  the  Churcn  no  other  authority  than  that  of  the  word  of  God.  "  We 
believe  [so  runs  Article  5]  that  the  word  which  is  contained  in  this  Holy  Book  pro- 
ceeds from  God,  from  whom  alone,  and  not  from  man,  it  receives  its  authority. 
And  because  it  is  the  law  of  all  truth,  containing  all  that  is  necessary  for  the  service 
of  God  and  for  our  salvation,  it  is  not  lawful  for  either  men  or  angels  to  add  to, 
diminish,  or  change  anything  contained  therein.  Whence  it  follows  that  neither 
antiquity,  nor  custom,  nor  numbers,  nor  human  wisdom,  nor  judgments,  nor  sen- 
tences, nor  edicts,  nor  decrees,  nor  councils,  nor  visions,  nor  miracles  must  be  taken 
in  opposition  lo  the  Holy  Scriptures;  but,  on  the  contrary,  all  things  must  be  proved, 
governed  and  reformed  according  to  them.  Hence  it  follows  that  we  acknowledge 
the  three  creeds,  namely :  the  Apostles',  the  Nicene  and  the  Alhanasian,  because 
they  are  in  conformity  with  the  word  of  God." 

The  expression,  "  Everything  must  be  reformed  according  to  them,"  is  worthy  of 
remark.  The  Confession  of  Faith  is  not,  then,  considered  infallible;  it  may  be  re- 
formed by  another  synod  in  those  points  in  which  it  does  not  appear  to  conform  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures. 

This  Confession  of  Faith  was  expressly  maintained  and  confirmed  by  the  twenty- 
nine  national  synods  which  met  from  1559  to  1659,  that  is,  <luring  a  century. 

During  the  following  period  terrible  persecutions  burst  upon  the  reformers,  who, 
however,  remained  unshaken  in  their  constancy  to  their  belief,  and  thereby  pre- 
served the  true  unity  of  their  Church,  although  the  Protestant  provinces  were  sep- 
arated from  each  other  by  the  agitations  of  the  times. 

Sixty-seven  years  after  the  synod  at  Loudun,  in  1659  (the  last  national  synod  held 
before  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes),  the  first  National  Synod  of  the  Church 
of  the  Wilderness  assembled  (1726)  at  Vivarais,  thanks  to  the  exertions  of  Anthony 
Court.  The  first  act  of  this  synod  was  to  approve  "  as  a  whole  and  in  its  details  the 
Confession  of  Faith  formerly  prepared  by  the  Reformed  churches  of  France ;  con- 
sidering it  an  abridgment  of  the  doctrines  which  the  .Scriptures  contain,  although 
having  some  serious  errors  which  must  be  rejected."  On  this  same  doctrinal  basis 
six  other  national  synods  met  in  the  Wilderness,  until  the  year  1763,  an  epoch  when 
political  events  forced  the  Protestants  to  interrupt  them  for  a  time,  and  they  only 
resumed  a  legal  existence  in  the  beginning  of  17S7,  thanks  to  the  edict  of  toleration 
published  by  Louis  XVI. 

The  18th  Germinal,  year  10  (April  8,  1802),  Bonaparte,  then  first  consul,  published 
a  law  relative  to  the  organization  of  Protestant  worship,  which  reads:  "  No  change 
in  the  discipline  can  take  place  without  the  authorization  of  the  government"  (Art, 
5).  But  the  discipline  everywhere  implies,  and  frequently  mentions,  the  Confession 
of  Faith,  for  example  (Art.  9  of  Chap.  I.)  :  "Those  who  shall  be  elected  ministers 
must  sign  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  church  discipline  established  among  us." 
Besides  this,  the  law  provided  that  the  synods  should  decide  questions  of  doctrine 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1069 

as  well  as  of  organization  and  worsliip.  "  The  synods  will  exercise  supervision  over 
all  that  relates  to  puiilic  worship,  the  teaching  of  doctrine,  and  the  direction  of  ec- 
clesiastical affairs;  and  all  decisions  which  shall  emanate  fri)m  them,  of  whatever 
nature  they  may  be,  shall  be  submitted  to  the  approval  of  the  government "  (Art. 
30  of  the  laws  of  i8th  Germinal,  year  lo). 

The  reformed  doctrine,  as  sanctioned  by  the  Confession  o(  La  Rochelle,  was,  in 
its  essential  features,  recognized  and  professed  by  all  Protestant  France;  and,  not- 
withstanding its  sufferings  aiul  internal  dissensions,  the  Church  during  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  held  its  own  course  and  remained  faithful  to  itself. 
A  consistory,  that  of  Caen,  had  even  as  late  as  1S40  restored  in  the  churches  of  its 
jurisdiction  the  Confession  of  La  Rochelle  in  its  lull  vigor.  Little  by  little,  how- 
ever, under  the  influence  of  the  naturalistic  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  negative  criticism  of  (jermany,  and  above  all  the  religious  indifference  which 
followed  the  repose  which  the  Church  was  enjoying  after  two  centuries  of  persecu- 
tion, the  Confession  of  Faith  as  well  as  the  discipline  fell  into  disuse.  It  was  never 
really  abrogated.  In  the  synod  of  1848,  the  Rationalist  party  having  declared  that 
it  considered  this  Confession  aboli-.hed,  /Xdolph  Monod,  then  pastor  at  Paris,  pre- 
vented the  assembly  from  pronouncing  it  void  ;  no  one  dared  raise  an  objection, 
and  Mr.  Monod  stated  that  this  orthodcjx  doctrine  preserved  in  the  Church  both  its 
historic  character  and  its  moral  authority.  However,  we  nuist  recognize  the  facts 
of  the  case  as  well  as  abstract  right ;  and  it  is  a  practical  fact  that  tiie  partisans  of 
one  of  the  two  sections,  which  to-day  divide  the  Reformed  Church  of  France,  not 
only  do  not  consider  themselves  bound  by  the  Confession  of  La  Rochelle,  but  tend- 
ing more  and  more  towards  Rationalism,  and  seeing  in  Protestantism  only  the 
religion  of  free  thought,  have  come  to  reject  the  great  miracles  of  the  gospel,  and  to 
demand  for  their  pistors,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  unlimited  freedom  in  teach- 
ing. While  on  the  one  hand  the  sovereignly  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  is  claimed,  on 
the  other  is  held  the  rule  of  indiviilual  conscience. 

These  tacts^prove  that  in  every  case  the  Confession  of  La  Rochelle  no  longer  met 
the  need  of  the  Church  ;  and  even  the  churches  most  attached  to  the  Reformed 
faith,  when  they  separated  from  the  National  [officielle]  Church  because  of  its  de- 
parture from  orthodoxy,  have  not  restored  this  ancient  Confession,  but  have  drawn 
up  new  creeds  from  which  we  will  hereafter  give  some  extracts. 

Between  1802  and  1872  two  events  important  in  church  history  tfiok  place,  with- 
out, however,  changing  the  doctrinal  basis  of  the  Church.  In  1848  the  churches 
met  in  an  official  assembly  which  made  no  innovation  in  respect  to  doctrine,  and  in 
1852  the  government,  for  the  first  time  since  1802,  entered  formally  into  the  affairs 
of  the  Protestant  Church,  called  a  central  council  of  the  Reformetl  churches,  and  re- 
established parish  jurisdiction,  but  did  not  interfere  with  doctrinal  matters. 

In  1872  the  thirtieth  General  Synod  met  at  Paris,  in  consequence  of  a  decree 
signed  by  the  President  of  the  French  Republic.  In  the  face  of  attacks  directly 
aimed,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  at  the  unity  of  her  doctrine,  the  synod  tlevoted 
itself  to  drawing  up,  not  a  complete  Confession  of  Faith,  but  a  declaration  which  de- 
termmed  the  doctrinal  limits  of  the  Church,  in  order  to  prevent  in  the  Reformed 
Church  any  teachings  contrary  to  the  Reformed  faith,  as  held  and  expressed  by  mir 
fathers.  It  will  be  remarked  that  in  this  declaration,  of  which  we  give  the  words, 
the  synod  has  mentioned  the  Confession  of  La  Rochelle  as  one  of  the  historical 
.supports  of  the  Reformed  doctrine.  The  Reformed  Church  of  France  declares,  by 
its  representative  organ,  that  it  remains  faithful  to  the  principles  of  faith  and  liberty 
on  which  it  is  founded.  It  proclaims,  with  its  fathers  and  martyrs,  in  the  Confession 
of  La  Rochelle  and  with  all  the  churches  of  the  Reformation  in  their  creeds  :  "  The 
sovereign  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  with  regard  to  belief,  and  salvation 
throu'^h  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  who  died  for  our  sins 
and  rose  again  for  our  justification."  It  holds,  as  the  foundation  of  all  its  teaching, 
worship  and  discipline,  the  great  gospel  facts  represented  in  its  sacraments,  com- 
memorated in  its  religious  ceremonies  and  ex]')ressed  in  its  liturgy,  notably  in  the 
confession  of  sin,  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Suii|)er. 

(Sometimes  tlie  Church  has  also  expressed  by  an  exceptional  vote  its  ajij)roval  of 


I070  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

some  foreign  Confession  of  Faith  in  which  it  has  found  its  own  doctrine  to  be  shown 
forth.  This  occurred  in  the  twenty-third  National  Synod,  held  at  Alais,  in  1620, 
under  the  presidency  of  Peter  Dumoulin,  when  it  was  proposed  to  present  a  mark 
of  affection  and  respect  to  the  churches  of  the  Low  Countries  by  approving  officially 
of  the  decrees  of  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht,  which  had  met  in  the  preceding  year.) 

Second  Question. — What  are  or  have  been  the  formulas  or  methods  of  adher- 
ence to  the  Confession  of  Faith  ? 

For  a  long  time  the  usual  method  was  simply  signature.  The  members  of  the 
twenty-nine  official  national  synods,  which  met  in  France  between  the  years  1559 
and  1659,  signed  the  Confession  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  first  synod,  held  at 
Paris  in  1559.  Unfortunately  the  verbal  proceedings  of  all  the  following  synods, 
called  the  Synods  of  the  Wilderness,  held  from  1726  till  1763,  have  not  been  pre- 
served; but  the  regulation  decided  upon  in  the  assembled  Synod  of  Vivnrais  (1721) 
is  known,  and  it  is  probable  that  in  these  ditferen't  synods  there  existed  a  nearly 
uniform  rule.  This  law  of  1721  requires  "  that  all  pastors,  divinity  students,  and 
elders  sign  the  forty  articles  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  drawn  up  by  the  common 
consent  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of  France,  and  regarded  by  them  as  true  and 
orthodox." 

The  report  of  the  verbal  proceedings  of  the  sessions  of  the  Consistory  of  Paris 
show  that,  in  1804,  1805,  1806,  and  1S07,  new  pastors  were  required  to  sign  the 
Confess  on  of  Faith  at  the  time  of  their  ordination.  A  candidate,  named  Mr.  Combes 
(in  1804),  before  receiving  the  imposition  of  hands,  entered  into  the  following  en- 
gagement: "You  have  promised  and  do  promise  to  sign  the  Confession  of  Faith 
and  the  ecclesiastical  discipline  of  the  French  Reformed  Churches." 

In  1824  the  signature  was  replaced  by  a  solemn  promise.  Since  that  time  differ- 
ent formulas  have  been  used  at  the  will  of  the  pastors  performing  the  ordination, 
without  any  one  of  ihem  having  the  sanction  of  a  synod,  and  without  the  manner 
of  adherence  having  been  expressly  stipulated. 

Since  the  Synod  of  1872,  in  ordinations  over  which  pastors  attached  to  the  Synodal 
Church  have  presided,  the  candidates  are  required  to  conform  formally,  in  the 
presence  of  the  congregation,  to  the  declaration  of  faith  adopted  by  the  Synod, 
Article  2,  of  the  complete  law,  declares:  "Every  candidate  for  holy  orders  must, 
before  receiving  ordination,  affirm  that  he  adheres  to  the  faith  of  the  Church  as 
stated  by  the  General  Synod." 

Third  Question. —  Has  the  individual  adherence  of  all  members  of  the  Church 
to  the  Confession  of  Faith  been  required? 

1.  It  was  required  of  the  members  of  synods.  The  first  Synod  of  the  Wilderness, 
which  met  in  May,  1726  (sixty-six  years  having  elapsed  since  the  last  assembly), 
passed  the  following  resolution  among  others,  that  after  the  meeting  of  the  synod, 
all  the  deputies  should  be  required  to  sign  the  articles  (Art.  23) ;  and  in  the  acts 
of  the  last  Synod  of  the  Wilderness,  convened  in  1763,  we  find  "All  the  members 
of  the  synod  have  renewed  with  holy  zeal,  in  their  own  name  and  in  the  name  of 
the  provinces  which  they  represent,  the  solemn  promise  to  do  all  in  their  power  to 
support,  cement,  and  perpetuate  the  union  of  the  churches;  by  perseveringly  pro- 
fessing the  same  faith,  observing  the  same  form  of  worship,  preserving  the  same 
morality,  and  maintaining  the  same  discipline." 

2.  In  many  churches  conformance  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  has  been  also  re- 
quired of  the  elders.*  The  elders  of  the  Church  of  Bolbec,  installed  December 
4,  1803,  and  also  those  of  November  3,  1833,  solemnly  promised,  in  the  presence 
of  the  assembled  congregation,  to  maintain  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Disci- 
pline decided  upon  by  the  National  Synods  as  being  in  accordance  with  the  word 
of  God. 

3.  The  synod  of  1872  also  required  a  profession  of  faith  from  the  electors  who 
named  the  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Council.  Article  16,  of  the  law  passed  by 
this  body,  reads  as  follows:  "All  French  Protestants,  twenty-five  years  of  age  and 
residents  of  one  year's  standing  in  the  parish,  and  whose  names  are  inscribed  on 

*  No  especial  promise  is  now  required  of  the  elders. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1071 

the  parish  register,  on  their  own  request  shall  be  admitted  to  the  Reformed  Church 
of  France  at  the  next  comnuinion  ;  also  those  who  declare  themselves  sincerely 
attached  to  the  Protestant  Reformed  Cliurch  of  France,  and  to  the  truths  of  revela- 
tion as  contained  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament." 

4.  With  regard  to  theological  professors ;  sometimes  they  have  been  appointed 
without  conditions,  sometimes  the  church  has  returned  to  its  old  principles.  In 
1812,  a  professor  of  theology  at  Monlauban,  Mr.  Gasc,  having  in  his  lectures 
attacked  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  several  consistories,  regarding  themselves  as 
the  guardians  of  Church  doctrine,  were  greatly  agitated  and  required  him  either  to 
retract  his  opinions  or  to  withdraw  from  his  posi'.ion.  Among  others,  the  consistory 
of  Nismes  addressed  him  as  follows:  "  There  is  a  reformed  Christian  Cluirch  m 
France,  and  it  is  distinct  from  all  other  Christian  Churches,  not  because  it  holds  to 
the  Apostles'  Creed  which  is  received  by  all  Christian  denominations,  but  because 
it  has  a  Confession  of  Faith  peculiar  to  itself.  Answer  this  question  conscientiously: 
What  have  you  been  appointed  to  teach,  the  doctrines  of  Arius  and  his  followers, 
or  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformed  Church?  Either  teach  the  latter  or  do  not  teach 
at  all!"  In  reply  the  heretic  professor  declared  "that  he  regretted  having  so 
thoughtlessly  published  opinions  not  in  accordance  with  those  held  by  the  Re- 
formed Churches." 

In  1817,  the  Faculty  of  Theology  at  Montauban,  having  been  informed  that  re- 
ports were  still  in  circulation  calculated  to  cast  doubt  upon  the  orthodoxy  of  some 
professors,  especially  in  what  concerns  the  doctrme  of  the  Trinity,  declared,  in  a 
circular  distributed  to  all  the  Consistories,  "  that  it  remained  firmly  attached  to  the 
faith  of  its  fathers,  that  it  professed  the  Apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  the  Alhanasian 
creeds,  with  the  exception  of  the  damnatory  clauses,  and  that  it  found  in  the  word 
of  God  full  confirmation  of  the  doctrine  published  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the 
French  Churches,  whose  fundamental  articles  are  considered  to  have  been  signed 
by  all  our  pastors  and  professors." 

Such  is  the  historical  summary  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  La  Rochelle  in  the 
Reformed  Church  of  France. 

II.    The  Protestant  Churches  Independent  of  the  State. 

Among  the  Protestant  Churches  independent  of  the  State,  there  are  a  great  num- 
ber of  diverse  confessions,  all,  however,  resting  on  a  Presbyterian  basis,  either  in 
regard  to  doctrine  or  to  Church  government.  The  greater,  part  of  these  acknowl- 
edge the  bond  that  unites  them  to  the  Reformed  Churches.  Already,  before  1848, 
there  had  been  formed  in  France  a  number  of  churches  independent  of  the  Stale: 
at  Lyons,  St.  Etienne,  Taitbout  (in  Paris),  etc.  Some  of  these,  the  churches  of 
Bordeaux,  St.  Foy,  and  d'Orthez,  since  they  were  situated  near  one  another,  had 
united  among  themselves  in  adopting  a  common  discipline  and  profession  of  faith. 
The  following  is  found  in  a  document  of  a  date  previous  to  the  Synod  of  1S48. 

Form  of  Discipline  of  the  United  Churches. — (1847.) 

Article  i.  We  recognize  no  other  law  of  faith  than  the  canonical  books  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Apocrypha. 

Art.  2.  The  principal  doctrines  which  we  find  revealed  in  the  Bible  are  those 
which,  through  all  ages,  have  been  professed  by  the  Christian  Church,  and  were 
proclaimed,  by  an  admirable  unanimity  of  opinion,  by  the  Churches  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  their  Confessions  of  Fnilh  ;  particularly  in  those  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
the  v-ar  1559.  These  doctrines  seem  to  admit  of  recapitulation  in  the  following 
points;  The  full  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures;  the  divinity  and  personality  of 
the  Father,  Son,  ancl  Holy  Ghost,  one  God  blessed  forever;  the  total  depravity  and 
just  condemnation  of  man  in  his  natural  state,  in  consequence  of  the  fall  of  Adam  ; 
the  eternal  election  by  divine  grace;  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  the  expia- 
tion of  our  sins  by  his  blood;  his  intercession  as  High  Priest;  the  sinner's  free  jus- 
tification by  faith ;  the  necessity  of  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  the  regenera- 


I072  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

tion  .-ind  sanctificotion  of  the  children  of  God;  their  resurrection  or  transmutation 
for  eternal  life,  wlien  our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  shall  descend  from  heaven  ;  and 
finally,  the  everlasting  damnation  of  the  wicked. 

Art.  6.  The  Christians,  the  godly,  the  faithful  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  redeemed, 
alone  have  the  right  to  be  added  to  a  Christian  Church.  We  consider  as  such  all 
those  who  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  however  feeble  may  be  their  faiih.  Nevertheless,  , 
as  the  Lord  alone  knows  those  that  are  his,  the  united  churches  may  receive  all  who 
confess  the  name  of  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  Jesus  Christ  our  only  Saviour;  provided 
that  they  walk  not  after  the  deeds  of  the  flesh  manifestly  incompatible  with  the 
ooerations  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Art.  7.  Whoever  shall  desire  to  join  one  of  the  united  churches  must  then  ask 
himself  seriously  :  first,  whether  he  is  bound  to  the  Saviour  by  a  sincere  and  loving 
faith;  secondly,  whether  it  i-.  through  conviction  that  he  thinks  of  joining  himself  to 
this  body,  and  if,  in  so  doing,  he  will  act  with  faith  according  to  his  promise  (on  this 
point  let  each  one  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind) ;  thirdly,  if  he  is  prepared  to 
fulfil  the  duties  which  are  attached  to  the  position  of  a  member  of  this  Church. 

2.  The  official  Synod  which  met  at  Paris  in  the  train  of  the  political  events  of  1848, 
and  may  be  considered  as  a  sufficiently  exact  representation  of  the  Reformed 
churches,  hastened  this  movement  of  separation  by  refusing  to  consider  a  profession 
of  faith  as  the  basis  of  the  Church.  This  decision  led  to  the  formation  of  a  certain 
number  of  Independent  churches;  that  is,  churches  neither  recognized  nor  supported 
in  any  way  by  the  State.  At  the  opening  of  the  session  some  members  of  the  Synod, 
with  Frederic  Monod  and  Agenor  de  Gasparin  at  their  head,  demanded  that  before 
attending  to  other  matters,  an  end  should  be  made  to  the  doctrinal  disorder  then 
reigning  in  the  Church,  by  establi>hing  in  it  a  clear  and  positive  law  of  faith.  The 
majority  of  the  Synod,  thinking  that  the  moment  for  accomplishing  such  a  difficult 
and  delicate  undertaking  was  not  yet  C(jme,  replied  to  this  proposition  by  the  follow- 
ing vote  :  "The  Assembly — since  it  is  shown  by  the  results  of  the  ballots  of  the 
Consistories  that  the  generality  of  the  churches  desire  that  the  deliberations  shall 
not  touch  on  doctrinal  matters,  and  since  it  has  been  shown  by  the  discussion  just 
r\ow  engaged  in  that  the  moment  has  not  yet  come  to  touch  upon  this  matter — 
reserves  these  questions,  and  decides  that  a  conmiiltee  shall  be  named  to  draw  up  a 
plan  of  an  address  to  the  churches,  to  be  afterwards  used  as  a  preamble  to  head  its 
plan  of  organization." 

3.  On  hearing  this  vote,  which  was  in  their  eyes  an  official  sufferance  of  indif- 
ference on  doctrinal  matters,  then  pervading  the  Church,  Frederic  Monod  and 
Agenor  dc  Gasparin  withdrew  from  the  Assembly,  and  invited  those  who  shared 
their  ecclesiastical  views,  to  join  in  founding  a  "  Union  of  the  Evangelical 
Churches." 

To  this  end  a  constituent  Synod  met  at  Paris  in  August,  1S49,  and  adopted  a 
synodal  Presbyterian  constitution,  of  which  we  will  cite  the  first  two  articles,  since 
one  of  them  expresses  the  reason  for  the  union  and  the  other  their  confession  of 
faith. 

Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  France. 
Constitution. — Chapter  I. —  General  Principles. 

Article  I.  The  Evangelical  Churches  of  France,  composed  of  members  who 
have  made  an  explicit  and  individual  profession  of  faith,  and  who  recognize  in  re- 
ligious matters  no  other  authority  than  that  of  Jestis  Christ,  the  only  and  sovereign 
Head  of  the  Church,  unite  among  themselves,  so  that  by  this  means  they  may 
glorify  God  by  manifesting  the  union  of  his  children,  may  work  ft)r  the  building  up 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  may  help  to  extend  over  the  earth  the  glorious  reign 
and  power  of  (iod. 

Art.  2.  These  churches  are  allied  by  their  faith  to  the  churches  of  the  apostolic 
era,  and  to  those  who  in  all  ages  have  maintained  the  Christian  truths;  and  thus  they 
are  also  bound  to  those  Reformed  churches  of  France  that  have  suffered  for  this 
truth. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1073 

They  make  with  one  heart  and  voice  the  following  profession : 
We  believe  that  all  the  writings  of  the  Old  and   New  Testament  were  direcliv 
inspired  by  God,  and  so  constitute  the  only  and  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  life.    Wcr 
worship  one   God,  the  Father,  Son   and   Holy  Ghost,  Creator  of  the  heavens  and 
earth. 

The  Father,  in  his  infinite  and  eternal  com]iassion,  when  we  were  dead  in  sin  in 
consequence  of  the  fall  of  Adam,  and  were  justly  condemned  to  expiate  our  wicked- 
ness, so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son. 

The  Son,  "  the  Word  who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God,"  and  who  was  reallv 
"God  over  all  things  blessed  forever,"  became  truly  man,  "God  manifest  in  the 
flesh."  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  Mediator  between  God  and  man.  He  has  redeemed 
us  and  saved  us  from  eternal  damnation  by  his  death  on  the  cross,  and  has  offered 
up  himself  to  God  for  us  as  "  an  offering  and  a  sweet-smelling  sacrifice."  Having 
died  for  our  sins,  he  is  risen  again  for  our  justification.  Ascended  into  heaven, 
he  is  seated  on  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father  Almighty,  where  he  ever  inter- 
cedes for  us. 

The  Holy  Spirit^  sent  by  the  Son  through  the  authority  of  the  Father,  regenerates 
the  redeemed,  "  chosen  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God;"  he  dwells  in 
them,  he  makes  them  walk  in  the  light  of  his  word,  and  in  that  holiness  without 
which  no  man  can  see  the  Lord.  He  hastens  to  all  those  who  call  upon  him.  It 
is  through  this  Holy  Spirit  that  Jesus  Christ  directs  and  governs  the  Church,  which 
is  his  bride  and  his  visible  body.  Jesus  Christ  calls  every  man  to  repentance, 
saving  fully,  freely,  and  through  no  merit  of  their  own,  all  those  who  believe  in  his 
name  and  who  come  unto  God  by  him. 

We  look  for  the  coming  of  our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  descend  from 
heaven  and  lead  us  into  glory.  He  will  raise  the  dead,  judge  the  world,  and  render 
to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds.  This  is  the  faith  common  to  our  churches, 
and  we  wish  to  make  every  effort  to  propagate  it.  But,  at  the  same  time,  we  extend 
.a  brotherly  hand  to  all  those  who,  in  whatever  place  or  of  whatever  denomination, 
love  the  .Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  call  upon  him  in  sincerity  and  truth  ;  and  we 
consider  them  as  members  of  the  Church  universal. 

Now,  to  the  Father  who  has  loved  us,  to  the  .Son  who  has  washed  us  from  our 
sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  to  tlie  Holy  Ghost,  our  Comforter,  be  praise  and  glory 
for  ever !     Amen. 

4.  The  Churches  of  the  Union,  "  founded  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  sound 
doctrine,  an  individual  profession  of  faith,  and  the  distinction  between  the  Church 
and  the  world,"  must  adhere  to  this  profession  of  faith  which  has  just  been  diawn  up; 
at  the  same  time  they  reserve  the  right  of  forming  a  particular  confession  of  faith  as 
well  as  the  general  confession  of  the  Union  ;  and  as  many  churches  have  availed 
themselves  of  this  permission,  there  have  appeared  a  number  of  confessions  of  faith. 
Among  these  there  reigns  a  profound  harmony,  and  all  are  impressed  with  a  spirit 
of  charity  and  humility,  thus  making  them  very  different  from  some  of  the  formulas 
of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 

A  plan  of  discipline  for  the  Independent  churches  of  Bordeaux,  St.  Foy  and 
d'Orthez  was  published  at  Bordeaux  in  1847,  and  in  the  preface  we  find:  "Each 
denomination  of  the  Evangelical  Christians  has  received  the  mission  of  bringing  into 
strong  relief  some  special  point  of  divine  truth,  either  omitted  or  neglected  by  the 
others.  It  accrues  then  to  the  general  good  and  to  the  glory  of  God  that  each 
Church  should  declare  its  belief,  and  mutually  call  attention  to  their  respective 
creeds." 

We  think  we  can  best  enter   into  the  views  of  the   Presbyterian  Council  by 
quoting  some  extracts  from  some  of  those  professions  of  faith  which  we  have  been 
able  to  procure  (we  will  mention  sixteen),  choosing  the  articles  which  best  answer 
the  questions  given  by  the  Edinburgh  Council. 
68 


I074  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

I.  THE  EVANGELICAL  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  PARIS. 

{AujouriT hui  Jiue  des  Petits  Hotels.') 

This  Church,  born  of  the  refusal  of  the  official  synod,  held  September,  1848,  to 
consider  the  Confession  of  Faith  as  the  basis  of  the  reconstruction  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  of  France,  published  its  Constitution  in  1850.  It  declares  in  its  preface, 
that  "above  all  it  is  connected  with  the  apostolic  churches;  but,  through  its  faith 
and  its  affection,  and,  as  much  as  circumstances  will  permit,  through  its  constitution 
it  is  allied  to  the  ancient  Reformed  churches  of  our  country.  Although  this  Church 
does  not  think  it  necessary  to  revive  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  1559,  called  La 
Rochelle,  that  venerated  monument  of  the  faith  and  piety  of  our  fathers,  and 
although  it  has  adopted  a  more  modern  and  popular  language  for  expressing  the 
same  distinctive  and  fundamental  views  of  Christianity,  yet  it  is  confident  that  it  is 
animated  by  the  same  spirit  as  were  formerly  the  faithful  confessors  of  the  Reformed 
French  Church,  and  it  professes  the  same  faith." 

This  Church  has  adopted  as  an  expression  of  its  faith  the  profession  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  constituent  synod  (Art.  I.,  see  p.  20). 

Any  one  may  become  a  member  of  the  Church  by  expressly  stating  (Art.  II.), 
first,  his  intention  of  joining  the  Church  ;  second,  his  adherence  to  the  Confession 
of  Faith.  This  declaration  must  be  made  before  two  members  of  the  presbytery  and 
one  member  of  the  church  who  is  to  be  chosen  by  tliem.  Candidates  are  fettered 
neither  in  regard  to  age,  a  fixed  time  of  year,  nor  catechetical  instruction.  This 
church  does  not  receive  its  candidates  collectively. 

II.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  LA  RUE  DE  PROVENCE. 

Paris — ( Chapelle  Taitbont. ) 

This  Church,  whose  foundation  dates  back  many  years,  owes  its  origin  not  to  doc- 
trinal reasons,  but  to  the  desire  of  realizing  the  principle  of  separation  between 
Church  and  State  (see  Art.  II.)     It  published  its  Constitution  in  1849. 

Article  I. — Through  its  faith  this  Church  is  allied  to  the  apostolic  church,  and 
to  all  the  churches  that  profess  the  doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  harmony  with  these  churches,  it  proclaims  the  divine  inspiration,  authority, 
and  all-sufficiency  of  the  holy  writings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  It  believes 
in  one  God,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  It  recognizes  that  in  a  condition  of 
ruin,  sin,  and  condemnation,  there  is  for  man  one  only  means  of  salvation,  namely, 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  the  only  Mediator  between  God  and 
man,  who  died  for  our  sins,  was  raised  for  our  justification,  and  is  seated  on  the 
right  hand  of  God  the  Father.  From  thence  he  communicates  with  bis  own, 
chosen  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father,  to  be  sanctified  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  obey  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  have  part  in  the  sprinkling  of  his  blood, 
and  all  grace  necessary  to  repentance,  regeneration  and  perseverance  in  faith  and 
good  works,  while  waiting  till  he  shall  appear  to  raise  the  dead,  judge  the  world 
with  justice,  and  receive  his  own  into  everlasting  life. 

This  is  the  faith  professed  by  the  creed  of  the  Church,  and  also  by  the  teaching 
of  its  pastors  and  the  administration  of  baptism  and  the  holy  communion.  In  relig- 
ious matters  this  church  recognizes  no  other  authority  than  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
only  and  sovereign  Head  of  the  Church,  which  he  governs  through  his  Spirit  and 
word  ;  and  wishing  to  jjreserve  the  complete  independence  necessary  for  obeying  its 
Divine  Master,  the  Church  forbids  compromising  this  independence  by  receiving  any 
subsidy  from  the  State,  under  whatever  name  or  in  whatever  form  it  may  be,  and 
provides  for  its  expenses  by  voluntary  subscription  only. 

Art.  4.  This  Church  must  only  be  composed  of  persons  who  truly  believe  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  those  who  desire  to  join  it  must  examine  themselves  seriously  as 
to  whether  they  are  in  the  faith.  In  case  they  judge  that  they  are  able  to  testify  to 
this,  thev  must  make  known  to  one  of  the  pastoi  s  that  they  desire  to  join  the  Church, 
and  at  the  same  time  declare  that  they  believe  in  the  profession  of  faith  expressed 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1075 

by  Article  l  ;  also  that  they  have  resolved,  with  divine  aid,  to  conform  their  lives 
to  the  gospel.     This  declaration  must  be  forwarded  to  the  council  of  the  Church. 

Connection  with  the  Church  ceases  when  any  one  announces  his  withdrawal,  or 
when  he  virtually  withdraws  by  reason  of  no  longer  participating  in  the  worship  or 
by  leading  a  life  not  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  the  gospel.  In  the  latter 
case,  the  sentence  of  dismissal  must  be  announced  by  the  council  of  the  Church. 

III.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH,  RUE  ST.  MAUR,  PARIS. 
The  Constitution  of  this  Church  dales  from  the  year  1856. 

Concerning  the  Doctrine. 

ARTICLE  I.  God,  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  places  spake  in  time  past 
unto  our  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  these  Last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son. 
The  end  of  our  faith  is  not  then  any  novelty  of  human  invention,  but  divine  truth 
as  revealed  in  the  sacred  writings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  that  very  truth 
which  the  apostolic  churches  of  the  first  century  professed,  as  well  as  the.  Reformed 
churches  of  the  sixteenth,  and  all  Christian  communions  which  have  preserved  the 
gospel  of  Christ  in  its  primitive  purity. 

In  accordance  with  this  holy  testimony,  we  believe  that  all  mankind  has  been 
brought  into  a  state  of  sin  and  perdition  by  the  fall  of  the  first  man,  consequently  in 
the  eyes  of  Infinite  Purity  there  is  no  essential  difierence  between  man  and  man, 
seeing  that  all  are  sinful  and  lost  beings.  And  no  one  can  be  justified  by  his  own 
merits  or  eftace  the  guilt  of  his  soul  by  any  human  endeavors.  But  what  was  im- 
possible for  us,  because  of  the  infirmity  of  the  flesh,  God  has  done  in  reconciling  us 
to  himself  by  Christ,  in  whom  are  all  treasures  of  wisdom  and  divine  knowledge. 

We  adore  as  our  only  Creator,  Lord  and  Saviour,  the  Almighty  God,  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  by  whom  and  for  whom  all  things  were  created,  visible  and 
invisible. 

Here  follow  some  explanations  on  the  Father,  the  Son,  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Concerning  the  Church. 

Art.  2.  As  the  Church  is  a  spiritual  union,  it  must  hold  itself  aloof  from  all  which 
would  endanger  the  independence  which  its  duty  to  its  Divine  Master  requires.  For 
this  reason,  while  professing  entire  obedience  to  civil  authority  in  all  which  con- 
science allows,  we  recognize  in  our  Church  no  religious  authority  save  the  word  of 
Christ,  and  we  maintain  that  the  voluntary  ofl'erings  of  its  members  or  friends  should 
provide  for  all  its  needs. 

Art.  3.  Every  one  should  unite  with  the  Church  of  his  choice  in  pursuance  of 
personal,  serious  and  free  conviction  ;  we  oppose  as  contrary  to  these  views,  as  well 
as  to  the  spirituality  of  the  Church,  communion  at  a  fixed  age  where  conversion  is 
replaced  by  a  knowledge  of  the  catechism  ;  and  whilst  we  regard  the  religious  in- 
struction of  the  young  as  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  Church,  we  con- 
sider that  for  them  as  well  as  for  adults  the  only  sure  way  to  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  by  experiencing  the  new  birth  that  takes  place  when  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
wrought  his  work  within  them. 

IV.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  FAUBOURG  ST.  ANTOINE,  PARIS. 

This  Church  was  founded  in  1855,  and  adopted  a  formal  constitution  in  1858. 

Its  profession  of  faith,  contained  in  nine  short  articles,  is  that  of  the  "  Churches 
of  the  Union."  It  is  very  simple,  and  does  not  bear  the  stamp  of  Calvinism.  It 
closes  with  these  words  : 

"  Our  creed  declares  that  the  end  of  our  faith  is  no  human  invention,  but  divine 
truth  as  reve.aled  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  It  is  the  faith 
heltl  by  the  apostolic  churches  of  the  first  century,  l)y  the  Reformed  churches  of  the 
sixteenth,  and  by  all  Christian  communions  which  have  preserved  the  gospel  of 
Christ  in  its  purity." 


1076  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Concerning  the  Church. 

IV.  We  believe  thai  the  church  should  obey  only  Jesus  Christ ;  that  it  should 
only  be  governed  by  his  word,  and  that  it  should  only  be  supported  by  those  who 
hold  its  faith ;  consequently,  it  must  wholly  renounce  the  world,  and  all  alliance 
with  the  State. 

V.  No  one  can  have  a  birthright  membership  in  our  church.  Those  wishing  to 
enter  its  fold  must  share  its  faith,  and  hold  themselves  ready  to  confess  it  before 
men  by  their  words  and  actions.  We  reject  then  the  doctrine  of  early  communion 
at  a  certain  age,  by  which  every  one,  believers  or  unbelievers,  are  brought  into  the 
church. 

(It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  feature  common  to  the  constitutions  of  the  Free 
churches  is  a  personal  profession  of  faith,  and,  consequently,  the  abolition  of  the 
custom  of  admitting  catechumens  without  regard  to  individual  character.) 

V.  THE  INDEPENDENT  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  VIGAN. 

i^Departvtent  of  Card.) 

This  Church  had  no  written  Confession  of  Faith  until  1854.  But  at  this  time,  other 
congregations  having  been  organized  in  its  vicinity,  it  seemed  necessary  to  establish 
its  position  among  the  Churches,  and  it  was  deemed  proper  to  publish  an  "  Exposi- 
tion of  Princi]5les,"  at  the  head  of  which  we  read: 

"What  follows  is  not  properly  an  obligatory  Confession  of  Faith  which  must  be 
signed,  but  merely  a  summary  of  our  Christian  convictions." 

The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  wholly  inspired  by  God  and 
interpreted  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  have  been  and  continue  to  be  the  law  of  our  faith 
and  life.  The  principal  doctrines  contained  in  this  holy  book  have  been  professed 
by  the  true  disciples  of  all  ages  and  received  by  the  Churches  of  the  Reformation. 

Thus  we  believe  that  man  fell  in  Adam's  fall,  that  we  are  born  in  sin,  that  our 
wills  are  perverted,  that  our  hearts  are  wicked,  that  we  are  dead  in  tresp.asses  and 
sin,  deserving  of  hatred  and  hating  each  other,  children  of  wrath,  slaves  of  sin  and 
Satan,  and  consequently  that  we  deserve  eternal  condemnation. 

We  believe  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son, 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life."  We 
believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  true  God  and  true  man,  Emmanuel,  the  Word  made 
flesh  ;  that  he  willingly  abased  himself  and  became  obedient  even  to  the  death  of  the 
cross;  that  he  suffered  and  died  for  us,  that  his  sacrifice  is  a  propitiation  for  our 
sins,  that  he  is  a  perfect  Redeemer,  always  able  to  save  all  those  who  come  unto 
God  by  him ;  that  he  rejects  no  one,  but  calls  all  to  repentance,  and  thus  sinners  are 
responsible  for  their  own  ruin.  We  believe  that  in  order  to  come  to  him,  we  must 
be  drawn  by  the  Father,  the  work  of  grace  in  our  hearts,  and  that  the  faith  which 
unites  us  to  Jesus  is  altogether  the  gift  of  God.  Thus  our  salvation,  from  repent- 
ance to  regeneration,  justification,  sanctification,  and  final  preservation  is  all  the 
work  of  divine  grace.  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved,  through  faith — it  is  the  gift  of 
God."  "  We  are  his  workmanship  created  in  Christ  lesus  unto  good  works " 
(Eph.  ii.) 

We  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  his  dwelling  in  the  Church. 
He  is  the  Supreme  Teacher,  the  Comforter,  who  enlightens  us,  touches  us,  leads  us, 
and  unites  us  to  Jesus,  frees  us  from  sin,  and  bears  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we 
are  the  children  of  God.  It  is  he  who  seals  us  for  the  day  of  redemption,  who 
comforts  us  in  our  weakness,  and  who  will  raise  us  in  glory  at  the  coming  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  whose  coming  from  the  heavens  we  await,  for  then  shall  be  effected  our 
entire  deliverance  and  our  reception  into  heaven. 

Concerning  the  Church. 

Considering  that  we  are  not  born  Christians,  but  become  so  by  the  new  birth,  we 
do  not  admit  the  system  of  estimating  a  church  by  its  numbers.  Consequently,  we 
consider  the  collective  and  periodical  receptions  of  catechumens  as  a  custom  dan- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1077 

gerous  and  liable  to  abuses,  both  in  its  effect  upon  the  soul  and  as  giving  an  un- 
scriptural  idea  of  the  Church. 

VI.  THE  FREE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  ST.  IIIPPOLYTUS. 

{^Department  of  Card.) 

From  1857  till  1862,  this  Church  had  no  written  Confession  of  Faith.     The  fol- 
lowing creed  was  formed  independently  of  the  profession   of  the  "  Union  of  the  ' 
Churches,"  and  is  Calvinistic. 

Art.  5.  We  believe  that  the  faith  which  unites  us  to  Jesus  is  the  gift  of  God,  and 
that  our  entire  salvation,  from  our  repentance  to  tinal  preservation,  is  the  work  of 
God's  grace. 

Art.  6.  The  Holy  Spirit  works  in  all  the  redeemed  who  are  drawn  by  the  Father 
and  called  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God. 

Concerning  Admission  to  the  Church. 

Art.  10.  Our  Church  differs  from  the  world  in  that  it  is  composed  only  of  pro- 
fessing Christians.  All  those  who  profess  with  us  one  self-same  hope  in  Jesus  Christ, 
;ind  whose  lives  do  not  belie  their  profession,  may  form  a  part  of  it.  Such  persons 
should  make  inquiry  and  declare  their  willingness  to  conform  to  the  established 
order  of  the  Church. 

Art.  12.  We  do  not  allow  of  the  collective  and  periodical  receptions  of  catechu- 
mens. Children,  instructed  in  the  faith,  can  only  be  admitted  as  members  of  the 
Church  on  a  free  and  voluntary  profession  of  faith. 

Art.  16.  We  make  no  distinction  between  the  clergy  and  laity,  but  we  do  not 
disregard  the  difference  established  by  the  Scriptures  between  those  who  teach  and 
those  who  are  taught. 

Art.  21.  We  follow  the  example  of  the  apostolic  Christians  in  partaking  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  on  the  first  day  of  each  week. 

Art.  24.  The  government  of  the  Church  is  intrusted  to  the  board  of  elders  recog- 
nized by  the  Church. 

VII.  THE  FREE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  SAINT  JEAN  DU  GARD. 

Founded  in  1856,  this  Church  published,  in  1876,  its  Confession  of  Faith  and  laws 
of  church  government,  contained  in  sixty-one  articles. 

Article  i  repeats  the  Confession  of  the  Churches  of  the  Union. 

Art.  2.  By  our  faith  we  are  linked  above  all  to  the  Churches  of  the  apostolic  era, 
upon  whose  organization  we  wish  to  model  our  own,  and  then  to  thyse  of  all  ages 
which  have  maintained  true  Christianity,  and  especially  to  the  Ancient  Relormed 
Churdies  of  PVance,  which  have  suffered  so  much  for  the  truth. 

Art.  3.  We  are  closely  connected  by  our  principles  with  ail  the  Christian 
Churches  that  are  independent  of  the  State,  and  depend  for  support  upon  the  per- 
sonal profession  of  faith. 

Art.  18.  We  reject  every  ground  of  admission  which  does  not  rest  upon  a  per- 
sonal, serious,  and  explicit  profession  of  faith,  a  profession  not  openly  contradicted 
by  the  lives  of  those  holding  it.  But  we  cannot  judge  men's  hearts,  we  leave  to 
them  all  the  responsibility  of  their  profession,  excepting,  that  if  their  conduct  does 
not  harmonize  with  this,  we  enforce  the  discipline;  thus  the  principles  are  main- 
tained. 

Art.  43.  The  Church  sanctions  the  baptism  of  believers  as  in  accordance  with 
the  Scriptures.  Yet,  if  different  views  as  to  the  time  and  mode  of  administering 
baptism  exist  among  its  members,  each  one  is  free  to  act  according  to  his  convic- 
tions and  on  his  own  responsibility.  Still,  in  whatever  way  this  sacrament  is  re- 
garded, the  Church  requires  baptism  of  those  wishing  to  become  members  of  its 
body. 

Art.  47.  The  general  direction  of  the  flock  is  intrusted  to  the  Board  of  Elders 
recognized  by  the  Church  (Acts  xi.  30;  Acts  xv.  6) 


loyS  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Art,  58.  The  necessity  for  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  arises  from  the 
difference  in  the  nature  of  these  two  institutions  as  well  as  in  their  mode  of  influ- 
encing the  world. 

VIII.  FREE    EVANGELICAL  CHURCHES  OF   VERGISE  {Card),  AND 
OF  MARSILLARGUES  {Herault). 

This  statement  of  principles,  which  cannot  be  properly  styled  a  church  constitu- 
tion, dates  from  the  year  1861.  The  Church  even  prohiiMts  the  formation  of  a  lull 
Confession  of  Faith :  "  We  do  not  particularize,"  it  says,  "  the  different  doctrines 
which,  as  a  whole,  constitute  the  Christian  faith,  for  God  having  revealed  the  truth 
from  time  to  time  as  his  children  could  receive  it,  man  has  no  right  to  express  these 
truths  by  formulas,  with  the  purpose  of  imposing  them  upon  others  as  a  rule  of 
faith."  Yet  we  declare  unequivocally  the  doctrine  taught  in  our  midst.  (Here 
follows  an  exposition  of  the  doctrines.) 

Art.  7.  We  are  most  strongly  attached  by  our  principles  to  all  Christian  Churches 
of  our  day,  which  are  founded  upon  the  basis  of  a  personal  profession  of  faith,  and 
especially  to  the  legitimate  successors  of  the  ancient  Reformed  Churches  of  France, 
which  put  ill  practice  the  principles  of  Scripture,  and  are  known  under  the  name  of 
•'  Evangelical  Churches  of  the  Union." 

IX.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  TOULOUSE. 

(^Upper  Garonne.') 
In  1850  this  Church  adopted  fifteen  constitutional  articles. 
Concerning  the  Confession  of  Faith. 

Art.  4.  The  Church  adopts  as  its  creed,  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Evangeli- 
cal Synod,  which  may  be  expressed  in  the  following  manner:  We  believe  in  the 
full  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  divinity  and  personality  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  one  God  blessed  forever;  the  atonement  by  the  blood  of 
Christ,  and  the  free  justification  of  the  sinner  through  faith  in  his  name;  finally,  the 
necessity  of  regeneration  and  sanctification  accomplished  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  All 
the  members  of  the  Church  must  make  the  same  profession. 

Concerning  Admission  to  the  Church. 

Art.  9.  To  become  a  member  of  the  Church  it  is  necessary  for  the  applicant  to 
make  a  profession  of  his  belief  before  two  elders  or  deacons,  who  shall  report  to  the 
council  on  admission.  If  this  council,  after  carefully  making  the  necessary  invc'^- 
tigations  ana  apprizing  the  Church  of  the  application,  decides  in  favor  of  it,  the  ad- 
mission is  declared  and  inscribed  on  the  pulilic  register. 

Art.  10.  In  cases  of  admission  to  membership,  the  council  must  be  careful  that 
the  conduct  of  the  applicant  accords  with  his  profession,  according  to  the  apostle's 
words :  "  Conduct  yourselves  worthy  of  the  gospel  of  Christ — for  faith  without 
works  is  dead." 

X.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  BORDEAUX. 

The  Evangelical  Church  of  Bordeaux  accords,  in  its  belief,  with  the  Apostolic 
Church,  and  all  those  Churches  which  profess  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  only 
and  complete  Saviour.  It  is,  however,  more  especially  in  harmony  with  the  Evan- 
gelical Churches  of  the  Union  of  France,  in  whose  Confession  of  Faith  it  concurs. 
(Then  follows  the  profession.) 

Art.  2.  Only  those  who  truly  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  can  rightfully  belong  to  a 
Christian  Church. 

Consequently  those  who  wish  to  become  members  of  the  Church  must, 

1.  Examine  themselves  seriously  as  to  whether  they  are  in  the  faith. 

2.  In  case  they  judge  themselves  able  to  bear  testimony  to  this  faith,  they  mu'it 
make  known  their  desire  to  the  pastor,  who,  after  receiving  their  adherence  to  the 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1079 

Confession  of  Faith,  as  expressed  in  Article  i  of  the  present  constitution,  forwards 
it  to  the  council. 

Art.  3.  Having  complied  with  these  conditions,  the  pastor  makes  the  presenta- 
tion to  the  Church  at  the  next  meeting.  If  no  opjwsition  is  made,  their  names  are 
placed  upon  the  church  register  on  the  following  Sabiiath.  In  the  contrary  case, 
the  delay  may  not  exceed  one  month.  No  opposition  has  any  weight  unless  founded 
upon  facts. 

Art.  4.  A  person  loses  his  memhership  in  the  Church  either  when  he  openly  de- 
clares his  withdrawal  from  it,  or  when  he  virtually  withdraws  by  no  longer  sharing 
in  the  assemblies  of  the  congregation,  or,  finally,  when  he  either  ceases  to  hold  the 
faith  of  the  Church  or  dishonors  it  by  his  conduct. 

Art.  5.  The  Church  regards  the  table  prepared  in  her  midst,  for  the  celebration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  not  as  her  own,  but  as  belonging  to  the  Lord.  She  joyfuUv 
receives  in  her  communion,  on  their  own  responsibility,  all  who  truly  believe  in 
Jesus  Christ,  to  whatever  church  they  may  belong. 

XL    EVANGELICAL    CHURCHES    OF    ST.    FOY   {Gironde)    AND 
ST.  ANTOINE  {Dordogne). 

In  1854  these  two  neighboring  churches  adopted  a  common  constilulion,  from 
which  we  quote  two  articles,  that  which  concerns  their  connection  with  other 
churches  and  that  which  contains  their  special  profession  of  faith  as  distinct  fron) 
that  of  the  Churches  of  the  Union. 

Conceniiug  our  Connexion  with  other  Churches. 

Art.  31.  We  hold  spiritual  communion  with  all  churches  of  God  which,  in  what- 
ever place  or  of  whatever  denomination  they  may  be,  rest  upon  the  only  safe  foun- 
dation, Jesus  Christ  crucified.  But  we  are  most  closely  allied  to  the  "  French 
Evangelical  Churches  of  the  Union,"  as  established  by  their  first  synod  at  Paris,  in 
the  year  1849. 

Concerning  the  Confession  of  Faith. 

Art.  2.  The  principal  doctrines  which  we  find  revealed  in  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
tament are  those  truths  held  in  all  ages  by  the  Christian  Church,  and  proclaimed 
with  such  wonderful  harmony  by  the  different  churches  of  the  Reformation  in  their 
various  Confessions  of  Faith,  especially  in  that  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of  France, 
composed  in  1559. 

We  present  a  summary  of  these  doctrines  on  the  following  subjects:  the  full  in- 
spiration of  the  Sacred  VWitings;  the  divinity  and  personality  of  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  one  God  blessed  forever;  the  total  depravity  and  just  condemna- 
tion of  man  in  his  natural  condition,  in  consequence  of  Adam's  fall;  the  eternal 
election  by  divine  grace  ;  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  redemption  through 
his  blood;  his  intercession  for  us  as  Sovereign  High  Priest;  the  free  justification 
of  the  sinner  by  faith;  the  necessity  of  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the 
heart  for  the  regeneration  and  sanctification  of  the  children  of  God  ;  their  resurrec- 
tion or  transformation  for  eternal  life,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  descend  from 
heaven  ;  finally,  the  everlasting  punishment  of  the  wicked. 

Art.  22.  All  officers  of  the  Church  are  required  to  profess  strict  adherence  to 
its  doctrines  in  the  presence  of  a  general  assembly. 

XII.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  CLAIRAC. 
{^Department  of  Lot  and  Garonne.') 

This  Church  was  established  in  1850  "in  order  to  confess  its  Lord  and  Saviour 
and  to  unite  the  brethren  more  closely  by  the  bonds  of  Christian  charity." 

Art.  3.  It  adopts  as  an  exposition  of  its  faith  the  creed  of  the  Churches  of  St. 
Foy  and  St.  Antoine. 


,o8o  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Art.  4.  No  one  may  belong  to  the  church  unless  he  professes  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  conformably  to  this  confession,  and  does  not  dishonor  it  by  his  life. 

Art.  10.  The  pastor,  having  for  his  special  charge  the  preaching  of  the  word 
and  the  general  oversight  ofthe  spiritual  interests  of  the  Church,  must  also  care  for 
the  education  and  religious  instruction  of  the  children  of  the  congregation. 

Their  education  is  properly  under  the  care  of  their  parents,  who  are  responsible 
to  God  for  them ;  but  the  pastor  should  watch  over  them  and  see  that  they  under- 
stand, in  relation  to  the  Church,  their  duty  towards  God  and  the  commandments 
he  has  given  them  in  his  word,  so  that  they  may  acquit  themselves  worthily. 

The  children  must  receive  religious  instruction  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
pastor,  both  from  the  lessons  of  their  teacher  and  in  the  Sabbath-schools ;  and  this 
will  be  rendered  more  complete  by  especial  lectures  for  those  of  riper  years. 

This  course  of  religious  instruction  is  totally  independent  of  the  participation  in 
the  Lord's  Supper,  so  that  the  young  j)eople  brought  up  in  the  Church  will,  like 
other  Christians,  submit  to  the  conditions  set  forth  in  the  following  Anicles : 

Art.  II.  When  a  Christian  desires  to  enter  into  membership  with  the  Church, 
he  must -declare  his  intention  to  the  Council  either  directly  or  through  the  medium 
of  some  member  of  the  Church.  The  Council  will  then  charge  the  deacon  of  that 
section  of  which  the  applicant  is  a  resident,  to  satisfy  himself,  with  the  assistance 
of  two  members  of  the  Church  appointed  for  that  purpose,  that  he  professes  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  that  his  life  accords  with  his  profession.  Should  the  report 
of  its  delegates  be  favorable,  the  Council  decides  on  his  admission,  and  his  name 
is  inscribed  on  the  church  register  (Ps.  Ixxxviii.  6;    i  Tim.  v.  9). 

One  of  the  delegates,  moreover,  is  specially  charged  to  bring  the  newly-admitted 
member  into  brotherly  connection  with  the  other  members  of  the  Church. 

XIIL  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  D'ESPERANSSES. 
{^Department  of  Tarn.) 

The  constitution  of  this  Church  dates  from  1855,  and  rests  upon  the  double  prin- 
ciple of  a  profession  of  faith  and  a  disciplinary  government.  The  Confession  of 
Faith  is  that  of  the  "  Churches  of  the  Union." 

Art.  2.  All  persons  are  admitted  to  the  Church,  on  their  own  request,  who  ac- 
knowledge their  state  of  wretchedness  and  condemnation  in  the  sight  of  God,  and 
accept  as  their  only  hope  of  salvation  Jesus  Christ,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  the 
complete  Saviour  of  all  who  believe  in  him.  Every  request  for  admission  must  be 
addressed  to  the  Elders  and  communicated  to  the  Church. 

Art.  8.  Whilst  proclaiming  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers,  the   Church, 
according  to  the  word  of  God,  recognizes  certain  special  church  officers,  whose  ser- 
vices are  needed  both  for  its  welfare  arid  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's  reign  upon  . 
earth.  •  Amongst  these  officers  it  reckons  the  Elders  and  Deacons. 

Art.  16.  The  Church  considers  Bri]:)tism  and  Communion  as  divine  institutions. 

Art.  18.  The  government  of  the  Church  is  vested  in  the  Presbytery  and  General 
Assembly. 

Art.  27.  The  doctrines  propagated  by  the  Church  are  watched  over  by  the  Pres- 
liytery  and  subject  to  the  discipline. 

XIV.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  CANNES. 

[Department  of  Var.) 

In  the  year  1870  the  constitution  was  approved  by  the  Church  Assembly.  The 
Confession  of  Faith  is  like  that  of  the  "Churches  of  the  Union,"  with  an  addition 
respecting  the  resurrection  of  the  just  and  the  eternal  punishment  of  the  wicked. 

Art.  4.  Whoever,  confessing  himself  a  sinner  condemned  by  his  deeds,  professes 
with  the  Church  one  only  hope  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  does  not  disgrace  his  profession 
by  his  life,  hns  a  full  title  to  membership  in  the  Church,  and,  on  his  request,  will  be 
admitted  to  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Cannes. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  jogi 

Chapter  II. — Art.  6.  The  Church  permits  baptism  to  be  administered  either  to 
adults  or  to  children. 

The  Church   Officers. 

Art.  2.  This  Church  has  Pastors,  Elders  and  Deacons. 

Additional  Note. — If  any  officer  of  the  Church,  whether  pastor,  elder,  or  deacon, 
seriously  departs  from  its  Confession  of  Faith  after  having  been  sufficiently  exhorted 
I'y  the  Church  itself,  he  will  cease  to  offer  the  pledges  required  of  those  employed 
ill  its  service. 

XV.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  NICE  (1874). 

This  Church  has  adopted  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  "  Churches  of  the 
Union." 

Art.  2.  All  persons  who  declare  their  adherence  to  this  Confession  of  Faith, 
and  are  willing  to  bring  their  life  into  conformity  with  it,  may  be  admitted  as 
members. 

Art.  3.  Those  who  have  openly  abandoned  the  faith,  or  publicly  disgraced  it  by 
scmdalous  conduct,  are  no  longer  considered  as  belonging  to  the  Church. 

XVI.  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  LYONS. 

This  Church  has  no  special  Confession  of  P'aith,  but  has  adopted  that  of  the 
"  Cliurches  of  the  Union." 

It  does  not,  however,  require  an  explicit  adherence  to  this  from  either  its  mem- 
bers or  elders,  and  it  is,  in  fact,  not  even  known  to  many  members  of  the  Church. 
But,  on  the  ordination  of  a  pastor,  the  committee  on  ordination  satisfy  themselves 
beforehand  that  the  candidate  holds  to  the  Confession  of  Faith. 

Jean  Monod. 

REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  THE  CANTON  OF  VAUD. 
By  Prof.  VigueT. 

I.  The  first  symbolical  movement  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Vaudois  has 
for  its  foundation  the  ten  theses  upon  which  is  based  the  controversy  of  Lausanne 
(1-8  October,  1536). 

These  are  found  in  the  History  of  th5  Reformation  in  Switzerland,  by  Ruchnr 
(Vulliemos  edition,  1837),  vol.  IV.,  pp.  174-176;  modern  French  edition,  pp. 
505-507  (Latin);  and  in  the  Brunswick  edition  of  Calvin's  works,  vol.  IX., col. 
701,  702. 

It  is  true  that  these  theses  have  formed  no  part  in  the  subsequent  historical  devel- 
opment, and  organization  of  the  Vaudois  Church. 

II.  Immediately  after  their  conquest  by  Francis  I.,  the  Vaudois  adopted  the  forms 
and  followed  the  destinies  of  the  Bernese  Church.  Their  symbolical  books  of  the 
sixteenth  century  were  the  conclusions  of  the  Controversy  of  Berne,  1528,  the  acts 
of  the  Synod  of  Berne,  1532;  the  first  Helvetic  Confession  of  1536;  and,  above  ail, 
the  Great  Helvetic  Confession  (posterior)  of  1 556.  To  this  list  may  be  added  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  a  book  of  instruction,  which  is  still  known  in  their  country 
as  the  "  Catechism  of  Berne." 

The  famous  "  Formula  consensus  Ilelvetici,"  re-edited  by  T.  K.  Heidegger,  was 
adopted  by  Berne,  June  I4,  1675,  *"^  introduced  into  every  district.  About  1685 
Berne  was  active  in  redressing  the  troubles  among  the  Vaudois.*  On  the  28th  of 
December,  1699,  to  this  famous  confession  was  added  an  oath,  known  as  the  "Asso- 
ciation Oath,"  the  tenor  of  which  is  as  follows  •.\ 

*  Concerning  the  Consensus,  see  Records  of  the  troubles  which  occurred  in  Switzerland  upon  the 
issue  of  the  Amsterdam  Confession  in  1726.  Also  the  history  of  public  instruction  in  the  Vaudois 
country,  by  Andre  Gindroz,  Lausanne,  1853,  pp.  59-121. 

i  Records,  etc.,  38,  39. 


io82  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Form  of  Oath. 

"All  those  who  are  admiited  to  the  holy  ministry,  as  well  as  professors  and 
school-masters  in  the  cities  of  the  country  of  the  Vaudois,  take  oath." 

"All  those  who  are  admitted  to  the  holy  ministry,  as  well  as  all  professors  and 
schoolmasters  in  the  cities  of  the  country  of  the  Vaudois,  swear  to  maintain  and  de- 
fend the  floly  Evangelical  Reformed  Religion  and  divine  worship  as  they  have 
been  introduced  by  our  sovereign  lords,  of  the  city  and  canton  of  Berne,  and  con- 
tained in  the  Helvetic  Confession;  and  to  oppose  to  their  utmost  all  doctrines  con- 
trary to  the  said  religion,  as  Pietism,  Sociniatiiv't,  Arminiaiiism,  without  in  any 
way  supporting  or  countenancing,  in  this  respect,  those  who  are  or  may  be  infected 
by  them.     So  help  us  God." 

The  troubles  were  revived  and  aggravafed  by  the  separation  in  1716.  It  resulted 
in  a  decided  conflict  between  the  government  of  Berne  and  the  Academy  of  Lau- 
sanne. The  latter  yielded  completely,  and  submitted  to  the  Formula  Consensus  in 
1723- 

Soon  after  this  confession  fell  into  disuse  throughout  all  Switzerland.  On  April 
15,  1746,  the  Bernese  set  aside  the  "Oath  of  Association,"  and  adopted  in  its  place 
the  following  "  Oath  of  Religion  :  "* 

"All  those  who  are  admitted  to  the  holy  ministry  swear  and  promise  to  conforni 
to  the  Helvetic  Confession,  both  in  doctrine  and  worship,  to  support  and  defend  it 
with  all  their  powers  against  all  and  any,  neiiher  to  ])reach  nor  spread  any  contraiy 
dogma  or  sentiment,  but  to  resist  and  oppose,  conformably  to  the  duties  of  their 
charge,  all  those  who  should  undertake  so  to  do,  in  pul)lic  or  in  private;  not  to 
countenance  such,  directly  or  indirectly,  but  to  prevent,  and  in  case  of  resistance, 
denounce  them  before  a  competent  judge." 

This  oath  is  set  forth  in  the  Ecclesiastical  Ordinance  of  I773,f  in  the  following 
words : 

Forvi  of  Oath  which  each  one  7iinst  take  ^vho  is  consecrated  to  the  Holy  Ministry. 

"All  those  who  have  entered  the  sacred  ministry  swear  to  conduct  themselves,  in 
regard  to  doctrine  and  divine  service,  according  to  the  gospel  of  Christ,  in  con- 
formity with  the  Helvetic  Confession  ;  to  maintain  it  and  neither  to  preach  nor  spread 
any  dogma  or  new  opinion  contrary  to  it,  and  to  prevent,  as  much  as  in  their  power, 
and  conformable  with  their  calling,  all  those  who  should  undertake  so  to  do;  to  de- 
nounce to  the  proper  person,  all  those  who  persist  in  troubling  the  State  or  Church, 
and  to  grant  no  assistance  to  such  persons,  directly  or  indirectly." 

This  same  edition  of  the  "Ecclesiastical  Ordinance  for  the  Vaudois"  (Berne), 
1773,  which  was  the  last,  bears  the  following: 

Duty  of  Pastors  in  General.^ 

"  Zealous  to  preserve  our  holy  religion,  in  all  its  purity,  pastors  must  take  as  the 
foundation  of  all  their  doctrines,  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament;  they 
must  explain  them  according  to  the  symbolical  books,  received  by  our  Church,  which 
are  the  Decisions  of  the  Controversy  of  Berne  of  1528,  the  Acts  of  the  Synod  of 
Berne  of  1532,  and  the  Helvetic  Confession  of  1566.  Such  is  the  ground-work  of 
the  Evangelical  Doctrine  and  of  the  Christian  Morality  which  the  pastors  must 
teach,  and  to  which  all  their  instructions  must  conform. 

in.  When  the  Vaudois  were  liberated  from  the  power  of  the  Bernese,  by  the 
revolution  of  January  28,  1798,  they  became  part  of  the  "  Helvetian  Republic,  one 
and  inseparable,"  proclaimed  the  following  March.  Then  in  February,  1803,  was 
formed  the  "  Canton  of  Vaud,"  whose  first  grand  council  was  held  April  4,  1803. 
The  ecclesiastical  rule  was  maintained  without  change,  and  the  ecclesiastical  ordi- 
nance remained  in  force. 

*  A.  Gindroz,  O.  C,  p.  120.  t  Ecclesiastical  Ordinance,  Berne,  1773,  p.  76. 

I  Ecclesiastical  Ordinance,  p.  7. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1083 

The  constitution  of  1814  continues: 

Art.  36.  "  The  Evangelical  Reformed  Religion  is  the  religion  of  the  canton. 
The  constitution  pledges  to  the  Catholic  and  mixed  parishes  of  Echalleurs,  etc.,  the 
exercise  of  ihi  Catholic  religion,  according  to  the  present  usage." 

Art.  37.  All  the  laws,  decrees,  resolutions,  rules,  and  decisions  actually  in  ex- 
istence, remain  in  force,  until  they  are  legally  revoked. 

In  virtue  of  this  article  37,  the  Ecclesiastical  Ordinances  were  then  provisionally 
sustained;  \.\\vs> provision  lasted  until  the  ecclesiastical  law  of  1839. 

The  revision  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Ordinances,  prescribed  by  the  constitution  of 
1831,  for  a  space  often  years  or  more,  met  with  opposition  from  the  year  1832,  aixl 
the  support  or  rejection  of  the  Helvetic  Confession  was  one  of  the  most  important 
points  in  their  debates.  Nearly  all  the  clergy  and  devout  men  were  in  favor  of  its 
continuance;  while  the  radical  party,  wliich  now  assumes  position  and  influence, 
was  hostile  to  this  measure.  The  Grand  Council,  in  three  sittings,  23d  January, 
1839,  28ih  and  29th  November,  and  December,  1839,  rejected  the  confession  and 
all  rule  of  teaching  other  than  the  word  of  God. 

The  ecclesiastical  law  of  the  14th  of  December,  1839,  prescribes  the  oath  which 
must  be  taken  by  every  candidate  for  the  ministry;  and  the  religious  part  of  this 
oath,  which  is  the  least  extensive,  is  expressed  in  the  following  words: 

"  I  swear  to  discharge  conscientiously  the  duties  which  the  National  Reformed 
Evangelical  Church  imposes  upon  its  ministers,  and  to  preach  the  word  of  God  in 
its  purity  and  integrity,  as  it  is  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures"  (Art.  12). 

When  accusation  is  brought  against  any  minister,  on  the  ground  of  doctrine,  the 
proceedings  are  distinctly  marked  ;  but  in  reality  it  is  simply  required  that  "  The 
jurymen  give  a  conscientious  verdict"  (Art.  163). 

The  ecclesiastical  law  of  May  19,  1863,  modified  on  some  points  of  slight  im- 
portance by  a  decree  of  December  2,  1S74,  addetl  to  the  constitution  and  rule  of 
teaching  of  the  Church,  the  following  provisions,  which  constitute  its  first  two 
articles  : 

"Art.  I.  The  National  Church  of  the  Canton  of  Vaud  professes  the  Christian 
religion  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Reformed  Evangelical  communion" 
(Constitutional  Art.  10,  first  paragraph). 

"All  persons  are  members  of  this  Church  who  accept  the  principles  and  organized 
forms. 

"Art.  2.  The  Church  of  the  Canton  of  Vaud,  an  integral  part  of  the  Universal 
Church,  and  at  the  same  time  a  national  institution,  desires  chiefly  that  its  members 
should  lead  a  Christian  life. 

"  To  this  end  she  employs  only  spiritual  means  on  the  ground  of  religious  liberty, 
admitting  no  other  rule  of  instruction  than  the  word  of  God  contained  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures." 

The  oath  of  consecration  is  the  same,  which  is  prescribed  by  the  law  of  1839. 

IV.  The  free  Evangelical  Church  of  the  Canton  of  Vaud  was  organized  by  a 
representative  synod,  which  adopted,  March  12,  1847,  the  constitution  which  still 
governs  it.     The  profession  of  faith  forms  its  Second  Article. 

A  commission,  of  which  Vinet  was  a  member,  prepared  a  constitution  and  a  re- 
port; the  form  of  the  profession  of  faith,  and  part  of  the  report  there  referred  to, 
have  been  inserted  in  the  works  of  Vinet,  entitled  :  "  Religious  Liberty  and  Eccle- 
siastical Questions."     Paris,  1854;  pp.  63S-659. 

The  creed  adopted  by  the  .synod  is  the  same  as  the  given  form  with  a  few 
additions. 

The  article  of  the  constitution  is  worded  thus :  The  General  Assembly  of  each 
church  is  composed  of  all  the  men  belonging  to  said  church  who  are  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  have  fully  comprehended  its  doctrines  and  institutions,  and  formally 
declared  their  adherence  to  it. 

The  form  of  this  declaration  is  regulated  by  each  church. 

Beside,  the  candidates  who  wish  their  names  entered  in  the  register  of  the  synod, 
as  ministers  and  candidates  for  the  holy  ministry,  are  obliged  to  be  examined  as  to 
their  religious  life,  their  calling  to  the  ministry,  their  doctrine  and  their  ecclesiastical 


io84  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

principles,  by  a  committee  composed  of  the  synodical  commission,  with  pastors  and 
elders.  At  the  close  of  this  examination  the  candidate  must  "  declare  his  cordial 
adhesion  to  the  doctrines  and  institutions  of  the  Free  Church"  (Constitution,  Art. 
19).     This  pledge  is  verbal. 

The  elders  do  not  make  any  special  declaration,  since,  chosen  by  the  General 
Assembly  from  its  body,  they  have  already  declared  their  adherence  to  the  constitu- 
tion and  Confession  of  Faith  in  becoming  members  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Beside  the  works  quoted  in  these  notes,  the  reader  may  consult  with  profit  an 
article  of  M.  F.  Chaponniere,  in  the  "  Encyclopedia  of  Religious  Science,"  by  Mr. 
Lichtenberger,  vol.  vi.,  parts  26  and  27,  pp.  150-162  (Paris,  1879),  entitled, 
"  Helvetic  Confessions." 

Lausanne,  July,  1879. 

INDEPENDENT  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  NEUCHATEL. 

BY   M.  JACOTTET. 

First  Question. — A.  The  ancient  Reformed  Church  of  Neuchatel  has  never  put 
forth  any  special  Confession  of  Faith,  and  has  even  refused  to  admit  the  formula  of 
the  Helvetic  consensus  (assembly).  The  assembly  of  pastors,  who  were  then  the 
governing  body  of  the  Church,  considered  that  the  Holy  Scripture,  the  forms  used 
in  baptism  and  the  communion,  and  the  Apostles'  Creed,  were  fully  adequate  to 
express  the  faith  of  the  Church,  and  it  remained  under  this  rule  without  any  serious 
schisms  or  errors  of  doctrine  having  arisen  from  the  time  of  the  Reformation  until 
the  political  revolution  of  1848. 

At  this  period  the  Church  government  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  Assembly 
into  those  of  the  Synod,  composed  of  315  lay  members  and  215  ministers. 

This  Synod,  to  wh(;m  exclusively  (according  to  Article  4  of  the  law)  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Church  in  spiritual  matters  was  intrusted  in  May,  1851,  in  reply  to 
a  petition  from  a  certain  number  of  members  of  the  Parish  of  Ponts,  which  inquired 
if  an  abridged  Confession  of  Faith  would  not  be  advantageous  and  even  necessary, 
made  the  following  decision  : 

"  Our  Church  finds  its  rule  of  faith  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  simple  Con- 
fession of  Faith  in  the  forms  of  baptism  and  the  communion,  and  in  the  Apostles' 
Creed." 

B.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1873,  the  Grand  Council  of  the  Republic  and  Canton 
of  Neuchatel  passed  a  nev/  law  regulating  the  relation  of  Church  and  State. 

Article  12  is  thus  expressed:  "  Liberty  of  conscience  in  matters  of  religion  is  in- 
violable ;  it  may  neither  be  fettered  by  regulations,  vows,  or  promises,  by  disciplin- 
ary penalties,  by  formulas  or  a  creed,  nor  by  any  measures  whatsoever." 

The  promulgation  of  this  law,  which  would  have  ruined  the  Church  by  depriving 
it  of  the  pow<»r  to  maintain  the  preaching  of  a  pure  gospel,  produced  the  movement 
in  favor  of  separation  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Independent  Evan- 
gelical  Church  of  Neuchatel. 

The  constitution  adopted  by  the  Constituent  Synod  in  the  session  of  January  15, 
1874,  and  afterwards  submitted  to  the  ratification  of  the  parishes,  by  whom  it  was 
unanimously  adopted,  contains  as  Article  2  the  following  Confession  of  Faith : 

Faithful  to  the  holy  truth  which  the  apostles  preached  and  the  reformers  have 
restored  to  light,  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Neuchatel  acknowledges  as  the  only 
source  and  rule  of  its  faith  the  sacred  writings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and 
proclaims,  with  all  Christian  churches,  the  great  truths  of  salvation  contained  in  the 
creed  called  the  Apostles'  Creed :  "  We  believe  in  God  the  Father,  who  has  saved 
us  by  the  life,  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  only-begotten  Son,  our 
only  Lord,  and  who  regenerates  us  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  we  confess  this  faith  by 
use  of  the  sacraments  of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  in  obedience  to  the  com- 
mandments of  the  Lord." 

Second  Qukstion. — Until  1848  the  ratification  of  the  baptismal  vow  was  con- 
sidered an  indispensable  act  on  entering  the  Church. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  10S5 

But  neither  the  Grand  Council  nor  the  Synod  has  explained  what  must  be  under- 
stood by  accepting  the  forms  of  the  Protestant  Church;  so  that  it  is  sufficient  in 
reality  to  be  born  members  of  the  Protestant  church,  or  to  declare  that  one  ac- 
cepts its  views  in  order  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  ecclesiastic  electors. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  ministers,  on  their  ordination,  take  the  following  oath  : 

1.  To  advance  the  honor  and  glory  of  God  above  all  things. 

2.  To  risk  life,  body  and  property,  if  necessary  to  maintain  his  word. 

4.  To  be  ill  unity  with  the  brethren  in  the  doctrines  of  religion  and  in  the  holy 
ministry. 

5.  To  avoid  all  sectarianism  and  schism  in  the  Church. 

Third  Question.  Article  3  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Independent  Church  reads 
thus  : 

All  persons  who  have  testified  a  desire  to  enter  the  Church  and  adhere  to  its  con- 
stitution, may  become  members  of  the  Independent  Evangelical  Church  of  Neu- 
chatel,  after  receiving  baptism  and  the  communion. 

Entrance  into  membership  does  not  take  place  in  the  same  manner  in  all  the 
Churches,  and  there  is  no  uniform  way  adopted  by  the  Synod. 

In  most  cases  it  is  not  accomplished  by  signature,  but  members  are  also  admitted 
on  declarations  made  to  a  past<jr,  elder  or  member  of  the  Cliurch  who  certifies  it. 

Oil  their  ordination  the  ministers  take  the  same  oath  which  was  in  use  in  the 
ancient  Church  (see  second  question). 

The  pastors  also  premise,  on  the  day  of  their  installation,  to  acquit  themselves 
faithfully  and  conscientiously  of  the  duties  of  their  office,  in  conformity  with  the 
constitution  (Articles  i,  2,  23). — Law  of  the  Synod,  June  9,  1875. 

The  professors  of  theology  declare  on  their  installation  that  they  adhere  indi- 
vidually to  the  principles  and  profession  of  faith  of  the  Church,  and  that  they  will 
conform  in  their  teaching  to  this  profession  of  faith. —  (Law  of  the  Synod,  June 

IS.  '877-) 

The  Elders  engage  on  their  entrance  into  office  faithfully  to  perform  their  ser- 
vices in  accordance  with  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  tiie  Church  Constitution.  (Law 
of  the  Synod  of  June  25,  1879,  simply  confirming  the  custom.) 

Leopold  Jacottet, 
yuly,  1879.  Pastor  of  Chaux-de-Fonds, 

Neuchatel. 

THE  REFORMED   CHURCH  OF  GENEVA. 

Reply  for  the  Canton  of  Geneva  to  the  questions  of  the  Committee 
appointed  by  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Council,  to  report  on  the  Confes- 
sions of  Faith  of  the  Reformed  Church  throughout  the  world. 

1ST  Question. —  What  Confessions  of  Faith  have  been  adopted  suecessively  by  the 
Reformed  Churches  of  Geneva  ? 

Reply. 

1st  and  2d. — First  Catechism  of  Calvin,  entitled,  "  Instruction  and  Confession  of 
Faith  used  in  the  Church  of  Geneva,"  pulilished,  in  French,  at  Geneva,  in  Februaiy, 
1537;  in  Latin,  at  Basle,  in  March,  1538. 

First  Confession  of  Faith  of  Calvin,  entitled,  "Confession  of  Faith,  which  all 
inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Geneva  and  inhal>itants  of  the  country  must  swear  to  guard 
and  hold;  extract  of  the  instructions  which  are  in  use  in  the  Church  of  the  said 
city,"  published  in  French,  at  Geneva,  in  April,  1537. 

The  first  Confession  of  Faith  of  Geneva  has,  for  a  long  time,  been  supposed  to  i>e 
the  work  of  Farel.  M.  Alb.  Rilliet  has  proved,  through  several  historians,  that  it 
was  composed  by  Calvin,  and  presented  by  Farel,  who  was  then  the  chief  minister 
of  the  Lower  Council  of  the  Republic. 

'     These   two  documents   have    been   ]niblished   in    French   by  M.  M.  Alb.  Rilliet 
and   Theoph.   Dufour,  edited   by  M.  Georg,  Geneva,   1S7S;    in   Latin,  in   Calvin'i 


io86  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

work";,  edited  by  B:ium,  Reuss,  and  Cunitz,  Brunswick,  1863,  and  following  years, 
Vol.  v.,  pp.  313-362.  The  confession  alone  is  found  in  this  last  work  in  French, 
Vol.  IX.,  pp.  693-700.  M.  Schaff  mentions  the  two  documents  in  his  "  Creeds  of 
Christendom,"  Vol.  1.,  pp.  467  and  468. 

3d.  Second  Catechism,  of  Calvin,  entitled,  "The  Catechism  of  the  Church  of 
Geneva,"  that  is  to  say,  the  torniula  for  instructing  children  in  Christianity;  this  is  in 
the  style  of  a  dialogue,  where  the  minister  questions  and  the  child  responds;  and 
in  Latin,  Catechismus  Ecclesias  Genevensis  hoc  est.  Formula  audiendi  pueros  in 
doctrina  Christi.  Autore  Joanne  Calvino."  Published  in  France,  between  1542 
and  1545  (it  is  not  known  whether  there  was  an  edition  1545);  in  Latin  in  1545. 
Re-printed  in  two  languages  in  Calvin's  works,  edited  by  Baum,  Cunitz,  and  Reuss, 
Vol.  VL,  pp.  I-160;  in  Latin  in  Niemeyer's  "  Collectio  Confessionum,"  Leipsic, 
1840,  pp.  125—190.  Analyzed  in  Schaff 's  "  Creeds  of  Christendom,"  Vol.  L,  pp. 
486-9. 

We  find  at  the  end  of  the  Catechism,  since  1553,  a  formula  for  the  reception  of 
the  holy  Communion,  entitled,  "  The  manner  of  questioning  children  who  wish  to 
receive  the  Communion  of  N.  C.  J.  C,"  followed  by  a  "  Review  of  the  Catechism," 
which  the  child  must  recite  solemnly. 

This  restime  comprises  the  Apostles'  Creed,  beside  the  Ten  Commandments  and 
the  Lord's  Prayer. 

In  the  Baptismal  Liturgy  the  Apostles'  Creed  is  recited  by  the  minister  as  a 
summary  of  Christian  doctrine. 

The  formula  spoken  of,  whose  wording  in  the  Catechism,  the  New  Testament, 
and  the  Psalter  of  1562  is  slightly  different  and  more  finished  in  style,  appears  in 
various  forms  in  Calvin's  works,  edited  by  Baum,  Cunitz,  and  Reuss,  Vol.  VI., 
pp.  147-160. 

4th.  Consensus  Tigurinus,  entitled,  "  Consensio  mutua  in  re  Sacramentaria  min- 
istrorum  Tigurinas  Ecclesice  et  J.  Calvini  ministri  Genevensis  ecclesite  jam  nunc  ab 
ipsis  autoribus  edita,"  published  in  Latin  at  Zurich,  1549. 

There  are  twenty-six  articles  fixed  at  Zurich  in  an  interview  between  Calvin, 
P'arel,  and  Bullinger.  These  are  found  in  Calvin's  works,  edited  by  Baum,  Cunitz, 
and  Reuss,  Vol.  VII.,  pp.  689-748,  and  also  in  Niemeyer,  pp.  191-217.  They  are 
explained  in  Schaff,  Vol.  I.,  p.  471. 

5th.  Consensus  Genevensis,  entitled,  "  De  seterna  Dei  prsedestinatione  qua  in  salu- 
tem  alios  ex  hominibus  elegit,  alios  suo  exitio  reliquit:  item,  de  providentia  qua  res 
humanes  gubernat.  Consensus  pastorum  Genevensis  Ecclesise  a  Jo.  Calvino  ex- 
positus,"  published  in  Latin  in  Geneva  in  1 552.  Drawn  up  by  Calvin  immediately 
after  the  attack  by  Bolsec.  This  document  was  reprinted  in  Calvin's  works.  Vol. 
VIII.,  pp.  249-366,  also  in  Niemeyer,  2i8-3ro. 

6th.  Confession  of  the  Italian  Church  of  Geneva. — This  document  which  treated 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  arranged  by  Calvin  in  1558,  and  given  to  the 
Italian  Church,  May  18. 

It  occupies  nearly  a  page  in  an  octavo  volume.  It  is  published  in  French  in 
Gabarel's  "  History  of  the  Geneva  Church,"  Vol.  II.,  pp.  225,  226;  in  Italian  and 
Latin  in  Calvin's  works,  edited  by  Baum,  Cunitz,  and  Reuss,  col.  384,  388,  Geneva, 
1855- 

7lh.  Student's  Confession  of  Faith,  entitled,  in  French,  •'  Formula  of  Confession 
of  Faith,  to  which  the  scholars  must  assent,  in  the  hands  of  the  Rector;  "  in  Latin, 
"  Formula  Confessionis  fidei  cui  de  adstringere  tenentur  omnes  studios  publicte 
scholse  coram  rectore,"  published  in  1559. 

This  Confession,  arranged  by  Calvin,  occupies  eight  full  pages  in  octavo,  and 
comprises  twenty-one  paragraphs.  It  is  found  reproduced  in  two  languages  in  Cal- 
vin's works,  edited  by  Baum,  Cunitz,  and  Reuss,  Vol.  X.,  p.  65. 

8th.  Galilean  Confession,  entitled,  in  Latin,  "  Gallicarum  Ecclesiarum  Confessio 
Christianissimo  Carolo  IX.  regi  anno  MDLXI.  exhibta." 

This  Confession  was  prepared  by  Calvin  for  the  Church  in  Paris  in  1557,  amended 
by  Ant.  de  Chandieu,  and  adopted  at  the  First  National  Synod  of  Paris,  1559,  re- 
vised at  the  Seventh  National  Synod  at  Rochelle,  1571.  The  Latin  text,  printed 
for  the  first  time  in  1566,  is  found  in  Niemeyer,  pp.  327   339. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1087 

The  French  translation  of  the  Recension  of  Paris  (thirty-five  articles)  is  entitled, 
"Confession  of  Faith,  made  with  mutual  consent,  by  the  Churches  which  are  scat- 
tered through  France  and  who  abstain  from  papal  idolatries."  This  is  found  in 
Calvin's  works.  Vol.  IX.,  p.  739. 

The  French  translation  of  the  Recension  of  La  Rochelle  (forty  articles)  is  entitled, 
"Confession  of  Faith  made  with  mutual  consent  by  the  Churches  who  desire  to 
live  in  accordance  with  the  purity  of  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  This  is 
found  in  Niemeyer,  pp.  311-326,  and  in  Schaff,  Vol.  IIL,  pp.  356-382,  and  also  in 
an  English  version. 

9th.  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  entitled,  "  Confessio  et  exposito  simplex  Or- 
thodoxse  fidei  et  dogniatum  Calholicorum  syncerse  Religionis  Christiana;  Concorditer 
ab  Ecclesiae  Christi  Minislris,  qui  sunt  in  Helvetia  .  .  .  edita  in  hoc,  ut  universis 
testentur  fidelibus,  quod  in  unitate  verse  et  antiqua;  Ciiristi  Ecclesise  perstent,  neque 
ulla  nova  aut  erronea  dogmata  spargant,  atque  ideo  eliam  nihil  consortii ;  cum  ullis 
sectis  aut  hrerc^ibus  habeaiit."  Compiled  at  Zurich  in  1566  by  Bullinger.  It  is 
found  in  Niemeyer,  pp.  462-536,  and  in  Schaff,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  233-306,  with  an 
English  version. 

loth.  Canons  of  Dordrecht,  entitled,  "  Sententia,  de  Divina  Prscdestinatione,  et 
Annexis  et  Capitibus,  quam  Synodus  Dordrechtana  Verbo  Dei  consentaiieam,  atque 
in  Ecclesiis  Reformatis  hactenus  receptam  esse,  judicat,  quibusdani  Articulis  ex- 
posita."  Fixed  by  the  National  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, held  at  Dordrecht,  in  1618  and  1619.  It  is  found  in  Niemeyer,  690-728,  and 
in  Schaff,  V(»l.  IIL,  pp.  550-580,  with  an  English  version. 

nth.  Anti-Arminian  Theses  of  1649. — There  are  five  paragraphs,  comprising 
fifteen  positive  articles  and  ten  negative  articles,  bearing  upon  original  sin,  re- 
demption, grace,  etc.,  and  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  Lower  Council,  by  an 
assembly  of  pastors,  after  six  months'  discussion.  This  document  is  reproduced  in 
Gabarel's  "  History  of  the  Geneva  Church,"  Vol.  IIL,  1862,  pp.  121-123,  note. 

1 2th.  Consensus  Hclvelique,  entitled,  "  Formula  Consensus  Ecclesiarum  Helveti- 
carum  Reformalarum,  circa  Doctrinam  de  Gratia  universali  et  connexa,  aliaque  non- 
nulla  capita." 

This  document,  compiled  in  1675  by  Heidegger,  assisted  by  Francis  Turretin,  was 
printed  in  Latin  and  German,  at  Zurich,  in  1714.  It  is  found  in  Latin  in  "  Nie 
meyer,"  pp.  729-739. 

13th.  Cathecism  de  la  Venerable  Compagnie,  entitled,  "Catechism  intended  par- 
ticularly for  the  use  o^  Young  People  who  are  preparing  to  participate  in  the  Holy 
Communion;"  published  first  at  Geneva,  in  1788.  (The  Larger  Catechism  was 
completed  by  a  Small  Catechism  for  children,  neither  so  important,  nor  of  so  much 
authority.) 

A  revision  of  the  Larger  Catechism,  including  seven  important  changes  (in 
the  latitudinarian  and  utilitarian  sense),  was  pul)lished  in  1810,  after  long  delibera- 
tions. The  committee  appointed  by  the  Assembly  of  pastors  held  eighty-five  ses- 
sions. The  Cateciiism  of  i8io  was  directed  as  a  simple  revision  of  the  Catechism 
of  1788,  and  consequently  they  were  spared  the  annoyance  of  submitting  it  to  the 
sanction  of  the  French  government,  of  which  the  Church  of  Geneva  was  then  a 
dependent. 

A  new  revision  of  the  "Catechism"  was  published  in  1817,  but  the  changes  it 
contained  were  established  without  repeal  by  the  committee  appointed  by  the  Assem- 
Ijly,  without  the  Assembly  itself  and  the  Councils  of  State  being  called  to  examine 
and  sanction  them. 

14th.  Declaration  of  the  principles  of  1849,  set  forth  by  the  First  Consistory, 
elected  according  to  the  forms  prescribed  by  the  Geneva  Constitution  of  1847,  and 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  "Original  Law  for  tlie  National  Protestant  Church  of 
Geneva,"  definitely  adopted  June  7,  1849. 

The  document  is  worried  thus  : 

Article  i.  The  National  Protestant  Church  of  Geneva  receives  as  the  word  of 
God,  and  as  divinely  ins]iired,  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
She  makes  it  the  founda'.ion  and  only  infallible  and  entirely  sufficient  rule  of  faith 
and  life. 


io88  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Art.  2.  Established  on  this  basis,  she  acknowledges  in  all  her  members  the  right 
of  free  inquiry. 

Art.  3.  This  Church,  instituted  for  the  advancement  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  by 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  has  for  its  special  mission  to  provide  for  the  interests  of  the 
members  who  compose  it. 

Art.  4.  She  admits  as  her  only  rule  of  instruction,  the  teaching  of  God  con- 
tained in  the  revealed  books. 

Art.  5.  She  is  united  in  a  spiritual  communion,  by  a  bond  of  Christian  brother- 
hood, to  the  Evangelical  Churches  founded  on  the  authority  of  the  word  of  God. 

(Cf.  F.  Chaponniere,  "  The  question  of  the  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the  body  of 
contemporaneous  Protestantism."  Genoa,  1867,  Vol.  I.,  examination  of  facts,  p.  155.) 

15th.  Declaration  of  the  principles  and  profession  of  the  Evangelical  Church 
(Free)  of  Geneva,  founded  in  1849. 

The  text  (a  preamble  and  seventeen  articles)  has  been  reproduced  by  Chapon- 
niere, in  the  works  already  cited,  Vol.  I.,  page  161-163,  and  by  Schaft"  (works 
noted),  Vol.  III.,  p.  781-786  (with  an  English  version). 

[Note. — The  Church  of  the  Testimony,  founded  in  1820,  by  Dr.  Caesar  Malan, 
joined  to  the  Secession  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland.  The  Church  called 
du  Bourg  de  Tour,  founded  1877,  was  Congregational,  not  Presbyterian — it  had  no 
Confession  of  Faith.] 

2d  Question. —  What  have  been,  or  are  still,  the  forms  or  methods  of  adhesion  in 
the  Confessions  of  Faith  above  mentioned  ? 

Reply. 

National  Protfstant  Church  of  Geneva, 

May  24,  1536.     General  and  Collective  Declaration  of  the  General  Council. 

The  citizens  assembled  in  General  Council  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Peter,  swear, 
with  one  voice,  with  uplifted  hands,  "  that  they  wish  to  live  in  accordance  with  the 
Holy  Scriptural  law."  However,  many  of  the  citizens  protested  beforehand  against 
the  measures  of  religious  unification  which  restricts  their  liberty  of  conscience. 

1537-  The  general  and  personal  adherence,  obligatory  upon  all  citizens,  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith  of  Calvin. 

In  April,  the  Lower  Council  authorized  the  publication  of  this  Confession  of 
Faith,  which  begins  with  the  following  words :  "All  the  citizens  of  the  city  of  Gen- 
eva, and  the  subjects  of  the  country,  must  swear  to  guard  and  hold  it."  All  the 
members  of  the  Lower  Council  (save  one)  at  St.  Peter's,  swear  fidelity  to  this  con- 
fession. The  Lower  Council  ordered  further,  that  the  magistrates  of  districts  must 
spread  copies  of  the  confession  in  their  districts,  then  go  from  house  to  house  to  re- 
ceive promises.  A  part  of  the  population  resisted  ;  the  indifferent  ones  thought  the 
measure  superfluous ;  the  crypto-Catholics,  the  Anabaptists,  and  the  Free-thinkers 
thought  it  excessive. 

July  29,  1537.  The  Lower  Council  decided  to  atlminister  first,  the  oath  to  the 
magistrates,  the  rebellious  ones  having  already  been  dismissed ;  then  to  invite  the 
magistrates  successively  to  bring  to  St.  Peter's  those  from  their  districts  to  whom  the 
oath  should  be  administered,  the  refractory  ones  being  excommunicated  and  banished 
from  the  district.  This  arrangement  proved  to  be  impossible,  entire  streets  refusing 
the  oath.     The  troubles  foreseen  among  the  rebels  are  not  mentioned. 

1538.  Reaction.  January,  1538,  the  Lower  Council  decided  that  the  preachers 
ought  to  refuse  the  communion  to  no  one,  not  even  to  those  who  refused  the  oath, 
and  in  April,  1538,  Calvin  and  Farel  were  themselves  banished. 

In  1539  the  citizens  going  to  the  public  hall  took  back  the  original  act  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith  of  Calvin,  and  struck  out  from  it  all  the  pages  reading  thus 
(with  the  consent  of  the  magistrates) :  that  they  considered  themselves  relieved  from 
the  oath  of  1537. 

1 541.  System  of  Ecclesiastical  Ordinances.  November  20,  two  thousand  citizens 
of  Geneva,  assembled  in  General  Council  at  Geneva,  approve,  by  a  majority  of 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1089 

voice'",  (notwithstanding  the  public  opposition  of  many  prominent  citizens  ami  llie  secret 
opposition  of  some  slightly  inlluential  members)  tiie  F-cclesiastical  Ordinance  which 
had  been  prepared  by  Calvin,  recently  recalled  to  (.ieneva,  and  discussed  for  two 
months  in  the  State  Assembly. 

The  following  is  the  form  of  confession  that  the  Ordinance  required  for  the  min 
isters,  elders,  and  laymen  : 

Ministers. — After  the  opening  clauses  of  the  Ordinances,  they  must  promise  "to 
receive  and  keep  the  approved  doctrine  of  the  Church."  This  text  being  exam- 
ined in  General  Council,  June  3,  1576,  they  promise  to  hold  the  doctrine  of  the 
pro])hets  and  apostles,  as  it  is  comf)rised  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  of  which 
doctrine  (continues  the  formula)  we  have  a  summary  in  our  Catechism. 

Among  the  eighteen  crimes  altogether  intolerable  in  a  minister,  heresy  appears 
first  in  the  Ordinances. 

In  the  special  examination  of  the  country  churches  (initiated  in  1546),  it  is  stated 
that  one  end  of  these  examinations  is  to  see  "  whether  the  resident  minister  had  ad- 
vanced any  new  doctrine  opposed  to  the  purity  of  the  gospel." 

Elders. — Their  pledges  (fixed  by  the  Ordinances  revised  in  1561)  were  not  dog- 
matic. They  were  simply  added  to  the  Confessional  form  established  for  the  benefit 
of  the  lay  professors. 

Laymen. — No  one  should  be  admitted  to  the  Holy  Communion  before  having 
made  a  profession  of  faith  before  the  Church,  and  recited  all  the  Catechism,  a.s  it 
was  arranged  in  1553  (in  a  loud  voice).  We  have  not  been  abl^  to  decide  the  exact 
period  at  which  this  custom  fell  into  disuse. 

Every  year  the  pastors  should  visit  the  families,  examining  each  one  as  to  his 
faith.  Afterwards  they  should  assemble  their  parishioners  in  the  churches,  before 
the  celebration  of  the  communion,  and  question  them  on  the  Catechism.  (This 
custom  lasted  until  the  seventeenth  century,  at  which  period  it  lost  its  dogmatic  and 
disciplinary  character.) 

The  parishioners  whose  belief  was  found  not  to  be  orthodox  were  exhorted,  and 
in  serious  cases  excommunicated.     Excommunication  was  suppressed  in  1766. 

Heretics  or  sectarians,  who  propagated  their  principles,  fell  under  the  laws  of 
Frederick  H.  They  were  summoned  before  the  Consistory  :  if  they  were  amen- 
able, they  were  sent  away  without  scandal;  if  they  were  opinionated,  they  were 
admonished,  then  excommunicated,  'and  sent  to  the  magistrates,  who  could  con- 
demn them  to  the  whip,  banishment,  or  even  to  death.  (This  rule  was  modified, 
in  1632.) 

1549.     The  Church  of  Geneva  adopted  the  "  Consensus  Tigurinus." 

1552.     The  pastors  in  ofitice  ought  to  sign  the  "Consensus  (Jenevensis,"  called! 
forth  by  the  opposition  of  Bolsec ;   but  it  is  intended  that  this  doctrine  shall  not  be- 
J)inding  on  fuiure  generations.     November  9th,  the  Lower  Council  ordered  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  "Christian  Institution"  (of  Calvin)  is  "the  doctrine  of  God,"  and. 
that  none  ought  to  be  allowed  to  contradict  it. 

1556.  Calvin  requested  that  the  excommunicated  should  be  banished,  but  this, 
was  not  granted. 

1557.  The  22d  of  November,  the  Grand  Council  condemned  to  a  year's  bani.sh- 
ment  those  who  stayed  away  from  the  communion,  from  inditTerence,  or  who,  being; 
excommunicated,  refused  to  humble  themselves  iK-fore  the  Consistory. 

155S.  It  was  decided  that  the  members  of  the  Italian  Church  of  Geneva  .should: 
sign  the  Italian  Confession.  Those  who  refused  their  signature  should  be  banished ; 
those  w)*j,  after  having  signed,  withdrew  their  support,  should  be  put  to  death. 
(This  special  confession  fell  later  into  disuse.) 

1559.  It  was  decided  that  the  students  should  subscribe  in  future,  in  the 
hands  of  the  rector,  to  the  "Special  Confession  of  the  Students."      (Abolished  in. 

1576.)  .      ,     ,      .       „ 

1566.     Geneva  sanctioned  the  "Second  Helvetic  Confession. 
1576.     The  subscribing  by  the  students  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  from  the"  Pas- 
tor's Book,"  is  abolished  at  the  request  of  a  number  of  pastors,  because  this  formal 
ity  ijrevcntcd  the  Lutherans  and  the  Catholics  from  coming  to  study  at  Geneva,  and 
69 


I090  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

"  that  it  is  unreasonable  to  press  a  young  conscience,  still  irresolute,  to  sign  that 
which  it  does  not  yet  understand.'' 

1620.  March  i/tli,  tlie  Assembly  of  Pastors  sanctions,  without  any  opposition, 
the  "  Canons  of  Dordrecht." 

1632.  At  this  time,  llie  government  of  (ieneva  ceased  to  apply  strictly  the  Anti- 
Heretic  Code.  Those  who  teach  false  dogmas  are  not  put  to  death  or  even  ban- 
ished ;  but  their  writings  are  suppressed,  and  they  are  forbidden  to  speak,  and  are 
virtually  cut  off  from  intercourse  with  their  neighbors. 

1647.     Disputes  between  Calvinism  and  Arminianism. 

1647.  August  6th,  the  Assembly,  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  Arminianism. 
decided  to  require  from  every  candidate  for  the  ministry  tlie  following  promise  : 
"  to  teach  in  conformity  with  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht,  and  to  reject  the  doctrine  ot 
Ihe  universality  of  grace,  and  the  non-imputation  of  Adam's  sin." 

1649.  The  Assembly  proposed,  at  the  request  of  the  Council,  "Anti-Arminian 
Theses."     (See  above.) 

The  moderator  and  secretary  of  the  Assembly  signed  these  theses,  June  1st,  in  the 
name  of  all  the  members,  witli  the  following  words,  "  Sic  sentio,  sic  docebo,  et  nil 
Cf)ntraruim  hisce  docebo,  vel  publice  vel  privatim." 

Alexander  Morris,  Professor  of  Theology,  who  leaned  to  the  ideas  of  Saumur, 
must  also  sign  these  theses  with  the  formula,  "  Sic  sensi,  sic  sentio."  He  imme- 
diately set  out  for  Holland  of  his  own  accord. 

1659.  The  Assembly  decided  that  all  its  members  (pastors  of  churches  and  pro- 
fessors in  academies)  should  make  the  following  promise:  "You  promise  to  avoid 
the  innovations  of  the  doctrine  of  ihe  universality  of  grace,  and  the  non-imputation 
of  Adam's  sin.  You  will  teach  nothing  that  does  not  conform  to  the  '  Confession 
of  Faith  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of  France,'  and  the  decisions  of  the  Synod  of 
Dordrecht  and  to  our  Catechism." 

This  promise  was  imposed  on  Professor  de  Rodon  in  1663,  and  in  1667  on 
Rogere,  the  divinity  student.- 

i66g.  Professor  Mcstrezat  and  pastor  I-ouis  Fronchin,  having  declared  themselves, 
in  the  Assembly,  favorable  to  the  ideas  of  .Saumur,  the  Lower  Council  ordereil  (June 
25th)  partus  and  professors  to  conform  themselves  to  the  previous  dogmatic  regula- 
tions, but  "  to  abstain  from  combating  opposing  opinions."  This  restriction  was 
withdrawn  (August  4th)  at  the  request  of  the*  majority  of  the  Assembly.  August 
I3lh,  tlie  Assembly  decide  that  all  candidates  for  the  holy  ministry  should  sign  the 
"  Theses  of  1649,"  with  the  formula  "  Sic  docebo  et  nil  contrarium  hisce  docebo  vel 
jjublice,  vel  privatim."  August  28th,  seven  members  of  the  Assemljly  who  had  not 
yet  signed  the  said  Theses,  are  forced  to  do  so  by  the  Assembly  and  Council.  Sep- 
tember 17th,  Robert  Chouet,  Professor  of  Philosophy,  is  forcetl  to  sign,  not  the 
Theses  of  1649,  but  the  promise  to  teach,  if  occasion  so  offers,  conformably  with 
these  Theses.  December  loth,  the  Grand  Council  of  Two  Hundred  decide  that, 
in  future,  the  said  Theses  will  be  signed  with  this  formula  :  "  Sic  sentio,  sic  profiteer, 
siic  docebo,  et  non  contrarium  docebo."  This  decision  remained  in  force  until 
1706. 

1 67 1.  The  old  pastor  Mussard  gave  up  his  right  of  membership  in  the  Assembly, 
l>ecause  he  had  not  signed  the  Theses  of  1649. 

1683.  The  celebrated  J.  Le  Clerc,  l^eing  refused  the  chair  on  account  of  his 
Arminian  ideas,  went  to  live  in  Holland. 

1678.  February  15th  and  22d,  aUer  twelve  sessions,  during  which  there  was  much 
discussion,  the  Assembly  adopted  the  Helvetic  Consensus,  with  strictures  on  some 
grounds  of  this  formula. 

1679.  January  3d,  the  Council  having  ratified  the  vote  of  the  Assemljly,  it  is  de- 
cided that  the  Moderator  and  .Secretary  of  the  Assembly  shall  sign  the  Consensus  in 
ihe  name  of  all  the  jiastors  and  professors,  and  that  in  the  future  every  candidate  for 
the  holy  ministry  shall  sign  it  with  the  formula  of  subscription  of  December  iDlli, 
i65().     (This  decision  remained  in  force  until  1706.) 

1706.  April  23d,  the  Assembly  decide  to  permit,  by  way  of  exception,  the  stu 
(ient.s  of  divinity,  who  signed  the  old  Confessions  of  Faith  with  the  formula  "  Sic 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1091 

sentio,"  to  sign  the  Consensus  with  the  formula  "  Contrarium  non  docebo,  pacem  Ec- 
clesire  promovcbo  on,  non  lurbabo." 

The  Lower  Council  declare  this  decision  contrary  to  the  rules,  and  invite  the 
Assembly  to  deliberate  again  on  the  subject. 

May,  1706.  The  Assembly  decide  that  the  formula  of  subscription  to  the  Con- 
sensus shall  be  as  follows  :  "  Sic  docebo  et  contrarium  non  docebo,  scilicet  quoties 
hanc  materiam  tractandam  (on  hoc  argumentum)  suscipiam,  sive  ore,  sive  calamo, 
sive  privatim,  sive  public."  The  purport  of  the  "  Canons  of  Dordrecht"  will  be  a 
similar  promise.  The  Council  of  Two  Hundred  (May  19)  allow  the  new  signature, 
but  request  the  Assembly  to  consider  the  matter  further. 

August  27th.  After  long  discussion  and  contradictory  resolutions,  the  Assembly 
finally  unanimously  decide  to  abolish  all  signatures  which  have  formerly  been 
required,  and  substitute  a  new  consecration  oath,  which  reads  as  follows: 

"  You  protest  and  swear  before  God,  to  believe  and  profess  your  belief  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  which  are  the  only  and  true  rule  of  our 
faith. 

"  You  promise  further  to  teach  nothing  which  does  not  conform  to  the  Confession 
of  Faith  and  to  the  Catechism  of  this  Church,  as  containing  a  summary  of  what  is 
taught  us  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

"You  are  exhorted  to  teach  nothing  in  the  Church  or  Academy  contrary  to  the 
Canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht,  or  to  the  rules  of  this  venerable  Assembly,  and 
the  Churches  of  Switzerland;  which  will  promote  peace,  and  preserve  a  uniformity 
in  teaching. 

"  Do  you  all  promise  this  ?" 

Reply. — "  I  promise." 

September  6th.  At  the  Council  of  Two  Hundred,  the  opinions  are  divided  on  the 
tiew  formula. 

September  loth.     The  Lower  Council  decide  to  allow  the  new  formula. 

June  17th,  1725.  All  the  Assembly  except  two  decide  to  abolish  the  oath  of  con- 
secration established  in  1706,  and  return  to  the  pure  and  smiple  oath  provided  by 
the  Ecclesiastical  Ordinance  of  1576.  The  oath  is  thus  worded:  "You  swear  to 
hold  the  doctrine  of  the  holy  prophets  and  apostles,  as  it  is  contained  in  the  books 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  of  which  doctrine  our  Catechism  is  a  summary  ?  " 
(This  oath  was  in  force  until  1806.) 

It  was  asserted  in  the  discussion  that  no  one  should  be  forced  to  follow  entirely 
Calvin's  Catechism.  It  is  further  expected  that  the  candidates  for  the  ministry 
should  be  requested  not  to  discuss  in  the  pulpit  any  striking  or  useless  matter,  which 
might  tend  to  disturb  the  peace. 

At  this  time  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  abolished  to 
return  to  that  of  the  sixteentli" century,  interpreting  the  latter  with  much  freedom. 

The  Lower  Council  ratified  this  decision,  but  ordered  the  Assembly  to  keep  the 
most  al)solute  silence  upon  this  subject,  especially  in  the  presence  of  strangers. 

1788.  The  Assembly  adopted  a  new  catechism  (see  above).  The  authority 
given  by  the  oath  of  ministers  to  the  official  catechism  of  the  Church  was  by  this 
act  transferred  from  the  Orthodox  Catechism  of  tteivin  to  the  Catechism  (much  less 
orthodox)  of  the  Assembly. 

The  Lower  Council  gave  its  sanction  to  the  new  catechism. 

January  23d,  1806.  The  Assembly  and  the  Consistory  substituted  for  the  old 
o;ilh  of  consecration  of  ministers,  the  following  pledge  : 

"  You  promise  to  teach  divine  truth  as  it  is  contained  in  the  books  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  of  which  we  have  an  abridgment  in  the  Apostles'  Creed."  The 
Apostles'  Creed  thus  replaced  the  catechism  as  a  rule  of  teaching. 

This  formula  was  in  force  until  the  year  1810. 

18 10.  Revjsion  of  the  catechism  in  a  latitudinarian  and  utilitarian  sense  (see 
above). 

The  Assembly  and  Consistory  modifies,  in  the  following  manner,  the  pledge  of 
the  ministers: 

"  You  promise  ...  to  preach,  in  its  purity,  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ; 


I092  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  recognize  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  conduct,  the  word  of  God,  as  it 
is  contained  in  the  sacied  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament."  (The  mention 
of  the  Apostles'  Creed  disappears.) 

1813.  At  this  time  the  religious  revival  gave  rise  to  numerous  discussions,  and 
it  was  thought  advisal)le  to  add  the  following  words  to  the  pledge  of  the  ministers  : 
"You  promise  to  abstain  from  all  sectarian  spirit,  to  avoid  all  that  which  would 
create  any  schism  and  break  the  union  of  the  Chuich,"  etc.  (Addition  suppressed 
towards  1 850.) 

1817,  May  3d.  The  dogmatic  debates  stirred  up  by  the  reappearance  of  Calvin- 
isiic  orthodoxy,  being  of  a  sharp  character,  the  Assembly  pulilished  a  prohibilory 
rule,  exacting  Irom  ail  pastors,  ministers,  and  divinity  students,  the  following  pledge: 

"  We  promise  to  abstain,  so  long  as  we  live,  and  while  we  preach  in  the  churches 
of  the  Canton  of  Geneva,  to  establish,  either  in  an  entire  discourse,  or  in  a  part  of 
our  discourse,  directed  to  this  end,  our  o])inion  : — ^ist.  On  the  manner  of  the  union 
of  the  divine  and  human  nature  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  2d.  On  original  sin. 
3d.  On  the  manner  in  which  grace  operates,  or  on  saving  grace.  4th.  Predestina- 
tion. We  promise  not  to  combat,  in  public  discourses,  the  opinion  of  any  pastors 
or  ministers  on  these  matters. 

"  Finally,  we  engage,  if  we  are  led  to  give  utterance  to  our  thoughts,  on  any  one 
of  the  subjects,  to  do  so  without  too  much  posiiiveness,  to  avoid  expressions  foreign 
to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  to  use,  as  much  as  possible,  the  terms  which  they  em- 
ploy." 

Some  of  the  candidates  for  the  ministry  withdrew  on  account  of  this  rule,  and  a 
dissenting  church  was  formed.     It  was  of  short  duiation. 

1847,  May  24ih.  The  citizens  a^ccept  a  new  iiolitical  constitution,  of  which  Act 
X.,  chapter  1st,  grants  the  organization  of  the  Protestant  worship. 

According  to  Article  114  of  this  cc^nstitution,  "the  national  Protestant  Church  is 
composed  of  all  ihe  Genevans  who  accept  the  organized  forms  of  this  Church,  as 
may  be  established  hereafter."  (These  organized  forms  established  by  the  consti- 
tution, are  pure  administrative  forms,  which  do  not  effect,  in  the  slightest  degree,' 
faith  and  Christian  life.  Since  1847  one  could  be  a  member  of  the  church  without 
having  been  regularly  admitted  as  a  catechumen.) 

According  to  Article  117  "All  Protestants  of  the  canton,  enjoying  their  political 
rights,"  are  ecclesiastical  electors. 

According  to  Article  123,  No  one  can  be  called  pastor  if  he  has  not  been  conse- 
crnled  to  the  holy  ministry  in  the  National  Church  of  Geneva. 

According  to  Article  126,  The  Assenjbly  of  pastors  decide  as  to  the  admission 
and  consecration  of  candidates  for  the  holy  ministry. 

1849,  1"^"^  7''^-  The  Consistory  called  after  the  forms  fixed  by  the  new  constitu- 
tion, adopted  an  organic  rule  for  the  National  Protestant  Church  of  Geneva,  which 
rule  includes  the  following: 

Articles  1-5  constitute  a  sort  of  declaration  of  principles  spoken  of  above.  The 
adherence  to  these  principles  is  not,  however,  required  of  the  electors,  elders,  or 
even  of  the  ministers  of  the  church. 

According  to  Article  11,  No  catechism  can  be  employed  in  religious  teaching 
without  the  authority  of  the  Consistory. 

According  to  Article  52,  The  official  and  ecclesiastical  liturgy  should  be  intro- 
duced without  any  modification. 

According  to  Article  74,  The  functionaries  of  the  church  may  be  subjected  to  dis- 
cipline, in  case  "  of  teaching,  preaching,  or  publicly  professing  any  doctrine  that 
might  bring  scandal  upon  the  church." 

1858.  It  is  decided  that  each  pastor  should  have  liberty  to  use  the  catechism  of 
his  choice,  provided  this  manual  has  the  sanction  of  the  Consistory. 

1861.  The  Consistory  published  a  revision  of  the  obligatory  liturgy.  The  new 
liturgy  allows  the  Apostles'  Creed  to  be  used  in  the  prayer,  which  each  Sunday 
closes  the  principal  service  of  the  morning. 

Th.fi  promise  of  the  ministers  h  stated  there  as  fonows  (this  part  is  dogmatic); 
the  ministers  promising  "to  preach  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  conscien- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1093 

tiously  and  with  fidelity;  and  to  take  for  the  only  and  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
conduct,  the  vvoid  of  God  as  it  is  set  forth  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments." 

1S74,  April  26.  The  citizens  ratify  a  constitutional  law  modifying  the  first  chap- 
ter of  the  tenth  act  of  the  constitution. 

According  to  Article  114,  direct  from  the  revised  constitution,  the  National  Prot- 
estant Church  is  composed  of  Swiss  Protestants  who  accept  the  organized  forms  of 
this  church. 

According  to  Article  117,  Mtrc;,  "All  the  Protestant  Swiss  citizens,  enjoying  politi- 
cal rights  in  the  Canton  of  Geneva,"  are  ecclesiastical  electors. 

According  to  Articles  123  and  126,  The  consecration  to  the  holy  ministry  by  the 
Assembly  of  pastors,  no  longer  renders  such  person  eligil)le  to  the  pastoral  functions. 

Finally,  in  Article  123,  in  a  new  paragraph,  we  find  the  following:  "  Each  pas- 
tor teaches  and  preaches  freely  on  his  own  responsibility.  No  restraint  can  be  put 
upon  this  liberty  either  by  the  Confessions  of  Faith  or  the  liturgic  formulas." 

1874,  Oct.  3.  The  State  Council  promulgated  a  new  organic  law  concerning 
Piotestant  worship,  in  virtue  of  which  a  pastor  can  either  be  suspended  or  dismissed 
by  the  Consistory  or  Council  of  State  for  dogmatic  motives. 

1875.  The  new  general  rules  adopted  by  the  Consistory  immediately  after  the 
vote  on  the  Constitutional  Law  of  1874,  suppressed  the  Declaration  of  Principles  of 
1849.  '^"'i^  pastor  olitained  the  right  to  use,  in  his  religious  teaching,  any  catecheti- 
cal manual  which  he  preferred,  not  forgetting  to  inform  the  Consistory  of  his  choice. 
The  use  of  the  liturgical  prayers,  published  by  the  Consistory,  became  optional. 

The  promise  of  the  pastors  is  changed,  under  the  dogmatical  report,  to  the 
following  words  : 

They  must  declare  before  God  "  that  they  will  teach  and  preach  conscientiously, 
according  to  their  lights  and  faith,  the  Christian  truth  contained  in  our  holy  books." 

Tlie  liturgical  collection  published  (in  1875)  by  the  Consistory,  contains  two  series 
of  formulas,  expiessed  in  a  dogmatic  sense  on  the  one  hand,  and  in  a  liberal  sense' 
on  the  other.     (The  Apostles'  Creed  was  optional.) 

The  two  formulas  for  baptism  require  the  relations  who  present  the  child,  god- 
father or  god-mother,  to  understand  Christian  truth  as  it  is  contained  in  our  holy 
books. 

The  formula  for  the  reception  <?/" catechumens  includes  the  following  question,  to 
which  the  catechumens  must  respond  affirmatively : 

"  Have  you  a  sincere  faith  in  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  are  you  so  fully  per- 
suaded of  these  truths,  that  you  are  ready  to  suffer  everything  rather  than  abandon 
your  profession  ?  " 

The  other  questions  are  more  moral  and  spiritual  in  their  character  than  dogmatic. 

FREE  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH  OF  GENEVA. 

We  have  mentioned  before  the  Profession  of  Faith  made  in  1849. 

The  Church  only  demanded  a  formal  adherence  to  this  Profession  of  Faith,  from 
the  elders  (among  whom  figure  the  ministers  of  the  word),  and  the  deacons.  Some 
of  these  officers  have  even  been  permitted  to  hold  certain  reserves  on  such  or  such 
article. 

As  to  the  laymen,  the  article  which  arranges  for  their  admission  into  the  church 
has  iieen  fixed  as  follows  :  "  Whosoever  acknowledges  himself  a  transgressor,  and  in 
a  state  of  condemnation,  professes,  with  the  church,  a  hope  in  Jesus  Clwist,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  the  transgressor's  only  refuge,  and  conforms  his  life  to  his  pro- 
fession, has  full  right  to  membership  in  this  church."  However,  a  simple  member 
of  the  church,  who  should  propagate  openly  doctrines  compatible  with  this  summiiry 
profession  of  faith,  but  incompatible  with  the  profession  of  faith  in  its  development, 
could  without  doubt  be  excluded  from  the  religious  body. 

Francis  Chaponniere, 
Assistant  Pastor  in  the  National  Protestant  Church  of  Geneva, 

and  Editor  of  the  I\cligious  Weekly. 


I094  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

GERMANIC  SWITZERLAND. 

Berne,  October  (),  1879. 

Sir  and  Very  Honored  Friend: — Here  is,  I  believe,  ilie  compltte  lisi  ol  the 
symliolical  writings  of  Germanic  Switzerlaiici  ;  I  have  them  all,  with  the  exception  of 
ilie  "  Confessio  RliKtica,"  right  here.  rr(jfcssor  Schaft",  of  Rhctieii  origin,  no  doubt, 
has  that,  as  well  as  the  other  writings.  I  had  the  pleasure  ol  seeing  him  at  Basle  in 
September,  and  hope  my  manuscript  may  serve  his  end.  However,  I  cannot  I'eel 
suie  of  it. 

One  cannot  read  these  confessions  without  admiring  the  firmness  and  clearness  of 
faith  shown  by  our  reformers.  The  Holy  Ghost  poured  down  floods  ol  light  upon 
so  heroic  a  generation.  How  shattered  we  find  the  theological  world  to-day! 
What  dogmatic  Nihilism  !  Each  doctrine  might  be  compared  to  a  stake  driven  into 
a  marsh,  and  this  marsh  but  a  morbid  subjectivism. 

May  God  bring  back  to  his  church  days  of  strength  and  liealth  !     May  the  Pres- 
byterian  Council   of   1880   bear  fruits  of  benediction!     One  must   admit   that   the 
■Jountal  {Q-xCnoWz  Presbyterian),  edited  by  Dr.  Blaikie,  breathes  health  and  life. 
With  heaiifelt  salutation  and  respect,  BERNARD,  Pastor. 

To  M.  Jean  .Monod. 

The  following  is  also  from  Mr.  Bernard  to  Mr.  J.  Monod : 

"Concerning  the  Confession,  I  must  add  that,  formerly,  both  pastors  and  profes- 
sors were  bound  by  oath — they  only,  however,  not  the  laity.  Alter  the  expulsion  of 
the  pietists  in  1699,  the  Berne  government  prescribed  an  association  oath,  which  em- 
braced the  concensus  (against  the  Amyraldiens  of  Lausanne),  and  by  which  the  laity 
were  also  bound,  but  it  very  soon  fell  into  disuse." 

,  As  the  Protestant  churches  of  to-day  in  Germanic  Switzerland  have  abolished  all 
Confessions  of  Faith,  my  answer  to  the  three  questions  prop(jsed  by  the  Presbyterian 
Council  of  Edinburgh  must  be  entirely  historical.  It  shall,  also,  be  concise,  since 
the  learned  and  dear  Dr.  Philip  Schaff  is  perfectly  conversant  upon  the  matter,  and 
needs  but  dates  and  principal  names  in  order  to  arrange  the  work  which  he  will  have 
to  read  at  the  Philadelphia  Council  in  1S80.  May  God  still  continue  to  him  life, 
health,  vigor  of  mind  and  the  grace  which  he  will  need  for  the  success  of  the  great 
meetings  of  next  year  ! 

I.    The  Sixty-seven  Articles  of  Zwingli,  2gtk  yatiuary,  1523. 

Zwingli's  four  years  of  work  in  Zurich  had  greatly  stirred  up  the  cily.  The 
bishops  of  Constance  and  Lausanne  demand  the  expulsion  of  the  reformer.  The 
government,  friendly  towards  Zwingli,  orders  that  a  "  disjjutation  "  shall  take  place 
between  him  and  Faber,  the  delegate  of  the  bishop  of  Constance.  The  reformer 
draws  up  sixty-seven  theses  which  he  offers  to  jirove  by  Scripture. 

These  articles  form  the  first  Confession  of  Faith  adopted  in  Switzerland,  and  act 
as  a  supplement  to  Luther's  theses  (1517). 

A  few  of  these  propositions  will  suffice  to  show  what  light  the  Holy  Spirit  had 
poured  into  the  mind  of  this  solitary  and  still  young  reformer  of  thirty-eight  years 
of  age: 

"  Summa  Evangelii  est  quod  Christus,  Filius  Dei  vivi,  notefecit  nobis  voluntatem 
Patris  coeleslis,  et  quod  innocentia  sua  nos  de  morte  seterna  redemit  et  Deo 
reconciliavit." 

"  Hinc  sequitur  Christum  esse  unicam  viam  ad  salutem  omnium  qui  fuerunt  sunt 
et  erunt." 

"  Quicumque  aluid  ostium  vel  qucerit  vel  ostendit  errat  quin  animarum  latro  est  et 
fur." 

These  sixty-seven  articles  are  found  in  Niemeyer,  Collectio  Confessionum  in 
ecclesiis  reformatis  publicatarum,  Lipsise,  1840. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1095 

II.    The  Ten  Articles  of  Berne,  January,  15  28. 

After  a  lengthy  hesitation  the  government  of  Berne,  at  the  solicitailon  of  Francois 
Kolh  and  Berchtold  Mailer,  l)oth  ref<5rmed  preachers,  ordt  red  a  "  dis)-)iuati()ii,"  that 
the  step  of  introducing  tht-  Reformation  into  the  canton  might  be  taken  if  it  were 
proved  that  it  was  in  conformity  with  the  Bil)!e.  The  month  of  January,  1528,  was 
fixed  Ujjon  as  ihe  tune  for  this  great  encounter.  Zw  ingli  had  come  from  Zurich  to 
l-e  present.  The  ten  conclusions  drawn  up  by  Koli)  and  llaller  were  ]iassed  with- 
out much  opposition.  The  government,  now  convinced,  introduced  the  Reformation 
into  parish  r.fter  jiarish.  Mencefortl),  the  ten  conclusions  formed  the  rule  of  faith  for 
the  Beruoise  Church  (Niemeyer,  ])age  15). 

III.   Z-ivini^lii  Fidei  Ratio,  July  yi,  1 530. 

It  is  a  fact  well  known  that,  at  the  Augsburg  Diet,  the  Lutherans  ]-iresented  iheit 
celebrated  Confession,  drawn  up  by  Melanchthon,  to  the  emperor,  Charles  V.  Four 
free  cities  of  the  empire — Strasl)urg,  Constance,  Menuningen  and  Lindau — also  ad- 
dressed the  ronfcsdo  tetrapolitana  to  him.  Zwingli,  not  wishing  to  be  behindhand, 
and  yet,  wilh  insufficient  time  at  his  command  t<i  call  together  a  synod,  sent  his  per- 
^luial  confession  to  ihe  emperor,  under  the  title  of  Tidei  Ratio.  This  courageous, 
chivalrous,  and  most  edifying  document  was  barely  looked  at  bv  Charles  V.,  and 
vi(;lenlly  attacked  by  the  warlike  iJr.  Eck  (Niemeyer,  page  16  ancl  following). 

IV.   Zwiiiglii  Caristiaiur  Fidci  Expositio,  ad  Franciscum,  Francoriim  Regent,  1531. 

k.  few  days  before  ]ierishing  on  the  field  of  battle,  at  Cappel,  nth  October,  1531, 
the  Zurich  reformer  composed  this  last  writing  which  he  addressed  to  Francis  I., 
enemy  of  Charles  V.  On  the  eve  of  a  bloody  war,  Zwingli  had  hoped  to  find  aid 
and  support  for  the  cause  of  the  reformers  through  an  alliance  with  France.  States- 
m  in  as  much  as  theologian,  patriot  as  well  as  Christian,  he  dreamed  of  a  ])olitico- 
leligious  revival  in  Europe.  From  this  sprang  the  firm  and  positive  tone  cf  his  Ex- 
positio, which,  he  thought,  must  surely  convince  the  "very  Christian"  king 
I  Niemeyer,  page  36  and  following). 

V.   Doings  of  the  Synod  of  Berne,  1532. 

The  Ref irmation  edict  of  1528  hafl  not  started  the  work  in  the  canton  of  Beine. 
Four  years  later — January,  1 532 — the  government  convoked  a  meeting  of  the  two 
hundred  and  thirty  pastors  of  the  country.  These  met  in  synod  to  organize  intblic 
worship  and  determine  upon  pastoral  duties.  The  worthy  Capiton,  of  Sirasburg. 
wrote  the  result  of  these  deliberations  in  a  most  inimitable  style,  full  of  unction  and 
cordiality.  The  Count  of  Zinzendorf's  admiration  was  highly  e.xcittd  by  ihis  great 
masterjiiece,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  monuments  of  the  Reformation.  (It  is  not 
found  in  Niemeyer.) 

VI.  First  Basle  Confession  [Basileensis  prior  Confcssio  fidei), 
fanuary  2lst,  1534. 

The  Reformation  had  l)een  introduced  into  the  city  of  Basle  in  1529,  through 
(Ecolampadius.  Five  years  later,  the  Town  Council,  representing  civil  authority, 
|)roclaimcd  the  existence  of  the  new  faith  in  the  face  of  accusations  of  impiety  and 
apostasy,  hurled  against  the  Reformers  by  the  Catholics.  This  Confession  was  origin- 
ally drawn  up  in  German,  and  translated  later  into  Latin.  (It  is  found  in  Niemeyer, 
page  78,  and  foil.) 

VTI.   F'irst  Confession  of  Ilehetic  Faith,  also  called  Second  Basle  Confession, 
[//elvctica  prior  sive  Basileensis  posterio  Con fessio  fidei),  1536. 

Until  now,  the  Reformers  of  Germanic  Switzerland,  although  in  accord  as  to  their 
princiides,  had  not  formed  themselves  into  any  ecclesiastical  body.  Each  canton 
kept  to  itself     Outside  dangers,  Luther's  more  peaceful  attitude,  and  the  conciliatory 


1096  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

efforts  of  Bucer  and  Capito,  now  induced  the  Swiss  to  send  botli  clerical  and  lay 
delegates  to  Basle,  in  order  to  draw  up  a  Confession  of  Faith,  held  in  common  by 
all  the  Reformed  Cantons.  (3n  the  30th  of  January,  1536,  BuUinger  and  Leo  Judae 
arrived  from  Zurich,  Megander  (Grossmann)  from  Berne,  and  these,  aided  also  by 
Grynceus  and  Myconius  of  Basle,  prepared  that  excellent  Confession  of  Twenty- 
eight  Articles,  endeavoring  especially,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the  Stras- 
burgians,  to  show  the  worth  of  the  Reformed  principles  touching  the  sacraments, 
although  in  a  somewhat  modified  form.  The  govenmients  of  Zurich,  Berne,  Basle, 
Strasburg,  Constance,  St.  Gall,  Schaf house,  Mulhouse  (then  an  allied  city  of  Swit- 
zerland), and  Bienne.  (See  Niemeyer,  page  105,  and  foil.;  Herzog's  "Encyclo- 
pedia," page  712,  and  foil.) 

VIII.   Heidelberg  Catechism,  1563. 

This  "  Catechesis  Palatina,"  drawn  up  by  Gaspard  Olevianus,  disciple  of  Calvin, 
and  Zacharie  Ursinus^  friend  of  Melanchthon,  both  professors  at  Heidelljerg  (by 
order  of  Frederic  III.,  Palatine  Elector,  and  patron  of  the  Reformation),  was 
received  as  a  creed-book  in  all  the  Swiss  Churches,  and  retained  its  power  of  uncon- 
tested authority  for  a  long  time.  This  excellent  book,  which  the  Swiss  children  for 
several  generations  learned  by  heart,  was  a  source  of  great  blessing  to  our  country. 
One  still  finds  old  people  who,  on  their  death-heds,  find  themselves  strengthened  by 
reciting  over  the  first  question  and  answer  of  their  venerated  Catechism:  "  What  is 
thy  sole  consolation  in  life  and  death?  "  "  That  I  belong  to  Jesus  Christ,  my  faith- 
ful Saviour."      (See  Niemeyer,  page  390,  and  foil.) 

IX.    Confession  of  tJie  Helvetic  Faith  [Confessio  Helvetica  posterior), 
March  1st,  1 566. 

Bullinger  had  composed  this  admirable  book  in  a  time  of  loss  and  great  distress. 
Looking  forward  to  his  approaching  death,  he  thought  to  bequeath  it  to  the  govern- 
ment as  his  will.  Frederic  III.,  Prince  Elector,  having  been  informed  of  this,  had 
it  translated  into  German.  The  Swiss,  threatened  and  accused  of  heresy,  gathered 
round  this  new  and  perfect  expression  of  their  faith.  And  it  is  thus  that  Zurich, 
Berne,  Schafhouse,  St.  Gall,  Claris,  Appenzel,  Thurgovia,  Grisons,  Bienne,  Mul- 
house, Basle,  and  Neuchatel  after  some  delay,  Geneva  from  the  beginning,  grouped 
themselves  under  this  banner,  the  Helvetic  Confession,  par  excellence,  signed  la'.ei 
by  the  Hungarian  Reformers  at  Debreczen,  the  Polish,  the  Scotch,  etc.  It  forms  a 
sequel  to  the  Augsburg  Confession.     (Sec  Niemeyer,  page  462,  and  foil.) 

X.  Confessio  Rhcetica,  1558. 

I  forgot  to  mention  this  Confession  of  the  Rhetien  Churches  (the  Grisons),  the 
existence  of  whic-h  I  have  knowledge  of,  but  which  I  cannot  lay  hands  upon,  the 
copies  have  become  so  rare,  owing  to  its  having  been  superseded  by  the  Ilclveiic 
Confession,  admitted  into  Rhetia  eight  years  later.  (Niemeyer  appears  to  have 
wholly  ignored  it.) 

XL    Canones  Syjtodi  Dordrechtana:,  1618. 

The  resolutions  of  the  Dordrecht  Synod  were  signed  by  five  Swiss  delegates,  and 
admitted  as  one  of  the  symbolical  books  of  our  cantons.      (Niemeyer,  page  690.) 

XII.  Fonnttla  Consensus. 

■(Ecclesiarum  Helvetiearum  reformatarum,  circa  doctrinam  de  Gratia  universali  et 
connexa,  aliaque  nonnulla  Capita),  1675. 

It  was  asserted  that  the  Dordrecht  Synod  had  jiushed  the  doctrine  of  Predestination 
beyond  the  biblical  teaching.     A  reaction   declared  itself  at  the   Saumur  school, 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1097 

where  Cameron,  the  Scotchman,  later  Amyraull,  Testard,  and  L.  Cappel  taught  the- 
ology with  success.  The  universalist  ideas  of  Saumur  spread  themselves  in  Geneva 
and  Lausanne,  and  met  with  sympathy  in  Zurich  and  Basle. 

The  orthodox  grew  uneasy;  conferences  were  organized,  and  Heidegger,  of 
Zurich,  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  refutation  of  the  Saumur  errors.  This  work, 
approved  by  the  other  confederates,  received  the  name  of  P'ormula  Consensus.  It 
is  the  last  symbolical  book  of  the  Churches  of  Germanic  Switzerland.  Pastors,  pre- 
fects of  schools,  and  professors  of  theology  were  compelled  to  sign  this  document. 
Much  trouble  resulted  from  all  this,  especially  at  Lausanne;  and  it  is  only  since 
about  1720  that  the  said  Formula  Consensus  has  been  discarded.  (See  Niemeyer, 
page  729,  and  foil.,  and  Trechsel's  Article  in  the  Herzog  Encyclopedia.) 

Such  are  the  symbolical  writings  of  Germanic  Switzerland.  For  centuries  the 
pastors  were  obliged  to  sign  them,  although  it  is  true  that  the  Second  Confession  of 
Helvetic  Faith  was  alone  recognized  as  the  general  rule  imposed  upon  pastors.  The 
signing  of  the  Formula  Consensus  was  exacted  only  temporarily.  It  has  been  only 
from  the  beginning  of  this  century  that,  under  the  influence  of  rationalism,  pastors 
liave  been  required  to  preach  the  Gospel  merely  according  to  the  principles  of  the 
Helvetic  Confession.  To-day  we  find  all  confession  of  faith  abolished  in  our  Ger- 
manic Swiss  Churches.  Pastors  preach  what  pleases  them.  Chosen  by  the  parishes, 
they  owe  to  them  solely  an  avowal  of  their  doctrines.  Some  push  their  negations  to 
actual  blasphemy.  The  symbolical  writings  are  ignored.  These  sublime  evidences 
of  the  faith  of  our  fathers  are,  in  the  eyes  of  many,  but  historical  souvenirs  of  convic- 
tions without  any  positive  value.  I  know  not  if  this  state  of  things  can  last.  A  church 
without  a  common  faith  seems  wanting  in  sense.  As  long  as  Church  and  state  are 
united,  government  will  interdict  all  confession.  A  feason  for  rejoicing  at  the  advent 
of  liberty  would  be  the  fact  that  believers,  as  well  as  sceptics,  could  not  fail  to  be 
benefited  thereljy.  EiiRNARD,  Pastor. 

Berne,  October,  1879. 


REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   BOHEMIA   AND    MORAVIA. 

Dear  Sir:  Jime  lyh,  1878. 

As  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Confessions,  I  enclose  a  short  statement 
about  the  Confessions  and  formulas  existing  in  our  Reformed  Church  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  Helvetica  II.  and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  to  be  sure,  are  the  creeds 
of  all  the  small  Reformed  Churches  in  the  whole  Austrian  empire,  as  for  instance  in 
Hungary;  but  regarding  Hungary,  Mr.  Balogh,  of  Debreczin,  will  send  you  a 
report. 

I  am,  reverend  sir,  yours  most  truly, 

F.  Ci.SAR,  Pastor, 

At  Klobouk,  near  Brunn,  Moravia,  Austria. 

« 

The  Confession  of  Faith  accepted  by  the  present  Reformed  Church  of  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  is  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  or  the  Con/.  Helvetica  Posterior. 
This  creed  had  been  accepted  by  all  the  Reformed  Protestants  of  Hungary  in  the 
yar  1567,  but  by  the  Protestants  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Austrian  empire  not  until 
after  the  Toleration  Edict  of  Joseph  II.,  i.  e.,  after  the  year  1781. 

Before  the  battle  on  the  White  Mountain  (1620),  which  was,  as  it  were,  the  death- 
stroke  to  Bohemian  Protestantism,  there  had  been  two  creeds  chiefly:  Coii/essio 
Boheniica  from  the  year  1575,  used  by  the  Calixtines,  and  Coufessio  Fratniiii  from 
the  year  1535.  The  latter  had  been  presented  to  the  Emperor  Maximilian  II.,  at 
Vienna,  in  November,  1535,  by  those  noblemen  of  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  who 
belonged  to  the  community  of  Bohemian  Brethren  (Unitas  Fratrum). 


1098  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

That  ihe  Bohemian  Brethren  already  have  agreed  with  the  Helvetica  Posterior, 
we  know  from  the  following: 

At  the  Synoil  of  Sandomir,  in  1570,  where  all  the  three  Protestant  communities 
ol  Poland  united,  the  deiegnte  of  the  Bohemian  f5rethren,  named  Tuniovsky,  gave 
this  testimony  :  "After  having  read  ihe  Confession  of  Zurich  attentively  myself,  I 
have  acknowledged  this  creed  as  true  and  as  a  creed  of  our  own,  for  it  is  merely 
ampler  and  more  distinctly  written  than  ours"    (viz.,  from  the  year  1535). 

That  this  word  of  Turnovsky's  expressed  the  oi)inion  of  his  whole  community, 
i.i  evident  from  the  fact  that  Reformed  Protestants  and  Bohemian  Brethren  in  Poland 
united  into  one  community  at  the  Synods  of  Ostrorog,  in  the  years  1620  and  1627, 
when  the  "Unitas  Fratrum "  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  had  been  cruelly  abol- 
ished by  the  anti-Reformation  under  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II. 

Between  1627  and  17S1  there  were  no  Protestants  at  all  in  Bohemia  and  Mora- 
via ;  one  part  of  them  died  on  the  scall'old,  or  under  the  most  severe  persecutions, 
another  emigrated,  and  some,  few  cases  excepting,  joined  foreign  Protestant  churches, 
and  only  few  of  them  remained  and  became  "secrete"  Protestants.  In  the  long 
period  of  persecutions,  which  lasted  154  years,  and  even  longer,  even  the  Bible  could 
have  been  read  only  at  the  risk  of  life.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  descendants 
of  the  "secrete"  Protestants,  namely,  those  who  left  the  Popish  Church  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Toleration  Edict  of  Joseph  II.,  had  only  a  very  indistinct  idea  of 
what  a  confession  of  faith  was.  Accordingly,  when  Joseph  II.  left  no  other  choice 
than  to  accept  either  the  Conf.  Augustana,  or  the  Helvetica  Posterior,  our  fathers  de- 
sired to  get  the  old  "  Unitas  I'ratrum  "  restored,  saying  their  confession  was  that  of 
the  Lamb.  The  restoration  of  the  old  Boh.  National  Protestantism  having  been  not 
permitted,  those  who  left  the  Popish  Church  mostly  acknowledged  the  Helvetica  II. 
as  their  creed.  And  since  that,  time,  viz.,  since  1781,  our  Reformed  Church  in  Bo- 
hemia and  Moravia  holds  the  Helvetica  as  her  creed,  together  with  the  Catechism  of 
Heidt'lherg  (written  by  Olevianus  and  Ursinus,  for  Frederic  HI.  the  Pious,  printed 
for  the  iirst  time  in  1563).  The  Bohemian  editions  of  this  Catechism  are — before 
the  Toleration  and  in  the  Exile' — by  James  Acomtides,  in  1619,  then  the  same  re- 
published in  1723.  After  the  Toleration  in  Bohemia,  and  for  the  use  of  our  present 
Reformed  Church,  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  has  been  printed  pretty  often  already, 
the  last  time  in  1867. 

Helvetica  Posterior  experienced  till  now  no  modification  nor  change  with  us,  and 
is  acknowledged  word  for  word  as  in  Bullinger's  original. 

The  Heidelberg  Catechism  has  also  not  been  modified  nor  changed  in  any  word 
by  our  Church ;  one  year  ago,  however,  the  governnient  of  Austria  prohibited  to 
teach  the  eightieth  question  of  our  Catechism,  which  question  declares  the  popish 
mass  to  be  a  "  damned  abomination."  The  government  requires  to  cut  out  this 
eightieth  question,  or  at  least  the  last  two  words,  from  all  the  printed  exemplars  of 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  and  threatens  to  prosecute  such  teaching  as  an  offence 
against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Our  Church  does  everything  in  her  power  in 
order  to  save  the  eightieth  question,  yet  there  is  no  hope  of  prevailing  against  the 
Ultramontane  tendencies  of  the  Roman  Catholic  government. 

There  is  only  one  formula  of  subscription  in  our  Church.  It  is  demanded  from 
licentiates  and  pastors,  when  they  are  called  to  a  congregation,  and  its  signature  is  a 
conditio  sine  qua  non  to  be  ordained,  or  to  be  permitted  to  accept  a  call  from 
a  congregation.  This  formula,  however,  is  demanded,  not  by  the  Church,  but  by  the 
government,  viz.,  the  "Oberkirchenrath  in  Vienna,"  which  is  only  a  department  in 
the  "  ministerium  "  for  ecclesiastical  matters  in  general.  Though  the  Reformed 
Church  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia  is  a  self-supporting  Church,  and  has  the  right  of 
choosing  her  ministers  herself,  the  government,  on  the  other  hand,  has  the  right  of 
"  veto  "  nearly  in  all  things  concerning  our  Church.  We  have  our  Synods,  but 
all  the  resolutions  must  be  approved  by  the  government.  Our  congregations  may 
elect  for  their  ministers  any  of  our  licentiates ;  their  election,  however,  must  be  ap- 
proved Jjy  the  government.  As  often  as  a  minister  changes  his  congregation,  the 
call  of  the  new  congregation  sent  to  him  must  always  be  submitted  to  the  approval 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1099 

of  the  government,  and  the  elected  minister  must  repeatedly  sign  the  following 
tormula : 

"I,  the  undersigned,  being  called  for  the  chircre  of  a  minister  of  the  Reformed 
ongrcgation  at  .  .  .  ,  do  hereby  promise  solemnly  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  my 
charge,  with  God's  merciful  hel]),  diligently  and  faithfully,  according  to  my  best  pos- 
sibility and  conscience;  to  preach  the  doctrine  of  Holy  Scriptures,  according  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith  of  my  Church,  and  so  set  a  good  example  to  my  congregation 
by  an  exemplary  Christian  intercourse.  1  do  also  hereby  warrant  and  promise  to  his 
royal  and  imperial  majesty,  my  most  serene  prince  and  lord,  and  after  his  majesty, 
to  the  heirs  of  his  house  and  blood  and  succession,  my  inviolable  loyalty  and  obedi- 
ence." 

"I  do  promise  further  to  observe  faithfully  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  .State,  ann 
to  be  obedient  to  the  laws  in  general,  especially  to  the  Imperial  Edict,*  from  the  8th 
April,  1861,  and  to  the  Constiuiliou  of  the  Protestant  Church,"  etc.,  etc. 

"  Lastly,  I  do  warrant  that  I  am  not,  and  never  shall  be,  a  member  of  any  foreign 
political  society." 

"Which  all  I  hereby  do  confirm  in  the  place  of  an  oath,  by  the  draft  and  signa- 
ture of  my  own  hand."  (Date)  Name. 

[I..  3.] 

At  the  reception  of  new  communicants  [coiifin)tnnJ.i)  from  the  new  memliers  the 
question  is  to  be  answered,  if  they  promise  to  remain  all  their  life  m  the  Reformed 
Church,  "according  to  the  Helvetica  II."  The  same  answer  is  to  be  asked  from 
converts  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  our  Church. 

The  elders  are  to  be  presented  before  the  whole  congregation  at  the  public  wor- 
ship, and  then  to  give  orally  the  following  promise  : 

"  I  promise  solemnly  before  God  to  guard  and  maintain,  in  my  quality  as  elder,  the 
inner  and  outward  welfare  of  this  evangelical  congregation,  and  to  fix  my  mind  upon 
that,  that  the  Church  in  all  parts  may  grow  into  Hun,  who  is  the  Head,  in  Christ." 

HUNGARIAN  REFORMED  CHURCH. 
First  Section.— t>;'/^/«  and  History. 

The  Reformation  in  Hungary  owes  its  rise  to  Luther  and  Mclanchthon.  Between 
1522  and  1560,  the  year  of  Melanchlhon's  death,  Wittemberg  University  was  attended 
by  nearly  five  hundred  regular  theological  students  from  Hungary,  who,  after  their 
return  home,  became  pastors,  teachers,  and  professors,  and  at  the  same  time  the  first 
Reformers.  In  the  year  1545  were  held  the  first  two  Synods  ( Erdod  and  Medgyes, 
towns),  in  which  the  Augsl^urg  Confession  was  adopted  and  Lutheranism  fixed. 
Hungary  being  a  neighboring  country  to  Germany,  no  wonder  that  the  Saxonic 
Reformation  was  here  first  established  among  all  the  nations  dwelling  in  that  king- 
dom, viz.,  Magyars,  Germans,  Slavons. 

The  Reformation  of  Helvetic  origin  came  later  in,  and,  in  spite  of  fixed  Luther- 
anism, overpowered  the  mind  both  of  pastors  and  people,  like  a  second  reformation, 
gained  the  Magyars,  who,  renouncing  the  Lutheran  creed,  embraced  with  vigor  and 
enthusiasm  the  Calvinistic  form  of  religion. 

The  same  Mathias  Deviiy,  the  greatest  and  first  Hungarian  reformer  (acted  from 
1530-1547,),  zealous  follower  of  Luther  and  Mclanchthon,  after  having  paid  a  visit  to 
I'.asel  (1537),  whither  he  went  for  publishing  his  work  against  I.  Faber,  Bishop  of 
Wien,  and  where  he  became  acquainted  with  .S.  GriiiLcus,  formerly  professor  c>f 
iUidapest,  changed  his  opinions  about  ths  l-orcbs  Supper.  Having  returned  to  Han- 
gary,  he  began  to  preach  the  Reformation  in  a  Helvetic  sense.  The  Lutheran  pastors 
accused  him  (1543)  before  Luther  for  sacramentarian  views. 


*  Proclaiming  the  Protestants  to  be   citizens  of  the  Austrian  Empire,  equally  with  the  Roman 
Catholics,  and  permitting  to  build  Protestant  churches  and  meeting-houses  without  any  restriction. 


iioo  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  grcnt  struggle  between  I.utheranism  and  Calvinism  began  openly  with  the 
year  i^SSi  when  a  uastor  of  Debreczen,  Martin  Kaimancsai,  popularized  the  con- 
ception of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  the  meaning  of  Calvin,  and  preached  against  the 
images  left  in  the  churches.  He  left  Debreczen,  went  to  A'olosz'dr  (in  Transyl- 
vania), in  that  chief  town,  and  in  his  evangelistic  tour  among  the  Magyar  iidiabi- 
tants  of  Transylvania,  moved  the  minds  of  the  people  and  caused  such  an  agitation 
that  the  people  of  Kolosviir  (its  Latin  name,  Claudiopolis)  withheld  itself,  during 
four  years,  from  participating  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  refusing  to  take  it  as  a  true  body. 

In  the  room  of  the  learned  Kaimancsai,  who  died  1558,  at  Debreczen,  came  forth 
Peter  Melius.*  Melius  finished  his  studies  at  Wittenberg,  became  teacher  and  pas- 
tor in  1558,  at  Debreczen.  Privately  discussing  in  letter  with  Stephen  Szegedi,  pas- 
tor of  Lasko,  the  most  learned  reformer  of  Southern  Hungary,  Melius  yielded 
to  the  arguments  of  Szegedi  regarding  the  Lord's  Supper,  became  the  most  zealous 
leader  of  the  Reformation  of  Helvetic  origin,  who  worthily  merited  to  be  honored 
by  the  succeeding  generation  with  the  name  of  "  Hungarian  Calvin." 

Political  circumstances  and  events  favored  the  rapid  introduction  of  Calvinism. 
The  eastern  part  of  Hungary,  viz.,  Transylvania,  with  the  neighboring  large  terri- 
tories as  far  as  the  inland  river  Tisza  (Theiss),  was  separated  by  a  revolution  from 
the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  constituted  itself  as  an  independent  principality  (1556) 
under  the  widow  Queen  Isabella,  and  her  son  John  the  Second,  a  native  Hungarian 
prince;  thus  Ferdinand  I.,  king  of  Hungary,  lost  a  part  of  his  kingdom.  As  the 
Austrian  Ferdinand  relied  mostly  upon  the  pope  and  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  new 
principality  (Transylvania)  favored  Protestantism.  Under  the  benignant  rays  of 
national  liberty  and  freedom,  as  a  shelter,  was  brought  forth  Calvinism,  but  still 
not  v/ithout  struggles.  In  the  first  year  of  independency,  in  the  year  of  1557,  was 
proclaimed  by  the  Transylvanian  Diet,  the  equal  right  and  freedom  of  Lutherans 
with  the  Roman  Catholics,  without  mentioning  anything — any  word  on  behalf  of  the 
then  beginning  Helvetic  Reformation,  towards  which,  however,  many  pastors,  pro- 
fesstirs,  and  nobles  were  inclined.  Calvinism  wanted  only  freedom;  having  ob- 
tained a  free  ground  in  the  political  situation,  it  made  progress  and  spread 
with  great  force.  So  with  disputations,  pamphlets,  and  Synods,  commenced  the 
process  of  separation  of  the  two  Protestant  tendencies,  till  new  confessions  and 
creed  were  produced  by  the  national  spirit  consolidating  the  Helvetic  shape  of 
the  Reformation. 

Several  conferences  and  synods  were  held  in  the  year  1559  at  the  more  populous 
cities  of  Varad  (Varadinum),  Kolosvar,  Vasarhely  and  Dehreczen  (Delnecinum) ; 
in  these  gatherings  and  coUoquia  were  laid  down  the  first  lineaments  of  the  Hun- 
garian confessions  by  the  foremost  pastors,  Melius,  Czeglcdi  and  David. 

first   Confession. 

A  small  synod,  consisting  of  nine  pastors,  convened  at  Varad,  August  18,  1559, 
where  Melius  and  David,  with  their  colleagues,  drew  up  a  "  Sententia"  concerning 
the  Eucharist.  It  was  published  in  the  same  year  at  Kolosvar  (Claudiopolis), 
whence  was  called  "Confessio  ClaudiopOLtiana .''''  In  the  defence  of  that  first  short 
confession  David  v/rote  and  published  "  Defensio  Orthodoxoe  Sententise  de  coena 
Domini  Ministrorum  Ecclesiae  Claudiopolitana;  et  reliijuorum  recte  docentium  in 
Ecclesiis  Transylvanicis  "  (Claudiopoli,  1559,  in  quarto).  In  this  work  it  is  strongly 
denied  that  the  followers  of  the  orthodox  sentence  maintain  "  sacramentarian 
doctrines,"  while  they  take  the  Christ's  body  by  heart  and  faith,  and  they  cannot 
imagine  a  greater  folly  than  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  eating  by  mouth  the  body 
of  Christ. 

It  is  a  pity  that  both  the  "  Sententia  Orthodoxa  "  and  the  "  Defensio"  of  it  are 
lost.  It  is  curious  that  in  Article  5  of  the  Diet  of  Thorda  (June  4,  1564),  giving 
full  liberty  of  existence  to  the  Reformed,  these  latter  are  called  by  the  law  as  "the 


*  His  family  name  in  Hungarian  was  luhasz,  or  Ihasz,  which  means  a  sheep-keeper;  according  to 
the  Humanist  age  custom  he  Grecised  it  to  pydcios,  given  in  Latin  Melius. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  iioi 

followers  of  the  Claiidiopolitan   Confession,"  which  fact  clearly  shows  that  the   re- 
formed religion  was  introduced  into  Transylvania  by  this  first  short  creed. 

Second  Confession. 

A  second  confession  was  drawn  up  at  the  Synod  of  Vasarhely  (in  Transylvania), 
held  November  2,  1559,  which  is  essentially  the  same  as  the  "  Claudiopolilana," 
l)Ut  being  written  in  the  Hungarian  tongue,  a  greater  interest  attaches  itseli  to  it;  in 
this  regard  it  is  unique  and  the  sole  creed  styled  in  national  language  before  the 
separation.  One  copy  exists  from  the  original  edition,  which  is  kept  in  the  National 
Museum  Library  at  Budapest,  from  which  it  was  published  recently  in  a  monthly 
scientific  paper,  Magyar  Konijo  ' Szevtle  (Hungarian  Book  Review),  November 
6,  1878. 

The  Hungarian  title  is  as  follows:  "Az  Urnak  Vacsorajarol  valo  Kozonseges 
Keresztigeni  valias  "  (Common  Ciiristian  Confession,  from  the  Lord's  Supper,  which 
was  made  and  edited  by  the  Christian  doctors  both  from  Hungary  and  Transylvania, 
at  the  Holy  Synod  of  Vasarhely.  Printed  at  Kolosvar,  1559;  7  pages  in  large 
8vo).  Tiie  whole  treats  solely  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  According  to  its  own  state- 
ment, "  The  eatiu"-  of  Jesus  Christ's  body  and  the  drinking  of  his  blood  is  nothing 
else  than  to  believe  and  trust,  with  full  hope  of  the  heart,  that  his  body  was  bruised 
on  our  behalf  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  and  that  we  are  saved  for  the  eternal 
life  only  liecause  of  his  body  and  blood  sacrifice.  Thus  we  partake  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ's  body  and  blood.  The  eating  of  Christ's  body  happens  spiritually,  and 
not  in  a  bodily  manner."  Generally,  the  short  creed  regards  the  doctrine  of  the 
Eucharist  as  the  foundation  of  immortality. 

Third  Confession  ("  Confessio  Hungarorum  "). 

According  to  the  first  Calvinistic  Conference  of  Varad,  Melius  and  his  colleagues 
prepared,  with  great  study,  another  large  c<}nfession,  which  was  discussed  and 
adopted  publicly  in  several  synods  in  1560  and  1561.  This  is  the  famous  Confes- 
sio Debrecinensis. 

The  preface  opens  with  that  inscription,  "  Pastores  Ecclesiae  in  Debreczen 
Georgius  Szegedi  et  Petros  Melius  de  Somogy.  .  .  .  Magnifrco  Domino  Francisco 
Nemeti  Patrono  Ecclesiae  Dei  et  omnibus  Christi  fidelibus"  (six  pages),  dated 
Debrecini,  Aug.  27,  1562.  We  cite  from  this  dedicatorial  preface  the  following 
lines :  "  Ergo  nos  ad  Lydium  lapidem  ad  coelestem  doctrinam  et  Patrum  con- 
fessionem  orthodoxam,  conferentes  ex  fontibus  sacris  Scnpturas  juxta  noimam 
divinorum  eloquioium  confcssionem  noslrain  edidimus,  qiiani  publice  in  Synodis 
exhibuimus,  et  nunc  earn  suis  omnibus  offerimus,  et  obtes  tamur  omnes  veritatis 
amatores,  ut  suis  et  cequis  auiibus  confcssionem  nostram  legant." 

The  title  is: 

"Confessio  Ecclesia:  Debrecinensis  de  praecipuis  articalis  et  qucestionibus  quibus- 
dam,  ad  consulendum  turbatis  conscientiis,  exhibita  ut  testimonium  doctrinas  et  frdei 
contra  calumniatores  sanac  doctrinre."     Debrecini,  1562.     4to,  380  pages. 

The  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  Varad  subscribed  to  this  confession,  July 
19,  1561. 

This  is  the  first  general  confession,  because  it  embraces  not  only  the  one  doctrine 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  also  the  other  dogmas.  It  is  really  Puritan  and  Calvin- 
istic  in  its  tenor;  it  throws  away  the  auricular  confession,  the  altar,  the  clergy's 
uniform  dress,  the  kneeliTig  down,  the  use  of  organs,  and  extends  grace  only  t<i 
the  elect.  Of  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  it  teaches  "  non  adsunt  propter 
panem  in  pane,  sub  pane,  sed  proj^iter  promissionem  et  in  promissione,  non  corjio- 
raliter  corjion  caro  Christi  communicatur  sed  animse  spuilualiter "  (page  50). 
One  copy  is  kept  in  the  college  library  of  Debreczen,  as  an  excellent  monument 
irom  the  age  of  the  Reformation. 

At  that  period  Debreczen  and  Varad,  two  great  cities,  belonged  to  Transylvania, 
and  were  ruled  by  a  Hungarian  prince,  John  H. ;  while  the  city  and  fortress  of  Eget 


II02  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

belonged  to  that  part  of  Hungary  which  was  annexed  to  the  realm  of  Ferdinand  I., 
llic  l<.ing  elect  of  Hungary  and  emperor  of  Gerniniiy.  Under  that  Austrian  monarch 
was  sent,  as  chief  captam  of  the  fortress,  to  Eger  the  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  An- 
tonius  Verancz;  when  he  arrived  at  his  new  pust,  he  Ibund  all  the  ])eople,  peasants, 
nobles  and  soldiers,  entirely  imbued  with  Protestant  tenets,  led  by  a  Prcjtestant 
minister.  The  bi^5hop  tried  to  'enforce  the  soldiers  to  dismiss  their  minister.  The 
heroic  soldiers  did  not  obey  ;  the  minister  and  teacher  were  imprisoned.  The  sol- 
diers and  the  nobility  petitioned  the  king,  but  at  the  same  time  made  a  solemn 
alliance,  and  took  oath  never  to  renounce  their  faith,  which  they  accepted  wiih  good 
conscience — in  the  case  of  faith  no  bishop  or  king  having  right  to  interfere — and 
demanded  to  give  back  their  pastor,  otherwise  they  would  leave  the  fortress.  As  the 
bishop  falsely  informed  the  king,  describing  the  soldiers  as  conspirati)rs,  these  wrote 
humljly  to  their  king,  "  confederationem  nostram  non  contra  Sacratiss.  Majestalem 
Ve>train  factam  esse,  sed  in  causa  fidei  et  salutis,  pro  vera  religione  doctrina  et  salute 
an im arum  nostrarum." 

On  this  occasion  the  population  wishing  to  show  the  king  what  true  Tilth  they  were 
keeping,  accepted  the  Confession  of  Debreczen,  February  6,  1562,  and  sent  it  up  to 
the  king. 

Melius,  the  pastor  priniarius  of  Debreczen,  procured  the  coiiies  of  the  Debreczen 
Confession  for  the  inhabitants  of  Eger,  ordered  to  be  printed  a  new  title-page  before 
it,  followed  by  a  new  preface  to  the  king,  and  thus  was  the  confession  sent  up  to  the 
king,  the  first  reformed  confession  which  an  Austrian  monarch  had  received.  It  bears 
the  bold  title,  "Con/essio  Catholica^^  because  the  doctrines  contained  in  it  may  bo 
verified  by  ancient  and  catholic  sources,  which  were  cited  largely  and  by  the 
page,  as  the  preface  enumerates  the  sources:  "Siquibus  hoec  inaudita  videntur, 
oramus  ut  fontes  im]irimis,  hoc  est  IJiblia  sacra,  hinc  Patres  praeserim  August., 
llieronym.,  Ambro.,  Chrys.,  Cyril,  Cypr.,  Lomb-.rdum,  Tertio  Saniora  Concilia, 
Rapsodius  Graliani  et  fideles  commcntarios  recentium,  unde  hccc  post  Sacra  non 
sine  labore  collegimus." 

The  whole  and  new  title  of  the  confession  is: 

"  Confissio  Caiholica  de  pnx^cipius  fidei  articulis  exhibita  sacratissimo  et  Catholico 
Ronianorum  imperatori  Ferdinando  et  Fiiio  suce  majestatis,  D.  reg  Maximiliano, 
nb  iiniverso  exercitu  equituni  et  peditum  S.  R.  M.  a  nobilibus  item  et  incolis  totius 
VallVs  Agrhicp  in  nomine  sanctae  Trinitatis  ad  foedus  Dei  oustodiendum  juramenlo 
fidei  copulaiorum  et  decertantium  pro  vera  fide  et  religione,  in  Christo  et  Scripiuris 
Sicris  fundata."     A.  D.  1562.     Debrecini,  380  pp.  in  4to. 

The'dedicatorial  address,  on  five  pages,  to  the  kings  lias  a  sublime  tone,  asking 
that  "nobis  fuleliter  et  dementer  annuant  et  concedant  in  vera  et  caiholica  fide 
]iermanere,  pastores  alere  et  habere  ]iascentes  nos  purissimo  Dei  veibo."  The  sub- 
scription runs  thus:  "V.  M.  .S.  Ilumiltimi  et  obsequentissimi  sub.liti  fideles /^///j 
exeiridia  equitum  et  peditum  ac  totius  civitatis  inhabitatores,  nobiles  et  ignobiles 
Agi'ienses." 

This  very  extensive  confession  treats  copiously  of  all  doctrine,  rites,  modes  of 
worship,  disciplines,  church  rights  and  laws,  in  226  separate  heads  on  352 
pages,  in  4to. 

Stephan  Melotai,  superintendent,  wrote  a  Hungarian  "Agenda,"  1621,  which 
reached  several  editions,  being  in  common  use  in  the  liturgy,  quotes,  along  with 
Calvin's  Institution,  ten  times  the  "  Confessio  Caiholica  "  under  the  title,  "  Confessio 
Hungarorum."      It  is  called  by  subsequent  synods  also  "  Confessio  Nostra." 

The  chief  Hungarian  confession,  adopted  by  the  first  three  Calvinistic  churches 
and  cities  of  Debreczen,  Varad  and  Eger,  bears  two  distinct  titles ;  the  text  is  in 
both  the  same,  without  any  alteration  and  change. 

In  the  article  "  De  Oratione"  (eight  pages),  are  treated  separately  all  parts  of  the 
Oratio  Dominica,  as  also  the  ten  commandments. 

Let  us  quote  some  theses  from  the  article  "  De  Pra-destinaiione."  "  Ex  eadem 
massa  hominum  per  lapsum  peccatorum  vincalis  obligatorum  secundum  prrescien- 
tiam  reernam,  cui  omnia  sunt  prresentia,  futura  et  prseterita,  ex  peccatoribus  quos 
voluit  beneplacituni  in  sese  elegit,  et  prsedefiniit  ad  vitam  seternam  ex  morte 
BEterna"  (E.  4). 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1103 

"Alios  Deus  secundum  justitian  suam  ex  peccatoribus  propter  peccafum  elegit, 
prredcfmiit  seu  decgait  ad  iiUeiritum  a;iernuni,ut  polentiam,  irain  in  eis  osterderet " 
(F.I). 

"  Ervaret  qui  dicunl  nos  electas  ideo  quia  Deus  olim  uituram  fidem,  bona  opera 
nostra  praeviderit."  "  Inique  docent  sic:  ideo  eiecius  es,  quia  crcdis,  bona  opera 
f.icis,  audis  verbum  Dei.  Imo  ideo  credis,  audis,  sancte  vivis,  (juia  clectus  cs  ab 
aeterno"  (F.  2). 

The  kuig,  Ferdinand  I.,  left  unmolested  the  supplicants,  absolved  the  bishop  upon 
his  own  demand  from  the  commandant  office  of  the  fortress,  nominated  in  his  stead 
G.  Magocsi,  a  Hungarian  lord,  patron  and  promoter  of  the  Reformed  churches,  and 
noble  triend  of  Melius,  and  under  his  commandantship  Calvinism  took  strong 
spread  around  Eger  till  1 596,  when  the  fierce  Turks  occupied  the  city,  having  kept 
it  under  their  subjugation  nearly  a  hundred  years.  Meli\is  dedicated  his  postilles 
"  Hungarian  Sermons"  (Magyar  prsedilaiiok)  to  G.  Magocsi  as  "to  his  good  lord 
and  patron,"  in  1563  (prmted  ai  Debreczen,  592  pp.,  8vo). 

All  conjectures  testily  that  Melius  was  the  author  of  the  "  Confessio  Catholica,  o'" 
Debrecinensis."  He  says,  in  his  Postillic,  that  these  were  taken  not  only  from  itie 
writings  of  j^rophets  and  ajiostles,  but  from  the  commentaries  of  the  ancient  doctors, 
as  Origen,  Chrysostom,  Theophilactus,  Ambrosius,  Hieionymus,  Augustinus,  and 
especially  from  the  works  of  the  scholars  of  Geneva.  These  ancient  doctors  are 
cited  in  the  confession  under  hand.  Melius,  in  one  ot  his  later  works,  "  Sermons 
upon  the  Apocalypsis "  (Debreczen,  1568.  4to,  568  pp.),  in  a  beautiful  prayer, 
gives  thanks  to  God  that  he  gave  to  the  Church  and  schools  such  nursers  as 
Magocsi,  etc. 

Melius  introduced,  first,  Calvin's  catechism  into  the  Hungarian  schools  in  the 
same  year  as  the  "  Confessio  Catholica"  (commonly  called  also  "  Confessio  agri- 
vallensis")  appeared.  The  interesting  book's  title  is,  "  Caiechismus."  "  P'oundation 
and  somme  of  the  whole  Christian  science,  according  to  the  writing  of  J.  Calvinus," 
dedicated  to  P'r.  Nemets,  commandant  of  Tokaj,  to  whom  is  dedicated  the  Confes- 
sion of  Debreczen.     The  second  edition  appeared  in  1569,  also  at  Debreczen. 

Rental k. — Melius's  catechism  is  not  literally  a  translation  of  Calvin's  catechism, 
but  an  adaptation  and  free  elaboration  of  it,  for  the  use  of  schools,  in  152  pages. 
The  strict  transl.ition  of  Calvin's  catechism  appeared  in  Hungarian,  in  1695.  The 
glorious  reformed  Prince  of  Transylvania,  George  Rakoczy  I.,  or<lered  a  valactrian 
(Roman)  translation,  "  Catechismula  Calvinescu,"  which  appeared  at  Gyula  Feh^ruslr 
(Alba  Julia),  1642;  the  second  edition,  rV^/t/.,  1656;  the  third  edition  at  Szeben 
(Cibinii)  in  1879. 

Fourth   Confession. 

In  the  si.\teenth  century  Hungary  was  divided  among  three  rulers,  (a)  Transyl- 
vania— the  eastern  iian  of  Hungary — and  its  adjacent  territories  bordered  mostly  i^y 
the  great  inland  river  Tisza.  Theiss  (in  Latin,  Tibiscus)  formed  an  independent 
national  principality,  whose  sovereign  prince  bore  sometimes  the  title  of  elect  king 
also;  to  that  principality  belonged  Debreczen  and  Varad,  but  not  Eger.  (bj  Hungary 
))roper  (Hungaria  Superior),  mostly  the  northern,  western,  and  ]iartially  the  middle 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  under  the  Halisburg  dynasty,  (c)  The  southern  and  middle 
part  of  Hungary  suffered  under  the  Turkish  yoke. 

The  Hungarian  Calvini'^m  stept  over  the  boundaries  of  Transylvania  when  the 
common  people,  the  noi)iliiy  and  army  of  Eger  and  its  environ,  adojUed  the  "Con- 
fessio Debrecinensis,"  which  was  presented  to  the  strong  Catholic  king  under  a 
favorable  title  (Confessio  Catholico)  in  order  to  testify,  that  the  Reformed  are  not 
heretics  because  they  agree  in  the  chief  things  with  the  ancient  early  Church,  stand- 
in"  on  tlie  same  foot,  which  was  niarl»ed  jjy  Tlieodosius  the  Great,  when  he  sanctioned 
the  Nicasno-Constanlinopolilamim  --ynibolum,  what  is  embraced  also  by  Melius  and 
the  Reformed.  Melius  deveKijied  a  great  prudence  when  addressing  the  first  Cab 
vinistic  Confession  for  himself  to  a  foreign  ruler,  who  was  also  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, he  not  only  styled  it  as  "  Catholic  "  Confession,  but  even  went  so  far  as  saying 
in   the  article  of  "  De  conciliis  "  (page  206)  "  sicut  Nicenum  de  trinitate  et  Chrisli 


II04  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

cleitate,  Mileviternum,  Arausicanum  de  peccato,  lapsii,  gratia,  liboro  arhitrio,  fide,  et 
Christi  merito.  Tridlutiniim  anno  1547  et  1546  celel^ratum  de  justificatione,  de 
fide,  opeiibus,  recipiuius."  This  statement  of  the  "  Confessio  Calholica"  is,  per- 
haps, a  most  peculiar  and  extraordinary  feature  of  the  confession  <jf  Deijreczen  and 
Eger.  And  because  that  confession  was  introduced  into  botii  Hungaries  (viz.:  to 
Transylvania  and  Hungary  proper),  was  it  called,  I  think,  "  Confessio  Mungaro- 
rum,"  as  adopted  by  the  Hungarians  in  both  kingdoms. 

Besides  the  "  Confessio  Catholica,"  there  is  yet  another  which  originated  in 
the  kingdom  of  Ferdinand  in  Hungary,  which  fact  shows  clearly  that  Calvinism 
advanced  from  Transylvania  over  and  beyond  the  river  Tisza  among  the  Hungarians 
living  under  the  Austrian  monarchs. 

As  the  Hungarian  Protestant  ministers  were  nearly  all  the  discii^les  of  Melanchthon, 
the  praiceptor's  conciliatory  mind  and  mild  spirit  towards  the  Helvetic  direction  was 
silently  transplanted  to  his  Magyar  (Hungarian)  hearers,  wiiile  those  inhabitants  of 
Hungary  who  belong  to  the  Slavonic  and  German  nation  more  rigidly  adhered  to 
the  exclusive  spirit  of  Luther;  so  it  happened  that  among  the  Lutheran  ministers 
beyond  the  river  Tisza,  there  were  some  Magyar  pastors  who  inclined  to  the  Hel- 
vetic tendance.  Some  ministers  assembled,  in  1562,  in  the  town  of  Tarczal,  not 
far  from  Tokaj,  the  renowned  city  from  its  best  wine.  In  that  region  of  Hungary 
ruled  by  Ferdinand  L,  the  pastor  of  Sajo  Szent  Peter,  named  Paul  Tiiry,  was 
a  most  learned  scholar,  who,  while  visiting  the  foreign  universities,  had  been 
acquainted  with  the  Institutes  of  Calvin  ;  having  a  poetical  mind,  he  solemnized 
the  magnificent  work  with  a  distinction  which  since  is  retained  and  repeated  in  our 
litprature : 

"  Prreler  ApostoHcas,  post  Christi  tempora,  chartas 
Iluic*  peperere  libro,  secula  nulla  parem." 

The  majority  of  the  Synod  of  Tarczal  declared  on  the  side  of  Helvetic  reforma- 
tion, deserted,  by  a  disruption,  the  Augustan  Confession,  and,  in  order  to  show 
whence  they  would  receive  for  future  religious  direction,  adopted,  the  first  time,  a 
foreign  creed,  that  is,  the  Confession  of  Beza,  according  to  the  Latin  text  of  1560, 
wrongly  called  in  our  ancient  documents  "  Confessio  Genevensis." 

Gabriel  Pereneji,  magnate,  chief  political  officer  of  two  counties,  fervent  protector 
of  Protestantism,  excited  by  the  instigation  of  the  Lutheran  pastors,  summoned 
a  new  synod  at  Uj-hely,  in  1563,  in  order  to  prevent  the  further  conquest  of  the 
Genevian  creed,  sent  a  deputation  to  the  universities  of  Wittenberg  and  Leipsic, 
asking  advice  from  thence  what  to  do. 

The  answer  of  these  Lutheran  universities  condemned  the  Confession  of  Beza  and 
warned  Pereneji  to  adhere  most  firmly  to  the  Confession  of  Augsburg. 

The  strict  Lutheran  Pereneji  called  another  synod  at  Terebes,\w  1564;  he  cited 
before  it  the  narrator  P.  Tury  (Turius),  wishing  to  expel  him,  after  condemnation, 
from  his  territory.  Tury  absented  himself,  left  the  region  as  a  fugitive,  and  went 
over  to  Transylvania,  where  he  received  a  pastoral  charge  at  Szanto  (in  the  county 
of  Zihar),  and  remained  undisturbed  till  his  death  in  1575,  being  there  also  a 
strong  promoter  and  defender  of  Calvinism. 

The  Lutherans,  allied  to  Pereneji,  under  the  leadership  of  Michael  Radaschin, 
German  pastor  of  Bartfa,  surely  made  a  representation  to  the  new  king  of  Upper 
Hungary,  to  the  Austrian  Maximilian,  in  consequence  of  which  appeared  a  royal 
edict,  in  1566,  ordering  the  towns  to  withhold  themselves  from  all  sort  t)f  commu- 
nications and  contact  with  the  Arians  (Unitarians),  and  with  the  Sacramentarians, 
that  is,  with  the  Calvinists.  Thus,  although  but  for  a  short  time,  the  Helvetic  faith 
was  arrested  in  that  part  of  Hungary.  But  this  hindrance,  made  liy  constraint, 
caused  a  more  fresh  outbreak. 

Meanwhile,  in  Transylvania  all  means  were  tried  to  keep  together  both  the 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists.  The  State  Diet,  in  1566,  summoned  both  par- 
ties.    Therefore,  the  pastors  and  elders  were  convened  in  1561,  Feb.  6,  to  Megyes,  in 

*  Viz.  :  Calvin's  Institution. 


SECOND  GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1105 

order  to  come  to  concord  in  the  matter  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  There  the  Saxon  minis- . 
ters  (all  Lutherans,  speakinj^  German),  compiled  in  fourteen  heads  a  confession, 
sent  it  to  the  German  Lutheran  universities  ami  to  the  Saxon  elector,  while  the 
Hungarian  Calvinists  maintained  the  former  Confession  of  Clausenhurg  and  Vasar- 
hely.  The  official  replies  of  foreign  universities  of  Wittenberg  and  of  Francfort 
were  read  in  the  strict  Lutheran  Synod  of  Szeben  in  1562,  March  2.  The  synod 
lirmly  upheld  the  Lutheran  creed  and  hostilely  called  the  Reformed  brethren 
"  Sacramentarians." 

Under  the  example  of  the  Lutherans,  who  proved  their  standing  by  appealing  to 
foreign  authorities,  the  Calvinists  were  also  morally  forced  to  call  on  foreign  counte- 
luince;  therefore,  holding  a  separate  synod  at  the  Transylvanian  town  of  Tarda,  in 
1563,  ^L^y  28,  they  adopted  the  Confession  of  Tarczal,  viz.:  the  Confession  of 
B^-za.  By  ihis  act  the  valor  and  beurmg  of  that  foreign  confession  extended  to 
I'oth  parts  of  Hungary,  and  received  the  common  appellation  :  Confessio  Tarczal-  . 
7  ordensis. 

It  was  printed  at  the  order  and  expense  of  Susanna  Lovantfy,  the  pious  widow 
of  the  great  prince  of  Transylvania,  G.  Rakoczy  L,  in  the  year  1655,  in  both  lan- 
guages, Hungarian  and  Latin,  in  one  volume;  the  left  page  gives  the  Latin  text,  the 
right,  the  Hungarian  translation.     The  title  page  is: 

"Compendiiint  Doctrimc  Christianse,  quam  oinnes  pastores  et  ministri  ecclesiarum 
Dei  in  tota  Ungaria  et  Transylvania,  qute  incorruptum  Jesu  Christi  Evangelium  am- 
])lex3e  sunt,  docent  ac  protirentur.  In  publicis  Synodis  Tartzaliensi  et  'J hordensi' 
editum  et  publicatum  Annis  Domini  1562  et  1563.  Patakini,  typis  celsissinre  prin- 
cipis  excudit  Georgius  Renins,  anno  1655."     tivo.,  471  pp. 

After  a  short  preface  come  (.7)  Symbolum  Apostolorum,  {h)  Symbolum  Nicenum, 
(r)  Constantinopolitanum,  (</)  Confessio  fidei  Ephesinae  Synodi,  [c)  Conf.  fidei 
Chalcedonensis  Synodi,  all  in  two  languages.     Then  follow  the  confessio  itself: 

De  Sancta  Trinitate,  L  caput,  in  3  articles. 

De  Deo  Patre,  H.  caput,  I-4  articles. 

De  Jesu  Christo  unico  Dei  tilio,  HL  caput,  1-26  articles. 

De  Sancto  Spiritu,  IV.  caput,  1-52  articles. 

De  Ecclesia,  V.  caput,  1-33  articles. 

De  Ultimo  Judicio,  VI.  caput,  i  article. 

The  whole  is  concluded  with  the  symbol  of  Athenase. 

This  confession  is  the  same  as  that  of  Beza,  which  was  written  first  in  French;. 
edited  in  Latin  in  1560,  second  edition  in  1570,  third  edition  in  1577;  it  was  trans- 
lated into  Italian  in  1560;   into  English  in  1563. 

We  can  state  the  differences  between  the  Confession  of  Tarczal-Torda  and  that  of 
Beza,  in  the  subsequent  points,  (i?)  the  first  four  cajjita  accord  entirely,  (/')  the  5th> 
caput  of  Beza  consist  of  forty-five   articles,  while  the   Confessio  of  Tarczal-Torda 
numbers  only  twenty-seven  articles;   therefore,  some  articles   have  been   left  out  iiii 
the    Hungarian  synod's  text.     The   7th  caput  of  Beza  with  fifteen   sections  are  en- 
tirely wanting. 

Beza  was  in  correspondence  with  Melius,  pastor  of  Debreczen.  We  may  suppose 
that  his  confession  came  by  this  way  into  H ungaria.  His  authority  and  favor  lasted^ 
beyond  a  century,  which  is  testified  by  the  fact  that  the  publishing  of  it  was  ondered' 
from  a  high  sphere,  from  the  prince's  court.  Beza's  Confession  was  the  fast  forf 
eign  creed  adopted  by  the  Hungarian  Churches;  the  first  golden  link  uniting' 
Hungarians  with  Geneva,  bringing  nearer  the  nationally  separated  bodies  of 
the  Reformed  Churches,  preparing  the  way  for  the  idea  of  general  PresbyJleriaii 
Alliance. 

The  consequences  of  the  two  confessions  (Confessio  Catholica  and  Tarc:ml- 
Thordensis)  received  Ijy  the  Hungarians  were  very  important  in  the  history  of  the 
Hungarian  Church — they  prepared  the  way  for  the  independency  of  the  Reformtil 
Church. 

As  in  Transylvania  chiefly  the  Magyars  approached  the  Calvinistic  creed;  the- 
Saxons,  on  the  contrary,  maintained    rigidly  the   sway  of  the  Augustan   Confession. 
The  creed  question   became  a  national   one,  dividing  the   inhabitants  into  two  divi- 
70 


iio6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

sions  according  to  the  language.  The  State  diet  of  1563  made,  by  prudence,  some 
concession  to  both  parties,  namely,  the  congregations  got  the  freedom  of  distributing 
the  Holy  Supper  according  to  the  wishes  of  people  and  ministers,  so  that  this  might 
happen  without  any  turbulence.  Many  Hungarian  congregations,  therefore,  freely 
partook  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  Calvinistic  manner. 

At  last  the  spirit  of  Calvinism  overtook  the  mind  of  the  ruling  circles.  The  young 
Prince  of  Transylvania,  Sigismond  John  (John  H.)  son  of  Tzpolyar,  the  first  king  of 
the  Principality,  with  his  nobles,  yieUling  to  the  popular  opinion,  came  every  day 
nearer  to  the  Helvetic  conception,  so  that  the  Transyivanian  Diet  of  1564  (Jan.  20), 
judged  it  to  he  convenient  to  convoke  a  common  ]iublic  discussion  upon  the  burning 
question  of  the  real  presence  and  of  symbolical  presence  of  Christ's  body  in  the  Holy 
.Supper. 

According  to  the  political  decision,  a  general  national  synod  was  convoked  in 
Enged,  in  1564,  April  9.  The  Saxon  Lutherans  and  the  Magyar  Calvinists  came 
lastly  together  by  the  king's  permission.  All  attempts  to  make  peace  and  concord 
between  the  two  parties  were  in  vain.  The  separation  into  two  denominations  was 
pronounced,  having  each  its  own  existence  and  distinction.  The  following  State 
Diet  in  1564,  June  12,  sanctioned  officially  and  forever  the  separation.  Thus  re- 
ceived full  liberty  and  existence,  the  Ref>rmecl  Church  and  religion  in  Transylvania 
and  in  the  neighboring  territories — as,  for  instance,  in  Debreczen.  All  these  were 
accomplished  a  few  days  after  the  death  of  the  great  Calvin. 

Fifth  Confession. 

The  Synod  of  Tarczal  in  1562  made  yet  another  important  advance  towards  Cal- 
vinism. As  already  above  mentioned.  Melius  edited  in  Hungarian  in  the  same  year 
a  catechism  for  the  use  of  schools,  according  to  Calvin's  Catechism.  We  may  rightly 
suppose  tliat  through  this  book  was  popularized  among  us  the  great  rsformator's 
conception,  so  far  as  the  Synod  adopted  also  as  a  standard  work  Calvin's  Catechism, 
which  was  liter  yet  more  strongly  approved. 

Under  the  freer  spirit  pervading  the  ea-^tern  part  of  Hungary  (that  is  Transyl- 
vania), the  rigid  resistance  of  Pereneji  and  Radaschin  in  the  northern  parts  of  Hun- 
gary proved  fruitless.  The  Hungarian->peaking  congregations  around  the  city  of 
Kassa  weie  coiiViued  by  Casper  ls.ar.)li,  ]iastor  of  (jonez,  and  senior  (juesident  of  the 
confraternitate) ;  and  the  term  of  Synod  was  hxed  January  22,  1566,  in  the  town  of 
Cionez.  The  "  Epistola  Convocatoria '  mentions  the  object  for  wliich  the  Synod  was 
to  be  held  ;  "y^quum  est,  ut  confessio  synodi,  quce  fere  ante  duos  annos  Tarczalini 
convocata  erat,  in  qua  de  praecipuis  vel  fere  omnibus  Christianre  religiones  articulis 
consensus  fuerat  institutus  renovetur,  et  denuo  CDnfirrnitur." 

The  pastors  of  Cis-Tibiscan  congregations  under  the  moderatorship  of  C.  Kiroli 
(the  translator  of  the  Hungarian  Hible),  have  drawn  up  twenty-two  articles,  the  so- 
called  "Articuli  GSnocienses,"  with  common  concord  and  unanimity.  P'or  our 
purpose  is  highly  important  the  Third  Article,  in  the  following  words  : 

"Quia  jam  induahus  synodis  subscriptum  est  Confessioni Rcclesice  Genevensis  con- 
scriptce  diligenter  a  Theodora  Bezci,  ministro  ecclesire  illius,  illamque  confessionem 
studeant  sibi  comparare  eamque  legere  et  discere  (s(:ilicet  ministri).  Non  quia  id  a 
Beza  dictum  sit,  sed  quia  conveniat  cum  sacris  litteris.  Cntechesin  quaque  Calvini 
quas  in  ])riore  synodo  suffragio  communi  recepta  est,  faciant  sibi  familiarem." 

The  Catechesis  referred  to  was  written  by  Calvin,  December  I,  1545- 

The  synod  of  Gonez  addressed  an  elegant  letter.  "Ad  Fratres  TransTihiscanos," 
to  those  of  Debreczen,  Varad.  etc.,  who  belonged  to  other  crowns,  in  which  they 
wrote,  "Cum  autem,  ut  scetis  pro  r(j/;^;«//«/ confessione  Genevensis  Ecclesise  Confessio 
fuerit  recepta,  et  ab  omnibus  nobis  approbala,  illi  hoc  quoqiie  fcDipore  subscripsimus." 

The  synod,  like  that  of  Tarczal,  j)ut  aside  the  use  of  wafer,  stigmatizing  it  as 
"  panis  nefarius."  Li  the  address  a  noble  testimonial  was  given  in  favor  of  P.  Tury, 
escaped  formerly  to  Transylvania,  because  he  could  not  break  "  panem  a  nobis  ex- 
pulsum,"  viz.:  "Panem  asymum,  Melius  enim  esse  judicarunt  Pauluni  Thiirinum 
clam  discedere,  quam  vel  ad  mortom  redire,  vel  neferium  panem  usurpare."     They 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1107 

extol  also  with  satisfaction  the  zeal  of  Petrus  Thelius.  Melius  circulated  this  letter 
among  his  C(jlleagues. 

The  synod  of  CJonez  may  be  regarded  in  northern  Hungary  as  the  concluding  one 
which  settled  the  question  of  separation.  The  inhabitants  of  the  north  districts 
aixjve  Kassa  remained  till  this  day  faithful  to  tlie  Augustan  Confession;  those,  on 
the  contrary,  below  Kassa,  southward,  kept,  grasped  and  maintained  forever  the 
Helvetic  form  of  relormation. 

Some  hesitations  have  been  experienced  in  the  wafer's  use.  A  new  populous 
synod  was  held  at  Szikszo,  January  6,  1568,  where  many  Cis  and  Trans-Tibiscan 
bretliren  from  eighteen  countries  were  present,  accompanied  by  the  nobility. 
Lastly,  they  decided  as  follows  : 

"  Postquam  enim  variis  ac  variis  cum  difhcultatibus  per  complures  annos  collucta- 
tee  fuissent  Ecc'esire  Reformatae  Hungarire  propter  panis  azymi  in  sacramento 
eucliaristicas  abrogationem  tandem  anno  1568,  in  Synodo  SziUszoviensi,  comriiuni 
decrelo  ecclesiarum  omnium  cis  et  ultra-Til)iscanarum  ejus  abrogatio,  et  loco  arbicu- 
laris  hostioe,  pnnis  vulgaris  in  sacramentum  coenas  Domini,  usus,  pubiica  authoritate 
sancilus  et  confirmatus  est"  (Historia  Ecclesice  Reformatse  in  Hungaria  et  Transyl- 
vania, a  F'rid.  Ad.  Lampe,*  1718,  vide  page  178). 

Sixth    Confession. 

In  the  phase  of  evolution  of  the  Calvinistic  system,  a  very  important  and  lasting 
consequence  flowed  out  of  the  measure  taken  by  the  Saxon  Lutherans.  The  dog- 
matic dis])utation  of  Megyes,  February  6,  1 561,  ordered  to  be  convened  i)y  the 
prince  Jojm  IT.  (ruled  1559-1571)  for  peace  sake,  ended  by  making  a  sum  of 
Lutlieran  faith  in  fourteen  articles,  subscribed  l>y  all  pastors  present,  and  directed  to 
four  foreign  universities.  Mathias  Hebler,  chief  Lutheran  pastor  of  Szeben,  and 
superintendent  of  Transylvania,  was  the  director  of  these  measures.  In  the  docu- 
ment sent  abioad  the  Calvinistic  new  movement  was  accused  heavily.  Debreczen 
and  its  Thelius  was  charged  and  denigrated.  From  Wittenberg  George  Major  cor- 
responded with  the  prince's  chancellor  in  Transylvania,  1561.  The  Calvinist 
preachers  left  the  cited  disputation  with  the  firm  declaration  that  the  body  of  Christ 
is  taken  in  the  eucharist,  "  Non  ore  sed  corde." 

First  was  Melius,  who  took  the  pen  against  the  assailants  in  two  remarkable 
pamphlets,  the  one  having  the  title,  "■Apologia  et  abstersio  Ecclesise  Debreci- 
nensis  a  colummis,  quibus  temere  apud  acidemias  et  principes  accusatur"  (Debre- 
cini,  1563.  8vo.,  36  pp.)  The  other  is,  '■'■  Refittatio  Confessionis  de  coena  Domini 
Matthias  Hebler,  Dionisii  Alesii  et  his  conjunctorum,  unacum  judiciis  quatuor  Aca- 
demiarum  Wittenbergensis,  Lipsiensis,  Mostochiensis  et  Francofurtiensis,  qua  Sax- 
onibus  Transylvanicus  diplomatis  papolis  instar  missa  sunt  Anno  Dom.  1561 " 
(Debrecini,  1564.    8vo.,  88  pp.) 

In  a  second  line  the  Calvinist  ]ireachers  and  professors  of  Kolosvar  wrote  an  elo- 
quent letter  to  the  theologians  of  Heidelberg,  annexing  the  writings  of  Hebler,  ask- 
ing advice  and  arguments  against  the  Lutheran  stand-points.  Thus  both  contending 
parties  appealed  to  foreign  authorities. 

The  professors  of  the  Heidelberg  University  directed  September  I,  1564,  a  beauti- 
ful answer  to  their  brethren  of  Kolosvar,  and  joined  the  very  recently  appeared  Cate- 
chism of  Heidelberg  as  a  standard  work  in  which  all  arguments  against  the  Lutheran 
conception  was  to  lie  found.  So  came  into  Hungary  the  Palatmate  Catechism, 
which  afterwards  conquered  an  unheard  of  popularity  in  all  parts  of  Hungary,  and 
became  by-and-by,  through  a  common  adherence,  one  of  the  most  notable  symbolical 
bonks  in  our  country. 

l?asilius  Fabricius  Szikszai,  professor  of  Kolosvar  (1563-1567),  after  having  been 
called  professor  in  the  college  of  Patak,  took  with  him  a  copy  of  the  Heidelberg 

*  l.ampe  was  only  the  editor  of  that  larsje  history  ;  the  author  of  it  was  Paulas  Ember,  pastor  of 
several  places,  viz.  :  Debreczen,  Palak,  Liszka ;  died,  1710. 


iio8  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Catechism,  and,  as  a  famous  teacher,  made  it  known  among  his  hearers,  in  the  realtn 
ot"  Ferdinand. 

David  Husrr,  son  of  the  famous  reformer,  Gallus  Husrr,  translated  it  first  into 
Hungarian  at  Papa,  1577,  also  in  the  reahn  of  Maximilian. 

Francis  Szaraszi,  the  reformed  pastor  of  Debreczen,  gave  to  it  a  batter  translation, 
and  printed  at  Debreczen,  1604  (4V0.,  132  pp.),  for  the  use  of  schools  and  churches. 
It  was  reprinted  at  Amsterdam  in  1650  (in  i2mo.,  246  pp.),  with  the  addition  of 
the  Delgica  Confessio  in  Hungarian. 

Albertus  Melior  Srenczi,  the  great  Hungarian  scholar,  the  finest  translator  of 
the  psalms — still  in  use  in  our  worship — liest  token  of  its  popularity  and  lieau- 
tifulness,  translated  anew  in  a  condenserl  shape,  edited  by  Heri^ornoe,  1607  (i2mo., 
69  pp.)  And  secondly  at  C)ppenheim,  1612,  it  was  added  to  his  Hungarian  Bible 
edition  as  an  appendix.  This  famed  Catechism  has  been  printed  many  times  and 
in  many  places;  for  instance,  at  Basel,  in  1754,  in  2,900  copies,  at  the  operation 
of  Debreczen. 

The  greatest  national  synod  of  the  Hungarian  Reformed  Church,  held  at  Szatmar, 
on  June  10,  1646,  in  its  second  conclusion  sanctioned  the  common  authority  of  the 
'•  Catechesis  Palatina"  with  the  sentence  :   "  Ketineatur  ac  docetur." 

This  book,  as  most  popular  text-books,  could  not  evade  persecution  from  the  side 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  and  government.  Stephan  Hatvani,  a  reputed 
professor  of  the  college  of  Debreczen,  was  trusted  by  the  Presbytery  of  Debre- 
czen to  cause  the  printing  of  it  at  Basel,  because  the  typ(3graphy  ot  Debreczen  was 
prohibited*  to  work.  The  prohibition  of  the  "Palatina  Catechesis"  was  in  Hun- 
gary, by  government  intimations,  effected  when  the  Austrian  dynasty  conquered 
under  its  sceptre  the  whole  of  Hungary.  The  Catechism  was  classed  among  the 
most  pernicious  books  and  was  arrested.  The  royal  edicts  are  dated  in  1748,  1749, 
and  1757,  the  catechism  being  in  these  styled  as  "  Sanctis  Dei  princibus  ecclesiasticis 
et  sKcularibus,  toll  Chrisliano  populo  et  catholica;  religioni  gravissime  injurii." 

Under  the  domination  of  the  illuminated  Joseph  H.,  ofticial  steps  were  taken  by 
the  su|)erintendency  around  Debreczen,  January  8,  1781,  asking  permission  for  the 
printing  and  editing  of  the  Catechism  of  Heidelberg.  After  many  vexations  the 
king,  Joseph  H.,  gave  permission  on  the  condition  that  some  omission  should  be 
made  in  the  questions  30,  57  and  80. 

Since,  with  the  omission  and  abbreviation — leaving  out  some  hard  words  against 
Rcmian  Catholicism — the  Catechism  has  been  several  limes  printed  at  Debreczen  and 
elsewhere,  being  used  as  a  class-book  for  religious  teaching,  even  in  recent  days,  in 
our  Gymnasia. 

This  sole  catechism  survived  all  other  catechisms.  It  may  be,  therefore,  ranked 
among  the  Hungarian  creeds,  and  as  a  link  which  binds  us  to  our  foreign  reformed 
brethren  and  to  the  Presl)yterian  churches  of  the  world.  The  faithfulness  to  the 
Helvetic  reformation  during  three  centuries  may  be  counted  to  this  book,  keeping 
alive  the  reformed  conscience  in  the  bosoms  of  the  new  generations  succeeding  each 
after  each  till  the  present  day.  The  blessings  of  this  religious  book  are  innumerable 
in  Hungary. 

Sevetith  Confession. 

The  Hungarian  Reformed  Church  being  entirely  separated  from  the  Tutherans  in 
the  year  1561  at  Debreczen  and  Varad,  in  1562  at  Eger  and  Tarczol,  in  1563  and 
1564  at  Torda  and  Enyed,  and  again  in  1566  at  Gonez,  a  new  danger  threatened 
the  newly  consolidated  church  :  the  Unitarianism  preached  first  by  Stancaro,  Lucas 
Agriensis,  Blandrata,  and  lastly  by  the  great  Hungarian  hero  of  it,  Francis  David, 
pastor  of  Kolosvar,  who  was  formerly  a  high  promoter  of  Calvinism,  but  afterwards 
'induced  from  it  by  his  chameleon  nature. 

The  eloquent  David  resigned  the  first  Calvinisl  superintendential  office  in  Tran- 
sylvania, and  commenced  to  assail,  in  1566,  March  15th,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

*By  the  queen,  Theresa-Maria. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1109 

At  a  synod  of  Alba  Julia  (Fehernar)  in  1566,  April  24th,  where  the  Prince  of  Tran- 
sylvania was  also  present,  Peter  Melius  publicly  delendcd  the  doctrine  of  Trinuv, 
and  branded  opeidy  the  dubious  statements  of  D.ivid  as  "  mendaciuni   serveticuni." 

Thus  began  the  great  struggle  in  Hungary  with  the  Unitarians,  whose  tenets  were 
styled  from  their  l)irthplace  "  Transylvanian  Creed."  The  once  so  powerful  Cal- 
vinistic  city  of  Kolosvar,  capital  of  Transylvania,  ten  hours  distant  from  Varad, 
yielded  to  the  contagious  eloquence  of  its  f^imous  and  bold  pastor,  David,  court- 
preacher  of  the  prince,  and  to  his  secret  friend,  the  court's  physician,  G.  Blandrata, 
s'.ijoying  the  king's  favor,  adopted  the  Unitarian  Creed. 

When  the  new  creed  seemed  to  creep  in  everywhere,  the  intrepid  Melius  stood 
aheail  as  a  champion  to  defend  the  Evangelical  Confessions,  called  a  great  synod  in 
Debreczen,  in  which  both  the  Trans  and  cis-Tii)iscan  brethren  were  present,  represent- 
ing together  seventeen  presbyteries  or  seniorales,  called  in  our  church  style 
"  tractus." 

The  most  important  synod  of  Debreczen  (convened  in  February  29,  1567)  drew 
up  a  new  confession  tiirected  against  the  Unitarians. 

The  first  Hungarian  Confession  lanced  against  the  Hungarian  Unitarians  by  Hun- 
garian mind,  appeared  at  Debreczen  under  the  following  \\\\q:  "Brevis  Confcssto 
Pixstontm  ad  synodum  Debrecii  celebratam,  24,  25,  26,  et  27  Februar,  A.  D.  1567, 
convocatorum  "  (1567,  quarto  72  pp.)  Dedicated  to  John  II.,  Prince  and  King  of 
Transylvania. 

On  the  head  of  the  conclusions  in  the  text,  the  inscription  runs  thus:  "Suntma 
Confessionis  et  conclusionum  synodi  Debrecinum  ad  24  Februarii  convocaise,  ubi 
ordine  Sabellii  et  .Serveti,  Arii,  Fotini,  Manichasorum  haereses,  et  falsa  dogmata 
Stancari,  psychomacaristarum,  sordium  Antichrist!  defendsoruni,  et  purissimo  Dei 
veibjs  refuiata  et  damnata  sunt." 

The  essential  part  of  this  confession  is  the  "  responsio  ad  argumenta  Servetico- 
rum,"  and  the  "responsio  Catholica,"  with  eight  arguments  against  the  Unitarians, 
called  Servetici,  and  also  "  antitriadici  "  in  the  text. 

The  "  responsio  ad  Argumenta  "  opens  thus :  "  Licet  pluribus  ordine  singula  Ser- 
veticorum  argumenta  refutata  sint,  tamen  omnium  eorum  argumenta  brevitates  causa 
in  octo  capita  contraximus." 

The  content  and  style  of  this  confession  is  one  of  the  most  fierce,  bitter  and 
vehement,  because  the  Unitarians  prepared  already  their  own  confession  and  cate- 
chism. The  orthodox  party,  influenced  by  tlie  strong  language  of  Calvin,  called 
the  followers  of  David  "  Servenci  canes  "  and  "  Serveticae  sues."  The  emotions 
were  enhanced  by  the  like  injurious  terms  of  the  Unitarians,  and  by  their  bold 
negations  of  all  principal  dogmas,  saint  to  the  orthodox.  The  confession  alludes 
to  the  versatile  manners  of  the  Unitarians  once  having  been  Lutherans,  later  Cal- 
vinists,  describing  them  thus:  "  Ecce  arundines  quovis  vento  agitatce,  obliii  hornm 
omnium  (enumerated  above  in  the  text  their  variations),  nunc  nova  mendacia  finxe- 
runt  et  tuentur.  Negant  triadem,  negant  Christi  Deitatem  subsistentem,  neganl 
Spiritus  Sancli  Deitatem." 

As  the  Unitarianism  made  a  rapid  progress  even  among  the  people.  Melius  saw  good 
lo  publish  "the  short  confession  of  pastors"  in  Hungarian,  and  m  more  popular 
style  and  form,  so  it  appeared  in  the  same  year  in  a  new  and  developed  Hungarian 
edition,  under  the  title  "^  Debreczembe  dszregyuU  Keresetyon  prcvdikntoroknok  i'^^az 
es  szent-irds  suvint  valo  vailasok."  (True  and  scriptural  confession  of  the  Christian 
preichers  asseiid)led  at  Debreczen,)  56  pages. 

It  is  dedicated  by  Melius  to  "the  pious  and  Christian  merchants"  in  several 
towns  of  the  country,  in  order  "  to  be  ca[iable  lo  dig  the  mouths  of  heretics  in 
everywhere." 

It  is  sure  that  the  Hungarian  edition  is  not  a  literary  translation,  hut  a  new  work, 
in  some  parts  more  short,  and  redacted  in  another  order,  divided  in  more  chap/tcrs, 
omitting  the  scholarly  method. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  this  original  confession,  in  both  tongue  and  form,  treats 
not  only  from  the  tenets  of  Unitarianism,  but  comprehends  also  all  reformed  dogmas, 
refuting  the  papal  conceptions.     For  instance,  it  treats  of  the  sin,  of  the  soul,  of  the 


I  no  THE   rRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

wafer's  use,  of  the  singing,  of  the  dress  of  ministers,  of  the  chapels,  of  the  election, 
of  freewill,  of  the  Lord's  Sup|)cr,  of  the  huiial,  etc.  All  these  doctrines  are  pre- 
iented  to  the  peojjlc  in  true  reformed  spirit,  in  powerful  language,  with  very  origi- 
nal Ilungaiianism.  The  Hungarian  edition  shows  the  dogmatic  style  of  our  lan- 
guage, and  is  the  best  specimen  of  our  ancient  literature. 

With  any  doubt  the  writer  of  these  confessions  was  Melius,  the  lines  being  glow- 
ing by  his  fire  and  consuming  zeal. 

Eighth  Confession. 

The  Epoch-maker  Synod  of  Debreczen  (1567),  proves  to  be,  for  the  Hungarian 
Keformeci  Church,  in  many  more  jioints,  of  unsurpassed  importance  and  of  lasting 
Consequences.  Here  begins  the  definitive  consolidation  and  organization,  it  was 
the  crownmg  of  the  edifice  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

Here  were  iire]\-ired,  statuted  and  approved  the  first  "  canones  "  along  with  the 
discipline.  "That  was  necessitated  by  the  heavy  times  and  circumstances,  being 
the  new  church  forced  to  defend  its  pale,  assailed  and  menaced  by  three  enemies, 
viz. :  the  Roman  Catholics,  Lutherans  and  Unitarians." 

The  first  laws  and  discipline  bear  the  title  : 

*'Articiili  itx  verbo  Dei  et  lege  naturae  compositi  ad  conservandnm  politians  eccle- 
tiasticam,  et  conformandam  vilam  Cliristianam  in  omnibus  ordinibus  necessariam." 
(Printed  at  Debreczen,  1567,  quarto,  68  [>ages,  reprinted  at  Debreczen,  1591, 410, 
68  pages,  being  called  "Articuli  Majores,"  resanctioned  in  the  General  Synod  of 
Varad,  in  the  year  159I,  June  6th.)      It  contains  74  articuli. 

The  synod  had  laid  down  the  basis  of  church  organization  by  adopting  these 
"Articuli,"  at  the  same  time  re  adopted  and  confirmed  the  first  general  confession, 
originated  at  Debreczen  in  1560,  the  so-called  "  Confcssio  Debrecinensis,"  denom- 
inating it  as  their  ow?t  confession  with  these  very  words  (taken,  cited  from  the  in- 
frascnption  of  the  "Articuli"  dated  1st  September,  1567),  "  Omnes  Ecclcsice  min- 
istri  qui  in  conventu  sacro  ad  24th  Februarii,  Anno  Domini  1567,  Debiecinum 
convocato,  cis  et  ultra  Tibiscum  His  Articulis,  et  confessioni  nostros  .  .  .  snbscrip- 
serunt."  Ry  that  act  of  synod  the  confession  of  Debreczen  and  Varad,  adopted  by 
the  city  of  Eger,  and  presented  to  the  Kings  of  Habsburg  dynasty  under  the  new 
title  as  "  Confessio  Catholica,"  became  verily  the  "Confessio  Hungarorum." 

At  last  the  same  synod  with  unanimity  accepted  with  solemn  decision  the  second 
Helvetic  Confession  as  a  standard  symbol,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  last,  id  est,  74th 
Articulus,  which  ends  thus:  "  subscriptimus  Helvcticse  Confessioni,  A.  n.  1566 
editse,  cui  et  Ecclesia;  Genevansis  Ministri  subscripserunt,  YAo^\Q.\\w\\\ii  conJcssione7H 
nostrain  in  synodes  confirmatam,  et  hanc  confessioneni  Helveticani  Tiguri  editam, 
aut  Articulus  hos,  et  verbo  Dei,  temere  rejecent,  solverit  et  coiUrarium  docuerit, 
jurisdictione  ecclesiastica  jiuniendam  statuimus." 

With  this  confirmation  was  inarticulated  as  a  permanent  symbol  the  Helvetic 
Confession,  which  must  be  kept  and  taught.  From  that  International  Confession 
are  the  Hungarian  Reformed,  officially  called  "  Followers  of  Helvetic  Confession." 
Our  ancestors  showed  through  this  legal  act,  that  we  are  connected  with  the  Euro- 
pean sister-churches  and  completing  members  of  the  universal  Reformed  Church 
family. 

The  Helvetic  Confession  was  first  translated  into  Hungarian  by  Peter  Czene, 
pastor  of  Ersek-Ujvar,  later  on  superimendent,  and  edited  nt  Oppenheim,  1616  (8vo. 
192  pages),  it  IS  dedicated  to  the  Church  of  Hungary  and  Transylvania.  The  sec- 
ond edition,  along  with  the  Latin  text,  ajipeared  at  Debreczen.  1616  (8vo.,  392 
pages),  it  is  dedicated  to  Fr.  Rh^dei,  Ca]itain  of  the  Fortress  of  Varad.  The  third 
edition,  at  the  order  of  the  Prince  G.  Rakoczy's  widow,  was  printed  at  Patak,  i65<^ 
(8vo.,  296  pages).  Afterwards  it  was  edited,  till  the  recent  times,  at  many  time-. 
.xw\  is  still  rea]jpearing. 

In  the  religious  peace  of  Lincz  (1645,  September  i6th),  concluded  between 
George  Ra.k6czy  I.,  Great  Prince  of  Transylvania;  and  Ferdinand  HI.,  King  of 
Hungary,  was  confirmed  the  religious  liberty,  which  was  enacted  in  the  State  diet 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  iiir 

of  1647,  in  the  fiflh  law  article.  In  that  fundamental  law  occurs,  first  time  officially 
and  legally  used,  the  denomination  for  the  Hungarian  Kcfurmed,  the  expi  cssioii, 
"those  of  Helvetic  Confession."  In  the  subsequent  law-terms  aiid  slyk-  both  Pro- 
testants are  called  "  evangelici  utriusque  confessionis,"  under^'oud  always  ihc 
Lutherans  (those  of  Augsburg  Confession),  and  the  Calvinists  (tho.-^e  of  Helvetic 
Confession). 

The  Hungarian  Reformed  Churches  have  had,  and  have  still  the  denominational 
name,  "  Followers  of  Helvetic  Confession." 

In  Danubian  part  of  Ilungnry,  subjected  to  the  House  of  Ilabsburg,  was  held  a 
great  synod  at  the  town  of  Koiitjat,  in  the  year  1626,  where  "  Canones  Ecclesiaslici " 
were  laid  down  "  communi  suffragio  Ministrorum  Dei,"  by  which  are  governed  till 
now,  the  prcsbyleiies.  In  that  fundamental  canons  only  the  Helvetic  Confession 
was  adojDted  and  sanctioned.  These  canones  are  distributed  in  five  classes;  Servia 
classis,  canon  IV.,  runs  thus;  "Ad  ministerium  ecclesiasticum  nemo  debet  ordinari, 
nisi  qui  mediocrem  cogniiionem  Articulorum  fidei  orihodo,\os, secundum  confessionem 
nostram  llelveticam,  habere  probatus  est  in  examine  publico"  .   .   .   etc. 

The  same  canons  were  ailopted  by  the  superintendency  around  Budapest,  and 
edited  in  Hungarian  tongue  at  Varad  in  the  year  1642.  Finally  the  great  National 
•Synod  at  ^J<//Wf7;- ( 1 646),  afresh  expressed  its  consensus  with  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession, ordering  in  its  secontl  conclusion  "requissimum  Sanctre  Synodo  visum  est, 
et  publica  alicpia  confessio,  .\])OstoliLX  et  lielveticce  coriespondens  breviter  con- 
cipiatur."  The  demanded  "  aliqua  confessio  "  never  was  made,  but  remained  in 
vigor  the  ancient  Helvetic  Confession.  In  the  nineteenth  conclusion  the  licentiates 
are  commanded  and  advisei.1  to  teach  according  to  the  Helvetic  Confession.  The 
whole  of  Hungary,  at  its  every  part,  legally  and  formally  adopted  the  Helvetic 
Confession,  which  therefore  is  the  general  common  confession  of  the  Hungarians 
till  to-day. 

Ninth  Confession. 

The  great  battle  began  to  be  fought  between  the  Calvinists  and  Unitarians  after 
the  great  Synod  of  Debreczen,  where  the  orlhodoxes  stood  on  firm  and  rocky  basis, 
viz.,  upon  Christ's  divinity  clearly  propounded  in  their  own  creed,  and  in  the  Hel- 
vetic Confession,  and  in  the  organization's  articles. 

Fr.  David  wrote  a  philipjiic  against  Melius,  with  the  inscription,  "  Refutatio 
scripti  P.  Melii"  (September,  1567),  dedicating  it  to  John  II.,  asking  in  it  the  freest 
possible  discussion  and  freedom  in  religious  matters,  in  order  to  propagate  his  Uni- 
tarian tenets.  By  the  instrumentality  of  some  friends  in  the  court  of  the  Prince, 
David  g(jt  a  printing-press,  the  property  of  state.  Henceforward  many  assailing  and 
stormy  ]iamphlets,  full  of  "  horrendis  et  abominandis  imaginabus,"  trailing,  depicting 
the  lioly  Trinity,  came  to  light  from  the  Unitarian  press.  Many  leading  political 
men  around  the  young  and  wavering  Prince  favored  the  new  movement,  and  the 
State  Diet  of  Torda  (January  6th,  1568)  empowered  the  congregations  to  hold  sui-h 
a  pastor  whose  preaching  pleases  and  satisfies  their  opinions.  The  Unitarians  got 
by  that  elastic  law  the  conviction  that  they  are  unhindered  and  free  to  work  in  spread- 
ing their  tenets.     Tacitly  it  was  so. 

Lucas  Agriensis,  pastor  of  Ungvar,  was 'the  promoter  of  Lhiitarianism  in  Upper 
Hungary,  who  exjilained  in  twenty-seven  articles  his  Unitarian  views,  similarly  to 
those  of  David.  To  hinder  its  spread,  the  Svnod  of  Kassawx-^  convened  January 
27th,  1568,  in  the  territory  of  King  Maximilian,  by  the  pastor  i)f  Kassa,  Thomas 
Hilarius,  under  the  protection  of  Lazarus  Schvendi,  chief  cajitain  of  the  royal  army, 
who  himself  was  a  Lutheran.  The  assembled  orthodox  pa-tor-  gave  in  their  "  Re- 
sp'insio"  likewise  in  twenty-seven  theses,  refuting  those  of  Lucas. 

Lucas  was  by  overwhelming  majority  dainned  as  heretic,  and  ai  the  same  time  a 
short  creed  was  drawn  up  by  this  Synod  in  two  head..,  undtr  tlie  title  "Confessio 
Ecclesianim  orlhodoxartim  superioris  lfuni:;ari(e  in  synodo  C'assuviensi  conscripta  et 
publicata."  The  short  creed  or  symbol,  two  pages  only  in  seventy  has  been  pre- 
served in  the  "  Ilistoria  Ecclesise  Reformats,"  edited  by  Lampe.  pages  211-213. 
The  conclusion  is  "  Huic  veric  et  orthodoxse  confessioni  omnes  ministri  ecclesiarum 


III2  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

superioris  Hungarice  in  eadem  synodo  congrega'i  bona  fide  subscripserant."  In  all 
i-ubscribed  to  it  forty-five  pastors,  who^e  names  are  conserved  in  the  "  Historia'" 
edited  hy  Lampe  (page  214).  From  among  the  subscribers  we  cite  Hilarius,  the 
president;  Dr.  I.  Vitus,  ]mstor  of  Patak;  Basilius  Frabiicius  Sziksrai,  rector  scholar 
■Patalv;   Michael  Henesi,  pastor  and  senior  nf  Miskoloz,  eic. 

Lucas  Agriensis,  cum  a  serveticis  suis  opinioniljus  ([uam  quam  Hoereseos  manife'JtC 
convictus,  recedere  nullet  .  .  .  tan  quam  ilrereseos  publice  convictus  in  carcerem 
projectus  ac  ultra  quinquennium  fere  in  captivitate  detentus  ferit."  The  arrestation 
was  cnused  by  General  L.  Schwendi.  The  severe  measure  maybe  explained  by  the 
situation,  that  the  scene  of  working  of  Lucas  fell  under  the  dominion  of  the  Austrian 
house,  led  by  Romanism,  where  even  the  Protestants  had  never  enjoyed  such  a 
liberty  than  in  Transylvania  and  in  the  neighboring  Hungarian  territories  subjected 
to  Protestant  princes.     This  is  the  origin  of  the  '■^ Confessio  Cassoviensis." 

Tenth  Confession. 

Meanwhile  the  XTnitarianism  of  David  made  in  Transylvania  proper  a  rapid  pro- 
gress and  conquest.  The  churches  and  consciences  were  sliaken  and  perturbed. 
Therefijre  the  Prince,  John  IL,  ordered  to  be  held  a  common  disputation  at  Fehervar 
(Alba  Julia),  in  the  year  1568,  March  8th,  which  lasted  ten  days,  being  opened  and 
continued  in  the  royal  palace.  The  Prince  w  ith  liis  court  was  present,  and  took 
lively  interest  in  it.  Melius  and  David,  chief  champions,  stood  against  each  other. 
According  to  Melius's  opinion,  the  outcome  of  this  disputation  caused  "more  ruins 
than  edification."  Each  party  adhered  firmly  and  tenaciously  to  its  respective  stand- 
point;  the  court  and  many  nobility  were  inclined  to  the  side  of  David.  At  last  the 
Prince  dissolved  the  dispute,  giving  free  course  and  career  to  debate  further  in  the 
literary  field.    * 

Melius  and  the  true  orthodox  allies  saw,  with  some  depression  and  mnrked  sad- 
ness, that  the  Prince  and  his  counsellers — among  whom  seven  wtre  Unitarians — 
favored  the  Unitarian  principles.  The  capital  of  Transylvania,  Kolosvar,  embraced, 
by  the  operation  of  its  pastor,  Fr.  David,  the  Unitarian  protession,  who,  as  a  court 
preacher,  was  elected  for  the  first  superintendent  of  Unitarians.  David,  in  his  new 
office,  convoked,  by  the  will  of  the  Prince,  a  second  great  disputation  to  the  strong 
city  of  Vc7 >■<!{/,  in  1569,  October  10,  to  be  held  in  Hungarian  tongue,  in  order  to 
popularize  the  new  faith.  In  the  letter  of  convocation,  David  sneered  at  Melius' 
party,  saying  that  the  Reformed  party  confess  in  the  Deity  a  "quintitas,"  while  they 
(Unitarians)  confess  "unitas,"  and  branded  the  dogma  of  Trinity  as  a  mere  human 
fiction.  David  brought  forth  for  discussion  "nine  propositions,"  against  which  a 
thorough  refutation  ("Argumenta  adversus  propositiones  ¥.  Davidus  et  G.  Bland- 
ratx")  was  objected  by  Melius'  ]iarty. 

The  most  serious  dispute  lasted  six  days.  The  presidency — called  officially 
moderatorship — was  trusted  royally  to  G.  Bekes,  chief-in-time  counseller  of  the 
Prince,  a  layman  and  grand  proprietor.  The  Prince  being  present,  took  personally 
part  in  the  discussion,  like  Blandr.ita  too. 

Melius  defended  with  great  heroism  the  Trinity  against  the  majority,  aided  by  the 
splendid  favor  of  the  court.  Finally  the  orthodox  ministers  concentrated  their 
creed  in  a  '■'■  sententia  catholica^''  containing  six  points,  confessing  truly  and  clearly 
the  Holy  Trinity.  Subscribed  to  it  sixty  pastors  from  Transylvania  and  Hungary, 
for  instance,  as  Melius  and  his  colleague  from  Debreczen,  Peter  Karoli  from  Varad, 
G.  Karoli  from  Goncz,  M.  Henesi  from  Miskoloz,  Valentin  Hellopa;us  (the  first 
Hungarian  hearer  of  Calvin's  Academy  at  Geneva,  in  1566),  Paulus  Turi  from 
Szanto,  etc. 

The  result  of  the  Varad  disputation,  the  "sententia  catholica,"  was  followed  by  a 
new  confession,  termed  ^'Confessio  pastorum  totitis  eccksiee  orthodoxa  cis  et  ultra 
Tibiscum,  eorum  omnium  quj  in  synodo  Varadina  hrereticis  sese  uno  sjiiritu  oppo- 
suerunt  "  (two  pages  in  4to).  This  brief  confession  was  called,  two  centuries  later. 
by  the  great  historian,  Peter  Bod,  "confessio  pulcherrima,"  and  may  be  found  jirinted 
in  Lampe's  "  Historia,"  pp.  250-252.     By  the  text  itself  it  is  styled  also  "  confessio 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1113 

catholica,"  because  the  party  defending  the  Trinity  in  the  disputation  bore  the  name 
"Catholics,"  in  face  of  Unitarians. 

The  separate  and  independent  position  of  the  Unitarians  was  forever  effected  at 
the  disputative  Synod  of  Varad,  since  never  came  together  witli  the  Calvinists  and 
Lutlierans.  The  prince,  in  heart  already  Unitarian,  who  named  in  one  of  his  inter- 
locutions in  Synod  the  Unitarian  profession  a  "true  religion,"  dismissed  the  Synod 
with  open  favor  and  grace  with  these  princely  words:  "I  wish  that  freedom  should 
in  my  realm  everywhere  reign."  That  is,  no  hindrance  shall  be  put  to  religious 
opinion  whatever.  Melius  foresaw  the  dangerous  consequences,  notwithstanding  he 
has  i)een  ready  to  appear  in  the  Synod  in  order,  as  he  expressed,  "  to  defend  the 
honor  and  deity  of  Christ."  And  he  did  it  with  utmost  fidelity  and  admirable  vigor 
and  intrepid  courage,  not  terrified  by  the  antijjathy  of  Prince  and  his  counsellers. 
"  He  never  feared  the  face  of  man."  Nothing  shows  more  clearly  the  intention  of 
the  Prince,  than  the  fact  that  he  nominated  for  moderator  of  the  Synod  Casper 
Bekesi,  most  powerful  protector  of  the  Unitarians. 

Note. — The  Hungarian  theological  students  at  the  University  of  Wittenberg, 
having  been  touched  by  the  fierce  contest  at  home,  prepared  with  enthusiastic  ardor 
an  "orthodox  confession  of  XVI  points,"  submitted  it  to  the  judgment  of  their  pro- 
fessors. From  among  them  George  Major  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  Hungarian 
dogmatic  controversies,  in  so  far  as  he  himself  wrote  a  refutation  against  the  state- 
ments of  David  and  his  followers  made  in  the  Synod  of  Alba  Julia. 

All  the  XVT  theological  students,  along  with  their  senior,  accepted  and  subscribed, 
taking  oath,  "se  in  harum  thesium  sententia  perpetuo  permansurus."  At  the  same 
occurrence  the  zealous  students  made  a  statute  or  regula  for  their  coetus,  that  for  the 
future  nobody  shall  be  incorporated  as  member  of  the  Hungarian  Society  without 
accepting  by  subscription  and  oath  the  Trinitarian  Confession  of  Students.  This 
Confession  may  be  read  in  Lampe's  "  Historia,"  pp.  257-263,  and  is  directed  espe- 
cially against  Blandrata's  and  David's  teaching. 

Eleventh  Confession. 

After  the  decision  and  steps  of  the  Synod  of  Varad,  many  Reformed  authors  came 
forth  for  defending  with  their  pens  the  orthodox  doctrine.  Stephen  Szegedi,  one 
of  the  most  learned  Hungarian  reformators,  pastor  of  Keve  and  superintendent, 
wrote  ill  1570  "  Assertio  vera  de  trinitate"  (otherwise  "libellus  contra  Arianus"), 
which,  handed  over  to  Beza,  was  printed  at  Geneva  in  1573  (one  copy  of  which 
exists  in  the  P)ritish  Museum's  library  at  London).  Valentin  Hellopxus,  jwstor  of 
Eger,  finally  Melius'  successor  at  Debreczen,  wrote  "  Tractatus  contra  antitrinitarios," 
edited  by  G.  Major,  at  Wittenberg,  1570.  Peter  Karoli,  professor  of  Hebrew  and 
Greek  at  Kolosvar,  afterwards  pastor  at  Varad,  addressed  two  works  against  the 
Transylvanian  Unitarians  (1570  and  1571).  Melius  wrote  three  works,  the  one  in 
Hungarian,  the  other  also,  but  in  verse,  in  order  to  popularize  the  orthodox  views, 
the  third  in  Latin  ("Principia  immota,"  1570). 

These  were  not  remained  without  reply  by  the  other  side.  Some  foreign  scholars 
paid  also  attention  and  interest  to  the  affairs  then  going  on  in  Hungary,  for  instance, 
Wolf,  Simler,  Beza,  Bullinger,  Christophorus  Threcius,  friend  of  Beza,  Lubieniecius, 
afforded  the  orthodox  party  in  some  or  other  forms  of  aid,  letters,  encouragements, 
editing. 

Melius  wrote  a  letter  to  Bullinger  (April  27th,  1569),  in  which  he  said  "nos  stantes 
in  prajlio  singulis  horis  cum  Antitriadicis,"  and  sent  to  him  (Bullinger)  for  editing  his 
refutation  of  the  "  Serveto — Blandricili; "  wrote  also  against  the  "Rahbinorum  blas- 
phemias  Parisii  editas,"  because  some  rabbins,  as  Jf)seph  Rabbi,  felt  themselves  encour- 
aged to  assail  the  Christianity,  seeing  that  I'rom  the  bosom  of  it  arose  new  deniers  of 
Christ's  divinity.  Melius  has  been  in  correspondence  also  with  Beza,  whose  two  letters 
to  Melius  are  yet  extant,  writing  in  the  first  (March  9th,  1570),  alluding  to  the  work 
sent  in  (jeneva,  "judico  enim  et  recte  et  diligenter  a  te  confutatos  perdilissimorum 
istorum  blasphemias,  et  hos  tuos  labores  ecclesia?  adniodum  utiles  futuros."  In  the 
other  letter  Beza  answered  (dated  June   l8th,  1570),  "primum  omnium,  mi  Melt, 


1 1 14  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

forlem  hunc  animum  tibi  a  Domino,  confirmaiidje  reliquorum  fratruin  fidei  causa  con- 
cessuiii,  gratula,"  and  promised  his  works  will  be  printL-d. 

In  order  to  bring  to  end  the  disputation,  interrupted  at  Varad  by  tlie  prince's  de 
parture,  Melius  summoned  a  new  Synod  to  Csen^^er  (in  I  In  gary),  to  2  .ih  July  of 
1570,  preparing  and  publishing  beforehand  the  propositions  ior  u.  cuss. on  in  Hfiy- 
one  liieses. 

David  and  his  associates  did  not  appear,  the  prince  having  interdicted  to  extend  the 
dispute  beyond  Transylvania's  proper  boundaries.  Thus  this  Synod  of  Csen5.,er  was 
solely  held  by  the  orthodox  Calvinists.  There  was  spoken  out  the  last  word  against 
the  Unitarians  in  the  lifeiime  of  Melius,  without  a  prince's  heavy  partialitv,  freely 
pronouncing  the  firm  pn.test  against  all  anti-trinitarian  tenets.  Thus  originated  the 
Coiifcssio  Czeiii^c'i  ilia,  which  was  printed  at  Debreczen,  1570,  and  dedicatetl  to  the 
prince,  John  II.,  in  a  strong  dedicatorial  letter  by  Melius,  August  lo,  1570,  preced 
ing  the  confessio  proper. 

We  delineate  the  description  of  the  first  edition. 

Title,  "Confessio  vera  ex  verbo  Dei  sumpta,  et  in  Synodo  Czengcrina  uno  consensu 
exhibita  et  declarata." 

The  heads  are  : 

I.  De  uno  et  solo  deo. 

II.  De  unigenito  Dei  Filio  ab  acterno. 

III.  De  spiritu  sancto  vero  et  solo  Deo  et  domina  subsistente  et  in  se  vilam  hab 
ente. 

IV.  De  vocabulis  et  jjhiasibus  quibu-s  Spiritus  S.  utitur  de  Deo  per  Prophetas  et 
apostolos. 

V.  De  regulis  explicantibus  phrases  loquendi  de  Deo. 

VI.  De  lege  et  evangelio  in  ecclesia. 

VII.  De  vitibus  et  sacramentis  ecclesije,  de  baplismo  infantium  et  de  coena 
Domini. 

VI II.  De  libertatc  Christiana  in  cibo,  potu  vestitu,  et  de  locis  convcntus  ecclesia?. 

IX.  De  aprosopcilepsia  in  deo,  sum  hos  saluat,  illns  indurat. 

X.  De  causa  peccati  :  de  mediatore  Filio  Dei. 

XI.  De  tolleiidis  foedis  hsereticis  et  Antichristis,  cum  litteris  Theodori  Bezse  ad 
Ungaros  scriptis. 

Debrecini  (excusa  ab  Andrea  Lupino),  a.  I).  1570.     4to.  28  pp. 

We  cite  one  passage  from  the  article  "  De  sacranientariis : "  "  Rejicimus  et  eorum 
delirium  qui  cueiiam  Domini  vacuum  signum  vel  Christi  absentis  tantum  memoriam 
his  signis  recoli  docent." 

As  to  the  constiucti  >n  of  this  confession,  we  must  remark  that,  to  the  eleventh 
capitula  put  to  the  front,  does  not  correspond  the  single  insciiptious  in  llie  text, 
where  the  theses  of  the  capitula  are  divided  into  several  small  pieces,  but  the  con- 
tent fully  agrees,  so  that  the  eleventh  capitula  may  be  talccn  as  an  epitome,  or  sum- 
marized statements,  except  the  eleventh  "  de  tollendis  hasretics,"  because  in  that  topic 
no  decision  may  be  found  in  the  context,  being  left  out  from  the  confession,  perhaps 
for  prudence  sake. 

It  must  also  bear  to  mind  that,  before  the  Synod  fifty-two  theses  were  laid  down, 
and  only  the  twelve  final  theses  are  provided  with  expressly  mentioned  answers,  the 
other  forty  theses,  jirobably  from  the  affinities  of  objects,  aie  more  briefly  treated  and 
incorporated  in  fewer  articles.  For  preface  there  is  inserted  two  arguments  against 
the  deniers  of  Trinity.  The  style  of  that  confession  is  far  less  elevated  than  that  of 
the  preceding  ones,  ihe  vigor  and  force  of  mind  being  exhausted  in  the  great  dis- 
putes and  in  the  special  pamphlets. 

The  confession  of  Csenger  had  entered  into  the  collection  of  the  European  creeds, 
but  erroneously  titled  "  polonica."  See  "Corpus  syntagma  Confessionum  Fidei" 
(l6i2,  (juarto),  the  pages  186-200.  The  edition  inserted  into  the  "  Syntagma" 
must  be  correciecl  as  "  Confessio  Hungarica,"  may  be  regarded  as  the  second  edi- 
tion, taken  from  the  Debreczen  edition.  The  "Confessio  Czengerina"  recently  was 
translated  into  Hungarian  by  Ajon  Vriss,  Reformed  pastor  at  Porcsahna,  and  edited 
at  Budapest,  1877,  Svo. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


"15 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF   THE  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  HUNGARIAN 
REFORMED  CHURCH. 


The  Names  of  Confessions,  Place,  and  Timb  of 
Adoption,  READornoN,  ok  bANCiiON. 


Place  of 
Edition  or 
Printing. 


Coh/i-ssio  Clauriiopolitana,  Varad,  1559,  Aug.  i8,  orSenten- 
tiu  Orthodox.T  de  coeiia  Domini.  Probably  the  same  as 
the  ConfesMO  Vasarheheiisis.  Its  Apology  is  ai^o  lost,  or  at 
least,  It  as  yet  not  discovered 

Co7ifessio  cf  I'usi'irhely,  Vasarhely,  1559,  Nov.  2.  The 
text  is  Hiingari.An,  with  the  liilc  "  Az  Urnak  Vac?ora- 
jarvl,"  repnnied  at  Budapest,  1878,  8vo.,  7  pp.  Discov- 
ered recently.     (Doth  a^anist  the  Lutherans.) 

Coii/essio  Debreczinensis,  Debreczen,  1560,  Varad,  1561, 
Eger,  156J,  whence  its  other  title,  "  Confcssio  Catholica." 
or  "  Conf.-ssio  Agrivallensis  ;  "  it  is  also  and  worthily 
called  "  Confessio  Hungarorum,"  and  "'Confcssio  Nos- 
tra."    Sanctioned  agai[i  at  Debreczen,  1367 

Confessio  Tarczal-Toniensis.  Tarczal,  1562,  Torda,  1563; 
otherwise,  Co:!f_-ssio  (jenevensis,  or  Confessio  of  Bcza  ; 
the  edition  of  Patak  l>cars  the  name  "  Compendium  Doc- 
trinae,"  cditeil  m  one  volume,  both  in  Latin  and  Hung.t- 
rian  (first  foreign  confession  adhered  to) 

Catechism  of  Cahiin,  Iz-rczaX,  1562,  Goncz,  1566.  Scxond 
edition,  Debreczen,  1569,  4to.  Third  edition,  Kolosvar, 
1695,  i6mo.,  Ill  pp.  Val.ichian  edition  at  Gyula  Fehtr- 
var  (Alba  Julia,  in  Transylvania),  in  1642,  and  again,  ibid- 
em, 1656;  and  again  from  only  literary  point  at  Szeben, 
1875.     Second  foreign  creed  approved  by  Hungarians 

Ciitcchisin  pf  Heidi  tberg,  or  Palalmate,  came  in  use  from 
1564,  alluded  to  in  the  Synod  of  1567,  sanctioned  at  Sz.it- 
mar-Nemeti,  National  Synod  in  1646.  Second  corrected 
edition  at  Debreczen,  1604,  4to  ,  132  pp.  Herborna;,  1607, 
i2mo.,69Pp.  Oppenheim,  1612.  Afterwards  printed  in- 
numerable times.     (Third  foreign  creed) 

Brevis  Con/essio  Pnstornni,  Debreczen,  1567.  Iiiein  in 
Hungarian,  in  a  cmcised  form,  with  the  title  "A  Debrec- 
zenbe  oszvegyult  Kcresztyen  prediratoroknak  .  .  .  valla- 
sok  "  Printed  separately  at  Debreczen,  1567,  4to.,64  pp. 
First  confession  made  against  the  Unitarians 

Helvetic  Confession,  Debreczen,  1567,  Feb.  24;  Kornjat, 
1626:  Szatmar,  1646.  There  are  many  editions,  viz.,  Op- 
penheim, 1616,  8vo.,  192  pp.  ;  Patak,  1654,  8vo.,  296  pp.  ; 
Kolosvar,  1755,  Svo.,  291  pp.,  with  both  Latin  and  Hunga- 
rian texts,  to  which  added  the  "  Formula  Consensus  Eccle- 
siarum  Helveticarum,"  also  with  two  languages  ;  Debrec- 
zen, 1791,  8vo.,  199  pp.  (Fourth  foreign  and  general  con- 
fession)  

Confessio  Cussojiiensis,  Kassa,  1568,  or  "  Confessio  Superi- 
oris  Hungariae  "  against  the  Unitarians;  it  did  not  appear 
separately,  but  preserved  in  Lampe's  "  Historia  "  (Tra- 
jecti  ad  Rhenum,  1728,  410.,  919  pp.),  on  pages  211-213.... 

Confessio  /Virrti//«(?«.r?V,  Varad,  1569,  Oct.  10;  or  Confessio 
pastorum  cis  et  ultra  Tibiscum  ;  or  Confessio  Catholica 
(Confessio  pulcherrima),  preceded  w  th  the  "  Sententia 
Catholica;"  it  was  not  printed  separately,  but  preserved 
and  may  be  read  in  Lampe's  "  Historia,"  on  pages  250- 
252.  See  ibidem,  246-249  pp.  Prepared  against  the  Uni- 
tarians. It  may  be  joined  to  it  the  "  Confessio  Studioso- 
rumTheologi;e  Wittebergaecongregatorum."  Sec  Lampe's 
"  Historia,"  257-263  pp 

Confessio  Czengerina,  Czenger,  1570,  July  26;  or,  Confessio 
vera;  or,  Confessio  Hungarica.  Second  edition  Gene- 
vse,  1612,  4to.,  in  the  "Corpus  et  Syntagma  Confcssion- 
um,"  from  186-200  pp.  Third  edition  in  Hungarian  trans- 
lation, at  Budapest,  1877,  Svo.,  21  pp.  Directed  princi- 
pally against  the  Unitarians,  but  at  the  same  time  contain- 
ing the  whole  peculiar  tenets  of  the  Helvetic  Reformed 
tendency 


«  a 


Kolosvar. 


Kolosvar.     ■•  1559 


Debreczen.      1562 


Patak. 


Debreczen. 


Papa. 


Debreczen. 


Debreczen. 


Debreczen. 


1655 


1562 


1567 


1616 


lost. 


380 


36? 


iii6  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

The  Transylvanian  Unitarianism  reached  its  apogee  when  the  prince  declared  him- 
self also  to  belong  to  the  Unitarian  creed,  antl  in  the  State  Diet  of  Vasarliely,  in  1571, 
January  5,  enacted  the  full  freedom  for  the  Unitarians,  with  these  words:  "  For  his 
conie.>Nii>n,  nobody  should  be  injured,  neither  preacher  nor  people."  The  rapiii 
iiouri>liing  state,  however,  lasted  not  long,  the  disastrous  days  began  to  cloud  the 
sky  of  the  Unitarians ;  the  prince— to  \\  horn  they  owed  so  much — died  in  the  same 
vtar,  1571,  March  19,  "the  first  and  last  Unitarian  king."  The  following  princes 
were  at  first  Roman  Catholic,  later  on  Reformed,  and  withheld  all  protection.  Their 
second  chief  protector,  G.  Bekes,  daring  to  rouse  a  revolution  for  the  crown  of 
Transylvania,  was  beaten  and  exiled.  The  once  famous  David,  their  reformator, 
the  Hungarian  Arius,  went  to  the  extreme,  to  the  denying  the  worship  of  Christ,  and 
.so  lost  the  support  of  Blandrata  and  Faustus.  Socinus,  v.-ho  visited  Kolosvar  in  157S, 
(lid  not  approve  the  new  advance  of  David,  as  dangerous;  and  David  accused 
by  his  own  friends,  was  cited  before  State  tribunal,  and,  as  a  fiction  teacher,  blas- 
phemator,  was  judged  to  imprisonment  for  life  at  the  fortress  of  Torda,  where 
he  died,  troubled  in  mind,  not  long  after,  in  1579,  November  15.  There  exist  in 
Transylvania  at  the  present  clay  about  53,000  Unitarian  inhabitants,  divided  into  106 
congregations. 

Melius,  who  rescued  with  his  never-wavering  mind  and  firmness,  the  Cal- 
vinistic,  as  well  as  the  orthodox  doctrines  in  the  districts  of  this  side  and  yonder 
side  of  Tisza,  so  that  after  three  centuries  elapsed,  not  any  one  congregation  ui 
Unitarians  can  be  here  found,  died  at  Debreczeii  in  the  year  1572,  December  15. 

The  Church  of  Debreczen  decreed  in  its  session  to  commemorate  his  achievings 
on  the  tercentenary  day  of  his  regretted  death;  the  beautiful  commemorative  ad- 
dress was  held  by  Emmerick  Renesz,  learned  pastor  of  Debreczen,  in  1S72,  Decem- 
ber 15.  A  memorial  ode  (in  verse)  was  also  circulated  by  a  professor  of  theology 
of  the  college  of  Debreczen,  where  the  theological  students  held  also  a  solemn  gatli- 
ering,  remembering  the  victorious  hero  of  their  church. 

That  the  Calvinistic  creed  came  victoriously  out  from  the  Romanist,  Uutheran, 
and  Unitarian  battle-field,  the  chief  merit — humanly  speaking — for  it  ought  to  lie 
counted  to  I'eter  Melius,  whom  Beza,  in  his  letter  dated  1573,  September  18,  and 
f.ddies>ed  to  a  Hungarian  lord.  Baron  Nicolaus  Telegdi,  mentions  with  due  honor, 
remembering  him  (Melius)  with  Szegedi,  as  " veterani  et  fortissimi  ajternaque  me- 
moria  digninsimi  athletce."     Lampe's  "  Historia,"  p.  274.* 

In  somme,  the  Hungarian  Reformed  Church  have  had  eleven  creeds  or  confessions 
created  or  introduced  from  1559-1570.  Of  this  number  seven  were  made  in  Hun- 
gary, the  most  noteworthy,  the  Confessio  Debreczinensis  and  Czengerina;  two  were 
written  in  Hungarian  tongue,  four  in  Latin,  two  in  both  languages;  four  were  intro- 
duced and  ajipropriated  from  abroad. 

These  home  confessions — made  according  to  the  occurrences — by  and  by  lost 
their  authority  and  binding  vigor,  the  Confessio  Hungarorum  (or  Debrecinensis)  had 
the  longest  duration;  as  far  as  in  1621  it  was  cited  regularly  by  Milotai  in  his 
"Agenda,"  as  proof  for  the  Reformed  liturgy,  but  the  Synods  do  not  mention  them 
in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Second  Section. —  The  Survived  Confessions  and  their  Value. 

Only  the  Helvetic  Confession  and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  remained   firm   in 

t)ublic  mind,  and  even  acquired  the  ever-growing  importance,  so  far  as  they  have 
)een  regarded  as  our  "Libri  Symbolici."  The  causes  of  that  state  of  things  have 
been  se\'eral,  viz.:  first,  that  these  two  confessions  and  creeds  expressed  more  fully 
and  perfectly  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformed  tendency  than  those  of  the  confessions 
written  at  home  and  occasionally;  second,  the  Reformed,  willingly  and  by  prudence, 
arranged  themselves  under  the  standards  of  the  two  foreign  symbols,  in  opposing 

♦See  the  Interesting  essay  of  E.  Sayous  "  upon  Melius,"  I'etablissement  delaReformeen  Hongrie," 
in  the  "  Bulletin  "  of  the  French  Protestant  Historical  Society,  1873,  No.  5. 


SECOND   GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1117 

them  to  the  Augustan  Confession,  which  was  solely  adopted  by  their  Lutheran  breth- 
ren ;  it  seemed  tlierefore  necessary  to  adhere  to  such  a  valuable  confession  as  was 
the  Helvetic  one;  third,  the  primary  national  confessions  could  not  be  renioflellcd 
or  revised,  being  surpassed  by  the  foreign  creeds  agreed  to;  fourth,  being  the  Hun- 
garian Reformed  Cluirches,  under  separate  political  governments,  and  severed  one 
from  another,  to  avoid  the  confusion,  they  deemed  more  advisable  to  show  the  in- 
ward unity,  to  approach  each  other  by  adopting  one  common  confession.  For  these 
reasons  new  confessions  did  never  more  ajipear. 

In  the  first  religious  war  against  the  Austrian  government,  the  Protestant  party, 
under  tie  leadt.r:>hip  of  the  great  hero  of  Hungarian  Calvinists,  Stejihen  Bocskay, 
<lemaiided  the  religious  liberty  for  the  Augustan  and  Helvetic  Confessions  in  1605, 
November  21. 

The  Danubian  Superintcndency — following  the  example  of  the  Tibiscnn  district, 
which  first  sanctioned,  in  1567,  the  Helvetic  Confession — held  an  important  Synod 
at  Korvjat,  in  1626,  September  13,  giving  to  itself  the  denomination  of  Helvetic 
Cc)nfession,  as  ijie  canons  there  adopted,  with  eviflence  testily  for  it,  tliey  were  first 
printed  in  Latin  and  Hungirian,  under  the  title  "  Canones  Ecchsiastici  in  quinque 
classes  distributi,  quibu-  Eccle^ia  Helveticam  Confessionem  amj^lcxre  .  .  .  reguntur" 
( Varadini,  1642,  8vo.,  87  pp.)  The  most  recent  edition  with  the  same  title  at  Pest, 
1864,  Svo.,  67  pp. 

The  "Canones  Kornjatini"  testify  clearly  the  authority  and  weight  of  the  Helvetic 
Confession.  For  instance,  in  the  Canon  VH.,  Class  L,  the  superintendent  elect — 
called  episcopus — is  obliged  by  law  to  buy  a  copy  of  Helvetic  Confession  ("Sumto 
Biblionim  codice,  et  Confessione  Helvetica");  Canon  VHL,  the  formula  juramenli 
begins  thus:  Ego,  ministrorum  Dei  et  Ecclesiarum,  Helveticam  Confessionem  am- 
plectentium,  legitime  electus  episcopus,"*  testa  .  .  .  etc.  The  Canon  IV.,  Class  III., 
speaks  of  the  pastor's  ordination  with  these  terms:  " Adminisleriuni  ecclesinsticum 
nemo  debet  ordinari,  nisi  qui  medic >crem  cognitionem  Articulorum  fidei  orthodoxre, 
secundum  Confessionem  nostram  Helveticam,  habere  probatus  est."  Canon  VHL 
in  forma  juranT^nti,  the  pastor,  before  ordination,  swears,  "Salam  fidem  catholicam, 
libris  canonicis  Prophetarum  ac  Apostolorum  comprehensam,  secundum  expositionem 
HelveticDe  nostrse  Confessionis,  praedicaturus." 

In  the  district  of  four  united  Presbyteries  around  Patak,  in  the  Synod  of  Ujhely 
(1630,  June  5),  we  have  a  description  from  the"Ordo  Agendorum  Synodalium," 
the  tenth  point  delineates  what  must  be  done  before  the  ordination,  viz.,  the  senior 
(moderator)  had  the  duty  to  ask  some  questions  to  be  answered  l>y  the  candidate; 
the  fourth  question  was,  "  Verbum  Dei  num  juxta  exegesim  Helveticae  Confessionis, 
et  Catechismi  Palaiinatis  interpretaturas  es?"  And  afterwards  followed  the  impo- 
sition of  hands.  The  formula  juramenti  was  this  :  "  Ego  .  .  .  juro  .  .  .  doctrin- 
am  puram,  qux  a  Sanctis  Dei  Prophetis,  et  Apostolis  Jesu  Christi  in  nos  derivasa, 
sacris  Bibliis  com])rehensa,  in  Helvetica  Confessione  et  Cntechismo  Palatinati  ex- 
posita  est,  et  interpretatur,  pro  mensura  doni  nihi  a  Deo  dati,  docebo  "  (Lampe's 
"  Historia,"  725  ]■>.)  Paulus  Ember,  the  author  of  the  "  Historia,"  edited  by 
Lampe,  was  ordained  "secundum  hunc  vitum,"  for  the  ministry  of  Patak,  in  1683, 
June  12. 

The  great  movements  of  English  Puritans  and  Independents  resounded  in  Hun- 
gary, causing  much  agitation  here. 

Stejihen  Talnai,  a  talented  and  eloquent  licentiate,  after  having  spent  six  years  in 
London,  came  back  full  of  the  spirit  of  Puritanism  and  Indepen<lentism,  and  stood 
forth  as  a  novator,  being  appointed  professor  to  the  college  of  Patak.  The  superin- 
tendent of  the  Tibiscan  district,  Stephen  Keresszegi,  pastor  of  Debreczen,  for  pre- 
venting the  disturbances  likely  to  be  raised,  summoned  a  general  synod  of  both  Ti- 
biscan districts  to  Debreczen  on  Septenilier  22,  163S,  laid  down  the  decree,  that 
henceforward  no  person  will  be  admitted  "  Ad  ullam  fnnctionem  ecclesiasticam  vel 


*  It  was  in  use,  and  still  it  prevails,  from  the  beginning,  that  the  official  name  of  supcrlntcnr'ent 
sometimes  are  changing  for  "  Episcopus,"  a  mere  title,  being  the  Reformed  in  Hungary  very  Pres- 
byterians. 


iiiS  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

scholasticam,"  till  he  does  not  make  a  profession  from  his  orthodox  views,  and  does 
not  promise  oliedicnce  to  his  ecclesiastical  su[)eriors. 

Accordinir  to  this  decision  the  senior  of  the  ])resl)ytery  of  Zemplen  held  a  special 
synod  at  Patal<,  Novenii)er  lo,  1638,  decreeing  in  eight  points  the  propositions  which 
must  be  subscribed  and  confirmed  by  oath  by  all  peisons  to  be  introduced  in  office, 
ecclesiastical  or  scholastical.  The  second  point  runs  thus:  "Quod  Cunfcssionem 
Helveticam  et  Calechesin  Heideihergensem  sine  admixtioiie  omni  alienee  doctrince  in 
schola  et  ecclesia  docebit "  (the  licentiate  or  candidate). 

Sle[ihen  Talnai,  against  whom  was  directed  the  above  measure,  had  been  forced 
to  subscribe  to  the  eight  points,  liut  he  did  not  cease  to  spread  his  views  against 
the  authority  of  moderators,  so  the  struggles  rolled  on,  till  it  ended  in  the  great  na- 
tional synod  of  Szatmar,  June  lo,  1646,  by  sanctioning  the  church  discipline  and 
confessir)n  in  one  hundred  canons  and  thirty  conclusions,  and  gave  a  stability  to  the 
reformed  church,  both  inwardly  and  outwardly.  The  one  consequence  of  the  Hun- 
garian Puritan  and  independent  movement  led  at  last  to  the  severe  maintenance  of 
the  Helvetic  Confession. 

The  greatest  national  synod  of  Szatmar  convened  under  the  protectorship  of  the 
Transylvanian  ]irince,  George  Rakoczi  I.,  and  under  the  presidency  of  Ste])hen 
Katona  Gelei,  commonly  approved  and  adopted  as  standard  creeds  both  the  lleidel- 
bergensis  Catechesis  and  the  Helvetic  Confession. 

Let  us  see  some  questions  from  the  "Acta  Syiiodi  Nationalis."  The  second  con- 
clusion says:  "  E.idem  ubique  Catechesis  Heiilelbergensis  seu  Palatina  retineaturac 
doceatur."  The  nineteenth  conclusion  binds  the  licentiates  that  they  "  Propheticam 
et  Apostolicam,  quae  in  Confessione  Helvetica,  ac  Caiechesi  Heideibergensi  compre- 
henditur,  sententiam  addiscent,  eandemque  et  non  aliam  quandam  doceinint." 

The  twelfth  conclusion  obliges  the  ministers  that  "Si  non  frequentius,  saltern  die- 
bus  Domiiiicis  a  nieridie  conciones  catechcticas,  iuxta  seriem  D  miinicarum  in  quas 
Heideliiergensis  Catechesis  est  distributa,  et  quodem  Cmonicie  Scriptura;  loco  as- 
sumto,  hal)eant."  This  last  conclusion  took  such  a  lasting  force  that  even  in  present 
days,  at  every  Sunday  afternoon,  the  questions  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  continue 
to  be  explained  in  chair  to  the  people.  Suitable  hymns  had  been  prepared,  distrilnited 
in  fifty-two  Sundays  throughout  the  year,  following  the  content  of  the  Heidellierg 
Catechism.  These  catechetical  hymns  are  revised  and  introduced  into  the  new 
Psalter  (came  in  common  use  from  the  common  accord  of  the  four  Hungarian  super- 
inteiidencies  August  24,  1806.  See  also  the  Fiftieth  Edition,  Debreczen,  1S77,  8vo., 
491  pp.,  viz.:  the  hymns  from  80  to  137.)  Our  church  remained  faithful  to  the 
ordinations  of  the  national  synod. 

All  these  f  icts  most  evidently  verify  that  only  two  foreign  standard  books  survived. 
The  year  1646  marks  the  final  decay  of  all  previous  confessions,  which  were  legally 
and  formally  replaced  by  two.  They  became  verily  the  "  libri  symbolici."  We  may 
justly  call  the  year  and  the  synod  of  Szatmar  an  epoch-making  one.  The  leader  of 
the  orthodox  party,  the  living  expression  of  the  age,  was  the  great  superintendent, 
St.  Katona  Geleji  (born  1589,  died  1649),  who  studied  two  years  at  Heidelberg,  was 
a  frieml  of  D.  Paraeus,  from  hence  he  derives  his  predilection  to  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  The  hundred  canons  which  ])erpeiuated  his  great  name  being  called 
also  "  Canones  Gelejiani."  The  great  characteri-^tic  feature  of  the  Hungarian 
reformed  church  is  the  conservatimism  which  got  a  telling  expression  in  the  Acts  of 
the  epochal  synod. 

Henceforward  all  sorts  of  state  papers  and  edicts  use  for  official  denomination  the 
confessional  one.  The  state  diet  of  Sopron,  April  24,  1681,  "  De  libero  religionis 
exercitio,"  Auricnlus  XXV.,  says:  "  Neque  Augustante  et  Helveticas  Confession! 
addicti  ad  ca^iemonias  confessioni  suiv;  contrarias  comjjelluntur." 

The  fundamental  state  law  of  1790  91,  Article  XXVI.,  on  which  repose  the  re- 
ligious liberty  of  the  Hungarian  Protestants,  uses  always  the  appellation,  "  Evan- 
gelici  utriusque  confessionis,"  naming  also  distinctly  in  the  preamble,  which 
precisely  describes  the  free  religi<His  exercise,  "  Regnicalarum  Evangelicorum  tarn 
Augusiance,  quam  Helveticte  Confessioni  ad<lictorum." 

The  superintendeiicy  around  Debreczen,  sending  his  deputies  to  the  great  synod 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1119 

of  Biida,  September  8,  1791,  gives  some  instructions  and  commissions  to  them,  one 
of  which  is  as  lollows:  "Contra  veritateni  revelationis  et  Christiana-  religionis  con- 
tra Helveticam  Confessionem,"  "  in  the  pul)lic  church  schools  no  teaching  should  be 
used"  (Revesz:   Figyebmezo,  1875,  152  pp.) 

Count  Samuel  Tellki,  chief  jKitron  of  the  reformed  church,  in  his  letter  August 
29,  1806,  congratulates  Michael  15enede]<,  pastor  of  Debreczeii,  when  the  latter  was 
elected  as  superintendent,  urging  specially  that  "the  pure  religious  teaching  must  be 
taught  accoriling  to  the  accredited  symbolical  books,"  alluding  to  the  Catechism  of 
Heidelberg  and  to  the  Helvetic  Confession. 

The  general  conference  of  four  reformed  superintendencies  convened  at  Pest  in 
1822,  fixed  anew  the  formulas  juramenti  of  new  pastors,  bindnig  them  in  their 
teaching  to  the  Helvetic  C(;nfession. 

The  Danubian  su]ierintendency  around  Budapest,  consisting  of  eight  presliyteries, 
in  its  |iarticular  synod  in  1S39,  revised  the  ancient  formula  of  oath.  According  to 
the  new  text  the  superintendent  (model  ator)  shall  lake  oath  with  the  terms  that  "he 
will  watch  over  the  purity  of  the  evangelical  holy  doctrine  as  it  is  exposed  according 
to  the  Holy  Writ  in  the  Helvetic  Confession.  Similar  oath  is  required  from  the 
chief-curator  and  aid-curator  (co  president,  eldcr-modei'ator),  as  well  as  from  the 
senior  and  from  the  single  ministers.  A  later  particular  synod,  May  i,  1863,  ordered 
to  publish  the  "  Canones  quinquc  classium,"  with  the  Statutes  brought  since  1796, 
and  with  the  formidas  juramenti  spoken  of  above  (Canones  Ecclesiastici,  edited  by 
M.  Polgar,  Pest,  1867.     8vo.,  108  pp.) 

Approaching  the  ter-centenary  anniversary  of  the  Helvetic  Confession,  the  Trans- 
Tibiscan  superinlendency,  in  his  Assembly  of  Debreczen,  approved  the  overture  that 
the  reformed  college  of  Uebreczen  shall  keep  a  sciiool-feast  lor  the  commemoration 
of  the  Helvetic  Confession  adopted  February  24,  1567,  in  Melius'  age,  at  Debreczen. 
Accordingly,  the  solemn  schonl  fer.st  was  held  February  24,  1867,  in  the  spacious 
oratorium  of  the  college  in  the  presence  of  the  professors,  elders  of  Debreczen 
Church,  superintendeniial  officials,  as  for  instance,  Peter  Balogh,  the  superintend- 
ent, and  students.  A  professor  of  Pastoral  Theology  held  the  speech,  giving  the 
History  of  the  Confession,  saying,  "It  is  convenient  and  ilue  that  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession should  be  aKo  to-day  kept  in  respect  and  rememl)rance  as  a  token  and  seal 
of  the  Hungarian  Reformation."  The  speech  was  edited;  the  income  from  the 
))rice  had  been  set  apart  for  a  memorial  to  be  erected  for  Melius.  The  other  four 
superintendencies  made  nothing  in  this  respect. 

As  Regards  the  Questions. 

1.  What  are  the  existing  creeds  or  confessions  composing  the  Presbyterian 
Alliance  ? 

We  may  answer :  The  previous  creeds  and  formulas  and  confessions  are  enumer- 
ated above  in  successive  series,  with  their  respective  origin  and  brief  history.  Nei- 
ther of  them  have  passed  through  any  later  modification,  because  all  the  home 
confessions  have  been  put  aside  between  the  year  1626  and  1646,  being  legally  sub- 
stituted by  the  only  survival  of  two,  viz. :  tiie  Helvetic  Confession  and  the  Catechism 
of  Heidelberg. 

2.  What  arc  the  existing  formulas  of  sulsscription,  and  what  have  been  the  previous 
ones? 

The  previous  formulas  of  subscription  were:  {n)  the  subscription  and  oath  from 
the  part  of  jif^stors,  and  (/>)  decrees  of  ad)pt!on  formally  made  in  synods  by  the 
present  members.  Presently  the  manner  of  subscription  wholly  disappeared  from 
use,  and  nothing  else  exists  than  the  official  oalh  froin  the  part  of  pastors,  seniors, 
.';uperintendents  and  professors  when  they  are  ord  .ined  or  installed  to  their  respective 
office  or  sphere  of  action. 

3.  How  far  has  individual  adherence  to  these  creeds  been  required? 

Only  the  ministers,  and  sometimes  the  chief  and  aid-curators  (curator-suprcmus, 
co-adjutor-curator)  from  among  the  elders,  are  bound  to  give  oath  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Helvetic  Confession,  but  the  jsrivale  indi\  iduals  iiecome  members  of  the  church 


II20  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

by  the  pure  receiving  of  baptism,  and  by  the  act  of  f.rst  communion  of  the  Lord's 
table,  preceded  by  a  catechetical  teachintj  and  instruction  in  their  low  age,  mostly  in 
twelve  years  of  age,  which  preparative  instruction  and  introduction  to  the  Lord's 
table  is  called  conhrmation.  The  teachings  are  given  to  the  youth  at  some  places  by 
the  school  teachers,  at  other  places  by  the  ministers  of  the  parish,  ended  by  the  exam- 
ination, where  the  minister  and  the  parents  are  present.  Individual  or  personal 
professions  are  wholly  unknown.  The  catechetical  sermons  every  Sunday  afternoon 
in  the  cliurchcs  keep  alive  in  the  common  memViers  both  the  sense  of  the  reformed 
doctrines  and  the  faithfulness  and  the  Protestant  conscience.  Similar  effect  is  pro- 
duced iiy  the  schools,  where  not  only  the  teaching  of  Protestant  church  history,  but 
specially  the  teaching  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  according  to  which  are  con- 
ducted the  dogmatical  lessens — keep  flaming  the  feeling  and  conviction  towards  the 
reformed  church's  evangelical  principles.  So  it  happens  that  neither  ritualistic  ten- 
dency, neither  the  giving  of  the  reformed  religion  occurs  but  exceptionally  and 
very  rarely  in  Hungary. 

In  Conclusion 

we  cannot  omit  the  new  constellation.  In  the  Superintendency  beyond  the  Tisza, 
a  particular  synod  was  held  at  Debreczen,  in  1871,  where  an  important  and  marking 
step  was  taken  regarding  the  value  of  our  symbolical  books,  taking  in  order  of  day 
the  revision  of  the  former  formulas  of  oath,  and  the  subject  was  resolved  by  the  ' 
advice  of  a  special  revision-committee,  whose  leading  members  were,  among  others, 
Emerick  Revesz,  Pastor  of  Debr»czen,  most  learned  investigator  of  Hungarian 
Church  History  and  Rights;  and  S.jlomon  Tisza,  who  now  is  Prime  Minister  of 
State,  and  Chief  Curator  of  a  superintendency. 

In  this  As-;eml)ly  it  occurred,  the  fir.it  lime,  after  three  centuries  existence,  that  the 
distinct  mentioning  of  Helvetic  Confession,  or  any  other  synil)ol,  was  omitted  from, 
or  at  least  tacitly  understood  in  the  solemn  engagement  by  oath  of  all  kmd  of  office- 
bearers. Namely,  in  the  revised  and  confirmed  formulas  of  oath  only  general  state- 
ments are  to  be  found.  Looking  to  the  part  of  official  oath  treating  the  denomina- 
tional engagement,  the  formula  juramenti  is  thus  termed:  "I  (the  superintendent) 
shall  watch  for  the  maintenance  of  the  jiurity  of  evangelical  doctrine  and  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  religion."  The  senior  (moderator  of  a  tractus  or  presbytery)  swears 
thu=:  "  I  .  .  .  shall  faithfully  watch  tor  the  maintenance  of  the  doctrinal  principles 
established  by  our  holy  mother  church."  The  professors  of  theology  and  in  other 
branches,  swear:  "  never  to  hurt  in  their  teaching  the  pure  Protestant  Christianity." 

It  is  true  and  evident,  that  in  these  formulas  the  symbols  are  expressly  not  men- 
tioned, but  they  are  not  abrogated  in  the  use  of  public  worship,  looking  at  the  cate- 
chetical sermons,  at  the  contents  of  hymn-books,  and  at  the  schools.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  in  the  formulas  of  oath  of  moderators  is  spoken  of,  of  the  maintenance 
of  doctrinal  principles  as  "established  by  the  Church"  openly  is  avowed,  that  the 
accredited  and  existing  denominational  doctrines  are  understood  tacitly,  never  being 
altered,  changed,  revised  the  official  symbols.  The  right  of  revising,  defining  and 
establishing  the  specific  doctrines  in  creed  belong  to  the  church,  but  she  does  not  as 
yet  see  the  time  arrived  at  to  do  any  alteration  of  it. 

What  steps  are  to  be  taken  for  the  future  by  a  National  General  Synod,  and  when 
will  it  be  assembled  ?  nobody  can  say  prematurely.  There  is  now  in  project  and 
serious  preparation  the  scheme  of  such  a  great  synod,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  all 
the  five  separate  superintendencies  of  the  whole  Hungarian  Reformed  Church. 
(See  "The  Catholic  Presbyterian,"  No.  XIII. ,"  Recent  Proceedings  in  the  Hun- 
garian Reformed  Church.")  But,  regarding  the  wavering  of  mind,  hesitations  and 
unfavorable  agitations  of  our  own  moving  epochs,  all  dogmatical  questions  are 
beforehand  excluded  from  out  the  first  General  National  Synod,  which  fact  show.s, 
that  thus  far  no  intention  exists  to  change  the  creed  or  confession  of  the  Reformed 
Church. 

There  are  here  and  there  voices  and  signs  of  wishing  to  revise  the  old  confession, 
our  symbolical  books,  or  of  letting  them  iall  down,  but  there  are  strong  convictions, 
too,  to  maintain  them.  Francis  Baldgh, 

Professor  of  Church  History  in  the  Reformed  College  of  Debreczen. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1121 

SPAIN. 

The  Pan-Presbyterian  Synod,  met  in  Edmhurgh,  in  July,  1877,  agreed  that  a  re- 
port should  be  drawn  up  of  the  existinj;  Confessions  of  l'"ailh,  or  of  those  which  have 
existed  in  other  times  in  the  countries  where  there  are  or  have  been  Reformed 
Churches  which  have  followed  the  Presbyterian  form,  in  order  to  give  an  exact  and 
detailed  account,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the  General  Report  which  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Schaffwill  present  in  the  approaching  synod  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia,  United 
-States,  in  iSSo.  We  shall  here  answer,  although  very  briefly,  in  the  order  in  which 
tiiey  are  proposed,  the  questions  which  bear  upon  confessions  in  Spain. 

First  (^Uf.sTio.v. —  What  are  or  7ueie  the  Confessions  of  Faith  of  the  Rcfor?neJ 
or  Calvinistic  Chttiches  of  Spain  ? 

This  question  is  answered  by  saying  that  there  have  been  in  all  three,  that  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  that  of  1869,  and  that  of  1872. 

With  regard  to  the  first,  that  of  the  sixteenth  century,  I  am  able  to  say  very  little, 
as  I  have  not  a  copy  of  it  in  my  possession.  I  have  heard  that  Senor  Valkspinosa, 
once  pastor  in  Barcelona,  in  the  years  immediately  succeeding  the  Revolutions  of 
1868,  but  whose  actual  residence  1  have  not  been  able  to  find  out,  had  a  copy;  I 
myself  have  been  unable,  in  spite  of  diligent  search  in  libraries,  both  public  and 
private,  to  come  across  a  copy  of  it. 

All  that  I  have  been  able  to  find  out  about  this  confession  is  the  following: 

The  Spanish  Protestants  resident  in  England  made  and  published  a  Confession  of 
Faith  which  was  received  by  their  brethren  in  other  lands. 

According  to  references  found  in  several  authors,  whose  works  I  have  carefully 
examined,  the  title  of  this  confession  is  the  following: 

"  Confession  of  Christian  Faith  made  by  some  believing  Spaniards,  who,  fleeing 
from  the  abuses  of  the  Romish  Church  and  the  cruelty  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition, 
abandoned  their  country  in  order  to  be  received  as  brethren  in  Christ  by  the  Church 
of  the  Faithful." 

Gerdes  says  that  it  was  published  in  London  in  1559  (Florilegium  Libr.  Rar. 
jiage  87,  ed.  1763.  Scriniun  Antiq.,  vol.  I.,  page  151).  The  same  Cierdes  gives, 
extracts  from  this  Confession  of  Faith  in  his  Scriniun  Antiquarium,  vol.  I.,  page- 
149,  150. 

It  was  published  in  Si)anish  and  German,  in  Cassel.  in  1601.  It  was  also  pub- 
lished in  German  by  Joaquim  Ursino,  in  Antwerp,  in  161 1. 

The  articles  of  this  confession  (which,  I  believe,  was  Arminian)  were  twenty- 
one,  and  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  Casiodoro  de  la  Rema  helped  m  its  forma- 
tion. 

The  second  Confession  of  Faith,  in  Spanish,  was  drawn  up  in  Sevilla,  in  1869  [L 
have  reason  to  believe  that  pnrt,  if  not  all,  was  drafted  in  Gibraltar  by  a  meeting  of 
Spaniards  before  the  Revoliuion. — J.  Jameson],  at  the  instance  of  the  then  pastorr 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Dr.  Juan  Cabrera,  and  was  accepted  by  his 
church  in  Sevilla,  and  also  by  the  churches  of  Cordova,  Granada,  Malaga,  Cadiz, 
and  Huelva,  whose  pastors  formed  then  the  Assembly  of  the  then-called  Spanish 
Reformed  Church,  and  assisted  in  the  formation  of  the  confession. 

This  confession  contains  twenty-five  chapters,  and  at  the  foot  of  each  page  are  the 
proof-texts.  [This  confession  is  based  on  the  Westminster  Confession,  and  is  in 
many  cases  a  literal  translation. — J.  J.} 

The  title  of  this  confession  is  : 

"  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Reformed  Spanish  Church,  approved  by  the  General 
Assembly,  in  1869." 

There  is  a  seal  on  the  title-page  which  bears  the  following  inscription  :  "  Central 
Consistory  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Spain,"  and  below  Dios  es  Amor  (Godi  is 
love). 

This  confession,  a  copy  of  which  accompanies  this   report,  fell  into  disuse  when- 
the  Confession  of  the  Spanish  Ciiristian  Church  was  adopted  by  the  (ieneral  Assem- 
bly at  Madiid  in  1872. 
71 


1 1 22  THE  PRESBYTERIAN'  ALLIANCE. 

The  third  Spanish  Confe<;sion  of  Faith  was  made  in  Madrid,  in  1S72,  and  adopted, 
as  I  have  said  al)ove,  by  the  (ieneral  Assembly  of  the  Spanish  Chii--tian  Church,  in 
which  were  represented  four  congregations  of  Madrid  [those  of  Madera  Bnja,  Cala- 
brara,  Limon  (now  Leganitor),  and  Permelus],  and  those  of  the  Holy  Trinity  in 
Savilla,  Cordova,  Malasja,  Gnnada,  Cadiz,  Huelva,  Jerez,  Cartagena,  Cumnnas, 
Barcelona,  Zaragoza,  Valladolid,  Comunas,  Santander,  Mahon  (Island  of  Minorcal, 
and  later  on  (in  1874)  by  the  new  congregation  of  San  Fernando. 

At  present  several  of  these  churches  have  ceased  to  recognize  that  confession, 
having  been  transferred  to  other  missions,  or  having  voluntarily  transterred  ihelr 
allegiance  to  others.  Such  are  the  congregations  of  Santander,  Zaragoza,  R-irce 
lona,  Malaga,  Mahon,  and  Madera  Baja  of  Madrid. 

This  confession  has  its  title  as  follows  : 

"  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Spanish  Christian  Church,  adopted  by  the  Cenernl 
Assembly  of  the  same,  held  in  Madrid,  in  April,  1872."  It  consists  of  twenty  three 
chapters.  When  it  was  first  published  it  had  no  jiioof-texts,  but  later  a  new  edition 
was  published  as  part  of  the  periodical  "  La  Suz,"  with  the  texts. 

It  now  is  the  recognized  confession  of  all  the  congregations  still  forming  part  of 
the  Spanish  Christian  Church,  and  has  suffered  no  alteration  since  its  first  forma- 
tion. 

In  addition  to  these  three  Confassions  of  Faith,  there  existed  at  one  time,  in  the 
Church  of  Madera  Baja,  Madrid,  a  kind  of  confession  or  code  of  discipline  (and  I 
call  it  so  as  I  do  not  find  any  special  name  more  suitable),  which  harl  as  its  title: 

"Organization,  Profession,  and  Discipline  approved  by  the  Church  of  the  Madera 
Baja."  This  code  or  organization  of  the  Church  of  Madera  Baja  was  peculiar  to 
itself,  and  in  consequence  its  action  did  not  affect  others  than  those  who  were  re- 
((uired  to  accept  it  in  order  to  member-hip  of  that  church. 

The  time  which  this  organization  olnnined  in  the  Church  of  the  Madera  Baja  was 
only  two  years,  for  frameti  in  1870  it  wis  superceded  in  :872  when  that  church 
entered  into  the  organization  of  ihe  Spniii-li  Christian  Cliurch.  In  the  formation  of 
this  special  confession,  Dr.  Sonierville,  of  (ilasgow,  took  a  principal  part,  being  at 
that  time  in  Madrid. 

Second  Question. — What  have  been  or  are  the  formulas  or  methods  of  adhesion 
to  these  different  Confessions  of  Faith  ? 

A.NSWKR. — -With  regard  to  the  confession  of  the  sixteenth  century  I  am,  of  course, 
quite  unaijie  to  speak.  With  regard  to  those  of  1869  and  1872  I  may  sny  that  with 
regard  to  the  pastors  the  formula  of  adhesion  was  and  continues  to  be  their  declara- 
tion of  entire  conformity  with  the  text  of  the  signing  of  the  same,  both  which  con- 
ditions are  required  [previous  to  ordination  and  in  addition  the  solemn  promise  to 
preach  in  agreement  with  the  contents  of  the  said  confession.  These  formulas  ol 
adhesion  exist  still  and  have  not  been  altered  as  far  as  I  know. 


Third  QtiESTlON. — Has  adhesion  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  been  required  from 
all  the  members  as  well  as  from  the  piisiors  of  these  churches  ?  lias  it  been  required 
from  the  elders  ? 

Answer. —  With  regard  to  the  members,  it  has  not  been  required  in  any  shape. 
All  that  is  done  in  the  churches  connected  with  the  .Spanish  Christian  Church  is  the 
following:  The  pastors,  when  receiving  any  one  as  member,  submit  him  (or  her) 
to  an  examination  in  which  they  address  a  greater  or  smaller  number  of  questions 
based  on  the  Confession  of  P'aith.  If  these  are  satisfactorily  answered  they  are  de- 
clared members  of  the  church,  and  if  not,  their  admission  is  delayed  until  such  lime 
as  they  have  received  the  necessary  instruction. 

With  regard  to  the  elders  in  the  churches  which  have  such  office-bearers  [which 
are  only  three  or  four,  on  account  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  people  among 
whom  we  labor  and  from  whom  the  elders  have  to  be  chosen],  it  is  required  of 
ihem,  as  of  the  pastors,  that  they  declare  their  conformity  with  the  Confession  of 
Faith.  (Signed)  Joaquim  Maza  Jimenez, 

Moderator  of  the  Spanish  Christian  Church. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1123 

Note  of  the  Translator. — Tlie  change  of  name  and  the  formation  of  the  new 
Confession,  in  1872,  were  due  to  the  amalgamation  of  the  churches  of  Andalucia, 
which  iiad  formed  the  Reformed  Sjianish  (."hurch,  with  the  other  congregations, 
holding  Calvinistic  views,  of  the  Peninsula,  such  as  the  Church  of  Madera  B.ija,  in 
Madrid,  the  missions  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland,  and  several 
others.  It  is  only  right  to  state  that  the  organization  of  the  Spanisli  Christian 
Church  is  as  yet  in  a  consideraljly  imperfect  state.  As  has  been  indicated,  several 
congregations  have  dropped  off,  owing  to  various  circumstances,  such  as  those  of 
Santander  and  Zaragoza,  directed  by  the  Messrs.  Gulick,  of  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions;  Valladolid,  under  the  direction  of  L.  B. 
Armstrong,  Esq.,  representative  of  the  Leeds  and  Liverpool  Committee  for  Evan- 
gelization in  Spain  (undenominational);  Barcelona,  under  the  charge  of  \Jr. 
Empagtaz,  of  the  Swiss  Free  Church;  an<l  recently  Madera  Baja,  on  the  transfer- 
ence of  its  pastor.  Dr.  Juan  Cabrera,  to  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Epi.scopal 
Missions.  A  semblance  of  Presbyterial  rule  is  kept  up  in  Andalucia  by  those  stiil 
remaining  in  union  with  the  Spanish  Christian  Church,  who  are  the  p.istors  and 
churches  of  Sevilla,  Cordoba,  Granada,  Cadiz,  San  Fernando,  Jerez  and  Iluelva.  But 
in  the  rest  of  the  Peninsula  no  other  organization  is  attempted,  partly  from  the  isolated 
position  of  the  pastors  and  partly  from  the  fact  of  each  mission  pertaining  to  a  dif- 
ferent foreign  church  or  evangelization  committee. 

John  Jamkson. 
V. 

FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

The  following  are  the  papers  accompanying  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Missions  (see  page  613): 

BRIEF  REPORTS  OF  THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCHES. 

I.  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Preshyterian  Church  in  Canada. 

The  Foreign  Mission  operations  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada  com- 
menced in  1846,  v/hen  the  Presbyterian  Cluirch  of  Nova  Scotia  appointed  Mr.  J. 
Geddie  as  a  missionary  to  the  New  Hebrides.  Ten  years  subsequently,  in  1 856, 
the  same  Church  appointed  Mr.  G.  N.  Gordon  also  to  the  same  field.  In  1S58  the 
Free  Church  of  Nova  .Scotia  appointed  Mr.  P.  Constantinides  to  a  mission  in  Turkey, 
which  appointment  he  resigned  in  1861.  In  1S59  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nova 
Scotia  appointed  Mr.  S.  F.  Johnston  to  the  New  Hebrides.  This  appointment  was 
followed  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Lower  Provinces  appointing  to  different 
stations  in  the  same  field,  Mr.  J.  VV.  Matheson,  in  1862,  Mr.  1).  Morrison  and  Mr. 
J.  D.  Gordon,  in  1863,  and  Mr.  W.  McCulloch  and  Mr.  J.  McNair,  in  1866.  In 
1867  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Lower  Provinces  appointed  Mr.  J.  Morton. to 
the  island  of  Trinidad.  In  1869  the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  the  Lower  Provinces,, 
appointed  Mr.  J.  Goodwill  to  the  New  Hebrides.  In  1870  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  the  Lower  Provinces  appointed  Mr.  K.  J.  Grant  to  Trinidad,  and  in  1871  Messrs.. 
J.  D.  Murray  and  J.  W.  McKenzie  to  the  New  Hebrides.  In  the  same  year,  1871, 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  the  Lower  Provinces,  also  appointed  Mr.  H.  A.  Rcjbert- 
son  to  the  New  Hebrides.  In  1872  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  Lower  Provinces 
appointed  Mr.  J.  Annand  to  the  New  Hebrides,  and  in  1873  Mr.  T.  M.  Christie  to 
Trinidad. 

In  1856  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Canada  appointed  Mr.  G.  Stevenson  as  a 
missionary  to  India,  and  in  l86l  Mr.  R.  Jamieson  to  British  (Columbia.  In  1S62 
the  Canada  Presbyterian  Church  apj^ointed  Mr.  J.  Nesbit  as  missionary  to  the 
Indian-^  in  the  Northwest  Territory;  in  1864  Mr.  D.  Duff  to  British  Columbia;  in 
1866  Mr.  A.  Matheson  to  the  Northwest  Territory;  in  186S  Mr.  W.  Fletcher  to  the 
Northwest  Territory ;  in  l868  Mr.  W.  Aitken  to  British  Columbia;  and  in  1869 
Mr.  J.  McNab  and    Mr.  D.  B.  Whimster  to  the  Northwest  Territory.     In  1869  the 


1 1 24  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Church  of  Scotland  in  Canada  appointed  Mr.  E.  M.  Epstein  a  missiomry  to  Sa- 
lonica,  and  in  1872  Mr.  T.  Hart  to  Manitoba.  In  1872  the  Canada  Presl^jyterian 
Cluucli  appointed  Mr.  E.Vincent  to  the  Northwest  Territory;  in  1873  Mr.  G.  Flett  and 
Mr.  H.  McKcUar  also  to  the  Norlliwest  Territory;  in  1 67 1  Mr.  G.  L.  Mackay  to 
China;  in  1S74  Dr.  J.  B.  Eraser  also  to  China;  in  1876  Mr.  J.  M.  Douj^las  to  India, 
and  Mr.  A.  Stewart  and  Mr.  D.  C.  Johnson  to  the  Northwest  Territory.  In  1876 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  in  the  Lower  Provinces,  appointed  Mr.  J.  F.  Campbell  a 
missionary  to  India.  In  1877  the  Canada  Presbyterian  Church  appointed  Mr.  Sol. 
Tunkansaicye  a  missionary  to  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  Mr.  K.  J.  Junor  to 
Cliina.  In  1S79  'he  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada  appointed  Mr.  J.  Wilkie  a  mis- 
.sionary  to  India. 

In  addition  to  the  above-mentioned  male  missionaries,  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Canada,  in  1873,  appointed  Misses  Rodi;erand  Fairwealher  as  missionaries  to  India; 
in  1876  Miss  Blackadder  to  Trinidad;  and  in  1877  Misses  Forrester  (now  Mrs. 
Campbell)  and  McGregor  to  India. 

Of  the  above-mentioned  forty-six  missionaries,  nineteen  have  resigned,  six  hav6 
died,  and  two,  namely:  Messrs.  G.  N.  Gordon  and  J.  D.  Gordon,  were  killed  by  the 
natives  in  the  New  Hebrides. 

The  missionaries  at  present  in  the  several  fields  are  the  following: 

In  the  Neru  Hebrides  Mission  Messrs.  Robertson,  Annand  and  McKenzie,  sta- 
tioned at  Erromanga,  Aneityum  and  Efate  respectively.  There  are  associated  with 
them  twenty-one  teachers  and  teachers  in  twenty-one  schools.  There  are  142  com- 
municants in  this  mission.  Connected  with  the  mission  is  "  The  Day  Spring,"  a 
mission  ship,  which  last  year  (1879)  sailed  10,000  miles,  paid  100  visits  to  mission 
stations,  harbors  and  heathen  islands,  carrying  missionaries,  their  wives,  families, 
native  teachers  and  natives,  besides  making  her  two  regular  voyages  to  Sydney,  in 
New  South  Wales.  The  Sabbath-school  children  of  the  Church  in  Canada  con- 
tribute ^250  sterling  to  her  support. 

In  the  Trinidad  AIissio7i  Messrs.  Morton,  Grant  and  Christie,  stationed  in 
Savannah  Grande,  San  Fernando  and  Corwa  Districts  respectively.  Associated 
with  them  are  two  teachers  and  four  native  evangelists.  There  are  twenty-one 
schools  and  817  scholars  in  this  mission. 

In  the  mission  to  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest,  Messrs.  J.  Mackay,  Flett  and 
Tunkansaicye,  stationed  at  Prince  Albert,  on  the  Saskatchewan,  Okanase  and  Fort 
Ellice  respectively.     There  are  also  two  teachers  connected  with  this  mission. 

In  the  China  A/ission  Messrs.  G.  L.  Mackay  and  Junor,  stationed  at  Tamsui,  in 
the  island  of  Formosa.  In  a  little  more  than  eight  years  twenty  chapels  have  been 
opened,  two  missit)n  houses  built,  and  twenty  native  helpers  trained;  five  schools 
are  sustained,  five  Bible  women  are  under  training,  300  communicants  are  enrolled, 
and  more  than  2.000  persons  have  renounced  idolatry  and  attend  Christian  worship. 
There  is  also  an  hospital  in  Tamsui,  at  present  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Ringer,  doing 
excellent  work.  An  hospital  has  been  established  at  Kelung,  under  the  care  of  Dr. 
Mann. 

/«  the  Central  hidia  Mission  Messrs.  Douglas  and  Wilkie,  stationed  at  Indore, 
and  Mr.  Campbell  at  Mhow.  Associated  with  them  are  three  female  missionaries, 
Misses  Rodger,  Fairweather  and  McGregor,  who  are  chiefly  employed  in  orphanage 
and  zenana  work. 

"  The  Indian  Orphanage  and  Juvenile  Mission,"  besides  supporting  four  high 
caste  zenana  day-schools,  providing  for  the  support  and  education  of  seven  or  eight 
orphans  at  Calcutta  and  Poona,  supports  about  fifteen  orphans  and  two  Bible  women, 
at  Indore,  and  contributes  to  "The  Day  Spring"  and  the  Trinidad  Mission. 

II.  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church — General 

Synod — U.  'S.  A. 

The  subject  of  Foreign  Missions  was  first  presented  to  the  First  Reformed  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Philadelphia,  in  1819.  At  a  meeting  of  the  synod  held  that  year, 
a  committee,  of  which  the  Rev.  James  R.  Wilson,  afterwards  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  was 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1125 

chairman,  presented  a  report  recognizing  the  obligation  of  every  evangelical  church 
to  engage  in  this  work,  and  suggesting  several  difi'erent  fields.  It  closed  with  a 
resolution  that  a  Missionary  Society  sht)uld  he  organized,  but  nothing  definite  sei-ms 
to  have  been  done.  The  first  practical  development  of  missionary  effort  ajipearetl 
in  the  S^bbalh-school  of  the  First  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelpliia.  A 
young  man,  who  had  already  devoted  himself  to  this  work,  instituted  a  system  of 
collections  in  each  class  on  every  Saljbalh  day.  The  amounts  received  were  appro- 
juiated  for  several  years  to  a  mission  school  in  the  Sandwich  Inlands;  jjut  when  the 
Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  organized,  the  contrilnilions  of  the  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Church  were  paid  into  its  treasury,  and  afterwards  to  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  For  a  numlier  of  years  the 
amounts  from  the  Sabbath-school  reached  ^600  or  $joo.  About  the  same  time  a 
society  was  organized  in  the  First  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  called  the  Juve- 
nile Missionary  Society,  which,  by  means  of  a  periodical  which  it  issued  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  did  much  to  awaken  and  stimulate  missionary  feelrng.  This  society 
liaving  devoted  its  special  attention  to  the  education  of  heathen  children,  an  institu- 
tion was  formed  under  its  auspices  at  Saharanpur,  Northern  India,  which  has  been 
the  means  of  giving  a  Christian  education  to  a  large  number  of  native  children, 
many  of  whom  have  become  members  of  the  church,  and  some  have  been  ordained 
to  the  ministry. 

The  first  missionary  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  was  the  Rev.  J.  R, 
Campbell,  afterwards  D.  D.,  who,  with  a  number  of  other  missionaries,  was  sent  out 
by  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  leaving  Philadelphia  November  9th, 
1835,  ^"'i  arriving  at  Saharanpur,  November  loth,  1836.  Mr.  Campbell  was  sup- 
ported for  a  few  years  by  a  society  called  the  Mercer  County  Missionary  Society, 
composed  of  members  of  the  Presbyterian,  the  Associate,  the  Associate  Reformed, 
and  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Ctnirches  in  Mercer  county,  Pennsylvania.  The 
Board  of  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  defrayed  the  expenses  of 
his  outfit,  and  soon  afterwards  assumed  his  entire  support.  Subsequently,  Messrs. 
James  Craig,  a  missionary  teacher.  Rev.  J.  Caldwell,  and  Rev.  J.  S.  Woodside,  with 
their  wives,  were  sent  out.  As  repeated  calls  for  additional  missionaries  had  not 
been  responded  to,  the  General  Synod,  in  1S54,  resolved  to  adopt  the  plan  which 
seems  to  have  been  taken  in  the  primitive  church  by  the  Presbytery  of  Antio.ch 
(Acts  xiii.  1-3).  After  setting  apart  a  day  for  solemn  prayer  with  fasting,  two  per-, 
sons  were  designated  and  called  upon  to  go  forth  to  the  heathen  workl.  One  of. 
these.  Rev.  David  Herron,  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Harrisville,  Pennsylvania. 
The  other.  Rev.  William  Calderwood,  was  at  that  time  a  licentiate.  Recognizing 
the  call  of  the  head  of  the  church  by  his  appointed  representatives,  these  young  men 
went  forth  to  India  and  are  still  laboring  there. 

Other  missions  of  the  Board  of  the  General  Assembly  have  also  had  laborers  from 
the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  as  in  Africa  and  in  China. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  mention  th.it  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  (Gen- 
eral Synod)  has  done  her  work  on  the  foreign  field  through  the  General  Assembly's 
Board,  to  which  her  contributions  for  this  purpose  have  been  paid,  and  which  ha.s 
superintended  their  expenditure.  The  relation  of  the  General  Synod  to  the  mission 
in  India  has  been  entirely  and  exclusively  ecclesiastical.  A  Presbytery  called  the 
Presbytery  of  Saharanpur  was  organized  in  1838.  The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  has  acted  in  the  collection  of  funds  for  pur- 
poses specified. 

The  numlier  of  missionaries,  male  and  fem^e,  from  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church  has  been  fourteen.  The  amount  collected  for  missionary  purposes  (esti- 
mated) J^  1 00,000. 

Rev.  T.  W.  J.  Wylie,  D.  D. 

III.  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  PREsnYiT.RiAN  Church,  U.  S.  A. 

Tlie  first  formal  movement  made  by  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  for  the 
establishment  of  a  foreign  mission  was  in   1845.     Ilayti,  in  the  West   Indies,  was 


1126  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

selected  as  ihe  field.  A  mission  family  wns  sent  out  in  1847.  The  missionary  hav- 
ing adopted  views  on  the  subject  of  the  Sahliath  inconsistent  with  the  faitli  of  the 
chuich  to  which  he  belonged,  returned  within  two  years,  and  the  mission  was  in- 
dehnitely  suspended. 

The  Synod  in  1S55  resolved  to  renew  the  effort  for  the  organization  of  a  mission 
in  foreign  parts.  Syria  was  chosen  as  the  field,  and,  in  1855,  two  mission  fainilies 
were  sent  out  with  Damascus  as  an  objective  point.  Zahlch  was  selected  as  ilie  cen- 
tre of  operation.  The  work  had  scarcely  commenced  when  the  missionaries  were 
violently  driven  out  by  the  fanatical  population.  This  led  to  the  removal  of  the 
missionaries  to  Latakia  in  1858,  with  a  view  of  operating  mainly  among  the  tribes 
of  the  Nusarieh.  From  that  date  the  mission  has  been  carried  on  without  interrup- 
tion and  with  encouraging  success.  The  original  missionaries  were  Rev.  R.  J. 
Dodds  and  wife,  and  Rev.  Joseph  Bealtie  and  wife.  A  re-enforcement  consisting 
of  David  Melheney,  M.  D.,  and  wife,  went  out  in  1864.  In  1866  Miss  Rebecca 
Crawford  joined  .the  missionaries  to  take  charge  of  a  girls'  school.  The  mission  in 
Aleppo,  in  charge  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland,  with  all  its  appur- 
tenances, was  transferred  to  the  mission  in  Latakia,  with  request  to  take  charge  of 
it.  Mr.  Dodds  removed  to  Aleppo  in  1S68,  and  remained  there  until  his  death  in 
1870.  Rev.  S.  R.  Cialbraith  and  wife  and  Miss  Mary  E.  Dodds  joined  the  mission 
in  1871.  Rev.  Henry  Easson  and  wife  in  1S72,  Miss  Mattie  R.  Wylie  in  1875,  and 
Rev.  VV.  J.  Sproull  and  wife,  and  Miss  Mary  E.  Carson  in  1879.  The  American 
force  now  in  the  field  consists  of  Rev.  David  Melheney,  M.  D.,  and  wife.  Rev. 
Henry  Easson  and  wife.  Rev.  William  J.  Sproull  and  wife,  Miss  Mattie  R.  Wylie, 
and  Miss  Mary  E.  Carson. 

Latakia  is  the  centre  of  missionary  work.  There  is  a  large  mission  building  in 
the  place  for  girls'  boarding-school  with  capacity  for  a  hundred  boarders,  and  always 
full.  A  number  of  schools  are  operated  in  the  outlying  districts  and  mountains 
with  requests  for  more  than  can  be  furnished.  These  are  conducted  by  native 
teachers,  and  religion  is  made  a  leading  point  in  the  instruction. 

At  Suadia,  on  the  Oronles,  there  is  a  station  with  large  and  valuable  mission 
property,  and  known  as  Dr.  and  Mrs.  William  Holt's  mission — the  entire  premises 
having  l^een  made  over  to  the  American  Mission  in  Latakia  by  the  late  Dr.  William 
Holt.  Yates,  of  London. 

The  revenues  of  the  mission  are  derived  from  the  usual  sources,  annual  congrega- 
tional collection,  individual  bequests,  etc.  The  amount  appropriated  annually  is 
from  $10,000  to  $15,000.  The  mission  is  conducted  on  the  principle  of  incurring 
no  debt. 

The  statistics  of  the  mission  for  1878-79  are  the  following: 

Missionaries 8 

Native  teachers '9 

Church  members 94 

Sabbath-schools 5 

Sabbath  scholars 200 

Week-day  scholars 9 

Scholars  under  instruction 47^ 

Mission  stations 7 

Mission  buildings 11 

Contributions  of  mission $284.69 

Estimated  value  of  mission  property $35,000 

• 
A  considerable  amount  of  work  is  being  done  among  the  Chinese  in  the  United 
plates.     A  mission  is  carried  on  in  San   Francisco,  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  N. 
R.  Johnson  and  family.     The  names  of  twenty  converts  are  on  the  roll  of  the  Mis- 
.>ion.     A   number  of  our  Sal)bath-schools,  as  in   Cincinnati,  Pittsburgh,  Allegheny, 
Philadelphia,  and  New  York,  have  Chinese  under  instruction. 
In  regard  to  points  submitted  by  the  Alliance,  it  may  be  said  : 
I.  That  we  have  no  suggestion  to  make  "  respecting  consolidating  existing  agen 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1127 

cies,  or  preparing  the  way  for  co-operation  in  future."  Hitherto  we  have  not  f»-it 
any  inconvenience  on  that  score.  Our  mis.sionaries,  acting  under  their  own  judg- 
ment, have  co-operated  in  various  matters  with  other  missions.  We  leave  tlie  in.iitcr 
with  them,  to  be  guided,  of  course,  by  the  general  principles  and  rules  of  tlic  body 
whose  agents  they  are. 

2.  Senior  missionaries  receive  more  salaries  than  juniors.  A  family  in  the  field 
ii>ng  enough  to  have  acquired  the  language  and  general  competency  for  wurk, 
r.-ceives  jgi,ooo;  a  family  going  out,  $800;  lady  missionaries,  $500  and  3400-  An 
iiiiowance  of  $400  for  outfit  is  made  for  a  family ;  for  a  lady,  ;gi6o.  We  do  not  pay 
rL'iU  for  missionaries,  hut  all  ex]ienses  pertaining  to  the  mission  service — teachers  for 
missionaries,  travelling  in  the  interest  uf  tiie  mission,  etc. — are  allowed  for. 

3.  We  have  not  yet  any  licensed  <.n  ordained  native  preachers,  though  this  is  a 
piime  object  kept  in  view.  A  fuiidatnuntal  part  of  our  mission  policy  is,  to  prepare 
a  competent  native  ministry,  and  comniii  the  work  laigely  to  them. 

4.  Medical  agency  is  part  of  the  mission.  The  physician  receives  the  same  salary 
as  ministers,  and  covers  into  the  mission  treasury  any  ])roceeds  of  his  practice. 

5.  The  mission  reports  annu.illy  statistics  covering  the  particulars  usually  fotind 
ill  such  taljjes. 

6.  Our  mission  acts  as  a  commission  appointed  by  Synod,  our  highest  judicatory, 
and  wit!)  full  ecclesiastical  power. 

7.  Missionaries  determine  as  to  metlioils  best  suited  to  the  acquisition  of  language, 
and  also  as  to  missionary  literature. 

8.  As  to  best  means  of  develoi;ing  mi>-si()nary  spirit  in  home  Churches,  the  only 
effectual  method  known  to  us  is  more  pergonal  religion.  This  conies  from  God  in 
answer  to  prayer.  Rev.  S.  O.  Wylie,  D.  D. 

IV.    Foreign  Missions  ok  the  Associate  Rep'ormed  Synod  of  the 
South,  U.  S.  A. 

Although  the  subject  of  Foreign  Missi.m'^  has  been  in  contemplation  for  thirty  or 
forty  years  in  the  Associate  Reforme<l  Synod  of  the  South,  it  was  not  actually  under- 
taken until  ^lome  five  years  ago,  at  which  time  we  sent  out  a  lady  missionary  in  the 
person  of  Mis-.  Mary  E.  Galloway,  but  now  Mrs.  GiiTen,  into  Egypt,  to  co-operate 
with  the  United  Presbyterians.  She  has  labored  in  concert  with  the  missionaries  of 
that  Church  at  diflerent  places — Alexandria,  Cairo,  and  Osiout,  but  mostly  at  Osiout. 
The  annual  salary  allowed  her  is  ^500  or  ^550,  according  to  the  locality,  whether 
Upper  or  Lower  Egypt. 

In  December,  1878,  we  dispatched  a  missionary  and  his  family,  the  Rev.  Neil  E. 
Pressly,  to  Mexico  City,  where  he  remained  about  twelve  months,  preparatory  to  the 
selection  of  a  station,  and  in  attempts  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  '.an- 
guage.  In  lantiary  last  we  removed  him  to  Tampico,  on  the  Mexican  Gulf.  The 
allowance  to  him  for  the  current  year  is  ;>  1,100  as  salary,  and  ^i,ooo  to  bear  contin- 
gent expenses. 

The  above  is  our  answer  to  the  first  question  submitted,  viz. :  i.  "  The  extent  and 
expenditure  in  salaries  and  allowances  due  missionaries." 

2.  "The  employment  of  native  pastors."  We  have  no  experience  in  this  respect. 
Our  missionary  in  Mexico  has  not  been  long  enough  in  the  work  to  ascertain  the  use 
that  might  be  made  of  native  pastors. 

3.  "The  place  of  medical  agency  in  missionary  work."  To  this  we  can  only  s.iy 
that  in  our  humble  judgment,  medical  agency  might  be  worked  very  much  to  the 
advantage  of  the  cause.  The  low  state  of  medical  science  and  the  prevalence  of 
disease  in  the  heathen  countries  would  seem  to  justify  the  employment  of  pious  physi- 
cians to  co-ojierate  with  the  missionaries. 

Our  Church  having  little  or  no  experience  in  the  foreign  missionary  wfirk,  we 
could  reply  to  the  other  questions,  Nos.  4,  5,  6,  and  7,  only  in  a  speculative  or  con- 
jectural way,  and  consequently  we  decline  to  respond. 

8.  "  The  best  means  of  develoiiing  the  missionary  spirit  in  the  home  Churches." 
(I  )  Possibly  it  would  contribute  to  this  object  to  keep  the  Churches  posted  in  relation 


1123  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

to  events  transpiring  in  the  fjreign  field.  Let  the  subject  be  preached  upon,  lectured 
about,  and  written  on  with  some  frequency.  (2.)  By  impressing  the  people,  if  pos- 
sible, with  the  reflex  benefits  of  missions.  (3.)  By  organizing  and  sustaining  mis- 
sionary societies.  Rev.  J.  Boyck,  D.  D. 

V,   FoRKiGN  Missions  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of 
North  America. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  was  formed  by  a  union  of  the  Associate  Presby- 
terian and  Associate  Reformed  Churches.  Each  of  these  bodies  had  its  origin  in 
this  country  mainly  in  missionary  efforts  undertaken  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  ag<i, 
and  largely  on  the  application  of  persons  in  the  various  colonies  here  to  the  Churches 
especially  in  Scotland  and  the  north  of  Ireland.  Early  after  the  organization  of 
these  Churches,  members  from  one  or  both  of  them  earnestly  engaged  with  Christians 
of  other  portions  of  the  Presljyterian  family  in  the  work  of  seeking  to  evangelize  the 
heathen.  In  this  effort  members  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church,  the  Presbyterian, 
and  Associate  Reformed,  united  in  organizing,  near  the  close  of  1797,  " 'I'he  New 
York  Missionary  Society."  Their  first  missionary,  Rev.  Joseph  Butler,  was  set 
apart  to  his  work  in  the  Reformed  Church,  then  in  Nassau  street.  New  York,  March 
21,  1799. 

In  later  years,  portions  of  these  Churches  carried  on  the  foreign  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  American  Board.  Early,  however,  it  was  felt  that  every  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  ought  to  be  itself  engaged  in  this  work;  and  on  the  24lh  of  May, 
1843,  the  Associate  Synod  formally  resolved  to  undertake  a  foreign  mission.  Its  first 
eftort  was  among  the  colored  people  and  the  coolies  of  the  island  of  Trinidad,  in  the 
West  Indies.  Early  in  the  following  year  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church  determined  also  to  engage  in  the  foreign  work,,and  ap]iointed.its  fir>-t 
mission  to  oe  at  Damascus,  Syria,  and  with  special  reference  to  the  Jews.  Each  of 
these  bodies  added  to  their  mission  fields — the  former  fixing  upon  the  Punjab,  in 
India,  where  it  began  its  labors  in  1855,  and  the  latter  upon  Egypt,  which  it  formally 
entered  for  mission  work  in  November,  1854. 

On  the  union  of  these  two  Churches  in  the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  May  26,  1858. 
they  at  once  combined  their  loreign  missionary  operations.  In  token,  also,  <>f  devnut 
thanksgiving  and  gratitude  to  God  for  all  his  gootiness  in  bringing  these  two  churches 
into  one,  it  was  resolved  to  found  a  mission  in  Central  or  Western  Africa,  and  one  in 
China.  In  the  lack  of  laborers  for  the  field,  the  former  purpose  was  abandoned  ;  lh« 
latter  was  carried  out.  And  thus  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  had  at  first  'n''^<i 
important  missions  under  its  care,  viz.,  Trinidad,  .Syria,  India,  Egypt,  and  China. 
Feeling,  however,  after  several  years  successfully  jirosecuting  its  work,  that  it  \\cnild 
be  better  to  concentrate  its  energies  and  its  forces  in  the  foreign  field,  the  Cieneral  As- 
sembly transferred  some  of  its  missions  to  other  Churches  or  Missionary  ISoaids.  It 
now  specially  occujjies  only  India  and  Egypt,  and  carries  on  a  work  among  the 
Chinese  in  California. 

In  its  foreign  missionary  work  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  has  now  three 
missions  among  the  heathen,  fifty-nine  stations,  thirteen  foreign  and  eight  native 
ordained  ministers,  fourteen  unmarried  female  missionaries,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  native  teachers  and  helpers,  and  eighteen  foreign  teachers — making  a  total  of 
two  huiiflred  and  nine  laborers.  There  are  seventeen  well-organized  native  churches, 
and  1,289  communicants  in  them;  sixty-eight  schools,  with  3.939  pupils  in  them; 
two  theological  schools,  with  seventeen  native  students  in  them.  The  contributions 
for  carrying  on  this  work  during  the  past  year  were  $69,089.57.  The  contributions 
by  the  members  of  the  native  churches  amounted  to  $9,391,  or  an  average  of  over 
$7  per  member.  In  these  missions,  during  the  past  year,  21,055  volumes  of  Bibiiv 
and  books  were  distributed. 

In  carrying  on  this  foreign  mission  work  the  General  Assembly  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  has  ever  retained  it  entirely  in  Us  own  hands  and  under  its  ovvn 
control.  It  appoints  a  Board  of  nine  members,  which  carries  on  the  work  under  its 
instructions,  and   is  required  to  make  an  annual   report  of  all   its  proceedings  lor 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1129 

review  and  action.  This  Board  may  look  out  and  recommend  suitable  persons  for 
llie  foreign  service,  but  the  Assembly  is  to  appoint  them. 

In  each  mission  a  Presbytery  was  organizeci  as  soon  as  there  was  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  ministers  to  constitute  it.  These  Presbyteries  are  as  yet  without  synodical 
jurisdiction,  and  report  directly  to  the  Assembly.  Each  of  them  has  the  power  of 
training,  licensing  and  ordaining  for  the  ministry,  and  any  native  ordained  minister 
is  entereti  fully  upon  the  presbyterial  roll.  These  Presbyteries  have  charge  of  the 
entire  spiritual  antl  ecclesiastical  work  of  the  missions.  But  each  mission  has  aUo 
a  Missionary  Association,  which  is  composed  only  of  the  foreign  missionaries,  and 
is  thus  without  native  members.  It  has  charge  of  all  the  secular  or  business  work 
of  the  missions  outside  ol  the  work  of  the  Presbyteries. 

On  the  points  referred  to  by  the  Council,  the  following  statements  may  be  made: 

First. — "  On  Expenditures,  Salaries  and  Allowances."  These  vary  in  the  difter- 
ent  missions.  In  India,  the  salary  for  a  mission  family  is  S:,200,  and  for  an  unmar- 
ried female  missionary,  ^500.  In  Egypt,  the  salary  in  Alexandria  and  Cairo  for  a 
missionary  and  family  is  ^1,400;  in  all  other  parts  of  the  country,  Jii,200.  In  these 
cities  an  unmarried  female  missionary  receives  ^550,  elsewhere  throughout  the  coun- 
try i^soo.  In  all  the  missions  a  single  male  missionary  receives  $800.  In  each 
mission  every  child  under  ten  years  of  age  receives  five  per  cent,  of  the  salary  of  the 
missionary,  and  over  ten  years  and  under  eighteen,  ten  per  cent. 

The  salary  of  each  returned  missionary  with  a  family  is  $1,000  for  one  year,  for  a 
single  missionary  )p500,  and  for  an  unmarried  female  $350.  Children  while  in  this 
country  without  their  parents  are  allowed  $150  a  year  until  eighteen  years  old. 

In  all  the  missions  the  allowances  are  for  house-rent,  medical  services,  stationery 
and  extra  travelling  expenses  on  behalf  of  the  mission. 

Second. — "  Employment  of  Native  Pastors."  This  is  assiduously  encouraged  in 
each  mission,  and  each  congregation  that  receives  a  native  pastor  is  taught  and  re- 
quired to  contribute  for  his  support.  Every  native  congregation  is  trained  to  pray 
for  and  look  out  and  enrly  call  and  have  duly  settled  over  them  a  pastor. 

Third. — As  to  "  Medical  Agency  "  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Board  underthe  advice 
of  the  Assembly  has  been  to  encourage  physicians  to  engage  in  the  missionary  service. 
Every  year,  however,  with  the  increase  of  well-trained  native  physicians,  as  in  Egypt 
from  the  Medical  School  at  Beirut,  and  in  India  from  the  supplies  of  physicians  for 
the  British  residents,  the  necessity  for  this  agency  is  not  so  urgent  as  formerly.  It  is, 
however,  deeply  felt  that  a  faithful  Christian  physician  may  be  of  incalculable  service 
to  the  fur.heiance  of  the  gospel  in  any  heathen  community. 

Fourth. — "  Methods  of  Stational  Arrangement."  In  each  mission  the  rule  has 
been  to  have  a  principal  station  in  a  given  district  or  section.  Out  from  this  laborers 
are  sent.  It  is  a  centre.  Smaller  stations  are  formed  on  every  side.  In  tliis  prin- 
cipal station  at  least  one  foreign  missionary  is  located,  and  thence  helpers  and 
teachers  are  engaged  in  the  surrounding  stations  under  his  superintendence. 

Fifth. — "Stage  at  which  Presbyteries  ought  to  be  formed."  This  Church  has 
believed  that  Presbyteries  should  be  formed  in  each  particular  mission  or  field  as  soon 
as  there  is  a  sufficient  number  of  missionary  ministers  in  it  to  con-;titiite  a  Presbytery. 
Far  removed  as  they  are  from  the  churches  at  home,  and  in  need  as  they  are  of 
mutual  counsels  and  of  power  to  act.  in  subordinatimi  to  the  Assembly  it  is  felt,  and 
the  results  have  invariably  justified  the  conclusion,  that  an  early  I'resbytery  in  every 
mission  is  desirable  and  important.  It  is  called  for  in  order  to  have  churches 
organized,  men  licensed  and  ordained,  pastors  settled,  etc.,  etc.  It  is  also  deeply 
felt  that  these  Mission  Presbyteries  ought  to  be  organized  and  have  their  proceedings 
just  as  the  Presbvteries  are  organized  and  act  here  at  home. 

Sixth. — "  Methods  Best  Suited  to  Advance  Missionaries  in  the  Languages  of  the 
Heathen."  We  have  no  fixed  method.  But  practically  the  most  cfiicient  and  suc- 
cessful one  for  attaining  eaily  ability  to  engage  in  the  work  has  been  to  have  the 
new  missionary  assigned  early  after  entering  ujwn  the  field  to  a  station  where  he  will 
have  little  or  no  opportunity  of  hearing  or  using  any  language  but  the  one  in  which 
he  expects  to  labor.  If  in  that  station  he  could  have  a  teacher  who  will  prevent  his 
making  mistakes  and  secure  his  correct  knowledge  of  the  language,  it  will  be  of  the 


II30  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

utmost  moment.     This  method   has  the  advantage   of  the   missionary's  having  the 
theory  and  tlie  practice  of  the  language  at  the  same  time. 

Seven/h. — "Missionary  Literature."  Much  attention  has  been  paid  to  this,  espe- 
cially in  the  mission  in  Ej^ypt.  A  printing  press  Las  been  in  active  operation  there  for 
many  years.  Large  numbers  of  tracts  and  religious  papers  have  l)een  worked  ofT 
and  scattered  widely  over  the  country.  The  religious  publications  of  the  jjress  at 
ileirut  have  been  of  incalculable  benefit.  The  total  of  the  circulations  of  books  last 
year  l)y  the  mission  in  Egypt  was  21,244  volumes. 

Eig/U/i. — "  The  Best  Means  of  Develojjing  the  Missionary  Spirit  in  the  Home 
Cluuches."  Among  the  most  effective  are  the  having  the  pulpits  alive  with  the 
missionary  spirit,  the  frequent  communicating  of  information  to  every  particular  con- 
gregation in  regar<l  to  the  condition  of  the  heathen  world  and  of  the  efforts  making 
to  spread  the  gospel,  the  general  circulation  of  missionary  reading,  the  forming  and 
keeping  up  of  spirited  missionary  societies,  the  furnisliing  of  the  people  with  I're- 
quent  oijportunities  for  prayer  and  conference  and  contribution  on  behalf  of  the  mis- 
sionary work,  and  finally  the  enlarged  out]50uring  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  When  that 
spirit  is  most  powerfully  at  work,  the  first  cjuestion  in  reference  to  person  and  sub- 
stance and  duty  will  most  earnestly  be,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?" 

Rev.  J.  B.  Dales. 

VI.  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  America. 

What  is  now  known  as  the  Reformed  Churcli  in  America  inherited  from  the 
mother  Church  of  Holland  some  interest  in  the  unevangelized  heathen.  The  Church 
of  Holland  was  too  heavily  weighted  with  certain  infelicities,  as  we  think,  incident 
to  a  state  Church,  to  become  a  true  missionary  Church.  Consequently  her  work  was 
not  permanent,  esjiecially  after  losing  the  teriitory  in  which  her  best  efforts  had  been 
made.  But  in  the  earlier  days  the  Church  controlled  the  state,  more  than  in  modern 
times,  the  alliance  of  the  two  suggests. 

The  Church  in  America,  more  than  a  century  and  a-half  ago,  liad  a  good  measure 
of  success  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  aborigines,  which  may  be  placed  under  the 
head  of  foreign  missionary  work.  The  pastor  at  Albany,  New  York,  led  scores  of 
Indians  to  receive  baptism,  and  saw  them  witness  such  a  Christian  profession  as  is 
now,  as  it  was  then,  held  essential  to  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  names 
of  these  Indian  Christians  are  found  on  the  church  books. 

This  work  precedes  in  time  the  special  efforts  of  John  Eliot  among  the  aborigines 
of  Massachusetts.  The  pastor  of  the  church  of  Schenectady,  New  York,  was  earnest 
in  supplying  the  Indians,  upon  the  Mohawk  river,  with  translations  of  portions  of 
Scripture  and  with  books  of  devotion.  The  British  Society  for  the  Pi  opagation  of 
the  Gospel  was  glad  in  those  days  to  co-operate  with  the  bishops  of  the  Dutch  Church. 
TTie  general  remark  of  the  painstaking  historiographer  of  our  Church  may  be  quoted 
here:  "At  various  localities  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  tradition  testifies  that  the 
gospel  was  preached  to  the  red  man  by  the  jiastors  of  the  Reformed  churches,  and 
prayers  offered  by  the  people  for  his  conversion  and  s.nlvation." 

The  first  organization  in  anywise  connected  with  our  Church  for  foreign  missions 
was  the  Ne7ii  York  Afissionary  Society,  formed  November,  1796,  of  Presbyterian, 
Reformed  and  Baptist  churches.  Before  this  society  Dr.  John  M.  Mason  preached 
his  famous  sermon,  "  Messiah's  Throne."  At  that  early  day  the  Monthly  Concert 
of  Prayer  was  established.  A  few  months  after  the  organization  of  the  New  York 
Missionary  Society,  the  Northern  Missionary  Society  was  formed  by  a  similar  union 
of  Presbyterians,  Reforined  and  Baptists.  This  was  in  1797.  These  were  not 
societies  formed  of  denominations  or  churches,  but  of  individuals  in  the  various 
churches  mentioned.  It  is  worth  inve>tigation  to  see  whether  these  societies  do  not 
ante-date  any  constant  efforts  in  any  other  jxut  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  union  of  denominations  for  mission  work  v\as  formed  in  1816.  The 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church  and  the  denernl  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church  combined,  by  ecclesiastical 
action,  in  the  United  Missionary  Society.  In  1S26  this  society  was  merged  into  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Foreign  Missions. 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  1131 

In  1832,  the  General  Synod  elected  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church — the  same  organization  through  whicli  the  work  of  the 
C^hurch  is  now  performed.  In  the  same  year  (1832)  a  compact  was  made  with  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  by  which  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  shouhl  have  her  own  mis- 
sions, organizing  and  governing  the  churches  which  might  be  formed,  according  to 
her  well-known  polity. 

But  the  Church  outgrew  the  period  of  that  kind  of  co-operation,  in  which  different 
churclics  hinder  each  other  by  a  seeming  alliance.  It  is  co-operation  at  the  wrong 
time  and  in  the  wrong  place. 

The  arrangement  with  the  American  Board  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Classis  of 
Arcot  in  Southern  Indi^.  This  organization  was  effected  in  the  manner  prescribed 
in  the  constitution  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  for  forming  Classes  (Presbyteries). 
It  requires  that  the  Classis  must  consist  of  at  least  three  ministers  and  at  least  three 
elders,  representing  as  many  organized  churches. 

This  arrangement  with  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  was  brought  to  a  close  in  1857,  when  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  became  her  agent  in 
effecting  her  share  of  the  missionary  work.  The  separation  from  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
was  most  peaceful,  prompted  solely  by  a  desire  to  bring  the  Church  more  fully  to  her 
work,  and  thus  accomplish  more  in  mission  fields. 

This  action  was  taken  irom  a  sense  of  duty.  A  few  of  our  people,  and  one  of  the 
existing  missions,  deeply  regretted  the  sundering  of  the  ties  which  bound  the  Church 
to  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  It  was  felt  that  whilst  all  our  relations  to  that  Board  were  as 
pleasant  as  could  be  desired,  there  was  the  loss  of  power  which  results  from  a 
communication  of  force  through  another  set  of  machinery. 

Immediately  upon  throwing  the  work  upon  the  heart  and  conscience  of  the 
Church,  the  result  was  clearly  seen.  The  gifts  of  the  Church  had  largely  increased 
under  the  union  with  the  American  Board — from  j2,ioS  in  1833  to  313,000  in  1856. 
The  first  nine  months  of  separate  action  gave  )j5i6,ooo;  i860  gave  #32,000.  In 
1865  they  had  increased  (paper  currency)  to  #So,ooo.  The  report  ending  1879 
gives  ;5558,443.  The  receipts  of  the  year  18S0  indicate  a  very  con^iiderable  advance. 
More  than  $60,000  a  year  will  be  required  to  keep  the  existing  measure  of  work  in 
full  operation,  whilst  advance  must  be  attended  by  increased  contributioias  from  the 
churches. 

The  Missions. 

The  first  band  of  missionaries  was  sent  out  in  1836.  Their  destination  was  the 
Island  of  Borneo.  The  supposition  was  that  the  Dutch  government  would  grant 
them  special  facilities.     This  hope  was  sorely  disappointed. 

The  mission  divided  into  two  bands^ — one  portion  laboring  among  the  Dyaks  (the 
Aborigines)  ;  the  other  devoted  to  the  Chinese  immigrants.  The  mission  to  the 
Dyaks  was  without  results. 

In  1844,  upon  the  opening  of  the  five  treaty  ports  in  China,  the  Chinese  branch 
of  the  mission  was  transferred  to  the  city  of  Avioy,  where  cheering  results  were 
soon  obtained.  That  mission  was  the  first  in  China  to  show  marked  results  for 
the  gospel. 

In  1853  the  Arcot  Mission  was  established  west  of  Madras.  This  mission  was 
started  upon  principles  of  ecclesiastical  government  distinctive  of  the  Church.  The 
held  was  new.  In  1S54  the  Classis  of  Arcot  was  formed.  The  first  labors  of  the 
mission  were  among  the  Tamil-speaking  people.  Eventually  the  Telugus  to  the 
north  were  made  the  object  of  earnest  work.  The  lal/orers  elsewhere  gave  transla- 
tions of  portions  of  the  Scriptuies,  and  a  limited  Christian  literature,  to  aid  our 
efforts  among  the  people  of  both  dialects. 

In  1859  the  mission  to  Japan  was  established.  This  mission  was  the  result  of 
sj)ecial  ap]ieals  to  members  of  our  Church  to  share  this  work,  when  Commodore 
I'erry  made  his  famous  treaty.  This  call  was  of  that  same  divine  suggestion  which 
led  Christians  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  contribute  $1,000  when  they  heard  of 
Commodore  Perry's  treaty,  to  be  given  to  the  first  American  denomination  that 
should  build  a  church  in  Japan.     That  money  fell  to  us.     The  first  Japanese  con- 


1 1 3  2  THE  PRESB  YTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

vert  was  baptized  by  Mr.  Ballagh,  one  of  our  missionaries,  in  1864.  In  1868  br.ptism 
was  administered  publicly.  In  1872  the  first  church  was  formed.  How  rapidly  the 
harvest  has  grown,  and  how  many  eager  hands  are  stretched  out  to  reap  it,  is  a  jjart 
of  the  general  history  of  Christianity  of  our  times  ! 

Missionary  Co-operation  as  Part  of  otir  History. 

The  Council,  in  its  resolutions  referred  to  this  committee,  lays  special  stress  upon 
co-operation  in  missionary  work.  We  propose  to  present  simply  the  facts  in  the 
case.     They  illustrate  the  success  of  our  work. 

The  history  of  the  missionary  efforts  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in 
America  illustrates  co-operition  in  its  dark  as  well  as  its  bftght  side;  as  the  result 
of  timidity  in  attempting  th^  foreign  work,  and  as  the  result  of  success  after  better 
counsels  had  prevailed ;  and  the  Church  had  been  brought  to  do  her  part,  as  a 
Cliurch,  in  evangelizing  the  heathen  world.  Most  important  is  it  that  co-operation 
be  not  sought  at  the  wrong  time  and  place.  The  responsibility  of  the  denomination 
must  be  felt  and  exercised.  Co-operation  is  an  end  to  be  accomplished  whenever 
God  shall  have  opened  the  way. 

The  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  has  one  field  in  India  where  co-operation  is  im- 
possible, for  there  is  no  joint  occupaiion  of  the  ground.  In  the  other  two  missions, 
China  and  Japan,  there  is  co-operation  most  zealous  and  advantageous.  But  here 
is  illustrated  the  necessity  of  having  the  co-operation  based  upon  elective  affifiity. 
Indeed,  this  co-operation,  as  conducted  by  the  Reformed  Church  and  her  sister 
churches,  furnishes  excellent  illustration,  nay,  satisfactory  proof,  that  the  spirit  and 
aims  of  the  Council,  in  this  respect,  are  pleasing  to  God. 

At  Ajnoy. — ^Our  Board  and  General  Synod  had  occasion  to  review  the  action  of 
the  mission  in  forming  a  Tat- Hoe  :  an  ecclesiastical  body  exercising  authority  over 
the  churches  gathered  by  our  missionaries,  and  those  of  the  English  Presbyterian 
Mission.  The  Synod  bade  the  mission  form  a  Chassis,  upon  the  plan  of  the  Classis 
of  Arcot.  This  was  in  1863.  In  1864  the  missionaries  again  brought  the  subject 
to  the  General  Synod.  After  grave  and  earnest  consideration,  tlie  Synod  changed 
its  action,  and  gave  permission  to  its  missionaries,  or  rather  to  the  churches,  to  join 
the  Tai-Hoe.  This  is  the  first  practical  co-operation  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  seen 
iimong  Presbyterial  missions. 

In  Japan  we  have  the  best  illustration  of  co-operation  between  Piesbyterians. 
The  churches  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Board,  of  the  United  Presbyteiian 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  America,  are  under 
one  government.  The  Church  is  distinctively  Japanese.  It  is  Presbyterian  in 
order  and  also  in  faith,  so  far  as  its  slender  but  perhaps  sufficient  creed  goes.  It  is 
entitled:  "The  United  Church  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  Japan."  At  the  last 
session  of  our  General  Synod,  that  Church  was  represented  by  a  corresponding 
delegate.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  youngest,  not  least  vigorous,  of  our  Presbyterial 
sisters  will  be  represented  at  the  Philadelphia  Council. 

The  statistics  of  the  missions,  for  1879,  are  as  follows: 

The  Amoy  Mission.,  China. 

(Organized  in  1 844.) 

The  Mission  occupies  the  following  cities:  Amoy,  population  200,000;  Chio-be, 
60,000;  Chiang-Chiu,  100,000;  and  Tong-an,  60,000.  The  territory  assigned  to 
the  Mission,  being  about  sixty  miles  from  East  to  West,  and  seven  to  fourteen  miles 
from  North  to  South,  has  a  population  of  more  than  three  millions  of  souls,  includ- 
ing that  of  the  cities  already  mentioned. 

The  Rev.  John  V.  N.  Talmage,  D.  D.,  reports  as  follows,  in  behalf  of  the  Mis- 
sion. 

Amoy,  Fehritary  6th,  1 879. 

The  following  is  the  report  of  the  Amoy  Mission  for  the  year  1878: 

Missionaries .-  Revs.  J.  V.  N.  Talmage,  D.  D.,  Daniel  Rapalje,  Leonard  W.  Kiji, 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL. 


^'^IZ 


David  M.  Talmage.  Rev.  D.  Rapalje  was  absent,  in  the  United  States,  the  greater 
part  of  the  year.  He  arrived  iiack  at  Amoy  on  the  2d  of  November.  Rev.  D.  M. 
Tnlmage,  of  course,  has  not  yet  been  able  to  do  much  missionary  work.  He  has. 
l:3cn  occupied  mainly  in  the  study  of  the  language,  and  during  the  hot  season  his 
health  was  not  very  good.  The  burden  of  the  country  work  during  the  year  was 
linrne  hy  Mr.  Kip,  who  is  now  about  to  leave  on  furlough  for  a  visit  to  the  United 
S'ales.  As-^istant  Missionaries:  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Talmage,  Mrs.  Helen  C.  Kip,  Miss 
Helen  M.  Van  Doren,  Miss  Mary  E.  Talmage,  and  Mrs.  Alice  Rapalje.  Miss  Van 
I")oren,  in  consequence  of  ill  health,  was  compelled  to  return  to  the  United  States  in 
1S76,  and  her  connection  with  the  Board  ceased  during  the  past  year.  Mrs.  Ra- 
'nl]e  joined  the  Mission  during  the  year,  arriving  at  Amoy  with  her  husband,  on 
his  return  as  above.  Her  mission  work  thus  far  has  been  the  study  of  the  language. 
The  woman's  department  of  the  work  has  thus  been  carried  on  by  Mrs.  Talmage, 
Mrs.  Kip,  and  Miss  Mary  E.  Talmage.  Miss  C.  M.  Talmage,  though  wo^  formally 
connected  with  the  Mission,  has  as  formerly  given  her  whole  time  to  the  work. 
The  ladies  of  the  Mission  have  been  enabled  during  the  whole  year  to  render  con- 
siderable assistance  in  the  department  of  woman's  work  to  both  the  other  Missions 
at  Amoy.  Both  of  these  Missions,  in  consequence  of  the  absence  or  ill-health  of 
their  female  members,  have  been  feeble-handed  in  this  department  of  their  work. 
Native  pastors,  3,  to  wit :  Revs.  lap  Han  chiong  (of  Second  Church  at  Amoy) ; 
Chhoa  Thian  Khit  (of  First  Church  at  Amoy)  ;  and  Tiong  lu-li  (of  Church  at 
Chioh-be).  Pastor  lap  has  continued  to  give  much  assistance  in  the  country  work, 
we  supplying  his  pulpit  during  his  absence.  Organized  churches,  7;  native  preach- 
ers (not  ordained),  14;  regular  preaching  places,  18;  theological  school,  i  ;  students, 
3;  native  tutor,  i;  parochial  schools  (including  girl's  school),  7  ;  Christian  school 
teachers,  5  male,  i  female;  heathen  school-teacher,  i.  The  churches  of  the  Eng- 
lish Presbyterian  Mission  are  still  united  with  ours  in  one  Chassis  or  Tai-hoey.  We 
therefore  append  the  total  of  their  statistics  for  the  year  so  far  as  we  have  received 
them,  at  the  end  of  our  tabular  statement.  (In  this  total  ol  the  English  Presbyte- 
rian Mission,  if  compared  with  the  Report  of  last  year,  there  will  be  found  some 
slight  discrepancy.  This  is  owing  partly  to  the  reducing  the  form  of  their  Report 
to  correspond  with  ours,  and  partly,  I  suppose,  to  some  corrections  they  have  made 
in  the  lists  of  their  church  members.) 


Tabular  Statement  of  Amoy  Mission 

FOR    I 

878. 

r^ 

c" 
.2 

CO 

-00 
c  1, 

Churches. 

c 
« 

■i 

s 

0 

U 

c 
0 

•0 

u 

> 

■J) 

0 

> 

•d 

S 
S 

0 
c 
a. 

3 

•Si 
u 

-0 

3. 

33 

0 

0 

■fi 

c 

0 
0 
j= 

m 
a 

:2  " 

0 

c^ 

5 

0 

-0 
G 

-0 
c 

:2 

>2 

0 

5 

1^ 

91 
127 

3 
8 

3 

3 

93 
131 

4 
9 

15 
12 

3 
30 

Ps6  21 
298  73 

Second  Amoy* 

4 

20 

81 

4 

4 

81 

7 

I 

6 

JO 

105  53 
164  oS 
44  12 
122  56 
163   72 

O-kaii'^t       

70 

43 
113 

73 

80 

39 

, 

54 
142 
76 

6 

1 

3 

3 

4 

Hong-sanf. 

5 

'I'ut.nl,  American  Reformed  Church  Mission. .  . 

598 

69 
54 

7 

3 

1 

8 

13 
10 

657 
699 

37 

47 
30 

98 

34 

$i.'54  95 

Total,  English   'resbyterian  Mission 

664 

;f',3i8  57 

'I'ofd   Tai-Hoeyll 

1,262 

123 

7 

4 

9 

23 

1,356 

92 

77 

$2,473  52 

*  Has  two  preaching  places.        f  Has  three  preaching  places.        |  Has  seven  preaching  places. 
?  Several  of  the  pupils  in  Girl's  school  at  the  Second  Church,  Amoy,  are  from  other  churches. 
';  There  are  tight  orijanized  churches  under  the  care  of  the  English  Presbyterian  Mission,  so  that 
the  Classis  or  Tai-hoey  is  composed  of  fifteen  churches. 


"34 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 


The  Arcot  Mission. — (Organized  in  1854.) 

Tlie  Mission  occupies  the  North  Arcot  District;  area,  5,017  square  milc<;;  popu- 
lation, 1,787,134.  The  South  Arcot  District;  area,  4,076  square  miles;  population, 
1,261,846.     The  force  engaged  consists  of 

Missionaries:  Revs.  J.  W.  Scudder,  M.  D.,  Vellore;  Jacob  Chamberlain,  M.  D., 
D.  D.,  Mudnapilly;  John  H.  Wyckoff,  Tindevanum  ;  John  Scudder,  M.  D.,  in  this 
country,  and  II.  M.  Scudder,  M.  D.,  Arcot.  Assistant  missionaries:  Mrs.  J.  W. 
Scudder,  Mrs.  Chamberlain,  Mrs.  H.  M.  Scudder,  Mrs.  Wyckoff,  Miss  Manha  J. 
Mandeville,  Chittoor,  and  Mrs.  John  Scudder,  now  in  this  country.  Native  ]>as- 
tors :  Revs.  Andievv  Sawyer,  Chittoor;  Zechariah  John,  Arcot.  Native  helpers: 
catechi^ts,  16;  assistant  catechists,  12;  readers,  25 ;  teachers  in  seminaries,  and 
schoolmasters,  25;  schoolmistresses,  9;  assistants  in  dispensary  and  hospital,  7; 
total,  94. 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  E.  J.  Heeren  died  during  the  year  in  this  country,  and  Miss  Jose- 
phine Chapin  resigned. 

Statistical  Table. 


Chitrchrs. 


Arcot 

Arnee 

Chittoor 

Coonoor 

Aliaiidal 

Gnaodiam 

Kondipatiir 

Ko'tupadi 

Kolaookam 

Kottapjlli 

M-iriiturambadi. 
Narasinganur. . . 

Mudnapilly 

Palamaiiair 

Orattur 

S'lttambodi 

S  -kadu 

Tindevanum. . . . 

Vellore   

Vcllambi 

Vorikkai 


Total 76764  1,112     407  1,129   1,941   1 


16 

49 

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218 

2S 
3' 


£6 

78 

7 

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78 
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172 
100 


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325 
23 
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443 

73 
221 
191 

77 
138 
265 
5'4 
165 
427 

93 
128 
116 

32 
321 
250 
315 

195 
237 
197 


2741   28 


13  1.54514.393  6,0831659 


665 
56 
210 
192 
192 
364 
297 
510 

M3 

758 
63 


50 
476 
377 
309 

63 
289 
413 


63  2 

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89  2 
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34  2 

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3  .. 
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16  10 
27  11 
97     4 

9  " 


A  Rupee  is  equal  to  fifty  cents  gold. 

The  Arcot  Seminary  for  boys,  at  Vellore,  has  33  pupils. 

The  GirW  Seminary,  at  Chittoor,  has  33  pupils. 

The  Japan  Mission. — (Organized  in  1S59.) 

NAGASAKI    STATION. 

Missionaries:  Rev.  H.  Stout.  Assistant  missionaries:  Mrs.  Stout,  Miss  E.  T. 
Farrington,  Miss  M.  J.  Farrington.  Native  licentiate:  Mr.  A.  Segawa.  Native  un- 
licensed paid  helpers:  Mr.  J.  Tonegawa,  Mr.  T.  Tsuge.  One  organized  church 
with  22  baptized  members.     One  out-station  at  Kagoshima,  about  loo  miles  south. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


"35 


YOKOHAMA  STATION. 


Mis<;ionarics  :  Revs.  S.  R.  Brown,  D.  D.,  J.  H.  Ballafjh,  E.  R.  Miller.  Assi!;tant 
missionarifs  :  Mrs.  Brown,  Mrs.  Ballagh,  Mrs.  Miller,  Miss  E.  C.  Witheck,  Miss  H. 
Brown,  Miss  H.  L.  Winn.  Native  licentiates:  A.  Inagnki,  N.  Amenomori,  T.  Ito, 
M.  Uyemiira,  H.  Yamamoto  (theological  student).  One  O'oranized  church  with 
168  baptized  members.     Two  out-slations — Mishima  and  Nagoya. 

TOKIYO   STATION. 

Missionaries:  Revs.  G.  F.  Verbeck,  D.  D.  (in  America),  Jas.  L.  Amerman. 
Assistant  missionaries:  Mrs.  Verbeck  (in  America),  Mrs.  Amerman.  Native  or- 
dained minister:  Rev.  M.  Okuno.  Licenlintes;  .S.  Maki,  K.  Ibuka,  Mr.  Fujiu 
(student).     Tliree  organized  churches  with  1 19  baptized  members. 

Statistical  Ta-ci.e. 


Rec'd. 

Bapt 

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Total  on 
RollDec.31 

re 

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Mission  Stations. 

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Yokohama, 

No.  167  Ssttlement. . . 

1872 

17 

4 

II        1 

16 

2 

149 

19 

4 

.  6 

248 

;f28i  00 

Nacasaki, 

Nag.-isuki  Church   ... 

1876 

2 

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1 

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1876 

Q 

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no  73 

Krjiin.Tchi  Church 

:B77 

27 

7 

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i27 

2 

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4 

2 

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24 

43  54 

1873 

I 

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I 

14 

I 

I 

' 

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56 

27 

27  1     I 

55 

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276 

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11 

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318 

$443   02 

The  resolution  of  llie  lulinburgh  Council  asks  information  in  regard  to  specific 
topics;    to  which  the  following  information  is  given  : 

1.  Salaries  of  Missionaries. — $1100  per  annum,  with  a  residence.  Allowances 
are  made  for  special  items  of  expense,  as  horse-keeping  in  India.  Each  child  in 
(he  family  has  an  allowance,  from  $50  to  $100  annually. 

2.  En'ployinent  of  Native  Pastors. — The  policy  is  to  have  native  pastors  in  charge 
of  churches  as  soon  as  men  can  be  found  fitted  for  thework.  Support  by  native 
churches  is  earnestly  aimed  at.  In  the  Anioy  Mission  (China)  this  result  is  reached 
10  a  consideraljle  extent.  In  Japan  the  chlirches  recognize  that  the  support  of  their 
jiastors  is  one  of  their  first  duties.  In  Arcot,  missionaries  have  central  churches  with 
respective  districts,  comprising  several  churches  in  each  instance,  and  a  corps  of  native 
]ireachers  and  helpers.    .Self-support  of  these  ]iastors  has  not  made  large  progress  yet. 

3.  7//^  /'/ace  of  Medical  Agency. — The  .\rcot  Mission  has  given  great  prominence 
to  medical  work.  Large  and  blessed  results  have  been  secured.  A  new  dispensary 
has  l)een  opened  during  the  past  year,  in  addition  to  the  dUI  one,  opened  in  i86f . 
though  in  earlier  years  the  mission  did  much  medical  work.  The  report  of  the 
mission  shows  the  extent  of  this  work.  The  medical  agency  brings  multitudes  tn 
hear  the  gospel  under  favorable  con<litions.  It  is  specially  useful  in  the  ear  ii  r 
stages  of  the  work.  At  Amoy  all  the  missions  combined  in  sustaining  a  nospual. 
This  has  now  fallen  into  other  han<ls.  In  Japan  our  Chuich  has  no  distinct  medical 
agency. 


1 1 36  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

4.  AJethods  of  S'ational  Arrangements. — Tlie  nature  of  the  field  determines  the?e. 
In  India  the  missicinaries  have  residences  at  different  stations,  each  principal  station 
having  a  number  of  sub-stations;  many  of  the  latter  have  churches,  and  are  centres 
of  missionary  efforts  by  native  laborers.  In  China  and  Jajian  the  missionaries  reside 
at  commercial  centres,  according  to  treaty  regulations  requiring  this. 

5.  Tlie  Stage  at  ivliich  Presbyteries  ought  to  be  Formed. — The  Constitution  of  the 
Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  does  not  allow  the  lormation  of  a  Classis  unless  there  be 
a  representation  of  elders  from  at  least  three  churches.  With  this  constitutional 
principle  in  view,  classes  (or  presbyteries)  cannot  be  too  soon  formed,  whether  in 
connection  with  the  home  Church  or  outside  of  it. 

6.  Measures  to  Advance  Missionaries  in  Languages  of  Heathen. — Our  mission- 
aries have  no  means  of  studying  the  language  before  reaching  their  fields. 

7.  Alissionary  Literature. — As  the  Hindus,  Chinese  and  Japanese  possess  exten- 
sive literature  and  are  reading  people,  the  value  of  a  Christian  literature  cannot  be 
overstated.  The  missionaries  lay  hold  eagerly  upon  whatever  may  be  furnished  by 
other  laborers,  through  the  same  languages  or  dialects.  They  have  prepared  trans- 
lations of  the  forms  of  worship  and  doctrinal  bases  of  the  Church,  so  far  as  possible 
or  necessary.  The  Heidelberg  Catechism  has  been  found  specially  useful,  in  view 
of  the  experimental  as  well  as  doctrinal  presentation  of  the  truth. 

The  Amoy  Mission  has  taken  much  pains  to  introduce  the  '•  Romanized  Collo- 
quial"  as  a  medium  for  Christian  literature. 

8.  The  Best  Means  for  Developing  the  Missio7iary  Spirit  in  the  Home  Churches. 
— The  answers  to  this  great  question  may  be  condensed  under  the  following  points  : 

(i)  Increase  of  spirituality.  The  missionary  spirit  is  simply  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
Revival  of  religion,  in  knowledge  and  experience,  involves  revival  of  missionary 
spirit. 

(2)  Diffusion  of  intelligent  sense  of  Christian  duty.  The  enligbtened  conscience 
is  the  proper  reliance,  according  to  God's  working. 

(3)  Abundant  knowledge  of  missionary  facts.  Addresses  of  missionaries.  Peri- 
odicals and  other  publications.  All  information  to  be  made  impressive  as  well  as 
intelligible. 

Experience  shows  the  great  value  of  special  interest  and  work  on  the  part  of  the 
women  of  the  Church.  Whether  they  are  to  work  under  separate  boards  or 
organizations  has  not  fully  shown  itself. 

Rev.  Philip  Peltz,  D.  D, 

VII.  Foreign    Missions  of  the    Presbyterian   Church  in  the  United 
States  (South). 

The  Foreign  Missionary  V'ork  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  is  cotempo- 
raneous  with  the  history  of  the  Church  itself.  Its  constitution  and  organization 
were  adopted  at  the  same  meeting  of  the  Southern  Assembly  (at  Augusta,  Ga.,  in 
the  autumn  of  1861),  which  declared  its  own  existence  as  a  se])arate  and  independ- 
ent branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Previously  the  Southern  Churches  had  co- 
operated heartily  with  their  Northern  brethren  in  the  general  foreign, missionary 
work.  During  the  war  their  labors  were  necessarily  restricted  to  the  Indians  in  the 
southwestern  Indian  Territory,  which  liad  been  previously  sustained  by  the  united 
contributions  of  both  branches  of  the  Church. 

Our  missions  at  the  present  time  are  to  be  found  among  the  Choctaw  and  Chick- 
asaw Indians,  in  the  southwestern  Indian  Territory;  at  Matamoras,  in  northeastern 
Mexico;  at  Campinas,  in  southern  Brazil,  and  at  Pernambuco,  in  northern  Brazil; 
at  Milan,  in  Italy;  in  Greece  and  the  Grecian  provinces;  and  at  Hangchow  and 
Soochow,  in  central  China.  We  propose  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  origin,  sub- 
sequent history  and  present  condition  of  each  of  these. 

Indian  Missions. 

This  mission,  as  has  already  been  stated,  is  cotemporaneous,  in  its  history,  with 
the  history  of  the  Charch  itse-lf.     At  one  time  we  had  missions  among  all  the  prin- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1137 

cipal  families  in  the  Territory,  viz.:  among  the  Cherokees,  the  Creeks,  the  Choctavvs 
and  the  Ciiickasaws.  P'or  two  years  past  our  labors  liave  heen  restricted  to  the 
Choctaws  and  Ciiickasaws,  who  are  essentially  the  same  people.  Those  among  the 
Creeks  and  Cherokees  were  given  up,  partly  from  the  want  of  funds  on  the  part  of 
the  committee,  and  partly  from  the  fact  that  the  wants  of  these  two  tribes  were  pretty 
well  met  by  other  branches  of  the  Church. 

We  have  laboring  among  these  people  at  the  present  time  three  ordained  minis- 
ters from  the  Stales,  viz.:  Rev.  J.  J.  Read,  Principal  of  Spencer  Academy;  Rev.  J. 
W.  B.  Lloyd,  at  Bennington  ;  Rev.  J.  C.  Kennedy,  laboring  a  part  of  his  time  in 
the  northwestern  part  of  the  Territory ;  four  ordained  native  preachers,  viz. :  Rev. 
Allen  Wright,  Rev.  Elijah  Brewer,  Rev.  Charles  J.  Stewart,  John  P.  Turnbull, 
and  five  native  licentiates;  and  live  assistant  missionaries  from  the  States,  viz. : 
Messrs.  W.  C.  Hagan  and  Dabny  Iver  Harrison,  teachers  at  Spencer,  Miss  Read, 
Mrs.  Allen  Wright  and  Miss  E.  J.  Morrison. 

Spencer  Academy  is  the  only  educational  institution  in  the  nation  that  is  main- 
tained by  the  Church.  Its  design  is  to  train  teachers  and  preachers  for  the  people, 
and  in  this  respect  it  has  been  eminently  successful. 

The  number  of  churches  among  these  two  tribes  is  twenty-four,  all  of  wliich  are 
supplied  more  or  less  frequently  with  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  the  whole 
number  of  church  memiiers  is  about  one  thousand. 

The  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  a  barbarous  com- 
munity, but  are  to  be  accounted  as  a  civilized  and  Christianized  people,  though 
their  civilization  may  still  be  of  an  humble  order.  The  great  majority  of  them,  to 
say  the  least,  have  comfortable  cabins,  whilst  a  goodly  number  have  neat  and  com- 
fortable dwellings ;  most  of  them  cultivate  the  soil  for  the  means  of  subsistence; 
they  have  horses,  cattle,  hogs  and  other  domestic  animals,  and  sometimes  in  con- 
siderable numbers;  ihey  are  regular  attendants  upon  preaching,  whenever  it  is 
within  their  reach;  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  younger  generation  can  reail 
and  write,  whilst  there  are  very  many  among  them  that  have  attained  to  a  much 
higher  standard  of  education. 

It  is  not  probable  that  these  people  will  maintain  their  distinct  nationality  for  any 
very  extended  period.     Nor  is  it  jierliaps  desirable  that  they  should. 

The  process  of  amalgamation  with  the  pioneer  whites  has  been  going  on  for  fifty 
years  or  more,  and  perhaps  one-half  of  either  of  these  tribes  are  already  of  mixed 
blood.  Among  the  Cherokees  this  process  of  amalgamation  has  gone  even  further 
than  this.  It  was  fortunate  for  tliese  people  that  they  were  brought  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Christianity  before  the  tide  of  white  emigration  reached  them.  Had  it  l)een 
otherwise,  they  would  have  been  destroyed  instead  of  being  taken  up  by  the  advanc- 
ing tide.  The  Church,  therefore,  has  done  a  great  work  for  these  people,  in  iKJt 
only  imparting  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  to  them,  Init  in  rescuing  them  from  the 
ruin  which  otherwise  would  have  overtaken  them.  They  still  need  our  care  and 
help,  and  we  earnestly  hope  that  our  Christian  people  will  not  be  wearied  in  ex- 
tending to  them  that  helping  hand  which  they  so  much  need, 

Mexican  Mission. 

The  head-quarters  of  this  mission  is  at  Matamoras,  a  Mexican  city  of  15,000  or 
20,000  inhabitants,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  is  distant  from  the  sea- 
board about  twenty-five  miles.  It  was  founded  by  Rev.  A.  T.  Graybill  and  Mrs. 
Graybill,  both  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  in  January,  1874.  Towards  the  close  of  1877 
the  mission  was  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Hall  and  Mrs.  Hall,  \\\\o 
had  labored  a  number  of  years  in  Baranquilla,  in  the  United  States  of  Colondiia, 
and  who,  having  already  acquired  the  Spanish  language,  were  at  once  prepared  to 
enter  upon  the  work  at  Matamoras. 

This  mission,  whose  history  extends  over  six  years  only,  has  lieen  greatly  blessed 

almost   from   the  very  outset.     A  church  was  organized   the  first   year,  and    in   the 

course  of   eight   months  seventeen   persons  were   added    to   its   conmuinion,  among 

whom  were  two  persons,  Seniors   Leandro   Mora  and  Carrero,  who  have  since  not 

72 


1 1 38  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

only  qiven  the  best  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  their  conversion,  but  who  have  rendered 
the  most  important  service  in  extending  the  knowledge  of  salvation  among  their 
countrymen. 

At  the  present  time  there  are  four  organized  churches  connected  with  this  mis- 
sion, viz.:  one  at  Matamoras,  one  at  Brownsville,  in  Texas,  on  the  opposite  of  the 
Rio  Grande,  a  third  at  Santa  Rosalia,  and  a  fourth  at  San  Juan,  embracing  in  all 
nearly  three  hundred  members.  There  are  also  large  day  and  Sabbath-schools  both 
at  Matamoras  and  Brownsville.  Two  natives,  Messrs.  Leandro  and  Corruo,  have, 
after  several  years  of  close  study,  been  ordained  to  the  full  work  of  the  ministry,  one 
of  whom  is  laboring  as  an  evangelist  along  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  the 
other  is  expected  soon  to  commence  a  new  station  at  Victoria  to  the  south  of  Mat- 
amoras. Three  other  young  men  are  ]iursuing  their  studies  with  the  view  of  enter<. 
ing  the  ministry.  Few  missions,  as  will  be  inferred  from  this  brief  statement,  have 
been  attended  with  earlier  or  richer  fruits. 

Mission  at  Campinas. 

The  following  statement  will  give  some  idea  of  the  location  of  this  mission: 

Campinas  is  a  city  of  twenty  thousanti  inhabitants,  located  in  the  central  portion  of 
the  province  of  Sao  Paulo,  in  Southern  Brazil.  It  may  be  appronciied  by  a  railroad 
extending  from  Santos,  on  the  sea-boaid,  or  by  one  starting  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  and 
joining  the  former  at  the  city  of  Sao  Paulo,  and  thence  on  to  Camjiinas  and  to 
points  further  in  the  interior.  It  is  distant  from  .Santos  about  one  hundred  miles, 
and  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty.  It  is  located  in  the  cen- 
tre of  one  of  the  finest  coffee  districts  in  the  whole  empire.  Its  climate  is  genial 
and  healthful,  and  the  products  of  the  soil  are  rich  and  varied,  containing  many 
articles  of  food,  as  well  as  fruits  that  are  common  both  to  temperate  and  tropical 
climates.  The  Chacara,  a  name  quite  familiar  to  the  readers  of  the  Alissiona?-)',  was 
originally  an  open  field — or  one  only  partially  cultivated — on  a  rising  ground  on  the 
south  side  of  the  city.  It  comprises  about  twenty  acres,  is  surrounded  iiy  a  rough 
clay  wall  of  four  or  five  feet  in  height,  and  is  now  the  site  of  all  our  missionary 
buildings.  It  affords  a  commanding  view  not  only  of  the  city,  but  of  the  surround- 
ing country,  and  whilst  it  enjoys  all  the  advantages  of  a  city,  it  is  exempt  from  many 
of  the  nuisances  which  afflict  most  tropical  cities. 

This  mission  was  established  by  Rev.  G.  Nash  Morton  and  Rev.  Edward  I.ane, 
in  September,  1869,  and  has  been  in  operation,  therefore,  about  ten  years.  During 
that  period  others  have  labored  for  longer  or  shorter  ])eriods,  viz. ;  Rev.  William 
Leconte,  Rev.  John  Boyle,  and  Mrs.  Boyle,  Rev.  John  W.  Dabney,  and  Mrs.  Dab- 
ney,  Mrs.  Morton,  Mrs.  Lane,  and  Misses  Nannie  Henderson  and  Midinn  Kirk. 

Those  connected  with  the  mission  at  the  jjresent  time  are  Rev.  Edward  Lane  and 
Mrs.  Lane,  Rev.  John  W.  Dabney  and  Mrs.  Dabney,  and  Miss  Henderson,  located  at 
Campinas,  and  Mr.  Boyle  and  Mrs.  Boyle  at  Moggy  Mission,  a  station  recently  estab- 
lished forty  miles  to  the  north  of  Campinas.  In  addition  to  these  there  are  five 
native  Brazilians  who  are  engaged  either  as  teachers  or  colporteurs.  Five  churches 
have  organized,  one  in  the  city  of  Campinas  and  four  in  the  adjacent  county,  the 
aggregate  membership  of  which  do  not  exceed  one  hundred.  Much  has  been  done 
in  circulating  the  sacred  .Scrijjtures,  as  well  as  other  religious  books,  in  the  mean- 
time. The  Campinas  Institute,  located  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city  of  Campinas,  is 
the  only  educational  institution  connected  with  the  mission.  This  is  an  important 
institution,  however,  embracing  in  both  of  its  departments  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pupils,  a  considerable  portion  of  whom  have  attained  to  a  very  respectable  standard 
of  scholarship,  and  a  few,  it  is  hoped,  have  been  made  the  sul)jects  of  divine  grace. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  institution  may,  in  the  course  of  time,  prove  a  great  blessing 
to  Southern  Brazil, 

Pe?-nambuco  Alission. 

Pernambuco  is  a  large  and  flourishing  commercial  city  of  150,000  or  200,000  in- 
habitants in  Northern  Brazil.  It  is  situated  immediately  on  the  sea-board  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  west  of  Cape   St.  Roque,  and  is  very  nearly  equi-distant  from 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1139 

Para  on  the  south  side  of  the  great  Amazon  river,  and  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  great 
metropolis  of  the  empire.  Wilh  the  exception  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  it  has  the  largest 
commerce  of  any  city  in  the  em[)ire,  or  perhaps  in  South  America.  The  people,  for 
a  wholly  Romish  community,  are  very  liberal  minded,  and  perhaps  are  more  opposed 
to  religious  intolerance  than  any  other  community  in  South  America. 

Our  mission  here  was  established  in  January,  1873.  by  Rev.  J.  Rockwell  Smith, 
who  was  joined  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  by  Rev.  John  Boyle  and  Mrs.  Boyle. 
The  latter  remained  only  about  one  year,  when  they  weie  transferred  to  Campinas, 
whilst  Rev.  William  Leconte  was  transferred  from  Campinas  to  this  mission.  He 
did  not  survive,  however,  but  a  little  more  than  a  year.  The  mission  is  of  seven 
years  continuance,  and  has  been  sustained  the  greater  part  of  that  time  by  the  sole 
labors  of  Mr.  Smith,  who,  however,  has  several  native  Brazilians  aiding  him  in  his 
work.  It  is  su]iposed  that  he  has  been  reinforced  before  this  time  by  the  arrival  of 
Rev.  B.  II.  Thompson,  of  Tennessee. 

Mr.  Smith  has  devoted  his  time  mainly  to  preaching  the  gospel,  to  editing  and 
circulating  a  monthly  religious  magazine,  and  in  circulating  the  word  of  God. 
The  matter  of  education  has  not  been  undertaken  in  the  mission  as  yet.  It  was 
thought  best  to  try  the  experiment  of  bringing  the  peojile  under  the  iifluence  of  the 
gospel  in  the  first  place,  and  then  leave  it  with  them  to  jirovide  for  the  education  of 
their  own  children,  the  missionaries  only  giving  such  advice  as  the  case  might  seem 
to  demand.  The  ex]^eriment  is  undoubtedly  a  very  important  one,  but  it  is  too  soon 
as  yet  to  decide  upon  its  merits.  A  church  has  been  organized  in  the  city  of  Per- 
nambuco  which  embraces  about  twenty  members,  while  worshi|iping  circles  have 
been  formed  in  three  neighboring  towns,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  very  soon  be  .le- 
veloped  into  organized  churches.  The  Pernanibuco  Mission  is  regarded  as  one  of 
great  promise. 

The  Italian  Mission. 

We  have  no  regularly  organized  mission  in  Italy,  nor  is  it  proposed  to  have  one. 
Our  only  missionary  laborer  is  Miss  Christina  Rouzone,  a  native  of  Italy,  but  for 
many  years  a  resident  of  South  Carolina,  and  a  member  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church.  She  is  located  in  Milan,  and  has  a  school  there  of  fifty  or  more  pupils. 
The  spiritual  fruits  of  her  labors,  both  in  and  out  of  the  school,  are  gathered  into 
the  Waidensian  Church  in  that  place,  so  that  in  this  respect  we  are  simply  co-op- 
erating with  this  venerable  church  and  feel  it  an  honor  to  do  so. 

Rev.  Dr.  Turino,  the  pastor  of  the  church  at  Milan,  and  who  has  recently  been 
in  this  country  soliciting  aid  for  the  Waidensian  Missions  in  Italy,  spoke  in  very 
commendatory  terms  of  the  importance  and  success  of  Miss  Rouzone's  labors. 

Greek  Mission. 

This  mission  was  undertaken  in  1873,  ^^  '^^  earnest  request  of  Rev.  M.  D.  Kalo- 
pothakes,  who  was  the  originator  of  it  and  by  whom  it  had  been  carried  from  the 
beginning.  Dr.  Kalopothakes  is  a  native  Greek,  was  brought  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Saviour  through  the  instrumentality  of  Rev.  G.  W.  Leyburn,  while  acting  as 
a  missionary  in  Greece  forty  years  ago,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Synod  of  Vir- 
ginia ever  since  his  introduction  into  the  ministry.  The  field  contemplated  by  this 
mission  includes  P'ree  Greece,  the  Grecian  Islands,  and  the  Greek  provinces  of 
European  Turkey,  aggregatmg  a  population  of  four  or  five  millions. 

The  missionary  force  at  the  present  time  consists  of  Rev.  M.  D.  Kalopothakes 
and  Mrs.  Kalojiothakes,  Rev.  T.  R.  Sampson  and  Mrs.  Sampson,  from  America, 
Rev.  Messrs.  Michaeldes  and  Egyptiades,  native  ordained  missionaries,  Messrs. 
Laoutsi  and  *  *  *  native  helpers.  It  is  expected  that  the  mission  will  be 
reinforced  in  the  spring  by  another  American.  Three  principal  stations  are  occu- 
pied, viz.:  one  at  Athens,  another  at  Volos,  in  the  province  of  Thessaly,  and  Sa- 
lonika, in  Southern  Macedonia,  besides  several  out-stations.  Suljstantial  houses  of 
worship  have  been  erected  at  Athens  and  at  Volos,  where  the  attendance  has  been 
good,  especially  at  the  former  place.  Five  native  laborers  are  constantly  and 
actively  at  work,  and  four  young  men  are  under  trainmg  with  reference  to  the  work 


1I40  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

of  the  ministry;  two  newspapers,  one  for  children  and  the  other  for  adults,  are  very 
extensively  circulated,  not  in  Eastern  Europe,  but  in  Western  Asia;  many  tliousand 
copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  as  well  as  other  religious  hooks,  have  been  circu- 
lated from  year  to  year.  Many  of  the  people  have  acquired  some  knowledge  of 
evangelical  religion,  and  many,  it  is  believed,  are  inquiring  about  the  way  to  be 
saved. 

Missions  in  China. 

The  two  principal  stations  occupied  by  our  church  in  China  are  Hangchow  and 
Soochow,  two  large  and  important  cities  to  the  west  of  Shanghai,  and  some  sixty  or 
seventy  miles  apart.  The  mission  at  Hangchow  was  established,  in  1867,  by  Rev. 
Elias  B.  Inslie,  who,  after  laboring  in  connection  with  it  for  something  less  than 
three  years,  was  called  to  his  rest  above.  The  Soochow  Mission  was  established  a 
few  years  later.  The  missionary  force  at  the  present  time  consists  of  Rev.  J.  L. 
Stuart  and  Mrs.  Stuart,  Rev.  G.  W.  Painter,  Mrs.  A.  E.  Randolph,  and  Miss  Helen 
Kirkland,  at  Hangchow;  and  Rev.  H.  C.  DuBose  and  Mrs.  DuBose,  Rev.  John 
W.  Davis  and  Mrs.  Davis,  and  Miss  A.  C.  Safford,  at  Soochow. 

There  are,  in  addition  to  these,  some  ten  or  more  native  laborers,  variously  em- 
ployed as  teachers  and  colporteurs.  There  are  three  boarding-schools,  two  at  Hang- 
chow— one  for  boys  and  the  other  for  girls — and  one  at  Soochow;  embracing  more 
than  sixty  pupils  in  all.  There  are  also  seven  day-schools,  containing  upwards  of 
seventy  pupils.  Two  churches  have  been  organized,  one  at  Hangchow,  which  em- 
braces thirty-four  members,  and  one  at  Soochow,  with  only  three  members.  A  num- 
ber of  books  have  been  prepared  and  printed  in  the  Chinese  language  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  mission. 

Annual  itinerations  have  been  made  into  the  surrounding  country  by  different 
members  of  the  mission,  and  a  very  large  number  of  Bibles,  or  parts  of  the  Bible,  as 
well  as  religious  tracts,  have  been  circulated  during  the  last  eight  years,  the  fruits  of 
which  will  no  doubt  show  themselves  in  the  course  of  time. 

Rev.  J.  Leighton  Wilson,  D.  D. 

VHI.  Missions  of  the  Canadian  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Canadian  Church  has  had  experience  in  foreign  mission  work  only  for  a  few 
years,  and  consequently  could  not  report  or  suggest  anything  that  might  be  of  use  to 
other  Churches  engaged  in  that  work  for  many  years.  The  only  subject  on  which 
we  could  give  any  information  is  respecting  the  salaries  and  allowances  to  mission- 
aries. In  these  matters  we  have  hitherto  t'ol lowed  the  practice  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  (North)  in  paying  our  missionaries  in  India,  and  that  of  the  English  Pres- 
byterian Church  those  in  China.  In  the  New  Hebrides  we  pay  them  ;i^i75  sterling 
per  annum,  and  ;^io  per  annum  for  each  child  until  sent  abroad.  In  Trinidad  we 
pay  them  ^^300  sterling  per  annum,  and  provide  them  with  a  house.  In  the  mission 
to  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest  Territory  on  this  continent,  the  salaries  of  mission- 
aries varies  from  ^500  to  ^1,000,  according  to  the  qualification  of  the  missionary  and 
his  field  of  labor.  In  Trinidad  the  mission  work  is  principally  among  the  coolies. 
There  are  at  present  two  native  pastors  laboring  in  that  field.  In  Formosa,  China, 
there  are  twenty  native  helpers  in  the  mission.  In  the  New  Hebrides  and  Trinidad 
all  stational  arrangements  are  left  to  a  Mission  Council  on  the  field. 

Rev.  Thomas  Lowry. 

IX.   Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A. 

By  Foreign  Missions  is  understood  the  work  of  making  the  gospel  known — first, 
to  the  heathen  wherever  they  are  found;  and  next,  to  unevangelized  people  in 
countries  under  the  influence  of  Mohammedanism  and  of  corrupt  forms  of  Chris- 
tianity.*    To  these  large  classes  might  be  added  the  Jews,  who  are  still  foreigners 

*It  is  sometimes  said  we  have  heathen  at  home,  particularly  in  some  of  our  large  cities.  But 
these  should  be  classed  rather  as  irrelicious  people  than  as  heathen.  They  know,  or  may  know,  the 
light  of  the  gospel.  They  are  not  idolaters  in  their  formal  worship.  They  are  not  heathen  in  the 
iis\ial  sense  of  the  word.  They  may  be  often  worse  in  morals  and  far  more  to  be  blamed,  as  their 
sins  are  committed  against  light.  'Their  salvation  is  to  be  earnestly  sought  by  our  usual  Christian 
means  of  grace  an'!  active  benevolent  labor. 


SECOND  GENERAL   COUNCIL.  1141 

in  all  lands,  and  whose  spiritual  condition  seems  to  require  means  of  instruction 
either  such  as  are  in  use  in  foreign  work,  or  else  such  as  are  additional  to  the  teach- 
ing ordinarily  imparted  in  our  churches. 

In  tUe  following  sketch  of  the  foreign  missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  Slates  of  America,  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  give  a  complete  account  of 
them.  Little  more  can  be  done  than  to  give  an  outline  or  index  of  these  missions; 
for  full  information  reference  is  made  to  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Board,  to  its 
missionary  periodicals,  and  to  books  of  travel  and  biographies  of  the  missionaries. 
Dr.  Ashbel  Green's  "  Historical  Sketch,"  1837,  contains  useful  accounts  of  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  work,  which  are  not  elsewhere  readily  accessible ;  and  the 
"Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  1868,  may  also  be  referred  to  for 
information  concerning  some  of  the  missions. 

The  Aboriginal  Trilies,  found  \\\  this  country  on  its  settlement  by  Europeans,  first 
received  the  attention  of  our  Presbyterian  people  as  well  as  of  other  Christian 
Churches.  With  generous  aid  from  Scotland,  the  Rev.  Azariah  Horton,  a  member 
of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  was  sent  to  the  Indians  of  Long  Island  in  1741. 
His  appointment  and  work  are  spoken  of  by  Dr.  Green  as  "  the  first  formal  heathen 
mission  instituted  in  the  Presbyterian  Church."  Mr.  Norton's  appointment  was  fol- 
lowed in  1744  by  that  of  the  Rev.  David  Brainerd,  of  the  same  Presbytery,  a  mis- 
sionary whose  great  devotedness  and  saintly  character  set  him  before  his  brethren, 
even  to  this  day,  as  a  model,  and  v^'hose  labors  were  crowned  with  marked  success. 
After  his  death,  in  1748,  his  work  was  continued  by  his  brother,  the  Rev.  John 
Brainerd,  whose  ministry  ended  in  1 780,  having  had  the  seal  of  many  converts  to 
the  religion  of  Christ  our  Lord.  Other  devoted  ministers  were  employed  as  mis- 
sionaries among  the  Indians,  of  whom  perhaps  the  best  known  was  the  Rev.  Gideon 
Blackburn.  He  had  the  honor  of  beginning  the  work  of  giving  the  gospel  to  the 
Cherokees,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  Besides  the  brethren  who  appear  to  have  been  chiefly,  if  not  solely, 
engaged  in  the  Indian  work  of  those  early  days,  there  were  ministers  who  gave  a 
part  of  their  time  to  the  same  service,  as  opportunity  offered. 

Missionary  efforts  for  the  Indians  eventually  occupied  so  deep  a  place  in  the 
regard  of  our  Christian  people,  that  several  societies  were  orgnnized  for  their  fur- 
therance— the  New  York  Missionary  Society,  in  1796,  and  the  Northern  Missionary 
Society,  in  the  next  year;  while  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh,  from  its  organization,  in 
1802,  manifested  almost  special  interest  in  the  evangelization  of  the  Indians.  For 
information  concerning  the  missions  thus  formed,  and  also  of  the  United  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  organized  in  1818,  reference  must  be  made  to  their  reports.  A 
brief  account  of  them  is  contained  in  Dr.  Green's  Historical  Sketch.  Nearly  all 
these  societies  continued  but  for  a  short  period;  but  their  work  was  attended  with 
some  degree  of  encouragement.  It  was  embarrassed,  however,  by  the  fluctuating, 
and,  for  the  most  part,  declining  circumstances  of  the  Indians,  several  of  the  tribes 
having  long  since  become  extinct;  but  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  tribes  which 
largely  accepted  the  religion  of  Christ  are  still  in  existence,  and  their  members  are 
mostly  a  civilized  and  Christian  people.  Such  are  many  of  the  Senecas,  and  of 
other  New  York  tribes,  the  Cherokees,  the  Choctaws  (now  in  the  Indian  Territory), 
and  others. 

Missions  to  the  Indians,  already  viewed  with  deep  interest  by  the  Synod  of  Pitts- 
burgh, received  immediate  consideration  by  the  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  organ- 
ized in  1S31  by  the  Synod;  and  when  this  society  was  merged  in  the  Board  of  For- 
eign Missions  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  1837,  its  Indian  work  was  transferred  to 
the  new  hoard.  This  board  received,  also,  the  transfer  of  three  missions  to  the  In- 
dians from  the  American  Board,  in  1870.  Referring  to  the  annual  reports  of  the 
board  for  details,  this  sketch  of  its  Indian  work,  omitting  notices  of  missions  for- 
merly supiHirted  by  the  board,  but  now  supported  by  (he  Board  of  the  Southern 
Presbyterian  Church,  may  be  ended  with  the  summary  statement  of  1880.  Its  mis- 
sions are  found  among  the  Senecas,  Tuscaroras,  Tonawandas,  Chippewas,  Omahas, 
Creeks,  Seminoles,  and  Nez  Perces,  and  embrace  18  ministers,  of  whom  7  are 
natives;  7  licentiate  preachers,  all  natives;  30  teachers,  of  whom  7  are  natives  and 


1142  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

the  others  American  women;   1,048  communicants,  and  506  scholars,  of  whom  187 
are  in  boarding-scliools. 

It  may  be  added  tliat  the  Board  of  Home  Missions,  of  the  same  branch  of  the 
Presbyterian  Churcli,  has  entered,  within  a  few  years,  on  missionary  work  for  the 
Indians.  It  reports  several  missionaries  among  the  Navajoes  and  Pueblos  of  New 
Mexico,  and  some  in  other  tribes,  but  statistics  do  not  seem  to  be  separately 
classified. 

The  mission  in  Syria  was  begun  in  1823  by  the  American  Board,  of  Boston,  and 
continued  underits  direction  until  1870,  when  it  was  transferred  to  the  Foreign 
Board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Many  of  the  missionaries  had  been  connected 
with  this  Church,  and  the  mission  was  supp(jrted  by  many  of  its  congregations 
jointly  with  Congregational  Churches,  in  connection  with  the  American  Board. 
For  information  concerning  this  mission  during  this  period,  reference  is  made  to  the 
valual)le  publications  of  that  board.  After  its  transfer,  several  new  missionaries  were 
sent  out,  and  its  worU  was  enlarged.  In  18S0,  the  statistics  are  as  follows:  Minis- 
ters, 18,  of  whom  4  are  natives;  medical  missionary,  I ;  licentiate  preachers,  17,  all 
natives;  teachers  and  other  assistants,  143,  of  whom  21  are  American  women  and 
122  natives;  communicants,  810;  scholars,  4,260,  of  whom  82  are  in  boarding- 
schools.  One  of  the  marked  features  of  this  mission  is  its  extensive  printing  press, 
from  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  many  Christian  books  and  publications  have 
been  widely  circulated. 

In  1S32  the  mission  to  Western  Africa  was  begun  by  commissioning  two  ministers 
to  Liberia.  One  of  them  was  removed  by  death  just  l)efore  embarking  for  his  field; 
the  other  arrived  in  Monrovia  early  in  1833;  and  others  were  sent  out  from  time  to 
time.  More  than  the  usual  numiier  of  changes,  by  death  and  return  to  this  country, 
tended  to  limit  the  efficiency  of  the  mission.  It  was  begun  with  special  reference  to 
the  extension  of  its  work  to  the  people  of  the  interior,  but  thus  far  it  has  not  been 
found  practicable  to  fulfil  this  purpose.  The  statistics  for  the  present  year  are  as 
follows:   Ministers,  3;   teachers,  6;   communicants,  270;  scholars,  65. 

The  mission  of  the  American  Board  at  Cape  Palmas,  Liberia,  was  removed  to 
Gaboon,  near  the  equator,  in  1842,  and  the  mission  at  Coiisco,  north  of  Gal)oon,  was 
begun  by  the  Board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1849.  The  former  mission  was 
transferred  to  the  board  in  1870,  and  united  with  the  Corisco  Mission,  now  called 
the  Gaboon  and  Corisco  Mission.  It  has  as  its  base  line  of  evangelistic  work  the 
coast  from  Batanga,  150  miles  north  of  Gaboon,  to  the  south  as  far  as  the  river 
Congo  or  Livingstone,  and  so  it  reaches  a  considerable  population.  The  Mpongwe 
and  the  Benga  languages  have  been  reduced  to  writing,  and  are  likely  to  become 
the  permanent  languages  of  most  of  the  tribes  on  this  part  of  the  sea-coast.  They 
now  contain  translali(jns  of  parts  of  the  Scriptures,  readers,  hymn-books,  etc.  These 
languages  will  eventually  be  of  great  service  probably  in  distant  regions;  the 
Mpongwe  has  already  been  useful  among  tribes  living  from  too  to  150  miles  inland, 
and  the  Benga  among  tribes  north  of  its  former  district.  It  has  from  the  first  been 
the  great  desire  of  all  connected  with  this  mission  to  gain  access  to  the  large  inland 
population,. and  in  1876  a  station  was  occupied  on  the  Ogowe  river,  145  miles  from 
the  sea.  But  it  now  seems  probable  that  the  Congo  river  will  become  the  main 
channel  of  access  to  the  largest  nations.  In  this  case  the  trained  converts  from  the 
sea-coast  tribes  may  be  invaluable  amongst  their  people  of  the  interior.  The  returns 
of  this  mission  in  iSSo  are  as  follows:  Ministers,  6,  of  whom  2  are  natives;  medical 
missionary,  i  ;  licentiate  preachers,  3,  all  natives;  teachers  and  other  assistants,  38, 
of  whom  10  are  American  women;  communicants,  331  ;  scholars,  179,  of  whom 
134  are  in  boarding-schools. 

In  India,  the  missions  of  the  Board  were  Iiegun  in  1833.  Their  statistical  returns 
in  1880  are:  Ministers,  44,  of  whom  14  are  natives;  and  several  are  ministers  of 
the  Ref  )rmed  Presbyterian  Church,  General  Synod  ;  native  licentiate  preacher,  I ; 
teachers,  Bible-readers,  etc.,  204,  of  whom  48  are  American  women,  the  rest  natives; 
communicants,  971  ;  scholars,  7,798,  of  whom  223  are  in  boarding-schools.  A 
printing  press  is  conducted  by  this  mission  at  Lodiana. 

The  mission  in  Persia  was  begun  in  1834  l)y  the  American  Board,  and  was 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1143 

limited  mostly  to  the  northwestern  district  of  that  country,  with  its  chief  station  at 
Oroominh,  and  its  main  wurl<  among  the  Nestorians.  In  1S70  this  mission  was 
transferred  to  the  Board,  and  enlari^ed  by  new  niissiimaries  sent  out,  and  stations 
occupied  at  Tabriz  and  Teheran.  The  returns  of  iSSo  are:  Ministers,  29,  oi  whom 
21  are  natives;  medical  missionary,  I  ;  licentiate  preachers,  66,  all  natives;  teachers 
and  other  assistants,  115,  of  whom  16  are  American  women;  communicanis,  1,321  ; 
si hilars,  1,909,  of  whom  127  are  in  boarding  schools.  A  printing  press  is  in  the 
service  of  this  mission,  at  Orooniiah. 

In  SlAM  the  mission  of  the  Board  was  liegun  in  1S40,  and  among  the  Laos  in 
1867.  The  returns  of  both  in  1S80  are  :  Ministers,  7  ;  medical  missionary,  I  ;  native 
licentiate  preachcis,  2;  teachers  and  other  assistants,  26,  of  whom  14  are  American 
women;  communicants,  206;  scholars,  346,  of  whom  1 10  are  in  boarding-schools. 
A  small  printing  press  is  \\\  the  use  of  this  mission,  at  Bangkok. 

The  mission  in  China  was  begun  in  1842,  though  a  station  for  Chinese  work  had 
been  occupied  at  Singapore  in  1S38,  which  was  afterwards  removed  to  China.  And 
the  mission  to  the  Chinese  in  California  was  begun  in  1852.  The  returns  of  these 
missions  in  iSSoare:  Ministers,  40,  of  whom  16  are  natives;  medical  missionaries, 
2;  licentiate  preachers,  35,  all  natives;  teachers,  Bible-readers,  etc.,  107,  of  whom 
35  are  American  women;  communicants,  1,915;  scholars,  1,286,  of  whom  287  are 
in  boarding-schools.  A  large  printing  press  is  in  the  service  of  the  mission,  at 
Shanghai. 

In  South  America  the  missions  were  begun  by  the  Board  in  the  United  States 
of  Colombia,  1856,  and  in  Brazil,  1859.  The  mission  in  Chili  was  formerly  under 
the  care  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Union,  but  became  connected  with  the 
Board  in  1873.  A  mission  was  begun  in  Buenos  Ayres  in  1826,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  General  Assembly,  and  at  first  it  met  with  some  encouragement,  but  after  two 
or  three  years  it  was  discontinued.  The  statistics  of  the  three  missions  above 
mentioned  in  18S0  are:  Ministers,  15,  of  whom  4  ministers  and  also  i  licentiate 
preacher  are  Brazilians;  teachers,  etc.,  31,  of  whom  15  are  American  women; 
communicants,  1,089;  scholars,  511,  of  whom  52  are  in  boarding-schools. 

The  mission  in  Japan  was  begun  in  1859,  and  in  18S0  its  statistics  are:  Ministers, 
10,  of  whom  4  are  natives;  medical  missionary,  i;  native  licentiate  preachers,  8; 
teachers,  etc.,  14,  of  whom  12  are  American  women  ;  communicants,  739;  scholars, 
345,  of  whom  115  are  in  boarding-schools. 

In  Mexico  the  mission  was  begun  in  1872,  and  its  statistics  in  1880  are:  Min- 
isters, 18,  of  whom  II  are  natives;  native  licentiate  preachers,  6;  teachers,  etc.,  17, 
of  whom  II  are  American  women;  communicants,  3,907;  scholars,  586. 

CjE.neral  Total. — Ministers,  20S,  of  whom  83  are  natives;  licentiate  preachers, 
147,  all  natives;  medical  missionaries  and  teachers,  11  ;  American  women,  209; 
native  teaih-Ts,  Bible-renders,  etc.,  516;  communicants,  12,607;  scholars,  17,791, 
of  whom,  in  bjardin^  sc'.iools,  1,317. 


Eight  subjects  are  specified  on  page  278  of  the  First  Council  Volume  of  Pro- 
ceedings, concerning  which  information  is  desired.  To  these  others  mi^lit  be  added  : 
such  as  the  place  of  industrial  occupations  in  missionary  plans  among  uni.i\  ilized 
tribes;  the  place  of  English  in  missionary  education;  the  training  of  native  mis- 
sionaries; the  self-support  of  native  Christian  churches,  how  best  promoted,  etc. 
The  salaries  of  missionaries,  specified  in  the  list  on  page  278,  may  be  understood  as 
including  the  provision  that  should  be  made  for  the  children  of  missionaries,  and 
for  the  support  of  aged  and  infirm  missionaries;  and  the  reference  to  ]iresbyteries  in 
the  same  li^t  may  include  the  question  of  the  relation  of  missionary  presbyteries  for 
a  time,  to  the  home  Cliurch,  whether  independent,  or  ecclesiastically  related  in  some 
cases  by  distributive  representation  or  otherwise — a  matter  which  will  be  stated  at 
some  length  further  on.  The  subjects  to  be  embraced  in  the  subordinate  standards 
of  a  native  Christian  Church  may  also  be  mentioned  as  needing  consideration. 

These  subjects  and  others  still  are  all  of  interest;  but  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  treat 
them  briefly,  nor  is  it  practicable  to^ive  a  direct  statement  concerning  some  of  theni 


1 1 44  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

that  would  he  satisfactory  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  missionary  labors.  Further 
study,  comparison  of  views,  the  teaching  of  experience,  may  be  expected  to  result 
in  a  settled  judgment  as  to  what  is  best.  Perhaps  the  members  of  the  Council  in 
Philadelphia,  and  of  future  Councils,  whose  special  reading  or  whose  pursuits  have 
leil  them  to  regard  with  interest  subjects  of  this  kind,  might  meet  separately  for 
conference  concerning  them  ;  Init  probably  most  of  them  will  have  to  be  practically 
dealt  with  by  each  Committee  of  Missions,  and  by  the  missions  in  the  line  of  actual 
work.  Formal  decisions  concerning  some  of  them  by  the  Council  in  Philadelphia, 
would  hardly  be  expedient  at  present.  Some  of  these  subjects  may,  however,  receive 
brief  statements  in  this  place. 

First,  The  salaries  of  missionaries  from  this  country  range  from  $600  per  year  to 
$2,400  to  a  married  man,  according  to  the  cost  of  living  in  the  country  in  which  his 
lot  is  cast,  and  two-thirds  of  this  amount  to  an  unmarried  man.  Besides,  and  as  a 
valuable  part  of  the  salary,  the  board  provides  a  dwelling-house  for  each  family  and 
defrays  medical  expenses.  An  allowance  is  also  made  for  each  child  to  the  age  of 
eighteen  of  $100  per  year;  in  the  Indian  Missions,  of  $50.  The  ministers  and 
teachers  in  Liberia  receive  only  a  round  salary,  without  house-rent  or  children's 
allowance;  they  expect  to  live  always  in  that  country  as  citizens,  and  are  regarded 
rather  as  home  missionaries  there  than  as  foreigners.  The  amount  of  the  salary,  and 
the  way  in  which  it  is  made  up,  have  much  to  do  with  the  education  and  su]->port 
of  the  children  of  missionaries.  It  deserves  consideration  whether  a  round  salary 
with  a  house,  but  without  other  allowances,  would  not  be  a  better  plan  of  support 
than  the  varying  scale  heretofore  adopted. 

Second,  The  Board,  or  rather  the  Church  for  which  it  acts,  considers  the  employ- 
ment of  native  pastors  as  of  the  greatest  importance.  Before  they  are  employed 
they  ought  to  be  well  qualified  for  the  duties  of  the  ministry.  In  connection  with 
this,  questions  of  no  little  moment  require  to  be  considered,  i.  As  to  the  method 
f)f  their  training,  whether  in  theological  schools,  and  if  so,  under  how  many  in- 
structors, each  having  his  own  chair,  or  whether  each  candidate  for  the  ministry 
should  be  under  the  training  of  his  own  pastor,  or  else  of  some  teacher  appointed 
for  the  purpose,  like  the  late  Dr.  Birney,  of  the  Baptist  Mission  in  Burmah;  2.  As 
to  the  extent  of  their  education;  3.  As  to  their  ordination,  unless  when  called  by  a 
church ;  4.  As  to  their  suppoi  t,  to  be  sufficient  relatively  to  the  circumstances  of 
most  of  the  native  Christian  brethren,  and  to  be  provided  altogether  or  as  far  as 
practicable  by  the  native  congregation,  and  all  to  be  so  regulated  as  not  to  separate 
the  native  ministry  by  expensive  foreign  ways  from  the  native  church.  Hardly  any 
part  of  the  work  of  foreign  missions  calls  at  this  time  for  more  careful  study  than 
is  required  by  this  subject. 

'J hird.  The  Board  regards  the  employment  of  medical  missionaries  as  expedient 
in  most  countries,  and  at  some  stations  as  necessary;  but  in  all  cases  their  piofes- 
sional  skill  should  be  tributary  to  the  spiritual  object  of  the  mission.  They  are  placed 
on  the  same  footing  with  clerical  missionaries  as  to  support  by  the  Board,  and  under 
the  same  rule  as  to  turning  over  to  the  mission  treasury  any  moneys  received  for 
professional  or  other  services. 

Fourth,  As  to  Presbyteries  in  missionary  fields  there  is  some  diversity  of  opinion. 
In  the  missions  of  the  late  Old  School  part  of  the  Church,  it  was  orderly  to  form 
Presbyteries  in  all  countries  in  which  three  or  more  ministers  were  found,  and  they 
were  authorized  to  ordain  native  ministers,  duly  qualified  and  called,  whose  names 
were  reported  to  the  General  Assembly,  together  with  all  native  churches,  and 
regularly  entered  in  the  Assembly's  Minutes.  In  some  of  the  missions  received  by 
transfer  from  the  American  Board  in  1870,  though  the  ordained  missionaries  were 
nearly  all  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  its  usual  forms  had  not  been  fully  adopted  in 
some  of  the  local  organizations;  partly,  no  doubt,  because  brethren  of  two  denomi- 
nations and  their  churches  were  connected  with  the  same  missionary  Board.  At 
present  the  tendency  of  opinion,  both  in  the  churches  at  home  and  the  missions 
abroad,  it  is  understood,  favors  the  forming  of  Presbyteries  in  the  missions  on  the 
same  principles  as  at  home.  The  Church  acts  in  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  not  as  a 
society,  nor  merely  from  public  sentiment,  but  under  a  divine  commission.     In  ful- 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1145 

filling  its  sacred  work  as  a  Church,  its  sense  of  Christian  duty  is  clear,  and  is  closely 
connected  with  the  welfare  of  the  native  churches.  Both  unite  well  in  the  work  of 
evangelization.  But  here  important  questions  arise,  to  one  of  which  careful  atten- 
tion is  here  invited. 

Should  the  churches  and  Presbyteries  in  the  countries  occupied  by  our  foreign 
missions,  stand  in  ecclesiastical  relations  with  the  home  churches,  or  be  independent 
of  them  ?  This  is  a  question  closely  connected  with  the  subject  of  co-operation  by 
the  home  churches  in  this  work,  especially  in  the  case  of  two  or  more  Presbyterian 
Churches  laboring  in  the  same  field.  Eventually  all  parties  look  to  the  native 
churches  becoming  independent  of  the  home  Church;  but  while  they  are  in  a  state 
of  infancy,  and  until  they  are  able,  in  some  good  measure,  to  support  their  own 
ministry,  is  it  expedient  that  they  should  be  placed  on  an  independent  basis? 

The  reasons  for  independent  organization  are  partly  of  a  practical  nature  and 
partly  theoretical.  The  former  seem  to  rest  on  the  idea  that  the  same  methods  of 
representation  and  appellate  jurisdiction  must  be  adopted  by  the  native  churches  and 
ministers  as  are  usual  in  the  Church  at  home,  if  ecclesiastical  relations  are  to  be 
maintained  between  them.  Hence,  it  is  alleged  that  difference  of  language  and 
remote  distance  would  make  organic  relations  inconvenient,  if  not  im]n-acticable. 
Conceding  some  weight  to  this  statement  of  the  case,  it  may  yet  be  claimed  that  it 
assumes  a  rigid  uniformity  of  procedure  that  is  not  verified  in  the  history  of  Presby- 
terian Churches  in  different  countries,  nor  justified  by  the  providential  circumstances 
of  the  case.  Considerable  diversities  of  practice  already  exist,  and  it  may  be  pre- 
sumed that  existing  usages  will  be  modified  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  native 
Church.  Limiting  cases  of  appeal,  or  terminating  them  with  the  highest  court  in 
each  country,  placing  representation  in  the  home  churches  on  a  distributive  or  some 
other  method,  etc.,  are  examples  of  modifications  that  may  be  deemed  expedient. 

Theoretical  reasons  for  the  independence  of  native  churches  in  each  country  may 
result  from  the  general  idea  of  independency  as  a  form  of  Church  government.  On 
this  theory,  provision  must  be  made  for  fulfilling  duties  in  the  mission  field  to  which 
local  churches  are  inadequate,  and,  therefore,  it  is  held  by  some  that  missionaries 
are  to  be  distinguished  from  other  mmisters.  They  are  not  to  be  connected  with  the 
native  churches,  except  as  counsellors  and  advisers.  On  the  theory  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  as  to  the  ministry,  it  must  be  owned  that  it  is  difficult  to  give  a  Pres- 
byterial  status  to  foreign  ordained  missionaries,  if  we  adopt  these  independent  views. 
But  w.iiving  this,  the  influence  of  such  brethren  as  counsellors  would  be  greater 
within  than  without  the  local  Presbytery;  while  their  standing  outside,  giving  advice, 
would  be  likely  to  result  in  their  giving  directions,  as  if  they  were  prelates.  Indeed, 
there  is  risk  of  the  foreign  ministers  gradually  exercising  powers  that  do  not  belong 
to  them,  and  so  the  parity  of  the  ministry  becomes  seriously  invaded,  as  was  sadly 
the  case  in  the  early  centuries. 

Another  theoretical  reason  for  independent  native  churches  grows  out  of  re- 
garding foreign  missionaries  as  evangelists.  Views  are  sometimes  advocated  of  the 
office  of  an  evangelist  which  tend  to  place  in  the  hands  of  missionaries  certain  func- 
tions of  Church  government  and  ordination.  But  the  office  of  an  evangelist,  eo 
nomine,  like  that  of  "  apostles  and  prophets,"  was  prohalily  special  and  temporary, 
limited  to  the  er.riy  age  of  the  Christian  Church.  Or,  if  stress  be  laid  on  "  the  work 
of  an  evangelist"  as  still  abiding,  it  may  be  such  work  as  is  common  to  all  Chris- 
tians described  in  Acis  viii.  1-4;  or  else  it  may  be  work  included  in  the  functions 
of  the  ordinary  ministers  of  the  Church.  Certainly  no  idea  of  an  evangelist  can  be 
entertained  now  that  would  place  the  power  of  ordination  solely  in  his  hands  without 
reference  to  the  "laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery."  Even  if  foreign  mis- 
sionaries were  evangelists,  it  is  not  apparent  how  they  could  be  regularly  connected 
with  an  independent  Churcli. 

On  llie  other  hand,  good  reasons  recommend  a  qualified  organic  relation  between 
the  missionary  and  the  mother  churches,  to  continue  until  the  former  reach  the 
ground  or  stage  of  self-support.     These  may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows  : 

I.  The  real  relationship  is  that  of  parent  and  child.  For  a  time  the  native  Church 
is  necessarily  dependent  on  the  mother  Church  ;  eventually  it  will  be  strong  enough 
£0  walk  alone.     In  the  meantime,  it  would  not  seem  to  be  wise  to  encourage  native 


1 1 46  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Presbyterial  organization,  independently  of  the  Church,  by  which  it  is  chiefly  sup- 
ported, and  by  which  the  mission  is  altogether  supported.  So  far  as  the  native 
churches  are  concerned,  they  are  at  first  not  only  too  feeble  in  pecuniary  means,  but 
too  immature  in  knowledge  and  Christian  character,  to  undertake  the  somewhat 
difficult  duties  of  government  and  discipline.  As  well  might  such  duties  be  assigned 
to  the  baptized  children  of  our  home  churches  whoare  under  ten  years  of  age. 

2.  The  office  and  the  essential  duties  of  the  foreign  and  the  native  ministers  are 
so  much  the  same  that  they  properly  rest  on  the  same  ground,  ecclesiastically,  abroad 
as  at  home.  All  the  ministers  and  a  ruling  elder  from  each  Church,  witliin  certain 
geographical  boundaries,  should  constitute  the  Presbytery.  In  its  broad  limits  min- 
isters and  elders  of  different  gifts,  acijuirements,  social  position,  etc.,  meet  together 
as  Christian  brethren.  One  of  our  American  Presbyteries  has  on  its  roll  ministers 
of  Scotch,  Irish,  French,  German  and  other  European  birth  and  training,  and  many 
men  from  different  parts  of  our  country,  including  men  of  African  descent  and  He- 
brews— ministers  who  differ  very  widely  in  many  respects,  but  who  are  all  Catholic, 
sympathetic,  and  happily  united  in  common  service  for  Christ.  Distinctions  of 
ecclesiastical  position  are  to  be  deprecated  in  the  mission  field,  while  different  kinds 
of  work  may  yet  be  conducted  satisfactorily  there  as  at  home.  In  the  Presbytery  the 
usual  order  of  Church  life  and  action  can  be  well  exemplified.  Certain  dangers  are 
therein  best  averted,  as  of  undue  lordship  on  one  side  and  distance  on  the  other; 
these  interpose  a  barrier  or  chasm  between  parties  that  ought  to  i)e  closely  united.  In 
this  way,  moreover,  nnitual  aid  and  Christian  sympathy  may  best  he  shared  by  both 
parties,  as  in  a  family.  It  was  in  this  way,  it  may  be  held,  that  the  apostolic 
churches  were  organized,  governed,  strengthened  and  qualified  for  the  highest 
degree  of  usefulness. 

3.  By  the  union  of  the  native  Church  and  the  mother  Church  the  great  principles 
of  authority  and  of  representation  are  best  subserved.  At  first  independency  tends 
to  ignore  these  great  matters.  Its  practical  working  too  easily  may  become  chaotic. 
The  influence  ot  the  foreign  members  of  Presbytery  is  at  once  conservative  and  pro- 
gressive, and  well  suited  to  be  of  service  to  the  native  members. 

4.  This  union  is  of  great  influence  in  developing  the  work  of  self-support  among 
the  native  churches,  and  also  the  work  of  extending  a  missionary  spirit  among  them. 
Too  ofien  this  is  a  work  of  slow  progress.  Its  attainments  would  be  expedited  by 
close  relations  between  the  parent  Church  and  the  infant  churches  abroad.  The 
correct  views  of  the  former  would  be  influential  with  the  latter  in  a  ratio  with  the 
nearness  of  their  relations  to  each  other.  The  missionaries  would  enjoy  more  fre- 
quent opportunities,  as  members  of  the  same  Presbytery  with  their  native  brethren, 
of  calling  their  attention  to  these  subjects;  and  their  influence  would  be  far  greater 
than  if  they  were  standing  at  a  distance  and  members  of  a  Presbytery  in  a  foreign 
countiy. 

5.  Such  union  is  of  great  service  to  the  foreign  missionary.  It  brings  him  into 
the  best  relations  with  the  native  brethren.  It  secures  for  him  their  friendly  watch 
and  care,  often  a  conservative  influence  of  invaluable  benefit,  especially  as  contrasted 
with  the  virtual  irresponsibility  as  to  ecclesiastical  supervision  which  exists,  if  his 
connectiiin  is  only  with  a  Presbytery,  in  a  distant  country.  It  gives  him  the  finest 
oppoitiuiiiies  of  usefulness.  All  of  these  advantages  are  enjoyed  in  a  less  degree, 
and  under  conditions  more  or  less  embarrassing,  on  the  opposite  theory. 

6.  Such  union  is  of  indispensable  benefit  to  the  home  Church  in  its  missionary 
work.  It  tends  to  bring  the  mission  field,  and  especially  the  infant  churches  in  it, 
near  the  heart  of  the  Christian  brethren  who  are  united  in  their  support.  It  calls 
forth  in  behalf  of  the  native  ministers  and  churches  such  sympathy  and  aid  as  spring 
from  church  fellowship.     In  a  word,  it  fosters  the  spirit  of  missions  at  home. 

Briefly  as  most  of  these  reasons  have  been  stated,  they  seem  to  favor  joint  ecclesi- 
astical relations  between  the  missionary  and  the  home  churches.  A  careful  exami- 
nation of  apostolic  usage  and  of  early  Church  history  would,  it  is  believed,  sustain 
the  same  conclusion.  But  ihe  limits  assigned  to  this  paper  forbid  further  inquiries, 
and  also  preclude  remarks  on  the  other  subjects  specified  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
former  Council.  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL,  1147 

VI.     MISCELLANEOUS:   LETTERS. 

The  following  interesting  and  fraternal  leUers  were  received  by  the  Council,  and 
have  been  duly  acknowledged  (see  also  pp.  907,  908)  : 

I.   From  the  Free  Fvaiigelical  Church  of  Germany. 

To  the  Reverend  Assembly  of  Representatives  of  Presbyterian  Churches  at  Phila- 
delphia : 

The  Presbytery  of  the  Free  Evangelical  Church  of  Germany  in  Silesia  sends 
respectful  greeting  to  the  Pan- Presbyterian  Council  met  in  Philadelphia.  Under  the 
circumstances  it  was  not  possible  for  our  deputy  to  effect  the  journey  to  America 
and  be  present,  as  we  would  have  desired  ;  but  we  will  pray  that  the  meetings  and 
proceedings  of  the  Council  may  enjoy  the  special  presence  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
our  head,  and  be  filled  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  manifold  bless- 
ing from  God  may  alwund  in  the  midst  of  you,  and  go  forth  on  all  sides  from  you. 
May  the  Lord  Jesus  himself  be  glorious  in  the  midst  of  your  assemblies,  whose 
exclusive  province  it  is  to  build  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  who  also  alone  is  able  to 
bear  the  glory. 

We  could  tell  of  some  things,  in  which  the  Lord  has  helped  us  lately  :   to  men- 
tion only  one,  in  which  we  are  sure  of  the  sympathy  of  all  who  know  Germany, 
that  we  have  seen   our  way  to  institute  a  new  tract  society ;  to  make  sure,  as  far  as 
lies  in  our  power,  of  sound  scriptural  literature  being  disseminated  among  the  people. 
In  the  bonds  of  brotherly  esteem  and  affection. 
Breslau,  August  4th,  18S0. 
The  Presbytery  of  the  Free  Evangelical  Church  of  Germany  in  Silesia. 
[L.  S.]  H.  RoTHER,  Secretary. 

11.  From  Basel. 

Most  Esteemed  Sirs,  Beloved  Brethren  in  Christ: — To  us  in  Basel,  too, 
you  have  sent  an  invitation  to  take  part  in  the  second  meeting  of  the  Presl^yterian 
Council  in  Philadelphia.  We  could  do  this  only  as  guests,  not  as  real  members,  as 
■we  are  not  in  the  position  in  the  crisis  through  which  our  church  is  passing  at  present, 
to  enter  into  your  league  as  representatives  of  a  Presbyterian  Church. 

But  also  to  come  as  your  guests,  we  are  not  allowed  by  our  professional  duties, 
and  we  are  forced  to  restrain  ourselves  to  assuring  you  by  writing  of  our  heartfelt 
sympathy,  and  to  express  to  you  the  wish  that  all  your  deliberations  may  be  blessed 
unto  the  advancement  of  the  reign  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Believe  us,  dear  sirs,  yours  most  sincerely  and  faithfully  attached, 

Charles  Sarasin, 
A.  Sarasin, 

Immanuel  Stockmryer,  D.  D., 
Chr.  John  Riggenuach,  D.  D.,  Prof. 
Basel,  August  30,  1880. 
To  the  Presidents  and  Members  of  the  Presbyterian  Council,  Philadelphia. 

in.  From  the  National  Evangelical  Union  of  Geneva. 

To  the  Members  cf  the  Second  Council  of  the  General  Presbyterian  Alliance,  fneetin" 

in  Philadelphia  in  September,  18S0: 

Geneva,  Switzerland,  Aitoust  <^,  1880. 

Gentlemen  and  Honored  Brethren  :— These  words  of  brotherly  greeting  and 
cardial  congratulation  are  addressed  to  you  from  the  city  of  Calvin,  the  principal 
cradle  of  Presbyterian  Protestantism. 

Geneva,  as  you  are  doubtless  aware,  possesses  two  reformed  churches.  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  General  Presbyterian  Alliance  does  not  allow  either  of  these  churches 
to  be  represented  officially  at  your  Council.  In  fact,  as  has  been  explained  in  the 
statistical  report  presented  in  1877  to  the  Council  at  Edinburgh,  the  National 
Protestant  Church  has  no  longer  as  such  any  positive  Confession  of  Faith,  while  the 
Free  Evangelical  Church  has  not  been  organized  on  a  system  thoroughly  Presby- 
terian. 


1 1 48  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

Nevertheless,  you  have  amongst  us,  gentlemen,  in  each  of  our  two  Protestant 
churches,  many  brethren  warmly  attached  to  you  on  the  doulile  ground  of  religious 
faith  and  of  ecclesiastical  principles.  This  your  successive  delegates.  Rev.  Dr.  W. 
G.  Hlaikie,  of  Edinburgh,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Philip  Schaff,  of  New  York,  ascertained 
during  their  visits  to  Geneva,  and  it  is  this  which  has  led  them  to  invite  two  or  three 
of  our  friends  to  attend,  as  associates,  alike  the  Councils  of  Edinburgh  and  of 
Philadelphia. 

These  brethren,  who  had  already  been  hindered,  either  by  their  official  duties  or 
the  circumstances  of  their  families  or  of  tlieir  health  from  taking  part  in  the  Council 
of  1877,  find  themselves  anew,  to  their  great  regret,  unable  to  accept  this  year  the 
invitation  of  the  American  Committee.  Under  these  circumstances,  those  of  these 
Christian  friends  who  belong  to  the  Established  Churcli  (and  especially  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Coulin  and  Chaponniere),  have  thought  it  both  right  and  respectful  that  we, 
members  of  the  Committee  of  the  National  Evangelical  Union,  should  express  to  you 
in  writing  the  brotherly  regard  of  the  evangelical  portion  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
Geneva. 

It  is  with  sincere  pleasure  that  we  comply  with  the  earnest  wish  of  our  brethren, 
and  gladly  avail  ourselves  of  the  opportunity  of  entering  into  correspondence  with 
the  authorized  representatives  of  all  the  Presbyterian  churches  that  remain  faithful 
lo  the  teachings  of  the  word  of  God. 

You  are  doubtless  aware  of  the  momentous  changes  that  have  taken  place,  during 
some  years  past,  in  the  position  of  our  National  Church,  in  consequence  of  the  devel- 
opment of  a  misleading  liberal  Christianity  and  of  the  reconstruction  of  our  ecclesi- 
astical laws.  Our  official  establishment  has  lost  the  right  of  basing  itself  on  any 
Christian  profession  whatever,  while  negations  the  most  radical  can  be  uttered  in  the 
preaching  and  teaching  of  the  pastors.  In  this  state  of  affairs,  those  members  of  the 
National  Church  who  remain  faithful  to  evangehcal  Christianity  have  drawn  nearer 
to  each  other  that  we  may  assert  and  diffuse  those  religious  convictions  which  we 
hold  in  common,  and  revive  and  refresh  our  spiritual  life  by  fellowship  with  our 
brethren.  This  is  the  two-fold  object  that  our  Union  contemplates.  Instituted  in 
Geneva  in  187 1,  our  association  (whose  Constitution  we  annex)  soon  became  one  of 
the  cantonal  divisions  of  the  Swiss  Evangelical  Union,  and  seeks  to  remedy  the  defi- 
ciencies that  our  otlicial  arrangements  allow  lo  exist  in  our  church,  both  as  to  edifi- 
cation and  to  Christian  instruction.  It  has  also  gathered  under  its  flag  more  than  a 
thousand  adherents  of  both  sexes,  and  possesses  many  friends  outside  of  its  enrolled 
members.  Under  Divine  Providence  the  efforts  of  these  zealous  believers  have  not 
been  in  vain,  and  despite  the  violent  opposition  of  their  rationalistic  antagonists  and 
the  sad  indifference  of  the  masses  and  of  a  portion  of  the  more  educated,  they  have 
assuredly  succeeded  in  maintaining^perhaps  even  in  strengthening  in  the  framework 
of  our  National  Church — the  principles  of  belief  and  of  religious  life,  that  have  been 
the  strength  and  the  glory  of  our  Protestant  Koine. 

Our  religious  situation  is,  nevertheless,  very  critical,  so  that  it  is  only  by  believing 
effort  and  continuous  struggle  that  we  shall  be  al)le  to  retain  the  positions  we  now 
hold.  Some  weeks  ago,  you  are  aware,  we  believed  that  we  were  going  to  be  called 
to  conduct  this  struggle  on  a  new  ground — one  that  many  amongst  us  considered 
very  favorable. 

A  resolution  abolishing  in  the  canton  of  Geneva  State  endowments  for  religious 
purposes  and  separating  the  Church  from  the  State,  was  considered  by  our  Legisla- 
tive Assembly.  Of  the  members  of  our  Union,  some  supported  the  resolution  whose 
adoption  promised  to  the  believing  section  of  our  National  Church  a  reconstruction 
of  the  old  Church  of  Geneva  on  a  basis  avowedly  evangelical.  Others  opposed  the 
measure,  dreading  that  the  fall  of  our  National  system  would  be  for  the  advantage 
of  ultramontane  Catholicism — of  practical  materialism,  and  of  sectarianism.  Ulti- 
mately, under  universal  suffrage,  the  separation  was  defeated  by  a  large  majority, 
and  the  evangelical  doctrine  of  the  National  Church  has  been  thrown  btick  into  its 
previous  position.  May  the  diversity  of  opinion  which  has  been  shown  in  the 
bosom  of  our  Union  in  reference  to  this  vote  of  July  2d,  not  survive  the  occasion 
which  gave  it  birth. 


SECOND   GENERAL   COUNCIL.  1149 

You  understand,  gentlemen,  that  in  tliese  difficult  and  delicate  circumstances  we 
realize  the  urgent  need  of  your  constant  remembrance,  not  only  by  counsel  and  by 
example,  but  also  by  your  sympathy  and  intercessions  for  us,  your  foreign  co-relig- 
ionists. Pray  then  for  us,  dear  and  honored  brethren  ;  ask  the  Lord  to  give  us  always 
to  see  clearly  his  holy  will,  and  to  do  it  faithfully.  On  our  part  we  will  ask  God  to 
bless  your  great  assembly  ;  to  preside,  by  his  spirit  of  truth  and  of  charity,  over  your 
important  deliberations;  to  strengthen  the  bonds  which  unite  us  all  in  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  grant  that  from  your  labors  there  maybe  some  fruits  lasting  and  precious,  and 
for  the  profiting  of  all  the  Reformed  Churches. 

In  the  name  of  the  National  Evangelical  Union  of  Geneva. 

L.  Cramez,  President. 

F.  CouLiN,  D.  D., 

Theo.  Chaponniere,  Vice-President. 

PRINCIPES  ET  STATUTS 

DE 

L'UNION    EVANGELIQUE    SUISSE. 

[Sc/nveizerisc/ter  Evangelisch-Kirchlicher  Verein.) 
Adoptes  a  Olten  le  26  septembre  1871,  amendes  i  Gendve  le  26  septembre  1876. 


^  I.  Dans  les  graves  circonstances  ovi  se  trouvent  les  Eglises  nationales  de  la  Suisse 
reformee,  consideiant  que  I'autorite  des  confessions  de  foi  nees  aux  jours  de  la 
Reformation  n'est  plus  reconnue  dans  ces  Eglises,  et  que  I'usage  que  Ton  y  fait  de 
la  liberie  d'enseignement  menace  leur  caractere  chretien  ; 

Attendu  notamment  qu'il  s'y  trouve  des  ministres  de  la  Parole  de  Dien  qui 
attaquent  ouvertement  la  foi  au  Dieu  vivant,  notre  Pere  celeste,  et  en  Jesus-Chnst, 
I'unique  Mediateur  entre  Dieu  et  les  hommes,  en  meme  temps  qu'ils  nient  la  neces- 
site  de  la  redemption  et  de  la  regeneration,  et  qu'ils  repoussent  I'esperance  de  la  vie 
eternelle  : 

II  se  forme  pour  toute  la  Suisse  une  Union  [nalioiiale)  evaiigeliqiie  fondee  sur  les 
principes  suivants : 

Nous  considerons  comme  la  base  sur  laquelle  repose  notre  profession  chretienne 
le  bapteme  au  nom  du  Pere,  du  Fils  et  du  St- Esprit,  demeurant  attaches  a  la 
declaration  de  foi  que  recitaient  ceux  que  Ton  baptisaii  dans  I'ancienne  Eglise,  et  qui 
porte  le  nom  de  Symbole  des  apotres. 

Nous  celebrons  la  sainte  cene  en  memoire  de  la  mort  de  notre  Seigneur  Jesus- 
Christ,  et  nous  proclamons  ainsi  que  sou  sang  a  ete  repandu  pour  la  remission  de 
nos  peches. 

Ce  cjui  est  pour  nous  le  point  central  de  I'Evangile,  ce  qu'aucune  Eglise  chretienne 
ne  pent  abandcsnner  a  nos  yeux,  c'est  la  foi  en  Jesus-Christ,  Fils  unique  de  Dieu, 
crucilie  et  ressuscite,  qui  nous  delivre  du  peche  et  de  la  mort,  et  c'est  sur  cette  foi 
que  se  fonde  notre  esperance  d'un  bonheur  eternel  dans  le  celeste  Royaume. 

Nous  desirous  de  tout  notre  coeur  repondre  par  notre  amour  a  I'amour  de  Celui 
qui  nous  a  aimes  le  premier,  et  consacrer  toute  notre  vie  terrestre  a  servir  le  Seigneur 
dans  la  personne  de  nos  freres,  en  trouvant  notre  force  dans  la  regeneration  qui 
vient  du  Saint-Esprit. 

Et  en  cela  nous  savons  que  nous  sommes  en  plein  accord,  tant  avec  I'Ecriture 
sainte  qu'avec  les  veriies  que  nos  peres  y  ont  pui:5eeb  lors  dc  la  Reformation. 

\  2.  L'Union  evangelique  a  pour  but : 

1°  De  travailler  activement  i  maiatenir  la  foi  chretienne  dans  les  Eglises 
nationales  reformees  de  notre  patrie. 


II50  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  ALLIANCE. 

2°  De  reveiller  et  d'  entretenir  dans  les  paioisses  la  vie  religieuse  et  morale  et 
I'imeret  jtour  I'Kglise. 

\  3.   Nous  poLirsuivrons  ce  but  par  les  moyens  suivants : 

1°  Nous  provoquerons  des  leanioiis  dans  lesquelles  on  pourra  conferer  sur  les 
questions  religieuses  et  ecclsieastiques  du  jour. 

2°  Nous  prendions  une  part  active  a  la  tractation  des  affaires  qui  interessent  nos 
Eglises. 

3°  Nous  defendrons  les  droits  que  les  constitutions  et  les  lois  reconnaissent  a  nos 
Eglises  nationales. 

4°  Nous  ferons  connaitre  nos  vues  par  des  publications  et  des  conferences. 

5°  Nous  ferons  notre  possible: 

a)  Pour  obtenir  que  la  jeunesse  soit  Slevee  et  instruite  dans  un  esprit  vraiment 
Chretien,  soit  dans  I'Eglise,  soit  dans  I'ecole ; 

b\   I'our  former  et  pour  soutenir  des  pasteurs  et  des  instituteurs  evangeliques; 

c)  Pour  venir'au  secours  des  paroisses  ou  minoriies  de  paroisses  qui  sont  notoire- 
ment  privees  de  la  predication  de  I'Evangile. 

La  oil  il  pourra  resulter  de  la  transformation  de  I'Eglise  etablie  que  des  individus 
isoles  ou  des  groupes  entiers  soient  forces  de  sorlir  de  la  communion  de  I'Eglise 
nationale  par  suite  de  leur  fidelite  meme  a  la  foi  anlerieure  de  PEglise,  I'Union  con- 
tinuera  a  les  adniettre,  comme  par  le  passe,  dans  son  sein. 

\  4.  Sont  iiiembres  de  I'association,  ceux  qui  declarent  adherer  a  ces  principes,  et 
qui  sont  decides  a  cooperer  a  son  oeuvre  selon  leurs  forces. 

\  5.  Les  membres  forment  des  sections  cautonales,  qui  demeurent  libres  de  dresser 
leurs  statuts  selon  leurs  besoins,  pourvu  que  ces  statuts  ne  soient  pas  en  contradiction 
avec  les  principes  generaux  de  I'association. 

\  6.  Un  Cornite  central  dirige  les  affaires  communes  de  I'Union.  II  est  compose 
d'un  president  nonime  par  I'assemblee  generale  et  de  deux  meml)res  proposes  par 
ce  president  au  choix  de  cette  assemblee.  Le  president  reunit,  aussi  souvent  qu'il  le 
juge  necessaire,  les  delegiies  des  sections,  qui  sont  au  nombre  d'un  par  section.  Le 
Cornite  central  est  sounds  chaque  annee  a  une  reelection. 

\  7.  \J assemblee i^hierale  se  reunit  au  moins  une  fois  par  annee  dans  un  lieu  designe 
par  le  Comite  central.     Elle  est  precedee,  dans  la  regie,  d'une  reunion  de  delegiies. 

\  8.  Chaque  membre  paie,  pour  subvenir  aux  frais  de  I'association,  50  centimes 
par  an  a  la  caisse  de  sa  section,  et  les  sections  contribuent  a  alimenter  la  caisse 
centrale  dans  la  proportion  du  chiffre  de  leurs  membres. 

STATUTS 

DE   L'UNION   nationale   EVANGELIQUE  de  GENEVE. 

Adoptes  le   9  octobre    1S71,  revises  le   12  avril   1878. 


1°  Tl  est  forme  a  Geneve  une  association  dont  le  but  est  de  maintenir  la  Toi 
^vangelique  dans  I'Eglise  nationale  protestante,  el  d'y  grouper  en  un  meme  corps 
tons  ceux  qui  pnrtagent  cette  foi. 

2°   Elle  prend  le  nom  (X^ Union  nationale  evangelique. 

3°  Les  membres  de  cette  association,  se  raltachant  aux  anciennes  liturgies  de 
I'Eglise  nationale  de  Geneve,  affirment,  conformement  aux  Saintes  Ecritures,  leur 
foi  en  yi'SHS-Clirist,  Fils  unique  de  Dieu,  viort  pour  nos  offenses  et  ressitscitc  poiir 
notre  justification. 

4°  L' association  forme  I'une  des  sections  cantonales  de  V  Union  evangelique 
Suisse,  aux  principes  generaux  de  laquelle  elle  donne  son  adhesion. 

5°  Elle  est  dirigee  par  un  Comite  de  vingt  et  un  membres,  nomnies  chaque  annee 
par  les  membres  de  I'association,  reunis  en  assemblee  generale. 

6°  Les  membres  de  I'Union  s'  engagent  a  seconder  le  Comite  de  tout  leur  pouvoir, 
et  a  verser  entre  ses  mains  une  souscription  annuelle  dont  chacun  fixe  pour  lui-meme 
le  monlant,  mais  qui  ne  doit  point  elre  inferieure  a  50  centimes. 


SECOND    GENERAL    COUNCIL.  1151 

Genkva,  21    October,  iSSo. 
Rf.v.  Dr.  Schaff: 

Sir  and  Honored  Brother:  We  have  followed  here  at  Geneva,  with  great  in- 
terest, the  proceedings  of  the  General  Presbyterian  Alliance.  I  have  but  one  regret, 
that  no  church  from  our  city  has  considered  it  possible  to  be  represented  directly 
in  its  Council. 

The  General  Presbyterian  Alliance  is  distinctively  an  Alliance  of  Churches,  and  I 
am  aware  that  churches  alone  have  a  right  to  send  delegates.  At  the  same  time,  I 
have  seen  that  the  National  Evangelical  Union  of  Geneva,  which  is  not  a  church, 
but  an  association,  has  sent  you  an  address,  which  you  have  received. 

It  has  occurred  to  nie  to  send  you,  in  all  frankness,  an  inquiry  soliciting  your 
opinion.  • 

You  know,  without  my  requiring  to  offer  any  detailed  statement,  of  the  Theologi- 
cal School,  with  its  Faculty,  of  the  Evangelical  Society.  You  know  the  spirit  in 
which  it  labors,  and  the  spirit  with  which,  under  God,  it  has  inspired  the  four 
hundred  pupils  nurtured  within  it.  The  professors  of  this  theological  faculty,  my 
honorable  colleagues,  are,  I  am  sure,  all  in  sympathy  with  the  work  of  the  Alliance. 
Nowhere  has  your  labor  been  followed  with  greater  attention  and  with  greater  hope 
than  in  the  midst  of  us  who  here  are  the  most  direct  heirs  of  Calvin. 

Will  you  receive  a  fraternal  letter  from  the  College  of  Professors  of  our  Theologi- 
cal College  ?  Would  such  a  letter  be  well  received  ?  or,  would  it  be  regarded  as 
impossible  for  you  to  receive  it,  since  we  are  not  a  Church  ? 

That  is  my  question. 

You  doubtless  understand  the  spirit  which  suggests  it.  It  is  natural  that  the  city 
of  Calvin  should  come  and  give  you  an  evidence  of  its  sympathy  and  most  fraternal 
attachment. 

If  your  reply  be  favorable,  I  will  bring  the  matter  before  the  College  Professors. 

Receive,  etc.,  etc., 

D.  TissoT,  Professor. 


INDEX. 


Africa,  South,  Missions  in 592 

Agnew,  B.  L.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by £86 

Agnosticism,  Paper  on 243 

Discussion  un 295 

Alexander,  Prof.  S.,  LL.D.,  R<.marks  by.  225,  S93 
Alliance,  Churches  in 5,  9,     23 

Admission  to,  Committee  on 871 

Amusements,  Popular,  Paper  on 584 

Anct,  Rev.  L.,  Address  by 862 

Pap;r  by 929 

Apple,  Prof.  T.  G.,  Paper  by 484 

Apologetics,  Paper  on 250,  902 

Armstrong,  G.  D  ,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 295 

Anangements,  Report  of  Committee  on 56 

Committee  of,  for  ne.\t  Council 884 

Arrighi,  Rev.  A.,  Address  by 776 

Atwater,  L.  H.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 323 

Australasia,  P'ornuilas  of  Churches  in 1042 

Australia,  South,  Formulas  of  Church  in 1044 

Church  work  in 810 

Baptism,  Paper  on 521; 

Ba.merman,  Kev.  D.D.,  Paper  by 506 

Basel,  Letter  troiri 1147 

Beattie,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Address  by 719 

Belfast,  the  ne.\t  place  of  meeting 355 

Belgium,  Romanism  and  the  School  Question 

in 862,  929 

Beneficence,  Systematic,  Paper  on 667 

Bernard,  Pastor,  Creed  Statement  by 1094 

Blaikie,  Prof.  W.  G.,  Clerk 53 

Paper  by 180 

Remarks  by 54,237,463,  730 

Boardman,    H.    A.,    D,   D.,    Fr.igmcnt    of 

Address   of  Welcome 21 

Bog,gs,  W.  E.,  D.D..  Remarks  by..  228,  296,  785 

Bohjmia  and  Moravia,  Church  in 832,  1097 

Bomberg  r,  Piesident  J.  H.  A.,  Paper  by....   543 

Noie  by 958 

Boyce,  J.,  O.  D.,  Mission  Statement  by 1127 

Br^ed,  W.  P.,  D.  D.,  Address  of  Welcome....     37 

Paper  by 802 

Remarks  by 132,470 

Breslau,  Free  Church  of 874 

Brownsnn.  J.  I.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 457 

Brown,  W.,  D.D.,  Remarks  by 239,  893 

Bruce,  Alexander  B.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by.  130 

239- 

Burns,  R.  F.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 141,  384 

Buscarlet,  Rev.  A.  F.,  Paper  by 754 

Business  Committee 69 

Reports  from 102    103,  193,  251,  257,  258 

593,  729.  S70. 

Cairns,  Principal  John,  Paper  by 357 

Remarks  by 137,230,252,262,   799,  869 

Calderwood,  Prof.  H.,  Paper  by 198 

Remarks  by.  127,386,634,663,877-8,880,  899 

Campbell,  A.  J.    Creed   Paper  from 1042 

Campbell,  President  W.  H.,  Paper  by 354 

Canada,  Missions  of  Presbyterian  Church  in. .1140 

Formid  IS  of  Churches  in 1049 

Of  Church  of,  in  connection  with  Church 

oT  Scotland 1051 

Of  Presbyterian  Church  of. 1054 

Of  Canada  Presbyterian  Church 1055 

Of  Presbyterian  Church  in 1057 

Candidates  for  the  Ministry,  Paper  on 638 

Catholic  Presbyterian,  The,  Recommended..  591 

Catholicity,  Presbyterian,  Papers  on 344,  354 

Caven,  Principal,  Remarks  of 147,  301,  463 

799,  877,  879. 

("52) 


Chambers,  T.  W.,  D.D.,  Paper  by 263 

Chancellor,  J.  A.,  Creed  Paper  from 1042 

Chaponniere,  Francis,  Creed  Statement  by... 1093 
Children's  Portion  in  Sabbath  Service,  Paper 

on '. 441 

Chiniquy,  Rev.  C,  Address  by 716 

Christian  Life  and  Worship,  The  Ceremor.ial, 
the    Moral,    and   the    Emotional    in. 

Paper  on 71 

Discussion  on T. il6 

Church  Extension  in  Large  Cities,  Papers  on.  395 


In  Sparsely  Settled  Districts 

In  the  United  States 

Discussion  on 

Church  Order  and  Life,  Paper  on 

Cisar,  Rev.  F.,  Creed  Statement  by i 

Paper  by 

Comba,  Prof  E.,   Paper  by 

Committees  raised  by  Edinburgh  Council 

Communication  with    the   Churches,    Reso- 
lution on 

Consensus  of  Creeds,  Committee  on  Defining. 
497-  593- 

Constantine,  Rev.  G.  C,  Address  of. 

ConstiiUtion,  The 

Continental  Church,  Committee  on  Helping.. 
Credentials,  Committee  on 

Reports  of. 24,  44, 

Discussion  on 

Creeds   and   Confessions,    Report  of   Com- 
mittee on 

New  Committee  on 

Paper  on 

Discussion  on 295,  379,  394, 

Committee  on 

And  Formulas  of  the  Churches 

Croil,  James,  Esq.,  Remarks  by 

Cumberland  Church 

Cuyler,  T.  L.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 


414 
425 
778 
646 
097 
765 
851 


873 
393 

722 
6 
872 
53 
460 
460 

2r9 
261 
263 
498 

593 
965 
215 
333 
584- 


Dales,  J.  B.,  D.  D.,  Mission  Statement  by..ii28 
Danforth,  Hon.  Peter  S.,  Remarks  by. ..,221,  455 

Dawson,  Hon.  J.,  Remarks  by 214 

Day,  H.,  Esq  ,  Remarks  by.  ''17,236-7,333,  780 

Desiderata  of  Presbyterian  History 872 

DeWitt,J.,D.  D.,  Paper  by 157 

Remarks  by 304,  880 

Dickey,  C   A.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 465 

Farewell  Address 896 

Discipline,  Church,  Papers  on 536,  729,  921 

Divine,  The,  in  Men's  Lives,  Paper  on 176 

Dodds,  James,  D.  D.,  Remarks   by 501 

Dodge,  Hon.  W.  E.,  Rtmaiksby 253,  452 

Paper  by 569 

Drake,  Chief-Justice  C.  D.,  Paper  oy 190 

Duff,  Rev.  R.  S.,  Paper  by 329 

Education,  Presbyterianism  and.  Paper  on...  280 

Discussion  on 500 

Edwards,  J.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 536 

Elders,  Ruling,  Paper  on 165 

Employers    and     Employees,    Influence    of 

Gospel  on.  Paper  on 180 

Discussion  on 223 

England,  Formulas  of  Presbyterian  Church 

in 1036 

Erdmann,  Pastor  O.,  Paper  by 950 

European  Churches,   Report  of  Committee 

on  Helping 729,  738 

Our  Relations  to 740 


IJSrDEX. 


"53 


Evimgelists  and  Evangelistic  work,  Papers 

on^ 419,  447,  646,  909 

Ewing,  Rev.  S.  C,  AJdrerS  by 714 

Extension,  Church 395,  403,  414,  425,  77B 

Family,  Training  of  Children  in,  Paper  on...  950 

Farewell  Address 896 

Fisch,  Rev.  G<;orge,  Paper  by 909 

Finances  of  Council,  Provision  for 875 

Fliedner,  Rev.  Fritz,  Pap;rby 843 

Flint,  Prof.  R.,  Paper 243 

Foreign  Missions,  Reports  of  Com.  on..  597,  612 

C  (-operation  in 6i8 

Report  on 883 

Paper  on 625 

Discussion  on 629 

Communication    from    Scotch     U.     P. 

Church  on 633 

Addresses  on 701 

Reports  from  Churches  in  America  on... 1127 

Formulas  of  the  Churches 965 

France,  RLligion  in 746 

Formulas  of  Churches  in , 1068 

The  Church  United  to  the  State  in 1068 

Churches  Independi;nt  of  the  Stale 1071 

The  Gospel  in 804 


Ganse,  Rev.  H.  D.,  Paper  by 

Gcnjva.  Formulas  of  Reformed  Church  of... 

National  Protestant  Church 

Frje  Evangelical  Church 

Letter  from  National  Evang.  Union  of. 

German  Reformed  Church,  Theology  of 

German  Empire,  Conflict  of,  with  the  Pope.. 

German  Meeting,  The 

Germany,  Present  State  of  Religion  in.  Re- 
port by  Prof  Pflei   er.r 

Letter  from  the  Evangelical  Church  of... 

Godct,  Prof,  Letter  from 

Graham,  W.,  D.  D.,  Pap-r  by 

Gran  ,  G.  M.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 

R   marks 134,  230,  238, 

Grigg,  Prof.  W.,  Paper  by 


560 
1085 
ioS8 
IC93 
1147 
4S4 
935 
934 

939 
"■57 

934 

176 

90 

,  298 

554 

H  dsey,  L.  J.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 729,  921 

HatfieU,  E.  F..D.D.,  Paper  by 812 

Haydn,  H.  C,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 667 

Hitchcock,  Prof.  R.  D.,  Paper  by 71 

Hobart,  Rev.  Thos.,  Creed  Paper  from.......io3i 

Hodge,  Prof.  A.  A.,  Paper  by ; 363 

R-inarks 49a 

Letter  by io6i 

Hofm.;yr,  Prof  Nicholas,  Remarks  by..i37,  223 

298,  595- 
Holland,  Conflict  between  Faith  and  Ration- 
alism in 914 

Hood,  Rev.  S.  P.,  Address  by 717 

Houston,  Gen.  D.  W.,  Remarks  by 216 

Houston.  Rev.  M.  H.,  Address  by 631 

Howie,  Rev.  Robert,  Remarks  by...  146,  458,  778 

Humphrey,  E.  P.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 104 

Hungarian   Reformed  Church 1099 

Letter  from 957 

Hutton,  G.  C,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 334 

Remarks 128,  500,  634 

Introduction 5 

Ireland,  Evangelization  of.  Dr.  Kno.\ 419 

Work  in 788 

Formulas  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in.1041 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in 1042 

Italy,  Free  Church  in 776 

The  Church  in 851 

Jacottet,  M.,  Creed  Statement  by 1084 

Jameson,  Rev.  J.,  Address  by 7S6 

Note   by 1123 

Jenkins,  John,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by....6j,  65,  137 

73 


Jimenez,  Rev.  Joaquim  Maza,  Creed  State- 
ment by , 112 1 

Johnson,  Herrick,  D.  D..  Paper  by 638 

Jones,  Hon.  I.  D,,  Remarks  by 253,  462,  800 

Kendall,  H.,  D.  D.,  Address  by 425 

Kinross,  Princip.il  John,  Paper  by 306 

Knox,  Robert,  D.  U.,  Pap  r  by 419 

Remarks  by 64,  222,  235,  241,  258 

Krafft,  Prof  William,  Paper  by 935 

Lang,  J.  Marshall,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 646 

Remarks 733,  869 

Letter  to  the  Churchts 806 

Liberty,  Civil  and    Religious,   Presbyterian- 
ism  in  Relation  to 312 

Liturgies,  Discussion  on 126 

Lowrie,  J.  C,  D.  D.,  Address   by 625 

Mission  Paper  by..... 1140 

Lowry,  Rev.  Thomas,  Mission  Paper  by 1140 

Mabille,  Rev.  A.,  Address  by 710 

McCosh,  J.,  D.  D.,  LL  D.,  Paper  by 204 

McDomdd,  Rev.  John,  Creed  Paper  from..., ij)33 
Macdonnell,  Rev.  D.  J.,  Remark-..  302,  472,  792 

Macintosh,  Rev.  J.  S.,  Paper  by 740 

McKcnzie,  Rev.  H.  L.,  Remaiks  by 144 

Address  by 703 

McLeod,  Alex.,  D.D.,  Paper  by 441 

Macrae,  Rev.  Donald,  Remarks  by 382 

McVicar,  Principal  D.  H.,  Paper  by 344 

Remarks 219,  385,  464 

Meeting,  The  Next   Place  of 355 

Mathews,  G.  D.,  D.  D.,  Clerk 53 

Methodist  Episcopal  Ministers'  Association  250 

Ecumenical  Conference,  Correspondence 

with 251,  874 

Milligan,  A.  M.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 131,  503 

Ministers,  Demand  for 663 

Support  of. 686 

Mitchell,  J.  Murray,  D.  D.,  Report  on  For- 
eign Missions 597 

Remarks  by 66,  142 

Mitchell,  Prof  Alex.,  Paper  by 474 

Report  on  Desiderata  of   Presbyterian 
History 796 

Remarks 135,  257,  430 

Mission  Field,  Presbyterian  Organization  on 

the 334 

Modern  Theological  Thought,  Paper  on 77 

Monod,  Jean,  Creed  Statement  by 1068 

Monod,  Rev.  A.,  Paper  by 748 

Moravia,  Religion  in 765 

Church  in 1097 

Morris,  E.  D.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 280 

Murkland,  Dr.  W.  U.,  Remarks  by. .226,  381,  793 

Neely,  W.,  Esq.,  Remarks  by 389 

Neilson,  Rev.  T.,  Remarks  by 380 

Address  by 706 

Nelson,  H.  A.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by. 232,  251,  255 
Neuchatel,  Independent  Evangelical  Church 

of 1084 

Newkirk,  Rev.  M.,  Clerk 53 

Newspapers  and  Evangelical  Religion 782 

Nish,  Rev.  J.,  Address  by 810 

Remarks 220,  456,  464 

Nova  Scotia,  Formulas  of  the  Church  of. 1049. 

Obituary 53 

Officers  of  the  Council ..53,  63 

Official  Volume,  The,  Action  in  Regard  to...  57 

67   877. 

Orders,  Standing 10 

Patterson,  R.  M.,  D.  D.,  Introduction  by...       3- 

P-'Per  by 39s 

Paris,  Evangelistic  Work  in 447,  goy 


1 134 


INDEX. 


Paxton,  W.  M  ,  D.  D.,  Sermon  by 25 

Report  by , 612 

Peace,  International 885 

Pehz,  P.,  D.  D..  Mission  Pap.r  by 1130 

Personal   Rtligion,  Paper  on 823 

Perth  Conference,  LeUer  from 874,  958 

Pfleidercr,  Prof  J.  G.,  Paper  by 939 

Pierson,  A.  T.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 135,  233 

Philadelphia  Reformed  Presbytery 593 

l^laceof  Next  Meeling 258 

I'olitics,  Religion  and.  Paper  on 323 

I'resbyterian  History,  Desiderata  of.  Report 

on 796 

Committee  on 872 

Presbyterianism,   Distinctive   Principles  of, 

Paper  on 148 

Discussion   on 213 

Presbyterian  Literature,  Diffusion  of.  Paper 

on ".  802 

Presbyterian,  The  Catholic 591 

Presidents  of  the  Council,  The 68 

Pressense,  Ed.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 250,  902 

Prime,  S.  I.,  D.  D.,  Obituary  Address  by....     53 

Remarks 66,  505,  863 

Programme,  The 57 

Resolution  on  Next 637,  871 

Punishment,  Future,  Duration  of.  Paper  on.  369 

Remarks  on 785 

(Queensland,- Formulas  of  Church  in 1044 

Rainy,  Robert,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 77 

Remarks 63,  473 

Read,  C.  H.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 165 

Remarks  by 891 

Reception  into  Alliance,  Committee  on 235 

Regeneration,  Paper  on 543,  958 

Reid,  W.,  D.  D.,  Remarks 255,  388 

Rid,  W.  J.,  D.D.,  Pap_r  by 414 

ReveiUaud,  M.,  Address  by 864 

Revivals  of  Religion,  Paper  on 812 

Revision,  Bible,  Paper  on 268 

Remarks  on 499 

Report  on 870 

Roberts,  W.,  D.  D.,  Letter  from 1067 

Robertson,  Dr.  W.,  Letter  from 734 

Robson,  Rev.  G.,  Remarks  by 629 

Roo;ers,  Rev.  J.  M.,  Remarks  by 788 

Roll,  The 45,  23 

Rules,  Resi  liition  on 594 

Ruling  Elders,  Resolution  Concerning 257 

Rul^s  of  Order,  Committee  on,  Appomted...  871 

i^abbath.  Resolution  on  the 595 

iiabbath  Observance,  Paper  on 554 

Claim  of.  Paper  on 560 

Sabbath-schools,  Paper  on 430 

Discussion  on 451 

Schaff,  Philip,  D.  D,,  Remarks. .64,  66,  262,  499 
Science  and  1  heology,  Relations  of,  Paperon  198 

Discussion  on 225 

Scotland,  Formulas  of  Established  Church...  969 

Of  Free  Church 985 

Of  United  Presbyterian  Church 998 

Synod  of  United  Original  Seceders 1031 

Reformed    Presbyterian  Church 1033 

Scotch  Mission  Work 790 

Scovel,  S.  F.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 312 

Scriptures,  Inspiration,  Authenticity  and  In- 
terpretation of.  Papers  on 104,  113 

Discussion  on 137 

Secular  Life,  Relation  of  Religion  to.  Paper 

on 90 

Sermon,  Opening 25 

Sealing  Ordinances,  Admission  to    Paper  on  506 

Sheshadri,  Rev.  N.,  Remarks  by 143 

Address   by 724 

Skinner,  T.  H.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 140,  391 


Sloane,  Dr.  J.  R.  W.,  Remarks  by..i29, 139,  379 

Smith,  Geo.,  LL.  D.,  Remarks  by 782 

Smith,  H.  W.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 300 

Smith,  J.  T.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by. ..213,  240,  451 

Spain,  Church  in 786 

The  Gospel  in,  Rev.  F.  Fl.edner 843 

Formulas  of  Reformed  Churches  in iiai 

Standing  Orders 70 

Statistical  Reports 70,  873,  959 

Steele,  D.,  D.  D.,  I'aper  by 823 

Stevenson,  T.  P.,  D.  U.,  Paper  by 525 

Stout,  Rev.  H.,  Address  by 630,  701 

Strong,  Hon.  W.,  Remarks  by 242,  453 

Stuart-Gray,  E.  A.,  Esq.,  Remarks   by 790 

Switzerland, Germanic, Formulas  of  Churches 

in 1094 

Churches  in.  Paper  on 754 

Szalatnay,  Rev.  J.  E.,  Paper  by 832 

Tasmania,  Paperon 329 

Taylor,  W.  J.  R.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 408 

Remarks 795 

Temperance,  1'he  Church  and.  Paper  on 569 

Rtmprks  on 792 

Thanks,  Resolutions  of. 894 

Theology  of  the  Reformed  Church 474,  914 

With  Special  Reference  to  Westminster 

Standards 474 

Tissot,  Prof.,  Letter  from 1149 

United  States  of  America,  Formulas  of  the 

Presbyterian  Church  in 1058 

Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.1062 

United  Presbyterian  Church  of  N.  A 1062 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  N.  A.  1065 

Reformed  Church  in  America 1066 

Welsh  Calvinistic  Church 1067 

Foreign  Missions  of  Reformed   Presbyte- 
rian Church 1 125 

Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  Southii27 

United  Presbyterian  Church  of  N.  A 1128 

Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  America... 1 129 

Presbyterian  Church  (South) 1136 

Presbyterian  Church  (North) 1140 

Van  Nest,  A.  R.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 390 

Van  Oosterzee,  Prof.  J.  J.,  Paper  by 474,  914 

Van  Zandt,  Prof.  A.  B.,  Paper  by 1163 

Vicarious  Sacrifice  of  Christ,  Papers  on..357,  363 

Victoria,  Formulas  of  Church  in 1043 

Viguet,  Prof.,  Creed  Statement  by ic8i 

Waldensian  Church 730 

Wales,  Formulas  of  Calvinistic  Methodists  in. 1040 
Wales,  New  South,  Religion  and  Education 

in 306 

Formulas  of  Church  in 1044 

Wallace,  D.  A.,  D.  D.,  Remarks  by 241,  392 

Watts,  Robert,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 1:3 

Remarks 227,  471 

Welcome,  Address  of. 37 

Wilson,  J.  L.,  D.  D.,  Mission  Statement  by.1136 

Report  by 618 

Wilson,  Jos.  R.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 447 

Wilson,  S.  J.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 148 

Remarks 591 

Witherspoon,  T.  D.,  D.  D.,  Paper  by 369 

Explanation 590 

Wood,  Rev.  W.,  Remarks  by 238 

Working  Classes,  Christianity  the  Friend  of 

the.  Paper  on 190 

Worship  of  Reformed  Churches,  Paper  on...   157 

Wright,  Rev.  A..  Address  by 708 

Wylie,  S.O..  D.  D.,  Mission  Statement 1127 

Wylie,  T.  W.  J.,  D.  D.,  Mission  Statement. 1123 

Young  Men,  How  to  Deal  With,  Paper  on..  204 

Zealand,  New,  Formulas  of  Church  in 1045 


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